Issue #7
The docks were bustling with incoming ships as freight was loaded and unloaded. The port of Vale was a massive affair split into three main sections. On the south side was the shipping docks where freighters landed with goods. The north side was home to the commercial port, that was where the massive ships that transported people came and went, large ships that could hold hundreds and were heavily armored against the seafaring Grimm. A smaller section was made on the eastern inlet, a private section of the docks made for VIPs and dignitaries. It was this section that everyone found themselves in. Team BSK, Jaune, Yang, Weiss, and Vermilion waited at the base of a large ship bearing the Menagerie symbol.
Various faunus and a small amount of humans made their way off of the ship including a number of guards wearing the official uniform of the Menagerie Militia. The four that remained after the disembarkation stood to the left and right of the gangplank, ramrod straight. It didn't take a genius to know who was coming next.
True to their expectations came down a raven haired beauty with black furred cat ears atop her head. She wore a black kimono, a favorite of hers, with her weapon slung behind her. The kimono itself had white and gold accents and though to most she would have looked unready to fight should something occur, those who knew her well would know that under the outfit was a skin tight suit she could move to if she needed.
There was a black blur as her form flickered and she was among them in an instant, only the adults of the group having seen her move. In an instant she had captured her daughter and smothered her in an affection hug, one quick enough that few would catch it. She left in her wake a red faced Noel as she moved on to Yang and then Weiss and her daughter before finally stopping before Jaune.
"It's been a long time Jaune." She said, a small smile gracing her lips, "How have you been?"
"I've been alright, Blake." he replied with a shrug.
"Still a man of few words I see."
"Like you're one to talk." Yang snorted which elicited a chuckle from the raven haired woman. The silence stretched on as Blake's attention shifted to Vermilion. Yang threw her arm around the young woman and beamed at her partner.
"Hey kitten lemme introduce you to Jaune's kid." The faunus' eyes grew wide as she quickly looked from father to daughter and back again, earning a nod of confirmation from the blond.
"But who?!"
"Ruby." Yang replied with a grin of shit eating proportions.
"No way."
"Yes way."
Blake focused her eyes on the young woman, golden eyes meeting silvers as she put on a smile and bowed her head, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Blake Belladonna, as Yang has probably no doubt told you already."
Sensing it was her turn, the brunette scratched her cheek awkwardly, "I'm, uh, Vermilion. Ash. Vermilion Ash."
Blake quirked an eyebrow at her long time partner who mouth 'long story' at her.
"Well why don't we discuss everything over drinks!" Yang practically shouted, "And sushi." She added on, instantly getting the full attention of the cat faunus in the group. Noel at least had the decency to look embarrassed about her reaction.
Jaune was looking around, he found that he could not settle down. Something was bugging him and it had his senses screaming at him. Finally he noticed what was bothering him, all of the dock workers were absent, the only people on the pier was their group. It was an exclusive area but it should still have been very busy.
A movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and his eyes whipped up to observe it. A person seemed to be on a nearby rooftop, crouching down and manipulating an object. His blood ran cold as the person shouldered the object.
"Down!" He yelled as he gripped the hood of his daughter's outfit and hauled her bodily to the ground right as a round impacted where she had been but a moment ago. Figures popped up all over the pier, in nearby buildings and from behind cargo, opening fire on the group.
Blake, to her credit, was the quickest to react lunging forward with both parts of Gambol Shroud and deflecting bullets that came close to them. This bought enough time for Weiss to rip Myternaster free and stab the point of her rapier into the ground. Within the span of a second a massive ring of ice formed around their group, several times their height, and blocking the shots coming at them. It was a temporary reprieve at best but they were safe for now.
"What the hell is going on?!" Blake nearly shouted over the sound of bullets and dust rounds impacting the ice barrier.
"My guess is Salemites." Jaune pulled out his scroll and started entering in something before looking at the three girls of team BSK, "You all should summon your weapons."
He need not have said anything because they all had their scrolls out, entering in the code to send the rocket lockers to their location. After the codes were sent it would take a minute for them to arrive.
"Jaune, why are the Salemites here?"
It was Yang who stepped in to answer this question, "They want his daughter. It's the whole silver eyes thing."
Blake glanced over at the girl in question before swallowing any other questions she had, they could talk after the situation was dealt with. A low roaring could be heard over the din of the assault outside as four lockers impacted into the center of the ice ring. All the doors swung open automatically though everyone looked in confusion at the fourth locker. Contained inside was a simple sword and shield. Jaune stepped up and pulled the weapon out of the locker before turning around and holding it out to Vermilion. She looked hesitant, looking up at her father with a silent question.
"I put this together in case of emergency. And, well…" He gestured around them as if it was reason enough. It was.
"Only you would be so paranoid as to do something like that." Weiss massaged her forehead with her palm.
"Is it paranoia if I'm right?" Jaune shot back. The white haired woman merely rolled her eyes at him.
Noel went over to stand next to her new friend, her weapon extending into spear form, "Vermilion, what did he mean? Who's after you?"
"I'll tell you guys later. Just… some really bad people wanna kill me for being born." She whispered back causing Silvia to put one hand to her mouth, stifling a gasp. Both Noel and Willa's eyes hardened at the news. They looked angry.
"I can imagine how you feel, Vermilion." Willa looked the most angry and her partner put an arm around her shoulders.
"Willa has been through some similar stuff." Noel managed a tight lipped smile and Vermilion couldn't help but wonder what they meant, she made a note to ask about it later as she hefted the shield she'd been given and got a feel for the weight of the sword. It wasn't nearly as good as Jaune's weapon, that much was obvious, but it would have to do.
"Okay kids here's the deal!" Yang clapped her hands together, "You students will be going with Jaune here. Take shelter in one of the nearby buildings. Let us handle this."
"But we can fight, Professor!" Noel whined.
"Noel!" She was silenced with a glare from her mother, "Team RWBY will handle this. They dared attack while we were with our children? That is a mistake."
"Indeed." Weiss stepped forward, tip of her rapier once again to the ground as several white glyphs formed on the ground around her. From these glyphs rose three pure white and blue Ursa, "We will show them why Team RWBY is so renowned."
"Hell yeah!" The professor slammed her fists together, "The team that kicks ass together, stays together!"
"Um, Professor?" Willa raised her hand, "Where's your weapon?"
The blonde teacher merely smirked, "I am Yang Xiao-Long, I'm always armed." The way she put extra emphasis on the last word had her two teammates groaning. The tension drained out of the group even through they could still hear the pot shots being taken outside. Once their ambushers had realized they wouldn't break the ice so soon, they had started conservering their ammunition, only occasionally shooting to keep their heads down.
Unfortunately for them, they had no idea who was about to be unleashed on them.
After a quick round of making sure everyone was ready, Weiss dispelled the barrier around them, shattering it into pieces as they scattered in different directions. The three living members of team RWBY charged forward, Yang rushing in towards the largest cluster of enemies. She dodged from side to side avoiding as much of the fire as she could and taking the rest on her prosthetic hand. The Ursa summoned by Weiss took many of the hits coming in her direction as she ran for another group of assailants. Blake had disappeared when the ice shattered and showed up moments later, dispatching the snipers on the rooftops with merciless precision.
By the time Yang had reached the group she was after, her hair was alite with flames and eye blood red. With a signature smirk she descended upon them. Her first attack sent a man flying into three others, carrying all of them several more feet before they impacted the side of a container. None of them got back up.
The professor was a blur of motion as she delivered brutal punches to each of the enemies, after taking a single punch, none stood back up.
Weiss' opponents didn't fare any better, most being encased in ice or mauled by her summons. She danced about them, none able to lay a single attack on her as she parried and thrust with Myternaster, felling her foes win quick succession.
Jaune turned to his charges, "Follow me!" The bulk of the fire was coming their way though team RWBY had managed to reduce it by a lot already. It seemed as though dozens more of the assailants were showing up by the second and adding their fire to the chaos. Jaune pushed off the ground and the others followed close behind him. Silvia reached into her belt and pulled out a handful of dust. With an infusion of aura she threw it ahead of them.
"Ice Barrier!" The dust created a wall straight to the building they were running towards but as it formed holes were punched through it by the weapons of the Salemites. It wasn't as think or high as Weiss' had been but it did enough to obscure vision of the group as the rushed into the main foyer of the building.
Bullets ripped apart the glass doors of the building as they took shelter behind what appeared to be the main reception desk.
When they stopped firing into the building Jaune stood up and took stock of everything nearby. He motioned them to follow him again as he approached the door behind the desk, "We'll go out the back entrance into the alley." Using Crocea Mors he broke the lock on the door and battered it open and led them deeping into the office.
It was while heading through the office hallway that the wall shattered, a dark form crashing into Jaune and sending them careening into the other wall, denting it severely. The person was massive, towering over the huntsman it had pinned to the wall, and was covered in a dark, smoke-like substance. The first thought, as he stared into the glowing red eyes, was that this was a Grimm but upon closer inspection he could make out a human face in the darkness that shrouded it's form.
Some kind of semblance then.
His foot snapped out and kicked out the knee of the man pinning him. The form collapsed and the pressure was let off and Jaune pushed it back through the opening it had come through. As it got back up he took stock of it's weapons which appeared to be heavy gauntlets encasing it's arms fully. Dodging it's hefty punch to the side Jaune retaliated with a quick slash to it's elbow. Crocea Mors bit shallow but no blood oozed forth. The form took advantage of his confusion to backhand him with speed that belied its great size.
Fire lit up the hall as Silvia through a fire dust attack at it's back. The hulk whirled around to block the follow up strike from Noel who had her Rubra Aurora activated, it's keening engine supplying the blaze the encased the tip of the spear as it jabbed at the thing's defense. Despite having the longer reach she could not break through the form's defense. Just as Jaune was about to run the thing through with his blade from behind a second shadow emerged from the hole in the hallway, large revolver catching the blade on it's barrel and turning him aside.
Quickly backpedalling Jaune bend over backwards as the gun snapped up towards his face, discharging several rounds. The second shadow person seemed to be quite a bit smaller in stature, standing only up to Jaune's collarbone. This figure held a pistol in it's right hand and what looked like a machete in the other. He could just make our what appeared to be a bandolier of grenades on it's chest.
The machete flicked up, aiming for his face once again, and was barely deflected by the Crocea Mors. The shield part of Jaune's weapon came up to block several shots from the pistol in the figure's hand. Pushing the shield forward, Jaune drove the edge at it's throat but the hilt of it's blade came up, diverting it just enough that his shield whistled over the head of the shadow. The revolver discharge into his chest and he was driven back, thankful for his breastplate under his coat and his massive aura. A point blank shot like that could have killed him if he hadn't had the armor. Readying his shield once more he dove forward, his blade trailing just behind the shield as he battered aside the shadow's gun and the tip of his blade found it's sternum, impaling the creature on Crocea Mors.
Jaue's heart nearly stopped when the shadow reached over and ripped the pin out of one of the grenades in it's bandolier. Pulling his blade out of the creature he brought his shield up and crouched behind it.
"Cover!" Was all he had time to shout out.
There was a flash of light and a terrible force pounded into him.
Vermilion hung behind her new friends, staring at the dark, massive figure before them as Noel battled it. It seemed capable of speedily fending off her strikes even when Willa join in with her glaive, the two of them striking in tandem but to no avail as the giant's armored hand deflected and caught the both of them. It grabbed both of their weapons and wrenched them aside in time to get a flaming rock to the face.
"Brimstone!" Silvia shouted as she combined earth and flame dust to launch another attack at the shadow man. When it let go of the two girls' weapons in order to clear it's vision they leapt back to create some distance.
"It's on the level of a huntsman." Noel stated, her eyes never leaving their enemy.
"Think we can take it?" Willa asked her partner who shook her head.
"Maybe in more open space but in here we don't have the room. Plus…." Her amber eyes drifted back to Vermilion who had been sitting back uselessly, "We'll have to hold it off until Mister Arc can come help."
"Cover!" They heard the shout from behind the giant shadow and could barely react as Silvia jumped forward, flinging dust into the ground in front of them. The wall of ice was only half formed when it was shattered. The explosion that had originated from behind the hulking shadow man flung them all backwards and had Vermilions ears ringing.
A thick cloying smell of smoke and debris hung in the air causing her to hack and cough as it stuck in the back of her throat. She tentatively opened her eyes and they widened when she got a full view of what had happened. The spot where Jaune had been behind the giant shadow was collapsed, that part of the hallway having caved in completely. Just as she was about to run up to try and find her father a firm hand grabbed her hand and halted her. She whirled around to see Noel holding her side with her other hand.
"It's dangerous Mili."
She opened her mouth to say that she needed to still find Jaune when her scroll started going off. One look at the face on the screen had relief flood through her. It was her father.
"Vermilion? Are you okay? How are the others?"
His voice was tinny through the tiny speakers and the concern was etched into his face. She almost broke out in a smile at his naked concern, "I'm fine. Everyone else…." She looked the others up and down, "Minor injuries at the most."
"That's good."
Vermilion looked closely at the screen, her eye narrowing at the sight of blood on his face, "Are you injured!?"
"I'll be fine." He deflected and continued on before she could say any more, "You girls need to find another way out. Try and get to the back alley, I'll meet you there."
"Okay. I'll see you there." Just as she was about to hang up there was a flash as he dropped his scroll. On it she could make out another shadowy form that passed by before the line went dead.
She stared at it in mute shock for a moment before a hand on hers brought her back to her senses. Silvia smiled gently at her.
"We need to get moving. We have to meet back up with him, after all."
Nodding along she looked to Noel who was the leader of the team. The cat faunus looked deep in thought one hand on her chin, "Okay there's got to be another way out. Let's look for an evac route or something."
It didn't take them long to find the route posted on a wall. The route outlined in red went through several hallways and passed through a large meeting room. It looked like all the paths went through that room or back out the main entrance of the building.
"There we go. It looks like Jaune's route goes that way too so we should meet back up with him soon." As one they all started down the other hallway, being careful to keep their guard up in case any more of those shadow people lay in wait.
"What were those guys, anyways?" Noel spoke up. Even though gunfire could still be heard outside it had died down considerably. Presumably team RWBY was still dealing with the stragglers.
"No idea. One person and it would mean some kind of semblance but two? I'm not sure but I doubt they were even human." Willa supposed, a strange look on her face.
"There something bothering you Willa?" Noel shot her partner a concerned expression.
"No, well maybe. It's just. Something about those things rubs me the wrong way, I guess. They just seem familiar."
"You've seen them before?"
Willa shook her head, her white hair jostling with the motion.
"Regardless we need to meet up with Jaune. Enclosed spaces like this make me uncomfortable." Silvia looked back and forth down the hallway. Vermilion didn't join in because she was still thinking about her father.
Sure she didn't know him well but she could still worry right? If something happened to him she'd be all alone again. So what if she had Yang for an aunt, she'd never known her father and didn't want them to part without being able to spend time with one another. They reached the junction that led down to where Jaune would have come from, looking down the other directions carefully.
Aside from the noise outside there was no indication of where Jaune was and with no other choice they swung open the door and entered the next room. In the center fo the room was a large table with a number of chairs placed at it. What stopped them there was the lone occupant of the room and unlike the others they had had encountered this one was clearly not covered in darkness nor were his eyes a flaming red.
He was dressed like a gentleman with black hair adorned with a fedora of similar color. This man stood up when they entere, a smile on his face as he swept the hat from his head and bowed deeply, "Miss Ash, it is so good to see you again."
"Mr. Crowley!" She gasped as she recognised the man who had been sitting at the head of the table. His cane leapt to his hand as he started walking around the table towards them. Everyone else's weapons came up even as Noel looked over at her.
"You know him, Mili?"
"We met once before."
"Indeed!" The man interrupted with exuberance, "Once is coincidence but twice is fate, no?"
"Why are you here? Are you okay, did they hurt you?"
The man turn his head in confusion before an epiphany seemed to strike him and he chuckled, "Harm me? No, no, no. See, those people out there answer to me."
It took a second for his words to sink in and her face to pale which only increased his smile, his eyes opened fully and she noticed his irises her of a jade color.
"Exactly my dear. I'm afraid I had no idea who you were the last time we met. However now I have my orders." His eyes hardened and smile faded as he stood a good five feet from their group, "My apologies, Miss Ash. My goddess demands your sacrifice."
Around her Willa and Noel tense before rushing forward, Willa's glaive sweeping for his neck and Noel's spear aiming for his chest. His cane came up to divert the spear into the glaive, deflecting them both in one smooth motion. He pressed the time of the gem in his cane to Noels body and she was blasted back by an enormous gust of wind, her body colliding with Willa's sending both girls careening into the table, splintering it.
Silvia was the next to step forward, "Fireball!" She shouted as she swung the fire in her hands at the man. Another gust of wind snuffed the fire out and his hand lanced out and connected to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Crowley let the young woman fall to her knee as he stepped in front of Vermilion.
She knew she stood no chance. He had dealt with these experienced students like they were nothing and now she, a girl having been taught for only a short while, was faced with this man who had no doubt decades of experience in killing. Trying desperately to remember what Jaune had taught her she lunged with her sword and he deflected it with contemptuous ease. The cane came down and hammered on her sword hand several times in quick succession causing her to drop the blade.
"Don't touch her!" She heard Noel scream and a blast screamed by his cheek, leaving behind a scorch mark on his cheek. One hand came up and felt the injury.
"Children should not interfere in this matter. If you wish so badly for a fight then he will entertain you." Behind him some kind of glyph appeared on the ground and she could hear a gasp from Will. From in front of him she could barely make our a spinning black mark on the gound before a shadow came out of it. The giant shadow man from before.
The giant stalked forward and swung it's mighty fist down at one of the girls, "Now where were we? Ah yes. I am terribly sorry about this but if you could not resist I would thank you."
She spit in his face, "Fuck you."
"Quite. I suppose it was too much to ask." He wiped his face clean. She brought her shield up as he brought his cane down on her. The impact was far greater than anything Jaune had hit her with. Vermilion's hands went numb with just the one blow, the second tore the shield from her arm, wrenching it painfully. Diving down she grabbed the blade and held it up with both hands. One thing Jaune had taught her was that she had to be adaptable. If she lost her weapon she had to not let that phase her.
With a yell she swept her sword low which met his cane and it might as well have been stopped by a brick wall. Quickly she pulled it back and swung from different angle, trying in vain to get passed his defense. He looked almost disappointed in her efforts. Lift a foot when she swept low he stomped the foot down, trapping the blade against the floor. Aiming the tip of his cane against the flat of the blade a spike shot forward, shattering the steel blade easily and rendering her all but defenseless. The now extended spike rose up to her throat and she was pushed against the door they had entered through.
Behind him she could hear Noel screaming her name, though she couldn't see how they were doing against the shadow man. Poory, she suspected, as they didn't have a good chance before. The tip of the can battled against her aura which attempted to prevent it from piercing her but she new that it wouldn't protect her for long. She saw her chance, though, when she looked down. Her foot rose in a swift fashion and impacted between his legs. Crowley's eyes widened by quite a bit and he staggered back, rage flashing across his face.
She dove to the side and away from him, scrambling back as he advanced on her, "I was going to grant you a quick death but that is no longer the plan!" He shouted his jade eyes growing wild.
A tremendous crash resounded as the door the the room splintered from the force of what slammed into it. A white and gold shield could be seen rushing for the black haired man who cursed and swung his cane down, using the wind to dodge across the room. A sword of glittering white steel shot out from behind the shield and pierced through the large shadow man who disappeared into smoke when it's head was split.
The figure behind the shield stood tall revealing a battered but alive Jaune Arc. Judging by the hateful glare Mr. Crowley was giving her father, Vermilion wagered he hadn't wanted him to show up.
"It appears my time is up." Crowley said, "I'll be seeing you again." He held on hand up and a black glyph appeared, a black snowflake spinning in the air with a dark red outline of light. Jaune stepped in front of Vermilion to protect her as the glyph released a blinding light. When her vision cleared there was no sign of the man and Jaune lowered his shield slowly before turning to check on her.
He crouched down and inspected her, "Are you okay?"
She was shaking and she hated it. She was afraid and had barely been able to move. She had been useless again. A feeling of disgust welled up inside and she clamped down on it, shoving it down, "I'm fine. How is everyone else?"
"We're good." Despite limping over and leaning on Willa for support, Noel supported an enormous smile.
Vermilion finally turned to her father and took in his battered form, his coat was ruined with holes in gashes in it. His breastplate was visible and dented, scorched even and one sleeve was completely gone exposing the gauntlet he wore underneath it. Blood had been streaming down from his down and it was obviously broken.
She reached up gingerly to touch his face, "Are you okay?" Her concern caught him by surprise and his confusion was evident on his face.
"This is nothing." He stood up, swaying just a little bit, "There were a few of those shadow summons in my hallway."
Silvia put a finger to her chin, "But we didn't see any on our way here?"
His face twisted into a grimace and he cocked his head and it was just then that she noticed there was no longer any noise of combat outside.
"Let's get out of here." Jaune turned and stumbled causing Vermilion to rush forward and slip in under his arm to support him. He gave her a strange look before nodding his thanks at her, "Let's get back to Beacon."
A/N: Long chapter is long.
Hey what's people, how are you doing? I'm finally back and for those of you who AREN'T reading my other stories then I have an announcement for you. I'm going to begin posting rotating updates where I will be updating a different story each week.
The rotation will be: Lithium Rose - Displaced - Old Man Jaune - A Cinder in the Wind
Next week will be the launch of my other new story.