Chapter 13
You Really Got Me
XXXXX
Yang stretched her arms over her head as she looked across the flagship's mess hall. James was talking to Basil, Winter right behind him, on the other side in a hushed conversation that she couldn't make out. He had walked back in a few minutes ago, beckoning Basil and ED-E over to the far side of the room. Now, Yang never considered herself to be particularly nosy, but curiosity was getting the better of her. Basil had been with an anti-Faunus gang until a few days ago when James had taken the guy under his wing. Upon first hearing this, Yang's initial, internal reaction had been one of disgust. Then she reminded herself that one of her best friends had been with a well known terrorist organization for at least a year. With a bit of perspective, she had decided to give Basil a chance and had found him to be fairly warm and likable. The fact that he admitted he had never actually hurt anyone made the situation a much easier pill to swallow.
Still, Basil's unique circumstances made her wonder exactly what he and James were talking about. Yang was tempted to slide a table or two over "accidentally" to try and overhear their conversation. But she held back the urge. When Blake had wanted to talk about Adam and her relationship with him, James had given them space; she owed him the same. That wasn't going to stop her from reading the conversation from a distance.
James looked like he was ready to go to war, more so than he usually did. He had that salvaged MG of his and two ammo crates on his back, in addition to his standard weapons. One was in a harness and feeding ammo into the gun, the other was fully sealed and strapped to his hip. Despite this, the conversation he was having seemed to be more personal and quiet. James looked concerned while Basil appeared to be uncertain. Then James stepped to the side and Winter moved forward, putting her hand on Basil's forehead. Yang stiffened. She recognized this. This was an attempted Aura awakening.
For a second, there was nothing. Then of bright green light shone off of Basil, hugging his body. Yang grinned widely. All right, someone else fighting alongside them. Winter stepped back as Basil looked down on his hands in shock. He threw himself at James, hugging him tightly, the older man doing everything he could to return the gesture while carrying his MG. Then, with a few more words, Winter spoke into a COM unit and the two turned away ED-E following. Basil, looking dazed, walked back over to where Team RWBY was sitting, all of whom were now looking at him. "What's up, man?" Yang asked cheerily.
"I-I just got into an Atlas Academy prep program," he said numbly, sliding into a chair. "A few months of training and then I take the entrance exam. Wow. I just-wow. Sarge always said I'd be lucky if I ever made chief latrine scrubber, and now I might become a Specialist one day." He gave a dazed smile. "Wow."
"Aw yeah!" Yang said, giving Basil a fist bump that made him recoil. "That's the way, little man. Up and onward, leave the regrets behind and make something better." Yang let out a hearty laugh. She now felt really bad for her initial thoughts about the kid, no matter how brief they had been. He had fallen in with a bad crowd and he needed to learn from that mistake, but he wasn't all bad. That being said, she had a sneaking feeling that she should give him some good advice, and maybe a bit of "encouragement" before he left.
"I'm-uh-pretty sure I'm the oldest one here," Basil said, awkwardly, looking around the table. "I'm-actually nevermind. It's not important."
"Too true," Yang said cheerily. "Now, just something you should understand." As she spoke, her voice dropped a bit. It was minor, but Basil noticed. "There's gonna be Faunus at Atlas Academy, maybe even your prep program. Now. I'm not going to accuse you of anything, I'm just going to make things clear. It'd probably be for the best if you didn't mention the crowd you used to run with, it'd probably be for the best if you didn't make any comments about them or their animal parts, and you may want to accept now that you're going to be working directly with them. Just my two cents." She idly cracked her knuckles, partially just to release some tension, but also ensuring that Basil was just on edge enough to prevent his attention from wandering. It was a little bit of tough love.
"Yang, you're bullying him," Weiss said, looking at her sharply.
Yang stretched her arms and leaned back in her chair. "I said I wasn't accusing him of anything and I wasn't."
"You're like your uncle sometimes," Weiss said, her nose wrinkling in disgust.
"Heh, I sure am," she said, smiling happily. Like Uncle Qrow? Heck yeah.
Weiss looked like she was about to say something when Blake tapped her on the shoulder, shaking her head as she did. Weiss looked as if she was struggling between two deeply ingrained desires as she looked back and forth between Yang and Blake before eventually capitulating. "Look. Basil. I understand that you've made mistakes. I've made mistakes too." She glanced out of the corner of her eyes at Blake. "Really, really big mistakes. I've said things I wish I could take back. I've-ugh."
She paused, looking frustrated with herself and running a hand through her hair. "I sound like a cheesy after-school special." She really did. Yang had been subjected to far too many of those horrible things to ever forget. It was an unfortunate side effect of growing up with a sister that was two years younger than her. If she never saw another episode of Blanchette the Huntress and her Woodland Friends for the rest of her life, it would be too soon. She would say that Ruby had eaten up that garbage when she was young but had implied past tense. Yang was fairly certain she had heard a familiar theme song when Ruby was watching her scroll on the other side of the dorm-room.
"I'm just going to say this Basil," Weiss said. "We've all done things we've regretted. It's easy to assume things without taking other perspectives into account. James considered your perspective, other people did it for me. We owe it to them to follow their example. A lot of times the world is hurting people in ways they didn't recognize." Weiss's voice got quiet. "I know what it's like to not be able to see the pain of others because you're dealing with your own. Sometimes you need to remind yourself to keep an eye open. Please promise me you'll do that." Weiss's voice sounded a little strangled.
Basil looked overwhelmed. "I-oh boy. I never thought I'd meet two Schnees, let alone get life advice from one." He bit his lip. He looked like he was struggling with his inner thoughts. "I'll try. That's all I can promise. I'll try as hard as I can. James and your sister put a good word in for me, so did General Ironwood. I don't want to let them down and I want to do some good."
Weiss nodded. "Fair enough." At that point, a pair of soldiers approached Basil from behind. Yang recognized them from the raid back in Vale, Dodger and Lapis He gave them a nervous smile. "Um. Well, I hope I see you around."
Yang smiled and waved, as did Weiss and Ruby. Blake's face, which had been stoic up until this point, permitted a small smile of her own. "Just remember," she said. "This is a fresh start."
"Yeah, it is," he said, trembling ever so slightly.
"Kick butt!" Ruby cried cheerfully. Nodding, Basil followed Dodger and Lapis away, out of the mess hall and towards a landing pad where Bullheads were kept on the base. Yang had a good feeling that, if they were going to see him again, it wasn't going to be for a while. "I think he'll be ok," Ruby said firmly.
"Aw, Weiss, you were all kind and supportive," Yang said teasingly, leaning towards the heiress. "Were you guiding him onto the right path? That's so sweet."
Not saying a word, Weiss idly poked her finger between Yang's eyes and pushed her back, Yang sniggering every step of the way. "It was sweet Weiss. Thank you. For everything you said." There was a beautifully soft smile on Blake's face.
Weiss turned the faintest tinge of red. "I was just being honest," she said, sounding flustered. "I find that when you speak from experience, people tend to listen to you better."
"Regardless. Thank you, both of you." Now her eyes were on Yang. "Everything you do means so much to me." Now it was Yang's turn to go a little red in the face.
"Ah, it's no big deal," she said, trying to play it off. This was a little embarrassing. Blake had certainly been on her mind but in general, she had been trying to make sure the kid knocked off his bad habits early on. She didn't know how much of his motivations for joining the Hunters were anti-Faunus or just anti-White Fang. Now Blake was acting like she had done something special and Yang didn't know how to react. Thankfully she was saved from this awkward conversation.
"Uncle Qrow!" Mentally thanking Ruby, Yang spun around in her seat to see Uncle Qrow approaching, looking worn out.
"Hey Pipsqueak, hey Firecracker," he said in his practiced lazy voice. "Don't mean to drag you away from your friends, but is there any chance we could have a minute?" Yang felt her spirits leap. Time with Uncle Qrow? No way she was passing that up. She and Ruby both shot Blake and Weiss questioning, pleading looks. Blake let out a small laugh and made a shoo gesture. It brightened up Yang's mood even more. Blake had looked either serious or stressed for the past couple of weeks, it was a nice change of pace to see her smile again.
Weiss tried, poorly, to hide her clear distaste at Qrow. "Oh, he is your uncle," she said in a voice that was equal parts irritated and sincere. "Just don't take too long, I've heard General Ironwood will have an announcement for us soon." She was deliberately not making eye contact with Qrow. Ah well, couldn't be helped. Uncle Qrow certainly wasn't an everyone person. "Actually, we'll give you some space." Getting to her feet, she marched off, half pulling Blake behind her. The Faunus girl looked surprised at first but didn't fight it.
"Little too much of her sister in that one," Qrow said as she watched Weiss go, taking a seat between Ruby and Yang
Ruby frowned. "She's nice once you get to know her," she said defensively.
"I'll take your word for it, I've got enough projects going on without getting started on another one," he said. Then he sighed. "Look. I want to be honest with the two of you. You're stepping into dangerous territory, volunteering for these missions in Atlas. Hell, volunteering for the missions back home in Vale. You're fighting dangerous people."
"We've proven we can handle ourselves," Ruby said proudly.
"You fought a crime boss and the White Fang twice," Qrow said sternly, frowning as he did. "I'm not saying anyone could do that, but you need to keep things in perspective. These Legion people may not be the best with Aura, but they're damn brutal. If there's one thing I respect about Walker, it's that he's taking them seriously. The things he went out there and did to get the coordinates for them."
"You know what happened then?" Yang asked. "He kept the details scarce when he called Weiss, he only gave the full explanation to Winter. Basil wouldn't tell us either. He would just laugh and change the subject."
Qrow gave a wry grin. "Well. Your new teaching assistant went out and massacred an entire anti-Faunus gang with a machine-gun and landmines. Did a pretty thorough job. It reminded me of, well." He paused. "Yang? Ruby? I want to ask you something. How much did Tai ever tell you about Raven?"
Yang blinked. James had massacred an entire gang? That was what he had used those landmines for? But her attention only stayed on their new teacher's aid for the briefest of moments. Raven? Mom? "N-no," Yang said, utterly caught off guard. Ruby's eyes went wide, looking back and forth between her and Qrow. Yang had never talked about her mother with Ruby much, only saying that she was looking for her. Ruby had been sympathetic to Yang's search, but Yang could tell she had never cared about it with the same depth Yang had. It made sense. Summer Rose was Ruby's mother, Raven had never been in Ruby's life. And Summer had been the best mother Yang could have asked for. But Raven, the woman who had given birth to her, the one who had disappeared when she was still a baby. Yang needed to know. She needed answers. "He always clammed up."
Qrow 's smile vanished. As his jaw shifted, Qrow looked as if he was ten years older. It was a little jarring. Yang had always known that Qrow wasn't exactly a spring chicken if anything he was ten years younger than James tops, but it was still disarming to see the normally confident and strong Qrow look so tired. "Tai and I never did tell you where Raven and I came from. Well, we can't put it off any longer. Raven and I came from a tribe in Mistral called the Branwen Tribe. Walker had a name for people like us, Raiders. Everyone else just called us bandits, because we were. Raven and I were sent as kids to train at Beacon Academy, not because they wanted to make the world a better place, but to learn Huntsman and Huntress techniques and then come back to the tribe."
Yang felt her jaw go slack. Her mom and Uncle Qrow were bandits? Ruby let out a confused squeak while Yang pressed her hand against her temple in shock. "You and mom killed people?"
Qrow held up his hands defensively. "No, the Branwen tribe are brutal killers in lots of ways, but they never stooped to the level of the Legion. They didn't make the kids fight, if only because they wanted us to live to adulthood when we would be better warriors. Raven and I were that plan in action." He put up three fingers. "Combat school and three years at Beacon Academy, and after that, we were supposed to drop everything and head back home. We teach the others everything we learned, then we became an unstoppable fighting force. Just one problem."
He gestured to everything around him. "Tai and Summer were warm to me in a way that the tribe never were, and Ozpin gave me a higher calling. So I could either stay at Beacon and help people or go back and kill them to empty their pockets." He shrugged. "Wasn't much of a choice, easy really. I thought it was an easy choice for your mom too." Something shimmered in Qrow's eye. "I mean it was, just wasn't in the way that I thought. I...Tai and Summer both deserved better than what she did." He looked guilty.
"Wait, hold up," Yang said, her mind feeling like it was sagging under everything. "You and Mom grew up with bandits and mom-" she paused, her thoughts moving too fast to properly organize. Qrow had to be playing a prank on them, a sick and elaborate prank. "Mom went back to them?"
"I wasn't sure for the longest time," Qrow admitted. "She dropped off the face of Remnant without giving any of us a word of goodbye. For a decade and a half, I didn't hear a word from her. Until just after the attack on Vale." Undoing his flask, Qrow took a long, heavy drink.
Yang's heart quickened. "I saw her," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "On the train when I was fighting Torchwick's lackey. I thought I might've been seeing things."
Qrow lowered his flask, a heavy look in his eyes. "She mentioned that. She wanted me to pass along a message for you. She would only save you like that once. Anything else and you would be on your own."
Yang was at a loss for words. Her own mother wouldn't lift a finger to help her. Ruby spoke up when Yang failed to. "How could she say that?" She sounded outraged.
"The Branwen Tribe is ruthless, no other way to say it," Qrow said bluntly. "They killed without hesitation, without blinking, and they did it for everything they needed to survive." He scowled. "And they were firm believers of survival of the fittest. Kind of like the Legion. They didn't have the kids fight, but we were still expected to pull our weight. Pickpocketing, steaming food, stuff like that. And if we got caught, we were on our own. They didn't tolerate weakness. Raven said that what she did was a kindness from mother to daughter. A deviation from the norm. And it wouldn't happen again. She also said that if you wanted to see her again, you would have to go to her."
Yang's back straightened. Had she heard that right? Go to her? As in, she could go to see her? "Did she say where?" she asked hesitantly. Ruby shot her a shocked look, but Yang ignored it. The mother that had never truly been in her life. Even if she was a bandit, she deserved to know everything she could about her.
Qrow looked more morose than Yang had ever seen him. "Yeah, she did. And a few weeks ago I would've told you how to get there. Now I don't think they're there anymore. They'll have moved on, and if they didn't, it's not safe. The Legion is looking at them as potential allies."
Yang felt like her brain was sagging. This was too much at once. Mom was a bandit? The people they were fighting wanted them on their side? The rapists and murderers? Qrow noticed. "She won't agree to it, none of them will. Even if they've got similar worldviews, the Branwen Tribe is only in it for themselves. They won't waste blood on a conflict they don't have a horse in. Besides, they don't have a lot of moral boundaries but they do have a few that are enforced fiercely. No rape for starters, I've found evidence that Raven's been enforcing that rule. Violently. People like that are incompatible with the Legion, and that's all if Raven's pride would let her take orders. And speaking as the man who shared a room with her for twelve years, it never will."
"So, what's going to happen with Mom and the rest of the tribe then?" Yang asked, feeling more confused than ever.
"I don't know," Qrow said honestly, shaking his head. "From what Walker said, Caesar doesn't take rejection well. If they get the time they may try and attack the Branwen Tribe. Raven would be able to carve through most of them herself, but the rest of the tribe? Unless she got a lot more Aura users in since I've been there, I don't think they'd stand a chance. Granted, this is all if the Legion attacks them, and they're on the wrong continent for that. So it's a question of whether or not the Legion lives to get off of this continent and if the Branwens let themselves get pinned down."
The dots started to connect in Yang's head. "Do we...do we want to stop that? Save them?"
Qrow shrugged. "If you want me to be honest, Raven's the only one in the tribe I've got any love for, and even that's looking pretty frayed nowadays. But I don't want her to die. I couldn't tell you what do I want with her, but I know I don't want my sister to die. It's up to you to decide what you want to do in regards to her. Meeting up with her is off the table though, at least until the Legion is dealt with. So I want you to think about that."
Yang nodded. She felt numb. "And James?"
Qrow sighed. "When I saw what Walker had done to that gang, it reminded me of Raven. That was exactly the way she would've handled the situation. No warning, no hesitation, no survivors." He frowned. "Minus one. And that's where things get weird. The place where Walker and Raven take different paths. I thought I was finally getting a bead on him, and then he goes and throws me off like that."
Qrow leaned back, looking amused. "From what Walker said, it seems like Earth has a lot of tribes like the Branwens, some even more brutal. I thought he might be from one of them. The way he's perfectly happy to loot his victims reminds me all too much about what the Branwens would do after they were done with a town. But sparing someone? Never. I've never seen someone with that combination of idealism and cynicism. Frankly, it feels contradictory."
"What are you trying to say?" Yang asked, feeling confused. "That we shouldn't trust him?"
"I just want you to know what kind of person he is, because I think I have a pretty good idea where he's coming from," Qrow remarked. "He came from a place where you couldn't run and call a Huntsman or a cop, where things were a lot less stable. I can tell from the way he handled this. But something's going on under the hood with him. And I kinda want to figure it out if we're gonna be stuck with him."
Yang looked down at the table, not sure what to think. Ruby ducked her head down, looking at her with concern in her eyes. "I know I just gave you a lot to think about, with Raven and Walker. But I did it because I know you can handle it. Both of you" He gestured to the mess hall around him. "You two made a big call coming out here to face the Legion and the White Fang after what you've seen them do. You're not kids, not anymore. And you're on the fast track to becoming fully-fledged Huntresses." Despite everything, that brought a smile to Yang's face. Ruby's too.
"Now, this doesn't mean I think you two should go getting cocky, you've still got a lot to learn. You never stop learning. Heck, I'm still picking up some new tricks here and there. But how here, in the field? It's where you're gonna learn the most." He reached forward and tussled both of them. Yang closed her eyes as she let the pleasant sensation wash over her. "I think you should talk to Walker when he gets back. Get everything from the horse's mouth. For all the problems I have with him, he won't string you along. And he respects you two. Which is good because we'd have a problem if he didn't. But if you're willing to sit down with him, you can learn a lot." Qrow grinned. "I'm not though. I'm gonna go spy on your teacher. Gonna stay five minutes behind them and see where they go."
With that, he got to his feet. Yang let out a hearty laugh. Then she realized her uncle wasn't joking. "Wait, what?" Yang asked.
"Don't wait up!" he said, merrily strolling away.
Yang looked after him, wondering if she should bother trying to stop him before deciding that would be a waste of time. She slumped into her chair. "Sis? You ok?" Ruby asked. She was using that quiet voice she used when she wasn't sure if things were about to blow up.
Yang rubbed her eyes. "I have no idea," she said honestly. "I've been looking for my mom for so long and it turns out she ran off to rob and kill people? I just, I don't know. I don't know what to think and I don't know what to do. I can't just drop it, I've been looking for too long, but what am I supposed to say if I finally meet her? Hey mom, what's the daily loot looking like? Did you manage to kill a traveling merchant?" The frustration was beginning to bubble up inside of her. Then her sister's hand looped around her.
Ruby smiled. A small, sweet smile that silently promised: "everything's gonna be ok." Like air leaking out of a punctured tire, Yang's anger slowly began to fade. "Let's not worry about that right now," Ruby said. "We'll figure out the right thing to do, I know we will. We'll figure this out." She squeezed Yang's hand. "But until we do. Wanna get your butt kicked by your little sister in some one on one?"
Yang's face cracked open in a devilish smile. Ruby's happy expression faltered. "Oh. I'm going to destroy you."
XXXXX
James idly watched the snow gently falling from the back seat of the car he was sitting in. Privately, he didn't feel comfortable looking anywhere other than out of the window. His stomach felt like someone was inverting it if he focused on anything inside the car; he wasn't quite sure how Pre-War America had managed to get by with these things. A small shiver passed through him. Even with the heating that Han's car provided, he was still a little cold. The cold something he couldn't help but despise, no doubt a side effect of spending so much time in the Mojave. He had only been in truly cold territory, aside from Atlas, once in the last five years. It had been a truly miserable experience. James closed his eyes.
He was back in Utah. The palms of his hands were in utter agony as he forced them to clench around a revolver at the man in front of him. "This world is hate, and I am its greatest pupil. Bring your courage, your righteousness... measure it against my resolve, and you will fail." Everything on James hurt. Bruises were forming all over him, and his hands were still in agony from where Marko had driven the bullets through them. Despite this, he still had the strength to let out a grunt of exasperation.
"Careful there Marko, you might cut yourself on all that edge," he spat out. "Seriously, I grew out of that phase when I was twelve, aren't you a little old to be spewing nihilism cliches and acting like they're deep wisdom? But you want to talk about resolve? This is the second time I've crawled out of a grave to kill the asshole who put me under in the first place."
Marko snorted. "You killed a two-bit performer who was playing at gangster. I get that your types love the bravado and the boasting, but that's the trump card you're pulling? All the stories about you and the one you offer up is this anti-climax? I'm starting to think I did more damage to you than I thought. That's why, even if by some miracle you win, I'll die with a smile on my face. You'll be nothing but a broken man after this, the scars I've left on you will be permanent. You won't be remembered as the man who killed Marko. You'll be remembered as the man Marko broke."
James had had enough. He had spent too much time shooting his mouth off as it was. He was killing this son of a bitch. "I was never very religious, but do me a favor. Wherever you end up, be sure to say hi to your failure of a brother." Marko's face, which up until that point had been utterly unflappable, twitched. His hand flashed, raising his revolver. James was pulling the trigger on his.
James blinked. He was back in Remnant. Slowly, he peeled off the glove on his right hand. The scar where the bullet had gone straight through his palm was still there. It had taken him some time to get the full use of his hands back, after a year he had bounced back to his pre-injury level. He had walked away, Marko had died. And he had burned a good portion of his political capital to ensure that Brookshire's career, and life, were ruined.
The more he thought about it, the more Marie F. reminded him of Marko. Both of them were irritating psychopaths who thought that they were far deeper than they were, they both mistook wanton cruelty for some philosophical statement, they were a pair of morons who didn't seem to recognize just how stupid they were, and neither of them knew how to shut the fuck up. But they both had a dangerous level of combat skill that meant that they couldn't easily be ignored.
If he had to put some kind of difference on them, Marko seemed to have a compulsive need to prove he was the smartest man in the room and everyone's convictions were pointless because of pseudo-intellectual mumbo jumbo, while Marie F. just didn't give a fuck and just wanted to get her rocks off. Just not in a sexual way. Well. James hoped it wasn't in a sexual way.
Winter broke the awkward silence and pulled James out of his thoughts. "Do you have any siblings, Mr. Walker?"
"Yup, I'm the second oldest of five," he said, still looking out the window. "Older sister, younger sister and a young pair of twins, a boy, and a girl. The twins are pains in the ass, because aren't they always. Haven't seen them in a while, courier work took me pretty far east for a few years. Then the war happened." He didn't want to think about his family right now. If he did, he'd start wondering if he would ever see them again. "You got any besides Weiss?"
"A younger brother," Winter remarked. "Unlike Weiss, he and I have not stayed in contact. He is fonder of our father than Weiss and I are. There's a bit of a wedge there." James had enough to go on from what Weiss had said about their father to form a basic picture. Winter was disowned, Weiss was chafing under her father's uncaring nature, but the little brother was closer? He sounded like he either lacked empathy or was daddy's little bootlicker. Possibly both.
James nodded. The awkward silence fell back into place between the two of them. The only other noise in the car was Han humming a song in the front seat, one that he had just started to sing the lyrics to. "The space-age robot, he's at your command. The space-age robot, his power lies in your hands." James gave him a confused look, taking his eyes off the window for the first time. Han didn't react for obvious reasons, not until Rota spotted James in the rearview mirror. She gave Han a gentle nudge. "Ah, my apologies. My mind wandered to a show I used to watch when I was a child," he said, grinning as he turned to look without seeing at the two of them.
For someone his age, Han's teeth were in remarkably good shape. James didn't see a single one that was missing, broken, or even yellowed. Maybe Remnant spent more time and resources on keeping teeth healthy than Earth did. James felt around the inside of his mouth with his tongue. He was missing two of his wisdom teeth, they had rotted around a decade ago. God, getting them out had been a truly miserable experience. If they had better treatment here, he had to get on it. Arcade had taken a look at his teeth a month ago and had said something about cavities forming.
"You said your sister did opera singing?" he said. It was a weak opening but it was all he could think of at the moment. Thankfully, Winter took him up on it.
"Yes, I did," she remarked. "I managed to link you a few tracks of what she's done. I could've sworn I sent it to your scroll." James blinked. Had she? "You need to check under your email for that one, it's the envelope button."
"Oh, thanks," James said. "I'll look into that when we stop." Again, the awkward silence fell over them.
"I think you'd have more to say to Qrow," ED-E beeped. James grunted.
"Róta tells me that you've got an odd little drone with you," Han said from the front seat. Shifting, he turned around and faced Winter and James. "Tell me, it's hard to tell with all that beeping, is he talking to you?"
"Yeah," James said, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Han. "He wasn't always like that, he was fairly automated at first. Things happened though. Got him a software upgrade." After what happened in Ironwood's office, he wasn't ready to think at all about what had happened to the other ED-E. The one who had sent his memories back to the ED-E in the Mojave, turning the emotionless eyebot into the foul-speakered smartass that James called friend.
"Oh, that's fascinating!" Han said. "You know, I handled robots when I was in the military, combat engineer. If we get the time we should-" but what Han wanted to do, James never found out. A faint whistling noise reached his ears. The next thing he knew, there was a vicious explosion and the car violently jerked to the side. He was thrown into the set in front of him, his seatbelt going taught, as they swerved. Róta seethed as she fought with the steering wheel, slamming down on the brakes. After a few horrifying seconds of James feeling like his insides were being randomized, it finally stopped.
Róta spun the wheel and floored the acceleration, only for the engine to make a weak, sputtering noise. She slammed the dashboard in frustration. "Out, everyone," she rasped. "Under attack!" Confusion pulsed through James, but it took a backseat as he heard what Róta said. Instinct took over. He spotted smoke coming from the right side of the vehicle, towards the front and the engine block. The car had swerved after being hit, but it hadn't turned. Whoever had hit them had done so from that side. Ripping his seatbelt off, he dove for the left door. Winter was one step ahead of him, she had thrown the door open and was now crouching down, peering over the edge of the car.
"How many?" he whispered, kneeling beside her and flipping the safety on his salvaged MG off before pulling his helmet and gasmask on.
"Five," Winter said softly, drawing her blades. "They're heading our way, not even bothering to keep to cover. They're cocky." James poked his head up, looking over the car. He had been expecting the pale armor of the White Fang, or the crimson and silver of the Legion. Instead, he saw five people and only one of them belonged to the Legion. Rumford, an elegant, silver cybernetic arm having replaced the one he lost, was grinning from ear to ear as he leered at them. And he was with the very last people James ever expected to see him with. Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, Cinder Fall, students that had been visiting Vale, and Roman Torchwick, the man who had disappeared from Ironwood's custody. For some reason, Cinder had traded her leather outfit for a red dress that stopped just above her knees. How she wasn't freezing to death was beyond him.
They came to stop in the middle of the clearing that the car had been stranded in. The drive had taken them quite a ways away from Mantle, the skyline of the city was now only barely visible in the distance. There was only the dirt road they had been driving on and a moderate level of snow-covered trees. It was a perfect ambush position. "The fuck are they doing?" he hissed, ducking back down. "Are they with the Legion? They've got Caesar's mad dog with them."
Before Winter could answer, Cinder's voice echoed in the crisp air. "James Walker. You've caused me so much hardship, so much suffering." Winter looked at him silently, her body tense. James had seen this more times than he could count, the posture of someone ready to fight for their life.
James blinked. He had to stall for time and weasel out some information. They were outnumbered and pinned down. "That doesn't narrow things down for me, I'm a busy man. Could you please be more specific?" He was only half being a pedantic asshole. There were around half a dozen possible things he had done on Remnant that she could be talking about. "Can't we talk about this? I thought we were getting along just fine when we first met." His heart was pounding, fight or flight instincts starting to kick in. Cinder Fall had seemed a bit intimidating, but he hadn't pegged her for an enemy. And yet she had just put a hole in the car he had been riding, declared she had a grudge against him and isolated him. What the hell was going on?
Her eyes narrowed. "Don't play coy with me, Walker." Her hands curled into fists and something odd happened with her eyes. A strange trail of pale orange energy was leaking out of each one. Something about this made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Something was different about those streams of energy. It had an otherworldly tinge to it that he simply couldn't get a read on. "The plan you ruined after your little talk with Rumford. Months of preparation ruined, all because of you." Cinder looked as if she was attempting to maintain a refined and dignified appearance, elegant body language and a relaxed expression, but the anger blossoming on her face ruined it. "How?"
Ever since he had seen the five people facing him, James's mind had been a maelstrom of questions. Why were they doing this, what were they getting out of it, who were they taking orders from, and a thousand other questions. Cinder had just given him a piece of the puzzle that didn't solve everything but tied together much of the bigger picture. The unknown foe that had been causing mayhem before he had even gotten hear. Either Cinder was her or was taking orders from them. "Oh, that plan?" He held up the Platinum Chip, putting it well over the cover he was crouching behind. "A douchebag in a checkered suit came up with the exact same idea three years ago. Thought he could take over Vegas with it. What, did Rumford not tell you that? Caesar was the one who killed him. Nailed him to a piece of wood when I came looking. Caesar and I had a great big talk about it, I'm pretty sure half the camp heard it."
Instantly, Cinder rounded on Rumford, just as James had hoped she would. The anger on her face transforming into full-blown wrath. Up until this point, Rumford had been wearing a smug, self-confident smirk. It vanished into thin air. "Wait! Hold up!" he said, holding his hands up defensively. "I joined up with the Legion after the second war! They didn't tell me what happened before!"
James wasn't listening. He had ducked down behind the car, desperately looking around for ED-E. The eyebot slowly drifted out of the car door, keeping as low as he could. James knew he didn't have long before Cinder's attention was back on him, so he leaned forward and began to whisper. The window he had bought himself was small. "Get help. Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury were the ones working in the dark. They have Rumford and Torchwick. Stay low and hide in the trees. Don't let them see you."
There was the tiniest of hesitations. "You're not allowed to die," ED-E beeped as softly as he could. James gave the robot a brief hug before he began to float away, staying as low to the ground as he could before disappearing into the trees behind them. As he vanished, James realized that Winter had been watching him the entire him. She gave him a look of approval and nodded. Now, if the worst came to worst, at least ED-E would be able to get the names of their attackers back to Ironwood. He hoped. But he would have to ensure that attention stayed on him.
Once again, he peeked up over the car. Rumford was truly terrified of Cinder, backing away with the submissive body language of someone afraid they were about to be hit. "So what's the deal exactly? You working with the Legion? Because if you are I need to tell you right now that you're getting the raw end of that arrangement. The Legion doesn't care for people with lady bits." He had wondered if his big fat mouth would ever get him killed, it seemed that today might be the day. Winter, as if to prove the point, winced ever so slightly at his comment. Despite this, she wasn't idle. She drove her sword into the ground, one of her Glyphs lighting up around her. The look she shot him spoke a very simple message: keep stalling.
Cinder's attention was now firmly back on him, Rumford looking visibly relieved. "The Legion? Those petty bandits playing at conqueror?" An assessment James couldn't help but happily agree with, or at least he would have if the situation was better. "Do not insult me more than you already have Walker. What I orchestrated is far greater than anything your Caesar could ever dream of."
"And that would be what, exactly?" James asked. "Don't tell me it's just take control of the robots and declare yourself god-empress. That's just a Luddite-free and half baked version of what Caesar has going on." He sometimes wanted if he secretly wanted his death to be slow and painful.
He had hoped that Cinder would rise to the bait, that she would rant and scream at him and give ED-E a few more precious seconds to get away. Instead, she smiled. It was a horrible and cruel smile that promised nothing but suffering and pain. "Now, why would I share my secrets with a corpse?" And she held up her hand. Sensing that the time for talking had passed, James heaved up his machine-gun, planted it firmly on the car with the bipod keeping it steady, and opened fire. No trigger discipline, no conserving ammo, he simply clamped down on the trigger, the MG devouring the belt of ammunition.
He focused the roaring machine-gun and the half-dozen rounds per second purely on Cinder. For the life of him, he couldn't say why, but something primal inside of him was screaming that she was the most dangerous of the five in front of him. Even considering the dangerous nature of Rumford's Semblance, Ironwood's warnings about Torchwick, and the unknown capabilities of Emerald and Mercury, he had a horrible feeling that Cinder was the biggest threat he had met since arriving on Remnant. His brain had not reverberated this badly when he had fought Lanius.
It was a gut feeling that proved to be frighteningly true. Cinder idly raised her spare hand up in front of her, flames glowing around it. Every round that he fired was swallowed up by that hand, Cinder wasn't even buffeted. "Fucking magical horseshit," he hissed. Cinder's allies weren't even moving to help her, they were all content to watch with smiles on their faces. Unless he was mistaken, she had ordered them to do this. Fuck it, all or nothing.
Ceasing fire for the briefest of moments, James went for his last plasma grenade. And about six Dust grenades. Ripping the pins out of all of them, he threw them in a jumbled mess at Cinder, all of them landing within spitting distance of her. Her body tensed at the sight, but before she could react, he had begun to lay down a hail of suppressive fire, dozens of chewed up shell casings stumbling to the ground. Her hand went up again to block it, but her divided attention cost her.
An orb of green, a bloom of red, a shock of electric blue, and several regular explosions flared to life. They engulfed Cinder, blocking her from sight. James never stopped firing. Even as a tell-tale rattling behind him told him that he was going through the belt fast. She wasn't dead, the grenades wouldn't do it. They hadn't killed Adam or the Blue Bull, they wouldn't kill her. Aura had a breaking point though, it would help push her close. If he could just pump out enough damage, maybe it would be enough.
Far too soon, the MG swallowed up the last of the belt. "Winter!" he shouted as the smoke began to clear. Ripping open the cover of his weapon, he grabbed the end of the reserve belt of ammunition and jammed it into place. As he did, the Glyphs below Winter expanded, glowing with a new ferocity. One of the demonic wolves that populated Remnant emerged from it, except it was pure white. Letting out a roar, it charged forward, teeth bared and claws outstretched.
A lone arrow shot through the dust that had been kicked up, right through the eyes of the apparition. It crumbled like a house of cards, disassembling into tiny particles that drifted apart like snowflakes on the wind. Winter's face had adopted a familiar neutral and guarded expression, but just a shade of color drained out.
James slammed down the cover for the MG and cocked it as the dust finally cleared. It was as he had feared, Cinder was unharmed, she only looked a tad rattled. She now clutched a bow that glistened like glass, where she had gotten it, he had no idea, that was pulled taut and aimed at him. "Well this is certainly something," said the very last person James wanted to hear. "You've got a nice little feat of engineering there, but that was made to kill Germans obsessed with skull measurements and the economically illiterate. Not gods." James wasn't sure if he could handle House's voice being the last he heard.
"What a minute, that's my gun you fucking cunt!" Rumford wasn't much of an upgrade. The man started forward extending his new arm out. Now that he took the time to look at it, James was taken aback by just how impressive it was. Sleek and smooth, the joints bending and twisting with all the efficiency of a regular arm. What resources did Cinder have to give him cybernetics that rivaled the very best of what Pre-War Earth had to offer?
These thoughts were cut short as a plume of purple smoke erupted from the palm of his metal hand. His aim was true, but his target was invalid. James took it full in the face, his protected face. "Get. Back." Cinder growled. James couldn't see a thing through the smoke, but he very clearly heard a yelp of pain. At once, the smoke ceased. Rumford was lying on the ground, roaring in pain as an arrow stuck out of his stomach, glowing with inner heat. Cinder glared at him. "Stop anyone who interferes, but he is mine." That had gotten a reaction out of the others. Torchwick was taking slow steps back while Emerald was shooting nervous looks at Cinder. Only Mercury was still looking at James, a smug smile on his face, but even he looked as if he was watching Cinder out of the corner of his eye. "Watts put you back together before, he can do it again,"
She wasn't paying attention, but the lapse wasn't big enough for him to make a run for it. Whatever she was, she had Aura; Aura broke under strain. Hers was more durable but she wasn't invincible. "Oh, keep telling yourself that," House said.
"Will you shut the fuck up?" James growled. Winter looked startled. Oh. Oh fuck. She had heard. He had slipped. Later. Focus on that latter. Cinder would notice him again. He had to act, now. The MG roared to life.
Cinder staggered back as the bullets tore into her side. The glowing in her eyes intensified as she rounded on him, hatred etched into every corner of her face. "You think you stand a chance against me? ME!? Did Ozpin even tell you who I am?" Under different circumstances, this would've sent James's brain racing. Ozpin keeping something from him would've been something groundbreaking if he wasn't doing everything in his power to not die. As it stood, the dangerous woman with otherworldly powers that seemed to spike above the average for even Remnant took precedent.
He didn't say a word. For once, his giant fucking mouth was clamped shut. All of his attention was diverted to firing every single round his MG had. Cinder responded as she was continually buffeted. An arrow assembled itself in her hand, glass shards that appeared from nowhere coalescing together to do so. She knocked it and fired with the speed and grace of a master. James braced for pain piercing his body. Nothing came. The arrow streaked by, missing him by inches. Then there was the softest of thuds in the snow behind him. Mere seconds later, the machine-gun fell silent. His brain, already hopped up on adrenaline, took no time at all to put two and two together. She had severed the ammunition belt. Fuck. FUCK!
Shotgun, NOW! It was loaded with slugs, anything less wouldn't be up to snuff. He dropped the MG, not particularly caring what happened to it anymore, and went for the drum barreled weapon. His hand had just closed on the grip when a hand closed vice-like around his throat. Cinder's face was now an inch away from his, the scowl of fury replaced with a twisted smile, the kind that promised eventual death, not a speedy one. Her other hand was extended behind her, a column of fire pushing them both forward. He barely had time to register that they were both flying through the air before his back was slammed hard into what felt like a tree.
"James!" Winter was up, a glyph flashing to life in front of her. But before she could act on it, a dark green blade on the end of a chain arced forward, wrapping itself around her throat. It went taught and Winter was pulled back. She almost lost her balance, her face going red as air was cut off, but drove one of her swords into the ground to anchor herself. On the far end of the chain, Emerald raised a pair of pistols, once of which had the chain extending out of it, and opened fire. Winter twirled her free blade, bullets pinging off of them, but quite a few were getting through. She could only do so much while struggling to maintain balance and being choked at the same time. Instinctively, James tried to aim his shotgun at Emerald, his grip on the weapon still intact. He got it halfway up before Cinder grabbed it by the middle of the barrel.
"Don't worry about her, I'm content to just leave her dead out here," Cinder said. She sounded as if she was trying to do a poisoned honey voice, but it came off as all poison and no honey. "That's a mercy compared to what's awaiting you." She meant it. She had spent an unhealthy amount of time contemplating what twisted fantasies she wanted to take out on him. She would keep him alive for days if she could manage it. Heat was starting to build around his throat. It was uncomfortable at first, but it quickly rose into a sharp pain. Cinder's hands were glowing bright orange, both the one around his throat and the one gripping his shotgun.
He tried to force his shotgun up, but he only got it a few inches before Cinder's grip forced it to be still. Cinder's body was rather lithe, but the force holding him back was ironclad. While his right hand attempted to lift his weapon, his left was desperately tugging at the arm strangling him. He might as well have been spluttering pleas for his life, not that he was certain she would hear them. Wait. Hear? A desperate idea popped into his head. With newfound desperation, he heaved his gun upward. The smile on Cinder's face widened as he merely gained a few inches, the barrel facing well away from her. "Please. Stop embarrassing yourself. And take off that stupid mask."
One of her fingers flicked up. The straps on his gas mask and helmet snapped undone and both were sent flying. The sting of the bitter cold bit into his face as he gagged. Burns were starting to tear their way into his throat, the fire down there getting even stronger. Once again, he yanked at his shotgun, forcing it up another inch. It would miss if it fired. The trajectory he had just barely managed to establish brought it parallel to her head by half a foot. And right next to her ear. "In the end, you're just a pathetic, worthless, washed up, old-" Cinder began. James pulled the trigger.
An explosion thundered as the shotgun fired. Right in Cinder's ear. Whatever protective qualities Aura had, it didn't block sound. James's half-assed theory was proven valid as she recoiled, instinctively clapping her hand over her ear. In the process, she let James go. Gasping for breath, his neck still burning, he jabbed forward with the shotgun and fired another blast right next to the other ear. Both of her hands were now clamped over her ears, an animal instinct response to the overwhelming sound, her eyes shut. Tossing his gun up into the air, James caught it by the barrel and brought the stock swinging down. With a crack, he caught her in the crown of the head, forcing her face down into the ground.
As he flipped his shotgun back over, he shifted just enough to check on Winter. She had driven the point of her sword into the chain strangling her and given a hard twist. It was enough to uncurl the grip around her neck, enabling her to bound forward and break free, both swords in hand. But now Mercury was joining in with Emerald, doing some flashy moves with his meet to send shining white projectiles at Winter as Emerald continued to fire. She was outnumbered, but at least she was mobile. Sadly, James couldn't see what he could do to help so long as Cinder was still alive.
Plug her, point-blank! He leveled the barrel of the shotgun at the back of Cinder's head. Explosion after explosion flared from the weapon, slugs being fired a mere inch away from the woman's head. If this had happened to anyone else, their gray matter would've been reduced to shredded mush on the white snow. But whatever force was protecting Cinder was holding, not even flickering as shot after shot was fired. "Cinder! Hold on, I'll-" Emerald cried out, only to be cut off mid-sentence as she let out a cry of pain. Winter was still fighting, good.
All too soon, the shotgun clipped empty. James was slowly starting to panic. A belt and a half, a drum barrel, and half a dozen grenades, and Cinder was still moving. Your Semblance! Bloody Mess! You need Bloody Mess! He stepped back, shifting the shotgun to his left hand as he moved to press the button on his Pip-Boy.
Or rather, he tried to take a step back. A hand grasped firmly around his leg, bringing him to a sudden halt. "You're a miserable little nobody. I'm going to make sure you never forget that." Cinder got to one knee. She looked up with the deepest of hatred in her eye. Then she opened her palm. At once he was engulfed in fire. Even though Aura it was pure agony, heat pressing on him from every angle, blinding him, suffocating him.
He fumbled and felt his finger press the Wild Wasteland button, but he couldn't see two inches away from his face. The screen was beyond him and he could feel the fire eating away at his Aura. His heart pounding, he grasped for a fresh drum magazine. He didn't think, his hand closed around one he was normally violently opposed to using. The engraving was unmistakable to his fingers. "DB."
Whipping it out, he slapped it into the shotgun, cocked it, and opened fire. Pointing it downward, he fired at the only frame of reference he had, the hand clasped around his leg. He emptied half of the barrel and felt the grip slacken. There was his opening, his opening to get the fuck away. The fire thinned, the heat falling as an accompaniment, and he saw Cinder. She was on her feet now, her bow was gone. It had broken apart and reformed into a spear. A long, curved spear that glowed with its own heat in the form of intricate markings. James pivoted, turning to run. Cinder thrust the spear forward, driving the blunt end into his gut. Even through Aura and armor, the force of the blow forced him to double over, a dull pain spreading through his stomach. Before he could recover, a follow-up blow caught him in the chin with such force, he was knocked off his feet.
He landed in the snow with a dull thump. At once, he attempted to raise his shotgun, only for a high heel to slam down on his wrist, earning a yelp of pain as his arm was pinned. Cinder was directly above him. Her spear in hand. "You've been a blight on my work for too long. You're just a stray pawn that Ozpin picked up. You should've remembered that." She threw her spear. James had no time to dodge. It connected with the left side of his face.
James wasn't quite sure what happened after that. It was hard to describe, but it almost felt like his body had experienced an overload and was rebooting one function at a time. He couldn't feel, he couldn't hear, he could barely remember who he was and what he was doing. Then he heard something. Someone was screaming in utter agony. He struggled to understand for a moment. Then something occurred to him. The roaring was coming from an incredibly close source, and the voice sounded quite familiar. Two and two connected. It was his voice.
He was still in the snow in Atlas, and he was in the most pain he could ever remember being in, howling without restraint. The white-hot spear had torn through the side of his face and left the remains feeling as if they were on fire. His one free hand was clutching desperately at his left eye, what he hoped to accomplish by doing so he had no idea. "What?" Cinder asked. Something was wrong, he couldn't quite hear her right. The noise was muffled on his left end.
Fighting through the pain, he forced his mouth shut and his head up. Cinder was still standing over him, foot on his wrist. Instead of haughty or hateful, she looked confused. At least he thought she did, his vision was obstructed with one eye covered. His hand shaking, he uncovered his eye. The darkness didn't fade. No. Oh God please no.
"Ah, there it is," Cinder said, realization dawning on her face. "You're more like Ironwood than I realized. More tin than man. But you were always playing a role too big for you." He tried to get up, but his limbs felt like they were made of jelly, unable to even push him up an inch before they slipped and collapsed. Cinder smirked at the display. "I think I've made my point." There was a sound of glass breaking and her spear reformed in her hands. Again, James attempted to move at all, struggling for his shotgun. Something, anything that would get him out of here. Desperately, he glanced at his weapon. It was still pinned, nothing was moving there. Nothing except the display on his Pip-Boy. Fallout Boy was standing there with his arms out, eyes closed, and a smile on his face. A nuclear cloud was erupting behind him. Below him was a timer for thirty seconds and two words.
Nuclear Anomaly.
Twenty-nine seconds. Twenty-eight seconds. Slowly, the timer ticked down. A faint hope sprouted in James. It was a small chance, but it was all he had. He had to think fast. "Ozpin did tell me about you," he said, his voice a weak rasp. "He told me everything." Time wasn't on his side, the edge of his already limited vision was going dark. Somewhere he couldn't see, he heard the sounds of gunshots and Winter screaming something.
Cinder paused just as she was about to thrust down. Tauntingly, she held her spear a mere inch away from his eye. "Then tell me this. Where is Ozpin hiding the Fall Maiden? Where is the rest of what's mine?" James has no idea who or even what the Fall Maiden was, and if Cinder realized that he was dead.
"They keep moving her around," James said, his mouth moving faster than his brain. "She's never in one place for more than one night. But she's never too far. Ironwood has a high response team on standby, they hose down anyone who gets too close. Tonight they're gonna move off the continent though. Legion has them spooked."
Cinder snarled. "That Marie F. woman? She wants the Maiden's power for herself? She'll learn the same mistake you did. The mistake of crossing Salem." Something ticked in the back of James's brain. He had a name. He had to get out of here with that name. "So, where is she now?" James glanced at the timer again. Five. Four. "What are you looking-" Cinder began, but her voice died as her eyes went wide.
"Winter! Duck and cover!" James shouted, his voice so weak that the shout felt more like his normal speaking level. Two. One. Zero. Everything went white. Deafening explosions produced a ringing in the ears that James was familiar with, but that wasn't what he was experiencing. Whatever happened seemed to just swallow up noise. Then the whiteness faded. He saw the damage.
A crater, several times his length in diameter, had formed around him. Trees around him had been reduced to shriveled husks that had been flash burned in a nanosecond, the snow had been vaporized into a small pool of uncomfortably hot water that was sloshing around James, and his Geiger counter was crackling more loudly than he had ever heard. Above him, a mushroom cloud was forming, stretching up towards the sky. Cinder was lying well outside the blast radius, staggering to her feet. An auburn aura flicked around her before it died.
James felt something tighten inside of him. Her face was dotted with blisters. Her Aura had broken. Summoning whatever strength he had left, James raised his shotgun and fired. Once again, Cinder's hands flew up, fire licking them and swallowing up the pellets. Even the fire from the Dragon's Breath shells wasn't finding its way to her. Victory was so close, he just needed to get one good shot in. Come on! Think!
Before he could come up with a way to surpass Cinder's guard, however, there was a loud cracking sound. A wall of ice erupted between the two of them, separating them. James barely had time to blink before a blur of white appeared in the corner of his eye. The next thing he knew, someone had wrapped their arm around his waist and he had been lifted off the ground with staggering force.
Through his good eye, he saw her. Winter. She looked battered, bruises were starting to form on her face and her uniform was tattered and torn, but there were no serious injuries visible. The arm that wasn't holding onto him was holding her combined weapon out in front of her. A path of Glyphs stretched out in front of them, carrying both of them forward at a breakneck pace. "James, listen to my voice!" Winter said, her voice professional but with a strain of tension for it. "Focus on it as much as you can! Whatever happens, you need to stay awake!" Right, if he went into shock odds are he wouldn't be coming back from it. That wasn't something that bothered him though. Jubilation coursed through him. He hadn't been able to finish off Cinder, but it didn't matter. They had a way out.
His hope died a quick death. The sound of shattering ice echoed from behind them, Cinder had made quick work of Winter's barrier. Winter noticed, her eyes narrowing in concentration. Her weapon jerked back and force, the Glyphs in front of them adopting a zig-zag pattern as the pair of them continued to speed along. It was a good tactic, making herself a harder target. It didn't matter. A horrible whistling noise rang through the air, starting from far away before homing in on them. Without warning, it vanished. Three sounds followed in quick succession: the tingling of glass breaking, the wet tearing of flesh being ripped asunder, and a cry of pain.
Winter's arm sagged, the Glyphs vanished, and both of them tumbled into the ground. Mercifully it was a soft landing, but that was the only silver lining that they had. Forcing himself up, James saw a glass arrow sticking out of the back of Winter's right calf, crimson blood dripping out and staining both her white uniform and the snow below. James's heart stopped. She came out here to keep an eye on my stupid ass. Why? Why does she need to die with me?
He attempted to force himself into a kneeling position, but all of his limbs were shaking so badly from the effort that he collapsed face-first into the snow. "James, stop!" A pair of hands grabbed him, firmly but gently, by the shoulders. Winter, sitting with her legs splayed around her, pulled him up into a sitting position with his back to a nearby tree. Even sitting up felt strenuous now, and he no doubt would've ended up on his back if the tree wasn't handling the majority of his weight.
He looked down at the shotgun still in his hands. Cinder's fires had done more damage than he had realized. The barrel was warped beyond all recognition; there was no salvaging it. Dropping the ruined weapon, he drew A Light Shining in Darkness. There was no way he could handle firing his rifle or his SMG right now, but even if he could manage to shoot with his pistol he was in trouble. His back was to Cinder, the tree between him and her, and his hands were shaking so badly that he doubted his abilities to hit the broad side of a barn.
Time seemed to slow down. He looked at the pistol in his hands. Normally it felt cold, but compared to the frigid air around him, it felt pleasantly warm after resting against the small of his back. Cinder had made her intentions very clear, she wanted him to suffer. He was stuck here, in these godforsaken woods, far from anyone he had ever cared about, and ever since he had gotten here it had been clear just how little impact he had. Gods among men walked on Remnant, and he could barely scratch them. He had just nuked Cinder at point-blank range, yet she was still moving while he couldn't even sit up on his own and half of his face was missing.
He rubbed his thumb affectionately along the grip of A Light in Shining Darkness. The left side of his face throbbed. Would he be missed? Probably not. He had proven himself to be a pain in the ass with the Hunters. And Winter had gotten dragged out here to protect him from the people he had pissed off. What exactly had he accomplished on Remnant? On Earth, he had been somebody worth a damn, someone who had made things better. Here? He was nobody. His grip on the pistol tightened. Slowly, his mouth opened.
A hand grasped around his. Winter was looking directly at him. Her carefully maintained professionalism had shattered; she was looking at him with naked horror. For a brief second, clarify struck him. It was followed at once by a horrible, overwhelming wave of both dread and guilt. "I...I wasn't," he said feebly, not even sure what he was going to say he wasn't doing. An unbearable silence hung in the air between them, the pair of them at a lost for words.
It was broken as Cinder emerged from the dust that was forming the mushroom cloud, her glowing eyes roaring like a bonfire. Mercury, Emerald, and Torchwick weren't far behind her. Mercury looked smug, while Emerald and Torchwick looked a bit shaken. "I have had enough," Cinder said simply. Raising her hand, dirt rose from the ground and gathered around her head. Within seconds, twenty glass arrows, glowing with the same inner heat of the spear, formed over her head.
Winter scrambled behind the same tree James was leaning against as best she could with her injured leg. She flicked a switch on the inside of her saber. James gingerly peeked around the edge of their shared cover, which was barely big enough for the top of them, his pistol shaking in his hand.
"Wait!" All eyes turned. Han was moving as fast as he could with his cane through the snow, Róta at his side. Róta's body language was the opposite of Han's. She moved slowly, keeping pace with him, and glaring at Cinder and her followers with naked contempt. In one hand she held a double-bladed ax that appeared to be her hand axes combined together with a handle that had extended outward. Yellow electricity was sparking off of the head. In her other hand, she dragged Rumford carelessly on the ground. The ex-legionary's face was a mess of black and blue, blood dripping from it, and his leg was bent at the wrong angle. There were no points for guessing who had done that to him.
"This man has wronged you? I promise you I will ensure that he never bothers you again!" Han said, his voice far louder than it needed to be. "I'm taking him away, far away from here! Please, he's just a lost man who wants to go home. He doesn't know where he is or what he'd doing." James stared blankly at Han; the man was going to get himself killed. Cinder's attention had turned back onto him. There was a better than average chance that she was dying to send one of those arrows right into his throat. "I'll make it worth your time! A hundred-thousand Lien!" Han's hand drove into his cloak and withdrew the packet of money. Mercury let out a loud laugh, Torchwick looked as if he felt sorry for the man, while Emerald looked to Cinder for instructions. "A hundred-thousand Lien and you never see him again."
"Get. Out," Cinder said through gritted teeth. "I'm not here for you, nor do I care about your pitiful offerings." A .45 round was hardly the most damaging of rounds, and a body shot wouldn't be instantly fatal. But there was no way a headshot was possible at this point, and if he was being honest, he wasn't even sure if he could hit her at all. Han was blabbing away but he was only drawing the bare minimum of attention from Cinder. Róta looked as if she could hold her own in a fight, but even with Rumford down that still made it three versus four, with two of the three being badly hurt. Bad odds all around.
"Please, I assure you that this man is not worth your wrath, whatever he has done," Han said, sounding borderline hysterical as he continued to step forward. At once, Róta dropped Rumford and stepped in front of Han, her lip curling upward in a silent growl. "Róta, no! Let me talk to them!" Giving Han a reluctant glance, Róta stepped to the side, her eyes locking onto Mercury. "If it's not enough, I can get more. A direct wire if I need to, I don't care if I have to dip into my savings."
"If he isn't gone in the next ten seconds, kill him," Cinder said. James could swear that the arrows above her were glowing a little hotter.
"Really? I mean, I never claimed to be a good person, but I have it as a policy to only hurt old blind guys if they don't give me what I want," Torchwick said, looking uncomfortable with the situation. There was the briefest of glints in his eye as he looked at the money Han was still holding, but it was quickly suppressed as he looked nervously at Cinder. "Come on, he's a senile old coot. Hey, lady? You really should get him out of here." He pointed. "There's a town not too far that way. Tell the bartender there he owes me money and I'll be by later in the week to collect." Róta didn't move.
"Well, you heard her old-timer," Mercury said snidely, leisurely closing the last few steps between himself and Han, hands in his pockets. "Ten seconds to make yourself scarce. And I'm keeping track of every last one of them. Nine. Eight. Seven." Róta looked as if she wanted nothing more than to throw herself at Mercury and tear out his insides with her ax. She was trembling with anger and hatred, her weapon shaking in her hands. But she stayed put.
Han looked at Mercury. From what James could see, he looked surprisingly sad. "You never really did grow up, did you?" he asked. It wasn't an accusation if anything it sounded as if he was offering comfort. "You never grew beyond the mindset of the playground bully. Pushing over other kids in the sandbox to make yourself feel better. I've seen hundreds of men and women just like you. Children really. Proud. Impulsive. Quick to hit their problems away." He gave a dejected sigh. "They always die young when there was no reason they had to." His hand reached underneath his glasses, wiping something. "Please. Just walk away. You stand to gain nothing but momentary satisfaction here."
"Ok, time for grandpa to shut up," Mercury said, sounding as if he was attempting to hide his rage. Bounding forward, his leg swung up towards Han's face. Róta was too far away to intervene and Mercury had a clean shot. James braced himself for the old man to collapse onto the ground.
Instead, there was a clang of metal on metal. Mercury gawked in surprise. Han's hand was closed firmly around the foot, holding it in place. He gave another sigh as he reached up and took his glasses off. "I hate doing this. You could've just taken the money and walked away. But you never would. Your type doesn't see the value in what's freely given, only in what you can take." The glasses fell carelessly into the snow. Red, mechanical eyes stared back at Mercury. "You really like are all the other young, proud boys. Fast to swing. Slow to analyze."
A quick jab came up, driving itself into Mercury's cheek as Han let go of the gray-haired boy's leg. Mercury stumbled back, barely keeping his balance as his leg came back down, looking shocked. Han reached down and reluctantly pulled off his gloves. James's eyes widened. His hands weren't wrinkled flesh, but a worn, gunmetal gray, with an underslung cannon on both. Underslung cannons that had were connected to clear tubes with bright green energy running through. Plasma cannons. No. No fucking way. Remnant didn't have plasma weaponry.
"I don't want to do this," Han said, tucking his gloves away into a pocket. "We can all walk away from this. But those two are coming with us. And appeasement didn't work. That only leaves one option." Everything about Han's body language had changed. Before he had been hunched over, now he was standing up straight with no difficulty. If anything, he was standing up with the grace and ease of a man a third of his age. His hands curled into fists as he held them up in front of his face in a guard pose. To top it all off, he began to bounce on the balls of his feet. "A van's been shadowing us this entire drive. Two of my most trusted people are on it. Wiglaf and Anna Honeycrisp. Our fifth and final member, Jane, can be here in ten minutes. Don't make us kill you. I'm begging you."
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Author's Note: A lot of fanfic authors get pleasure out of torturing characters they hate. I get a lot of pleasure out of torturing the ones I love. On that note, I've been working towards Han's true nature for a long time. I've got a lot planned for him as well as his merry band. It was interesting because a common criticism of reveals like a character's true allegiance means that we effectively didn't know who they were beforehand. I took this into account and something I'm trying to get across is that Han didn't hide his personality when he was under cover as a blind man, just his goals, allegiances, and how far he's willing to go for both. Hopefully you'll see what I mean in future chapters.
Also, for the record, I do listen to your feedback and I find that my best work comes from talking with fans and figuring out what they like and dislike about my stories, so feel free to tell me what you think works and what you think doesn't work. If anything I feel I learn more from you saying what you think can be improved and what you like to see more of. Even if I don't 100% agree it challenges me to double check my work to see if it's up to snuff, which I think is important.
I would like to thank my Patrons, SuperFeatherYoshi, xXNanamiXx, RaptorusMaximus, Davis Swinney, Mackenzie Buckle, Ryan Van Schaack, ChaosSpartan575, and LordofNaught for their amazing support.