RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart
Chapter 31: Feel The Heat
As Elm laid motionless on the ground, her neck broken and her eyes wide open, Yang's own and eyes and hair flickered as her semblance activated and deactivated rapidly. Her expression one of confusion, the reality of the situation still not having sunk in.
Elm had just been killed right in front of her, because of her….
"I-I didn't mean… I mean…I wanted to kick her ass but…" Yang stuttered in her thoughts. Everything was flushing her head with crazy emotions of guilt and anger. She did shatter Elm's aura over a stupid fight, but she never thought it would get the Ace officer killed. The mine was empty, no enemies or Grimm, so she couldn't comprehend how things could have spiraled out of control so quickly.
The other Ace Ops and Blake couldn't help stare in shock as well, ignoring a smirking Mercury and focusing on their dead teammate who, just a few minutes ago, seemed almost invincible with her amazing brute strength and hammer skills.
"How could this be happening? What about my good luck?." Clover thought to himself as he eyed his fallen comrade. His semblance always gave him and his unit confidence in their mission's. They seemed almost invincible as crowds cheered them as they fought horded of Grimm, his semblance once even causing a beam to fall on a Nevermore that was flying mid-battle before it could reach some construction workers he was with. He took another glance at Elm's corpse. She was the strongest of his whole team; she even once lift the entire unit through a burning building with just one hand. If anyone was truly invincible on his team he thought it was her due to her power.
Now all that amounted to nothing within the last few seconds, something the assassin couldn't help but mock them for.
"She was one of Atlas's best? Wow! Then I guess she was babysitting some school children on a field trip." Mercury yelled with cocky smile. His tone so condescending it brought Harriet out of her shock, completely ignoring Elm's body as her eyes flickered and she bit her lip.
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" She roared at the top of her lungs, anger boiling her blood as she charged at him. Mercury took up a fighting stance as he prepared to handle her seemingly straightforward attack, but she swerved to the left rapidly and jumped on the wall. She lunged at him quickly and prepared a kick similar to the one Mercury delivered to Elm earlier. It would be fitting justice to be able to kill this cocky bastard the same way he murdered her teammate.
But her jump to the wall's momentary delay in the attack was something Mercury had been hoping for. It gave him the chance to press a button on his wrist collar that lit up blue. Soon his legs charged the same color as he was enveloped by a force field that stopped Harriet's kick dead in its tracks.
"What the hell!?" she yelled, the shield was basically glued to her foot as she soon felt a wave of electricity slip into her leg that felt like acid.
"You'll be going their soon little rabbit!" Mercury yelled with a taunting smile, his comment while glaring at Harriet's bunny like eye lashes irritating her to no end. Before she could so much as retort, he delivered his own kick that struck the portal where Harriet's foot was latched on. His robotic legs felt no sting from the electricity of the barrier; in fact, they rather felt stronger as they sent a shockwave towards Harriet's leg. She screamed in agony as she felt the force of what felt like a bomb implode in her leg. It almost sounded like her bones in it were shattered to dust as she was propelled and crashed into the wall behind the others.
"Harriet!" They screamed in unison. Terror invaded their eyes as in the span of a minute they had not one, but two Ace Op's members down.
"Two down and..3..4, no 5 to go." He said as he pointed his finger at the group and counted them.
Mercury felt extremely pleased with himself seeing their shocked expressions. At this rate the job would be over in no time.
Despite this, he was internally annoyed his original target wasn't scared or alone like he assumed and that he was going to have to face the others right away rather than pick them off one by one, as was his preferred style of combat. Nonetheless, he felt confidant his legs and extra aura the drug have him would make the difference, his only concern being how tedious it would be having to probably take an hour to kill all of them by himself. No sooner he thought this, the cave was infected with the sound of several loud footsteps approaching. Everyone turned their attention away from the unconscious Harriet and dead Elm towards the shadowy entrance to the cave room. Out came a half dozen Faunus men of various breeds. One was a deerman, another was a Rabbit woman, while the others were mixed breeds of dog and feline that were hard to make out under their masks and uniforms.
"Thought Cinder's assassin would have killed all these human's by now. Guess you ain't all that like you say huh human? The deerman said mockingly. His smirk quickly descended into a nervous frown as he heard a loud boom and looked down on his chest; a gaping hole and some charred skin with ash all over it was the result. Mercury bore an irritated frown as he gritted his teeth, having one of his legs in the air exuding smoke as it lunched a lazar at the now dead Faunus.
"That makes three I'v killed in 5 minutes, you mutts want to make it 8? He yelled at the remaining White Fang, who quickly shook their heads, now understanding their place.
"Then grab that dust while I kill these fools. Cinder still needs some bodies!" He said as he pointed to some near empty crates with little dust. The Faunus immediately scurried to grab them.
Blake broke from her shocked stance after hearing his comment,
"What do you mean? What does she need corpses for?" She asked, her eyes narrowing in interest as he drew a cold sweat on his face and covered his mouth.
"Dumbass!" He yelled as he smacked himself on the forehead in frustration. He had just realized he gave away Cinder's plan to them just now. He then glanced at Elm's corpse, which soon had a black puddle of ooze form underneath her.
"Oh well, not like your gonna need to know since you'll be joining her soon." He said with a smirk, his voice venomous with murderous intent as she took notice of the portal as well. Elm slowly started descending face first into the portal, and memories of the faces of student's at Beacon who lost their lives flushed her mind. She remembered the tears their parents had at their funeral, not only devastated to have lost their children, but not even getting to give them a proper burial. She just had to do something, she couldn't let any family Elm had or the Ace Op's be denied that as well. She instantly felt her legs unfreeze from their shock and lunged at Elm's body.
"Your not going anywhere!" she roared as she took the line from Gambrol Shroud and whipped it like a lasso around Elm's broken neck. She tugged as hard as she could, but the hulking mass of muscle was hard for her thin arms to move. Mercury saw what she was doing, interfering with the capture, and gritted his teeth in annoyance. He could just see the glare from her office Cinder would give him for this and knew he had to kill Blake first to prevent another bitch fest.
True to his thought, Cinder pounded on the fire wall, not feeling any pain from the flames that singed her human skin, rather they enhanced her powerful rage as she unleashed a wave of red and black energy from her Aura. She eyed the number on her wall that went from 9 back to 10 as Elm's body was being stopped from absorption.
"I thought you killed her! Now where is that fucking body!?" she yelled.
Her words rang in his ear despite being continents away. His own irritation increased as he noticed Blake wasn't even paying any attention to him. He smirked as he knew this was a fatal mistake he had to capitalize on.
"Guess I'll just shove you both down their if your afraid she's going to be lonely!" He yelled as he charged his foot and jumped towards her, aiming a somersault kick to the top of her head. But Blake smirked herself as she heard these words, causing a cold sweat to go down his cheek. She knew she could afford to drop her guard and help Elm because she had heard her partner's hair sizzle and knew she wasn't alone. With a furious roar, Yang parried the kick with her fire-enhanced fist, sending Mercury back from the impact. Though he was a bit dazed by the unexpected interference,
he still managed to keep his composure and see past the wobbling vision the ground's distance between his body and it and grabbed his legs. He performed a somersault as he landed gracefully on his feet, absorbing all the potential damage. He delivered a fierce glare as he looked up to see Yang crying, her eyes red and her lip bleeding from her biting it in frustration. It was a frustration with herself for letting Elm get killed over a petty squabble. If she was guilty in part, she was at least going to make sure this asshole who killed her directly was gonna pay with his life. She was going to burn him to cinders slowly.
"But first… I'M GONNA SMASH YOUR NECK BASTARD!" She screamed as she charged at him, but her fire-enhanced fist was caught just like Harriet's leg by the force field. It send shockwaves of electricity down her arm as she screamed in pain, her aura flicking.
Blake paused her extraction of Elm's body as she heard her partners screams and looked over to the Ace Ops, hoping they could lend assistance.
Her hopes were shattered as she noticed only Clover and Vine attending to Harriet's body, the latter wrapping aura vines around her bloody and broken leg while Marrow just stood on with a thousand yard stare.
"Damnit! Yang's fighting right now and these hunters can't even lend one guy to help her or me?!" she thought to herself. She was about to scream it at them to get their asses in line and focus on the bigger issue at hand, before feeling her grip slip. She looked down to see the portal exuding black sludge that ensnared Elm's torso and plunged her down deeper into the whole. She yanked gambrel shroud harder as she refused to let her ally be denied her proper burial.
"Man I wish Ruby and Weiss were here." She said to herself as she saw their faces flood her mind. She shook her head knowing another distraction, even a loving one of those two, would certainly cost her Elm.
Atlas Hospital
"So mommy is going dark for a while sweetie. She has to beat up some bad men. Make sure you listen to daddy until I come visit okay?" Weiss said to her daughter with a bittersweet smile.
She had a scroll up to her face, her eyes glistening as they laid upon the images of her lover Sun and their daughter Nala. She felt a knot in her stomach as she had a bad feeling. She had had them before, when Ruby was kidnapped, when she was about to find Blake after Adam cut her throat, and now her fears for the worst being this may be the last time she ever speaks to her new family. These last few days had been a nightmare, getting her secret exposed, turning into a grimm and nearly killing her crush, and now she had lost the company to her brother in a coup and was being hunted by Ironwood. She felt horrified, her own family and city had turned on her, only her team and sister, who were packing their clothes and her medicine quickly to escape the hospital, could be trusted now. Her tension left her body as she soon eyed her daughter, who was busy crunching a cookie like Ruby and ignored her mom's explanation. Weiss couldn't help but smile and shake her head. She couldn't tell how Nala was exactly like that dolt back when she first met her at Beacon. Sun tapped their daughters cheeks lightly, and told her what her mother said and pointed to her face to demand his daughter reply, though he didn't take into consideration the four year old was still eating as Weiss felt a wave of adore and grossness overtake her at what came next.
"Hmmm Hmmm y-ye... Mama.. wil..." Nala mumbled while eating her cookie, crumbs and mush falling on Sun's shirt as he sat her in his lap on the airplane.
"Ew, young lady your mom told you to be dignified "Like a proper lady" that means no chewing with your mouth open or talking while eating." Sun said, admonishing his daughter gently while pulling off a mocking royal ettiqutte. Weiss couldn't help but chuckle at her daughter's cute face, and Sun's cocky smirk as they continued face timing, something Ruby noticed, despite her vision coming and going from stress.
"Oooooh let me see! Let me see!" Ruby squealed, Weiss giving an annoyed look as she used her free palm to hold Ruby back by her face, ignoring her arms flailing to get the scroll.
"Oh come on! I let you see Thorn's baby photo's why can't I see your baby?" Ruby groaned.
"Because I want to see her cute face closer and can't do that if you hog the scroll." Weiss said, earning a pout and puffed up cheeks from Ruby.
"I wouldn't..Okay I would but can you blame me? Your kid is darn so cute… Though my Thorn is cuter." Ruby admitted, her last comment causing an obviously offended Weiss to raise an eyebrow.
"Uh… Excuse me? Your little drooling menace cuter than my ELEGANT PRINCESS!" Weiss yelled, her eyes pure white comically. Nala then dropped her cookie as her mother's sudden shouting startled her.
"Mommy?" she said fearfully before Weiss put a hand up to the scroll.
"One second sweetie, Mommy's putting a dunce in her place." She said as she put her family on hold, Sun rolling his eyes and sighing at her pettiness.
She then darted her fingers across her scroll to her photos, selecting a file labeled,
Nala Baby Photos
"Hah! Read em and weep bitch!" Weiss yelled as she showed Ruby photos of her daughter. They ranged from her being in a baby blanket at birth, to her first bath, and then her on a swingset at a park. Ruby squinted her eyes to focus past the blur in her vision and see what Weiss was showing, before they sparkled in awe.
"OH MY GOSH! She is sooooooooo cu…. No Thorn's still better" She squealed before stopping mid yell and crossing her arms, while blushing, though struggled greatly to continue ogling the adorable photos. She ignored a cocky grin from Weiss and stole one more glance, before noticing something in the park photo.
"Wait, I don't see Nala's tail. And I mean I just don't see that part I am getting my vision back." She said, feeling curious over her friend's daughter's missing Faunus features.
Weiss frowned as she heard this question, her lip quivering as she struggled to answer.
"Ruby I… felt I had to hide her tail from people in the park." She said nervously, her answer causing Ruby lean in and listen intently.
"Remember what I said? "Weiss Schnee has bastard faunus kid" it be all over the news and my reputation would be over. This was still the start of my career and I couldn't risk anyone finding out. I even wore a wig and glasses to hide myself too in public when we went out. It *sigh* wasn't easy for me trust me." She said sadly.
The word trust having struck a nerve in her partner as she unfolded her arms and pouted.
"Trust you? Does a friend keep a big secret like this for 5 years and really expect trust?" Ruby said sarcastically, her tone passively showing her hidden aggression, which made Weiss shiver a little. Ruby soon felt guilt overtake her heart, she didn't know why she said these things. She understood Weiss's reasoning's, but didn't get why she couldn't tell them sooner.
"S-Sorry it's just, I wished you t-trusted me to know this a lot s-sooner." Ruby sadly stuttered.
"I get that now, I just didn't want to risk the secret getting leaked. You know how bad Yang is at keeping her mouth shut." Weiss said, her response forcing a chuckle out of Ruby that led to the two breaking out in laughter.
"Yeah, it probably be out in 2 days with her screaming how cute Nala is." Ruby jokingly said.
"Please sister, you'd break in less than a minute and post all over the internet her baby pictures." Weiss joked.
"Well give me the scroll and I'll make up for lost time then!" Ruby yelled as she lunged for the scroll again, only to flop on her face onto Weiss's lap as she pulled it away at the last second.
Hearing their commotion, Winter, packing up her sister's clothes, felt a vain pressed up against her forehead in irritation.
"Excuse me, but can you two shut up and get ready!? In case you forgot, the Atlas police are on their way to arrest my sister!" Winter snarled, making the two stand up straight in their bed. They silently kicked themselves for forgetting that detail, so caught up in nostalgia for fear they may not see their kids again before they were alerted by another yell.
"Hurry up and MOVE!" Winter yelled.
"Right, Right, getting ready!" they yelled in unison as they quickly changed out of their gowns into their uniforms, before they paused noticing something disheartening.
"Hey sis, where is our weapons?" Weiss asked Winter almost panicky.
"I commissioned Pietro to upgrade your weapon's before this whole fiasco happened. I wanted you two to have stronger weapon's to make up for your recovery period." Winter said.
"What about Yang and my wife?" Ruby asked.
"After we meet up with your team and the Ace Ops, I'll convince them help me and have Pietro upgrade theirs too." Winter said.
Her answer alleviating Weiss, though alerted Ruby to something.
"Remind me what's your plan again?" she asked, suspicious in her tone that Winter noticed. She paused to make sure how to explain, worried Ruby, her sister noting before how idealistic and loyal she was, would stand by the General and not help her coup.
"Well, I plan to stop the General's plan to arrest Weiss. We need to overturn his order and show the people Weiss is a hero. To do that, we first need to gain control of Atlas's communication tower. And to do that… we need to capture Ironwood." Winter hesitantly said.
Ruby's expression widen in horror while Weiss merely lowered her head in shame, feeling guilty with how her friends are now in dire circumstances because of her.
"Were taking over the city, aren't we just terrorist then?" Ruby said, Weiss perking up as she was surprised Ruby was so quick on the uptake, something she felt the girl wouldn't be as her 15 year old self back in beacon.
"I get this upsets you, but let me ask you this. Would seeing Weiss locked up in a cell for life really make things better? Would you really forgive the man who ordered such an unfair order?" She asked, her question making Ruby feel extreme amounts of anxiety. After quickly popping a pill and drinking a water, Ruby gasped for air as she struggled to process her mixed emotions. On one hand, she was angry with Ironwood like Winter hoped, but then again, she still felt a bit of loyalty to him for giving her team their licenses and helping them in the war. It felt wrong and right at the same time. Weiss then startled her by placing a hand on hers and pointing to the window.
"What is it Weiss?" Winter asked, before she and Ruby started looking out the window to see what dishearten her sister.
It was a battalion of Atlas droids outside the hospital entrance, a swarm of press and civilians surrounding them on both sides.
"Damn it, guess Ironwood's getting impatient." Winter grunted, it felt excessive to sent so much for one girl, then got an idea to convince Ruby.
"See Miss Rose, Ironwood just wants to use my sister as a publicity stunt to win over those strangers and media rats. Is he really worthy of your trust?" she asked.
Ruby gritted her teeth hearing this, it finally made her steel her resolve.
"No freaking way! To hell with Ironwood! Weiss lets go!" Ruby yelled, her response perking her partner up as they rustled what little provisions of food and medicine in their bags as they could.
Winter smirked as her plan worked. She secretly sent a text earlier to ironwood to send reinforcements to help her convince them, and though it was a bit much those droids had done their part perfectly. Now all she had to do was sneak them out the back, which would be easy as she had control over the robots on her personal scroll and could keep them stuck at the entrance to distract everyone.
Soon she would be in charge of Atlas, her sister would get their company back, and she could finally handle Cinder her way.
"Okay, lets go find Yang and the others!" Ruby said as she ran to the door, only to smack her face into the wall next to it due to her vision splitting a bit, her eyes still not fully recovered. Weiss snickered a bit in amusement before sighing in frustration as her partner squirmed on the floor holding her face painfully.
"Close your eyes till they feel better. I'll carry you now lets just go already." She said as she princess carried Ruby and they ran out the door.
Dust Mines
Yang's screams filled the mines, growing louder and louder not from the echoes, but as her pain increased from the force field's on Mercury's legs shocks filled her body. It felt like tiny needles stabbing every vein and organ in her. The White Fang paused their smuggling to watch this scene unfold with glee.
"Hahaha that's right! Shock that human cow!" One faunus man said mockingly while the others chuckled.
Marrow's ears twitched as he heard their snickering. He finally took his eyes off Blake wrestling with the shadow vines around Elm's corpse and focused on them. He soon noticed their crates full of their dust and felt rage overwhelm him. Bearing his canine fangs and snarling, Marrow slowly raised his middle finger but not to just flip them off. While he wanted to insult them for enjoying the suffering of an innocent huntress, something that disgusted him to no end, he felt more disgusted each minute he didn't get a chance to humiliate and enrage these Faunus that made him feel ashamed to be of the same race as them.
"You dumbasses give our kind a bad name." He snarled, drawing offended looks on the goons, who drew their guns towards him.
"Guess the puppy needs to know whose master around here." One goon said as they placed their fingers on the trigger, aiming for Marrow's ears.
"Stay!" He shouted, his command instantly freezing the fang goons in their place.
"W-What the hell!? I can't move!" one goon grunted, barely able to move his lips. Marrow couldn't help but smirking at them.
"That's right, I am master and you need to sit and stay like good mutts." He said as he pointed his finger downwards, forcing the paralyzed goons to sit like dogs, making their faces red with rage.
In her room, Cinder was struggling to overpower Blake's grip as she prevented her from absorbing Elm. While she enjoyed the screams of anguish Yang was giving, them keeping herself calm from her frustrations of Blake's interference, her aide and doctor Arthur Watt's was stroking her back with an ice pack to keep her posture healthy. He emphasized many times during his treatments of her and Emerald that their non-stop battles were terrible for their spines and limbs, which were constantly strained by drugs, fighting, and grimm bites. He was also overlooking the battle taking place through one of Cinder's portals and took notice of the dust in those crates. He also noticed their soldiers captured at the hand's of the Ace Ops.
"I get you want a strong corpse miss Cinder, but if we don't get those crystal's I can't make anymore Aura Boosters.
"Butt out I'm busy!" She snarled at him with fire in her eyes, her pride demanded she win her tug of war with Blake, but soon noticed Watt's unyielding glare. Her spine chilled as she realized something, he wasn't afraid of her despite her power. He was never scared of her. He was the only doctor who could handle both Grimm and knew her anatomy with them perfecty. It gave him a sense of confidence and protection, one that was well founded as he knew she needed him just as much as she needed those crystals.
"Please Cinder, you can just grab the body later. Right now those crystals will help boost our best soldier's to near invincible levels." He stated, his tone trying to be supportive despite his internal annoyance with her temper.
Cinder let out a sigh as she took her hand out of the portal and closed it.
Blake pulled the wire of her sword with all her might, struggling to keep her grip as her sweaty fingers threaten to let go and drop Elm into the void. Suddenly, the portal began closing and Elm's body popped out like a rocket and collapsed on Blake's body. She struggled to lift the bulky corpse of her, breathing heavily as it felt like an anvil was dumped on her.
"Guess I *weeze* need a little help please" she yelled beneath her weezing, Clover and Vine raising a finger as their attention still rested on healing Harriet and Marrow was capturing the White Fang goons.
With an annoyed groan, Blake summoned two clones to help life Elm off her and gently place her on their arms, but her weight was still too much so she expended some more Aura as she summoned two more to grab by the legs. If she kept her of the ground Cinder likely couldn't snatch her easily. She then turned her head towards the crates of dust at that thought. Her expression hardened as she noticed multiple portals appear underneath the crates, which soon disappeared out of sight.
"You got to be fucking kidding me!" She yelled in annoyance. Cinder's powers were just getting ridiculously broken and now she had so much dust in her hands. Worse, two members of their team were down, they had certainly failed their mission. As that bitter feeling knotted her gut, she heard more screams coming from Yang and darted her head towards her partner.
Yang was kneeling on the floor, panting hard as she struggled to remain conscious from the electric attack of the force field.
"Really, why don't you let go hot head? Oh are you worried I'll run away during out second date?" Mercury said mockingly as he noticed Yang's gauntlets reading her aura levels at low. A few more moments of this shock and she would be brain dead in no time.
Yang was incensed by these taunts as her body turned red from rage. She clasped her hand on the force field tightly, before giving off a grin of her own, something Mercury didn't fail to notice. He was perplexed, how could she be confidant right now when she was being electrocuted to death? Even her semblance couldn't absorb internal injuries was what he thought. How wrong he would soon realize.
"Hey punk! Your not the only one whose evolved!" she said as she eyed her robot legs. Mercury soon felt anxious, though he couldn't tell why. He couldn't comprehend what Yang was implying, he had kept tabs on all Team RWBY for this rematch, there was no way he didn't know their powers.
But Yang soon rose to her feet and gripped the shield with both hands as she let out a righteous yell. Mercury watched in shock as the electricity on her body soon converged to her arms as the shields soon started to meld into her hands.
"How the hell are you doing this!?" he screamed. Yang smirked at his panic, it was a great look to see on this cocky bastards face.
"Guess your master didn't tell you I could absorb power too huh? She correctly guessed as she saw his reaction of fright to this revelation. Not that she felt even Cinder knew for sure. Yang hadn't ever done this technique since her battle in Beacon against the Dragon Grimm 5 years ago. As much as she wanted to keep looking at Mercury loose his cool, she couldn't resist the urge to look down at her arm solemnly. Past Ember Cecelia, her arm bore burn marks and lines from her absorption of Penny's lazar she used to plunge her fist into that beast heart. Honestly she felt scared to try that again after Ruby told her that arm was then a skeleton before Ruby regenerated it.
"I really wish my baby sister was her…. No wait, I really don't" she said to herself silently. She couldn't bear the thought of seeing her sister cry at her injuries or lecture her for hours for recklessly damaging herself to power up. She got what felt like a whole day full of that 5 years ago and her ears still rang. Yang chuckled as she pondered this both bitter and pleasant memory and resumed absorbing the shield.
Mercury hunched his back and raised his fists, preparing to jump and strike as soon as she finished her technique. Her Aura was low, his was still strong, and she would be easy pickings so there was no need to fear.
In that moment though, he sweat profusely as he saw what should be impossible. Yang's aura reading on her gauntlet showed it was increasing. Yang wasn't just charging up for an attack, she was taking his shield onto her Aura like recharging a battery.
"HOW?! Shields are kinetic energy not human Aura! This should be impossible!" he screamed.
"Screw the rules, you've pissed me off too much to care!" Yang yelled, her body glowed bright yellow and smoke seeped from her skin as she recharged from absorbing the shields completely. Her ability allowed her to absorb any energy into her Aura to strengthen it, not that she felt he deserved a long winded explanation like Penny or Weiss would give. Thats right, this guy would just go after them too, or make them suffer endlessly if she didn't kill him now. The mere thought of their looks of despair enraged her to no end as she slowly advanced towards Mercury, who took a few steps back slowly to match, fear infecting his heart as she glowed her hair in a fiery inferno. A dragon silhouette appeared before her, no, she looked like a demon to him.
Yang clenched her fists, surging with firepower, and felt a surge of electricity and fire seep into them. This was it, Mercury was within her grasp and she could finally make him pay for killing Elm, for betraying Remnant, for pissing her off. Seeing her killing intent Mercury, in sheer desperation, jumped into the air and charged up the cannons on his legs. Yang lunged at him, unwilling to let him get away and felt confidant her new aura could withstand a blast from a cannon. But this wasn't an energy strike like she thought, Mercury felt his confidence return as she fell into his trap. She noticed too late his demeanor had changed as he soon barraged her with a flurry of lights. His legs had charged up energy to flash at her eyes, momentarily blinding her as she felt a flurry of kicks pound into her arms, waist, and face and plopped to the ground.
She clasped her face as she wiggled in pain, as mercury landed and took some heavy breaths. He bore his sights on her painful squirming, and felt his tension finally leave his spirit.
"Hah! Still a brain dead hot head who can't do anything right huh. Guess that's why Timber got to play with your sister." He said with a mocking tone. In that moment, Mercury had sealed his fate as Yang paused. Hearing those words, her pain, her anxiety, her concerns for holding back to avoid collapsing the place on them, all of it could burned away as she was filled with one desire.
Kill this fucking asshole!
It was a thought that repeated like a broken record in her mind. How dare this bastard bring up her sisters rape, how she had failed to get to her on time? It was a curse that burned her more than her scars ever did.
"I'd play with you too, but I got to wrap this up and get Cinder some more bodies. Maybe she'll let me play with your cat girlfriend's tits before she does?" he laughed. Mentioning assaulting Blake now?
(Jet Gatling theme from one Piece plays, ( watch?v=IQEGyboVcEM)
This was the last straw as Yang let loose a monstrous roar and rose instantly to her feet. She bore fangs like a wolf and her hair was like a wildfire as Mercury, the Ace Ops, Blake, and white fang goons did their best to cover their faces from the overwhelming heat she was giving off.
"Yang! Cool yourself down or your gonna implode like a star!" Blake yelled, fear for her partner consuming her soul, but Yang paid her no mind as she turned up the heat, her eyes glowing red as she slowly advanced towards Mercury, who in desperation jumped to perform the same kick trick again.
"I'm gonna knock your head off this time!" he yelled in defiance, but his heart and hands were shaking, showing his hidden fears.
Yang raised her fists back, ignoring the kicks striking her, they only made her feel stronger in fact as her arms surged with flames and electricity. She soon unleashed her own rapid barrage of punches.
"Now Fire Dragon Barrage" she roars as her fists parry most of the leg strikes from Mercury, who sweated nervously as he felt each strike melt a little of his robot legs. As the legs turned hot and overheated, the strikes he did get on Yang body were now superficial as she incinerated her own blood drawn from her face and ignored the pain her bruises were causing.
Kill this fucking Asshole!
It ran through her mind again as she saw his legs melt, something Mercury shouted to be impossible.
She threw one arm back and charged even more fire and electricity.
"Believe you inadequate punk!" she yelled as grabbed with her other hand the melted remains of his left leg and drew him towards her furiously. She drove her fist clean into his stomach, which ignited upon impact and shattered his aura as blood and vomit hurled from his mouth. What got on Yang, which infuriated and grossed her out, was all evaporated from her heat, which didn't die down. Mercury was trembling on the ground, barely conscious as he lost all strength in his lower body, barely even able to move his arms. He knew he was beaten and could only await for hell now that its fiery servant, a demon, was leaning over him.
As Yang lifted a leg that was enveloped in fire, preparing to squish his head, a call paused her mid stomp.
"YANG STOP FOR RUBY!" Blake screamed instantly causing Yang's fire to simmer down into embers. What did Blake just yell? Was what was going through her partners mind. Blake gave a relieving sigh, happy not to have witnessed such a gruesome scene. Yang turned her eyes, still glowing red completely, to her partner.
"I want him dead too but…" Blake started before quivering from a sudden yell from Yang.
"THEN LET ME KILL THIS BASTARD, AND WHAT DOES RUBY HAVE TO DO WITH THIS!" She roared. Despite the heat and temper she was bombarded with, Blake clasped her chest, struggling to breath as she knew she needed to calm her partner down.
"Because she would spare him for information. He is the only one we know who can tell us what Cinder is up too. Kill him and we lose all leads. It's not what Ruby would do." She said.
Hearing these words, Yang was overcome by an extreme headache, she clasp her head as she struggled to overcome her rush of mixed emotions and desires.
Kill this fucking Asshole! No its not what Ruby wants! Screw her he deserves this! Wait why am I saying that? She's my baby sister she deserves what she wants! How do you know for sure she wouldn't kill him?! Kill him! Spare Him! Kill! Spare!
As he eyed Yang during her breakdown, Mercury couldn't help but chuckle. He knew he had lost, yet he still really won from his enjoyment of this show she was giving him. He slowly reached a hand behind his waist.
"Just kill me already bitch! I don't want to live with the shame of being beaten by a dumb girl like Timber. He really should have killed your brat sister after he raped her!" he taunted her with a yell.
Yang looked at him with her pupils disappearing from her glowing red eyes at this taunt. She couldn't take hearing her sisters rape again; it was the nail for this bastard's coffin. She clenched his face with her hand as she raised his body up.
"Doesn't matter you won here, you still lost that day. Your sisters virginity, her happiness, all because you failed to stop Timber from climbing inside her loser!" he yelled.
Yang gritted her teeth and drew her arm back again to prepare another fire fist. She had made up her mind then and there to end his life, Ruby's will be damned.
"Yeah that's it, lose your cool hot head just like always." Mercury thought, still smirking despite his face being gripped like a vice. He reached behind his back for a pistol. If he was going down, he was at least going to kill this bitch first. He quickly pulled it out and opened fire at Yang's stomach rapidly. He grinned, as he felt fulfilled. He had killed her and would get to see her allies look all scared and teary eyed from this.
His hopes were soon dashed as he heard sizzling. He looked down slowly to see another impossible sight before him. The bullets were simply melting off her skin. No blood drawn, no holes in her stomach, nothing, they just turned to ash or melted. Yang lifted his frightful face to hers.
"My failures, my regrets, YOU! They can all burn in hell!" she roared as she launched her fiery fist towards his face, which ignited as he screamed in agony as his skull was enveloped in flames.
"Damnit!" Were Mercuries last words as his face and torso were turned to ash then and their.
"Burning Dragon's Fist!" She yelled as the explosion of fire and lightning from her arm imploded his body, the stream of power she unleashed crashing into the roof of the cave leaving a massive charred hole, almost as big as the one in Mercury's waist that plopped to ground and sizzeld. The only thing left attached to it being an arm and overheated scraps of metal from his legs that weren't melted off.
Yang breathed heavily,
"Good riddance asshole, that was for Elm." she said, her voice raspy. Yang soon turned to Blake carrying Elm's body, noticing the shock in her partners face and the dead glare Elm gave her, her eyes still not having been closed which creeped her out. Her chest tightened as she felt a bit of regret overtake her. She had ignored Blake's cries for reason, she had been the reason Elm died, and now all she had to show for it was an arrogant dead assassin whose corpse wasn't any hotter than her own temper and damn ego.
Yang's aura flickered, her hair singing, her eyes ceased glowing, and soon collapsed to the floor as they flooded her face as she cried.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry its all my fault! I'm a dumbass I know!" Yang cried as she clasped her face, a bit of it singing as her hands, filled to the brim with burn marks and calluses, still felt hot. But Yang ignored the pain, her self loathing making her numb to the torment she was inflicting on her face, which was starting to have red marks of burns slowly spread. Despite her pleading, she couldn't comprehend how she could be forgiven for all the chaos she ensued. She felt she didn't deserve any nor happiness. She only deserved her pain; pain she felt so far to be only a fraction of the one her friends have experienced because of her pig headedness.
Blake instantly left her clones and ran to Yang, her clones dispersing from the swell of emotions she was feeling. She hugged her partner sadly as they both locked in a tearful embrace. Even if the words were superficial, she felt she had to say something to help Yang stop mutilating herself.
"Shhhh its over Yang, its over. No one here blames you I promise." She tenderly said to Yang, fighting her tears as she hugged the still hot hair of her partner who cried into her chest. Blake moved Yang's hands away and casted a hand over her partners face. She took a deep breath and focused intently on her palm and yangs face. Ruby had taught her to give small amounts of her Aura to another in transfers to heal them, though hers and Blake's wasn't nearly as good as Jaune's semblance Aura Boost, she felt she could get the job done.
Her assumptions proved correct as the burn marks on Yang's face receded.
Yang heart felt cold, despite her heat from the fire she gave off still somewhat remaining and Blake's touch. Mercury's words had remained in her thoughts and she wanted nothing more than to just forget them, forget about Timber hurting Ruby, how Ruby would be disappointed with her rashness, with her letting everyone here down. She just wanted to stop everything and hug her partner. Her body had felt hotter than any fire Yang had given off. It was the only thing she could think of right now that could get her mind of her reignited regrets. Her hair went back to normal as she lamaze her breathing and slowly matched it to the sound of Blake's beating chest. She gave a small smile, happy to realize how Ruby felt all those years ago when her nephew was taken to be comforted through this ordeal. She felt her sister was the luckiest girl in the world to have such a supportive person as her wife.
Blake smiled as she saw Yang calm down.
"About damn time something went right in this rotten city." She thought to herself to not wake up Yang.
Soon Blake's ears perked up as she heard a whirling sound. She looked up to see Mercury's body being absorbed into Cinder's portal. Honestly she felt it was good riddance to be rid of his rotten corpse before, but her body froze from a sudden realization as she heard the sound from behind her.
She looked over her shoulder to see Elm's body also be enveloped by a portal. She had forgotten to keep calm and her clones active, now all her efforts were wasted. She couldn't release Yang's grip on her shoulders, the blond brawler still a sobbing mess, to save her body and give her the funeral she deserved.
"No don't take her!" she yelled, images of the students of beacon flushing her mind as the reality she failed overtook her.
Suddenly two vines of green energy whipped into the portal and dragged Elm out before she could disappear and hovered her in the air. Blake gasped as she looked in the direction of the vines to see Vine, giving an annoyed look at her as he carried Elm over to him.
"Why are you screaming so much?" He calmly asked, not hiding his annoyance though. Blake looked confused.
"Why? She should get a f-funeral right?" she stuttered.
"And you scream and drop your guard around criminals, waist your aura on that when were on a mission? A burial doesn't matter, it's illogical, inconsequential to our task at hand." He said with a deadpan tone.
Blake couldn't help but snarl at him for that comment. He spoke logically but he knew nothing was what she felt.
"So your teammate gets murdered and you don't care in the slightest!? How the hell are you even friends?!" she roared, but Vine didn't waver from his calm look.
"We aren't, our mission comes first always." He coldly said, his response shocking Blake to no end.
"Then why save her?" She sadly asked. He gave her no answer.
"Your just lying to yourself aren't you? Those aren't your words, its just some dumb order from your boss Ironwood isn't it?" Yang yelled, suprising Blake and causing a gasp from Vine, confirming the suspicious.
Marrow rubbed his head nervously hearing that comment and heard a groan from Clover, who stood up with Harriet on his shoulder.
"Okay everyone look. We can lick our wounds and argue about this later, right now we got to transport these prisoners and get Harriet to a doctor. We also have to report how much dust we lost, and how you killed a dangerous assassin that… took a comrade from us." He said, his composure wavering as he struggled to maintain his cool from losing Elm, who he eyed sadly, causing Vine to exhale through his nose sadly.
Soon a trembling occurred that shocked them out of their stupor. Cracks formed on the walls that caused minor explosions from the small dust shards, which only worsened the tremors.
"The cave is collapsing we got to get out now!" Clover yelled, but the roof of the cave starting breaking down as large chunks of it crashed to the ground, throwing him and the others off balance and to their knees. He noticed a boulder heading for Yang and Blake, who were a bit far away and knew they wouldn't be able to dodge in their state. He grasped his fishing pole quickly,
"Luck you haven't been good to me today, please be my lady right now!" he said as he whipped the fishing line around them and miraculously ensnared them both.
"Yes, thank you lady luck!" he thought at he yanked them over to his group as Marrow also jumped to his leader to avoid a boulder smashing him. Though the white fang prisoners weren't so lucky as they were crushed, their guts splattered on the floor as marrow's noise could smell, despite not wishing to look back and see the gore. He hugged his team and the girls as more of the cave collapsed around them, cutting off any chance to escape. Clover gave a look at Vine who nodded and encased them in a dome of energy from his arm energy vines.
Dark Continent
Cinder eyed the scene unfold from her portal. She soon glanced at the firewall and watched the number draw back from 10 to 9.
"At least my servant did provide me with one strong body." She said to Watts, who brought her a hot tea as she reclined in her chair amused. She then glanced at the portal to see the image of the heroes shield being covered by debris and closed the portal.
"I only wish I could have gotten them too." She said.
"Indeed, but sadly you need to see their bodies to get a direct portal going. Kind of hard to see past the rock right?" he said with a bit mockery in his tone, which infuriated Cinder into boiling her already hot tea. She drew her lips away from it as it burned her lip to touch.
"Ow too fucking hot!" she thought as she threw the tea away and Watts groaned and got a broom to sweep it up.
Soon a knock on the door distracted them from as a familiar voice was heard from the other side.
"Mistress Cinder, its Whitely." He said.
Cinder rolled her eyes, now of all these frustrating times she'd have to entertain the rich boy and get a headache. But she needed his funds right now so she opened the door with a groan.
"Hello boy." She bitterly said. Whitely merely flicked his shirt collar at this comment and glared at her with an arrogant smile, only annoying her more.
"That's Mr. president to you." He said confidently.
"So I guess the company finally gave you what you wanted. How does it feel to actually earn something for once?" she said.
"To get what I deserve? It always felt natural. Though thanks for the assistance in making those idiots wake up and realize their mistake not picking me in the first place." He said, his gratitude obviously sounding shallow to her annoyance. She decided to press on the issue.
"Now that company is yours its time to keep your end of the bargain!" she said.
"Yes, Yes, ill transfer some company funds to your private account and get you access to the science unit of the company to make your little "experiment" Cinder." He said.
"I assume you got the dust you need for it?" he asked.
Cinder nodded with a confidant smirk, one that soon faded into shock as she heard a scroll click from out the window. She and Whitely turned their heads towards the window to see a Qrow bird holding a scroll that recorded their conversation. It soon morphed into a middle age man with red eyes, black hair, a shadow beard, and a cocky smirk.
"Thanks for the confession assholes, chow!" he said as he gave a Luke Skywalker finger motion and jumped away from the window while laughing.
Cinder's eyes soon flashed fire as she roared in anger, causing all the Nevermore's and Chimera's around the castle to shriek and fly erratically as they sensed their master's murderous rage.
Well there you have it, Qrow is alive and Blake and Vine saved Elm's corpse for a funeral. But will the team have their own burial in the dust mines? How did Qrow survive getting eaten? And what is this experiment Whitely and Cinder are planning? Find out next time in CH 32: Chaos or Order?