Staring Down The Barrel

Cliffside along Argus Coast

If Commander Cordovin had been upset before, she was furious now if her raging over the mech's speaker was any indication. Wayne's arrival allowed Ruby a chance to start climbing up the Cliffside she'd been hanging on while the Atlesian commander swung the cannon back towards the huntsman in training. But she never got the chance to fire as Calavera brought the airship they'd stolen screeching in to drop a few missiles on the backside of the mech. "Did you put these children up to this Calavera!" Yelled Cordovin over the speakers as the mech swung its cannon back around in an attempt to target the ship.

Everyone else regrouped then as Ruby leapt back up onto the top of the cliff. "Running a bit late don'tcha think Wayne," said the red-hooded girl as she caught her breath.

"What can I say," replied Wayne with a shrug, "forest traffic is terrible at this time of day. But I also sent Aegis off to check on Blake and your sister, so don't feel the need to worry too much about them for the moment." Ruby smiled a bit at this before Oscar called her on her earpiece.

"Ruby, are you alright down there?" Questioned Oscar, who'd boarded the airship earlier in the fight to help Maria look for weaknesses on the mech.

"I should be asking you that," responded Ruby, "What are you guys even doing out there?"

"I know you planned to have us lay low 'til the fight was over," said Calavera over the earpiece, "But Oscar here's got an idea on how to take out this giant, she-demon mech."

"Well I'm definitely listening," said Nora, who was currently supporting Jaune with a little help from Ren. Needless to say, getting hit by a giant metal hand had taken a number on the two of them.

"Okay, so we all know that the giant cylinder on that mech's cannon rotates whenever it changes the type of dust it's using. But the one part of the cannon that doesn't rotate is the missile launcher. Since we already took out the shields to that thing, one good shot should detonate the whole payload of missiles inside the launcher."

"And blast apart the whole cannon in the process," said Jaune, "That's brilliant Oscar."

"Yeah, but we got two people who could make a shot like that," said Nora as she looked at Wayne and Ruby.

"Well I guess I'd better-," Wayne was about to say before Ruby put a hand on his arm.

"It'll be better if I take the shot," said Ruby, "Your semblance is good at cutting through armor and we're only gonna get one shot at this plan. If it doesn't work, we'll need a good backup."

"Then I guess you know you're gonna basically have to stare down the barrel of her cannon to make that shot, right?" Said Wayne.

"Pretty much," said Ruby with a nervous smile on her face.

"Well I know a good way to guarantee you get that shot," said Calavera over their radios as the airship flew by and stopped in front of the cliff. Ruby rushed onto it, despite Qrow's protests and flew off towards the mech which had gone out pretty far in its pursuit of the airship. Wayne hated the feeling, but he knew the best he could do at the moment was wish Ruby, Maria and Oscar luck as they approached their enemy.

"Hey Cordo, I may only have one missile left, but I know a perfect spot to put it!" laughed Calavera over their earpieces. Clearly the Atlesian commander had heard it too as the mech raised its cannon arm, a section of which opened up to reveal a launcher with a number of missiles ready to fire.

"Don't fret Calavera, I have plenty of missiles just for you!" Exclaimed Cordovin over the mech's speakers. This was it, the airship was charging straight at the mech and Ruby was taking aim to fire. Wayne couldn't hear the noise or see the bullet, but what he did see made his heart stop for an instant. The missile launcher retreated back into the mech's arm at the last second, with the bullet from Crescent Rose bouncing harmlessly off of the armored plating.

"You can't fool me so easily!" seethed Calavera as the mech fired off a massive lightning blast at the airship. Calavera just managed to veer off at the last second and avoid the worst of the blast, but the ship still took some damage from a stray bolt of electricity, causing it to go out of control and veer towards the forest. Not that the rest of them could worry about it, given that the lightning blast shot towards them as well, forcing everyone to scramble out of the way before they got fried.

"Oh that's not good," said Jaune as they watched the airship crash into the trees several yards away from them. Qrow quickly morphed into his bird form and flew over to check on the crash site. As for Wayne and the others, they were picking themselves up as the mech again began to approach the cliff.

"A clever little plan," chided Cordovin, still feeling the need to use the speakers on the mech, "But even the most intelligent of apes is no match for humanity's intellect." Wayne and Nora didn't like the sound of this one bit as he spun his blade staff and launched several orbs and slashes while the orange-haired girl fired off her grenade launcher. The mech raised its left arm in front of its 'face' managing to block the onslaught at the cost of some more of its plating.

"HOLD UP EVERYONE!" yelled Ruby as she suddenly marched out of the woods, no worse for wear despite having just been in an airship crash. Wayne and Nora held their fire as everyone looked on at the red hooded girl who was now standing before their giant enemy with her weapon planted in the ground and a look of determination on her features.

"Now this is interesting," said Cordovin as the machine moved its left hand and pointed at the leader of team RWBY, "Have you finally decided to surrender and accept the consequences of your actions?"

"We're not, because you're not stopping us," Ruby called out, "More powerful people than you have tried and failed. One way or the other we're getting to Atlas, but we shouldn't be fighting about it because we're all supposed to be on the same side! The power we have is meant for protecting people, not as an excuse to look down on them like you're doing! We only stole that airship because you didn't give us any other choice in the matter! But you have one more chance if you're willing to listen to us."

The mech stood silent for a few moments before Cordovin gave her answer. "I've heard all I need to hear," she finally said as the mech aimed its cannon hardly twenty feet from Ruby. As it charged up, everyone rushed towards Ruby, planning to hit the mech with everything they had in order to stop it. Then the unexpected happened, Ruby used her semblance to morph into her hood and shoot right into the cannon with rose petals trailing behind her.

"Is she completely nuts?!" exclaimed Nora as everyone stopped and watched the mech raise its cannon arm in the air.

"No, I think she's waiting for the cannon to stop spinning," said Jaune, "Which'll give her a perfect shot, because the raw dust stays in one place." This proved true as the back side of the cannon suddenly erupted in a mass of electricity, triggering the other dust canisters and causing ice and rock to quickly form over the entire arm. Ruby herself rocketed out of the cannon just as the barrel became blocked by the growing elements. Weiss quickly used her semblance to create several black glyphs to slow her leader's fall while Wayne rushed towards the mech's descending weapon arm.

"No, no, no this can't be!" yelled Cordovin, apparently forgetting that her speakers were still on as her mech's arm dropped against the beach, now too heavy for it to move. Wayne glimpsed Qrow catching Ruby out of the corner of his eye as he leapt and ran up the ice and stone covered arm, separating his weapons back to their sickle form. Then, with a leap while charging his semblance, Wayne shot towards the viewing window of the cockpit.

As he hit the window, he released the energy he'd been holding in his foot, shattering the glass and allowing him to plant himself partially inside of the cockpit as he dug his left weapon into the metal above him. "Special Agent Caroline Cordovin," said Wayne as he shifted his right weapon to SMG form and pointed it at the frightened occupant, "I believe now would be a good time for you to surrender."

Waterfall near Relay Tower: Slightly Earlier

At about the same time Wayne and the others were engaging Cordovin, Aegis was getting close to the spot where Yang's tire tracks led. He'd been moving as fast as he could and was still kicking himself for not noticing Taurus's scent earlier. 'I don't know if he just now found us or if he's been tracking us the whole way. If he was following us, the snow and wind must've kept us from smelling him up to this point. But if he's making his move now, that probably means he was waiting for Blake to be alone.'

The half bear Faunus gripped the handle bar on his bike tighter as the sound of a rushing waterfall reached his ears. What also reached his ears was the sound of gunfire and metal clashing with metal, the telltale sounds of a fight happening. With a quick correction on his steering and some force applied to the brake, Aegis turned and slid his motorcycle to a stop next to the cliff overlooking the waterfall. That's where he saw that the waterfall ran under a kind of land bridge down below, and on that bridge was Blake and Yang, engaged in a desperate struggle against Adam Taurus for their lives.

Somehow Blake had been knocked onto a Cliffside and was trying to climb back up the land bridge while Yang was on the defensive, and losing. The blond had been knocked to the ground by a sword swing from the bull Faunus who then proceeded to unleash a red wave of energy against Yang, who just managed to block it with her gauntlet before disappearing into a cloud of dust kicked up by the attack. But, just as Aegis was about to leap down to help, Adam swung his sword into the dust cloud, and found that Yang had managed to catch his blade with her mechanical hand. "Got ya now, prick," said Yang, her eyes red and hair glowing as she cocked her left fist back while yanking her opponent's blade out of his hand. Adam was too close and too off balance to dodge as the blond fighter slammed her fist into his gut as hard as she could, sending him flying into the ground.

A small ditch and a crater was formed from the impact as the bull Faunus struggled to get up. 'Maybe I'll let them handle this,' thought Aegis as he took his hand off his weapon and crossed his arms, 'This guy's left scars on both of them, so beating his sorry ## together might be just what they need.' Of course he planned to jump in the moment things looked bad, but for now it seemed his help wasn't necessary.

"I might not be faster," said Yang as she held up her enemy's sword, "But it looks like I can outsmart you." The blond then proceeded to toss the red sword over the land bridge. In a panic, Adam tried to catch the sword before it fell too far, only to receive an uppercut from Blake as she pulled herself back up onto the land bridge. The former White Fang leader stumbled back, his feet scraping against the remains of Gambol Shroud, which had been cut in half at one point, on the ground. All three of them moved at once then as Blake and Adam rushed for the handle of the weapon while Yang ran in and grabbed the other half of the blade.

Blake just managed to grab her weapon and stab what was left of the blade into Adam's chest. At the same time, Yang slammed the blade in her hand down through their enemy's back and out through his chest. "N-no," Adam gasped out as the two teammates pulled the blades out of his body simultaneously. The former White Fang leader stumbled over to the edge of the land bridge before collapsing to one knee.

Yang and Blake backed away a bit, still a little wary of the man. "Is, is it over," asked Yang. Aegis was wondering the same thing when he noticed that their opponent's hand was reaching for his sheath. 'No you don't!' thought Aegis as he leapt down. Adam howled in anger as he swung around with his sheath transforming into its shotgun form.

But just as he was about to aim it at Yang and Blake, Aegis landed and caught his weapon, stopping the motion. "I told you," said Aegis as he formed a sharpened glass point on his elbow, "You owe my friend an arm." The half bear Faunus then brought his glass-covered elbow down on to the joint of his foe's arm and was rewarded with a resounding crack as he felt it break. Adam yelled in agony as Aegis grabbed his weapon from him and pointed it at his side. "And this one's for Blake."

Aegis fired the shotgun into Adam's side, very close to the same area he'd injured her some time ago. It was also then that Aegis noticed that Adam had removed his mask, revealing that the part of his face where his left eye was, had a scar in the shape of a brand spelling 'SDC.' Aegis then watched as the bull Faunus fell over the land bridge and into the waterfall below, his body quickly disappearing from sight. Aegis then proceeded to toss the sheath down before turning back to Yang and Blake. "I would've shouted a warning, but ya know, waterfall," said Aegis as he rubbed the back of his head before sighing, "You two, uh, okay?" Blake started to answer before choking up and dropping her weapon on the ground.

Yang was quick to embrace her sobbing friend while Aegis slowly approached, not quite sure what to say at the moment. "I swear I won't run away," sobbed Blake, "I made a promise."

"And I know you won't break it," said Yang softly as she turned to Aegis. "I thought you'd be back over at the Cliffside by this point."

"Wayne sent me here after we heard Blake wasn't answering," said Aegis, "figured something must've happened. Though it looks like I got here a bit late."

"Either way," said Yang, "We're glad you're here." Blake nodded her head in agreement. "So, what's happening with everyone else?"

Argus Coast

"No, no, no," said Cordovin as she pulled on one of the joysticks with both hands, "I will not allow you to best me!"

"Lady," said Wayne, starting to get a bit annoyed with all the yelling, "If you haven't noticed, that arm ain't raising with that mass of ice and rock on it. So I'm gonna ask again, tell the remaining forces you got to stand down and me and my friends will be on our way. At this point I don't really feel like we're asking a whole lot."

"I'll never allow it," seethed Cordovin, "None of you will set a single foot inside of Atlas!" The commander pressed a button on the control panel of the cockpit, causing her radio to spring to life. "All Atlas forces are to converge on my position and el-." Cordovin didn't get to finish her transmission as Wayne fired off a shot into the seat hardly a foot from her head.

"Look, my patience has been wearing thin even before we got to Argus," said Wayne, "The only reason I haven't yanked you out of this cockpit and hung you on one of this robot's plates by your coat is because you can order your forces not to pursue us. By now I imagine they've aired all the stink out of their cockpits and are on standby, though if they never get the order to pursue from you I suppose it's all the same."

"You dare to threaten an Atlas military of-," Cordovin started to say before the radio in the cockpit crackled to life.

"Commander Cordovin," said one of the Atlas soldiers over the radio, "We've been trying to contact you for the last few minutes. Argus is facing an imminent threat."

"We're what?" Questioned Cordovin as a look of disbelief spread across her face.

"A leviathan Grimm and several manticore Grimm have been approaching since the middle of your battle," said the Atlas soldier, "We need the mech back here now!"

"Well that just figures," said Wayne as he retreated from the cockpit and climbed up to the very top of the mech. Sure enough, as he looked out over the horizon, a massive black shape approached the shoreline. It looked like a massive lizard mixed with a fish and its roar could be heard from a few miles away. 'And now the Atlas forces are gonna need our help to fight the real threat to Argus. $ $ing spectacular.'

Sometimes you spend so much time looking for a threat that you miss the one right in front of your face. At least, that's what Cordovin has managed this time around. Now it's up to our heroes to face off against possibly the largest Grimm they've ever encountered. In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoyed this latest chapter despite it being relatively short. Not gonna lie, these last two chapters are making it hard to find anything for Wayne or Aegis to do without stealing everyone else's moments. As always, feel free to leave a comment or a review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as our heroes take a gamble to save Argus. 'Til next time.