Chapter 66
Liam
With Watts gone, that left Robyn, Qrow, Jacques and Liam in the cells. And none of them were getting any sleep with Jacques continously trying to antagonize everyone.
"You're the worst pair of people I've ever met." Jacques said. "A murderer and a hot headed girl."
Qrow continued to stare at Clover's pin while Robyn, her fists clenched, glared at Jacques with enough fire in her eyes to burn down a small village. This wasn't the beginning of Jacques' insults, but it was beginning to get on both Robyn and Liam's nerves.
"Like you're one to talk, Jacques." Liam spoke.
"You don't even know me, boy." Jacques said, shooting the same look back at Liam.
"Nope." Liam said. "I don't know you." Liam paused as a sudden idea popped into his head. "But I know Weiss."
"You don't know anything about my daughter." Jacques growled.
"Actually, I know Weiss on a rather... personal level." Liam said, slowly pacing around his cell, pausing to glance at Jacques every now and then. If Jacques wanted to antagonize everyone, well, two can play at that game. "I know Weiss' favorite thing to do, and how she got her scar." A devilish grin spread across his lips, glancing at Jacques. "I also know Weiss is one helluva kisser."
Jacques and Robyn both looked at Liam, with Jacques in a stunned, open mouthed, silence, while Robyn had a hand over her mouth in a poor attempt to stifle her laughs. Qrow, on the other hand, just stared at Clover's pin in silence.
"You-"
"The only downside to marrying Weiss is that I'll have you as a father-in-law." Liam added.
Jacques was clearly flabbergasted, his face turning redder and redder.
"I would never give my daughter permission to marry someone like you!" Jacques said.
"Good thing getting your blessing is only a formality." Liam replied.
Jacques' face turned redder than a tomato as he dug his nails into his knees, seething.
"I'm sure Weiss feels the same way. After all, it was your own daughter who got you arrested. And, on top of that, your oldest daughter, Winter, just watched." Liam added. "So I doubt Weiss will care whether or not you give her 'permission' to marry whoever she wants." Liam crossed his arms.
With each of them falling silent, Robyn spoke through her chuckles.
"That... just happened."
Chrome
Having made it up to Atlas, Weiss pulled Nora's right ear, clearly unhappy about being launched through the chute unknowingly.
"Where's this console, or whatever, located?" Chrome asked, jumping right to the point. "I don't wanna be here longer than neccessary."
"Ditto." Weiss agreed, letting Nora go.
Hearing a yelp, the group glanced over as Blake arrived in her chute, her hair messy from the unorthodox method of travel. Taking a moment to fix her hair, the group then turned to Penny.
"Alright, robo-girl, lead the way." May said.
"The name's Penny."
With a chuckle from Ruby, and a tsk from May, the group was enveloped in May's semblance, turning everyone invisible while they followed Penny.
Minutes later
Having just left the elevator, the group came to a set of doors, which Penny, using Pietro's credentials, was able to open.
"Alright, where to next, Penny?" May asked.
"Right through central command!"
The doors open to reveal a bustling workplace filled with digital workstations, holographic maps, and Atlesian officials and clerks.
"Great." Chrome let out a sigh.
"I can't maneuver us through all that." May said.
"Do not worry, Ruby is capable of traveling at an extreme velocity from one point to another by breaking herself down to her molecular components, thus negating her mass and then reassembling them at the destination, theoretically making it possible for her to transport all of us in the same way, as mass no longer matters." Penny said.
"I, uh, what?" Ruby stood, a look of confusion on her face.
"You can use your Semblance on all of us." Penny stated.
"Did Penny just figure that out before you did?"
"Blake, she knew you were a Faunus before I did."
Suddenly, the room was filled with the sound of a loud beeping noise followed by Ironwood's voice.
"A security threat has been detected in the compound, status alert level 3: red. Lockdown initiated. Authorization granted to handle ANY threats with lethal force." Ironwood said.
Red emergency lighting activates and sirens start to blare as the infiltrating group listens in dismay.
"You've got to be joking!"
Penny's eyes glow as she inspects the system.
"The pneumatic tubes have all been closed off."
"So, we're trapped." Chrome said softly.
"We passed a hangar, I can hijack an airship and get us off this floating rock." May said.
"Wait, we can still succeed. We are so close." Penny told her. "We just have to wait for our opening."
Watching everyone run around, Penny watched intently for a opening. After a few seconds, as everyone in the room was staring at their screens for just a moment, Penny looked to Ruby. "Now!"
Ruby, quick to react, used her semblance to get everyone to the opposite side of the room except for May, who decided to go back to the hangar they passed to prepare their escape route. Once making it across, Ruby releases her Semblance, striking a pose. Nora and Penny look at her in awe, Weiss smiles, Chrome glanced around, his cat ears folded back while Blake holds onto the wall with a terrified look on her face.
"I don't wanna do ever again."
The six of them make their way along a raised walkway in a cavernous and deserted chamber. At the end of the walkway is a heavily electrified door.
"Stand back, please."
Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Chrome, and Nora get ready to draw their weapons as Penny interfaces with a control panel, deactivating the electricity and opening the door. As the overhead lights come on, a secluded room filled with terminals is revealed. Ironwood's terminal sits at the back wall.
"Bit deserted, don't ya think?" Chrome asked, his weapon at the ready.
"This is a highly classified area." Penny said.
The six of them make their way inside, and the door closes and electrifies itself again. Nora briefly stops to regard it before moving on. Penny sits in the office chair by Ironwood's terminal and braces herself, taking a deep breath before contacting her father.
"Hey dad? I'm ready."
Penny's eyes turn yellow. She starts speaking in Pietro's voice, and her movements are considerably more stiff and jerky.
"Ahem. This process is a… little complicated. So I'm remoting into Penny from Amity Colosseum." Pietro's voice replaced Penny's.
"I…. see."
Penny begins her work on the terminal as Ruby watches on. The other four idle by. Blake swivels around a few times in an office chair.
"I hope the others are okay. I've never seen Yang and Ruby fight like this." Blake said.
"Don't worry, they're sisters. Sometimes sisters just have very different ideas about what's right." Weiss said.
"Yeah, they'll be fine. Jaune's a great leader, Oscar's grown a ton, and Yang is more than capable of protecting them all in a fight." Nora added.
Blake and Weiss wait for her to continue. When she doesn't, they both tilt their heads in puzzlement.
"Oh, and of course Ren is- um..."
Nora's usual happy-go-lucky composure breaks, and she averts her eyes.
"I don't know what he is. Every time I think the two of us are making progress, he…" she sighed. "We've been together our whole lives but I feel like I understand him less now than ever. And I don't know if that's his fault or mine."
"When you've been at someone's side for so long, after a while they become a part of you. But that's just it, they're only a part of you. Don't forget about the rest." Blake said, comforting Nora.
With all this talk about their teammates, Chrome was off in his own head, distracted. His team was all scattered. Liam was who knows where, Marek was with Yang, Oscar, Ren and Jaune, and Nicci was...
Upon thinking of Nicci, Chrome's eyes began to water and he quickly wiped them away before anyone could see. However, Weiss and Blake both took notice.
"Chrome?" Blake said softly.
"Huh?" Chrome looked to Blake, wiping his eyes one more time. "Oh, I'm, uh, I'm fine."
Blake and Weiss shared a glance.
"There." Pietro's voice got everyone's attention. "Downloading the cloned imprint now. When Penny gets to Amity, we'll run the launch sequence. Amity's computer will try to connect to the general's terminal but get Penny instead."
Penny's eyes go back to green.
"And after the launch, I'll return to help you all with the evacuation."
"About that, Penny. When Amity goes up, I think you should be on it with Maria and I." Pietro said.
Penny's cheerful expression is replaced by an anxious one. The rest of the group trade conflicted looks.
"But they need me here. Right?"
"Well, if you stay far out of Salem's reach, then she can't open the vault. She can't get to the relic. So..."
"Maybe it is for the best?" Weiss said.
Glancing around the room, Chrome looked back at the door.
"If we got what we need, we should probably leave." Chrome said. "Staying here for much longer isn't a good idea."
"He's right." Ruby agreed.
Back at the room's entrance, Penny glumly deactivates the electrified door again. To everyone's surprise, the doors open to revealHarriet,Elm,Vine, andMarrow.
"Hello, kids. Time to come home now, Penny." Harriet said.
Chrome and the others quickly drew their weapons, ready for what was to come next.
"So your first time losing to us wasn't enough?" Weiss taunted.
"We were holding back!" Marrow stated.
"We have all said some things we regret, but please, hear me out. I know you thought you were doing the right thing when you left with the Maiden power, but Salem is here now. Things have changed."
Vine slowly steps forward to reason with them. With the exception of Penny, all everyone stare him down resolutely.
"If General Ironwood plans to leave Mantle behind nothing has changed." Penny said.
"I thought you were supposed to protect the people, not hurt them." Vine sighed.
"I would never hurt anyone."
"Well Winter's in critical condition, because of you." Elm growled.
"And you repaid her by stealing the power that should have been hers." Harriet added.
"But taking the Maiden power was the only way to stop--"
"If you keep refusing to do the right thing, people in Atlas AND Mantle are going to die."
"You could stop all of this, Penny. Just open the vault, hand over the relic, and you'll save Atlas." Marrow said.
"But it won't save Atlas. Salem will find her way to the relic no matter where you go. Once Ironwood opens the vault, the relic is--"
"One more word, and I'm throwing you in jail right next to your uncle and cousin, runt." Harriet spat.
"Liam is in jail..?" Chrome said softly to himself.
Ruby makes a move forward, incensed, but Penny holds her back, balling up her fists.
"Leave. Her. Alone."
"And what are you gonna do about it, tin can?" Harriet taunted.
Penny steps forward beyond the room's threshold, and Harriet remotely activates the electrified door. Penny only has time to turn around before she is separated from her friends.
"Penny, no!"
Hearing Penny fighting the Ace-Ops, no one knew what to do. Weiss, quick to act, attempts to use herArma Gigas to break it, but the electricity running through it proves fatal for the summon.
"Four versus one? Cowards."
"Penny has the power of the Winter Maiden." Chrome said. "I doubt she'll go down as easily as they think."
"We still need to try and help her!" Ruby said.
With the battle on the other side of the door growing more intense, Nora stepped forward, frustrated with the situation.
"We have to get out there… Be strong--"
Nora brandishes her hammer.
"Nora, wait!"
Nora jams her hammer into the door's power supply, siphoning off the electricity. She begins to scream from the strain of channeling so much power. Pink streaks appear on her arm, chest, and neck, and her hair starts to stand on end. Still bellowing, she lets loose on the door with her hammer, disappearing in the ensuing explosion of black smoke.
The door explodes outwards from Nora's attack, sending everyone off their feet in a blast of black smoke. As the Ace Ops recover.
"That was pretty awesome."
Nora's aura shimmers and breaks. She faints, her upper body covered with electrical scars.
"Nora!"
Penny runs forward to check on her fallen ally as Ruby, Weiss, Chrome, and Blake step forward to face the Ace Ops, their weapons at the ready.
Penny hovers above her allies, green thunder crackling in a large thundercloud overhead. An inaudible order comes through from Ironwood to the Ace Ops' private comms.
"But general, we--"
"We understand, sir."
Harriet turns to look at Marrow.
Chrome and the group press forward, Penny sending her swords at the Ace Ops. Vine and Marrow dodge them, and the former uses his Semblance to send Ruby, Weiss, and Blake tumbling off the walkway, with Chrome managing to dodge the attack.
"Stay!"
Marrow pointed at Chrome as he activated his semblance, freezing the Faunus in place.
Ruby managed to catch the edge of the walkway with her scythe, but Blake and Weiss lose their grip on her hand and drop down. Ruby quickly uses her Semblance to carry them to safety.
The Winter Maiden is left to fight Harriet alone again. The Ace Op grabs one of Penny's swords and pulls hard, snapping the wire that connects it to her. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake land back on the walkway as Elm takes stock of the situation.
"Tch. Let's go."
The Ace Ops take their leave, jumping off the walkway on their own terms one by one. Marrow pauses to look back at the group before vaulting over the railing himself, unfreezing Chrome.
"Uh, that was-"
"Very suspicious?"
"Tch." Chrome clicked his teeth as he ran over to the railing, seeing the Ace-Ops nowhere in sight. "Damn..."
As Penny looked over Nora, the other girls walked over to check on her as well.
"We need to leave and get her help, now."
Chrome, still glaring down at the way the Ace-Ops had gone, suddenly got an idea.
Minutes later, Ruby
"You coming or what?"
Ruby and the others move forward, entering May's invisibility field.
"All ready to--"
May gasps when she sees Nora's condition.
"She's in bad shape. We need to get her somewhere safe." Blake explained.
Penny looks at Nora with a worried expression.
Ruby, worried about Nora, took a quick glance at the others, however, one of them was missing.
"Chrome?"
Hearing his name, Blake and Weiss quickly scanned the Manta, but Chrome was nowhere to be seen.
"Chrome?!"
Chrome
Pressing his back against the wall, next to a busy, open room, Chrome glanced inside. Seeing everyone was distracted, Chrome quickly darted to the opposite wall from him and ran, silently, down the hall.
With his footsteps making little to no noise, Chrome continued onwards.
Coming across another room with the door open, Chrome took a quick peek inside, seeing one Atlas worker filling up a cup of coffee. Silently moving behind the worker, Chrome wrapped his arm around his neck, pressing the tip of his weapon into his chin.
"Where are you holding the prisoners?!" Chrome growled.
The Atlas worker immediately tensed up.
"I, uh, I-"
"I don't have time for this." Chrome growled. "Where's the jail center and how do I open the cells?!"
The Atlas worker began to stutter over his words.
"Th-the cells are m-made of Hard-Hardlight walls!" The worker said. "You need a key t-to deactivate it."
"Where is the jail, and where's the key?"
"T-take a left out of this room, a-a-a right, a left, an-another right then the third door on the left." The Atlas worker said, his stutter slowly fading. "As for the key, I wouldn't know. The Ace-Ops keep them with only a select few of the workers with copies."
"Thanks." Chrome pulled his weapon away from the man's chin, only to hit him in the back of the head with the hilt, knocking the worker out cold.
Following the worker's instructions, Chrome quickly made his way through the building, unseen by any of the workers.
Entering the third door on the left as instructed, Chrome entered a dark room that had four cells active. In the cells was Qrow, Liam, Robyn and Jacques.
Sitting up at the sound of the door opening, Liam was surprised to see his leader enter.
"Chrome?! What're you doing here, man?"
"What's it look like?" Chrome said. "I'm busting you guys out."
"Alright, well, get to it." Liam said.
Jacques, who had been rather silent, got to his feet.
"You're supposed to be dead."
He approached the wall of his cell, glaring at the Faunus.
"Yeah, well, maybe next time do it yourself if you want the job done." Chrome growled. "Now..." he looked to Liam's cell, seeing a keypad. Approaching it, Chrome saw it was actually a number pad.
"Damn!" Chrome grit his teeth. "I need a code. Code?" Chrome looked to each of the prisoners.
Qrow didn't reply, Jacques sat in silence, and Liam simply shrugged his shoulders.
"The codes are different for each of our cells." Robyn stated. "The codes are four digits each."
"Great."
Chrome looked over the numbers for Liam's cell, seeing the numbers one, two, and six were worn down more than the others.
"One, two, six..." Chrome said to himself. "Alright..."
Chrome reached out with his index finger, pressing six, two, two, one. Once the last digit was entered, a beep echoed out.
"Damn..." Chrome attempted again. "Two... one... two... six..." another beep. "Six, one, six, two." Another beep, this time followed by a blaring alarm.
"Oh, great..." Robyn said, looking up at the ceiling.
"Chrome, just get outta here!" Liam shouted at his leader. "You won't be able to get the code right in-" he was cut off as one of the hardlight walls suddenly turned off. "...time."
Leaving the cell, Liam looked to his father and Robyn.
"Just go." Robyn told them. "You won't be able to get us out before they arrive."
"We'll come back." Liam told her. "Promise."
Robyn smiled before looking to the door.
"Get goin'!"
Not needing to be told twice, Chrome and Liam quickly rushed out of the jail center.
"Where to, Chrome?"
"This way!" Chrome said, turning right and running down the hall.
Following his leader, Liam and Chrome sprinted through the base. However, a shout from behind them got their attention.
Glancing back, one of the workers was giving chase.
"Damn!"
"Keep running!" Liam shouted. "I have an idea."
Turning the corner, Liam ducked into an open room, grabbing Chrome's arm and pulling him in.
"We have to-"
"Shh!" Liam hushed him.
Liam activated his semblance, sending half a dozen clones running out of the room and splitting up. A moment later, multiple guards gave chase.
Once everything was quiet, minus the sound of the alarm blaring, Liam let out a breath of relief.
"That should keep 'em busy for a bit." Liam said as he turned to face Chrome. But, as he looked at his leader, Liam noticed something on the far wall.
"Heh, no way." Liam said softly.
Turning to face the same way Liam was facing, Chrome saw Qrow's, Robyn's, Watts' and Liam's weapons neatly lined up in a row.
"Talk about luck." Chrome said softly as Liam went to retrieve his weapon. Looking it over, he smiled before placing it on his back.
"Let's get outta here."
Ruby
"We have to leave!" May said. "My semblance won't hold much-"
"We're not leaving without my brother!" Blake shouted.
"No one's going to be left behind!" Ruby stated.
May grit her teeth before turning to the controls.
By now, most of the base was scrambling around for the intruders.
"Forget this!" She growled. "We wait here any longer and we're gonna be trapped and arrested!"
As the Manta began to take off, Weiss looked to May.
"Put the-"
"There he is!" Blake pointed out of the ship as Chrome and Liam made a mad dash into the hangar.
"Liam!" Weiss called out to him.
"May, lower your semblance!" Ruby ordered.
Rolling her eyes, May obliged, lowering her semblance and showing the Manta to Liam and Chrome. Raising higher and higher off the ground, Chrome created a series of steps with his glyphs and the duo quickly ran up them, jumping into the ship and rolling across the floor of it.
"Go! Go! Go!"
As the Manta took off, an emergency barrier began to lower. Seeing this, Penny flew out of the Manta and used her Maiden powers to blow a hole large enough for the Manta to fly through.
Letting out a breath of relief, everyone relaxed a bit.
"Well..." Liam chuckled. "Thanks for the rescue, leader."
"Don't mention it." Chrome replied, out of breath.
With everyone falling silent, Liam was suddenly pulled into a surprise hug from Weiss.
"I'm glad to see you're okay!"
Liam returned the embrace.
"Ditto."
As the two shared a moment, Liam glanced at the unconscious Nora.
"What happened to her?"
End of chapter 66
