Pacing back and forth, Black kept his hands on his hips. He slowly breathed in and out before suddenly stopping. Twisting around, he placed a hand on his hat and narrowed his eyes. "Alright. You get one chance." He took a step towards the bars holding team MACE. "How did you get out? Holland is an idiot, but not that big of an idiot."
Kagami eyed the rest of her team. They all looked back at her with the same look. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the gunslinger and narrowed her eyes.
Slowly breathing in, Black reached up to rub his face. In a matter of seconds, he had his revolver out and fired four quick shots. A bullet struck each of the girls' shoulders and sent them falling back gasping for air. Their auras fizzled as they absorbed the impact.
"I'll ask again." He holstered his weapon and crossed his arms. "How did you get out?"
Gritting her teeth, Elise sat up a little and glared at him. Her semblance was their only trump card. She couldn't just show it off. She swallowed hard and glanced at her leader.
Eyeing her, Kagami took a deep breath before nodding. They locked eyes for a second before she lowered her head. Slowly, she pushed herself up to her feet and stepped up towards Black. She stared between the bars at him before her body suddenly faded into a misty smoke. The ropes around her wrists fell to the ground with a thump.
Reappearing beside him in a spiral of smoke, she looked over. "That's how." She flexed her jaw. "Now don't shoot my friends anymore."
Black stared at her for a moment before he suddenly shot the remaining rounds in his revolver into her side.
She cried out and stumbled over. Falling onto one knee, she closed her eyes and bared her teeth. Feeling a hand grab her neck, she gasped as her back was slammed into the wall.
The attack took out a heavy chunk of her aura. It was close to breaking.
"We can't have that happening again." He narrowed his eyes while pulling a fist back. "I tried to be nice. I really did, kid."
With ragged breaths, Kagami closed her eyes and braced. She felt him shift to punch her but then felt his fingers loosen from her neck. Gasping, she fell to her knees coughing. Looking over, she eyed Black who was laying on the floor unconscious with his hat off beside him.
"Hey, hey." Elise crouched down by her friend. She shook her right hand around. Her aura fizzled from around her knuckles. "Hey." She helped her straighten her spine.
Catching her breath, Kagami nodded a few times. "I'm good. I'm good." She nodded a little more before sitting back and leaning against the wall. "Help Chey and Kris out." She smiled.
Smiling back, the brunet nodded. "Alright. Take your time. Just not too long, you know." She chuckled. "We are trying to escape." She reached out and rubbed her arm a little before getting up to free her other friends.
Phase one done. Again.
Time to find their weapons. Again.
They locked Black away inside the cell after tying up his arms and legs. It was early morning now but luckily it was still dark. They knew their weapons wouldn't be in the same place, especially since they broke the lock to the chest, so they had to do more searching.
Elise popped in and out everyone's tents without a sound. Coming out of Hori's she exhaled and shook her head. "No luck."
Kris quietly groaned. "Great. Maybe they're in their mess hall?" She glanced around.
"Maybe. Hopefully." Kagami sighed.
"That's not all." Elise raised her hand. "The swordsman isn't asleep. He's up and roaming. Somewhere around here." She cautiously looked around. "Probably on guard for Grimm."
"We'll need to watch out for him then." She glanced around herself. "We don't need him alerting the others. Come on."
No weapons were found in the mess hall so the group of girls searched the remaining buildings. Coming up to a small shed, Elise glanced inside and widened her eyes. "Oh man..." She trailed off.
"What is it?" Kris quickly leaned in. Seeing her weapons, she dove for them. "Finally!" She spun them around a little before placing them on her back.
"Did you not see everything else??" Elise waved her hand.
"At what?" The redhead blinked and looked over her shoulder. "Oh..." She trailed off. They weren't just in a shed. They were in an armory.
With a smile, Kagami picked her sword up and placed it on her hip. "Hey, Chey." She eyed a rack on a wall with more than enough Dust crystals. She grabbed her bracer and slid it on.
"Oh I see." The deer Faunus smiled. She ran her fingers over a few of the crystals before quickly grabbing a few of them. "Just enough to help us get to Vacuo." She reassured herself.
"Alright then." Elise grinned as she hauled her rifle over her shoulder. "I'm guessing we're not going to take the hover bikes this time?"
"Not without cutting the lines on the others so they can't follow us." Kagami grinned. "I'm not going to walk all the way to Vacuo. You're welcome to though."
"Hah." Kris let out bluntly and deadpanned. "No." She then quietly laughed. "I'm all for some sabotage though."
Though when they got to the remaining hover bikes that hadn't been wrecked, they learned the lines from the Dust to the engine had already been cut. "What?" Cheyenne let out quietly. "They wouldn't destroy their own stuff just so we couldn't get away easily, right?" She looked over.
"I don't know." Kagami examined one of the bikes. She stared at the cut line. She tilted her head as she noticed the cut being more like a slash against the line rather than a pair of scissors cutting it in half. She blinked once before her shoulders dropped. "Oh no..."
"Oh no?" Elise quickly looked over before rapidly looking around. "Oh no what? What is it?" She reached for her rifle.
"You are a clever girl." Hori suddenly said.
Whipping her weapons out, Kris spun around and immediately pointed them at the swordsman calmly standing outside of the camp. The wasteland behind him was glowing in the moon light and the wind was gently blowing the sand on the surface across the ground.
Slowly breathing in, he gripped the handle of his katana extremely tight.
Instantly, Elise and Cheyenne had their rifles pointed at him while Kagami aimed with her bracer. "Don't. Move." The jadette narrowed her eyes as she spoke. "It's four to one. We don't want to hurt you. We just want to leave."
"No." He calmly stated while drawing his weapon. Dropping it into a reverse grip, he raised his hands before dropping to his knees and driving it into the ground.
"Um?" Kris blinked before seeing a blue glow coming from the blade as well as his eyes. "Okay. Screw this." She quickly fired several shots.
They never even came close to Hori though. From his weapon, a slim and tall transparent blue woman stepped out. Her left hand being the last to pull away from the katana and when she did, she held the same weapon. Slashing away, she deflected every shot.
Breathing in, Hori closed his eyes and dropped his head between his shoulders. "Ancestors. Aid me so I may repent for my dishonor. Please." As he spoke, several dozen others began to emerge from the blade. All of them holding the same exact katana.
"K-Kagami..." Elise swallowed a little as they were encased in a circle.
"No. No." She quickly and quietly snapped back. If Hori was summoning his ancestors, she didn't want to copy that. She didn't want to summon her own.
"Am I supposed to be afraid of some ghost?!" Kris flashed her teeth.
"We are hardly ghosts, child." A large man with a burly beard turned his attention to her. "We are the spirits of the dead forever waiting to be called back from our eternal rest to help our bloodline. We are the souls of the Zen clan ever bonded by honor. We-" He blinked as an array of bullets passed through his translucent body.
"Are gonna shut the fuck up!" Kris' brow twitched as she reloaded her weapons and fired again.
"Such a foul mouth for a young lady." The woman who emerged from the blade first slowly stepped forward. "Perhaps you need to be taught a lesson." She didn't even bother dodging an attack from Kris. Her dual weapons passed straight through her. Spinning around, the ancestral spirit twisted her body around and whipped the redhead across the face with her weapon. The force from the blow sent her sliding away.
"What the..." She groaned as she pushed herself up. She shook her head a little before her eyes widened at the woman raising her sword above her.
"Kris!" Kagami shouted. Sprinting, she dropped her body down and slid across the ground. Her feet pressed against Kris' side and pushed her out of the way. Seeing the blue translucent blade coming down at her, she closed her eyes and bought her arms over her torso. But nothing hit her. The blade went straight through her body.
Now it was time for the woman to be confused. "What?" She took a step back. "No." She scoffed in disbelief.
Kagami furrowed her brow a bit before flinching at the sound of grunting. Rolling over onto her stomach, she pushed herself onto her hands and knees and eyed her Cheyenne and Elise both struggling against the spirits. "No...!" Her eyes widened as she watched their auras being chipped away by the enemies they couldn't touch.
"Kagami!" Kris shouted.
She quickly twisted around as she watched the burly man dragging her away. "Stop it!" She snapped and ran ahead. Grabbing her friend's ankle, she pulled. "Let go!"
With a grunt, he brought his katana around and threw it straight at her. It passed through her stomach and made her shiver.
"What?" He blinked and narrowed his eyes. In a poof of blue smoke, his weapon appeared in his grasp. "Do not make me laugh." He scowled as he tossed Kris towards a few others.
Behind her, the slim woman let out a shout. She slashed at the jadette's back only for the attack not to land. "Those on Remnant do not know honor anymore!" She attacked again. And again.
Kagami took a few ragged breaths before taking a deep breath and turning around. If they couldn't hurt her, there was no reason to worry about them. Pushing off with her back foot, she sprinted straight for Hori.
Hearing footsteps, the swordsman looked up. Seeing his ancestors attacking the jadette to no avail, his eyes widened in disbelief.
He didn't even get a chance to retaliate as Kagami tackled him to the ground. His katana left his hand and when it did, the spirits all vanished. Once the connection was severed, his aura shattered completely.
He let out a shout as his back hit the ground. The jadette scrambled to her feet and quickly slid beside his weapon. Grabbing it, she placed a foot on it while grabbing the handle.
She paused for a moment and hesitated.
This was probably the most important thing to this man and his family. This katana held a connection to every soul that wielded it. She knew the importance of a weapon passed down from generation to generation for who knows how many centuries.
Baring her teeth, Kagami let out a shout. Bringing the katana up, she brought her arm back and threw it as far as she physically could. She might not have the will to break it, but she wasn't going to make it easy for him to get it back and use it against them.
Panting a little, she quickly walked over towards their attacker. Kneeling down, she grabbed him by the collar and jerked him up. "Don't. Hurt. My. Friends. Again." She finally let out.
Staring up at her, Hori couldn't help but tremble slightly. "Who are you...?" He finally asked.
Before Kagami got the chance to give him any kind of remark, a bullet suddenly struck her in the shoulder. Normally her aura would protect her, but this wasn't just a normal round. Baring her teeth, she stumbled back and fell onto the ground as her aura shattered.
"Kagami..." Elise panted a little as she pushed herself up to her feet. A bullet then hit her back, breaking her aura as she fell forward with a shout.
Eyeing the modified bullet that bounced off the brunet, Cheyenne's eyes widened. She quickly turned around only to be shot. She stumbled and dropped to her knees clutching her shoulder just as her aura shattered.
Seeing her friends instantly lose their auras, Kris rolled out of the way just in time to avoid getting shot. Using her weapons, she deflected a few more rounds. "Come down here and face me you coward!" She shouted while glaring at the rooftop of the mess hall.
Suddenly a large shadow casted by the moon loomed over her. Reaching down, Hawkes calmly picked her up and held her still. Even when she struggled and kicked he didn't even move a millimeter. "Snape!" He roared.
Baring her teeth, Kris let out a heavy grunt as a bullet struck her stomach. She gasped a little as the wind was knocked out of her.
With a sigh, Hawkes moved his arms around and wrapped one around her neck. "Sorry. I hope you have sweet dreams. Goodnight." He sounded genuine which only made Kris more angry as her vision grew spotty.
Seeing McCree and Smoke walking over and knocking out Elise and Cheyenne, Kagami groaned and pushed herself up. She reached for her sword. Before she had a chance to draw it, a revolver struck the back of her neck and sent her down.
She groaned and grimaced. She went to get back up only to be kicked in the side and sent tumbling a few feet away. She curled up slightly and glared up at her attacker.
With hate burning in her eyes, Asher walked over with one of her guns out. "You made a fool of pa." She bared her teeth. "No one makes a fool of my pa." She raised her foot and brought it down onto Kagami's chest.
The jadette let out a pained shout. She knew she felt bruises. With one eye closed, she swallowed hard. "Then maybe your pa shouldn't be so easy to fool..." She spat back.
Her nostrils flared. With a rage filled shout, she brought her foot back and slammed her boot against the side of her head. She went to kick her again only to be pulled back by McCree. "She's out. You don't gotta."
"But I want to." Asher snarled as she quickly jerked herself away and walked back towards the camp. She really wanted to.