Chapter 13: A Knight in Shining Armor
Weiss was sitting in her office in the Schnee Dust Company's headquarters. The scene might have looked sedate and mundane to an outside observer, but at that exact moment, Weiss was the nexus for a frenzy of activity. Her fingers were hammering away on her desk's built-in console, only pausing every so often so she could check her scroll and fire off another message or two. The past few days had been some of the busiest in Weiss's entire career. She was locked in a duel with Chairman Hail, and unfortunately, at present she was losing. There was barely a person in the Company that he hadn't gotten to before her, and he clearly hadn't been afraid to use his position of power to offer both a lot of carrot and a lot of stick. But Weiss wasn't willing to concede defeat just yet. Mr. Hail would have to find a way to remove her from the Company before she'd give up, and she doubted even that would be enough to stop her.
Weiss quickly pulled up the latest reports from Creek Basin Mine. The mine was technically still understaffed, but it had already far exceeded its current ability to properly house its workers. The mine's remote location meant it wasn't practical to house workers off-site, so temporary camps had been set up just like Wolfe had said they would be. The camps were little more than canvas tents and campfires which Weiss found to be disgustingly barbaric. She wondered if the workers had been warned what kind of living conditions they'd be facing before they'd been shipped off to the mine. She very much doubted it.
A knock sounded on the office's door. Weiss already knew who was on the other side. There was only one person Rosalie would allow past her without asking Weiss first. Weiss called out, "Come in."
The door opened, and Ruby walked inside.
Weiss didn't look up from her console. She asked, "Is it time?"
"Yep," Ruby said. "Unless this is one of those meetings you're supposed to be fashionably late to."
"Definitely not," Weiss said. She finished what she was typing and then locked down her console.
It had taken several days, but Weiss had managed to schedule a face-to-face meeting with the Atlas Board of Labor. Ruby was there to escort her to that meeting. Weiss didn't expect much to come of it, at least not at first. However, she was looking forward to hearing the members of the Board try to justify why they were allowing the Schnee Dust Company to operate Creek Basin Mine with such reckless disregard for its workers' safety. She hoped to see much squirming in seats. After that the real battle would begin with Weiss and the Board exchanging bureaucratic salvos of paperwork and regulatory filings. It would be the next front in her private war with Mr. Hail.
Weiss stood and said, "Let's go, Ruby!"
"Right behind you," Ruby said.
Weiss and Ruby walked out of the office and into the reception area. Rosalie was at her desk of course, and May was sitting off to the side in what was essentially now her chair. She had become a fixture in the office for the time being, much to Weiss's chagrin. But that wasn't nearly as bad as her insisting she needed to escort Weiss home in the evenings alongside Ruby. At least she hadn't demanded to be given a guest room in Weiss's penthouse yet. Weiss and Ruby were maintaining the fiction that Ruby was living at the penthouse on a temporary basis until the danger had passed. Weiss could only hope that May hadn't started to suspect that Ruby was more than a guest.
May stood when she saw Weiss walk in. She said, "I'm ready to accompany you and Ms. Rose to your meeting, ma'am."
"Very good," Weiss said. "Meet us in the garage. I have a few quick things to discuss with Rosalie first."
"Of course ma'am," May said. She walked to the door and let herself out.
Silence followed May's departure from the office. Ruby glanced back and forth between Weiss and Rosalie, looking confused. She asked, "Weren't you two going to talk about something?"
Neither Weiss nor Rosalie answered Ruby right away. Rosalie had clearly figured out what Weiss was doing. She had pulled up the floor's security cameras on the console on her desk. She watched for just a minute longer. Then she said, "Ms. Marigold is in the elevator."
Weiss said, "Thank you, Rosalie. Come along, Ruby."
Ruby still looked confused, but she followed Weiss out into the hallway.
Weiss silently led Ruby to the elevators and pushed the call button. When the elevator doors opened, they both stepped inside. Weiss then hit the button for the ground floor, not the sublevel where the building's parking garage was.
"We aren't going to meet May in the garage?" Ruby asked. Then understanding dawned on her face. "Ooooooh."
"I know she's only doing her job," Weiss said. "But I think I've earned at least one afternoon free of that pest. My driver will be waiting for us at the front of the building."
The elevator doors opened, and Weiss led Ruby out into the building's lobby. A moment later, they were both outside.
A small limo was waiting by the curb, and Weiss's driver was standing next to it. When he saw her approach, he opened the door for her. Weiss let him help her inside. Ruby got in on her own on the other side of the car like she usually did.
The driver shut Weiss's door. Then he walked around and got into the front seat. The car started moving without any further instruction from Weiss. Her driver already knew where to go.
Weiss let out a breath as she leaned back into her seat. She felt like she'd been running a marathon, and she supposed she had. Unfortunately, it wasn't over yet, and even though she was sitting still at the moment, her mind was buzzing with everything she would need to do today, tomorrow, and beyond.
Out of the blue, Ruby said, "This is kind of nice."
Weiss's rushing thoughts suddenly paused. She glanced over in Ruby's direction and asked, "What is?"
"Just the two of us being in the car without May," Ruby said.
A tiny smile tickled Weiss's lips. Her hand reached over to her armrest, and she pressed the switch to raise the privacy screen between the back of the limo and the driver's compartment.
Once the screen had locked into place, a serious look crossed Ruby's face. She asked, "Weiss, are you alright?"
Weiss was caught off guard. She said, "Why do you ask?"
"I know your dad's trying to kill you, and your company's being evil," Ruby said. "But I think something else is bothering you too."
The image of Jaune flashed in Weiss's mind, causing her to cringe internally. It must have shown on her face too because Ruby said, "Ah ha! I knew it!"
"Ruby…" Weiss said, not sure how to proceed.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Ruby said. "I know how you are. But I'm here for you, Weiss."
Weiss's smile returned, a bit more bittersweet this time. She reached out and cupped one of Ruby's cheeks. She said, "Thank you, Ruby."
"For what?" Ruby asked.
"For…everything," Weiss said. "I've been so busy, and…. Ruby, you know how much I love you, right?"
"Weiiisss…" Ruby said. "You're going to make me cry."
"But you do know, right?" Weiss asked.
Ruby took Weiss's hand and pulled it away from her cheek. She gripped it firmly in both of her own hands. There was a twinkle in her eye as she said, "I don't know. Maybe you'd better tell me again."
Weiss was about to say something more when she was interrupted by the sound of screeching tires. A horn blared, and all of a sudden, there was a loud crunch of metal as the limo violently lurched to a halt.
Both Weiss and Ruby were thrown forward, but their seat belts held them safely in place. Rather than panic, Weiss felt herself instantly focus in on figuring out what was happening. She pulled her hand free of Ruby's and jammed her finger down on the switch to lower the privacy screen. As the screen slowly lowered, Weiss saw her driver's head buried in the limo's deflating airbags. He looked dazed but otherwise unharmed. Past the windshield, Weiss saw a second car smashed into the front of her limo. The car's reverse lights were on, suggesting that it had backed up on purpose.
If Weiss was confused about the situation, everything was made crystal clear a moment later when armed men and women started piling out of the other car. The local pedestrians must have noticed too because panicked screams started filling the air outside.
Neither Weiss nor Ruby needed to say anything to one another. They both started fumbling with their seat belts. Weiss silently cursed Father's sense of timing. Of course he'd send his goons to attack her on the one day she'd decided to ditch May. She knew she'd never hear the end of this.
The thugs had all finished leaping out of their car and were just about to charge for the limo when the street was spontaneously lit up by a series of explosions. The limo shuddered, and Ruby threw herself on top of Weiss, but the blasts hadn't seemed to be directed at them.
The thugs outside all went scrambling back to avoid being blown up. Then the sound of a joyous battle cry rose up from somewhere high above. It grew louder and louder until Nora literally fell out of the sky, wielding a giant hammer. She landed hammer-first on the assailant's car, smashing in the roof and making all the doors pop open. Then she kicked off of what was left of the vehicle and somersaulted onto the street. The sound of gunfire erupted as the thugs started shooting at Nora, but she didn't seem very concerned about it as she gleefully charged at them.
Weiss's driver started coming to his senses, and he lifted his head. Weiss shouted, "See if you can get us out of here!"
"Y-yes ma'am," the driver said. He turned the ignition, but the engine didn't sound very eager to start.
Ruby had just started extracting herself from on top of Weiss when the limo suddenly shook again. Another person crashed feet first into the limo's hood from above, and Ruby once again threw herself over Weiss to protect her. Weiss stared dumbfounded past Ruby and out the limo's windshield. She saw Jaune standing there.
Jaune was wearing his breastplate, and he raised his left arm which had a bulky bracer strapped to it. A shield unfolded from his bracer and took the shape of a buckler. He smiled and waved at Ruby and Weiss. He shouted, "Don't worry, Miss Schnee! We'll protect you!"
Jaune jumped off the limo and ran to join Nora. He left behind a huge dent in the limo's already smashed-up hood. If the engine had been working, as unlikely as that was, it was completely out of commission now.
Weiss shouted to no one in particular, "Stop! Wrecking! My! Cars!"
"Weiss! It's time for Plan B!" Ruby said. She finally got off from on top of Weiss and pulled out a red scarf that had been tucked away inside her vest.
The scarf was another new thing Weiss and Ruby had come up with in light of the threat Weiss's father posed. Weiss let Ruby tie the scarf around her neck. It shimmered with a multitude of colors from all the Dust stitched into it. It wasn't practical for Weiss to wear her combat dress all the time, and the scarf would do in a pinch.
"Let's get out there," Weiss said to Ruby. She glanced at her driver. "Keep trying the engine, just in case."
"Yes ma'am!" the driver said.
Weiss and Ruby both threw their doors open and jumped out of the limo. Without a word they both circled around to the back of the car which was on the opposite side of the battle unfolding between Nora, Jaune, and the thugs. Weiss was contemplating escaping on foot. She didn't think it would be too difficult to get away in the confusion. There was already a line of cars piled up in the street behind the limo, most of them abandoned by their drivers, and bystanders were fleeing every which way in a frantic attempt to get clear of the sudden combat zone.
"Uh-oh," Ruby said.
Weiss didn't like the sound of that, and she quickly spotted what Ruby had seen. Ahead of them, a second car was driving up the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding running over all the pedestrians who were diving out of the way. Weiss would have bet her life that there were more of Father's goons inside. Ruby must have agreed because she drew Crescent Rose from her back.
"Ruby," Weiss said. "We need to—eep!"
Weiss let out an undignified yelp as a hand landed on her shoulder. Ren was suddenly standing behind Ruby and Weiss. His hands were resting one on each of them, and he seemed to be concentrating. All the color started fading from himself, Weiss, and Ruby. Weiss was a bit alarmed at first, but she realized this must have been a side effect of Ren's semblance, whatever it happen to be.
"Don't worry," Ren said calmly. "They won't notice you if you don't do anything to draw attention to yourself."
Weiss muttered, "So that's how you keep sneaking up on us."
Just as Ren had promised, the car shot right past where he, Ruby, and Weiss were standing. It skidded sideways and screeched to a halt. Even more armed men and women jumped out.
Ruby said, "Wait. What?"
Ren asked, "What's wrong?"
"They're all…White Fang," Ruby said.
Weiss looked again. She hadn't noticed at first because only a few of the assailants had actual masks on, but most of them were wearing White Fang uniforms, even if they looked a little hodgepodge. Weiss's eyes narrowed. Surely there was no way Father would stoop to hiring the White Fang. For that matter, even if he would, how would he convince the White Fang to work for him? For the first time Weiss began to doubt whether or not her father was actually the one trying to kill her. But if not him then who? And if this really was the White Fang, that raised another troubling question.
Ruby unknowingly responded to what Weiss was thinking, saying, "Weiss, there's no way Blake has anything to do with this."
Ren innocently asked, "Who is Blake?"
Weiss glared at Ren. She said, "No one you need to worry about."
Jaune and Nora were still fighting the thugs, including their recent reinforcements. They were holding their own, but the weight of numbers was starting to turn the battle against them. Jaune shouted, "Nora! Supercharge!"
"Righty-o!" Nora said. She reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a small yellow Dust crystal. Then, without hesitating, she jammed it into a bit of exposed skin on her thigh. Electricity washed over her body. She grimaced, but then she pulled back her hammer and smashed it into the White Fang thugs, sending three of them flying at once.
Ruby asked, "Doesn't that hurt?!"
Ren said, "Nora's semblance allows her to draw strength from electricity. But yes. It does hurt."
While Nora smashed her way through her assailants like they were nothing, Jaune stuck to her back. He blocked any shots coming Nora's way with his shield. Seeing that their guns weren't having any effect, a pair of White Fang thugs drew swords from their belts and charged, but the moment they got close, Jaune gave each of them a good bashing with his shield, sending both of them sprawling to the street. However, while Jaune was preoccupied, a third White Fang thug with a sawed-off shotgun in her hand rushed in from Jaune's flank. She leveled her gun at him at practically point-blank range with him none the wiser.
Ruby shouted, "Jaune! Look out!"
It was too late. The shotgun boomed as heavy buckshot blasted into Jaune, but his aura flared blindingly bright. Jaune hardly even flinched. He turned his head toward the woman who had shot him with a frown. Then he pulled back his shield and smashed it into the dumbfounded-looking woman's face. She was immediately knocked to the ground, and her shotgun went flying out of her hand.
"Whoa," Ruby said.
Weiss had to concur. She knew some people, like Ruby, had particularly strong auras, but Jaune's just seemed ridiculous.
While the thug with the shotgun hadn't succeeded in doing any real damage to Jaune, she had managed to make Ruby call attention to herself. Several of her compatriots were looking Ruby's way now, and one of them shouted, "There she is!"
A group of thugs started running in Ruby's direction.
"No, no, no!" Jaune said, sounding more exasperated than worried. He also took off sprinting in Ruby's direction. He managed to get ahead of the White Fang thugs, and as he did, his shield unfurled further from his bracer, transforming from a buckler into a heater shield.
The White Fang thugs opened fire on Ruby and consequently on Weiss and Ren. Ruby raised Crescent Rose, ready to defend everyone, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Jaune skidded in front of them just in time. His shield unfolded again into a huge tower shield, and the incoming hail of bullets ricocheted harmlessly off of it.
Jaune shouted, "Ren! Go help Nora!"
"Right away," Ren said. He let go of Ruby and Weiss and their color returned. Then he sprinted away, leaving Ruby and Weiss alone with Jaune.
"Wow!" Ruby said, practically swooning. "You're shield is so cool!"
"Uh…thanks," Jaune said. "It's called Nova Mors. Ren tried to convince me it was silly to give it a name, but…."
"But he's wrong!" Ruby said.
Weiss said, "Ruby! This isn't the time!"
Ruby said, "Sorry, Weiss. You're right."
The sound of bullets bouncing off of Jaune's shield suddenly died down. Jaune risked peeking his head out. He was apparently satisfied the coast was clear because his shield folded back up into a heater shape.
Weiss could see Ren fighting alongside Nora now, and they were moving almost like partners in a dance. Each was complementing the other seemingly without effort. While Nora gleefully swung her giant hammer, Ren was attacking with nothing more than his fists and palms, but his strikes were accented by flashes of pink. He was clearly using his aura to enhance his blows.
Jaune started to say, "Ruby, do you—?"
Jaune was interrupted by the whine of jet engines overhead. Everyone looked up in time to see a bullhead fly onto the scene. The airship's engines tilted up as it went into a hover, and a door opened on its side. More White Fang thugs started jumping out of it.
"Oh boy," Jaune said. "He kind of overdid it."
"My father isn't one for half measures," Weiss said, still working under the assumption that her father was in fact the one behind this.
"I guess not," Jaune said. "Ruby, I bet we can take them together."
"But…I've got to protect Weiss!" Ruby said.
Weiss wanted to smile smugly at Jaune, but she resisted the urge. As she'd said a moment ago, this wasn't the time.
"This is protecting Weiss!" Jaune said. However, a second bullhead screamed in from above. Its doors opened too, and a second group of airborne White Fang thugs started jumping off of it on the opposite side of the street from the first.
Jaune looked frustrated. He said, "Okay. I'll take one group, Ruby. You take the other."
Ruby glanced at Weiss for approval. Weiss nodded yes.
"Right! Let's go!" Ruby said.
Ruby hefted up her scythe and sped off toward one gaggle of thugs, and Jaune sprinted toward the other.
Weiss reached into her business jacket and pulled out her dagger from where it was discreetly tucked into her waistband. All of the White Fang miscreants might have been preoccupied fighting the cadre of huntsmen and huntresses that Weiss had unintentionally collected, but she hadn't forgotten that she was the primary target. And Jaune was right about one thing. Father, or whoever was responsible for this, had really gone all out this time.
Suddenly, a shot rang out, and Weiss staggered forward as a bullet grazed off her aura from behind. She spun around and held out her dagger. A faunus woman with long black hair and a mask was standing half a dozen meters away from Weiss with a handgun leveled at her.
"Blake!?" Weiss exclaimed. But she quickly realized she was mistaken. The woman who had shot her did bear a striking resemblance to Blake, especially given she had a full-face mask on. However, the animalistic ears on top of her head were gray and wolf-like rather than cat-like. Plus neither one of them was missing its tip.
The woman lowered her gun, but a curved blade unfolded from it, transforming it into a sickle. A chain with a weight on its end also unspooled from the pistol's grip. The woman hefted the weight in her free hand and stared Weiss down, her mask notwithstanding.
Weiss tightened her grip on Eiszapfen. She knew Ruby was nearby, and if she called for help Ruby would be there in seconds. But Weiss was determined not to be reduced to some damsel in distress. She could take care of herself, and she intended to prove it.
The woman suddenly charged for Weiss with her sickle at the ready. However, Weiss's dagger glowed purple, and with a flick of her wrist, the woman was lifted off her feet and tossed high into the air by the power of Eiszapfen's gravity Dust.
The woman's impromptu flight peaked about three stories up, and she went plummeting back down toward the hard concrete below. However, just before she hit the ground, her body ever so briefly turned into a cloud of thick, black smoke. Then she reformed and landed on her feet as light as a feather.
The woman charged at Weiss again. Weiss realized the semblance the woman had just demonstrated was going to make it difficult to use gravity Dust effectively against her. Fortunately, she had other options. Weiss's scarf lit up with a cyan glow, and icicles spontaneously appeared in the air in front of her. The jagged shards of ice suddenly flew toward the faunus woman, but just as they reached her, she once again turned into smoke for an instant. The icicles shot harmlessly through her without even slowing her down.
Now alarmed, Weiss raised her dagger to defend herself. But that was when the woman threw the weight chained to her sickle at Weiss. Tethered by the weight, the chain snaked around Weiss's dagger and left arm. Then the woman yanked hard on it.
Weiss yelped as she was pulled forward. The woman smashed her elbow into the side of Weiss's head as she kept Weiss's weapon and arm helplessly trapped in her chain. Weiss flinched, but her aura held. However, the woman wasn't done. She pulled back her elbow to strike Weiss again.
Fighting off panic, Weiss conjured up a red glyph that appeared in the air just behind the woman's head. A moment later, the glyph exploded in a fury of sound and energy. The woman's body was blown forward into Weiss's, and the two of them staggered about this way and that as they both tried to stay on their feet. Weiss grabbed the woman's shoulder with her right hand, and her scarf lit up with a red glow.
An inferno erupted from Weiss's hand, but as she'd hoped, the woman activated her semblance again. Weiss was suddenly freed as the chain holding her arm captive dissolved into smoke for just long enough for her to pull away. She scrambled backward, trying to put some distance between herself and her assailant.
Once the fire had died down, Weiss found herself staring the woman down as they faced off against each other. Weiss realized this would be an opportune time to call Ruby for help, but she didn't. She was actually offended that this faunus woman, this terrorist, had been audacious enough to attack her. She might not have been a huntress, but she'd been practicing with Dust since she'd been six years old. She regularly trained with Ruby now. And she'd finally begun to unlock the true potential of her family's powerful semblance. But more to the point, she was Weiss Schnee, and she would not tolerate such flagrant disrespect.
An exceedingly intricate glyph appeared on the ground next to Weiss, and it began to rapidly spin. The woman must have realized she needed to stop what was happening because she suddenly sprinted toward Weiss. Weiss was ready for her. Her scarf glowed a pale green, and a hurricane-force wind gusted out, pushing the woman back. The woman dug her feet in. Then she started inching her way closer to Weiss again, one tiny step at a time. Her semblance was finally of no help to her. Smoke wouldn't fare well in a windstorm after all.
Just as the woman got close to Weiss, the wind suddenly died. The woman leaped forward. But as she did, a shimmering replica of Ruby burst up from Weiss's summoning glyph. The summon rushed to interpose itself in between Weiss and the woman, and its scythe clashed against the woman's sickle.
Weiss hastily stepped back as her summon and the woman descended into an all-out brawl. The summon was able to hold the woman back, but it didn't seem to be able to land any actual hits on her. Every time it struck, the woman activated her semblance. She only appeared to be able to turn into smoke for a second at most, but it was enough time to ensure the summon's scythe passed through her like she wasn't even there. It was a stalemate, but Weiss wasn't worried about that. She had another trick up her sleeve.
A golden glyph that resembled a clock appeared under Weiss's feet. The moment it did, Weiss really felt the strain she was putting on herself. Maintaining a summon was hard enough without conjuring a second energy-hungry glyph into existence, but Weiss willed herself to endure. The glyph at her feet began to shine brighter, and the entire world suddenly slowed to a crawl around her.
Weiss took off running toward the woman as fast as she could manage. Ironically, she didn't have much time. From her perspective it looked like she was moving at a jogging pace. But thanks to her time dilation glyph, from the world's perspective she was moving nearly as fast as Ruby could.
Weiss's scarf glowed yellow as she ran, and electricity began accumulating on Eiszapfen's blade. Weiss was rapidly reaching her limit, but she was finally within striking distance. Her dagger was glowing like a thunderbolt now, and she slashed at the woman for all she was worth.
Suddenly, everything happened all at once. The effect of Weiss's time dilation glyph wore off, and her summon vanished in a flash of light. There was a deafening boom as the electrical energy on Weiss's dagger was unleashed. The woman was literally blown off her feet. She briefly turned into smoke, probably reflexively, but the electricity continued to crackle over her, making her look like an angry storm cloud. Her body reformed, and she hit the ground with a thud. The momentum from Weiss's Dust- and semblance-enhanced blow caused her to skid across the street until she lurched to a halt and her aura collapsed.
Weiss was breathing heavily, and sweat was beading on her brow. But then Ruby's voice came from behind, "Wow! You're getting really good at this, Weiss!"
Weiss spun around. She saw Ruby standing there, beaming proudly at her. Jaune was there too, as well as Nora and Ren who were hanging back not far behind. They had all apparently finished off the last of the White Fang thugs. Weiss saw at least one bullhead retreating into the distance, but unlike the last attack, this time there were a number of White Fang members lying on the street either unconscious or groaning in pain.
"You were just watching me?!" Weiss asked, annoyed.
Ruby said, "I was running over here to help you. But, well…. You didn't need it."
Weiss supposed she should feel pleased with herself, but she had other things to worry about at the moment. She marched over to the woman she'd defeated who was sprawled out on the ground. She ripped the woman's mask off and tossed it aside. The woman seemed to jolt back to a state of consciousness. She looked around confused at first, but then she focused her angry green eyes on Weiss.
Jaune walked up beside Weiss. He said to the woman, "Don't you have something to say for yourself?"
The woman sneered, but then a wicked smile crossed her face. She said, "Weiss Schnee. Your father sends his regards."
Author's Note: I've given Ren's semblance a bit of an upgrade for this story, but I think it's a logical development. I've also had him mostly ditch his weapons. In my opinion, Ren's most impressive combat feat was that one time way back in Volume 1 when he fought a king taijitu barehanded. I decided I wanted to expand on that.
Speaking of semblances, it was fun coming up with a new one for the woman who fought Weiss. (I privately referred to her as Anti-Blake. Not to be confused with Nega-Blake if you've seen Ice Queendom.) I had a very simple rule. If her semblance would have been in line with something introduced in Volumes 7 or 8 then it was too powerful. Looking at you Marrow and Fiona!
By the way, Anti-Blake's weapon is actually a kusarigama, but I decided not to call it that because I didn't know if that was too obscure or not. Apologies if I've underestimated you, dear readers!
As always, I welcome constructive criticism. Please feel free to leave a review. And if you like what you've read, taking the time to favorite and/or follow really helps me out. You can also find me on tumblr (electronicyarn) if you want to send me a message or be notified of updates.
