RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart
CH 35: Sacrifices Must Be Made!
As she sat outside Pietro's home patio, Ruby twirled her fingers and groaned in absolute boredom. She saw smoke arise from multiple districts in the city from afar and wanted to be out helping people at this moment. For a Huntress this could be defined as nothing more than torture. As much as she wanted to throw herself out their and knock out some rioters or slice up some droids, especially with her new quake dust and upgrades, she also knew they had to wait for Yang and Blake's upgrades to be done and make a battle plan. Ruby winced as she thought of this, she had no doubt right now Cinder was devising a nasty one of her own to target Atlas. It made sense, she and her team were hiding out here and the Grimm witch had all the reasons in the world, selfish they may be, to want Ruby dead.
"Really wish I could just slice her neck off like uncle Qrow did to that Scorpion jerk!" she bitterly grunted while clenching her scythe to her chest, antsy to put it in action. Despite her frustrations, Ruby did ease her tension at the thought of Qrow. She felt this same relief the day he told her he killed that monster for stabbing her and kidnapping Thorn. She admired her uncle, even before he taught her to use a scythe, ever since he saved her and Yang from Grimm as children.
"You've always been my hero Uncle Qrow." Ruby said softly to herself, not noticing someone approach her from behind.
"You flatter me kiddo!" Qrow's warm voice resonated through her ears. Ruby perked up as she heard her beloved Uncle's voice.
"Hey Uncle Qrow! Is it time for the mission!? Is it!? Is it!? She squealed in excitement, only to get a karate chop to the forehead from her Uncle, making her rub it as she puffed her cheeks in pain and annoyance, especially seeing him smugly smile like nothing happened.
"Easy brat, this isn't cookie time, just take a breather and I'll get that." Qrow replied, his tone full of teasing.
"Qrow I'm 22, married, and have a kid now. You think I can graduate from being called brat?" she said annoyed.
"Nope" he replied nonchalantly, making Ruby pout and stomp her feet in frustration to his absolute joy. He always relished seeing her child-like tantrums even now. In her adult years they were, even if a joke from her, an excellent source of nostalgia of a better time between them; a time where Ruby was less marred like him and even more hyper and sweet. This was a great stress relief for the old huntsman. His lips went a little softer as his cocky smile became a smaller one. He had seen the pill capsule sticking out Ruby's pocket half full. Qrow could tell his niece had been under a lot of stress, but he also knew she had abused those anti-depressant's for some time now. Shame filled his heart, though he didn't know if it was more towards her or himself, as he remembered his own abuse of alcohol before. He knew all too well from Thorn's kidnapping what a danger and burden those problems were, more to your family then yourself. Yang more than once confided in him her fears Ruby was heading down the wrong path dealing with her depression and he felt inclined to agree with her. He held back for a while out of respect for Blake's judgment on the matter and not wanting to intervene in their marriage, but felt the urge to speak to his niece about it too strong right now.
"Ruby, can we talk about something else for a bit? It's important." He said, his tone mixed with sadness and urgency, alerting his niece who ceased her playful tantrum.
"Sure, what is it?" she asked while raising an eyebrow. She felt a sense of dread arise seeing her Uncles somber expression, it was always a premonition of terrible news or requests.
"How long have you been taking those pills?" he asked bluntly. Ruby stepped back a bit in mild surprise before looking down at her pocket, seeing her pills sticking out. She quickly shoved them back down her pocket, feeling flair of panic.
She didn't tell her Uncle about her anti-depressants, how could she? He was her idol, any sign of weakness in the past when they were training resulted in harsh scolding's or being plopped on her butt and being sore for a week. She just couldn't let him see her problem or she'd never live it down.
"Oh it's just some… uh… painkillers yeah I have been getting massive headaches lately—" she said before her uncle raised his hand and cut her off.
"Yang already told me 2 years ago kid." He said quickly, before wincing a bit seeing a sharp frown and glare from Ruby.
"I told her not to tell…" she grunted with rage. She felt betrayed; her own sister couldn't keep a deep personal secret from her idol she specifically told her not to. Qrow stepped forward slowly, raising his hand towards her making her quiver.
This was it, he was going to let her have it and she'd lose his trust, his respect, maybe… his love?!
These thoughts raced through her mind as rapidly as her heart began to beat and she began trembling.
To her shock, he simply tenderly placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a concerned look, one free of judgment and anger.
"It's all my fault kiddo, I'm sorry." He somberly said.
"Wha-What for? My problem is m-mine not yours." She stuttered. But Qrow shook his head in defiance.
"I should have been there for you after what Timber did to you, but instead I just dumped all on Yang and your dad without even once bothering to visit you. I- I am so sorry Ruby." He said with shame in his broken voice.
"Ruby please, you don't need them you got us… he began before Ruby pulled back unexpectedly.
"Where were YOU then when I was raped? When I needed your help all those long nights I wanted to drown myself, to stabbed my stomach with my scythe you helped me built? I needed just a bit of advice and you weren't there to give it even though I wanted it!" she screamed.
Qrow looked down in shame, he remembered dropping his scroll and shattering it when Ozpin called him and informed him about her rape, how he tore up the whole bar he was drinking at in a fit of rage, and how many White Fang goons he gutted to alleviate his anger. But for all his anger, he felt a greater power of fear over him for years. All his life, his semblance brought bad luck to those he cared for. He couldn't count how many Grimm injuries or burns from dust randomly exploding his team suffered over the years and he feared being around her, while pregnant no less, would no doubt destroy her. But right now Ruby was before him, in need of his help and he was finally going to put his fear of his semblance behind and be the Uncle she needed.
"Ruby, I was a coward. I ignored you thinking it would keep you safe from my semblance. But all that did was drive you towards a bunch of drugs that made you think were the only way to feel better. Believe me, I had that problem with the sauce for years." He said, barely meeting her eyes from the guilt overtaking him.
"But when I take them, I finally start calming down. I don't feel afraid to let myself get hurt again. Afraid to let my team… my mother down." She tearfully said. Qrow's eyes widen at this revelation.
"Hey, Hey! You could never let any of them down, especially your mother. I mean, hell you kicked Cinder's ass and saved the world while knocked up. That's pretty inspiring. I know your mom would be proud of you, even with those pills your fixed on because she would know how hard you work to keep things under control. But you don't need them to be strong or cope, you inspired me to give up booze and without those damn pills and I have never felt better, especially my liver. Qrow said, fervently showing his faith in her with a confidant grin that made the crying maiden give a small unforced smile.
"Thank's…I just really wished I could have heard that years ago." She said with a slight grin.
"Better late than never. So kiddo, what's say we get rid of those." He said while pointing at her pill bottle.
Ruby reached in and grabbed the small cylinder, her grip like a vice as her hand began trembling. She felt really nervous, but she knew he was right. He knew Yang was right when she told her the same thing 2 years ago. She was lucky to have nosy but loving family like them in her life. Her heartbeat began to slow down as she took a deep breath. She focused on Qrow's loving words and an image of her mother's smile. It was a warm and loving one that filled her with joy and was the perfect source of strength for her right now.
With a fierce grunt, Ruby slammed the bottle on the ground, though the cap didn't screw off and make pills go flying like she thought, to her embarrassment, those damn caps were so freaking tightly screwed on.
"Well, guess I could cut them up" she nervously said while flustered and brandishing Crescent Rose.
"Hey Ruby, lets make them go out with a bang, try that Quake dust out!" He said excited.
"Didn't Pietro say it was highly destructive?" she said fearfully, she didn't want to risk giving their position away. Qrow merely gave a confidant grin as he brandished Harbringer.
"Were healed up enough, might as well bash some droids around to keep us from getting rusty." He said, his notion being magic words to the Crimson Reaper's ears as she giggled with anticipation as she loaded a dust bullet into her scythe and its blade shined white, making her eyes glow with awe as she sliced the bottle and generated a massive quake.
Present Time
"Aaaaaaaaaand that's what happened!" Ruby said nervously to her team, Raven, Marrow and Winter who glared at her unimpressed.
"If it's his fault then where's Qrow?" Raven said.
Ruby darted her head around and noticed her Uncle not around before glancing at a black feather that landed on her nose. After swatting it away she looked up to see a Qrow fly around and land on a tree in the yard. Ruby could tell it was him but he was acting like a regular bird to leave her to take the rap.
"Oh real mature Uncle Qrow!" she frantically yelled, her eyes bulging pure white and teeth sharp (comedic effect) before getting smacked on the head and getting a massive bump from Blake.
"Yeah, Yeah, whatever at least tell me you got a plan now that were exposed and theirs going to be, without a doubt, a hundred droids on the way here to arrest or blast us." Blake said.
Ruby merely gripped her scythe after wincing in pain and grinned like her cocky Uncle, whom Raven snagged by the tail feathers and forced him back into human form.
"Slash, boom, burn! Fight fight fight we win and go kick Ironwood's butt and save Atlas from Cinder!" she said, her simplicity making Weiss groan.
"In detail Sherlock, please." she groaned. Her request was ignored as they heard a battalion of droids approach the house from a mile away.
Pietro came wheeling out the house with Penny, now in a new robot form (v7 design) but with only one arm and a pogostick for her left leg. It was clearly not finished yet, but she carried something that was. Ember Cecelia and Gambrol Shroud, shiny and brand new to Yang and Blake's joy. But Pietro was hardly pleased seeing a massive crater around his house and lab.
"What the hell happened here!" he yelled as his eyes widen in shock at the damage. Before he could get an answer, Yang and Blake snatched their weapons and fit them on.
"Sorry we'll explain later right now we need to use these and kick droid metal ass. Please tell us how to use them!" Yang said, excitement filling her voice as she was tempted to squeal like a school girl as she noticed the shiny gold platting around her gauntlet.
"We-Well I added a miniature rocket launcher in her gauntlet, loaded of course, that can absorb your fire and enhance itself to create more precise and powerful explosions than your old grenades and as for Gambrol shroud it has carbon fiber wire so it can't be cut easily, and I added a dust feature like crescent rose so the blade can be enhanced." Pietro explained as he felt a sense of pride overcome his anger and confusion once seeing the girls bright faces that showed they were satisfied with his work.
"If only I had more time so I could finish you up sweetie." He said as he eyed his crewed job of his daughter, but she merely gave a confidant smile that melted his heart.
"No problems daddy, beats being a sword all day. Plus now me, Blake, and Ruby can have fun again!" she squealed, making Blake and Ruby jolt as they heard this. They were honestly excited to resume their nightly activities once the mission ended, but really wished Penny could keep it on the down low.
"Okay what is she talking about now?" Weiss said while raising an eyebrow confused. Qrow and Raven, being older and more mature, instantly knew what Penny was implying seeing Ruby and Blake blushed but kept it to themselves, though honestly felt aghast their niece's were so much more promiscuous than they thought.
"Okay chat later kick droid but NOW!" Ruby screamed as she cut a tree from the yard and used it as a makeshift bridge to walk across the crater. They soon eyed the droid army approach them, brandishing guns and swords as they called for the groups arrest and surrender.
Ruby gripped her scythe and grinned massively as she eyed the enemy. She was so excited to finally get to cut some heads off. In a second she felt a surge of heat slid past her cheek as she saw up close a rocket fly past her and strike at the army, incinerating 6 droids in the front row and the explosion scattering the nearby robots. She turned around to see Yang, her arm thrusted in the air and smoking from her gauntlet as she smiled madly.
"Then what are we waiting for, lets go!" she roared as she charged past her sister with a battle cry and her eyes red with power.
Soon enough, Blake whipped past her as well with Gambrol shroud, now having fire dust in it, ignited at the blade that sliced some droids heads off and melted their necks from the heat.
Ruby pouted at them for getting ahead of her.
"Hey! No fair wait for the leader to charge first jerks!" she yelled as she petal bursted into the army, generating a tornado of rose petals that swept them up before Weiss froze them in place with her semblance, creating another ice pillar before them.
Ruby locked in a quake dust bullet into her scythe again, her hands trembling with glee as she joyfully felt the surge of power envelope her arms again. It both hurt and exhilarated her feeling the shockwave as she sliced into the air a stream of white energy that cut into the ice pillar and imploded it in an explosion of white light that scattered ice flakes and droid parts all over the streets.
The entire team stood in awe at their work, the sheer power of their new weapons and teamwork being enough to level the whole street and damage the building nearby within a mere minute.
"Okay nice work kids, but if you don't take it down a notch there isn't going to be a city left to save." Winter said admonishing them with a sharp glare that made them chuckle in embarrassment.
Ruby, wanting to deflect the sour mood, perked up and eyed the older huntress and the others as they approached.
"Okay speaking of actually saving the city, I do have a plan!" she yelled, alerting her group as they focused on her.
"Now look, if we don't stop Ironwood and Cinder none of this chaos is going to go away. We can't defend this whole city from the General's armies forever nor let Cinder roam free and blow up any city she want." Ruby said.
"So what are you proposing?" Weiss said, earning a playful nudge to the arm from Blake.
"You got monkey boy already so don't think it's to you." She joked, making Weiss pout and blush. Blake was enjoying the hell out of seeing her reaction and smiled. It was a good change of pace from that depressing talk earlier. Ruby forced a cough to get their attention back.
"Back to my plan! We need to handle both problems at once. Were going to split into 2 teams to handle our opponents." She said as she soon eyed Raven and Qrow, who gave her stern looks showing they were taking this seriously.
"Uncle Qrow, you, Penny and Weiss, along with Marrow and Winter, are going after Ironwood. Penny told me she can override his security codes now that she had her body back." She then glanced at Winter.
"Once we get Winter, who has the peoples support, Atlas under her control she can shut off the robots so we can defend this place much easier against Grimm since the negativity will go down once the droids do too." Ruby said, earning a nod from the adults.
"Raven will open a portal for her, myself, Blake, and Yang to go to the Dark Continent and were going to take out Cinder." Ruby said, causing screams of surprise from the others.
"THE DARK CONTINENT!" They yelled in unison, but Ruby silenced them by waving her hands quickly, showing she wasn't done explaining.
"I get it, it's dangerous and crazy! But so is Cinder and with her semblance she can plant that bomb of her anywhere and anytime. The sooner we kill her the less time she has to do just that." Ruby said sternly.
The group's expressions of shock faded into somber looks. Qrow had told them how volatile that place was, with all the grimm and bloody dirt and guts lying around. It was practically like going to hell and they certainly didn't feel comfortable letting her go there, but her glare showed her decision was final.
Raven merely gave a defeated sigh, she really couldn't ever beat this girl in an argument, she was too stubborn like her mother. Raven then brandished her blade and opened a portal, which her team went through. As the remaining team went off towards the communications tower where Ironwood was, Pietro was left by himself eyeing the scenery around him before a sudden realization dawned on him.
"WHO THE HELL IS GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!" He yelled, noticing his yard in utter ruins and the streets around him reduced to rubble. He damn well wasn't going to loose his life savings for this.
Dark Continent
As she was finished latching her bra, Cinder eyed a portal showcasing the citizen's in Atlas, their shrieks of fear at the destruction the droids were unleashing on defiant locals fueled her.
As much as she wanted to revel in this feeling, her attention soon turned to a knock on her door. It was a systematic knock with a kick, signaling her lover Emerald was at the door, it was their code. She wouldn't admit it out of pride, but Qrow's infiltration had left her on edge and she wanted to be absolutely sure no one impeded in the final stage of her plan.
"Come on in Emerald I'm all changed." She said.
"Too bad, would have loved to get back here sooner." Emerald said in a seductive tone making Cinder shiver as she became flushed from her suggestive words. She jolted up as she fixed her dress as soon as Emerald walked in, her eyes still glowing red before quickly running up to Cinder and planting a kiss on her lips.
"How's your aura levels love." Cinder said with a smile.
"A little more than half, even with the aura drug it's taking a lot to keep my semblance up." She said with a sigh, indicating her exhaustion.
"Bear with it a little longer, I'm almost fully recharged from those rich snobs fears. Until then, we must keep the bomb hidden so that the invasion goes off without a hitch." Cinder sternly, yet kindly, said to Emerald, instantly melting away the stress from the latter as she placed her human hand on her cheek. She needed Emerald to remain focused, if she lost concentration her bomb's hiding spot would be revealed and Atlas could find it and disarm it before she could disarm the shields. Ironwood's forces had already generated 3 layers after her first attack and without a nuke she couldn't possibly destroy it without exhausting herself and her resources. She eyed the firewall with a "1" annoyed. Despite getting fueled by Weiss's attack as a grimm, she didn't get any victims, all because of that damn team RWBY. She then eyed Emerald's robot arm, another casualty of that team along with her eye and own original arm. She grasped it with her Grimm arm tightly, making her lover startled.
"Once we get one more powerful soul, we'll be sure to rip out something from each of Team RWBY and then some." Cinder said sadistically.
"I call dibs on that cat bitch's ears. But first I'll be sure to let them hear how her teammates brother killed hers." Emerald said with a sadistic smile, her rush of bloodlust making her eyes flicker, something Cinder was quick to pick up on and grab her shoulders to her suprise.
"Easy! In due time, until then please keep focus on your semblance. Ironwood can't find that nuke yet. I just have to see the look on his face when he sees it before it explodes." Cinder said as she released Emerald who breathed heavily to focus herself.
"Speaking of which, our spies say they saw a few members of Ruby Roses team heading towards Ironwood's communication center, it may be a good time to blow them all up in one go." Emerald said, but was silenced as Cinder shook her head.
"Watts said the bomb hasn't built up a strong enough charge yet to obliterate all of Atlas, let alone the shield generator lab. At best we could damage it and get rid of 2 layers. We need to build up as much time as possible. Plus Ironwood may just kill them himself or get killed. Either way we get a powerful body for Monstra at last. Now lets just wait and see."
Cinder said as she summoned 2 recliners for her and Emerald to sit down and watch through a portal Weiss's team make their way to Ironwood's tower, unaware outside her own a red portal slinged open.
Schnee vs Ironwood
As they ran from alley to alley, hiding in the shadows to avoid detection from the droid forces and local police, Weiss's team eyed from afar the communication's tower holding their target. Winter seemed especially focused on the tower as her hand shook and his front teeth bit into her lip. It was obvious to Weiss her sister was tense and for good reason. Ironwood was the final barrier for her coup to get Atlas, and their company back from Whitely. The general was long regarded as one of the most powerful huntsman in history due to his access to ever evolving technology from Atlas that he regularly upgraded himself with. His main weapon, Due Process, was a laser gun that could pierce a death stalker's hard skull that even crescent rose couldn't cut easily. Not only that, it could morph into a canon that could annihilate an entire Leviathan in one shot, so she wasn't confidant they could win against him in a straight up confrontation. Not that killing or beating up their old ally was appealing to the former SDC president. He had been an avid supporter of her team after the war, which made his betrayal all the more painful to Weiss. Deep down though, she couldn't help but acknowledge she left him with little alternative than to try and arrest her. Her Grimm infection led her to making her team an enemy to the public for a while and that bitterness she fueled would certainly attract Grimm. She was brought out her bitterness by the sound of a snarl behind her in the ally. She instinctively flared up her Aura, a good thing considering once she turned around her eyes met that of a Beowulf, obviously attracted to her negativity, that latched it's teeth around her neck, her body flickering it's blue Aura.
Little did the group know, Cinder was laughing in her room with Emerald, watching them and had sensed Weiss's bitterness and couldn't help but summon that Grimm to mess with them.
"Weiss! Hang on!" Winter yelled as she plunged her sword into the wolf grimm's eye, causing it to whimper before it was frozen in place, it's teeth still imbedded in her sisters aura protected neck.
"Time to put this mutt down." Qrow bitterly said as he kicked the face of the frozen Grimm to shatter it and free Weiss, who began choking on her breath as she took raspy breaths.
"Watch what you say about dogs Branwen!" Marrow said offended by Qrow's remark, getting a sheepish shoulder wave in response.
"Thanks I *cough* appreciate the save." Weiss said with a smile past her coughing fit.
"You wouldn't need to be saved if we kept out guard up." Winter said dejected, obviously ashamed she let that beast sneak up on them, but received a slap on the shoulder from Weiss.
"Focus! Ruby's counting on us to capture Ironwood, but we got to do it quietly. Anymore commotion could alert those droids to out presence." She said sternly, making everyone eye the streets. Honestly it was a miracle it was empty right now. Penny scanned the area with a green ray from her eyes for confirmation.
"I don't detect anymore Grimm and my radar says the nearest droids are a few blocks down, we should be able to make it to the tower soon without much interference." Penny said with a bright smile.
"Good, but when we get there we can't make too much of a mess. We still need the tower to contact the other kingdoms for aide in the future. We can't risk bringing it down, Qroooooow." Winter said, glaring at the older huntsman with an accusing tone.
"Come on, you aren't exactly miss subtle yourself, I still haven't fully paid the bill Beacon sent us after our last duel." Qrow remarked making Winter tremble a bit and groan.
She still remembered how much she and him destroyed in the main plaza of the school and how expensive the bill was, it was at least 6 zeros not that she'd tell her family and get an earful. Qrow was just so annoying back then… no even now she wanted nothing more than to freeze his smug face and shatter it like the Beowulf. Taking a deep breath she shook her head and turned away from his smug annoying look and looked at Penny.
"Okay Penny, once we get there your sure you can bypass security? I don't have my authority to get into the building anymore." Winter asked receiving a salute from the robot girl in response, alleviating her tension, but not from the confirmation. It was something about this girls cheerful smile that warmed her heart. She saw it in Ruby too and finally understood why her little sister fell for the silver eyed maiden. But Winter shook her head as she refocused on the task at hand.
"Okay then, lets get this over with." She said as the group nodded their heads and followed her to the tower. Once outside the entrance, Marrow eyed 4 guards stationed, but fortunate for them they were human's instead of droids so his semblance could make this quick and quite.
"Stay!" He said raising a finger towards the guards, making them go stiff from the command. Marrow gave a nod to Qrow who smiled at the young Hunter.
"Man kid, I hope my grand nephew gets a useful semblance like yours some day." Qrow joyfully said as he took harbringer's blade form out, making the guards sweat nervously like crazy, before he simply hit their necks with the sword's hilt to knock them out.
"I just hope I get to meet him someday, he looks adorable from Ruby's photo's." Marrow said, feeling proud of himself and a bit weak from cuteness overload remembering seeing a photo Ruby showed him of Thorn eating his first birthday cake. He had basically shoved his face in a chocolate fudge cake and Ruby was eating it off his cheek in a cute way.
He was knocked out of this gush fest with smack on the back from Weiss.
"Eyes forward doggy! Penny's getting us in and were going to need all the help we can get." Weiss sternly said. Marrow, though annoyed with the doggy comment, nodded as he knew she was right. There were more men inside the base surely, and his semblance was going to be needed so he let the comment go.
"Okay, stand back everybody while I do my thing." Penny said joyfully as her one robot arm's fingers hacked into a control panel outside. Her eyes flashed greened as soon some codes began scrolling through her pupils. She was overtaking the controls to gain access to the mainframe.
Ironwood stood in his office, overlooking the state of Atlas on his security cameras. He had noticed one area flickering green before disappearing into static.
"So they finally made their move huh?" Ironwood mused. He had been expecting Team Rwby to make a move on him for some time and was honestly relieved. This meant he could capture them and try to blow up part of Atlas and blame them, once he had the bomb back that is. Then he would have the peoples trust again and be rid of the Grimm problem for good.
"I just hope they brought Winter with them." He said to himself as he ordered some guards to intercept the group at the entrance, though this was more for their safety than to win. He clenched Due Process, if this gun/cannon went off he would certainly have killed his men along with the enemy. He wasn't going to needlessly sacrifice his own men, the grief from their families would only bring back the Grimm problem. He also knew Team RWBY, for all their skills, were not heartless killers and didn't have the stones to kill all their enemies.
"Sometimes its good when children are so damn naïve." Ironwood said to himself, before a soldier went flying past him and slammed into the wall, shocking the old man.
"Whose the naïve one?! You should know how fast me and these kids fight" Qrow said as he and the team walked in the room slowly.
"Qrow!? So your alive after all. I assume the reason it took so long to return was you failed to kill Cinder and drowned the pain of your pathetic performance in booze." Ironwood coldly snarled at him, making Qrow bit his lower lip and lunge at him.
"Lets me show you how fast I am when I take your head!" Qrow yelled.
"Qrow wait!" Winter yelled, but Ironwood was faster than her as he charged his aura into his robot arm and blocked Harbringer's blade with his metal palm, shocking Qrow to his amusement.
"Two seconds, impressive… now lets see how long it takes for your aura to shatter." Ironwood smugly said as he quickly pulled Due Process from his gun vest and aimed it at Qrow's waist. Before it fired, Penny propelled off the wall and lunged at Qrow, grabbing him and making him drop his sword, but getting him out of the way of a laser shot that passed straight through the walls, revealing Atlas to Weiss and Marrow's shock. Even Winter, despite seeing it's power before, couldn't help but get startled by Ironwood's display. It was almost like facing off against a god, that was the pressure she was feeling right now. She also felt Weiss's hands gripe her back and pull her down to her surprise. She soon saw the reason fly by her, Harbringer's blade just inches away from her eyes. Ironwood had threw it, hoping to gain an early kill by taking advantage of Winter's distraction but groaned as he failed. Harbringer however was sent plummeting outside into the city to Qrow's annoyance.
"Hey robo girl! Get me down their I love that sword and can't afford a replacement." He yelled.
"Understood I will be back in 2 minutes and 33 seconds with Qrow friend Weiss, Friend Marrow, and Friend Winter! Think you can handle him?" Penny asked her team.
"Absolutely!" They said in unison as she flew out with Qrow.
Ironwood merely frowned at them and lowered his brow.
"If you really think you can win, then it's time I beat some reality into you naïve children." Ironwood coldly said as he cracked his fingers and neck, bracing himself for the fight ahead of him.
Fall
Meanwhile at the Dark Continent
Cinder and Raven were still enjoying the battle going on, even having popcorn bowls to eat while watching.
"50 Lien says Weiss Schnee gets killed first." Emerald said.
"My money's on the dog boy first, then the Schnee brat." Cinder countered with a snickering laugh. Emerald replied in kind with her own before she clenched her eyes.
"aagh, no more funny jokes, laughing is making my eyes hurt." Emerald groaned.
Outside the door to their room, Raven and the girls were listening in on their conversation, careful to not make a sound. Blake had clones latched on the roof to ambush any soldier's that came by before they could make a sound. They needed to be absolutely quite for this assassination attempt. Despite this, Ruby found her hand covered by Yang, who could see her distress hearing the bet going on in their. It was a sign Weiss's team had begun their battle and was not faring so well at the moment. Yang was honestly worried too, but fought the urge to burst in there right now and try to smash the witch's head in. She saw the scars and burn marks on her arm, a reminder of the consequences of reckless assault in the past and knew she had to remain calm. After releasing her sisters mouth, allowing her to breath again, Yang began telling everyone to use sign language they had studied at school to prepare for stealth mission's like this.
"Okay Rubes, so what's your plan of attack?" Yang asked in sign language. Ruby began flickering her hands,
"We nya- be…bomb… through.." she said, not saying words in coherent sign language to Yang's confusion and displeasure; she was obviously going to have to work on that with her later. Ruby, seeing her expression knew she messed u and then tapped her head frustrated, trying hard to remember her lessons before they clicked.
"Blake you still got smoke grenades we packed?" She asked her wife in sign language who nodded as she reached into her back pocket for one.
"Good, your going to throw one in and blind those two. From what I can guess, Emerald is using…Semblance and may stop if we can blind her. That your j-job." She said, or at least that's what Blake could tell as she too was puzzled at first by the broken sign language.
"Your sign language sucks kiddo." Raven formed in sign language with a smirk before she and yang were shocked by what came next.
"You understand this one?" Ruby said unamused before flipping off Raven.
Blake actually held her hand to her mouth, trying so hard not to laugh before complying with the plan. She eyed her team as they held their weapons up ready for the battle. She silently pried open the door, the portal Cinder was watching hiding any sound they made from the battle it showed. Blake gulped as she saw Ironwood shoot a laser at Weiss, who barely jumped out of the way in time to avoid being melted like the ice she summoned towards Ironwood. Her summoned glyph's of bees and falcon's were smashed by his robot hand that lunged towards her, only to be paused momentarily by a "Stay" command from Marrow. To their shock, Ironwood had prepared for this by adding an electrocution function into his arm that shocked him out of this state. He once more made way towards the trio only to be blocked by a pillar of ice from Winter and Weiss before he smashed it. This was clearly an intense battle and Blake could understand why popcorn was being eaten.
"That's it kill the Schnee brat I got 50 Lien riding!" Emerald cheered. Blake almost growled in anger before she shook her head quickly. Luckily Cinder was too focused on the "show" before them to notice her. Blake remembered the Grimm Witch could sense negativity, it was why she and Ruby did their best to always be happy around Thorn, to make sure she couldn't teleport to them and make another attempt on his life.
"Focus, Focus, happy moments Blake." She thought to herself. If there was one thing she knew, it was that Grimm weren't able to sense those with happy emotions. She needed that trait to fulfill her mission. She began to smile as she remembered giving Thorn his first bath as his new mother as Ruby watched. He was squirming in her hands and she was a nervous wreck.
"Not so easy huh? Be sure to keep his head up" Ruby laughed. Blake was getting soaked from splashed from the fidgeting infant, Ruby's glares at her chest not making the process easier at the time. Blake could only feel warm in her chest now as she fondly recalled that moment. She then remembered wanting to feed Thorn some mash potatoes that he refused to try.
"Open up the tunnel here comes the train sweetie." Blake said childishly. The 2 year old Thorn merely shoved it away from his mouth and whined.
"Come on its yummy see." She said as she ate a bit, it really was a good buttery taste despite the generic texture from store bought food she wasn't accustomed to, almost tempted for another bite before the spoon was snatched by Ruby, who ate it herself.
"Thorn, if you don't eat mommy won't feed you. She'll take it all away from you." Ruby sang. Thorn immediately perked up seeing her and waved for the food. Blake took another scoop of potatoes and fed him, making the boy squeal at the delicious food. Blake and Ruby laughed, it was always magical for them to share a meal as a family, it felt so natural.
Blake smiled, tears of happiness forming as she clenched her smoke bomb and pulled the pin. She was ready to end the threat to her son, to her wife, to all of Remnant here and now and through the grenade at the duo.
"Get down! Emerald yelled as she noticed the grenade, not knowing it wasn't an explosive, and jumped from her recliner towards Cinders and pushed her away as the grenade burst into a thick layer of smoke. Blake grasped Gambrol shroud as she saw the two on the ground, ready for her chance.
As the Grimm witch and Emerald steadily arose, both eyes flaring up as they powered up their semblances, they went into a coughing fit from the smoke in the room.
"Can you *cough cough* see anything Cinder!?" Emerald askedm her eyes now closed.
"Nothing… no wait *cough* I see it." Cinder said, noticing a shadow approach them quickly. She sent flames down her grimm hand, not caring it made herself easier to see, she wanted to incinerate this assailant for disrupting their fun and it would be a perfect chance to awaken Monstra. Cinder released a stream of fire that incinerated the person before them. As the body shrieked in agony and rolled around in pain, desperate to put out the fire, before becoming limp. Cinder eyed the fire wall as it became visible.
"Guess I should say "thank you" for helping us reach our goal." She said sarcastically.
To her sheer confusion, the number didn't go down to zero. It made no sense, the person before them was clearly dead.
Was what she thought before the body disintegrated into a black dust that puffed their faces, making them feel numb.
"Aaaah numb dust, don't breath!" Cinder yelled, realizing the properties. Emerald couldn't react fast enough and inhaled it, making her coughing fit worse as she kneeled on one knee, her body feeling heavy.
Suddenly, Blake bursted through the shadows and, seeing Emeralds state, swung her blade at her face.
All cinder could hear was a scream to her left and glanced over, giving a thousand yard stare as she saw Emeralds blood soaked face. Her eyes had been slice out and now there was a big line across her face. As Emerald clutched her face painfully, Blake turned her attention to Cinder, giving her a really good feeling smirk as she flung the blood on her black blade at her, getting her dress stained with Emerald's blood.
"Your Fucking DEAD!" An enraged Cinder roared as she summoned a wave of fire enhanced knifes at Blake, who only summoned a clone to use as a body shield. While the clone was continuously impaled, Cinder failed to notice in her anger Blake's partner Yang who shot off a rocket at her face. The explosion sent Cinder's upper torso flying in the air, making Yang give off a confidant cheer, assured of her victory. Cinder however, simply waved her hand that formed a portal beneath Yang's feet. To her shock, multiple Grimm arms began clutching her feet with razor sharp claws, threatening to drag her down into what could only be surmised as hell.
Yang was quickly grabbed from behind by Raven who threw her into a portal that reappeared behind Ruby outside, still waiting for the right chance to strike. Cinder had her Grimm innards reconnect her torso to her body as it twitch as she realigned with her bones like a zombie. Black ink began filling in the holes in her stomach and face as she healed.
"Fucking gross!" Blake yelled as she saw this, Cinder merely looked her way and snorted as she looked at her ears.
"What's gross are those filthy ears of yours just like his." She said coldly, confusing Blake despite feeling disgusted with her bigotry.
"Whose he?" she asked the witch who smirked in response, she then glanced at Emeralds face and gritted her teeth, really wishing she could see the cat girl's reaction.
"Your dear brother Adam, his horns made him even more filthy and disgusting. It's no wonder your Schnee friend's brother killed yours." Cinder mockingly said, making Blake's eyes widen in terror at this revelation.
"Y-You can't be serious! He…" Blake stuttered, still struggling to handle this new information and inadvertently giving her position away to Emerald, who grasped her knee and sent a punch from her robot arm into her shin. Blake screamed as she collapsed on her other leg, her aura nearly shattered from the impact, but she could still feel like it broke. Cinder felt a charge of energy feeling Blake's pain.
"Good Emerald, now finish her off!" Cinder roared before charging at Raven, the two woman clashing blades as Emerald then tackled Blake, blood from her face spilling onto Blake who vainly struggled to break loose.
"Glad you came, really, I really wanted to rip those ears off right now!" Emerald said as she tried to find Blake's head to do just that. Blake fought her pain to try and wiggle out but it was no use, she couldn't escape the powerful force this girls robot arm as putting on her shoulder, and felt one of her ears being gripped. Just before Emerald could tugged and rip the ear, she felt a sharp blade against her waist. She looked down to see Crescent Rose fixed around her stomach as she was pulled off Blake by Ruby, having saw her chance to strike.
"Leave my wife alone!" Ruby screamed as she twirled her body around and shot her scythe gun, the recoil whipping her and Emerald like a tornado that sent the blind assassin flying towards Raven and Cinder, who were still slashing each other with blades. Cinder sensed the negativity from Emerald's shock heading towards her and stole a glance towards her. Her blade was in a reverse grip for added assault capabilities, something she would soon regret as she saw it pierce Emerald as her body landed on Cinder's arms. Despite no longer possessing eyes, Emerald's expression of pure shock at the burning sensation of those blades she recognized roasting her innards was undeniable. Cinder pulled back in horror as she saw her lover's body plop to the floor. Raven, despite the enemies distraction, felt more concerned with protecting Blake and Yang, the latter running over to Ruby as she gingerly picked her wife up, getting help from Yang. She just had to cover them in the event Cinder attacked.
But Cinder couldn't even think about attacking right now, she couldn't think at all as she eyed her lovers body, slowly being turned to ash from her stomach.
"Em-Emer…I.. I-I didn't mean too… plea-" she stuttered in a tearful fit, blood and black ink emerging instead of water from her eyes as a wave of sadness she hadn't felt in years overcame her. Her lover was dying and she didn't know how to stop it, she just could barely speak to beg for her forgiveness. A soft hand soon touched her face, snapping Cinder out of her stupor.
"Its okay….I don't mind at all." Emerald weakly whispered.
"Wha-What do you mean? I just fucking killed you!" Cinder screamed, a ring of black ooze surrounding the two with tons of grim hands and claws flailing around to keep all others away. Ruby and co. simply watched in shock at this grotesque sight.
"I know, but at least…you finally got your weapon. I can be your weapon now love." Emerald weakly said, fighting with all her strength to stay awake. Cinder's eyes widen as she eyed the fire wall which was flickering between "1" and "0".
"No, no not you! I won't let you…" she yelled before her partners hand grew cold and limp. Emerald merely smiled, having no more air in her weak lungs she could expel to speak, she simply mouthed the words "please my love" making Cinder grit her teeth and scream in grief. The circle of grimm ooze surrounded Emeralds dead body and absorbed her into the ground as the firewall finally went from 1 to 0.
Doomsday
(earthbound immortal ost)
( watch?v=T0NB4-SGT8o)
The tower soon began rumbling as Cinder's screams started to resonate with the Grimm outside who began crashing wildly into the walls, shattering everything in their path, including gutting any soldiers unfortunate enough to get in their way. Raven tried to take advantage of the ordeal to advance towards Cinder, eager to slice her neck off. She soon found this to be lofty as the castle began to shake violently, making her and the others go flying towards the windows where the saw the source. A large black whale tale, glowing a dark red bloodlike line of aura around it emerge, throwing the tower off balance.
"Come on kids! Were leaving!" Raven yelled as she formed a portal and pushed everyone in.
Cinder ceased her screaming to look up and see Raven give her a smug smile, fueling her rage more before the latter left.
The loss of her prey, her lovers killers infuriated the Witch.
"THIS ISN'T OVER! I'LL HUNT YOU ALL DOWN! I'LL HAVE YOUR HIDES!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
She then reached into her pockets, holding a small cylinder and pushed a red button with a loud grunt.
SDC Science Lab
Some scientists were scrambling to put back beakers and crates of dust they were examining. They were busy trying to fix the damage to the lab Cinder's Grimm attack caused.
They were soon alerted to the sound of rapid beeping down the hall that made their skin crawl.
"Was that? No it couldn't be could it!?" one scientist asked out loud, his face pale. It made no sense, they had been told the bomb was stolen. No one had been in that room since it was taken.
They noticed the door to the bombs old room hung wide open as they slowly advanced towards it. They initially didn't see anything, before the death of Emerald undid the illusion and showcased the nuke, it's timer beeping as it was down to a mere 2 minutes, making the scientists hearts races.
"Holy shit! The bomb was here all along!?" One man said.
"Hurry! Get the bomb squad we-" a woman screamed before her mouth was covered by a black hand, its claws ripping into her cheeks as she looked horrified as she came face to face with a Beowulf.
This had been Cinder's plan, hide the bomb all along in the very spot it was thought stolen and use her lovers semblance to hide it. She also made sure to hide a couple wolfs to guard it in case emerald lost control of her semblance. The grimm were antsy with bloodlust that needed to be solved. Though they didn't have a brain to possess them, they would certainly be joyful at the thought of her death allowing them to sate their bloodlust at this moment. As the Grimm began ripping open the face of the scientists, a few more began attacking the scientists, whose screeches and blood filled the halls of the science lab as the timer on the bomb reached,
5….4…..3….2….1….0 *BEEP*
Soon a fiery explosion rocked the SDC and enveloped it in a wave of fire that began spreading throughout Atlas. Citizen's bodies caught up in the flames were disintegrated, leaving nothing but charred skeletons if their wake and shattered shards of fiery glass from buildings in the wake of the attack. One such building was the Shield Generator Base, a fortress designed to be more secure than a maximum security prison, with guards and turrets with electric fences widespread to prevent any incursion from Grimm and terrorists. It held 2 of the 3 shield generators and acted as a leeway point to Mantle which hosted the third. It's guards were made up of the best Hunstman Atlas had to offer, but all that amounted to nothing as they too were soon incinerated by the nuke before they had time to even process the moment. The base too was engulfed in fire as it imploded from within, obliterating the generators it housed. The shields of Atlas glowed from blue to bright red as they began evaporating into thin air. In the blink of an eye, and a button push from Cinder, half of Atlas was melted and up in smoke.
Raven and her team arrived outside the communications tower where Qrow and Penny were, still looking for the formers Harbringer.
"Great, you kids can help me find my sword so we can kick Ironwood in the-" before he could finish uttering that obscenity, the explosion sent shockwaves that rocked the group.
"Damnit not again! What's with all the tremors today!? Yang yelled frustrated as she struggled to stay balanced. Little did she know, her group had just lost a lot of lives today and a greater danger than an earthquake was on its way to Atlas from the Dark Continent to finish the job.
Cinder, still crying tears of ink and blood, was standing on top of the horned head of a gigantic flying whale grimm, her army of Nevermores, Manticores and Grimm Hounds following her from behind as she summoned an enormous portal.
"GO MONSTRA, MY DEAR PETS, IT'S TIME FOR DINNER!" She howled making her Grimm shake violently as they ran towards the portal, ready to begin the carnage of Atlas and Mantle.
Next time, Cinder approaches the kingdom, hellbent on revenge. With only one shield, Mantle won't hold up long and Atlas will be next. Can team RWBY find a way to stop the witch, or will this mission be their final one. Next time in ch 36: Death's Door