The Shadow of Fire
Chapter 14: Attack on the Titans Ship
The feeling of flying off into the sky while a giant airship blows your new home to chunks of stone and metal... that was a feeling that Weiss and Ruby would never forget, and hopefully never experience again.
The Bulkhead airship was quite the amazing piece of technology. The clunky yet stable aircraft weaved in and out of the way from random weapons fire, from Saturn's Flagship to the students on the ground. Once Professor Janus set the ship to bored the mother craft, its A.I computer system took control over the crafts speed and direction, able to detect when to move in a certain direction or just speed up. If it wasn't an enemy weapon and ship, Weiss herself would have personally bought a few for better transportation of Dust.
"Hey Weiss." Ruby said, checking over her ammunition, counting her sniper rounds. "Do you think we actually have a fighting chance?" The usually bubbly Faunus asked, tilting her head to the left a tad.
Weiss looked at Ruby with a confused look. "Well of course we do, why would you even think that we couldn't?" Weiss scolding the younger girl, giving Myrtenaster's Dust chamber a test spin.
"Well... It just I've never thought that in our first year as Huntresses... That we could actually die..." Ruby began, placing Crescent Rose to her side, replacing the massive, brute like weapon with her own tail. "I don't want to die this soon Weiss." Ruby said sadly, stroking her tail slowly and softly.
"Ruby..." Weiss said, placing a hand on the younger girls shoulder, looking into her silver eyes. "Don't think negative. That only makes it worse. And we won't die." Weiss reassured the Faunus, petting her head. "We have Orion on our side, so you don't need to worry so much."
"Is it that I'm worrying too much? Or are you not worried enough?" Ruby asked as Weiss pet her, turning her head at an angle to get a better feeling of Weiss's fingers.
"Attention all passengers: Commencing landing procedures. Please prepare for immediate exit of the craft." The computer spoke out, taking all of the tension in the room and replacing it with confidence.
"Ready to kick some butt?" Ruby asked Weiss, dropping her poor attitude and replacing it with her massive scythe.
"I wouldn't phrase it like that, but yes, I am ready for active combat." Weiss said calmly and confidently, readying Myrtenaster as the duo gathered by the metal side door, waiting for it to fling open so they could unleash their combined wrath upon the craft.
With a sharp hiss of compressed air, the side door to the Bulkhead flung open, revealing the massive hanger to the duo of R and W.
The pair of Heiress and Faunus had been prepared to immediately slice and dice any and all drone forces outside of the metallic doors of the bulkhead, but once the metal doors opened, they were both surprised to be greeted by a nearly empty hanger, nearly all the lights in the massive belly of the ship offline.
"It's quiet..." Ruby muttered quietly under her breath, her grip tightening on Crescent Rose as she hopped out of the bulkhead craft, her boots making a small "thud" as she landed.
"Indeed... Too quiet..." Weiss added on to Ruby's train of thought, leaping off the craft with grace, unlike Ruby.
The quiet hums of the ship combined with the distant explosions of the kinetic missiles was an eerie combination. Add that to the near complete darkness of the dim lit hanger created a dark Aura upon the hollow ship.
Weiss and Ruby slowly proceeded down the metallic hanger bay, moving to cover behind random crates at the smallest sound to avoid any detection. For all they knew, Saturn could have turrets or traps, all prepared for the scenario that someone was to find their way on board the craft.
"Weiss." Ruby asked in a soft whisper, looking around the darkness, Crescent Rose in hand. "Do you see anything evil looking?" The Faunus asked, looking at Weiss beside her.
Weiss shook her head quickly, looking back at Ruby. "No, nothing but a few crates and empty bulkheads." The heiress stated, Myrtenaster in hand to her left side. As Weiss walked forward, she felt a sudden and painful connection with metal against her right leg. Weiss quickly covered her mouth with her free hand to block out a muffled scream in pain, biting the inside of her cheeks at the same time.
Ruby turned to her partner, tilting her head slightly. "What's wrong?" She asked confused.
"I bumped into something because I can't see almost anything." Weiss said, turning to the sound of Ruby's voice.
"I can see just fine, is something in your eyes?" Ruby asked, worry adorning her soft voice.
"No… wait…" Weiss muttered, recalling a few classes on Faunus and Human culture back at Beacon. "You can see because you're a Faunus, you dolt! Nightvison!" Weiss hissed out, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Oh…" Was all Ruby could say.
"Well, what do you see?" Weiss asked, looking at her partner.
"Well, I see the exit sign... I think it says it goes to the main deck. So we probably could reach the command center if we..." Ruby began but abruptly stopped talking, taking a few panicked steps back.
"Ruby?" Weiss asked, following suit with the Faunus girl, not sure what or why she was moving backwards. "What's wrong? What do you see?" The heiress asked.
"Weiss! Left! Now!" Ruby said, diving to the right.
Weiss was about to question it when she felt a sudden change in pressure, causing her to dive to her left as instructed by her adorable dunce of a leader. Weiss rolled a few times across the floor, Myrtenaster escaping her grip and sliding alongside her, the pair of weapon and woman came to a stop on the metallic floor.
Weiss looked over to the spot where they had been recently standing, only to be greeted with a pair of red glowing drones. These weren't your random, everyday security or combat drones, they were death machines, monstrous in stature. And Weiss recognized them instantly.
Schnee Dust shipping defense drones, the ones placed on every single Dust train across the planet.
Spider Drones, or more appropriately known as Arachnid Class Defense Weapons. These were the most powerful Drones in existence; their ability to transform themselves into powerful cannons to destroy nearly anything. Add that factor with its ability to think freely, and you have one nightmare equation.
The two massive machines glowed with life, the internal gears moving around inside creating a mixture of a growl and click to escape from their bodies. The pair seemed to speak to each other through radio waves, both nodding as they departed from each other's side, both picking their own target.
The one which moved in on Weiss seemed be the slower of the twins, that or it seemed to be playing with Weiss rather than killing her instantly. The large mechanical spider moved in a counter clockwise circle around Weiss as she held Myrtenaster's silver handle in a tight death grip. Weiss knew she could best any robotic force thrown at her. After all, the Schnee Family Residence staff were instructed to teach Weiss to handle any type of enemy thrown at her, specifically drone class warriors. Before Weiss desired to become a Huntress at Beacon, she was taught combat against security and army drones. Back then, the training was for practical use, considering the fact that machine and drone weapons were an up and coming thing, and therefore a threat. The Schnee Family wouldn't dare leave Weiss without proper training to defend herself.
Weiss snapped out of her thoughts as she heard Ruby's battle cry off to her right, the wolf Faunus slicing at the spider drones legs and racing away before it had time to counter. The one before Weiss raised is twin cannons attached to its arms, firing two shots at Weiss. Weiss dove to the left, barely missing the blue projectiles as they slammed into the metal flooring, tearing up chunks of sharpened steel.
Weiss spun Myrtenaster's Dust chamber around quickly, setting it to the Ice or blue setting, the metallic rapiers blade glowed a beautiful light blue.
Weiss raced forward towards the machine, swinging Myrtenaster downward in a perfectly executed arc. The mechanical spider sprung backwards in order to escape the white haired teens attack. However, the drones front legs moved too late, freezing solid as Myrtenaster's sharpened blade touched the metallic flooring. The machines back two legs had already entered the air, causing the drone to lose its balance. The mech slammed its body down into the metal floor, causing a few crates to fall over in the shockwave. The two non-frozen legs twitched around frantically, a vain attempt at adjusting itself from its rather vulnerable position.
Weiss, having trained over a large period of time against these class of drones, raced forward to the bottom of the mechanical beast, said area unprotected at the time. Weiss ducked under the two large legs as they twitched around violently, spinning Myrtenaster's Dust Chamber to the Burn, or Red, setting. The heiress brought Myrtenaster upwards in a twin set of diagonal slices, cutting a massive square into the sheets of metal. A vast array of multi colored wires greeted the heiress, the core of the mech glowing bright red behind the wiring. Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster into the center of the core, a loud hiss emitting from the mechanical spiders body before it went quiet, its legs falling limp.
Weiss yanked Myrtenaster out of the dead spider and turned her attention to Ruby, still in heavy combat with the mech.
Ruby, at first, had been racing around the drones' perimeter, looking for gaps in its armor for a more effective approach. At the same time, Ruby would randomly dart forward, slicing at the mechs legs with Crescent Rose. Even with her enhanced speed, Ruby wasn't as smart as the drone. After a few quick attacks and retreats, the mech began to analyze the situation, scanning Ruby's speed and preparing for another attack. As Ruby sprinted forward with her scythe at the ready, the mech slammed one of its legs down at the younger girl. Ruby spun as the leg came down, dodging the damage from the leg at the cost of her cloak. The leg landed on the end of the younger girls' cloak, simply resting on the edge of the strong fabric. Ruby grunted loudly as she tugged and tugged at the cloak, attempting to escape the iron grip of the leg. In one swift motion, the spider drone brought another leg up, wheeling it back before moving it forward quickly, slamming into Ruby. Ruby was instantly shot across the hanger, giving a harsh cry in pain as she flew into a assortment of crates.
Weiss turned and glared at the mech, spinning Myrtenaster's chamber to its White setting, the most powerful one she had. The heiress raced forward in long, quick steps. Her heart raced as the idea of Ruby being injured flashed before her eyes. The usually calm heiress let out a harsh cry as she pulled up a Glyph in front of her, aiming for the air above the beast. As Weiss's white and blue boots connected with the Aura generated material, she shot up into the air, spinning in a complete circle before pausing in air, defying gravity. Myrtenaster's blade began glowing white, sections of white tracing series of words lost to the ages of time, like blood in a blood vein.
Weiss created a Glyph behind her body with her free right hand, the white, snowflake designed semblance hovering in mid-air with the heiress before rocketing her forward. The trajectory and angle of the Glyph should have been precise enough to give Weiss the ability to get the exact amount of speed and power to destroy the beast. However, she had made a large error.
Among the various known Semblance types, Glyphs are exceptionally rare, along with fire based abilities and speed abilities, and tap into not just ones Aura, but the persons mind as well. Before Weiss summoned the Glyph, her mind had been clouded with worried thoughts of Ruby, who had just been flung across the room. This set of circumstances lead to a poorly done Glyph creation, a faulty one that wasn't correctly summoned. As Weiss soared closer and closer to the mech, it became apparent that that was the case here.
The mech began firing light blue blasts from its twin shoulder cannons, its body shuddering as it fired round after round. Weiss summoned random Glyphs around her, acting as heat seeker targets for the blasts, protecting the girl. Weiss spun to the right before she would have hit the ground due to her poor Glyphs, slashing Myrtenaster in a diagonal path from the upper left.
Myrtenaster sliced into one of the four mechanical legs that the beast controlled, instantly cutting and dissolving the metal leg into small snowflakes. The mech fell onto its side, scrambling to stay alive in the situation. As Weiss moved in for the kill blow, the mech kicked one of its legs back at the girl, knocking her across the room.
Myrtenaster was flung from the girls hands, sliding to a halt a few feet away from where Weiss landed. In the time she had been sliding around, the mech had improvised and used a nearby group of crates as a crutch, allowing it to stand. Weiss's icy blue eyes widened as the
spider drone charged up its cannons, folding its body into one massive one that would put any weapon to utter shame. The glowing blue sphere of energy emitted a nearly blinding light upon Weiss, who refused to look away in fear.
This was the end for Weiss. And the heiress tightly closed her eyes and awaited her death.
... And waited...
Weiss peaked out of her left eye, slowly taking in the sight before her.
The mech had frozen in its position, its cannon nearly charged to full power, almost ready to end Weiss. What seemed to be keeping the mech still was a large, pure black scythe impaled into the drones chin. A tall man in all black stood under the beast, his dark cloak covering all of his features besides his one white hand, which kept a tight grip on the scythe.
"Who..." Weiss muttered to herself, staring at the mysterious man, looking for any sight of friend or foe by his actions.
The man twisted his scythe in his hand, the blade on the end of the metal pole seemingly connecting with something besides the metal, almost hooking onto something.
The mysterious man pulled the scythe back in a quick manner, the scythe exiting the mech with a strange addition. At the tip of the sharpened blade, latched onto it, was a replica of the spider drone. However, this one seemed strange, appearing as a misty image rather than a solid figure.
The image slowly condensed into a ball shape item, about as big as a scroll. The stranger pocketed the orb, tapping the butt of his scythe on the metallic flooring to the room. The flash of black that followed blinded Weiss for a few seconds before her vision cleared; the man gone and a lifeless husk of the spider drone remaining.
Weiss slowly stood up with a groan, feeling half grateful and half angry towards what just happened. Over three times has this strange man appeared, leaving only her to see him just before he disappeared, not even giving a name or anything to the young heiress. The white haired teen clenched her hands into fists, examining the lifeless husk of a mech before her.
'How was he able to just destroy it without any problems at all? Even Ruby and I weren't a match for... wait...' Weiss thought, her icy blue eyes widening as she recalled the minutes before he engaged the mech.
"Ruby!" Weiss cried out, running towards the area that she saw the girl crash at, worry racing through her mind. How long had it been since she had seen here? 3 minutes? 10 minutes? Longer? Weiss didn't know, and that wasn't a good sign.
"Ruby!" Weiss called out again, looking under crates and Bulkheads, darting around faster than Ruby could.
'What if she is knocked out? What if she got taken by a drone squad? What if-' Weiss thought, stopping in mid sentence as the sound of creaking metal came from above her. The heiress looked up, glaring at the sight before her.
Ruby was tangled up in a web of wires, arms and legs sprung out all over the place. Weiss was about to ask herself why Ruby hadn't called out for help when he realized that, in Ruby's awkwardly tangled up self, had somehow gotten her red and black tail stuck in her mouth, leaving her without the ability to call for assistance.
Ruby gave a small, muffled chuckle as Weiss face palmed underneath the trapped girl. "Need a hand?" Weiss asked, shaking her head at the girl above her.
Ruby nodded slowly, wiggling around quickly.
"Fine... This is going to be a long day."
A/N: Hi everyone! Thanks for reading this chapter. Just two more till the season final! YAY! I already have Chapter 15 half way done so it should be out by the end of the next week. Thanks everyone!