The Shadow of Fire
Chapter 5: Nothing can go wrong
"Weiss Schnee, it's quite the pleasure to meet you after all the trouble you caused my organization. My name is Saturn Laos, and your time is now at an end."
It was suicide, crazy, insane, and above all else, Ruby Rose's idea.
The group of five had already left the hospital thanks to the aid of Orion, teleporting and then appearing just a few blocks away from ground zero of the explosion. Several emergency response teams had already secured the zone and were attempting to douse the raging inferno, a vain attempt at saving any Dust that was stored inside the warehouse.
The group kept to the ever growing crowd of on goers, taking in all of the surrounding areas, attempting to locate the scum that were the cause of this.
"This has to be an accident." Yang commented to the other four armed fighters. "Why would they detonate a bomb inside the warehouse if they wanted to steal the new supply of Dust shipments?"
"No Yang, it's not an accident. It's a diversion. They want all emergency and police units busy so they can steal the good stuff, Schnee quarry Dust. They're probably at the docks." Orion explained, crossing his arms over his trench coat. "We need a way to reach the shipments, and quickly."
Weiss felt something hard hit her in the back and quickly turned to face Ruby, who had been silent the entire time. The young teen's tail snaked around in the air, repeatedly connecting with Weiss's right thigh.
"Ruby? Do you see something girl?" Weiss teased, giving a cocky grin towards the young Faunus, not truly knowing what she just said.
"Weiss! Stop that!" Blake hissed at Weiss, her ears moving furiously around in her bow.
"Stop what? She's a dog; dogs notice smaller details then us." Weiss countered as if it made perfect sense.
Ruby glanced at Weiss face before looking towards a small hole in a metallic wire fence a few feet away. Without a word, the cloaked teen began approaching the forced entrance to the docks.
"Weiss." Blake said rather loudly, placing a firm hand on the heiress shoulder as she tried to follow Ruby. "You may thing being a racist is funny, but it's not to us. You have no idea what she's going through." Blake continued as Orion and Yang passed through the fence.
"What are you talking about?" Weiss asked in an angry tone, a look of confusion and anger adorned her pale face.
"You just called her a dog... and made fun of her Faunus typing." Blake countered to the heiress.
"Think before you speak."
"Blake, I didn't say anything. I think I would know if I made fun of Ruby." Weiss argued back, crossing her arms over her chest in a defiant manner.
"Wow, just wow Weiss. You can be so stubborn at times. Think before you speak, racism isn't cool." Blake retorted, turning towards the fence and storming away from Weiss.
Weiss stood in shock, her mouth somewhat open. No one ever dared speak to her in that manner, much less a Faunus of all things.
'Wait... Did I say Faunus? Am I really a racist even when I don't know it...' The white haired teen though as she slowly walked towards the hole. 'Did I really say something mean to Ruby? She would know it was an accident, we're friends... I think.' She added to her own thought bubble. The teen frowned as she passed through the fence. At this rate, her plans to be more then friends with the redhead weren't going as planned.
The team regrouped behind a few containers of Dust, hiding in the shadows of the giant crates.
"What does security look like?" Weiss asked Yang, who just leaned out to get a look at the docks.
"Bunch of Fangs, teams of three patrolling around. They got hostages over by some boats at the end of the pier." Yang told the teen. "I don't know how we will get past them without a fight."
Ruby stood up tall, giving a small sigh in defeat. "I'll draw off the guards." She said quickly, reaching behind her back. The teen proceeded to un-clip her famous blood red cloak, her trademark symbol at Beacon. Ruby pressed it into Weiss's pale hands. "Take this; I made some modifications to it a while ago. It might come in handy." Ruby said before walking towards the end of their cover.
Weiss bolted towards Ruby and firmly grasped the younger teens arm. "No, I'm not letting you get hurt again."
"Weiss," Ruby said, her tail flickering wildly. "I'll be fine, since when do you care this much about my well being?"
"Since I realized that I... Just promise me after we are done here, we can have a private chat?"
Ruby's ears perked up slightly, her silver eyes shined brightly. "I promise." Ruby said quickly with a small smile as she pulled away from Weiss's hold, walking around the corner into plain sight as Weiss draped the newly gained cloak over her shoulder.
Ruby slowly walked up to one of the groups of three men patrolling around the groups area, putting on her best scared and worried face that she could.
"So I says to the guy, the White Fang isn't something to..." One of the guards trailed off as Ruby came it's his view, causing his allies to turn and face the new arrival.
"Misters?" Ruby asked in the most heartbreaking tone she could muster.
"Hey! What are you doing here brat?!" One of the guards nearly shouted, aiming his assault rifle at the young teens head.
Weiss could feel her heart beating at an incredible rate, almost bursting out of her chest. If this man pulled the trigger, there would be no hospital for the young girl to go to.
"Hey Cole, calm down. She's only a kid." One of the guards said calmly, kneeling down to Ruby's height. "Are you lost little girl?"
"Yes mister. My mommy said to ask anyone like me for help if I'm lost." Ruby said with that same tone, thinking about horrible things in her life to increase its effect on the men.
"Dan, we can't just let her walk around here, she could get hurt." One of the members told the one kneeling down.
"I know Tanner... Say my little wolf, can you take us to where you last saw your mother?" Dan asked Ruby gently.
Ruby nodded slowly. "Over this way I think." Ruby said and began walking towards the main entrance guarded by White Fang operative, with the three guards following the "lost" Faunus.
Weiss nodded towards the remaining trio in the group, slowly leading them past the guard's previous position and towards the boats docked at the end of the massive steel pier.
The quartet advanced along the shadows of the crates, creating a camouflage of darkness over the team as they proceeded towards the target vessels.
"We have to get this Dust out of these boats, this amount is worth millions!" Yang muttered quietly.
"This isn't right... Where are the Silencers?" Orion whispered to Weiss as they arrived at their destination.
"The what?" Yang whispered back as the group emerged from the shadows to board the largest of the ships with airships hovering quietly to the side of it, the command ship by the looks of it.
"Ah! That's far enough!" A chilly voice called out, the sound of a pistol cocking rang throughout Weiss's ears.
The quartet turned to face a group of White Fang; however this team wasn't a guard team.
Each wore a bright gold and diamond plaited chest piece of body armor along with matching additional armor attachments along with gauntlets and bracers. The tallest man before the rest held twin Desert Eagle high caliber pistols, clearly loaded with Black Dust rounds for maximum damage. The man behind him, between the two others, held a large battle axe, double bladed with a blazing Aura surrounding the edges of the massive Nora-like weapon. The remaining duo held massive black mini guns, massive steel containers on both of their backs to feed the ammunition into the deadly weapons, both displaying the White Fang emblem. The head of both mini guns had a depiction of a human skull, dried blood around the edges for added affect.
"Ms. Schnee... You are supposed to be dead along with your partners." The pistol wielder exclaimed, aiming right between her eyes.
"Leave the docks now White Fang. Or do I need to send you back to your boss in a casket?" Weiss suggested, ignoring the leaders words completely.
"How about this: We kill you just like Miss Rose, and we leave with the Dust. Sounds like a plan?"
Weiss gave a warm smile. "Check your information Fangs, she isn't dead yet."
"I'm sure we would know if she was stil-"
BOOM!
A massive explosion shook the ground as it did at the hospital, causing everyone to fall to the ground on impulse. Weiss glanced up to the direction of the explosion and saw yet another warehouse on fire; however this one was surrounded with White Fang, dead and alive. Massive fireballs of Dust and metal collided with the ground around the base of the building.
"Clearly you don't know anything." Weiss said with an evil grin, locking eyes with the Silencer leader. "Time for some pay back."
Weiss activated a Glyph directly under the Silencers, activating its power and sending the quartet flying into the air in separate directions. Weiss jumped up and pulled out Myrtenaster, changing the Dust cartage to "Ice" mode and activated yet another Glyph under herself, rocketing the heiress towards the leader's crash zone as her team followed suit into battle.
Weiss adjusted her trajectory as soon as the leader landed on the ground, going right for the kill shot. Weiss aimed her personal weapon for the leader's chest, planning on freezing him solid or at least his armor in order to get him taken out before the fight even started. However, right as she was within jabbing range, the leader aimed one of his pistols at Weiss. Before he could pull the trigger, Weiss's rapier jabbed into the side of the gun, freezing it solid.
The leader rolled out of the way of Weiss's attack and hopped up, holding his remaining desert eagle at her. He jammed his finger down on the trigger and began firing at the heiress.
Weiss acted on impulse, creating a massive Glyph in front of her body, sheltering her from the barrage of gunfire that crashed upon the semblance. The leader gave a growl of frustration and began racing around the heiress, attempting to find a weak point in her defenses. Weiss waved her fingers through the air, her fingertips glowing white as she created another Glyph in mid-air. As the leader would run around firing at random locations, Weiss's Glyphs would immediately maneuver themselves to the bullet just before it would make contact with her body, causing the ammunition to fall to the ground uselessly. Weiss gave a glance at the rest of the team, whipping a beat of sweat that had formed on her forehead. Weiss spotted Yang over by the end of the docks fighting one of the mini-gun solders.
Yang was having the time of her life by the looks of it. The eldest teen had both of her gauntlets activated and was firing barrage after barrage of Red and Yellow Dust projectiles at the gunner, who at this point was bleeding heavily from the damage he had taken in the short time. The mini gunner #1 pressed his thumb down on his weapons trigger and continued to rain down fire back at the teenage brawler. Yang "danced" around her little corner of the battlefield, countering a few bullets with Ember Celiac armor platting and with a few shots from them as well. Yang raced towards the gunner at incredible speeds, jumping and diving past each bullet just before it would have hit her. Yang closed the distance between herself and the gunner and brought her right arm back, bringing it forward in a savage punch.
The impact would have probably killed the turret user had he not raised the weapon to block the attack. Instead of hitting him, Yang's fist slammed into the black turret, breaking the metal and sending the front half of the mini gun flying into the depths of the ocean, rendering the weapon useless. The gunner wore a look of horror as the useless weapon dropped out of his hands, realizing that he was at Yang's mercy. The brawler brought her left fist back and with the momentum from the last punch, she slammed her fist into his chest, sending his unconscious body rocketing into one of the airships that was "parked" in mid air at the end of the dock. His body landed with a thud inside the aircraft and when he didn't stand back up, Yang bolted towards Blake.
Blake wasn't fairing as good as Yang had. The black haired teen had taken several hits to the body from gunner #2. The silent Faunus was hiding behind the cover of a Dust shipping crate while the last of the pair of gunners barraged the crate with gun fire, denting the metal into bullet hole shaped dots. With Yang's help, Weiss knew that the teen would be fine.
The last person Weiss looked at was Orion, who had actually decided to take part in the battle. The God was in heavy combat with the battle-axe wielding Silencer, who swung at Orion over and over with no signs of weakness or loss of strength. The Gods trench coat was in tatters, cuts marked his entire upper body. A strange golden substance dripped out of his wounds that resembled blood. Upon closer examination, it would be seen that Orion was actually wining the fight, despite the scene before Weiss's eyes. The axe user has a massive fist sized hole through his upper right leg, blood seeping out of it and dripping onto the cold stone pavement. How Orion managed to inflict that amount of damage upon the Silencer confused Weiss, but that was a thought for another time.
An angry growl drew the heiress attention back to her own attacker, who, at this point, had the most frustrated look that anyone could ever have. His eyes shot invisible bullets into Weiss's own orbs.
"Seems your plan isn't going too well." Weiss commented, flashing a cocky smirk in the leader's direction as the Silencer ceased his fire on the heiress.
"This isn't over Schnee, not by a long shot." He replied, reaching behind his back and pulled out a sliver and gray sphere. The soldier twisted the top of it and yanked off a small metallic ring off of the top.
Weiss's eyes widened as she focused in on the object.
A grenade.
Weiss knew her Glyphs weren't able to deflect something like that without it exploding, for the first time in the fight making her heart stop momentarily.
The leader threw the metallic sphere across the stone, running out of the way of the pre-explosion zone. A confident smirk adorned his face, remembering how during the new weapons testing the device managed to blow a 7 foot wide hole straight through a 10 foot wall of solid tempered steel and concrete. The only downside was its detonation time, but this would be complete overkill.
Weiss froze as the grenade stopped bouncing and rolled right in front of her, coming to a stop as it connected with her white and blue boots. She had the best combat training and Aura teachers in all of Vale, but the one combat situation that she was never taught in the Schnee household was how to deal with a grenade.
Weiss felt a strange feeling in the back of her mind as she recalled Ruby's words just before she left.
"Take this; I made some modifications to it a while ago. It might come in handy."
Weiss flung her right hand to Ruby's cloak and yanked it off of her outfit. The heiress had no idea of its combat usage or how to activate it but she had to try, running wouldn't solve anything at this point.
Weiss threw the cloak into the air on instinct, mimicking an action that she often saw Ruby doing when she was bored in their dorm room. 'If this doesn't work, then I don't know Ruby Rose at all.' The white haired girl thought quickly.
The red cloak dispersed into a cloud of bright red rose petals, floating quietly in the air as the leader disappeared into a maze of cargo crates. Suddenly, all of the petals began to glow bright red and flew directly at Weiss, enveloping the teen into a sphere of solid rose petals, cutting her off from the outside world.
A small click rang in Weiss's ears followed by three quick, consecutive beeps.
Then the grenade went off and Weiss's vision went dark.