Running it to the wire with getting in two chapters a month again, but her you guys go!
As usual, I don't own RWBY, Highschool DxD or make a single cent off this. Do it for the fun and reviews.
Pyrrha catches up with Yang and Weiss almost three blocks over from where the group had... encountered, Penny. Who seems nice enough. Really. Pyrrha isn't at all glad that Jaune had sent her to, well, probably to help Yang keep Weiss from taking this to the police. Maybe calm the heiress down. The fact that two of the potential locations for the Stray to be using as a lair is just a fringe benefit. The blond brawler perks up as Pyrrha slows down to match the teammates stride "Hey Pyr, you decided to beat feet too, huh?"
She demurs "It's not that I didn't want to meet Rubys new, friend. Jaune wanted us to split up again, cover more ground."
Yang pats her on the shoulder, clearly not believing that Pyrrha is just being her usual polite, helpful self. "That girl makes Ruby seem socially adept. It shouldn't be possible for someone to be that, that, I don't even know what the right word for what she is, is!" Weiss exclaims, throwing her arms wide, and getting more than a few strange looks from some of the nearby people.
Yang shrugs, before making a placatory gesture towards a mother pushing a stroller with a now crying baby inside it. "Honestly, I'm kinda glad my little sister is making friends outside of our little group. If the two of you haven't noticed, she can be kind of..."
Pyrrha nods, and Weiss lets out a sigh that makes it seem like she's been suffering for years, not being slowly defrosted over the course of a few months. "I know, Yang. Its why I just... distanced, myself from those two. They'll probably be good for each other."
Yang shoots Weiss a quick grin. "Thanks Ice Queen. I'm gonna check that shop." She thumbs over her shoulder, indicating a salon of all places. Then again, considering that Blake has nearly as much hair as Yang does, a bit of pampering might actually be the sort of thing she looks for to de-stress. She hadn't been the most forthcoming about her hobbies and pastimes. Aside from the obvious, near-constant presence of a book near the girl.
Before Weiss can comment, Pyrrha interjects "Surely, you knew a few people at least as bad as Ruby or Penny back in Atlas Weiss."
The heiress puffs herself up, shifting from a grumpy teen who had spent the whole weekend trying to track down a missing friend to picture perfect noble in the span of a few heartbeats. She raises her right hand, index finger pointed skywards, opens her mouth, and pauses. Then blinks. Then slumps over, and mumbles something. Pyrrha prompts her to repeat herself, but louder. "My little brother. I wish it wasn't true, but gods help me when it comes to anything to do with people who don't have at least seven digits to the left of the decimal in their bank account, he's utterly clueless. Whats worse, he refuses to even acknowledge his lack of knowledge. If he had to pass for a normal teenager it would be such a travesty most other kids his age would assume he's mocking them, and probably beat him bloody for it."
As Pyrrha gives Weiss a pat on the shoulder to reassure her, Yang returns. "Not at this salon, and no one inside has seen anyone even close to her description all week."
The trio start walking down the street again, and fall into an easy rhythm. Every shop, venue or restaurant that Blake may have stopped at, Yang or Pyrrha enters to look, and sometimes ask around. The other girl waiting outside with Weiss to keep her distracted, and to ensure she doesn't call the police on her own while their backs are turned. The hours drag on, with absolutely nothing to show for their efforts. Eventually, after Yang, somehow still grinning and optimistic bounds out of another shop, only to slow to a halt at the scene that greets her.
Weiss standing dead center at the foot of the trio of steps leading into the convenience store Yang had been asking around in, just barely enough space between the last step and the white haired huntress for Yang to stand. Weiss arms are crossed, her foot is tapping, and she looks, upset. "I know exactly what the two of you are doing." She bites out harshly.
"Umm, I, er, we, don't know what your talking about?" Yang tries to deflect, the fact that it had come out sounding like a question was the least of the factors making the evasion obvious.
Weiss rolls her eyes, and her posture relaxes, slightly, but its better than nothing. "Talking to me. Distracting me. Forcing- making-" she stumbles over her words, trying to hold tightly to the high ground with both hands, and slipping. "Giving me time to think. About, this. About Blake." Both Pyrrha and Yang blink at Weiss, mouths hanging open, and unsure of how to respond. "Thank you."
_-*R-DxD*-_
"So, Blake is your friend?" the ginger girl queries after nearly an hour of walking in silence. Her strides are too stiff.
Ruby sighs. The last four abortive conversations had begun the same way. "Yes Penny."
"Yea." Jaune confirms. At least he is able to hide his exasperation better than Ruby. The trio cuts through a gaggle of girls with bags from half a dozen boutiques hanging off their arms.
"But you're mad at her?" Penny continues, tilting her shoulders to glance at Ruby, the ascent in the Atlesian girls tone makes it sound as much an accusation as a question.
Ruby, faced screwed up in discomfort, glares down at the sidewalk "Yes, well, I'm not."
"Me neither." Jaune sneaks in, doing his best to hide his smirk.
"Weiss is." Ruby continues, gesturing off in the vague direction her the two leaders partners and the prodigies older sister had went. She probably would have had to guess at that were Pyrrha not with them.
Jaune pokes Rubys side, which elicits a growl from the usually chipper girl. She really is keyed up. "But not as mad as she thinks she is I'd bet."
Penny leans forward to look past Ruby and at Jaune. "Why is that, Jaune?" she asks, honest curiosity and confusion on her face.
He shrugs "She's been, mellowing out, all year, but this mess probably hit all of her buttons the wrong way." Jaune ventures, which causes Ruby to wilt even further. She really had been putting her all into befriending her partner and teammate. Not being able to stop the argument before it came to this had his friend pretty torn up.
"What do her clothes have to do with her and Blake arguing?" Penny asks, confusion and curiosity still writ large on her face.
Jaune drops his face into his palm, and Ruby misses a step. Don't laugh, laughing at the sheltered girl would be beyond cruel and insensitive. Jaune reminds himself "That's, just a turn of phrase Penny. It, this whole situation is almost perfect to have Weiss emotional and not thinking rationally."
"Ah, so the fact that her friend was lieing about being a faunus is what has Weiss so mad." Penny assumes, which, is actually mostly right. For once.
Ruby sighs, and the trio stops at a corner, traffic to heavy for them to be able to cross immediately. "Actually, that's kind of up in the air right now." Ruby all but mewls out, with how meek her voice is. The lights change, and the three teens are able to cross the street, though now they have maybe half a dozen other people crowded around them.
"But why?" Penny presses, arms raised in confusion, angles just a little to perfect, too far from what would be comfortable, her pace slowing down, and leaving her a few steps behind them, almost as if she is concentrating on her gestures and needs to slow down to do make them while walking.
Ruby, now slumped over so much her torso is nearly parallel with the road as they continue their search. Between Pennys focus on ruby, and the other leaders melancholy, moping mean, Jaune is pretty sure he is the only one actually looking for the wayward faunus. "Because Blake might not be who we thought she was." Ruby all but seethes back."
Penny lets out a loud gasp, hands held in front of her mouth in what almost looks to be a caricature of normal shock. "Is she a MAN?"
What. "How... how did you come to that conclusion, Penny?" Jaune is eventually able to ask, the trio having ground to a halt, he and Ruby from shock at the mental gymnastics she must have went through to reach that conclusion. Penny just to be polite and stay with them.
Ruby turns to face the girl, who had, for some reason, decided to lean towards the Valean natives. "And she definitely, er, probably. I..." Ruby trails off, waving her hands in the vague shape of an x at Penny, stalling for time to collect her thoughts. "I don't know what she is, she didn't exactly talk to us before she decided to run off." The reaper in red eventually finishes, closing the gap between her and Penny, nearly cutting into the other girls personal space as she does so.
"Actually, it was more like she was chased off." Jaune interjects. Ruby spins to shoot a glare at Jaune, which, well, it isn't good, but grumpy is better than mopey in his opinion.
For a few moments no one says anything. Penny eventually breaks the silence. "I don't have a lot of friends." The way she looks down at that, all but rooted in place, shoulders slumped is heartbreaking. That alone is enough to make Jaune glad he had made the same offer of friendship to the catastrophically awkward, slightly creepy girl Ruby had. "But if I did, I would want them to talk to me." She finishes, looking up at the other two teens.
"Me too." Ruby grouses, before she starts walking.
"Hey, chin up girls, you've got me and the rest of Juniper as well." That puts a ghost of Rubys usual grin back on her face.
It also gets a truly happy "Sen-SATIONAL!" Out of Penny, who proceeds to glomp him in an incredibly awkward hug, actually lifting him from the ground as she does so. And the girl must be seriously ripped under the dress, as she is way harder than he had expected. It takes more willpower than Jaune is comfortable admitting to himself to to not compare the girl to Pyrrha or Nora. Which would probably lead to him thinking of how he learned just how soft the two girls are. Which would make spending the foreseeable future wandering downtown Vale on foot uncomfortable and embarrassing. Doubly so when he is doing so with two other very cute girls, searching for another girl, who is a ravishing beauty in her own right.
The search continues for the rest of the day. Unsuccessful, but far more optimistic, filled with pleasant, idle chatter and small-talk. The sun had been set for over an hour, when an explosion has the three teens wheeling around to look. The massive plume of black smoke the find is looming on the horizon like a dark beacon. Ruby is off like a shot towards the explosion. Penny is running behind her before Jaune can even open his mouth to suggest that might not be Blake. It's possible.
Ruby bounds from the street to a warehouse roof in a single, semblance enhanced leap. Penny's leap is less impressive, a few feet up to grab a fire escapes ladder. By the time the Atlesian girl has pulled herself up to start climbing, Jaune is close enough to make his own leap. The entire fire escape escape shakes when his weight slams into it. He shoots a glance up to make sure Penny hadn't been shaken loose. Gray and green striped- Jaune looks straight ahead until he clears the ladder and reaches the stairs.
By the time he and Penny reach the warehouse' roof, Ruby already has Crescent Rose drawn, the tip drove into the steel and tar roof. She had been bantering with, someone. The guy has a smarmy, self assured voice. The sort of voice that makes you want to punch its owner, if Jaune's being totally honest, it reminds him of Riser. "Ruby, are these people your friends?" Penny asks, without a hint of sarcasm or irony. If they weren't about to get into a fight, he'd shake the girl. Blake and another faunus are down there fighting a gaggle of White Fang thugs, none of whom are going after the white suit-clad ponce.
Ruby actually turns away from the apparent boss of the criminals on the ground to warn Penny back. Jaune sees the guy snap his cane up to aim it at Ruby, and springs into motion. A shrill wail and bright orange flash are all he can really see, but he is able, barely, to interpose himself between his friend and the projectile, shield deployed and aura up. The force of the impact is enough to drive him back into Ruby, and down to a knee. The prodigy lets out a startled yelp and falls onto her back, but is otherwise fine.
The guy in the bowler hat actually raises his hands to let out a maniacal, stereotypicaly evil laugh. Ruby probably misses it, but Jaune sees the innocent, adorkable girls eyes narrow dangerously. As the petite ginger starts stalking towards the edge of the roof, Ruby extends her had "Penny wait, no!" She wails, clearly terrified for her friend.
"I think she's got this Ruby." Jaune reassures her, grasping her outstretched hand with his own. He hauls Ruby to her feet as Pennys backpack slides open. What looks like a single, truncated blade quickly folds into a single edged shortsword, its round copper hilt glowing the same vibrant green that acts as trim on the Huntress in training's combat garb. To Jaunes suprise, the Atlesian doesn't grasp her blade, rather, it fans out from a single, thick weapon to ten slender blades arrayed behind her back.
As the girl launches herself clear of the roof, Jaune feels his scroll vibrate in his pocket. Someone had posted in the team groupchat.
Ren: Found the Stray.
Jaune quickly types out that they had found Blake, and are in a fight with the White fang before returning to watching the battle below. He had seen more than a few impressive female warriors since coming to Beacon. Weiss, with all the grace of a dancer and poise of a queen. Ruby, flowing around the battlefield like a raging river. Pyrrha striding across the battlefield like a goddess of war made flesh. Blake flickering from foe to foe like a shadow. Noras barely contained chaos, and Yang raging across the field like an unchecked wildfire.
Penny may as well not have been in a fight at all. Not that she doesn't seem to be taking things seriously, rather her perfect calm and mechanical precision is closer to that of someone stripping down their weapon to clean it rather than someone in the heat of battle. When the first pair of White Fang soldiers are simply knocked to the ground by the quartet of swords the ginger launches at them as she lands, instead of sliced open, Jaune realizes they must have their auras unlocked. He sighs, and pulls his scroll out of his pocket, quickly dialing Beacons emergency engagement reporting hotline.
It only takes a few taps on the screen to get patched through to the right receptionist. "Beacon Combat Reporting hotline, please state your name."
"Jaune Arc, a few of my friends are fighting some White Fang thugs, and, I think that's Roman Torchwick down there. All combatants appear to have unlocked auras." He replies professionally.
He can hear a keyboard clattering on the other side of the line for a moment, before the dry, almost bored voice replies. "Which students are engaged currently?"
He glances down at the battle again, squinting to make sure he isn't missing anyone. Penny sends a buzzsaw of blades through a squad of Fang soldiers who had been charging her. Not a speck of blood or a single severed limb. Definitely unlocked auras. "Blake Belladonna, from team Ruby of Beacon. Penny... I actually didn't get her last name, but she's from Atlas. There's a third. Male, blonde hair, blue eyes, a monkey faunus. Has a staff that looks like it can split into some kind of gun-chucks."
The line goes quiet for a while. "Miss Polendina checks out, but the other... hmm. None of the Haven students are on the early arrival list though." He can hear the woman grumble something about extra clerical work to herself. "Will that be all, trainee Arc?"
He sees Blake fade away from what had looked to be a solid hit to her chest only to re-appear behind her opponent, lashing out with a powerful downward sweep before he can react, and winces. "Permission to engage?"
"Denied." the voice all but snaps at him. Jaune catches Rubys cloak just as she moves to aid their friends, and shakes his head when she snaps hers to the side to shoot a glare at him. Her eyes widen at the scroll held up to his head, and she slumps over dejectedly. "Unless, of course, they appear to be over-matched. The VSPRD has two transports en route. They should be on the scene in less than five minutes."
The line clicks dead, and, with a sigh, he slides his scroll back into his pocket. His head tilting just enough to the left to see half a dozen decently fresh apples lying on the warehouse roof. Why in the hell are there apples on the roof of a warehouse? He looks back towards the battle when a brilliant flash of green light and a wave of heat wash over the top of the warehouse. He is just in time to catch a glimpse of the broken shards of a pair of bullheads streak overhead to crash into the water behind them.
A third gunship, this one trying to lift clear of the dockyard with a crate of dust, opens fire on the Atlesian girl. She responds by deploying and firing a pair of blades behind her. They slam into the warehouse wall, and the thin cords yank her clear of the line of fire. When she proceeds to bury another half dozen in the escaping airships hull, then start pulling it back down towards the ground a small voice in the back of Jaunes head whispers 'rook'. A more real, but still small, awestruck voice queries from beside him "Whoa, how is she doing that?"
Torchwick makes a break for one of the still in tact transports. "She has wires attached to the blades, the rest is probably semblance related I'd guess." Ruby nods, than winces as Penny slams the bullhead she had been working to capture into a massive stack of shipping crates. The chaos caused by the resulting explosion is enough for four of the transports to streak away, including Torchwicks, massive hydroplanes of salt water being kicked up into the air as they skim the surface at top speed.
Ruby is down to the ground level in a flurry of rose petals, already fussing over Blake and Penny as Jaune drops down from the roof. He ambles over to his fellow blond, who is more or less standing guard over the unconscious White Fang thugs. "Jaune Arc, you've got some pretty sweet moves..." he trails off, holding out his hand.
Sun accepts, and offers a firm shake as he replies "Sun Wukong. Any reason you held back on the roof instead of helping us out?"
Jaune winces. "I called in to Beacons action report hotline. Didn't want you guys to get cuffed too when-" The wail of sirens herald a half dozen squad cars tearing into the battlezone, beat cops who had rushed to the explosion and subsequent reports of fighting rushing towards the downed Fang soldiers. "They show up. VSPRD is on the way too, and the operator said Ruby and I couldn't engage unless you looked over-matched. And once Penny joined in..."
Sun chuckles and claps Jaune on the back. "That's cool man." The blond faunus' scroll starts ringing, a chipper fast-paced tune. Sun pulls the scroll from his pocket and takes a few steps away from Jaune before answering. "Hey Nep, whats up man?" Jaune can't hear whoever is on the other side of the call, but it doesn't take long for Sun to reply either. "Wait, you're where? How, dude?" A few more moments of silence. "An airship, seriously?! And what do you mean Sage and Scarlet are pissed?" More silence, and Jaune realizes he's eavesdropping. "No, I think I'm gonna be stuck by the docks until the cops are finished cleaning up. Shoot me a text of the hotel room you grabbed. I'll see ya in a few buddy."
Jaune looks around to see the rest of teams RWBY and JNPR arrive, albeit from different streets. Weiss and Yang make a beeline for Blake and Ruby, the former already shouting at the duo, though most of it seems directed at the faunus. Pyrrha offers him a smile as Sun hangs up and wanders over to one of the squad cars to sit. Ren, straight to business opens with "Warehouse three blocks south of here. Looks like it was a brothel and a trap house before the Stray took over."
"I set up our excuse to split off from team Ruby!" Nora chirps, sounding far too proud as she waves her arms above her head.
Pyrrha sidles up to Jaune with a smile and a pink tinge to her cheeks. "Between Yang and I, I think we calmed Weiss down enough that team Ruby will stay intact, and avoid any grudges or strife."
Jaune replies to his teams greetingless info dumps with a nod and a grunt. A pair of black painted APCs screech to a halt in the open space where the battle had happened. Just over a dozen VSPRD officers pile out of the vehicles. The bulk of them are clad in dark navy blue – closer to black really, uniforms, with white cuffs and hems. All of them have bulky bullet proof vests, and wear riot helmets with the face masks tilted up. Each wears a gleaming silver badge in the shape of an elongated kite shield emblazoned with a spread-winged eagle grasping a set of shackles and a baton in its talons 'VSPRD' emblazoned above the birds head. A clone of the same heraldry can be found on each door of the transports. Four of the officers have riot shields on their arms, and shotgun-batons in their hands. Eight have a pair of tonfa-smgs riding on their belts, a pair of taser prongs protruding from the butt of each handle.
At the head of each group of half a dozen officers – equipment evenly divided between the two groups – is an Investigator. Full fledged Huntsman or Huntresses who had left fieldwork for one reason or another. Though marriage or a kid are the most common causes for someone to leave the high risk life of actively seeking out grimm away from the kingdoms walls. Both of them are clad in a mishmash of different pieces of police uniforms from different cultures and times, though the dark navy, black, white and silver color scheme; as well as the departments badge replacing any personal emblem create a clear sense of unity. The regular officers barely manage to make their scampering towards their squad carts not look like an open rout as Vales aura enhanced police take over custody of the White Fang thugs.
As the VSPRD officers begin clamping aura inhibiting manacles on the unconscious terrorists, one of the Investigators moves to speak with both of the trainee teams. It doesn't take long for JNPR to be done, however. They had only been helping look for a missing friend, and none of them had been involved in the fighting. Team RWBY however, is stuck talking with both of the Investigators for nearly an hour, before they finally break free. Blake is all but slumping as the quartet make their way back over to Jaunes team. "Well, the good news is that they cant disappear the daughter of Menageries Chieftain into witness protection for turning state-side against the White Fang." Yang announces as soon as they reach earshot, grinning entirely too widely for how serious the situation is. Sun, head hung almost as low as Blakes, tail drooping, is following one of the Investigators towards one of the waiting APCs. He isnt bound, but its pretty clear he is in more than a little trouble however.
"She does have quite a bit of paperwork to fill out, as well as a legal obligation to supply the authorities with everything she can remember about the Fangs Vale operations now." Weiss announces, sounding just a little too happy about the extra work her teammate has on top of regular coursework now. "And, the Rapscallion didn't have his passport with him, so he will be escorted to the Station by the good officers to ensure he is who he claims to be, and to amend his supposed teams travel information and schedule for the Vytal Festival."
Blake glowers at her teammate, apparently, whatever conversation the other team had had before the police with jurisdiction over the nights, excitement, had mended, or at least started mending, the two's budding friendship.
Ruby stifles a yawn, well, she tries, before announcing "Yea, well, its almost midnight, and we all still have class in the morning. Lets get back to our dorms and sleep."
While most of the other teens nod in agreement, Nora begins panickedly patting at everywhere she could possibly have a pocket, or store something. She even goes as far as pulling her top forward to look down her own cleavage. Ren drops his face into his palm, and Nora lets out a sheepish chuckle. "Please tell me you didn't lose your scroll again Nora." Jaune groans, already positive that she had, in fact, 'lost' her scroll.
"Again?" Weiss asks, tone dry as a desert, one perfectly trimmed eyebrow arched in judgment.
Pyrrha holds her hand in front of her face, hiding her mouth, though the twinkle in her eyes still gives the smile away. "I wont say that its a regular occurrence..."
Smirking openly, Yang offers "Need help finding it?" Though her desire to do as her sister and leader had suggested is written all over her face.
"It is common enough that I got an app though." Jaune replies, holding up his own scroll as he runs ScrollFinder Pro. A few taps and a trio of dots is displayed next to names on a local map. Both Rens and Pyrrhas are shown clearly, grouped by the docks. Nora's ping, however, is a few blocks away. In the opposite direction of the bullhead docks.
Weiss, still a portrait of judgemental heiress, dryly intones "I'm sure it wont take you too long. There might even still be a bullhead waiting for you. Otherwise it will be a long hike up the cliffs to Beacon." At that, Weiss spins on point just fast enough for her ponytail to snake out behind her, and starts walking towards the bullhead docks. Yand and Blake slump after her. Ruby at least has enough of a heart to mouth 'sorry' at team JNPR before jogging to catch up with her team.
_-*R-DxD*-_
It only takes a few minutes to get from the dockyard to the warehouse Nora had left her scroll at. A few of the officers had shot the teens sympathetic glances, but none had offered to help. Jaune cant really blame them. They still have a lot of cleanup work to do before it will be safe for whatever shipping company owns the dockyard to send people out to make it workable again.
The warehouse definitely looks abandoned. Chipping paint, rusted shut overhead doors, a featureless sign over the one person sized door on the right side of the buildings facade. Nora walks over to a crate sitting near one of the loading doors and slides her scroll into her pocket. The three recently reincarnated devils line up facing the big, blocky building as Jaune sizes it up. Its a good thing the street is abandoned, because the four of them getting ready to head into battle outside an abandoned warehouse would draw more than a few awkward stares, and more than a few even harder to field questions if anyone could see them right now. Nora takes a deep breath, and starts slowly bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. Ren draws StormFlower with a slight flourish. Pyrrha clasps her hands behind her back, eyes hard, posture just a bit too perfect.
"Just a reminder," Jaune says as he draws Crocea Mors "Once a devil goes stray, they start losing their humanity, as well as their sanity. It isn't uncommon for Strays abilities to expand from what they were before they left the fold."
At that, he turns and walks towards the door. He tries to open it, but its either locked, jammed or rusted shut. He steps out of the way, before gesturing towards Nora. Both her and Pyrrha had drawn their weapons, and, manifesting her wings, the bombastic ginger rushes forwards, Magnhild held high and back, ready for a powerful swing. The door tears from its hinges with a shriek of tormented metal before clattering into the opposite wall in a darkened hallway. The stench of rot and decay is the first thing to assail the teams heightened senses. Then that of blood, and human excrement, all of that layered over a moist, musky base that leaves no question as to what the 'abandoned' warehouse had been used for before it became the strays nest.
He can hear Nora retch as he strides past. Enhanced senses making the blood on the wall, human waste and remains on the floor along with rotting food visible in gut-wrenching clarity. "How could people do something like this?" Pyrrha queasily queries as she follows him in. They have to turn to the left almost immediately, and pass a series of long abandoned offices. Once they reach the buildings rough center, the hallway opens up to one just wide enough for a car to drive through, and their only option is to turn right. High ceiling one and the same with the roof. The proliferation of filth and derbies doesn't change, however.
He shrugs, eyes searching for any sign of danger. "Nothing in here is human anymore." Before the conversation can go any further, a hideous, animalistic shriek echoes down the hallway. A humanoid form bounds towards him on all fours, hands and feet replaced with long, dagger-tipped talons. The sallow skin barely clad in rags that could have once been a scandalously short skirt and matching tube-top. The beast enters striking range, and Jaune plunges his blade into its neck. The wretch goes limp, but its like the floodgates had been opened.
Doors to either side of the hallway, marked with names and prices still visible through the blood, of what must have been rental storage space before criminals converted it to its penultimate use, are torn or shoved open. A musclebound brute slamed open the door to Jaunes left, lashes out with its massively over-sized right fist. Jaune catches the blow on his shield easily, and rotates his body to slide Crocea Mors under the brutes atrophied left arm, piercing lung and heart. He spares a glance down the hallway to the rest of his team, all of whom are engaged now. "Keep moving!" he shouts, before setting forth into the den of corruption turned nightmare.
Ren ducks under the sickle-armed sweep of the thing that had dropped from the ceiling at him. When he had taken its first blade-arm off, the limb had stayed what he saw. Jaune was right, they are the only humans in the warehouse. And even that claim is tentative for them. He sinks one of StormFlowers blades into the beasts neck, putting it out of its misery. The corpse falls away, and he spots another beast, spine lined with spikes, hunch-backed with its tongue dragging on the floor approaching his partners unguarded back. The monster lets out a pained, startled howl when he unloads his pistols into it. Nora turns, and, reflexively brings Magnhild down on the wretches back.
Without thinking, Nora twists her hammers haft, and one of the grenades bursts at the head of the hammer. The creature is turned into a mound of sticky red mulch, and she is launched skywards down the hallway, towards Ren and Jaune, who are still pressing forwards. She passes over Pyrrha just as the other girl on the team sheathes her weapons.
Pyrrha takes a deep breath, and reaches for the power she had so recently learned to tap into. The ability she had barely had the time to train her fine control with, in the week since- since she took three lives with it. She lashes out, that ear splitting, soul shaking noise has her gritting her teeth. A pair of torso-thick bands of that impossible, almost beautiful, unwholesome crimson to purple fire leap from her hands. All of the corruption she sees before her is rendered to ash as she sweeps the flames across the hallway. The filth on the walls, the rotted, desiccated, mostly cold remains on the ground. The poor victims of this strays madness still charging her down. All of it burns away, leaving the hallway looking almost sterile. The wall is cold, when she touches it, shocked that she had not set their only escape ablaze. The fire only burns what she wants it to.
She turns and draws Miló and Akoúo̱ before dashing to rejoin her team. Jaune, still at the lead, ducks under a wildly flailing tentacle. He slashes upwards, severing the appendage roughly at its center. Before he can capitalize on his success, Nora descends on the former prostitute like a comet, ending the beings agony with a spine-shattering smash as she lands behind it. The corpse slides to a halt at Jaunes feet.
Nora comes out of her landing crouch with an upward sweep as she spins to face the direction her team is moving in. She clips three of the monsters as she does so, turning ones legs into sacks of bricks and hamburger, ripping the arm from a second, and shattering the thirds head like an over-ripe melon. As she brings her weapon around to finish off the still standing monster, she realizes she will need to re-think her strategy for disabling people without auras.
Ren rolls under his partners sweeping strike, neatly decapitating the shark-mouthed, eyeless thing she had layed out. He comes to his feet and sprays fire down the hallway in front of them. The rapid chatter of his twined automatic pistols accented by Milós staccato cracks. His rounds disorienting and wounding, his teammates providing killing blows where his hail of bullets falls short. Still, the situation is far from ideal, passing the coming intersection as they are, every creature in this former den of debauchery will descend on them. Something pricks at the back of his mind, and his enhanced vision is further helped by a dizzying mix of brown and silver, green and blue. A magic circle must have formed behind him, and a fog is forming around him. Useful.
Pyrrha had thought she had been fairly desensitized to strange new experiences over the course of the last few months. Her teammate summoning a thunderhead, the sort you see at the front of super-cells that herald tornadoes, at ground level, to act as cover for the coming intersection is a new record. She had been fine supporting her team from the rear. It gave her time to think, to recover, to plan. She stops in the center of the storage center turned brothels first of three intersections. Again, she holds her empty palms out, this time, focusing on power and intensity instead of fine control. She maintains the conflagration for as long as she can. She is passingly aware of the sounds of fighting in front of her, but if this is going to work, they need the entire warehouse cleared.
Something shakes her, startling her and getting her to cease the outpouring of power. "Good thinking Pyr." Jaune shoots her a grin. One hand resting on her shoulder, the other under the opposite armpit, supporting her. "We can sweep the whole building this way. But I have a feeling our actual target is going to be at the back of the building."
The team falls back into the comfortable rhythm that got them to the first intersection for the rest of their advance. Jaune, Ren and Nora flowing ahead as a relentless, seamless whole. Pyrrha supporting with precise shots from Miló as she recovers her strength for the next time she will need to provide a massive outpouring of it. Somewhere during the advance, all four of them had manifested their wings.
It is, maybe forty five minutes later that they reach the last intersection. At that point, none of them believed that what they had been fighting had ever been humans, faunus, or a corruption of either. Every last creature had displayed only base, animalistic intellect. More often than not the noises they uttered forth impossible for humanoid vocal cords to form. Frequently it is fluids other than blood that sprayed free or dribbled out when their skin was broken. The thickness, coloration and make-up of said skin, as well as what was found beneath it, as commonly a vast departure from what the four trainees knew to be shared traits of faunus and humans alike by a wide margin. Pyrrha almost feels self conscious with the rest of her team watching her use her sacred gear with such naked interest at the final intersection. At least it had been getting... easier, to wield her flames. Almost like forming muscle memory during a rough training session.
Jaune waits until Pyrrhas breathing normalizes before breaking the silence that had fallen as his team caught their breaths. The dark, roiling clouds that had obscured their advance slowly dissipating after Rens magic circle winks out of existence with the cessation of their advance. "Alright, the stray is definitely going to be behind this door. As bad as this... charnel house, has been, expect it to be worse. Cleaner maybe, but, its strength, insanity and grotesqueness will be worse than the rest of what we've dealt with here combined."
He nods at Nora, who slams the reinforced door open with Magnhild. The room beyond looks more like a traditional warehouse. Off to one wall are a series of human-sized cages. They set in two sets of neat, orderly rows. One has 'breaking' painted in front of it, the other 'training'.
A deep, booming voice echoes in the twilight, and a massive figure strides out of the deeper shadows. "So you're the lambs they sent to bring me to task." The stray chuckles. The top of its head is nearly halfway to the vaulted ceiling, a pair of curved, ribbed horns arc from the crown of its skull to its earlobes, framing its face. A wide mouth full of file like teeth stretches from one earlobe to the other, under a hooked nose and beady, deep set eyes. The creature has a quartet of overly muscular arms, each ending in three fingered hands tipped with dagger-like talons. It strides forth on digitigrade legs, incongruously connected to regular human feet. The hulking brute is clad in nothing but a long, tattered loincloth. "I'll warn you, ever since I freed myself from my fool of a masters restrictions, I have been able to make my illusions reality. Its amusing just how many different ways a persons body can be morphed into what mortals consider a nightmare. Those faunus things even more so than a human."
"We aren't lambs, and we will end you." Jaune counters, flourishing Crocea Mors.
The monster throws its head back to roar with laughter. "Do you think I lied, child?" A quartet of figures stride forth from behind the stray. Perfect mirrors of team JNPR. "Now, lets turn the four of you into proper nightmares." the stray growls menacingly. As their doppelgangers skin begins to boil or stretch, bones snapping and groaning, joints popping and muscle crawling about, Pyrrha lashes out with her sacred gear, turning the illusions to ash before they have a chance to solidify into reality, or finish their transformation. An explosion to her left heralds Noras assault, and a blur of pink and white proves Pyrrhas instinct correct.
Nora sails through the air, reveling in the feeling of wind whipping by her face even as she works Magnhilds haft to shift another grenade into place. She connects with the strays shoulder, and immediately works the haft again halfway through the pivot her momentum turns the powerful hit into. The second explosion launches her away from the behemoth, and rocks its left side half a step forward. The step, along with her moving away are enough to wreck its aim. Though, the ball-jointed arms jab at her still grazes her aura and leaves her aerial roll less controlled than usual as she shifts her weapon into its launcher form. Far below her, and on the strays opposite side, Ren is strafing to the left, firing at the monsters head, and Jaune is barreling right at it.
Jaune brings his shield up barely in time to catch the impact of the monsters lower right arm lashing out at him. Its lower left shifting to shield its eyes from Rens fire even as the upper left spears behind its back and towards Nora. In a flash his blades disguise disintegrates, and a quick jab bites deeply into the strays thumb. He wrenches his blade free as the traitor draws back with a bellow as Akoúo̱ streaks past his head, coated in a light black haze.
Pyrrha positions her shield Just below and to the left of Nora, who racks off a trio of grenades at the evil creatures head, before shifting her weapons form as she tumbles through the air and slams it into the waiting platform. As Nora streaks to roughly the same plane as their king, Pyrrha dives out of the way of a stomp from the massive brute. She doesn't even notice the noise as she reflexively lashes out with her fire, badly burning their foes toes. Jaune slashes at the burnt foot, and gets kicked by it for his efforts.
It takes Jaune a moment to clear his head from the unexpected toe kick. More of a flick, to his peerages massive foe. He flares his wings, and slams his shield in place to stop a punch. No clue which of the speedy bastards four arms he's blocking though. Oh, wait, he can count eight arms now. No telling if the one that nearly smashed him into a wall is even real. And there are four legs too, great. He hears Magnhild crack again, and spots Nora somersaulting through the air across their queries front. Looks like she'll land a few feet in front of Ren.
Worse than useless. StormFlower only seems to effect the most vulnerable areas of their target, and its gotten awfully good at – Nora streaks past him, and a massive arm buries itself into the concrete between them. Real for sure. Ren skids as he scrambles change course at a dead sprint, and is soon dashing up the huge beasts arm. He gets just past the elbow before the appendage pulls free of the ground. He is able to twist himself in midair to dig his weapons blades into bicep. Between the pained roar, shifting in momentum, and his own spinning around the limb as he lacerates it, its all he can do keep his weapon dug deep.
Nora lets out a shout of rage when the damn monster swats Ren away from its arm. Less than a heartbeat later he craters the warehouse wall, only one of StormFlowers twinned pair still near him. On the floor. More than ten feet from the divot he is still stuck in. Barely thinking she slams Magnhild into the ground, launching herself skyward again. The wind. Spinning. Contact. CLICK. She tumbles down the stray. Needs to do something. Has to protect Ren. She swings again as she nears its foot, and something in the back of her head just feeling right as she does so. Her hammer connects with the monsters heel, and her body is tumbling across the ground. She looks up and shakes her head. Shards of ice on Magnhild, the strays left foot frozen to the concrete floor at the heel. She can feel her grin growing as she pushes herself back to her feet, and Akoúo̱ zips past her borne on a black mist.
Pyrrha catches her shield, studded leather straps fixing it to her arm even as she hurls Miló in spear form at the head of the stray. She barely has time to roll away from its retaliatory talon slash. One adjustment. Two. Miló digs into the monstrosities eye and it roars in rage. Why is its heel iced to the floor? Doesn't matter. Fire leaps from her free hand to scorch a furrow out of the immobilized legs thigh, then its calf. Rens out of the wall. Check scroll, roll. He still has half his aura left. Get Akoúo̱ up and worry about-
Jaune screams in rage and terror as his partner, his queens aura shatters when the backhanded swipe drives her into the wall on the far side of the warehouse from where she had been running. At least the follow through of the strike had only hit air. Ren, still wobbly from his own flight to the same wall is dashing to close the gap between their unshielded teammate and the massive fist rushing towards her. Jaune spots Nora slam the opposite limb into the pavement, a wide magic circle at her hammers head. Ice encompasses the meaty limb in panes and spikes. The strays momentum snaps to an abrupt halt as the newly immobilized limb hyper-extends.
Its punch becomes a swipe, it grabs Ren with a second terrifying light-show of a shattering aura. Noras aura flares along her arms she launches free, tiny icicles trailing her weapon as she arcs herself skyward, aura dimming noticeably before fading from view along her limbs. Acting on instinct, and too far from any weak-spot on the stray, Jaune hurls Crocea Mors towards where the beasts neck will be when its clenched fist will deliver Ren to its mouth. A wordless war-cry on her lips, Nora falls like a comet on the wrist attached to the fist Ren is in. A deafening crack fills the room as ice coats the recently shattered wrist, and both loyal devils are carried to the ground by the altered weight and momentum of the over-sized limb. The stray starts to howl in rage and pain, until Crocea Mors digs hilt deep into its neck. No sooner than the blade sinks in, a black haze coats it, and the legendary blade zips from its place under one ear to the same spot under the other. The sword tears free, before clattering to the ground feet away.
For a moment, everything seems frozen in place. Then blood begins to spray from the strays neck as it falls limp and lifeless. Again, all sound fades, save for that of four teenaged devils panting from exertion and fear, as their adrenaline rushes slowly crash. Jaune is the first to break the silence. "Pyrrha, I think you've been scrubbing aura into your sacred gear."
The redhead actually glares at him from her divot in the wall "Nora scrubbed aura into her arms."
"For the record, I don't know how to give professional arm rubs." Ren half gasps.
Nora is the first to rise, Jaune realizes. His throw must have unbalanced him badly enough that he fell over. "That makes two of us." Jaune quips, "My sisters were all smart enough with their training that they didn't need those."
All four of them are giggling as they talk now. Well, Nora is grunting as she tries to wrench her weapon out of the ball of ice it is encased in. "Well, one of you two are learning. And we're getting Renny something with more punch."
"Can we start with a few bandoleers for Nora?" Pyrrha shoots back, her voice bouncing like it always does when she's making a joke, as she tries to lever herself out of the wall.
Ren, still encased in the corpses fist, snaps his head to look directly at Pyrrha. "You want to encase my partner in unshielded explosives?" He shakes his head, then, far more calmly, continues "And could one of you please help me out of this thing before rigor mortis sets in?"
Jaune, still chuckling, pushes himself to his feet as he answers "Covered in belts of grenades has got to be better than her having none left when she needs one, right?" before making his way over to his friend to help him extricate himself from the fallen strays stiffening grip. The sounds that come with Pyrrhas fire aren't even all that jarring as she works to help the teams other girl retrieve her weapon.
_-*R-DxD*-_
Roman trudges from the landed bullhead in his crater in the making of a headquarters towards the crappy loft apartment attached to his gracious employer is letting him stay at. Sure, hire the kingdoms most infamous crook, then ask him to sit on literally ALL of the evidence for what you want him for. He barely pays any attention to the would-be freedom fighter dogging his heels. The job hadn't been a complete disaster per say. But it sure as hell hadn't went to plan either. Better than half a dozen shop hold-ups, sure, but they still only made off with half the cargo.
He slams the door shut behind him as he crosses the threshold into his pathetic abode. If he hadn't taken that Fall bitches job he could still be staying in his penthouse uptown. Not that he's hard up, Vacuan bank accounts, shady Mistrali stock brokers, and the occasional side job for himself has him comfortably in the black yet. And Cinder is still shelling out enough lien per tonne, tonne! Of dust to make the work worth being in the dark. Worth knowing she isn't the top of the totem pole he's shackled to. Mostly.
The sound of glass shattering behind him is as everyday as him tossing his bowler cap onto its hook and hanging Melodic Cudgel in their weapons rack. His daughter, okay, adopted daughter. Well, she would be if criminals could make the sort of honest courthouse visits that requires. Whatever, he's rambling too himself. Neo hangs Hush next to his own weapon, before angling for the 'kitchen' in their current domicile, probably for a snack not a meal, but the short-stack eats enough real grub that he isn't too worried.
They both cope different after a job goes sideways. He cracks the 'living rooms' window, sparks a cigar, and catches the stout Neo had grabbed from their fridge for him before it shatters on the wall. Okay, its a great-room, a counter separating the kitchen and living room spaces save for a narrow walkway. He sets the beer down, it'll be a few minutes before the drink is safe to open, should have fixed himself a gin and tonic instead. What he gets for leaving it to Neo though.
Neo plops down on the couch next to him, wrinkles her nose, then moves to the recliner on the rooms far side. "So, anyone worth getting in touch with you noticed from tonight's job?" she rapidly flashes at him in Valean Standard Sign Language. Too fast for anyone who hasn't been fully fluent for years, and with good eyes to boot, to follow. Three apparently, and one is supposedly a hunk. Roman is seriously glad the place they are staying at is a two bedroom, and that the master has its own bath. Both of them being adults with needs would be painfully awkward were this a studio apartment. Okay, Neo is more of a niece. Cousin, maybe? Whatever, he is older, got her off the streets and helped her to finish growing up normalish. He's gotta protect her, that's, just, how the world works.
Whatever, whenever the chips aren't looking the best he ends up over-dwelling on just what their relationship is. Which doesn't really matter past family, in his books. Crooked as they are. Anyhow. "Yea, maybe two of tonight's crew stack up, from what I saw. Compare notes?"
More rapid-fire sign language. Even more evidence of how riled she is feeling. Normally she at least puts in the effort to make some of those ridiculous signs with her semblance. Hell, she even has a notebook and pen she keeps in a pocket when she doesn't want to go flaunting her trump card. Roman finally cracks his well earned beer, and takes a long drag from his cigar. Still, it looks like five between the two of them. Four got made in the fighting though. "Sorry Neo, but when it comes to getting our little teeth pulled like this..."
Oof, she actually flipped him the bird for that one. She didn't say no though. "You know as well as I that Cinder's going to burn us as soon as she can afford to. We're in it for the money, not whatever her boss is after. If we don't have our own power base..."
Neo just looks at him, spoonful of rocky road halfway to her mouth. "Yea, I know we'll be stepping on a lot of mobsters toes if we keep up at this Neo." he defends himself. "But if even half of that psychos plan pans out the way I think what she's up to will..." he lets his words trail off. Neo isn't an idiot. White Fang, enough dust to level half the city already, and crates of grim piled sky high in half a dozen 'derelict' warehouses. "We gotta come up with a name for the useful muscle we're taking on Neo. And work on an exit plan past 'proper timing.' Gods, we probably need a second plan in case all this extra recruitment and side work gets shot to pieces when Crazy goes to pull the Kingdom down around us."
_-*R-DxD*-_
Ozpin sits calmly, perfectly awake in the pre-sunrise gloom as Phanuel, wearing his Port disguise, strides into his office, Rojoa half a step behind him and to the left. "I take it you've learned something, having requested such an early meeting?"
Rojoa nods, blond hair shifting about on his shoulders as he does so "Arc isn't the only devil active in Vale."
Ozpin cuts his gaze from Rojoa to Phanuel. "You told me that only Jaune was a devil after initiation, old friend."
The false skein of an overweight, past his prime old huntsman begins pacing. His subordinate, at least, stays in place, hands clasped at the small of the younger fallen angels back. "And, after initiation, that was true. I didn't even notice the shift until I had Rojoa look into Arc and Winchester. Both devils and fallen angels are experts at hiding their nature. For a long stretch of the Three Way War, Heaven held the clear advantage."
"And now?" the ancient wizard prompts, folding his hands over his mug of cocoa. Not disbelieving, but carefully considering.
Phanuel ceases his pacing, and again turns to face Ozpin. "After Rojoa informed me of the nature of the students in question, I applied more scrutiny. Nikos, Valkyrie and Ren are no longer human. Through some means I cannot fathom, they are now devils, but still themselves."
"The Fallen wearing Sky Larks skin is likely the one that has been antagonizing Team Juniper. I suspect things will escalate until only one faction remains." Rojoa interjects, voice all clipped professionalism.
Ozpin takes a sip from his mug. There's no need to seem worried. Then moves his gaze back to his lieutenants spymaster. "You mentioned a Fallen Angel disguised as one of our students, Sky Lark."
Phanuel nods, taking over for his subordinate again. "Like with Nora, Pyrrha and Lie, the shift was nearly imperceptible until it was pointed out to me. From a magical perspective, the former three are the same materiels cast into a different mold. With Lark, its foreign materiels blended into a new mold."
Rojoa cuts back in, looking more towards his actual centuries of age then the scant decades the fallen appears to have lived. "I was, following, Juniper while they searched Lower Vale for the ex-terrorist on team Ruby."
Phanuel holds one of his portly covers fists to his moth to stifle a laugh. "You were in the red light district and noticed a power spike."
Rojoa shoots a glare at the higher ranked fallen, but presses on "It was devils fighting devils. Arc and his team against one of the wretches that had abandoned all humanity. They put it down like the rabid dog it is. Cleansed the corruption from the former black market brothel it had been nesting in that was left over too."
"Oh-ho, a Black Market Brothel you say? How did it stack up to the licensed ones?" Port guffaws at his agent.
Said blonde kicks his boss in the shin hard enough that the unprepared fallen angel nearly falls over, and his illusion flickers. "What sort of scum do you take me for, sir? Anyways" he presses on, tone far calmer as the younger fallen addresses Ozpin than it had been for rebuking his leader "Arc and his devils cleaned it up, while the guy wearing Larks skin was back in the dorms. That's all I got."
Ozpin glances back and forth between the pair of fallen angels on his payroll right now. "Dig deeper, and keep you're covers up. This has been a self contained matter for centuries. I don't want Salem catching wind of the broader supernatural world. Nothing good can come from that."
From one of the windows, a particularly cheeky crow rests, pecking at the window. He supposes that Oz had a pretty good reason to interview a core course professor Monday before sunrise. Going by body language, the old bastards new TA will be nothing but good for the students of Beacon. The old bastard waits a whole five minutes before he gets around to opening the window.
"Qrow, I have both a front door, and an elevator." the ancient wizard tries to admonish him.
Qrow shrugs as he shifts from his bird to his human form. "But you gave me a way to get to you that not only makes you look even more like the enigmatic old wizard you are, but it saves me time." he shoots back, grabbing at his hip flask to take a drag from it. No news is bad news, after all.
"Have you found out anything about Ambers assailant, or what they did to her?" Oz presses, cutting straight to business. Rude, but with his luck, not unexpected.
Qrow shrugs, and makes his way to one of Oz's guest chairs and slouches down into it. Take another swig. "Nothing, Oz. All I know is what you an Jim decided to let me know. She was the Fall Maiden. Flighty, inexperienced and needed a bodyguard. The two of you picked the worst possible man for the job, she ran from the pressure and into the supposed glory any kid with power like that will see. I showed up in time to save a vegetable with half a maidens powers, and spot two girls and one guy with their traits on shuffle."
Oz heaves a sigh, then moves to knead his brows like that alone could work the weight of eons away. If he could share the ancient wizards burdens he would. If the old man trusted him more, he knows he could. "I take it the leads you looked into..."
"Complete dead ends." Qrow crows, and, magic or no, wishes he didn't make a pun of himself so often. Silence holds for more than a few minutes. Qrow knows why, Either Oz is mentally berating himself, or trying to cross reference what different sets of eyes had found, probably across multiple lifetimes, for more leads. None of it is really useful in the here and now. "So, how are my nieces doing at Beacon?" he prompts the ancient wizard.
Oz smirks "Oh, don't worry, they aren't getting into anything they cant handle."
The rest of their meeting is so much white noise. Qrow, soberly, makes his way to a cafe. Even orders normal breakfast fare, none of it at all part of some hangover cure. Even after the food is gone, and the waitresses are getting fed up with refilling his coffee, he sits. Eventually, the clock tells him its that magical spot in a teachers weekday routine that they are at work, available, but not busy with classes yet. Tai isn't very far down his contact list, and it only takes a single extra tap on Qrows scroll to get to his brother in laws work number. "Hey Qrow, whats up?" Tai opens after two rings.
Qrow takes a deep, steadying breath. "Just got back from a meeting with Oz."
"This early? Must be important. Anything you can share with me?" Qrows best friend, his brother in all but blood replies, all eagerness and optimism.
Qrow shrugs, despite the call being audio only. "Ehh, the meeting didn't really have much worth talking about. Nothing new, really." Another deep breath. Crap, Tai is silent as the grave on the other side of the line. He knows somethings up. "Asked how the girls are doing on my way out."
Tai chuckles, it almost sounds like normal. Almost hits that throaty resonance he can only actually get from his eldest niece, really. "So, how are my babys doing?"
This is a bad idea. "Exactly as well as Summer was thirteen years ago. Not getting into anything they can't handle."
Everythings fine, nothing to worry about, right?
Love it? Hate it? Managed to trick your reflection and now live in constant fear that your evil doppelganger will find you, kill you, and take over your life? Drop a review, that shits my rocket fuel!
5/16 update: Made some edits I missed that Darth Stigma caught and I initially missed. Thanks buddy!