Chapter 20 – Fugitives
Jaune
Thankfully, the food that Dutch had left here for them wasn't expired, but that hardly meant it was the tastiest food in the world. Lots and lots of canned goods, heated in a microwave. Oriana was staring at what could only be described as a paste on her plate, like someone had been sick on the dish. "Y'know, I'm definitely gonna have a word with Dutch and how to stock a kitchen with something more edible than this." Yang commented, staring at the plate.
"Tell me about it." Nora groaned.
"Canned goods last longer, and besides, they'll give us the energy we need. But yes, it's hardly the most appetising food in the world." Ren said.
"This is classed as food?" Oriana asked, making everyone chuckle. Ruby smirked, glancing over at Ruby, then she slouched across the chair like an old lady.
"Well, back in my day, young'n, we had to hunt our food and cook it with friction rubbed logs!" Ruby teased, speaking in an over the top old lady voice, making Oriana and Misty giggle.
"Oh, here we go, old lady Ruby's here." Oriana sighed between giggles.
Ruby gasped. "I'll have you know. I'm in my prime, darling." She replied, winking at Ori, making her niece smile. Pyrrha rolled her eyes, tucking away at the can she was finishing off.
"This is reminding me of old times." Pyrrha sighed, looking at Ruby.
"Oh, you mean stealing apples with Penny and making Cinder die inside?" Ruby asked her, and Pyrrha started laughed.
"If you told me that the woman who nearly killed me would be that embarrassed by me being unable to steal an apple from someone, I never would've believed you." Pyrrha chuckled, shaking her head.
"Wait, you stole an apple?" Oriana asked in disbelief.
"Well, I tried until Penny found an apple tree instead." Pyrrha confessed. "I still feel bad for even trying."
"Gotta remember kiddo, back in those days we were considered fugitives for simply being Huntresses. And when your mother is who she is, y'know a celebrity? That made her very easy to spot, and few people were brave enough to protect us from Salem, and others would have turned us in because they wanted to support the Dark Queen. We had to do things we didn't want to do." Ruby explained, resting Crescent Rose on her lap as she spoke.
"I still find it hard to imagine what it was like… having those monsters everywhere like that. Walking in the streets." Oriana said.
"That was only after the Inhumane Necessity. Salem was using the Grimm to police everything. All those crystallised pits were open once, and Grimm were always being birthed from them… thankfully no longer." Blake reminded.
"Believe me, Ori… we all find it hard to believe that those days actually happened. It all seems like a nightmare some days." Nora admitted, tweaking Stormur Skeggox with her tools.
"What was the coolest thing you ever killed? Y'know, apart from Salem?" Misty inquired curiously, but Ruby paused and looked at her.
"I didn't kill her. That was Salem. And besides… we took no pride in killing her… when she died, I actually felt sad about it." Ruby confessed.
"Y-You did? But she was evil?" Misty assumed.
"She was our enemy. She did terrible things and wanted to destroy the world. But all Salem wanted was to die. She had lost more than any of us combined and just wanted the pain to end. She was a product of mistakes, and the foolishness of two gods. I sometimes wished there was another way, a better way. But…" Ruby sighed, closing her eyes, remembering those emotions that flooded her heart when she was crouched down beside Salem when she died. "… nothing is ever so simple."
"It's true. When I killed Hazel, it haunted me for a long time." Nora admitted, staring at the blade of Stormur Skeggox, which she used to cleave his head from his shoulders.
"I think the only one of us who never had any regrets… would be us." Weiss said, looking at Blake and Yang.
"Who did you kill?" Oriana asked.
"Tyrian Callows. After what he did to us… and what we now know… did to the Deacon? He deserved everything he got, because unlike the others, everything he did was out of enjoyment. He relished in hurting people, killing… he was nothing more than a serial killer." Blake answered, her hand slowly clenching into a fist. "But it didn't change anything."
Jaune looked over at them all as they spoke, sitting upright and rolling his now healed shoulder and side.
"I know the stories make it sound black and white most of the time, heroes vs. villains. But it was never that simple. Killian was a man who was pushed to the edge and lost his mind. Watts was a vengeful and prideful man who wanted knowledge at any cost. Revenge blinded Hazel. Icarus lost his mind through his pursuit of revenge. And Salem was in love, lost the one she loved, and couldn't let go. Wound up cursed, and it transformed her into a monster." Ruby explained, looking at the blade of Crescent Rose.
She wanted to mention the Branwens and what happened, but despite moving on from all that… that was too dark a story to tell someone so young. At least with Salem, that was all documented history.
"I'm sorry for asking." Misty apologised.
"Hey it's okay, honey. It's just sometimes that's a hard question to answer. But the coolest Grimm I ever killed? Easily the Leviathan." Ruby shrugged with a smirk.
"Oh, here we go." Yang groaned, rolling her lilac eyes.
"Wait huh?" Misty asked.
"Well… I was a bit of a badass back in my day, y'know? So to buy everyone time, and really annoy Salem, I attacked a Leviathan on my own in the Argus Harbour. Took out the eyes, then its heels, then slashed its neck to pieces. Was so cool." Ruby recounted, resting her head on top of her precious Crescent Rose.
"Totally not flexing, are you, sis?" Yang sarcastically asked.
"I would never!" Ruby sarcastically replied.
Ori and Misty giggled. "Pfft, please. Nowhere near as awesome as this guy killing the Nuckelavee in the Summit's Claim." Nora recounted, but Ren just shook his head.
"Team effort." He reminded, since it was he, Nora and Li who took the beast down.
"Okay, what about creepiest Grimm?" Oriana asked.
"Apathy. Easily. Still get shivers whenever I think of those freaky things." Pyrrha answered swiftly.
"Oh, gods, I forgot about them." Jaune groaned.
"Widow's Tear was a weird one, little spider spinning webs that spread hallucinations." Ruby remembered, making Nora, Ren, and Yang shudder.
"Oh, and who can forget the Abductors? Gods… those things " Ruby groaned, making them all groan.
"I've read about them. They could wipe your memory, right?" Ori inquired.
"As soon as you looked away, so you had to make sure you could see them at all times. They were the ones responsible for making the Hounds, like the one that you've met. No doubt its host was a victim of an Abductor years ago." Ruby explained, making Oriana shudder.
"There were so many spooky things out there, I mean, how about the–"
Before Yang could finish, they all heard Dutch's terminal start blaring an alarm, getting all of their attention. The carefree tone of the room instantly shifted to a serious concern, and Ruby dashed across the room, leaving a trail of red petals behind her, and she opened the holographic screen. "Uh oh… that's not good…" Ruby said with wide silver eyes, seeing live footage of Legion Forces driving across the road towards their location, setting off the motion sensors.
"What is it?" Blake asked, standing up.
"Legion Forces, a lot of them. Looks like Amara's figured out where we are." Ruby said, walking back to Crescent Rose. "Kids, get your things, and be ready to run."
"Oh, gods." Misty stammered, rushing to their backpacks with Oriana.
"That's a lot of Legion Knights." Ren said as he watched the feed, seeing a small army of Legion Knights, newer updated models of the Atlesian Knights, now jet black with gold accents on them, and they were far more agile and dangerous than the old Knights. In fact, it looked like there were more machines than there were people, which at least meant they wouldn't have to hurt any of the actual soldiers.
Suddenly the room began rumbling, and they heard the heavy roar of a massive airship soaring overhead, and there was an explosion at the front door, blowing the entire front wall apart, making it collapse. They all stared at the dust, seeing a modified Legion Knight walking inside. It was not armed but had a holographic projector for a face, showing Amara before them.
"Ruby Rose, I should've expected you to be involved with this." Amara sighed.
"And I always knew you were rotten, Zure." Ruby replied.
"How touching." Amara responded. "I'm afraid this little game of cat and mouse you've been playing ends here. You will turn Jaune Arc over to me. We have the entire area surrounded, you have nowhere to go." Amara stated.
"We know you were the one to manipulate the Deacon to come after us, but why don't you use these forces to find that damn Hound, huh? That's far more important than just us." Pyrrha questioned.
"She has no idea how serious the Hound is."
"Oh but I do, and I know this beast came after Mr Arc because of his history, and thus we cannot let the Hound get what it wants." Amara explained, Jaune got up and picked up Ira Red, after putting his shirt on. "Speak of the Knight and he appears." She chuckled.
"And where is your proof to back up this clean, Prez?" Nora asked, standing between the Presidential Drone and Jaune, crossing her arms.
"No offence, Nora. But that's classified." Amara replied.
"Classified. We know things that would shock most of your classified information." She stated, smirking at her. "So, how about this? Take your bots and leave. I'm sure you'd hate to foot an enormous bill for how many of those fancy soldiers are gonna get destroyed and replaced."
"This. Is a matter of national security. You cannot stop me." Amara stated, Nora smiled.
"Salem said something similar, y'know." Nora replied, activating her gauntlet and pulling Stormur Skeggox into her hand, and cleaving it straight through the drone, destroying it instantly. Nora stood over it, staring down at the flickering projector. "And look how it ended for her."
"Damn it, all units fire at will!" Amara's voice yelled from a loudspeaker in the hovering automated gunship above. Bullets rained upon the Safehouse, shattering the windows and tearing through the bricks.
"Everyone this way!" Weiss called, kicking the side door open, then forming multiple shield glyphs around the front of the house to block the incoming bullets from the Legion Knights out front. Oriana and Misty stuck close to Jaune and Pyrrha as they rushed outside, then Ruby deflected an incoming bullet from a Marksman Drone up in one of the trees, swiftly transforming her scythe into sniper rifle form, firing a bullet through its mechanical head, bursting sparks and chunks of metal everywhere, its heavy body crashing to the floor beside the tree.
"Into the woods! Go!" Ruby yelled over the gunfire.
Yang blasted across the field, firing multiple missiles towards the droids, destroying a few of them. That was when she stared ahead and her eyes widened to see Elm and Harriet standing nearby. "Shit… it's Elm and Harriet. They're leading them. No doubt looking for some payback." Yang stated.
"We can lose them in the forest! We'll have to find a way to lose these guys." Ren said, firing Stormflower back at the droids.
They all rushed into the woods, being pursued by more and more of these machines. Suddenly a deafening horn roared through the woods, and they saw hovering drones descending through the canopy, sending pieces of wood and shredded leaves down towards them. "Archangels! Keep moving!" Ruby called out.
Oriana looked back and gasped, seeing the Gunship firing multiple missiles into the Safehouse, blowing it to smithereens, and the explosion made her ears ring all the way over here. The bullets continued to tear through the trees, throwing splintered wood everywhere as they ran.
"Where do you think you can go? We are everywhere!" Amara yelled through the Gunship's loudspeaker.
The roar of that massive airship returned, and its shadow was cast upon the woods, making the land shake, and suddenly more drones dropped down from it, one drone splitting an entire tree in half. It walked out and aimed its rifle at the fugitives. "Contacts." The mechanical being snarled, walking with slow and unnerving movements. Nora jumped and launched Magni towards its head, crushing the machine's skull against the split tree. More of them were emerging from the woods, but Pyrrha rushed forward, raising three of the robots into the air with her polarity, crushing them into balls and tossing them aside, holding Oriana's hand, who was holding onto Misty as they fled.
Jaune kept close, raising his sword to block the incoming bullets, deflecting them as they approached. That was when Ren sprinted past him and fired his grappling hooks into the shoulders of the robot. Suddenly he launched himself towards the knight, kicking it to the floor, and allowing Jaune to drive Ira Red through the droid's chest. He tore the blade free, and they all kept moving forward.
Weiss darted from side to side, slashing through robot after robot, leaving smashed remains in her wake, then forming a flaming glyph above her, which shot multiple projectiles behind them, shattering the droids which were marching after them. Weiss gasped and ducked as an Archangel stated, firing at her, using thrusters powered by gravity dust to keep it afloat, armed with a heavy machine gun and missiles. The rockets were fired at her, but she summoned the blade of the Arma Gigas, cutting the missiles down, then leaping towards the hovering drone, skewering it through the middle with Myrtenaster, pinning it to the floor.
More Archangels were pursuing them, firing bullets behind them, only for Blake to rappel around the tree and kick one in the side, causing it to spin out of control and crash into the other in a fiery explosion. She landed and caught up to Yang, who relentlessly punched a knight in the chest and face, denting the body, before grabbing onto its arm and tearing it off with her cybernetic arm, smashing its head apart with it.
"Come on!" Ruby called out. "There's a crashed Black Gallows Dreadnaught ahead of us. We can use that as cover!"
The woods cleared out where the old Black Gallows Dreadnaught came plummeting to the ground after the Black Queen Virus destroyed their entire network, bringing the entire fleet falling from the sky. Nature had claimed the ground, tall grass and moss smothering the rusted ship, picked apart over the years and sold to the highest bidder, now a barren skeleton of what it once was, abandoned and forgotten.
They all rushed to the corpse of steel, and Pyrrha got Oriana and Misty tucked away inside of it. "Stay here and keep your heads down." Pyrrha told them, pulling Milo and Akoúo back into her hands. "Leave these metal men to us."
The girls were terrified and excited at the same time.
"They don't stand a chance." Oriana said with a smirk.
"Huh?" Misty gasped, not realising that Oriana wasn't talking about her family. It was the Legion who had no idea who they were screwing with.
Jaune crouched and picked up a chunk of old rusted metal, which Pyrrha slapped a chunk of metal onto it with her polarity, fusing it together, forming a temporary shield for him. Now they all waited, hearing the rhythmic marching of the automatons approaching. Jaune held his wife's hand, and activated his semblance, making her red aura glow brighter. Then they emerged, piercing red optics staring at them as they emerged from the woods, and they opened fire on them. But Pyrrha raised her hand, and the metal all around the crash site ascended into the air, and then she launched it towards the army of steel.
The huge chunks of rusted metal shattered their bodies, tearing the ground apart and bringing trees crashing to the ground as well. After she was done, she dropped to one knee, but Jaune kept holding onto her, boosting her aura with his semblance. But more of the droids were emerging, and then the enormous airship soared over once more, only this time they saw what it was.
"Man Amara really is pulling no punches, she's sending an Osprey after us." Weiss said with a scoff, rolling her eyes. The enormous ship had wide wings, fuelled by fire dust, blocking out the sun as it dropped more droids from its storage bay, but it dropped something else. It crashed down into the field before them, four enormous mechanical legs rising from the crater, digging into the ground, forcing its heavy body upwards. It was covered in heavy armour and loaded with a massive amount of weapons.
"… what purpose could such a weapon have in a world without Grimm?" Ruby questioned as she scowled at the War Machine.
The Gunship hovered above the trees, guns aimed at the Huntsmen and Huntresses.
"This is your last warning. I have you surrounded, and I am showing you how serious I am about this. Jaune Arc, give yourself up, and this can end here." Amara warned, watching from the safety of her office. Elm and Harriet walked onto the nearby ridge, waiting to see what they all do. "The Drake will not hesitate to destroy you all. I don't want to see that happen to such heroes."
"I can't wait to see how bad the expenses of this choice of yours are gonna be." Weiss said with a smirk.
"As you wish, eliminate them all." Amara commanded.
The Drake turned its main cannon and aimed directly at Jaune, only for Yang to suddenly blast towards the turret and punch it with both fists, forcing the cannon to spin around, firing at a squad of machines behind it, destroying them all. She kicked off it and fired at it with Ember Celica.
Ruby dashed ahead, and she slashed her scythe across the massive machine's body, but the blade could not damage it. "Damn it, we gotta take out the legs, find a chink in its armour!" Ruby called out, bolting aside as turrets folded out from the armour plating, firing at her. She reappeared, firing more bullets at the guns, damaging them and allowing Yang to tear one of them off. She spun around and held the machine gun with both hands, spraying bullets at the droids, smashing them apart one by one.
Nora, on the other hand, jumped into the air and slammed Stormur Skeggox between the plates and into the joint of the robotic tank's leg. Sparks flew out as the servos ground against the blade of her axe. Then she kicked away, transforming the axe into its grenade launcher form. "We'll focus on the Drake! You guys focus on the bots!" Ruby called out, and Pyrrha nodded. She, Weiss, Jaune and Ren charged towards the army of machines.
They all opened fire on them, but Jaune slid across the floor, using the makeshift shield to block the incoming bullets, ramming Ira Red through the neck of one, using it as a meat shield to block incoming gunfire from others. He grabbed ahold of its rifle and started shooting at the machines, precisely landing bullet after bullet at the robots, headshot after headshot.
Pyrrha rushed past, throwing Akoúo forward, bouncing it between six knights, shattering their heads. Then she called it back, raising her shield as she rushed towards the gunfire. She leapt above and launched Milo in its spear form through the chest of a knight, impaling it on the floor. Then tearing it free, blocking the incoming blade from a knight. It ground the super-heated blade against her steel, only for Pyrrha to roll backwards, crushing the head of that drone with her polarity, then spinning around, rotating her spear around her to slash through all the robots surrounding her. Her polarity made the weapon orbit around like a razor sharp moon, then she yanked the blade back into her hand.
Ren sprinted ahead, jumping off the shoulders of a Legion Knight, firing Stormflower at its head, dispatching it instantly, then Weiss formed a glyph for him to land on, allowing him to grapple onto the Gunship, which was still firing down on them. The bullets tore across the landscape, then it fired missiles. But as Ren collided against its side, it shifted away, spraying bullets across the forest.
"Damn it!" Amara yelled in anger.
Ren drove Stormflower into the hull, then tore them free, firing bullets into one of its thrusters, causing it to explode, and then threw himself over it, slashing through the other. It spun out of control and crashed into the ground, exploding and destroying more machines.
Weiss raised Myrtenaster, sliding her slender fingers across the pointed blade of her sword, then her glyphs formed, allowing her to dart between numerous machines, destroying them in a second, and as she slid across the floor, she drove Myrtenaster into the ground, summoning the Arma Gigas.
The huge glowing white knight climbed from the glyph, and slashed the enormous sword through the droids, destroying ten at a time with every move of the sword. She had grown so strong with her semblance now that she no longer had to remain stationary while summoning, and she ducked to avoid the blade of the droid. Then she stabbed it through the chest, and slid backwards, deflecting incoming bullets, and fired multiple large fireballs from glyphs above her head, destroying three squads of droids.
She then walked towards the last three in front of her, stepping aside to avoid the shotgun blade, then sliced the barrel off, kicking it in the face and stabbing it in the chest. The last two approached, then she snapped her fingers with a smile, freezing them in place, and she effortlessly pulled her sword from the destroyed knight, and beheaded them both. "So easy." She scoffed, flicking her hair.
Suddenly a tank shell tore straight through the Arma Gigas, destroying it and leaving it as glowing white embers.
Whilst everyone fought, the others continued to fight the Drake. Ruby drove Crescent Rose into one of its legs, firing and severing the hinge, causing it to drop onto the stump with a heavy bang. The turret aimed at the heroic huntress. Yang blasted forward and kicked the cannon around, and Nora cleaved through it with ease, sending the cannon falling to the floor with a heavy thud. Blake cast an explosive shadow behind another leg, shattering it and sending it crashing to the floor, then Nora crushed a lightning dust crystal in her hand.
Her eyes glowed bright pink, as did the old scars across her body, then Ruby launched her into the air with Crescent Rose. Nora yelled with joy and slammed Stormur Skeggox through the roof of the massive war machine, causing it to explode from the might of the goddess. The shockwave almost knocked Oriana and Misty over. They stared in awe as Nora stood tall, pink lightning coursing across her shoulder.
"Your family's so cool." Misty said, and Oriana just chuckled.
"Yeah… despite the life-threatening situation, this is the coolest thing ever." Oriana agreed.
Everyone came back together, seeing the droids continuing to approach, but they paused, hearing clapping from nearby. They all turned and saw Harriet and Elm were approaching. "Truly impressive. Seems you all still got it." Harriet said, grinning at them.
"Get out of here, you two. Jaune is innocent." Ruby commanded.
"You don't give us orders anymore, Rose." Elm hissed. They all knew that these two never let go of their hatred.
"Still hating us for destroying the Black Gallows? The people who tortured you? Turned you into blind loyalists?" Yang questioned, fists raised.
"Clover's dead, Marrow turned on us, Vine died for your cause." Harriet stated.
"Clover was insane, Vine died on his own terms, and Marrow chose to fight for the good of all." Blake reminded.
"After everything you two helped cause? You're lucky that the Legion ever hired you and gave you a second chance. Really wanna waste that now?" Nora warned, tightening her grip.
"We have orders, and we will see it through. And we'll be taking that one with us as well. Alongside the wife as well. The rest of you? Well… it'd be real good to see you in the ground after all these years." Harriet hissed.
"Just try to take her." Pyrrha growled.
Oriana narrowed her eyes in anger.
"Sounds like they're not taking the warning." Weiss sighed.
"Of course not." Ren agreed, spinning Stormflower through his fingers.
The battle raged on, more machines dropping down and firing on them, forcing the team to split up. Jaune, Pyrrha, Yang and Ruby were up against the Ex-Ace Ops. Harriet suddenly launched forward and punched Ruby in the face. The sudden explosive impact sent Ruby tumbling backwards with golden electricity coursing across her body. Yang fired herself forward, swinging at Harriet repeatedly, but the swift Huntress dodged her incoming swings over and over, darting from side to side to avoid them all. "Really? That's all you have for me? I could yawn!" Harriet scoffed, darting forward and smashing her shoulder against her chest, knocking her backwards.
Yang rolled back, then fired a missile towards Harriet, which she dodged, and suddenly blasted a beam of electricity at the golden-haired Huntress, burning against her aura. Yang gritted her teeth in anger as she felt the energy burn her, all the while Oriana watched with growing concern.
Beside them, Jaune and Pyrrha had Elm to contend with. The much heavier Huntress charged towards Jaune, jumping high in the air and shooting a missile down towards her. The rocket detonated upon impact, fragmenting the ground and throwing Jaune through the air. Only for her to come crashing down with her hammer held above her head, slamming it against Jaune's chest with immense force, winding Jaune and creating a powerful shockwave. She spun her hammer through her fingers around, turning at the last second to hit Pyrrha in the chest suddenly.
Pyrrha was tossed backwards, bouncing off the ground, but instantly reacted by throwing Akoúo at Elm, bouncing it off her face to stun her. She rushed towards Elm and jumped, flipping backwards to kick her in the face with both feet, and as Elm stumbled backwards, Jaune jumped and grabbed her by her short ponytail and threw her against the floor. Jaune punched at her head, but she rolled aside just in time. Elm dug her feet into the ground with her semblance, locking herself into place, and blasted rocket thrusters out the back of her hammer, and smashed Jaune so hard with it he was thrown high in the air, crashing against the old rusted wing of the crashed dreadnaught.
He plummeted back to the ground, hitting his head against a piece of metal, and for a moment, he saw the dark purple glow around his eyes. He stared at his reflection in a puddle. Seeing the embers trailing from the scars around his eyes, fear flooded his heart. "No… not again…" Jaune panted, shaking it off, and getting back up, grabbing onto Ira Red. He charged forward and held his makeshift shield up and blocked the incoming hammer from Elm. The impact was so powerful that the shield broke apart, and she punched him in the side of the head, forcing him down to one knee.
"You're holding back? Good!" Elm yelled, bringing the hammer down towards his skull, but Pyrrha launched a huge chunk of metal from the hull of the dreadnaught at Elm, sending her bouncing away from Jaune. She rushed to his side and helped him up, seeing the purple glow forming in his blue eyes.
"Hey… stay with me. You're my husband, and the father of our daughter. You're not that monster, remember?" Pyrrha said, holding his face with a gentle smile.
He winced, holding it back as long as he could, and then the pain of that rage subsided. She was always enough to pull him back to the light. Elm shoved the chunks of heavy metal off her body, dragging the hammer across the soil as she approached.
In the background, everyone else continued to fend off the machines together, Weiss darting off her glyphs to effortlessly hack them to pieces, and Blake cutting them apart with her dual blades, spinning through the air as she did it. And every now and then there would be a pink flash from Stormur Skeggox's grenade launcher, blowing more of more robots to smithereens.
While they fought, Ruby and Yang continued to fight Harriet, who they still hadn't managed to land a hit on yet. She just kept darting away before they could even get close, and in truth, it was pissing Yang off. She swung once again, only for Harriet to jump behind her and kick against her back multiple times. She smiled, crossing one leg over the other. "How did you, so-called heroes, manage to beat us?" Harriet chuckled.
"Like this!" Oriana yelled from behind, suddenly punching as hard as she could at Harriet's back, but nothing happened. Her eyes widened, not seeing her semblance activate like it did last time. Harriet laughed as she stared at the little girl behind her.
"Oh, so heroic." Harriet scoffed, grabbing Oriana and throwing her across the mud, and as she tumbled, Harriet suddenly grabbed onto her and slammed her against the floor. "Just as reckless and stupid as your father."
"GET OFF MY NIECE!" Ruby roared, suddenly hooking Crescent Rose under Harriet's chin and swinging the Ace Op over her shoulder, and slamming her against the floor with significant force. As Harriet bounced off the floor, Yang launched herself forward and stamped on the side of her head, dragging Harriet across the ground, proceeding to punch her again and again in the face. Harriet gritted her teeth and caught Yang's fist before it met her face. Then her Exo-Suit glowed bright yellow as the energy levels increased more and more, culminating in a powerful pulse, blowing Yang off her. Ruby slid back, dragging Crescent Rose across the ground, then turning to Oriana. "Ori! What did we say? Stay back!"
"I can help too!" She argued.
"No, you can't! You're not ready for anything like this, now stay back!" Ruby ordered, launching herself towards Harriet, slashing Crescent Rose at Harriet, only for the Huntress to bolt backwards, leaving a trail of energy behind her. She bounced on her toes, then wiped the blood from her nose.
"C'mon Red." She hissed, making Ruby scowl at her.
Behind them, Elm was taking a heavy beating from Pyrrha and Jaune, where Jaune ducked underneath the hammer and slashed across her aura multiple times, and Pyrrha threw her spear directly at her. The long red and gold blade cut across her shoulder, knocking her backwards, then Jaune stamped on the hammer, pulling it from Elm's grasp, and kicked her in the side of the face, making her stagger towards his wife. Pyrrha jumped and wrapped her legs around Elm's head, then redirected her weight downwards, slamming Elm against the floor and throwing her ahead.
Pyrrha called Akoúo back and launched it towards a weak supporting piece of metal holding one wing up, and the discus shield severed it, causing the massive piece of metal to come crashing down on top of Elm, dealing a massive amount of damage to her aura. It flickered, holding her down, yet she still forced it off her, rolling aside and sprinting towards them. She swung her fists repeatedly at Pyrrha, but the Spartan backed up, blocking two with Akoúo after it returned to her, then she kicked Elm in the leg so hard it tripped her up, and jumped to smash her knee against Elm's jaw.
Elm slammed against the ground, then Pyrrha stamped on her throat, holding her in place. "Yield, Elm." Pyrrha warned, staring at her with a clenched fist.
"NO!" she roared, grabbing onto Pyrrha's leg and throwing her against the armoured hull of the Dreadnaught, punching her again and again, grabbing Pyrrha by her ponytail and tossing her aside. Pyrrha tumbled across the floor but found her footing, sliding backwards and staring ahead at her enemy. Jaune spun Ira Red through his fingers, then sprinted at Elm, cutting across her side, then stabbing at her chest, but Elm caught the blade with her hand and kneed him in the gut, taking both fists and pummelling Jaune's head, throwing him against the soil.
Elm ran ahead of Jaune and reached out to her hammer. Pyrrha tried to yank it away with her polarity but it was too late, and Elm swiftly transformed it into Rocket Launcher mode, and fired one at Pyrrha. She raised her shield, which absorbed most of the explosion for her, but the shockwave still knocked her away. Then she turned her attention to Jaune, slamming her hammer at his head, forcing him to catch it with both hands.
In the background, Oriana was still staying nearby, wanting to find some way to help her family against Harriet. The swift Huntress darted back and forth between the sisters, kicking Ruby twice in the face, then blasting a bolt of golden lightning against Yang's chest, smacking her off the wall of the destroyed ship. Yang groaned, then Harriet held out both her hands, channelling lightning through both sleeves and firing them at the sisters, holding them in place, burning their aura away as they groaned in pain, unable to move.
Oriana stared at Harriet. "Leave them alone!" Ori yelled, fists clenched.
"Want me to stop? Try to stop me, little girl." Harriet challenged, smirking at her.
"Ori don't!" Misty begged.
But Oriana didn't listen, and she sprinted at Harriet with a furious scream, but Harriet suddenly broke away from Yang and punched Oriana in the face, knocking her across the floor. Yang swiftly tried to get up, only for Harriet to hold her down once again. "Ori… hide… you're not read…" Ruby begged.
"Please let me try!" Oriana begged.
"You should listen to your auntie, girlie. You're far from ready. In fact, you wouldn't stand a chance in the initiation of the old Academies. You're worthless, helpless… useless. Just like your sad excuse of a father!" Harriet yelled, amplifying the power of the electricity inflicted on Yang's body.
"STOP IT!" Oriana screamed, feeling an intense rage building up inside of her, when suddenly her blue eyes flushed with purple raging flames. She roared as the flames burned hot, making her veins glow, only to collapse, passing out completely. Silence filled the air. Harriet even stared with disbelief, recognising those purple flames instantly.
"What… the fuck?" Harriet gasped, wide eyed.
Ruby and Yang both stared at Oriana's unconscious body. Everyone stared at the young girl on the ground, including Jaune, who saw her on the ground, and he felt the same rage building up inside him like an inferno. Yang pushed herself up despite the constant barrage of lightning on her body, hearing immediate fear from Harriet. "What? No…" She gasped, and Yang roared to the sky, her eyes turning blood red and her hair igniting with golden fire, mixed in with blue embers, symbolising her full control over her fury and semblance.
Yang raised her cybernetic fist as she walked through the electricity towards Harriet, who was backing up in fear. "Stay back!" She begged, but Yang kept getting closer and closer, feeling an immense amount of power built up from all the damage that lightning had done to her. She suddenly caught Harriet's arm and snapped it, destroying the Exo-Suit sleeve and ceasing the beam of electricity, then she took her metal fist and punched Harriet in the chest so hard it broke her ribs, blowing her across the field and crashing against a rock, shattering her backpack, and bursting her aura.
Yang threw her arms back and roared like a savage beast. Harriet screamed in agony, grabbing her snapped arm as it flopped back and forth. Elm stared at Harriet with disbelief, only for Jaune's eyes to suddenly ignite with purple flames, and he took Ira Red with both hands and slashed it across her chest so hard that her little aura broke instantly, but he didn't stop there. He sliced across her chest, then stabbed her in the knee, dropping her to one knee, then ripped her hammer from Elm's hands, spinning around and smashing it down onto her skull, splattering blood everywhere.
And just as the Hammer landed, he came back, and saw what he did, covered in her blood.
The Hammer was lodged into her upper torso, blood gushing out, and her large body lifelessly slumping onto the ground. Jaune backed away in horror, staring at the blood on his shirt and hands. "ELM!" Harriet screamed. Everyone was shocked by what Jaune did, but Yang kept her eyes on Harriet, hair still aflame. "Y-You son of a bitch! This… THIS ISN'T OVER!" Harriet screamed, holding onto her arm as she scrambled away with her tail tucked between her legs. Yang felt the rage in her chest, but hearing Pyrrha cry out snapped her out of it.
"Ori!" Pyrrha screamed, rushing over to her daughter's side, holding her in her arms. Misty slowly came out from where they were hiding, looking away from what she had just seen Jaune do, but she focused on the girl she loved, running to her side. "She's not waking up…" Pyrrha panicked.
Ruby pressed her ear to Ori's chest, and she heard the beautiful sound of a heartbeat. "She's alive. She's just passed out. We need to get somewhere safe."
"She's getting paler…" Pyrrha was panicking, her motherly love blinding her to the battlefield they were still stuck in.
"Pyrrha! We need to go!" Ruby raised her voice, snapped Pyrrha out of it.
"Y-Yeah." She agreed.
"GUYS! WE NEED TO GO!" Yang called out. Nora cleaved a drone in half and backed up, joining the rest of the family, seeing that massive airship flying towards them, dropping more and more drones. They saw a group of trucks roaring across the terrain behind them. Jaune was still shellshocked from what he saw himself do. Usually he never saw himself actually commit the act. It was always only coming back to see the aftermath, not the actual kill.
Suddenly he felt Weiss' hands grab onto his arm. "We need to go!" she yelled over the incoming gunfire. He shook it off, looking back at Elm's bloodied corpse on the ground, and he ran with them. The trucks bounced across the damaged field, with drones inside firing their rifles. They kept moving, but Nora spun around and threw Magni into the bonnet of the truck behind her, stopping it dead in its tracks, flipping it over and crushing the droids underneath its weight.
Two more approached, then Ruby had an idea. "Ren! You get the driver in that one, I've got the other!" Ruby said, bursting into petals and landing on the bonnet. She beheaded the robot in one swift slash, destroying it instantly, then jumping in the driver's seat. She grabbed the gun and shot the other droids inside, destroying all of them and hit the brakes after throwing the dead knight out. Ren grappled onto the back of the truck, slingshotting himself inside, kicking the driver bot with both feet through the windshield, sending it underneath the wheels. He landed and fired Stormflower and the two remaining bots, stopping the car.
Pyrrha, carrying Oriana, rushed to the truck that Ren was in, climbing aboard and holding onto her tightly, Misty and Jaune following her with Nora at the back, firing her grenade launcher one handed at the army of automatons behind them. Team R.W.B.Y got aboard the one that Ruby hijacked, and they drone ahead, roaring across the open fields, escaping the foot soldiers.
But they weren't out of the woods yet, so to speak, because the Osprey was still on their tail. It was flying after them and fired its machine guns and dropping bombs behind them. "Man, the President really is paranoid, huh?" Yang sarcastically said.
"That's putting it incredibly mildly!" Ruby replied. It soared ahead, firing its automated cannons at them. Blake turned to Weiss.
"Think you can get me up there with the Queen Lancer?" She asked.
"You know it." Weiss assured.
"Ren! Nora!" Blake called out, and they were already onboard with her crazy plan.
"Jaune, I need you to take the wheel." Ren said, keeping Jaune focused. Misty watched with disbelief as Weiss closed her eyes and summoned the massive glowing white Lancer, and Blake jumped on top of it, holding on tight. It buzzed over their heads, allowing Ren and Nora to jump onto it as well. It flew towards the Airship and Blake threw Gambol Shroud's grappling hook into the hull, swinging across the wing, leaving a fiery shadow behind, detonating it against the thruster, blowing it apart and leaving a fiery tail of smoke behind that wing, already causing the bomber to descend, its huge wing scraping across the field above them.
Nora shot grenade after grenade at the bomber from the huge wasp, whilst Ren did the same as Blake, swinging across the wing and shooting at the thrusters to lower its altitude, swinging himself towards the cockpit. He fired both hooks into the hull and slingshot himself inside, kicking both pilot bots in the head, destroying their heads. The Bomber slammed against the ground, and the rear door opened, allowing Nora to jump inside.
She cut Knight after Knight down with Stormur Skeggox's axe, finding the bombs loaded inside, and she transformed the electrified axe into Grenade Launcher form, firing a grenade directly at them. They exploded and set off a chain reaction, making Nora laugh maniacally as she fled out the way she came, seeing the Lancer flying past with Ren jumping onto it, and Blake swinging around the side of the ship, landing on top as well. The cargo bay erupted with fire as Nora jumped out.
"BOOYAAAAAH!" Nora cheered, landing on the Lancer, and the Osprey slammed against the ground, exploding and breaking apart. The wing tore away and its thrusters tumbled across the field, spreading raging flames across the verdant fields, and the enormous hull split apart, allowing the two trucks to drive through the destruction and escape Amara's attack dogs.
Misty stared with disbelief at what she just saw, seeing Blake, Ren and Nora jumping back into their trucks, and Weiss stopped focusing on the Lancer, letting it fade away, sighing with relief.
Whole time though, Pyrrha was just staring at her daughter, afraid of what they all saw. Misty smiled and held Pyrrha's hand, wanting to give any comfort she could. Jaune was silent, worried for Oriana, and horrified at what he did to Elm, but still focusing on driving the stolen military vehicle.
"Where are we going, guys?" Ren asked.
"I know a place we can go, somewhere that should buy us some time." Ruby said, with a look of recognition in her eyes.
Staring ahead at the ruins of Beacon Academy…
… time to come home, once more.
Author Note - Man this was a very fun chapter, love writing the heroes just being God Tier in this story after everything they've beaten in this series, but Harriet and Elm managed to give them a run for their money, for a while at least
And Oriana has unlocked something very worrying indeed
Also RIP Elm, Jaune fucked her up with that move, poor fucker had to see it too because he calmed down just before the hammer landed. Then again, shouldn't have taken this mission.
And now, time to return to Beacon with the team. Tis gonna be juicy XD
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please review, follow and favourite!
Stay tuned for the next chapter!
- Matt