Chapter 17 – deus ex maKhina
"I have no wish to fight you, boy."
Adam scoffed. "But you do so anyways, so let's not pretend you're any more noble for it."
The gargantuan human had no visible weapons, but that was only if Adam chose not to count his body. His clothes did nothing to stand out, and Adam briefly wondered if that was meant to suggest something to his opponents. Hunters typically wore flamboyant, garish messes of fabric and cloth with random stitches, zipper, and holes thrown haphazardly. All it took was a look at Clover Ebi and his band of clowns to see how even a proud Atlesian specialist's uniform could be bastardized by ostentatiousness.
But K wore plain outfits that weren't meant to impress, just like this Hazel human. Ilia's was purely practical, and Adam's was nothing more than a fine overcoat. The costume Blake wore was a bit much, but still less than the literal suits of armor or 'combat skirts' that most of their peers at Beacon wore. Adam sometimes wondered if the girls wore outfits designed for beauty solely to relish in the ironic contrast of their cute appearance compared to their lethal combat skills.
In nature, poisonous animals like dart frogs or insects brightly advertised how lethal they are using vibrant hues. Ignorant humans thought that by imitating these colors, would take on the danger that came with it. What these humans didn't realize is that poison, by definition, is a tool for prey. Poison is applied passively, as a weapon to take the one who killed you down once you were already dead and consumed. The bright colors were a desperate attempt to scare and frighten and shock and astound, all to disguise weakness.
Predators, on the other hand, were a most unassuming bunch. They didn't need to dress to impress.
This human, Hazel, was a predator, but Adam had no intention of becoming his prey.
Hazel drew forth two sizeable chunks of Lightning Dust and drove them straight into his arm. Adam had heard of this technique before: Dust jagging. Dust was normally controlled within a mechanized artifice, like Weiss Schnee's toy sword or the explosive rounds in Ruby's sniper scythe. This method was common because of the ease with which it could be installed into a weapon and implemented into a style of fighting, but it offered the least control over the Dust's effects. Going one step further than that were techniques like Dustweaving or forging a weapon out of Dust, like Wilt. This eliminated one degree of separation from the user and their ordnance but required far more skill. Dust jagging was the last link on the chain. If one did so, they literally could mentally order the Dust to behave according to their demands. Summoning fireballs with their bare fists, creating airstreams from their very breath – it was an awesome source of power for only the boldest of warriors.
The drawback was that it required a user to literally jag or pierce their own skin (and aura) with Dust. Pain and physical damage to the body were the cost, but this giant seemed to be more than willing to pay them in exchange for the formidable offense that it afforded him. Rivers of red and yellow followed the contours of his veins, and he let out a Remnant-shattering roar.
Oh, and there was one more drawback to Dust jagging. You had to dig raw explosives past your aura into raw flesh, and then you left them exposed.
Adam fired with Blush at the crystals, igniting them. Had they been fire Dust, he might've been able to bear witness to a gruesome explosion of gore and torn muscle tissue, but alas, all he got for his trouble was electrocuting the man. It wouldn't do much against his aura, but it had to hurt like a bitch.
Ooooor maybe it didn't. Hazel didn't even flinch, swiftly drawing out a sturdy Rock Dust crystal and slamming it into the empty gash in his arm. Either the man had trained himself to accept pain to the point of masochism, or he had a nifty semblance.
Hazel kicked his leg onto the ground, and a spiked barb of solid rock broke through the concrete floor and nearly impaled Adam, who rolled aside at the last millisecond. Turning his foot around, Hazel willed a second barb to jut out of the first, and a third out of that one with a mere tap of his foot. Adam managed to block the second with Wilt, but his aura dropped drastically as the third nailed him in the groin. This was the power of Dust jagging – the Dust had been directly injected into his bloodstream, and all it took was his mind to control it. It was no bullet that needed to be aimed or sword that needed to be pointed. Any movement of his body, even one distant from the limb into which he'd jagged the Dust, and the elements would obey his every whim.
Adam sliced the odd upside down J-shaped rock formation from the ground, then kicked the pieces into his foe's face. Hazel reduced the projectile to rubble with an uppercut, then advanced. A meaty paw wrapped itself over Adam's entire face before he even had time to react, then a knee was driven into his gut. Adam willed his aura to absorb the entire brunt of the force. It was already in the yellow, but his was able to block out most of the pain and react quickly. Hazel's knee was still in his stomach, so Adam speedily placed Wilt underneath it so that the flat of his blade was resting against the bottom of Hazel's thigh, then pushed up. Hazel was flipped and toppled to the ground, and Adam drove Wilt directly into his heart. The blade didn't pierce him, obviously, but Hazel instinctively wrapped a hand around it to swat it off.
Just like Adam had been expecting. Wilt hadn't taken many hits, but it had enough for a faint Moonslice. Adam widely arced his sword arm upwards, and Hazel's hand was swallowed up in the flaring energy. The giant clearly was conserving his aura by directing it away from extremities and towards his vital regions. Aura cleaned it up right away, along with the inch deep cut Adam had drawn, but first blood had been drawn, and the message was sent.
Adam was a predator.
Woooooaaaahhhh…
W-What happened?
Weiss and the…then they saw…and a bullhead…
Ilia tenuously pulled herself to her feet. The ground had been cold, and the right side of her face was numb from lying on it. Checking herself for missing limbs or digits, she noticed that her skin had turned back to its normal tan.
Well, I guess if we survive this, I won't have to explain to Weiss why I'm a color changing Faunus.
"Ruby! Get me to her! Now!"
The sound of Blake's voice broke Ilia out of her semi-sarcastic thoughts. Blake seemed to have arrived when Ilia was unconscious, and she now had her throat to that crocodile Faunus woman's throat. The yellow glow that showed up around her when she entered beast mode was missing.
That's good. If she's out of the picture, I bet we can handle the other two.
Then, Gambol Shroud broke.
Ilia didn't know what came over her when she chose to move. Perhaps it was altruistic instinct to spare Blake the pain. Perhaps it was a subconscious tactical understanding of the fact that her stealth would be less useful in this fight than Blake's combat prowess. Perhaps it was a sororal bond that propelled her to defend her teammate. P̶e̶r̶h̶a̶p̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶.
It didn't matter, though. As the enemy Faunus bit into Ilia's throat and the pain overcame her, none of it mattered, because Blake was okay.
"ILIAAAAAAAA!"
The scream tore Adam's attention away from his fight. He still had the wherewithal to put some distance between himself and his foe, but he couldn't help but take his eyes off him for just a second to check on Blake.
And then he saw Ilia.
And then that second became another second.
And another.
And another.
And another.
And then his head hurt.
And then he was lying on the ground, Hazel hovering over him.
And then there was darkness.
"N-No," Blake breathed.
The crocodile smiled. "S'not so bad, luv. Ye messed up, but don't worry. Yah frens won't be aloive to be upset 'bout ye fer long."
"H-How? The minute passed…"
"Eighty eight yeuhs, Oi've lived. Eighty eight yeuhs, and it took me sixty two o' them to figger out that Oi could push me semblance beyond its limits and grab hold o' an extra minute. Oh, sure, Oi get roight vomity well afterwards with all sortsa blood mixed in, and some o' me hairs falls out, but Oi find that the extra toime Oi get is well worth the proice. The trick is tah put the extra toime first, so Oi don't break me aura too soon."
"The pocketwatch…" Blake said weakly, realizing how pathetic she must've sounded as she clung to denial despite knowing that it wouldn't help.
"Why in me roight moind would Oi willing give me opponen's a way tah tell 'ow long Oi've got left? It's a trick, wee lass, for those dumb enuff tah believe it. Loike ye."
Ruby's words from initiation hauntingly reverberated in Blake's mind.
'Why would she count down right in front of you?'
And even tonight, she'd warned Blake of the same thing. Ruby had made the right call, and Blake had been so confident in her own decision that she'd ignored her. Ruby had seen right through the pocket watch as a red herring, and Blake had disregarded her without as much as a second thought.
She'd begged to focus on rescuing Adam and Ilia…oh, Ilia, I'm so, so sorry…but I demanded we stand and fight.
If I'd listened to her, Ilia would be alive.
I killed Ilia.
Ruby rushed at her with her scythe, but the Faunus' yellow glowing force field took the hit, and she kicked out Ruby's feet from under her. Blake wanted to run over and save her, but Ilia was lying right there. Should Blake run over and save her? And what about Adam? Blake had callously ignored him entirely, and he was in trouble now. His aura had broken, and the giant human was pounding him into the ground relentlessly.
Who was she supposed to save? What if she made the wrong choice again?
The twin swords found themselves at Ruby's chest. Blake wanted to save her, to stop this all, to do something, but it was over. The enemy Faunus had another minute of invulnerability, and Blake didn't even have a weapon.
Death would be a sweet release from the utter self-hatred that Blake was feeling right now.
"Get away from her!"
Ruby, Blake, and the crocodile Faunus all looked up to see Weiss Schnee, bloodied, bruised, but not beaten. She stood a short distance away from the disastrous fight, her rapier drawn and her eyes roaring with fury.
"Get away from Ilia!"
"Still aloive? Coulah me surprised, luv – Oi'd no oidea that Romey was that useless. But Oi'm not 'ere for any o' youse. Oi'm 'ere for li'l Miss Silvuh Eyes." The Faunus raised her sword for the kill.
A Glyph appeared above Ruby, blocking the sword. The Faunus drew her weapon back and kicked her foot down onto the barrier. It seemed that invulnerability's effects were stronger than the Schnee family Glyphs, for her foot sank through the white circle and kicked Ruby right in her stomach.
The little girl squirmed in pain, and it was too much for Blake. There was no way on the Brother God's green Remnant that Blake would fall to her despair while Weiss Schnee, bitch queen and hater of Faunus, still chose to fight.
Blake scrambled to her feet and tackled the crocodile Faunus. She knew from experience that even momentum was swallowed up by the invulnerability semblance, but perhaps she'd be able to get all up in the enemy's face for long enough for Weiss to get the others to safety. Blake grabbed both the swords with her bare fists and tried to wrestle her enemy.
I just need to keep her attention on me and do what the Glyph couldn't – act as a barrier between her and Ruby.
Teeth bit into Blake's neck, but unlike Ilia, she had aura to protect her. All Blake needed to do was hold out just a little bit longer. Just a little bit longer and it could be her who would die instead of Ruby…
"Stand down."
Blake tilted her head to the side and saw that the bulky human had decided that Adam was defeated. Weiss was wriggling within his grasp, but his vice grip was too much for her to escape from.
"You've lost. Stand down, and your deaths shall be painless. You have my word."
The crocodile Faunus released Blake's neck from her mouth and chuckled. "Cept silvuh eyes. Oi'm gonna savuh ev'ry boite o' her."
"…please, just don't make this any harder than it needs to be," said the human. "Your forces are defeated. No help is coming. It is over."
He's right. No one is coming…
Beacon! I stole a bullhead, so they'll come!
…but they have no idea where I am.
Adam's unconscious. Ilia's going to die. Weiss is restrained, and her team is probably no better off. Ruby's beaten. I can't stop this woman – I can only hope to stall her, but what am I stalling for?
Still, Blake didn't let go of the swords. Maybe help wasn't coming, but giving up would accomplish nothing. She was the last member of the Belladonna line, and she would go down fighting.
I'm sorry, Ruby.
I'm sorry, Adam.
I'm so sorry, Ilia.
The crocodile tilted her head back, then repeatedly bashed it into Blake's chest. Blake felt her aura drain away until it finally broke. The swords she was grasping cut her fingers, and the crocodile opened her mouth for the killing bite.
Then Blake was in the air. She was floating away from the scene, held up by some unseen force. If this was death, then she was being dragged to the heavens a lot faster than she'd been expecting.
But Ruby was also flying into the sky, and Ilia too. Adam, Cardin, Russel, Dove (the last three of whom Blake had entirely forgotten about), they were all being dragged upwards. She looked down at Weiss, who was still struggling in the giant human's hold. A sword floated out of nowhere and smashed him on the head, causing him to involuntarily release Weiss. Then, the sword flew around Weiss three times, and she was lifted into the air by the same invisible force to join them.
All eight of them were carried above the level of the Valean buildings. The invisible force turned out to be quite visible.
"Please remain calm, friends. I am taking us to the Valean General Hospital."
"W-Who are you?" asked a barely lucid Ruby.
"My name is Penny Polendina. I am a huntress. Five of you are in critical condition and will need urgent assistance. I have contacted Beacon authorities, and they will meet us at the hospital. A local lawkeeping force has been dispatched to apprehend those who did this to you. Please cease your struggling, Miss Schnee. I do not wish to drop you."
They were flying through in the sky, easily two hundred feet in the air. Blake couldn't see what was keeping her afloat, but there were strange flickering swords all around them that seemed to twitch every now and then. Penny herself was hovering using some sort of jetpack boots. Blake had never seen anything like it before.
She doesn't look like she's any older than I am. How could she be a huntress?
Blake felt the mystical force that was gripping her body tighten for a second. Then, it released back to its normal tightness. There was another brief moment of tightening, this one shorter then the first, then another long one.
W-What is going on right now?
Adam was going to be okay, but he would only be on his feet after a few days of hospital bedrest and monitoring, maybe a week. The same was true of the men of Team Sword. Ruby had sustained light injuries, but her aura had held through most of the fight, so she wouldn't be too bad off. Weiss had emerged unscathed save for minor cuts and bruises, as had Blake.
Honestly, Blake wished she'd taken some grievous injury. The fact that things had gone wrong because of her pigheadedness and others had suffered for it didn't sit right with her.
And things had gone wrong.
Ilia was in a medically induced coma. Her esophagus had been punctured, and the doctors said that there was severe tissue damage to her thyroid and cricoid cartilage. It didn't mean a lot to Blake, but she understood that it was life-threatening, and Ilia would be lucky to survive.
Ruby was keeping Adam company, so Blake had stuck with Ilia as she underwent surgery for now. She didn't think that she would be able to face her leader's gaze just yet. The worst part was that Ruby would probably try and get her to forgive herself. That was just how Ruby was – she always tried to see the best in people.
But Blake didn't want forgiveness.
She never thought she'd say it, but she was glad it was Weiss that sat beside her and not Ruby. Weiss may not have fully understood what had happened, but she was more than happy to give Blake the vitriol she deserved.
"There's a reason that they made Ruby the leader. She may not be great, but she's at least smarter than an animal like you."
Blake choked as she tried to swallow. Through the window, she could see the doctors operating on her fallen comrade. She nodded at Weiss' rebuke.
"Ilia was the kindest, sweetest, best woman I've ever known. She and I were…" Weiss paused, choking up somewhat herself. "And now she's like this, because you thought you were hot shit and wanted to catch some supercriminal who you knew was invincible."
Blake nodded once more.
"It should've been you."
"Yes." Blake nodded. "It should have been me."
"It should have…it should have been me."
Blake tore her eyes away from Ilia and looked at Weiss, who'd just echoed Blake's self-flagellating words. She couldn't tell why the outburst from the former heiress had suddenly stopped and taken a melancholier tone, but she didn't respond for fear of setting Weiss off.
"I…I just rushed in sword first and announced I was there. And Ilia was probably only there because she'd run into me earlier and thought I needed help. I'm only a huntress-in-training. I had no business being there. I just…I'd seen the robbed Dust shops and thought that I could accomplish something by stopping the thieves. I thought I could prove that the name Schnee still meant something. It's all my fault…"
Blake wasn't the person to whom she was pouring her heart out; that much was obvious. Weiss was staring at Ilia through the glass without peeling her eyes away for anything. She'd probably forgotten that the cat Faunus was even there.
Either way, Blake felt like an interloper, intruding on Weiss's emotional diarrhea out even though she'd actually been in the viewing room before her. Ilia would be fine whether or not she was there, so Blake decided to check up on Ruby and Adam. Weiss kept muttering to herself as tears began to roll down her face.
Adam's treatment had been a lot briefer, and there had been no need to take him into a surgical theater. Still, a vast assortment of needles and intravenous fluid lines were coming out of him.
Ilia would probably crack some asinine pun about him looking more like a hedgehog Faunus than a bull Faunus.
Y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶e̶a̶r̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶j̶o̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶.̶
Adam's blood was on Blake's hands as well. Though he hadn't leapt in front of a snapping crocodile's maw to save her, the only reason he'd been beaten half to death by a monster of a man was because Blake had prioritized apprehending an enemy before aiding him. K was all they had, and Blake had let them down.
Ruby, asleep in her chair, stirred upon Blake's entrance but did not wake up. Blake leaned over Adam and tried her best not to let any of her tears fall onto him.
"I…I…"
"unnnnhhh"
"Adam? Are you awake?"
"K-K…"
Blake checked Ruby again – still asleep. "K. Adam, I'm so–"
"Not now. You need to…if you're the only one left–"
"Don't talk like that! You're going to be fine."
"Not like that," Adam wheezed. "I'll be down for a while. It's up to you. You need to…the mission…"
"Adam, this is all my fault. I failed. I'm not worthy of–"
"Belladonna."
Blake stood up straight and waited for the dressing down.
"Don't give in to your despair. Master it. Don't let it master you. The mission continues, whether we are at full strength or not. James is counting on us to find the…find the machine…"
Adam trailed off, just as Ruby shifted in her seat. Blake wasn't entirely sure that Adam had truly faded out of consciousness and wasn't just trying to avoid the spry teenager as she slowly woke up, but their classified conversation could continue no longer either way.
"B-Blake? Izzat you?"
Blake finally understood how a deer caught in the headlights felt. This was a conversation she'd been dreading, but Ruby had seen her, and it was too late to slink away and wallow in self-pity on her lonesome.
"It's me, Ruby," Blake admitted quietly.
"Did Adam wake up?"
"He just mumbled something in his sleep. Don't worry; you didn't miss it."
"Good, good, I wouldn't…I…"
Ruby trailed off at the end. Blake couldn't blame her – between throwing herself onto a bullhead mid-takeoff to pulling Blake through its windshield to running circles around the crocodile Faunus, she must've worn herself out something fierce.
Blake didn't ask what Ruby was going to say, instead choosing to wait for Ruby to wake up and take things at her own pace. The tiny human rubbed at her eyes, took a forlorn look at Adam, then stood up. Blake prepared herself. If it was a dressing down that came next, she could take it, but if Ruby was nice, Blake didn't know wat she would do. Too much had happened tonight – the tracker, the docks, Ilia.
"Blake, you did a lot of good things tonight. You threw caution into the wind and stole a bullhead to save our friends. When the crocodile woman started advancing on Adam when he was busy with the tall guy, you didn't hesitate to throw yourself into harm's way in their defense. You destroyed her Gravity Dust weapons, and you managed to injure Roman Torchwick."
"Ruby–"
"Let me finish. You thought that crocodile lady had a minute timer on her semblance, and you used that to our advantage. That wasn't your mistake. There was no way you could have known that she had more semblance in the tank, and it could have just as easily been a victory for us if she hadn't. Now, here's what you did wrong."
Blake wilted and tried to steel her nerves. This hurt. This hurt far more than any injury she'd ever taken with the White Fang, and it was about to hurt a whole heckuva lot more.
"I'm the leader of Team Rabies, for better or for worse, and you completely disregarded me. Even if I wasn't in charge, we're supposed to be partners. You were supposed to listen to me. I'm not saying you should've blindly obeyed me, but you ignored everything I said. We could've compromised or planned an escape route in case of emergency or something, but you chose to only trust yourself.
"The other thing you did wrong was not prioritizing the safety of our fellow students. We're kids, and it's not our job to go around arresting criminals. Team Sword and Ilia had already been injured when we arrived. The second that the Gravity Dust weapon had been disabled, we should've left. I understand your reasoning for wanting to push ahead when we had the advantage, but that was wrong. Straight up wrong, under every circumstance and no matter what."
Ruby looked away. "Now, I don't want to do this, and I'm not entirely sure I know how, but I need to take some action to prevent you from doing something like again in the future."
"I promise I won't ever–"
"You say that now, but injuries heal. Eventually our teammates will be back on their feet, and things will brighten up, and you'll start feeling confident again. I need to make sure you learn your lesson now."
For the record, Blake hadn't been trying to get out of punishment. Her only goal had been to reassure Ruby that she had already learned her lesson.
"This is for me, too. You didn't respect me as a leader, but that's in part because I've done nothing leader-worthy. I've tried to be everyone's friend and respect your autonomy, but I see now that there will be times when I'll have to be your leader first and your friend second, even if it makes you hate me."
Blake could nearly weep, right about now. General Ironwood had delivered a near identical statement to her and Adam once, the word 'friend' replaced with 'father' in his case. H̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶a̶p̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶.̶
"I need to make you remember that you can't just listen to yourself. You need to hear what other people say. So, until Ilia wakes up, I'm not going to talk to you."
That's it?
The silent treatment? This is her big idea of a punishment?
"I'll also ask Team Yellowjacket-P and Adam, when he wakes up, to not speak to you. Team Sword, too, though it probably won't be much of a difference from right now. I'm going to forbid you from taking or receiving any scroll calls from anyone. The only voice you'll hear is your own."
"Uh, Ruby–"
Ruby sat down and looked at Adam.
"R-Ruby–"
The girl in question pulled out her scroll and started sending a message on it.
This is pointless. I'd better go check on Ilia again.
Blake walked out of the room, only to bump into Headmaster Ozpin himself.
"Ah, Miss Belladonna. I'm glad to see you exited this trial mostly unscathed."
"I find myself disagreeing."
"Now, now, young lady. Had you incurred an injury, that would have done nothing to ease your friends' pain. Tragedy can never undo tragedy; it will only compound it."
"It doesn't feel right. I'm at fault for their suffering."
"And would you sharing in that suffering alleviate theirs? I think not. But alas, I have not come to discuss the philosophy of survivor's guilt with you. Now that all of my students are either safe or in a stable condition, the burden of investigating this incident falls upon myself and my staff. As students of Beacon Academy, any action you take is my responsibility. If you would please find Miss Goodwitch in the lobby and wait with her there, I shall meet you shortly."
Oh, shit. Goodwitch. I forgot all about her. Let's just hope that she's a forgiving person.
Glynda Goodwitch was not a forgiving person. Blake had to stare at some god-awful painting of an ancient king of Vale to avoid her piercing gaze while they waited in the lobby of the hospital for the headmaster to collect the remaining unharmed huntresses. Ozpin, while occasionally difficult to talk to and prone to rambling, was at least pleasant and had clearly been born to be a teacher. Goodwitch must have been given her job at Beacon by accident, for only one who sought schadenfreude would have willingly assigned such a frosty shrew to work at a school.
Eventually, Ozpin returned with Ruby and Weiss Schnee, then ushered the teenagers and his deputy out the door. The five of them stepped aboard a bullhead that had been parked nearby in silence.
As Blake strapped into her seat, Goodwitch sat down next to her.
"Did you know that airships like this cost us tens of millions of lien? And when we lose one, that sum is deducted from our budget for the next year?"
Blake bit down a shiver at the woman's icy demeanor. "I didn't know that."
"Did you also know that my semblance can pull two objects apart with over eighteen thousand Newtons of force? And the head is only tethered to the neck by–"
"Miss Goodwitch. I'm sure Miss Belladonna had her reasons, which we shall no doubt soon find out."
"Of course, headmaster. I shall strive to remain civil and overlook her blatant property destruction and attempted bodily assault. After all, what's a few bullets between friends?"
They arrive at Beacon in the dead of the night, but a crowd had assembled around the bullhead landing strip. Clearly, Blake's stunt had made the rounds and was now this early morning's gossip, compounded by the excitement that the news of both headmaster and deputy leaving campus in the middle of the night would bring.
Ozpin dismissed the crowd with a wave of his hand and some words about getting sleep and there being class tomorrow. Leading his little cavalcade past the mass of whispering faces that refused to dissipate, his face never once wavered from the agreeable smile he wore despite the grim circumstances.
Ruby was following Ozpin without question, but she had yet to acknowledge Blake. Every time Ruby looked her way, it was like she couldn't see the Faunus at all; her eyes passed right over her. She wasn't avoiding her or looking away awkwardly. Ruby simply acted as though the space Blake occupied was empty. Blake was beginning to wonder if she'd underestimated just how far Ruby was willing to take this punishment. What was next, she would ignore Blake's physical existence and try to walk through her?
Weiss Schnee, on the other hand, hadn't lifted her gaze from the floor. Unlike Blake, she didn't have anyone to turn to, with her entire team in the same situation as Adam. The three of them were the only ones to emerge from the ordeal conscious.
The headmaster stopped his party at the entrance to the CCT, just in front of the elevator.
"I'll speak with each of you individually. Miss Schnee, please accompany Professor Goodwitch and me to my office."
Schnee entered the elevator with the two elder hunters, and the door closed behind then.
"Ruby, I'm so sorry about all this. You're 100% right to be mad at me."
Ruby had no response. The elevator went up, and Ruby's eyes followed it to the top of the tower.
"I know it's no excuse, but I just…Ilia and Adam have been with me for so long that it's hard to trust someone else. But I do. I do now. You're one of us, or I suppose I should say that we're all now one of Team Rabies. Or, you know, all four of Team Rabies. So, I trust you. No more us and you – just one team."
Nothing. Not even a nod. Blake started to get worried.
"R-Ruby? Did you hear me?"
She wasn't going to respond, but Blake didn't want to just leave it like that. She felt like she needed to say something that would get Ruby to affirm her admission of guilt. Even if she could just get Ruby to yell at her or scowl or roll her eyes, that would be enough.
"You told me in Forever Falls that you were glad to be my partner. Well, I'm also glad to be your partner. I know I showed it pretty poorly tonight, but I promise that I'm going to start being better. I'll–"
Ruby's scroll rang. Ruby answered it.
"Yang? Oh, hey. I'm at the CCT, waiting to give my statement. No, I didn't commit a crime. Yang, please don't make jokes – something terrible has happened. Yes. Yes, someone actually has. Ilia. Yes. Very bad. W-We aren't sure. Adam's also in the hospital, but he's a bit better. Yeah, I think I'd like that. I'll let you know when I'm done here. I love you too, sis. Bye."
Hanging up the scroll, she let out a deep sigh and began to quietly wipe her tears with the corners of her hood.
"Oh, Ruby." Blake reached a hand out to pat her shoulder.
Ruby stepped away without saying anything. She didn't even look at Blake as she avoided her hand. Once there was a sufficient distance between the two girls, Ruby sat down, hugged her knees, and began to weep into her combat skirt.
So, this is my punishment. I have to watch her grieve and I can't do anything about it.
This is gonna suck.
Weiss Schnee left without saying a word, and Ruby was called up next.
Then, it was Blake's turn.
"You destroyed a multi-million dollar vehicle without so much as a second thought! And not only that, you opened fire on an instructor!"
Blake cringed at Goodwitch's scathing description of the situation. Ozpin sat behind the desk with his deputy standing to their right. He didn't have much to say, but that was okay because she more than made up for this silence.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself, young lady?"
"I thought my friends were in danger," Blake squeaked out. "And they were."
"If that was the case, then why on Remnant did you not inform me of the situation and seek my aid as a huntress?" ranted Goodwitch. "I'd thought your infernal team learned their lesson after the debacle during initiation, but evidently not. If I had my way, you'd be suspended for the full term."
Blake froze. The mission…
"Fortunately for you, Miss Belladonna, we shan't be taking such disciplinary action." Ozpin smiled a grandfatherly smile, one so unfit for the situation that Blake saw it as almost predatory. "Your team leader has intervened on your behalf and convinced us that penalization for that offense is unnecessary."
"R-Ruby? Spoke for me?"
"Sir, we–"
"Now, Glynda. How did Miss Rose put it? 'You did many things wrong tonight, but stealing the ship wasn't one of them.' Quite the striking sentiment."
"She was onboard that bullhead, and she's trying to cover her own ass," said Goodwitch. "Sir, let it be known that I do not–"
"My decision is final, Professor. We cannot afford to lose a promising young huntress, let alone a team leader."
Blake scrunched up her face. Why were they referring to the prospect of her suspension as the loss of a team leader?
"I see your confusion. Miss Rose insisted that your actions in the landing bay were justified as they were done in the name of urgently coming to your teammates' defense, a notion with which I find myself concurring. She has threatened to resign from Beacon if you are punished…"
Blake stared with bewilderment.
"…for that. She has stated on the record that your behavior during the fight was…unbecoming, but she stands by your haste to get there and your actions beforehand."
Goodwitch grunted and faced away.
"Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, we may begin with your testimony. Please, from the beginning." He started a tape recorder and gestured for her to speak.
"Adam and Ilia went into Vale for sightseeing. Their departure was approved and documented; this was well before the event."
Ozpin smiled. "I reviewed the logs. You are indeed correct."
"They broke the Beacon curfew, I will admit. S-Sir, given the dire nature of their–"
"I've no intention of chastising them for something as simple as curfew, not after what they've been through. Know that such minor infractions have been granted full immunity. Please, do not feel the need to withhold vital information in order to avoid 'ratting out' your teammates. Our sole objective is to ascertain what transpired and how the criminals you fought were involved."
"I'm glad to hear it. Adam texted me about needing help. He said he saw a Lightning Dust attack from one of Weiss' glyphs and wanted to investigate. He thought she might be in trouble if she were using her semblance offensively."
"This is corroborated by Miss Schnee's account. Do go on."
"I was on my way to the bullhead when he texted me again, saying that it was urgent, and their lives were in jeopardy. That was why I shot you, Miss Goodwitch. Er, ma'am. You were holding back the bullhead I was on, and I didn't know if a second or two would be the difference between life and death."
Goodwitch huffed, but her angry expression loosened up a bit.
"I flew to the coordinates they sent me, and somehow Ruby got on board. I filled her in on what our teammates were up to, and she used her semblance to get us there faster. We didn't think about it in our haste, but we left the bullhead flying, and it crashed into a Dust container that–"
"Please hold on for just a second, Miss Belladonna," said Goodwitch. "You claim that you made the entire journey from Beacon to the Valean waterfront after Miss Schnee's use of Lightning Dust?"
"Yes." Blake maintained a steady expression, unsure if she'd just made a critical mistake but unwilling to confirm it if she had.
"Miss Schnee claims that the bullhead crash took place in less than a minute from the onset of the fight, which was marked by her use of Lighting Dust via her semblance. With or without Miss Rose's semblance, there's no way you could cover that kind of distance in such a short time."
"I…I…"
Ozpin shook his head. "In the heat of the battle, one often finds time slipping by faster than we realize. I'm sure Miss Schnee was simply mistaken about the chronology due to adrenaline. Miss Belladonna, go on."
Something was wrong with this. Ozpin was being far too nice, far too many times. Even if he was a kindly old man, there was no reason for him to step in and save Blake's ass before she even had a chance to explain herself. This had gone beyond good cop, bad cop – this felt more like Brother of Light, Brother of Darkness.
Were they trying to lull Blake into a false sense of security in the hopes that she would slip up? Was Ozpin befriending her for some more sinister reason? Or maybe it wasn't about Blake at all. Maybe they were trying to cover this whole thing up without drawing too much attention to it.
It would be impossible for them to sweep it under the rug, but maybe there's some specific detail they don't want people focusing on.
The criminals? Ilia did report Goodwitch seeing the crocodile Faunus in the Emerald Forest and passing her by. We know nothing about the tall human, and Ruby said that the Torchwick man was one she'd fought before.
One of the students? Ozpin's known to have personal ties to Ruby, and all three members of K are involved. It could be any one of us.
The weird girl, Penny Polendina? She did just show up out of nowhere, and she had no reason to involve herself or even know the fight was going on.
"Miss Belladonna?"
"Sorry. It's been a long night."
"I understand. Proceed at your own pace."
"The bullhead crashed into a Dust container, triggering an explosion that lit the entire place on fire. Ruby and I fought the crocodile Faunus. I…I thought I had her semblance figure out, so I pushed for us to apprehend her." Blake had actually been prepared to kill her, but there was no need for anyone to know that. "I was wrong, and Ilia took a hit meant for me. Things went to shit from there."
"Language, young lady."
"Sorry. Things were fucked from there."
She knew she shouldn't, but her professor couldn't hate her any more than share already did, could she? Goodwitch sighed and began to massage her temples. Blake went on.
"The fight was stopped when…someone saved us? I'm not really sure."
"Who?" asked Ozpin. "We've heard the description of your mysterious savior from Miss Schnee and your team leader, but we'd appreciate your take on her."
Blake had used the mnemonic tricks General Ironwood had taught her to memorize ever feature about the girl in the short time she'd seen her, but she thought it best not to reveal the full picture just yet. Not only would it be odd for a 'normal' Faunus girl to have such memory enhancement methods under her belt, but it just wasn't information she felt the headmaster and professor needed to know.
Speaking of need to know, I probably out to bug this place while I'm here. Who knows when I'll get another opportunity like this?
"She had bright orange hair and white skin. I think she could fly using a jetpack weapon or something? I have no idea how she held us in the air, but she could easily pick us all up."
"Miss Rose mentioned swords?"
"Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding me. She had a bunch of floaty swords that she also held in the air with her magic. Again, no clue how." Blake shrugged and casually leaned back in her chair. "Hey, is she still around? I never got to thank her."
The teachers exchanged a glance, and Blake tapped a button-shaped recording device sewn onto the hem of her sleeve to the bottom of her chair when their eyes departed from her.
Goodwitch spoke. "Unfortunately, she has disappeared. If it weren't for the fact that all three of you described matching accounts of her appearance and capabilities, I might've thought it a figment of Miss Rose's overactive imagination and fixation on graphic novels."
"Ruby does love her comic book super heroes," said Ozpin fondly. "Is there anything else you can tell us, Miss Belladonna? Anything at all that might aid our investigation?"
Blake knew you never told what cards you held to an opponent, but letting them see the third player's hand didn't hurt.
"The crocodile Faunus – I may know a bit more about her semblance." Blake relayed the updated description of her invulnerability.
"That is distressing news. I shall update the police and hunter forces. Thank you for telling us, Miss Belladonna."
"Of course. Anything to help, sir."
Ozpin turned off the recording device and rose from his desk. "Glynda, I will see her down. Would you please type up Miss Belladonna's testimony and have it sent out? Also, please print out three copies."
Goodwitch nodded as Ozpin took Blake into the elevator. The door closed, and Blake ran a hand through her hair. Tonight had not been fun, and things were only going to get worse for the foreseeable future.
She looked at Ozpin as he punched in the code to activate the elevator. The old man didn't seem perturbed, but that might…that might have been an…an…
Three, five, six, eight, nine, zero. Those were the buttons on the keypad that had fingerprints on them, known from the night she'd snuck out and dusted the elevator. Those were the digits that should have made up the code to access the restricted areas of the CCT.
Blake couldn't make out what code he typed in – his fingers were far too fast – but she saw that his hand never dipped beneath the bottom row of seven, eight, and nine. He didn't touch zero, not once.
The button had to have been pressed in the past. Blake had confirmed that it was the same fingerprint as the other numbers – Ozpin's, or perhaps Goodwitch's.
But Ozpin didn't use it when he accessed his office.
A second code? But why? I can see the entire CCT from the outside. I've counted the windows. Twenty one floors: ten public, ten private, and one for just the headmaster. Where else could it go…?
Then it hit Blake. This was an elevator. Elevators went up.
And they went down.
End of Volume 1
Author's Notes
Will Ilia die? Yes!
Will Adam die? Yes!
Will Blake die? Yes!
Will Ladybug die? Yes!
Will Yatsuhashi die? Maybe!
This is as far as we're going to go with the early posting. In other words, if you're reading this, expect radio silence until May 26th. Sorry – you should have budgeted the chapter. Now you'll have to sit on that doozy of a cliffhanger for two weeks! You were waaaaarned!
Happy rats, and don't do crime!
