Ch. 55 Run before you walk
Jaune woke up with a start.
"...Jaune… go back to sleep…" sounded Ruby's sleepy voice.
He snuggled up to her tighter. His nightmares had all but disappeared after the fall, but they came back full force the day they arrived in Atlas.
Despite Ruby's insistence Jaune all but gave up on going back to sleep. He couldn't help but wonder why he started having nightmares again. He hoped it was just stress…
It had been two nights since they landed in Atlas and much of the first day was spent dealing with bureaucracy. From the moment they placed Penny in a medical stasis pod they spent hours being debriefed, interrogated, answering Ironwood's questions and dealing with paperwork.
In the end the general seemed to give up on getting the specifics of how they managed to control the forest to the extent of capturing the rogue soldiers. They got around it by saying that Ozpin knew how it could be done, but they weren't sure if they could trust Ironwood yet. That seemed to placate the general for now, promising to talk to them about it at a later date.
Once they were free of bureaucracy they got the chance to explain some things to doctor Polendina. Of course they stumbled upon the same secrecy problem, but Pietro was far less inquisitive about that. "I won't look a gifted horse in the mouth. I'm no stranger to classified research and just the fact that Penny is in better shape than I could have hoped for is enough for me."
So instead they shared what they could, namely Lunatum Cor Rosae. They explained the making of the weapon, what Ruby's semblance was, showed Jaune's ability to use it and the theories they had about how it came to be.
He hugged Ruby a little tighter when he remembered her distress.
Ruby was understandably a little unsettled when the doctor asked to examine the weapon himself, but it amounted to him using his semblance on it.
"Truly fascinating. Indeed it is to be expected that your semblance would leave a permanent mark on the weapon, but to have a perpetual and persistent sample of another person's Aura within it despite your semblance. Fascinating."
As Pietro explained, his semblance was a unique type of Aura sensitivity and manipulation which became the basis for some of the experimental medical pods Atlas used. It was also the same technology that allowed him to give Penny her own Aura.
"It is fascinating, though I'm not exactly sure if it's at all replicable." he concluded. "It would help with Penny's recovery to be sure as it is in the same field, broadly speaking. But we would need more data."
"We've actually had a test in mind to see if it's replicable without my semblance. We were actually hoping you would be willing to help with that."
"But of course, what do you have in mind?" Jaune recalled Pietro's question.
They would put things in motion today.
=O=O=O=
Weiss could feel the cloudiness dissipate from her mind. They told her the day before that she would be receiving visitors. Since then she could feel clarity returning to her slowly. It seemed they wanted her coherent for the visit at least, which was a relief.
It was bad enough they would see the broken state of her body, she at least wanted to show them her mind was still there.
"Miss Schnee, your visitors have arrived."
Visitors. They didn't give her names, just visitors. Even after she inquired, the nurses only told her they were friends of her's from Beacon.
"Please, let them in."
"You have half an hour, doctor's orders." said a nurse before walking off.
Weiss knew that meant her father's orders. Still half an hour with… friends. She was uncertain how much longer she could call them that. She was no longer a huntress. Hell, thanks to her father she couldn't even walk.
All this money and influence and this is what he used it for. To further hate against the faunus by making sure she remains crippled. After all, a hated faunus is a desperate one and only someone desperate would willingly sign themself off to the SDC. So her father made sure it was known who took her leg.
Sure she was offered a prosthetic by the doctors, if only to keep up appearances, but it wasn't made for fighting, it was made specifically so that she couldn't do that.
And even if she did eventually get it replaced, the time for physical therapy was now.
"Weiss!"
She broke from her inner contemplation and looked towards the door. From all the people she knew, the friends she made, she didn't expect these two to show up here. While she certainly didn't expect Blake to show up in the middle of Atlas, she believed it would be more likely for Cocra and Maroon to show up as her teammates, despite the debacle when father had her taken away from Vale. She wanted to believe Nora would come and see her, probably dragging Ren along with her. Ruby and Jaune were unexpected.
They were friends, certainly, just not the closest ones.
They were both wearing red cloaks, like the one Ruby used to wear with her uniform back in Beacon.
"Hello Weiss. It's good to see you again. I heard about your transfer here from Maroon." greeted Jaune.
Weiss was silent for a moment. She clearly remembered her teammates reaction at the time, they were some of the last clear memories she had. So the message was clear, if unsaid.
"Jaune, Ruby. It's certainly nice to see familiar faces again. I'm sorry you have to see me in this state."
She hoped her thoughts got through to them. There was no doubt that the visit was monitored, so she couldn't act out.
Ruby laid her hand over hers with a conflicted smile. Jaune meanwhile walked over to her bedside table.
"I'll be straight with you Weiss, this isn't entirely a social visit." sail Ruby with a tinge of guilt in her voice.
Before Weiss could answer she heard the familiar click of the ornate case with Myrtenaster in it. Her protests stuck in her throat when she saw Jaune's aura ignite.
Ruby continued speaking, bringing her attention back to herself. "We're not blind, this place is as much a prison as a hospital. There are no patients in this whole wing, just guards. Doctor Polendina was appalled when he got hands on what little of your file was provided. This is potentially the only time we'll be given this opportunity, so I have to ask. Weiss, would you like to return to active duty as a huntress?"
Weiss was stunned into silence, the remaining echo of the drugs in her system slowing down her reaction.
Then she heard it. Faint and distant but rapidly approaching footsteps from the hallway, signifying her chance slipping away.
"Yes, please help me! There's nothing I want more than to leave this place." there was desperation in her voice and tears in her eyes. It was a split second decision, but she was certain she would regret staying silent more.
"Well that's all I needed to hear." said Jaune, once again bringing Weisses attention to what he was doing. He was holding onto the broken blade, letting it shine with his aura.
Weiss could see it, small, flickering above the tip, but clearly there… a familiar snowflake shaped glyph.
=O=O=O=
Weiss was currently on the run. Well, she was held in a princess carry by Ruby, but they were running.
When the doctor arrived, Ruby scooped her up effortlessly while Jaune collected Myrtenaster. The doctor was angry and demanded they put his patient back to bed, but Jaune calmly handed over an envelope and informed him that Weiss wasn't his patient anymore.
They were transfer papers, announcing that Weiss was hereby placed in the rehabilitative care of Dr. Pietro Polendina.
Guards were called immediately, but the doctor didn't dare to do more when faced with two huntsmen level threats.
While running swiftly through the hallways Jaune pulled out another red cloak from the inside of his coat. It was pretty much identical to the ones they were both wearing and he fastened it around Weiss as well, hiding her from direct view. He then did the same with a piece of red cloth that he draped over his weapon.
Weiss thought that she must have still been too out of it, since the weapon appeared seemingly from thin air.
"Weiss, how well can you use your glyphs right now?" asked Ruby.
"Well enough, what should I do?"
This time it was Jaune who called out to her "When we meet the guards we'll split. Can you manage acceleration glyphs, going opposite directions?"
It took Weiss far more energy to focus her semblance than it normally would but she managed. The moment the guards with SDC plastered all over their armour got into view two paths of white glyphs appeared on the ground and then for a blinding moment in time, everything turned into rose petals.
=O=O=O=
Samuel Tetri was not having a good day.
It seemed to start well enough, heiress Schnee had a visitation scheduled and Sam felt it was about time she was allowed to socialise with her peers again. It was supposed to be a happy occasion. A simple social visit.
But then doctor Piros sounded the alarm and all hell broke loose. Apparently miss Schnee was kidnapped by her friends, something Sam doubted was the whole truth, and the last she was seen was when Roheline's unit encountered them in the hallway.
From the report though, miss Schnee used her semblance to assist the kidnappers, which was the main reason Sam doubted the doctor's words. But order's from above were clear. Capture them and bring Weiss Schnee back to her hospital room by any means necessary.
Sam couldn't really refute a direct order so he had no choice but to send the units under his command after them. Roheline's unit had to split in order to pursue both cloaked figures as they were unsure which of them carried the heiress.
"Rei-rei, status?"
"We have visual of one of them. Red cloaked figure holding a person sized bundle covered in red cloth. In pursuit now, heading west on main street."
"Salor, what's your status?"
"The same, our's is heading north though, trying to disappear in the side streets. Shit! They just scaled a building with a burst of red petals."
SDC's intelligence department pulled up everything they had on the kidnapers, but almost none of it was relevant. The girl had her semblance on record, which should have been a dead giveaway but both cloaked figures disappeared in a burst of rose petals, leaving them to guess which was which.
"Rei-rei, Salor, continue pursuit. Roheline, regroup your unit and head north-west, see if they try and regroup."
=O=O=O=
Weiss could feel the chill of the outside air on her skin. The hospital gown and cloak weren't the best at keeping the winter weather out. But despite that the cold kept her awake and focused, more clear headed than she felt in weeks.
"Ten metres, left."
Ruby complied with her directions wordlessly. Weiss may not be able to run herself, but she had received two whole weeks of freerunning instruction from Maroon during their work studies with the VPD. And with her mind clear, Weiss was putting that experience to good use, guiding Ruby to run up stacks of boxes or over cars and dumpsters to gain distance from their pursuers.
"Twenty metres, right and up the roof."
=O=O=O=
"Roheline, they're coming your way via rooftop"
"Got it, Salor. Tetri, how should we proceed?"
"The orders are retrieve by any means necessary, though I wouldn't want to be the poor sod that spilled Schnee blood, so use your best judgement."
"Roger!"
"Rei-rei? status."
"Sir, we lost visual, proceeding in presumed direction."
"Shit, Tetri we cornered the decoy, I repeat we had the wrong one."
Samuel couldn't help but scratch the bridge of his nose with his talons. It all happened too fast and they had most likely failed already. The encounter with the decoy just gave him a bit of time to figure out what he'll tell Jacques Schnee when he's inevitably called in to explain their failure.
"The decoy escaped… Tetri, he knocked out half my guys. We stood no chance against them."
Sam couldn't help but show a sad smile. Maybe it was for the best that Weiss managed to leave despite their best efforts. Nobody can fault them for being completely outmatched by a huntsman.
=O=O=O=
"Hello general, what brings you today." greeted Pietro jovially.
"Doctor. I'm afraid I need to talk to your protégés." he turned to Jaune, who was tapping away at a keyboard "Mister Arc, can you explain to me why Jacques Schnee insists that his daughter was kidnapped from the hospital during your visit?"
Jaune lifted his head from his calculations and smiled warmly at Ironwood.
"General, are you insinuating I kidnapped a good friend of mine with the intention of getting her reconstructive surgery and physical therapy? Both of which she herself not only consents to but requires to continue her career as a huntress?"
"Mister Arc, I'm busy as it is investigating more pertinent matters. I am not here to play games." the general proclaimed loudly.
Jaune's smile collapsed and an expression of righteous anger replaced it.
"And neither am I, general. I'm sure you of all people can sympathise with huntsmen that lost a part of their body in line of duty. That's why while I categorically refuse the allegations of kidnapping, I will however say that Weiss is currently in the other room working with my wife to finalise the design of her new prosthetic leg. I may not be well versed in the laws of Atlas, but I don't see why an adult huntress, emancipated to make her own decisions, would be required to let her father make medical decisions for her, or indeed prevent necessary treatment."
Ironwood was a bit taken aback, it had been a while since someone spoke to him like that. Though Pietro rose along with his mobility chair to put a hand on James's shoulder placatively.
"He's right James, I examined Miss Schnee myself and some of the things done to her under her father's care would be classified as deliberate medical malpractice. He'd see her bound to a wheelchair for life if he had his way. And that's ignoring the cocktail of opiates she had in her blood. That we let this happen to a prospective huntress in training is borderline inexcusable."
James sat heavily in one of the chairs of Polendina's medical practice. The furniture creaked under the weight of his cybernetics while he let the effects of his semblance, Mettle, loose hold over his mind.
"I had a feeling something was wrong when Jacques protested letting Winter take care of this. I put her forward since she knows both of you and this involves her sister." he told Jaune. "Jacques threw a very dignified tantrum, suggesting that dust prices are on the rise. Leaving me no choice but to deal with this."
"I hope you don't suggest selling out my patient to her father?" asked Pietro.
"No, no I'm not." It was the hard decision he could make, but he held off for Winter's sake. "There are very few I trust enough to know they wouldn't disclose her location. I'll see to it that Winter comes to see her sister soon. May I speak to miss Schnee before I leave?"
Pietro nodded and they went to the back room, with Jaune following after them.
"Miss Schnee…"
"General…" Weiss schooled her face into a neutral expression the moment he entered the room.
"I won't bother you for long, though there is one necessary inquiry. Miss Schnee, are you here of your own free will?"
"Yes." she spoke with finality
The general nodded and turned to leave before stopping himself.
"Your father is likely to try every avenue to keep you where he wants you. I've seen how hard it was on Winter while she was in the academy. When people turned against her because of him. I wish I could have helped then and I wish I could help more now."
"But you cannot act overtly because of the SDC." added Weiss, aware of her father's underhanded tactics. Dust was the lifeblood of the military after all.
"Unfortunately…"
"I understand, general… and thank you for being honest with me."
The general's posture slumped almost imperceivably. Now that he met with her, that he saw her condition, he couldn't help but see the parallel to his own injury.
"I'll assign Winter to be your security detail until you get back on your feet."
As the two older men left, leaving only the girls and Jaune in the room, Weiss turned back to the design on the screen in front of her.
"I changed my mind, Ruby. Let's make it a permanent fixture. I won't give father the opportunity to take my leg again. No more chains, no more cages."
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
I'm not entirely sure if I landed what I had in mind with the chase scene, but I think it turned out well. I had a visual in mind and it translated poorly into text but this is probably the next best thing.
By the way there's a somewhat hidden play on words in this chapter, let me know if you caught it.
Ive hung out with some friends yesterday and it did marvels for my mental state, but I'll be busy in the coming weeks, potentially months, so I'm not looking forward to that. Shouldn't affect the schedule though.
But hey if you want to support me you can do so on P a treon . com (slash) OlympianScribe
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch. 56 Fate of the lucky
