I am so stupid. I forgot to reply to my reviewers last time!
Rwbybomb21: so you figured out who she is then? Mind sharing your suspicions? :P
Tuutje07: I am rewriting because there are lots of things I am not satisfied with. My writing style has changed a lot since I started on this fanfiction.
And I have had my fair share of voyages through the freezing lands…although I didn't actually have to traverse multiple miles -10 -20 degrees.
A flying tomato: you are right, replacing chapters it is.
Suspiciouscook: sometimes I have to take the opportunity, you know?
"There is a reason that organic life evolved instead of synthetic life. It is because all that lives is a master at survival and adaption, while all that is made can only hope for its time to come. You show to me a machine posing like a living being. I pose to you a machine that is a living being. A crude joint platform wherein the constructed is commanded by the constructor will not be our salvation. Nature itself has offered the weapon we shall use to destroy the Grimm menace. Hunters can bond to each other, but that bond is nothing when compared to the forms of symbiosis found in nature. A true symbiotic relation between the created and the creator. To defeat the Grimm, we must explore these concepts further."
Doctor H. Azure
Terrorist outpost 0254 – grid 14
Cal Lima Two-One moved up the hill, his boots leaving deep imprints in the slippery mud. Rain was pouring from the sky and reducing their visibility to a few meters at best. He was very glad that he could see better than his teammates, otherwise they'd never get to their destination in time.
"Two-Three, move up," he ordered Ash. The kid moved closer to the rundown wall and checked the hole they were going to move through.
"Clear sir," called Ash.
The Faunus nodded and checked his surroundings one more time. They had received word that a White Fang company was holed up in a set of old ruins just a few miles out of Vale. There might even be a leader involved for them to grab. Fireteam Lima was the closest for some reason, hence why they had been sent to clear it out. But the four structures they had scouted up to now hadn't yielded any results, which led him to believe that every trooper had holed up inside of the castle-like structure they were about to infiltrate.
"Two-four, get in there."
"Acknowledged."
It was up to them to destroy the White Fang presence in this area,
Lily ducked low and moved towards the roughly man-sized hole in the stone wall. She had recovered from her injuries in half a day, but Cal wanted to be sure and he had ordered her to stay in the hospital for another day. They hadn't received another assignment after that, which gave them a perfect chance to mingle with the rest of Vale.
As Lima Two-Four got in position, Cal took the time to smell the air and check for any ambushes. The rain made it difficult for him to get a good bearing on his foes; he could smell something bad in the air, but he really couldn't identify just what it was. He might as well smell some spoiled can of food for all he knew.
He watched his two teammates infiltrate through the small opening and quickly followed them in. Lima Two-Two, Clayton, was the last one, covering them until they were through. This was supposed to be a simple job really; kill the terrorists, capture the leader, blow the structure. They had one Stalker Strihke ready to deliver the hurt in under sixty seconds, so they were good to go.
So why, Cal wondered, was he having such a bad feeling? Ash was stable; he only suffered from the nightmares a few times in the week, his bouts of rage and terror had become rare and he could actually interact pretty well with the people from Beacon. It had to be something about this mission. His gut rarely lied to him.
"Keep your eyes open," he told his team.
"Why would I close them?" asked Two-three with an honest voice.
"It's a figure of speech," Two-four told him.
"That's stupid."
"We've been through this before."
"Two- Ash, listen. There's bad people around. Keep looking."
"Yes Cal."
They reached the entrance to what appeared to be a very old courtyard. Walls surrounded them on all sides and in one simple glance, he could see that this had to be the most perfect place for an ambush as of yet. The walls had multiple holes in them, which would be perfect spots for sharpshooters. The middle-ground was devoid of any cover and the actual part of the building, up ahead, was locked by a heavy door.
"Two-four, I want charges set on that door. Three and two, cover her."
Lily pocketed the demolition charges and carefully made her way cross the courtyard, moving in an erratic path in case she was being kept in the sights of a sniper.
Cal sniffed the air again and was certain that he was catching the fumes of other Faunus. The area had been used by the White Fang recently, that was certain. But due to the damn rain he couldn't interpret the smells correctly; were they still here or had they vacated the area?
The rain also made it difficult to hear what was going on. His sharp ears were disturbed by the sound of billions of droplets striking the earth and throughout the relentless downpour of water, he thought he heard the distant click of metal striking metal. Everything screamed ambush about this place. He didn't like it; time to change the rules.
"Change of plan people. Four, give Two your charges. I need that western wall blown."
"Did I tell you about my new friend?" asked Ash.
"Not now Three."
"You said that ten minutes ago."
"Remember how missions were not the place for small-talk?"
"Yes, but this is an operation. That's different."
"No, it isn't. Did you sharpen your weapons like I told you?"
Ash checked the butt of his rifle, where the blades of two machetes were hidden. "I did."
"Good."
Clayton was just about finished with placing the charges at the wall when Cal caught the outlines of individuals moving behind the holes in the other walls. His heart jumped and he aimed his rifle at the nearest figure. "Ambush! Get to cover!"
Two-two detonated the wall and sniper-fire from at least three different directions depleted his Aura, tore through his armour and shredded his internals. The soldier fell amidst the pieces of falling dirt and stone, his blood coating the ground. He was not yet dead, as proven by his desperate yet destructive return of fire. His heavy-caliber machine gun created a lethal trail of punctures and explosions across the wall in front of them, the armour-piercing rounds drilling through the thick wall with ease and forcing the gunners to retreat.
"Clayton!" Lily shouted, risking her head by checking on her fallen friend instead of ducking into the hole he had made.
"Forget about him," yelled Cal. "Continue with the mission!"
The girl hesitated for a few seconds, but he didn't allow her to waste more time. He wrapped his right arm around her neck and grabbed her around her stomach with the left one, before hauling her inside himself. He didn't think about Ash though, so while he made sure that Two-four was safe and sound, he was surprised to see that the kid wasn't following him inside. Instead, he was talking to Two's body like nothing had happened, all the while returning fire to the White Fang troopers.
"Ash, get your ass in here!"
"Hey Cal, Clay won't get back up. You need to help me!"
The Faunus swore as he stepped closer to the entrance. Every time –every damn time he had to look after that idiot. Why had the kid ever gotten green light for service?
He dodged a sniper round that splintered upon impact on the stone wall, grabbed a hold of Clay's helmet and helped pull him inside. He hated himself for never having unlocked his Semblance –for never having taken the time to reflect on himself and grow in his Aura usage.
More rounds impacted around them and he automatically returned fire. The troopers were inaccurate and most of their shots didn't hit them, but they had the advantage of numbers and superior positions. And while the soldiers of Onyx were trained to make every single shot count with lethal precision, they were completely outnumbered and outgunned on this one.
They weren't Operatives. They couldn't stay and fight here with only the three of them and expect to live. They had their mission and they would stick with it.
"Come on Clay, get up. It's not sleepy time," Ash said, unaware of the fact that his friend was bleeding out.
"He's not getting up," stated Cal. "Two-four, do you have the Stalker beacon?"
Lily hefted the strobe. "I do."
The fallen soldier coughed and weakly gestured with his arm. "Can't let them get me, right?"
"You're dying," said Cal, more to reassure himself than to inform his teammates. He could already hear the footsteps of a dozen troopers coming to get them. "And we can't haul you out of here without getting gunned down."
"What?"
"What are you talking about, Cal?" Ash said, his voice still so naïve and innocent. "We fight and we win. That's how we always do things."
It wasn't.
"Guess I won't make nineteen after all…" Clayton said with a laugh that quickly turned into a choking coughing fit. Soon the blood would reach his lungs or he would bleed out. "Shit, that hurts…"
"Hand me the beacon," ordered Cal. He couldn't tear his gaze off of his friend.
"Why?"
"Do it."
"We're not going to leave him here."
"Capture of Onyx personnel is unacceptable as per Protocol. I´m sorry. I´m so sorry."
"Don't be," wheezed Clayton. "You and Ash found someone. You're going to get out of this shithole."
"Two-Four, hand me the beacon."
"No," she whispered. "There has to be another way."
A door to their left was slammed open and Ash immediately gunned down the White Fang soldiers who were making entry, his weapon causing large, gaping holes in their weak armour.
"Lily, give me that beacon."
"I-"
"NOW!"
With shaking hands, his teammate handed him the small device that would transmit its exact coordinates to their Stalker package. The bombing would annihilate this building and everyone inside of it.
"He's right. We are going to get out of here. Two-three, find me a way out. Four, seal that entrance." He knew that the girl was leering at him from behind her helmet. He could feel her stare and it burned.
"You think…I meant this place? Cal…you´re a fucking idiot." Another coughing fit rattled the soldier. "Take Lil and Ash and go…leave Onyx."
Whatever Cal would have felt at that moment had to wait. He killed his feelings and gripped the beacon. "Four, three, we're moving."
More figures appeared in the door opening and while Lily still managed to take them all down, they were starting to get surrounded.
"Where?"
He activated the beacon, placed it at Clayton's feet and moved to the initial opening they had made. "Back here."
Wanting to be sure of his team's survival, the Faunus stayed back and waited until everyone was outside. A trooper with a mace jumped at him, but he pulled out his hatchets and blocked the strike. Then he slashed the attacker across the throat, where there was no armour. He wasn't going to wait until more enemies would come get him; Lily and Ash were clear and he was next.
"Thirty seconds!"
The three of them sprinted through the opening, shots impacting around their feet and depleting their Aura.
"Ten seconds!"
Once they had left the confined corridors of the White Fang outpost behind them, Cal signaled for his team to stop. There hadn't been anything from Clayton's corpse to take with them; Onyx soldiers didn't wear dog-tags, as that would cement individuality.
"Here it comes."
He never heard it approach them and neither did he see it sail overhead. Only when the large, fortified structure exploded in a white flash, flattening everything in a radius of forty meters around it and knocking the three of them to the ground, did Cal catch a glimpse of the Stalker craft. It's sleek, black shape shimmered for a split-second before the active camouflage kicked back in and hid it from their sights. The bomber had completely wiped the outpost of the map, leaving yet another White Fang fortification and a dozen of their troops as whispers in the wind. Together with Clayton Lima Two-two.
"I want to go home," whispered Lily. She didn't get back on her feet.
"Where's Clay?" asked Ash, the realization still not hitting him.
Cal wanted to go home too. But there was no place for them to call home. There was no place for people like them…unless…
"Guys," he slowly said, tearing his gaze off of the burning wastelands, "let's get back to Beacon."
"Why there?" asked Ash. "And seriously, where is Clayton? Where did he go?"
"Lily wants to go home, alright?" he replied. "And…until we get reassigned, Beacon is our home."
"But I don't want to go to Beacon...there are mean people there."
Cal looked at his two teammates, from Lily who had never shown any sign of distress before, to Ash who was barely capable of functioning in a group/cohesion. Both of them always kept going and both of them were so close to giving up now that he could almost feel it. It was…disquieting to see them like that.
"You like Ruby, right?" He asked. "When she gets back, I'll…I'll ask if she wants to play with you, right? Or Penny? You seem to get along with her as well?"
"Yes…"
"Good. Just…just get up and we'll get going."
He couldn't do this. Not so soon. Not without help.
"There's nothing at Beacon…" whispered Lily. "There's never anything."
Cal clenched his fists and took a deep breath. He felt his fangs gnashing against each other and his he longed for the sensation of his claws digging into his flesh. "We'll make something. I won't let you guys go."
Ash shivered. "You promise?"
He reached out and pulled the kid up. "I promise."
The room was dark, very dark. The local systems were dead and not a spark of electricity was relocated to this segment, making a manual rewire necessary.
Operative Greystone tried operating his helmet-mounted flashlight, but found that it didn't work. He bashed the side of his helmet, hoping that it would rectify the error, but nothing happened. He checked his scroll to see if the expensive piece of tech had fared better than the simple flashlight, which it had. The communications device flared to life and the sudden appearance of a bright light hurt his eyes. He quickly readjusted the screen-level and aimed his wrist downwards, using the integrated scroll as an improvised light.
He knew this place, even if he had last visited it two-and-a-half years ago. He had forgotten the name of the head-researcher working here, but he did remember that this place had been shut down about four years ago, which he had not been happy learning about back then. He had risked a lot traveling all the way to the North, asking around in the main city and clashing with the local militia. But he had been more than a year too late and the lab had been dead.
Deader than it was now, anyway. So why was there still latent power in the systems? Why were the security checkpoints recently used?
The Operative reached for the powered-down console at the wall, hoping that it would unlock the system and allow him to advance.
'Greystone…'
He whirled around, clicked his safety off and scanned the room. "Who's there?"
There was no reply. The bullet-proof glass from the security checkpoint obscured his view somewhat, but he could still oversee the room. Once used as a locker-room where researchers could have stored their personal belongings, the chamber was now in complete rundown. The lockers had fallen over, two of the wooden fixtures had been knocked aside and belongings were scattered everywhere. A fine layer of dust covered the pieces, the only sign of disturbance being his self-made path through the room. Everything was as it had been when he had entered the room to find the security checkpoint.
'Greystone…over here…´
He transferred his rifle to his right hand and kept it aimed at the entrance of the semi-circle checkpoint, while using his other arm to reactivate the console. He pulled the hatch aside, pushed the large handle up and then entered a code.
The screen flashed green. Greystone. Operative. Onyx status recognized.
The ceiling-lights flashed on and bathed the room in a dull, white light. The outline of a woman with long, pale hair became visible as soon as the light flickered on and Greystone felt his heart jump to his throat. He stumbled backwards, backed into a security locker and struggled to get his rifle up in time. He maneuvered his shoulder the wrong way and behind him, a sidearm fell out of the cabinet. The noise of metal striking metal made him jump and he broke eye-contact with the target for a split-second to look at what had fallen. When he looked up, she was gone.
'Over here…' whispered the voice again. He could feel his chest racing up and down and he could feel his heart beating like crazy. Once he had made sure that he was completely alone in the room, he sat down on one of the fallen lockers and went for his scroll. There was a music app he wanted to download, one he had erased a year back.
With the download pending, he carefully left the room and went for the place that had been sealed off before. There was a large bulkhead to his right, which sealed off the access to the water supply and a smaller door to his left, which led to an energy-control station. He had tried to access it before, but the door had been sealed off for security reasons. Now that he had verified his status again, the door should be open for him.
Greystone didn't know why the facility even had power to begin with. It was shut down years ago and even when he had last been here, he could only access the first two floors. Someone had reactivated it…but he really could not think of anyone who was capable of doing so. The doctor was executed years ago for crimes against humanity and there wasn't anyone else who could access these systems.
He placed his palm against the scanner and the door opened. Even the locked-down elevators had been used recently. Someone was still active in this facility and if that someone was the same person who had been smuggling supplies from the Hopeful Hospital inside, it might even be someone from the city. That would serve to be problematic in the future, as nobody from Onyx was supposed to be operating in the North anymore. And he knew that this was an Onyx lab, as he had seen the bottle-Grimm. How often he had waked through the hallways flanked by the tubes with creatures, onwards to continue his training. It all started with the torture and dissections of the Grimm, both serving to steel them for humans as to teach them how to kill the things with maximum efficiency. They had them chanting "kill, kill, kill," with every step in preparation for the training.
Greystone heard someone whispering in the distance and his hand unconsciously went for his scroll. He checked the music-player and saw that it had finished downloading. That was a good thing. What was the name of that group again? He should have written it down…he should have written so many things down. It was a band operating in the Fronted Female Metal, but…which one was it again?
Not wanting to waste any more time, he went for the first name he did recognize and placed three songs in a queue. It always brought a smile to his face.
The small hallway led to a generator which, in turn, would power the elevator enough to head down to the third level. After that, he would find who was responsible for this place and take him down.
Ruby wouldn't agree with that though. She didn't want him to enforce Onyx' will by murdering the deserving. She had so much in common with her…it was frustrating. Where had mercy ever brought him? What good had showing mercy done for him? Everyone would always come back with a grudge. Such was the case with the commando and such was…not the case with RWBY.
He stopped moving when he considered that. He had basically done everything to push team RWBY away. He had ignored their attempts at friendship, he had isolated himself and he had fought them and their friends during his mission to gain information on Roman Torchwick. He had shouted to at least two of them and he had murdered the friends of another one. By all rights they should want to murder him. Yet that had not happened. Ruby kept on trying to pull him into her circle of friends and Yang even upped that by ignoring his protest and forcing him to participate.
He smiled when he recognized the song that was being played now. Ruby and Yang had done more for him than the Themeluesi ever had. Only she had done more for him and look where that had ended up. He was still alone.
No, the sisters should stop trying to pry into him. There wasn't anything there for them to find, no matter what Ruby thought. Just fragments and pieces. With one order, he would be forced to bring their entire world down on their heads and it would only hurt all the more because of their trust.
But she had always said that trust was important. And they trusted him and no matter how much it hurt, he trusted them. When an order to hurt them would come, would he follow it? He might be capable of hurting JNPR or LACG or anyone else, but RWBY? He could not ignore a direct order. But he had ignored them in the past to do what was right. He had been whipped and punished for it, yes, but he had done the right thing. There was nothing that Onyx could take away from him if he decided to ignore them, literally nothing. Except for RWBY...but that would be precisely why he ignored his orders, right? To protect them. To make sure that something like Yang fighting Blackwood would never again happen.
Greystone reached the console that controlled the generator for this grid. According to the design, there were four such smaller generators, each one supplying power to a fifth bigger one. The ones on levels four and five were deactivated and the one on level three was destroyed. Level one was active and this one would be needed for level two.
As soon as he heard the sounds of machinery being activated, he turned around to leave.
A face was hovering a mere inch from his face, with long, blond hair and sharp features. He gave a yell of surprise and fell on the ground, fumbling with his rifle. His finger pulled the trigger in a jerk and a trio of bullets spat out of the barrel, ricocheting from the wall.
Nothing was there. The hallway was clear and he was alone. Once again he was nearly hyperventilating and his heart feeling like it was being clenched in an invisible hand. He was scared; not apprehensive or fearful, like he had been with Cassandra, but honestly scared.
He waited a few seconds to see if anything had heard him and then found himself whispering Yang's name for comfort. He had been more scared when he had seen her fall at the hands of Blackwood, but…somehow, this apparition was even more painful.
Will slowly got to his feet and saw that his scroll had stopped playing the song. He shook his head and sighed. He had to keep going…he had been going for years at an end now. Giving up would mean death for him and disaster for mankind, as he had learned a very long time ago. He wasn't buying that anymore though. The reason that Onyx existed was to prolong mankind and to prevent wars. There were dozens of countries out there and even more reasons to go to war for them. But after years of successfully fighting against war, he had been unable to directly save even a single individual. He could keep going, for sure. But he didn't want to keep going. What was left of the childish part of him had had its full of death and pain and wanted out; far away from the battlefield and the dead, accusing corpses. To someone safe.
The rational part of him knew that would never happen. There wasn't anyone left to flee to; team RWBY might tolerate his presence, but the rest of the school wouldn't. He had seen how scared team CRDL was of him –he had seen how much the leader of team CFVY loathed him and how much LACG hated being near him.
Besides; he didn't wanted to continue spending his life. It wasn't what he had planned on. It was the urge he had when at the top of the tall buildings –the urge when the bullets started flying. The urge that he had been having for every waking minute for the better part of a year, which Ruby had been so accurate in spotting.
He made his way back through the hallway and went for the door that he had just opened. He could hear someone giggling in the distance and without meaning too, he smiled as well.
Following the next hallway and ignoring various signs, Greystone eventually reached a major security point. Unlike the previous checkpoints that had all been roomy enough for up to seven people, this one could hold roughly two dozen. And he remembered this one too; he remembered being inside of this room, accompanied by two members of Fireteam Sable. It had been one of the more promising leads and his partner had been so hopeful…so eager and yearning. But the head scientist had been gone and the place had been dead. After everything he had done in the city to find this place…
He stepped through the opening and hesitated for a second. He felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment and sorrow that did not truly belong to him, as he had no reason to feel anything like that. But when he pushed through and moved inside, dark shadows appeared on the wall to his left and the whispers nearly grew audible. For a split-second, the ground was covered with bodies, stained with mud and perforated with machinegun rounds. Then everything went calm again.
Will gritted his teeth and kept moving. The security room had a large, glass pane on the left side, reinforced against bullets and explosives. There were quite a few consoles and computers scattered around and the weapon caches were still filled with assault rifles and pistols, now outdated in its design. A monitor displayed the camera feed from level zero and when he glanced at it, he spotted team LACG waiting by the exit while their leader was giving a short speech. Good; less meddlers here.
One console was still responsive when he touched it and when it asked for a password, he replied with the Operative-override code.
He felt a cold hand on his shoulder and he spun around, his knife slicing through the air where an arm should have been. Instead of meeting resistance, his knife simply kept going.
There wasn't anything.
After looking around the room one more time, he went back to the console. He booted up the Black Box and answered the authorization command.
Inquiry, the screen said after having turned black.
He typed shutdown logs. The Black Box program was designed to safe every single bit of data on the computer and convert it into an easily salvaged Instruction Program. It wasn't artificial, but it was fully capable of answering a wide range of questions and commands.
1458 days ago. The Box's answer corresponded with his memory. But that didn't explain why this place was used so recently.
Reboot logs.
The next answer however, proved to be much more informative. 1003 days ago. 635 days ago. 332 days ago. 17 days ago.
Identify authorization command.
Doctor C. Romero.
That took him by surprise. He knew that name. Romero had been responsible for Project Midnight, which was so classified that not even the Operatives were allowed to know its details. But Midnight had been shut down four years ago.
Location Doctor Romero.
Hopeful hospital –corrosponding with origin Project Midnight.
Nothing of this made any sense. He didn't know a Hopeful hospital and this search was costing him precious time. He had better return to the city and search for the students there. It was time to finish the mission and go home.
He abandoned his search, but then an idea gripped his mind. In a flash of desperation, he typed, Catalyst?
The Black Box took longer to answer that inquiry and for a brief moment, Will could feel his stomach performing summersaults. But then the answer came.
No data available.
He snarled in frustration and smashed his fist against the black screen with those accursed green words. The first time his armoured glove bounced off of the reinforced display. The second time his fist plowed through the screen and the console exploded into a shower of sparks and loose wires. When he kicked at the smoking remains, the entire console came loose and tumbled across the room, smashing into the nearest weapons-locker.
He screamed with frustration.
The snow-storm had abated and Blake's senses could finally serve her again. Now, on top of the icy wall, she could it all. And what she saw cemented her beliefs that what they were doing right now was the right thing. That this, for all her doubts and fears, was what she wanted to do with her life. To her left stood Yang, with a smirk on her face and her new, orange coat reaching to her snow-boots. To her right stood Ruby, her iconic cloak flowing in the wind and giving her an enigmatic appearance. It was only when the girl flashed her a warm smile that Blake remembered that this was as much Ruby's place as it was hers.
Perhaps even more so. This was where Ruby hailed from; this was where she had lived for a short period before her parents had taken her to Patch.
In the distance, on the other side of a vast field of ice and snow, an army of Grimm was gathering. Even with her sight she couldn't make out what species made up the bulk of their forces; it was just one haze of black. There had to be hundreds of them, she realized.
"I wish Weiss were here," said Yang.
"She can't fight like she is now," replied Ruby. "Too much exposure."
"We could use an extra hand."
Blake knew that Ruby would miss Weiss more than anyone else would, but she chose to remain silent about it. The door to their dorms had a lock, but it had almost never been used. And at the exact moment that Ruby and Weiss should have locked it, they forgot about it. But it wasn't like a lock could help the smell and the feeling disappear from the room and someone with sensitive senses –like a Faunus, for example- could easily find out if two people loved each other very much. It wasn't an unpleasant scent though…which was exactly why she had been too taken aback to say anything. Only later did she realize that it was better not to say anything at all.
"There are hands enough," said Ruby. The humans from this city were very busy behind them. The wall gave them an elevated position with good cover from the enemy and with a line that was easily fifty meters wide, they had a good field of fire. The Major Yellowknife –who was more animal than many an extremist could say about the Faunus- was barking orders with his gravelly voice. One side of his face was contorted in a wry smile, but whether it was a genuine one or a simple grimace, Blake could not tell. Without the constant snow pelting her face, she could easily see every single disfigured line on the man's face. They were nothing like the clean line that ran across Weiss' eye, or the collection of spots and stripes that covered Will's. This man looked like he should have died long ago, but chose to keep walking through sheer willpower.
She was certain that Professor Johnson would approve.
"Do you know what's weird?" Yang said without taking her eyes off of the approaching menace.
"What?" asked Blake.
"These people live in snow for years. How come their city isn't covered with snow already?"
Blake didn't know the answer to that.
"Humans are masters at adaptation," replied Ruby. "In my village, a lot of Aura users had their semblance develop specifically to channel their Aura into heat."
"Like Yang?"
"Nope. Taking hits, remember?"
"It's my Aura Effect," said Yang. "Aura changes throughout life and gains new attributes."
Blake nodded, mentally yelling at herself for forgetting that. "That's the memory theory. If your soul is the collection of your experience and memories, it can change when you do. But not many people know about the Aura Effect."
"Professor Adamant told me that it's a topic for second-year students," said Ruby. "And for people who have it, it's kind of obvious."
A series of men with rifles took up a positon behind improvised cover on the wall, aiming at the approaching Grimm.
"Remember fella's, "growled Yellowknife, "friendly fire isn't. Time your shots. Targets enough and all the time in the world."
Bake eyed a duo of kids running past her, both of them hauling boxes of munition. They didn't look much older than ten years old. "How come I don't feel certain about this?"
"I don't know," replied Yang. "The plan is simple."
"The plan is suicide."
"Nothing is suicide against Grimm, Blake."
She felt a bout of frustration coming up, but at the same time she knew that the situation had a hint of hilarity. "We are going to jump down there and fight hundreds of Grimm in close-combat. With people firing down on the enemy while we are fighting them."
"That's the plan."
"These people aren't stupid, Blake," Ruby tried to reassure her. "They will only shoot on the Grimm that are nowhere near us."
Blake didn't want to ask what happened if those Grimm would run out. Yellowknife had promised them that he had a plan, but she wasn't very certain how many times his plans worked out for him. He had better be the kind of man who learned from experiences instead of simply surviving them, no matter how terrible that thought was.
The wave of creatures was coming closer and Blake was able to make out their forms now. There were Beowolves, Ursa and some other form she had not seen before. It was very big and it had at least six legs, but it wasn't a Death-Stalker. It was too big for that.
The Major popped up behind them. "Look at that," he said, his voice sounding more like a growl than anything else. "That's the bastard."
"I think there is more than one bastard, Major," Ruby said in what was supposed to be a joking, light-hearted manner.
It didn't catch on. "The rest is fodder, kid. We can take fodder. No, it's the big one that's going to screw us over."
So Yellowknife could see it too? He had pretty sharp eyes if that were the case.
"You, Faunus," he suddenly barked at Blake, causing her to flinch.
She would forgive him his lack of manners. He had proven to be somewhat barbarian in his way of thinking. "How did you-?" What worried her more was that he had figured her out even with her bow.
"You see it? The Juggernaut?"
"I –the what? How did you even know?"
"It's the way you move. The way you talk. Tell me what you see, girl."
"It –there's one with six legs. I-it's massive."
"Not just massive. Invulnerable. Our weapons can't hurt it and it grows tougher the longer you fight it."
If someone had punched Blake in her stomach at that moment, she could not have been more fazed. "What?" she exclaimed, panic making her louder than she wanted to be.
Yang groaned. "I can't catch a break without some asshole stealing my ability."
"Your what?" Yellowknife asked with had to be an attempt at a curious face. "Actually, never mind. Find a way to kill that thing and we'll all get to see another day."
"Yang," Ruby carefully said, "How can a Grimm have your Semblance?"
"I don't know," the blonde snapped back. "How can a psycho have my Semblance? These things are a plague." She clenched her fists and unfolded her gauntlets. "And I'm going to burn it down."
A Grimm with the same ability as Yang and Operative Blackwood? Humans could sometimes have the same Semblance, that was only natural. There were way too many people alive for each Semblance to be unique. But Grimm were pretty much the same in that they didn't have a soul and that they didn't have a Semblance. They had biological abilities, like the Nevermores that could shoot their feathers like projectiles, but that was basically where it stopped. But this was the second time that they were about to fight a monster with an unnatural ability. First it was the regenerating, mind-breaking Grimm, now this.
"It could just be a story," Ruby said with a distressed voice. "You know? Grimmface the Snarky one. Legends exaggerated through time."
"I hope you are right," said Yang. Her cheerful attitude had the tendency to break more often than normal, which really scared Blake more than all the other things. Her team –Weiss not included- was among the most cheerful and relaxed groups she knew of, especially Yang. That Blackwood-thing really got to the team. "Grimmface the Snarky one…what a load…"
"They're within range," the Major shouted from their left. "Open fire!"
Blake couldn't make accurate shots at this range with her pistol, but the Grimm were so densely packed that it actually didn't matter. Only Yang had the unfortunate limitations on her weapon, meaning that she couldn't engage the Grimm until they were closer. Ruby was the only one who had no such problems though; she embedded her scythe into the ground and opened fire on the approaching horde.
All around her, the humans defending their homes unleashed their fire on the Grimm. She could already see some of them fall, but the enormous one took the lead and came racing towards them with large, thundering steps that she could feel with ease. As it charged at their position, Blake was capable of making out its features. Its six appendages were covered with white, bony plates and ended in black claws. Its body was more elegant than that of an Ursa, yet more massive and heavily armoured than that of a Death-Stalker. Its head was unlike any Grimm she had seen thus-far though; sleek and pointed, easily a fourth of its entire body.
"Get ready men," yelled the Major. "Hold the line!"
Blake looked at Ruby and Ruby looked at her. She knew that they were thinking the same.
"If that thing makes it to the wall, these people will die," she told her leader.
"Not if we stop it first."
"Finally," exclaimed Yang. "Let's get cracking!"
The three of them jumped over the wall, unfazed by the trembling ground and the screams for blood. Their landing strategy was clear at this point; land and kill. No more endless debates about killing humans or Faunus, or talking about ethics. This was what she knew best; killing mindless monsters.
She aimed her pistol at the charging behemoth and opened fire, as did Yang and Ruby. Blasts of fire and munitions bounced right off of its tough armour plating, but at least they got its attention. Without Weiss to empower their strikes or slow their enemies, they could well be outmatched by this thing.
"Try it's stomach!" cried Ruby.
As the beast charged their position with surprising speed, Blake created one of her clones and dashed between its legs. Each leg was easily the size of an adult Beowolf and she had no difficulty getting past its defenses. For some reason it had stopped its charge, allowing her to slash across its stomach in rapid succession. But both her sword as her cleaver only created shallow gashes in the bony plates and by the time she had reached the end of its body, even her cleaver couldn't put a scratch into its armour.
"It doesn't work," she shouted back, dodging the monstrosity's tail as it flashed overhead. "The armour is too thick!" She watched Ruby dash across the brute's head, creating deep cuts in its flesh and causing giant droplets of black fluid to fall to the ground. But by the time Blake was back in a position to support her teammates, even Ruby's scythe could not pierce the skull again. What was that, anyway? It wasn't impervious to damage, but it grew immune to their attacks. If so, they needed to alternate their attacks.
They needed Weiss.
Yang threw herself at the Grimm, jumping right in-between its jaws. When the massive creature tried to crush her with its white teeth, the girl held its jaws apart with one arm, firing searing rounds down its throat with her other. Blake was always so impressed with Yang's immense strength; she had never seen any living being before that possessed such monstrous prowess and she doubted she would meet anyone besides Blackwood who could match her.
A deep, metallic rumbling escaped the creature's throat as it reacted to the ordnance that was being poured at it. The people on top of the wall were still firing on the other Grimm, but only a few shots ever pinged off of the hulking monstrosity's carapace. Blake figured that the humans must be trying to avoid hitting their team, only taking the shot when an opportunity arose. But they were very inaccurate and one of the shots impacted half a meter away from her.
She gave a yell of surprise and resisted the urge to shout at the defenders. So much for no friendly fire.
The Grimm whipped its head from left to right and shook Yang out of its jaws, before trying to stomp her with one of its legs. But the blonde was faster than that. The clawed leg crashed down on the ground and Yang grabbed a hold of one of the nails, before giving a loud shout and ripping it off, leaving a black stub on its toe.
Again the creature made those metallic, guttural sounds and this time Blake felt a shiver running down her back. Even though this thing was too slow to cause them direct harm, it would kill hundreds of innocent people if it ever breached the walls. Those civilians didn't have anywhere to run when the Grimm broke through. Winning had never been as important now, not even during their initiation. This was the first time Blake actively fought to safe so many lives and it thrilled her. It made her feel alive.
The monster tried to flatten Ruby with its head, but the redhead darted backwards and then retaliated with a series of quick attacks on its upper jaw. Blake could barely follow Ruby's blurring movements with that scythe of hers; she knew that each weapon had its own style, but she just couldn't wrap her head around how to wield such a big weapon and swing it around. Ruby's movements flowed seamlessly together as she hacked away at her foe's head, jumped back to avoid a counter-attack and unleashed several shots with her sniper.
The razor-sharp blade of the scythe caused deep gouges on the Grimm's face at first, but then it seemed like the weapon had been blunted or something like that, because it simply stopped hurting the thing. Ruby´s first three sniper-rounds created gaping holes across the lower jaw, but the fourth one merely caused a small dent and the fifth one lacked an affect altogether.
"It's growing immune to our attacks," shouted Blake.
"Then we give it everything we got!" Yang yelled in return. The blonde jumped at one of the legs as the Grimm moved towards her, tried pummeling its joint and jumped away when that didn't work. She moved on to the creature's back and started attacking what had to be protrusions from its spine, but after breaking one of them, those too grew immune.
The creature was starting to lose interest in them; with Yang still in its back, it started making its way to the wall. Not only that, but the other Grimm had also caught up on them and they were being pushed back slowly but gradually by the new enemies.
"Great," remarked Yang. "More of them!"
But this wasn't a total disaster; the other Grimm proved to be no more challenging than the ones they had faced before in Vale and while they couldn't stop the big one, attacking the smaller ones was no problem.
Blake stabbed a charging Beowolf in the face, tore her sword out and sliced a nearby Ursa across the stomach. She then created one of her incorporeal clones to distract a band of wolves, before decapitating them all with one fell swoop of her cleaver.
Meanwhile, Ruby made good on her Semblance by launching herself back and forth between at least four different groups of Grimm, killing one or two enemies each time she moved in a corona of red petals and slices. While her moves were by no means as coordinated as Blake's, Ruby was far more effective in chaining several attacks together in a large battle. She simply refused to believe that the giant Grimm couldn't be killed and even as the monstrosity lumbered on towards the wall, the little redhead kept changing targets to distract it.
And it worked. While Yang and Blake were occupied with keeping the actually vulnerable Grimm at bay, Ruby prevented the six-legged one from breaking through the walls. The defenders on the wall shifted their fire and engaged a group of Grimm that was approaching them from the side of the battle, unopposed by the three students trying to stop them.
"Yang!" Blake shouted as she watched half a dozen Beowolves leap at the wall.
The blonde didn't need more explanation. For some reason, the Grimm managed to stick to the stone wall and they were actually traversing the cold stones at a frightening pace. "On it!"
Following on Blake's call, Yang unleashed a two-handed blow on a giant Ursa and shattered its chest-cavity. She then used her gauntlets to propel herself backwards. She landed on top of a screaming Alpha Beowolf, crushed its skull with a kick and then jumped for the infested wall. She opened fire on them and knocked four of them off the wall with the shimmering bolts before her ammo ran out.
In the brief time Yang needed to reload, Blake attempted to shoot the remaining Beowolves off the wall. But an Ursa chose that exact moment to break through and strike at her, forcing her on the defensive. She needed both of her hands to guard herself and she was helpless to watch one of the two monsters casually pluck a gunner off the wall, throwing him into the freezing abyss below without giving it a second thought.
With an angry growl, she carved the Ursa's head off and aimed her pistol at the two feral monsters. But someone beat her to it; before the second Beowolf could choose its victim, one of the humans lunged for the creature and tackled it to the ground. Blake couldn't see who it was, only that the human got to his feet and aimed a one-handed rifle at the Grimm. A loud shot rang out as the brave warrior shot the downed wolf, before shooting the second one.
Blake stared at the lifeless, broken body of one of the civilians at the bottom of the wall and remembered how young some of the defenders were. While she didn't know any of these people, their deaths saddened her and bolstered her desire to slay the ravening monsters responsible for all this tragedy.
Ruby hadn't noticed it. She was still busy with keeping the giant Grimm distracted and even that didn't last very long. The girl had bought them several valuable minutes during which Yang and Blake had been able to skill at least a dozen Grimm a person, but nothing seemed to harm the big one anymore. She could see Yang shooting half a dozen rounds in a furious pace at the monster's side, before throwing the broken piece of claw at it with a furious heave ."It won't stop," she snapped.
"But we can hurt it," replied Blake, desperation gripping at her heart. "We need more firepower!"
"We don't have more!"
Ruby sliced a few Beowolves in halve before joining her teammates. "We need more time! I have an idea."
Yang and Blake shared a quick look, but neither of them questioned their leader. And a minute later, as most of the Grimm had been shot or driven off by the defending humans, the three of them were all that was left between the helpless civilians of the city and the unstoppable Grimm.
"At least it doesn't get stronger," commented Yang.
Blake was not amused. "Everytime you say "at least", something bad happens."
"Blake, don´t jinx it."
"Wait for it," muttered Ruby, eyeing the rapidly approaching Grimm with squinted eyes. "Wait for it…now, bumblebee!"
Blake rolled her eyes as she burst into motion. Ruby and her silly names…
She threw her weapon at Yang as the two of them ran past the creature on either side, flexing the black cable in front of the first two legs. Yang then pulled, launching Blake closer to the pair of legs, where she quickly spun around them. She then handed Yang her weapon, after which the blonde dug her heels into the ground and pulled. In the meantime, Ruby was peppering the toes with her sniper, deflecting shot after shot off of the seemingly indestructible limbs. "Keep pulling!"
Yang groaned as she heaved at the cord with all her might. Blake joined her and together, they tried to stop the enormous creature from breaching the walls.
They might as well have been trying to tug the city away; the creature was completely unburdened by the rope binding its legs and with each step it took, it lumbered closer to the city. Closer and closer, until Ruby was forced to abandon her position to avoid being flattened by the Grimm. Blake didn't see where the girl went, but she reasoned that Ruby had to have jumped on top of the thing in one last attempt to bring it down. How? How could a creature be hurt by one attack, but then grow immune to it? That was physically impossible!
And then the creature opened its jaws, pulled free of Blake's cord and placed the first pair of legs against the wall. The stone fortification groaned under the weight and that was even before the thing started adding pressure to its attack. A series of metallic, machine-like wails escaped its throat and it pounded against the wall with one leg. The stone underneath gave away and a part collapsed, forcing the humans there to retreat.
It pounded the wall a second time and a massive, vertical crack appeared. The Grimm raised both of its legs and Blake could hear Ruby shouting in a frantic voice. She didn't want to belief what was happening; a part of her imagined that they would get reinforced, that someone would come to help them kill this thing. But nothing happened and when the Grimm brought its legs down, it tore right through the wall and opened up a massive hole, as high as the wall itself and easily ten meters high. Just as it was picking up its speed to walk into the city, a vibration ran through the ground and something in the air shifted. Every single hair on Blake's neck stood upright and she shivered with discomfort.
"What's going on?" Yang yelled as the monster stopped dead in its tracks. "Why is it-"
The Grimm shook itself like a dog might and then turned around, sweeping its giant tail across the top of the wall.
"Get clear," shouted Blake and together with Yang, the two of them jumped away from the erratic monster. Ruby left its body as well, jumping from pieces of falling debris onto the breached wall.
She watched as the massive Grimm, fully capable of slaughtering everyone in the city without being stopped, left the battlefield. It squashed the bodies of the Grimm that had not yet disintegrated and, without so much as glancing around, set off towards the distant forest where they had come from.
"It left?" Ruby asked with a shocked voice. "Did we chase it off?"
Blake was feeling a killer of a headache coming up and she refrained from answering. She didn't know what had happened or why, but the fight was over and that was all she cared about. Who knew how many people had died due to this attack.
"That doesn't make any sense," yelled Yang. "It blew the wall and then just left?"
"Please," Blake softly whispered, "not so loud." The headache was definitely getting worse.
Ruby frowned. "These people might still need our help though."
"Quiet, please?"
"Let's go back to Yellowknife. I want to see if Weiss is alright. And everyone else."
Yeah, sure, thought Blake, be suspicious. Just be quiet while doing so. She didn't know where her sudden headache came from, but it hurt too much to really worry about.
The three of them carefully walked through the rubble that had once been a part of a sturdy wall. Normally, Blake could smell the death that permeated a battlefield. But this place was so frozen that she could barely smell anything.
She saw that the people inside were already attending to the wounded. It appeared that other sections had gotten attacked as well, though not as brutally as theirs. Still, it surprised her that the civilians could muster such a quick response to everything without mass panic. The wounded were already placed inside of an improvised hospital, ammo and weapons were being exchanged and reloaded and nearly all the dead had been covered with ragged blankets. A total of four people had died during the fight, including two people in their front.
Blake wondered if they could have saved them if they had fought harder. If they had found a way to damage that big Grimm more. If it hadn't retreated like it had…everyone would have died. Too many lives were at stake here. This place needed help badly.
They entered the hospital where they had last seen Weiss and all of a sudden, Ruby was gone.
Yang smiled and placed her hands on her hips. "Guess she really missed Weiss."
"Guess so."
They followed their leader to the room where they had last seen the Heiress, suffering from severe hypothermia. When they found the two of them, they were engaged in a very intimate cuddle. Blake felt her ears flush with heat and she was very careful that the two lovebirds weren't doing anything…else.
"We interrupting something?" asked Yang. She looked a bit skeptical, but Blake was certain that she didn't suspect anything.
"No," said Ruby, her voice muffled by Weiss's hair. "Just happy we are all alive."
"Right. Come on sis, I think Yellowknife wants to talk to us."
Weiss moaned. "Who is Yellowknife?"
"Just the military guy in charge of this place," said Blake. The headache was slowly abating, but she couldn't help shake the feeling that something was terribly amiss…a sensation she had been having for a long time now. Ever since she had found out about Onyx, really.
Yang looked over her shoulder and sighed. "So what now? Go after the rest?"
"Yeah."
"Wait." Weiss carefully flung her legs over her bed and tried to stand up. "Where is the rest? Aren't they here?"
Ruby and Yang exchanged a look. "No," the redhead tentatively said, "we sort of…split up after the storm hit us."
"You what?" Weiss loudly exclaimed. "You lost the others out there?"
Blake knew that the Heiress didn't mean it as accusing as she sounded, but she couldn't help but feel guilty about it.
"The Major said that there were places to take shelter," Ruby said with distress. "We could search there-"
"Which Major?"
"The Yellowknife, weren't you listening?" said Yang. "Listen, I'm sure they're all fine. They could literally be on their way here as we speak. Can you walk?"
Weiss huffed. "Of course you dunce!"
But when she got to her feet, her knees wobbled dangerously and she bent forwards to try and keep her balance. "Ah!"
Ruby caught her shoulders before she could fall and Yang smirked. "Don't dunce people before you can walk again, Weiss."
The girl blushed and Blake once again witnessed how easily the moods could swing in her team. She could have sworn that they had just felt shocked and disappointed because of their inability to stop the Grimm on their own, but here they were making fun. It had been the same thing when Operative Blackwood had almost killed Yang…was it some sort of coping mechanism? How would that work when someone actually died?
With Ruby carefully (and happily) supporting Weiss, the now united team RWBY set out to find Yellowknife. As it turned out, the Major was still busy with overseeing the defense of the wall. Weiss looked her normal, regal self again and Blake couldn't help but feel like the Heiress would start with the wrong attitude against the man.
When Yellowknife turned around however, she heard Weiss audibly gasp and she couldn't help but feel amused. Weiss was rarely confronted with the reality of the world around her and she could do with some firsthand experience on what was out there.
The Major didn't smile his cruel, stretched grin when he saw them. His face remained calm and emotionless as he watched them coming.
"I guess I should be thankful," he started, "for you saving this city."
"It's what we do," Ruby said with a smile.
"Mind telling me just what you girls did to chase that thing off?"
"It just turned around," said Yang. "It breached the wall and then it just…walked away."
Yellowknife made a sound that sounded like a combination between a disapproving growl and an understanding grunt. "It never got this close before. That thing is thinking, I'm telling you."
"We would really like to find our friends now. Do you have a map, or…?"
"There's a Global Positioning Mapper in the checkpoint near the entrance," said the Major. "It'll home in on the supplies in the hospital."
"Wait, supplies in the hospital?" asked Yang. "I thought there was a small village?"
"Like I said before, the doc can tell ya more bout it. If you don't mind, I've got bodies to bury. Families to notify."
Blake spotted the one-handed rifle resting in the Major's hand and made the connection between him and the man she had seen fighting before. "You killed the two Grimm on top of the wall," she said, "when they overwhelmed the defenses."
He looked at her with his intense eyes and Blake felt another shiver run down her spine. No matter how well-intentioned this man was for his people, he gave of weird fibers. She was not unfamiliar with facial scarring and she didn't care for the outward appearances of people…but this Major gave her the creeps.
"And you wonder how people know yer a Faunus," he retorted.
"Just an observation."
"A correct one. The doctor's working in the hospital. Ask for Cyan."
"We'll do that," Ruby quickly said. "Thanks for your help!"
The Major replied with another inaudible grunt and turned around, gesturing at two young men standing at attention.
Blake understood that Ruby wanted to get going and didn't have any reason to object.
"He was rude," Weiss later said as they were approaching the entrance to the city again. "He could have been more grateful; you three fought off a Grimm invasion on your own!"
Yang laughed. "Believe me Weiss, he was grateful."
"And resentful," Blake quietly added. She couldn't shake that little remark about the bodies the man needed to bury.
"Yes, he was," said Ruby, "but not with us. He was angry with himself for not being able to protect his people."
She refrained from asking Ruby how she knew that. The girl simply had a talent for figuring people out.
"That's one way of looking at it. But why be negative? He has been fighting off the Grimm for years now and people are still alive. Accomplishment right there!"
"It's not as easy, Yang. Every life they lose here is one that cannot ever be replaced, like in the big cities. These people only have each other and when one of them dies, everyone is affected."
Blake wanted to reply that Ruby was becoming more mature, but a commotion at the entrance caught her attention. She could hear people talking to each other and guns clicking and then, a very familiar voice rose above the noise and she had very little doubts that her team missed that.
"How about I shove that all the way up your-"
"Lisa, for crying out loud the man has a gun!"
She heard a dull "twack" and a man crying out in pain.
"No he hasn't."
Ruby grinned and disappeared around the corner, forcing the rest of them to run after her. They came across a very familiar scene when they found the little Rose again, namely team LACG forcing their way through a security checkpoint with their Adamant leader throwing an empty gun back at a disarmed guard.
"You need more ammo," she told the man, before spotting the others. "Ruby! You guys, you made it!"
"Lisa!" shouted back Ruby. "You are not dead! This is great!"
"Where were you guys fifteen minutes ago?" Yang asked as she bumped fists with Grace. "We could have used some help!"
"Neck-deep in Grimm, trying to survive the cold again," Jason dully replied as he nodded at Blake. "You guys?"
"About the same," said Weiss, glaring at Alessa.
"You wouldn't believe what we found out!" Ruby shouted enthusiastically.
"That's real cute dear, but we found something that's a bit more important," replied Lisa.
"Oh, you didn't," muttered Yang.
Ruby crossed her arms. "We found a new type of Grimm!"
"Underground lab," said Lisa.
"It had six legs," added Yang.
"It had five levels," said Grace.
"Does it really matter?" asked Jason.
"Yes!" Both Yang as Lisa shouted at him and he threw his hands in the air, signaling his independence at the situation.
"It was bigger than a Nevermore and a Death-stalker combined!"
"It had creepy biology labs and glass elevators!"
"It grew immune to every attack!"
"There were dozens of Grimm kept in glass tubes!"
"Wait," Jason then said, even as Blake tried to process what sort of freak lab LACG had managed to find this time, "a Grimm that grows immune? Did you guys kill it?"
"No," replied Blake. "It got away. You said you found a lab? Yellowknife talked about a lab, remember? He said it was locked."
Lisa shrugged. "Didn't look locked to us. Someone opened it up for us."
"And you found Grimm?"
"Seems like a common thing today," said Yang, not without sarcasm.
"So, where's JNPR?" Lisa then asked, looking around. "I still need Jaune's signature for punching an Operative."
Ruby looked down with a sigh. "We haven't seen them. Yellowknife said we should talk to a doctor before searching around."
Lisa scratched her head, shaking some snow out of it. "Yeah, you said that word before. What's a Yellowknife?"
"A man with too many scars and a bad attitude," grumbled Weiss. "And what are we waiting for then? Let's go meet that doctor-person! Perhaps he can guide us in a civilized manner."
"Don't forget why we came here, Weiss," replied Ruby. "We need that positioning map thingie. Did you find a security checkpoint?"
Grace gestured at the window to the left of her. "What do you call a place where people with guns tell you to "state your purpose" and "relinquish your weapons"?"
"A security checkpoint," Jason replied as he knocked on the window and started a conversation with the woman inside.
"What even happened to you guys?" asked Yang. "I take it you weren't allowed to simply march in here?"
"No kidding," said Lisa, "even after we helped them kill all these Grimm, they said they needed to wait on some official dude to come tell us we're okay."
"And what changed?"
The Adamant shrugged. "I got impatient. They got impatient. Things hurried up."
"Right."
Jason thanked the woman behind the glass and showed them a black phone. "I found the Global Positioning Map they talked about."
"Cho! How do you even know what that is?" asked Ruby.
"The VPD uses this to track transmitters and the like. So, doctor person?"
"Guess so."
With eight people in their group, it became a lot easier to find the hospital where the doctor Cyan was working. He had to be very important if the Major was willing to shove some of his problems away at him. Blake considered what she had heard about the possible whereabouts of team JNPR. There was an abandoned village, of which this doctor was a survivor. There were supplies stashed away in a used hospital of the village, which they could trace with their GPM. But why did they need to ask the doctor about the place if they could simply trace the supplies? Or was there more going on here?
Ruby walked up to the nurse who was busy separating a stash of medicines into different components. "Excuse me, Miss? Can I ask you something?"
"Of course my dear," replied the nurse. She had had bags under her eyes and she looked very tired, but still she managed to smile kindly at them. Of the humans who had acted nice against Blake back when she still dared to show her ears off in public, elderly women were a large portion of them.
"We are looking for doctor Cyan. Major Yellowknife told us that we could find him here."
The woman looked at Ruby for a few seconds, ignoring the fact that the eight of them were all heavily armed. "The Major told you? Oh my…that's a first. He rarely talks to outsiders anymore. Doctor Cyan is currently having a break. You should find him on the first floor."
"Thank you."
"Well, that was easy," Yang said as they walked up the stairs to the first floor. Team LACG had opted to stay behind and ask around, as eight persons marching through a busy hospital would be too much.
"We had to catch a break at one point," replied Ruby. "After everything that's happened."
"Yeah…Ruby? What are we going to do if Jaune's team is there, but Will and Mantis aren't?"
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked as she peered around the corner, searching for a room that wasn't filled with wounded people or frantic doctors.
"Those two aren't very keen on interaction with…living beings. What if we can't find them?"
"If we can't find them, nobody will find them," said Blake. "And that means they will find us."
"Yeah. Don't worry Yang; you know how it goes. Mission first, all other things in the world second. They'll drag themselves over here."
"I hope you're right…"
Ruby gave a cry of surprise and then tried to hide it as a cough. "I think I found him." She knocked on a door, which opened several seconds later.
Blake's first impression of the man was that he couldn't possibly be a danger to them. He looked harmless, with his thinning hair and his black glasses, but he had an expression in his eyes that she didn't like. She couldn't place it, but she just didn't like his eyes.
"Are you doctor Cyan?"
"Yes. What do you want? I am very busy."
"Major Yellowknife told us to come find you. Our friends are trapped somewhere outside the city and we think they might be in that overrun city."
His eyes narrowed. "And the Major said I could help?"
"Yes."
"I see… he must think I still have connection with the Hopeful Hospital."
Ruby pocketed the GPM that Jason Cho had given her. "He told us that this could help track the supplies."
"Did he now? I can agree to this. I promised to help people when I became a doctor in this city. If your friends made it to the hospital, there is a chance they are still alive. But even though the supplies were tagged. But they did not make it to the hospital…if you can protect me against the Grimm, I can take you there."
"Deal!" Ruby happily exclaimed. "Let's go!"
The man readjusted his glasses. "What, now?"
"Yes, no time to lose! Come on!"
"Wait, I have valuable research going on. We can't just leave now!"
"Why not?"
"Like I said, I have important work. If you want me to leave all that on some half-thought rescue, you will have to help me too."
"What is it you need?" asked Blake.
The doctor looked at her with his grey eyes. They did not possess the same, creepy intensity that Yellowknife's possessed, but there was definitely something uncanny about them. ""I heard rumors of an underground research facility around here. I have narrowed its location down to three possible locations. I will get you to the Hopeful Hospital, if you can get me inside that facility."
Ruby snickered. "How are so certain it exists if you heard rumors about it? That's just silly. No, what do you want?"
But the doctor insisted. "I did not see the facility, but the Major did, back when he was still a Captain. He and his superior couldn't get inside and they forgot to write down where on the grid they found it. But if you would rather search on your own, that is just fine with me. I am certain that your friends will be just fine in the freezing winds out there." His demeanor had shifted so suddenly that Blake was completely taken aback.
"Alright, fine, you made your point. You get us inside that hospital and we get you inside that lab," Yang impatiently said.
"Wait," Weiss then said, "didn't team LACG say they found a lab? If so, they could show him where to find it."
"Íf it's the same, I guess."
The doctor crossed his arms. "There is only one laboratory. If this…lack…found it, it must be the same. Do we have a deal?"
"Yes," said Ruby. "We do."
It was a risky gamble of Ruby's, but Blake guessed that it couldn't be helped. If there was a chance for them to find JNPR out there, they simply had to take it. They couldn't afford to waste time searching on their own…but if that hospital proved to be empty, they would still be stuck escorting this man to some underground lab. LACG may know where to find that, but RWBY didn't.
"Good. I'll grab my things and then we can go."
The man closed the door and disappeared into the room again. Blake glanced at Ruby and saw that she wasn't remotely looking comfortable.
"Ruby, are you sure? We don't even know what he wants with that lab?"
The redhead sighed. "I know. But we need to find JNPR…besides; he seems trustworthy enough,
"He does?" Blake asked with surprise.
"Yeah. It's the same as with the Major; a lot of self-loathing, but not towards the people around him."
"Who cares what the guy wants," snapped Yang, "we inform Beacon of our success and get the hell back to Vale."
Ruby placed an arm around her sister's waist. "Yang...relax… we're almost done with the mission."
The door opened and the doctor stepped out again, a thick coat hanging over his arm. He locked the door behind him and pushed his glasses higher up his nose. "Let us make haste."
The four of them followed the doctor downstairs, where LACG was still waiting for them. Alessa and Lisa were flanking the door, Grace was observing a paper on the wall and Jason was having a conversation with a maintenance man.
"Guys, we got a plan," Ruby awkwardly called as she followed the doctor down the stairs. "This is doctor Cyan. He will show us the way to where we…think…JNPR is hiding."
The doctor gazed around the room, eyeing each member of LACG. "Yes," he muttered, "this will do…quite nicely."
"This is the team that found the lab," said Ruby. "Lisa? We sort of made a deal with the doctor. He will show us the way to the hospital and…we show him the way to that lab."
"What, are you insane? That place was evil!"
"Is it now? How unprecedented. Evil is a term thought up by human beings," said the doctor. "That place could hold many secrets to the survival of these people. Would you deny them that?"
"That place is locked down. How are you even going to unlock these so-called "secrets"?"
"I will figure something out."
"Right. We'll gather our stuff. Ruby? Meet us outside the entrance in twenty minutes."
Ruby nodded. "Fine." As team LACG left the hospital, Ruby turned to face the doctor. "Mister Cyan? Why didn't Major Yellowknife take you to the lab? What is it you want in there?"
"Ruby, was it? You see…the Major is a man of duty. Every single action he takes is aimed at the wellbeing of the people that live here. I used to go to the hospital every few days to gather supplies, look for survivors who might come there, or otherwise work. But things got too dangerous and he stopped tasking his people to escort me there."
"The Grimm?"
"What else?" he ran his hands across his pockets, stopped and started searching them. "It appears I forgot my keycard. It must have fallen when I grabbed my coat…"
Blake shook her head as Ruby offered the man to help search for it. She didn't understand why LACG needed time to prepare, she didn't understand why the man needed a key-card and she didn't understand why they were making a deal like this anyway. She wasn't planning on forcing the man to show them the way, but…there was just something off.
Then she heard footsteps outside; multiple people were running towards the hospital. Could it be LACG? Were they back already? Or was this someone else? "Someone's coming."
Yang subtly assumed a combat position; she raised her hands somewhat, spread her legs out and faced the door, as if someone was going to attack them here.
The door opened and someone stumbled inside. Blake flinched at the sudden movement, but she recognized the appearance of the newcomer. The dark armour, covered with snow and a thin layer of ice, the faintly reflective helmet.
"Will, is that you?" Yang said with surprise.
The soldier grunted in response and took his helmet off, raining droplets of snow and water on the ground. "Yang? What are you doing here?"
That was an odd question. Taking shelter from the storm, of course.
"Finishing our mission to the North, remember?"
That too.
The Operative took a few steps closer and looked at Yang as if he wasn't sure that he was really seeing her. He didn't look wounded, but Blake wondered where he had hidden during the snow-storm. Not with JNPR and not with LACG, that was obvious, but…she wondered.
"Where did you come from?" Weiss asked impatiently. "We were worried!"
"I was busy."
"Will, this place is guarded. How did you pass the guards at the entrance?"
"There are more ways into the city."
Weiss groaned in frustration. "The city is in lockdown! These people were just attacked by Grimm, you can't just sneak in here!"
"I really don't care." He looked around the room and touched the scroll that was integrated on his wrist, already losing interest in them. It was weird how he had greeted Yang and nobody else.
"You should. The Major looks like he won't be pleased with anyone sneaking into his city," said Yang. "I'm not going to protect you if he wants to kick your ass."
Will looked up, surprised. "Major?"
At that point, the door behind them was kicked open. A new person barged inside, flanked by a bearded man wielding a revolver. Blake immediately identified the first one as Yellowknife, brandishing a large rifle and a very angry look.
"There you go," said Yang.
But no matter how lighthearted she made the situation feel, both of the aimed their weapons at Will and they even removed the safeties. They were ready to shoot with lethal intent, it seemed.
"I remember you," growled Yellowknife in the quietest voice Blake had heard from him yet. "I never forget a face.
"You were here before?" Weiss asked, but she nudged her side to keep her quiet. The Heiress didn't get how serious this was, but Blake did. She could feel the tension in the air that she had felt many times before when faced with humans; that electric charge that indicated that someone was ready to kill.
Will stared at the two with a blank expression before he frowned. And then his expression turned downright murderous. "Yellowknife!"
Before Blake could do anything more than stare in shock at the idiocy of the three males, Will charged forwards. The Major tried to slam the butt of his rifle into his face, but the Operative was too fast and dodged the attack. He then followed up with a series of quick punches to the scarred man's stomach and solar plexus and bashed his elbow into the face of the man with the revolver.
"Will, don't!" shouted Yang.
The Operative didn't listen. Before Yellowknife could recover from the first volley, Will fractured the gun-toting wrist of the bearded man and bashed his head against the wall, knocking him cold. Then he grabbed Yellowknife by his face and lifted him in the air with one arm.
"Go ahead," grunted the man. "Finish it. Murderer."
"She saved your life!" Will screamed at the man with more anger and fury than Blake had ever heard from him before. "She begged me to spare your life and I did!" His knuckles were white with the pressure and while
"Will!"
"You killed him!" Yellowknife roared back, his hatred rivaling that of the Operative's. "You scarred me and killed! Him!"
"She spared you! But no more!"
Blake cocked her gun and aimed it at Greystone. "Let him go."
Yang looked at her in shock. "Blake-"
"Let him go!" she snapped. She wasn't going to sit by and watch the soldier murder his way through everything. This had to end and if nobody was willing to, she would. "Now, or I swear I will shoot!"
"Do it," growled the soldier. "Free me or SHUT UP!"
Blake didn´t know what she was hearing –she didn't know what to do. Here were two people who hated each other enough to ignore everything for vengeance and one of them was a person she had known to never give a thing about personal feelings. She had never before met anyone who actually pushed the person with the gun to shoot. Was he crazy? Suicidal? Both?
"Will," Yang softly said, pausing a few seconds to let her voice sink in. "Drop him."
Blake lowered her pistol and took aim at Greystone's legs. If he was going to do anything to the Major, she would take him down with a few well-placed shots. His Aura had proven to be incapable of properly defending him in the past before.
But that wasn't necessary. A few seconds after Yang ordered him to let the Major go, he did as she said.
The room got quiet. Weiss was staring at the two males with a ghastly pale face and Blake could hear two people walking down the stairs. She didn't want Ruby to find out that these two had just tried to murder each other…but neither did she want to want to be the one to hide it from her.
"Blake," Yang started, "take Weiss and go upstairs. I'll take care of this mess. We'll find LACG when the doc's ready."
"What do you-"
"Just go."
Blake nodded and took Weiss by her hand, pulling her with her. Yellowknife was staring at Will with a loathing expression, while Will was staring down at the ground, as if he realized he had gone too far.
"Major," said Yang, "we have the situation under control. You should go check up on the repairs or…on the wounded or something.
"This ain't over," growled Yellowknife. For a brief moment, Blake feared that they would have to force him to leave. But then he turned around, hauled the unconscious body of his partner onto his shoulders and left.
And Blake left her own partner alone with that lunatic, who was growing more unstable with each passing day.
"The scientific ramifications if an ultimate bond between a symbiotic suit of armour and a human body are…unrealistic. Not only is there almost no known substance on this world safe for the rarest kind of Dust that can serve as the material, the human mind is also not capable of dealing with the biological reactions that take place."
"It is as you said, Miss Azure. If life can find a way, so can we. Dust will not be your problem. Money will not be your limitation. Test-subjects will not be your blockade."
"And the human mind?"
"If one mind cannot cope, can two?"
Next time: recalled memories, shared moments and a madman.