Jaune, like any other person, had regrets and just like any other person, many of those regrets were rather silly. It couldn't be helped, the mind had an odd way of picking which memories stuck around. For example, when Jaune was about five or six years old he was out camping when he found a really cool stick that he wanted to take home. But one of his sisters, he couldn't remember which one, convinced him that a family of beavers would need the stick and that he should leave it behind.
It was a cute little story and a really stupid thing to regret, but it was a really cool stick… at least according to the memories of his child self, who admittedly was prone to exaggeration.
Now in the present, he found himself with the great misfortune of having a new thing to regret. Or rather it would be more accurate to say that it was an old issue that was rearing its head again at the most inopportune moment… The problem was his hook hand.
It must be understood that he didn't hate the prosthetic hook that he called a hand. He wouldn't have based his entire aesthetic around something that he hated. The fact that his combat hook was the product of two friends going well above anything he could have asked for made it all the more impossible for him to hate his hook hand… but he couldn't deny that it was a tad bit inconvenient at times.
That was just the nature of a hook, as cool as it was it could never be as helpful as a functioning hand. Sure his hook could be launched at things and people and pull them to himself or himself towards them, which was extremely helpful surprisingly often. His hook also had a targeting computer and a small self-propelling system that allowed it to hone in on targets which was also very convenient... but with a second hand he could hold his pistol and rapier at the same time and that would have been more helpful more often.
A good example of such a moment would be right now as he hid behind some rubble from a nearby building as a bullshit drone fired a bullshit laser rifle at him. The beam of light flew right over his head, it would have hit him if he had been even a moment slower.
He had heard that the Lost Boys had gotten their hands on some experimental tech but he didn't think it would come in the form of two drones. He wasn't too impressed when he first saw them, a part of him had wanted to laugh and who could blame him? He and Roy had been handling Rufio just fine, what were two oversized toys supposed to do?
That was about a couple of minutes or so ago and it wasn't so funny anymore. The Drones had rushed right at him separating him from Roy who was rushed by Rufio. Now he was playing a deadly game of tag while Roy was somewhere else fighting Rufio out of sight. The situation wasn't dire just yet but it was far from ideal, frankly, it was getting too close for comfort especially when considering how this was all just a distraction from their real goal; helping Penny.
"Shit," He whispered to himself before sheathing his sword and trading it for his pistol. This was a trade he was well versed in so it took merely a couple of seconds but those were seconds that could have been spent shooting back instead of being shot. But now he had the pistol and could start his counterattack.
He peeked out from his cover… only to find nothing.
"What-?!" A beam of light struck Jaune from the side and knocked him to the ground.
The shock of being shot lasted for a moment and in the next his training kicked in and he rolled himself into a position to shoot back. It admittedly wasn't a great position but he could see both drones and let off a shot before getting to move and hopefully find a better spot while keeping his eyes on both of his foes. And despite his bad position, he was able to line up a shot on the drone that had shot him first.
Unfortunately, the drone with the weird dish-shaped device let out a purplish light before creating an equally purple wall of light that pushed the bullet away.
"Purple Hardlight? That can't be right, Hardlight is supposed to be blue. Why is it purple?" He then fired off a couple more shots to see what would happen before running while sticking to the side of the building. Just like before, the dish glowed before creating a wall of purple light that pushed the bullets away and that was the part Jaune found the most odd.
"Wait, it pushed them away instead of blocking them?" Jaune didn't have a lot of time to ponder what that could mean before splitting away from the building to dodge out of the way of another beam of light from the attack drone. It's a good thing that it can't rapid fire but it's still a pain in the ass. But the first thing I need to do is find Roy.
Jaune used his Aura to enhance his hearing and then nearly regretted it. He hadn't noticed until now since his attention had been on more pertinent issues but now he could fully appreciate just how noisy an active battlefield was, and he hated it. He hated being so aware of all the places and people that needed his help, people that he could help if it wasn't for the fact that he was stuck fighting a weirdo and his toys. People who wouldn't need help at all if it wasn't for the weirdo and the ones whose behalf he was acting.
However, despite his feelings, enhancing his hearing proved to be the right choice because in the midst of all that noise, he could hear the sound of a pair of buzzsaws and they were close… But at the same time, it was sort of muffled? What's causing this?
He quickly glanced around before making a sharp turn away from the building to avoid another shot from the rifle drone and as he did he noticed that the muffled buzzsaw noise became fainter, more distant. There wasn't anything around him that could have muffled the sound, besides the surrounding buildings. That must mean that they're fighting indoors and if I could hear it then it probably means that it was the building that I was beside until just now. Where's the door? Even a window would suffice.
He didn't find either window or door but he did spot a section of the wall that had crumbled, possibly from a rocket. The hole wasn't very big and he'd have to climb some rubble to reach it but that was still his ticket inside. All he needed was a chance.
But the drones weren't interested in giving it to him, they positioned themselves so they were right between him and the hole. And for a moment Jaune wondered if this was a coincidence or if they were trying to keep him away from Rufio. Either could be true and he didn't have time to figure out which one was it.
Jaune fired off another shot before using his Aura to empower his legs to try and dash past the drones. But just like every other shot he had fired, the shield drone threw up a barrier that pushed the bullet away, and that was fine. That was more than fine, he wanted the drone to activate because that meant he could make it through while the shield was on cooldown…
Of course that was assuming that the shield had a cooldown or that it just couldn't maintain it for extended periods. To be honest it was a baseless assumption but the rifle drone seemed to have a cooldown so shouldn't the same apply to the shield drone? Besides, surely if it could maintain the shield then it would just do so, right?
WRONG!
The shield drone didn't drop the shield, rather it held it because it saw his approach and now he could feel the gravitational push from the drone greatly slowing him down. Even worse was that the rifle drone was lining up a shot. He made a plan based on incomplete information and assumptions and now he had to do something and do it fast or else he'd find himself on the backfoot.
Fortunately, this was one of the rare situations where it was better to have a hook for a hand.
To avoid the shot, Jaune let himself be pushed back by gravity but as that happened he also launched his hook past the drones and at the building he needed to enter. It wasn't a perfect shot, the gravity from the shield drone altered the flight path of the hook but it self-corrected and struck the side of the building before reeling Jaune in and past the drones.
But then something odd happened, the two drones suddenly became more aggressive and switched roles. The shield drone suddenly went on the offense and charged at Jaune as he was climbing the rubble to enter the building. Meanwhile, the rifle drone began rapid-firing a shower of light where each individual beam was weak and inaccurate but made up for it in sheer volume and coverage.
But this only made Jaune more determined to get inside and with the help of that hook, he was able to climb up the rubble and through the hole into the building.
"Okay, now to find Roy and take out Rufi-!?" Suddenly the shield drone smashed through the wall like it was some sort of wrecking ball and flew right at Jaune as the rifle drone followed closely behind.
"What the fuck!?" Jaune shouted as he ran away while enhancing his hearing so he'd know where to run.
At the same time, he considered what he now knew about these mechanical menaces. The rifle drone has at least two modes; A stronger but much slower sniping mode and rapid fire which is weaker but covers far more. And then there's the shield drone… What is even going on with that one, why is it attacking, and what's up with the shield?
He decided to try and figure out the shield first and scoured his mind to recall any bit of information that he learned about Dust. Every lesson, book, and conversation he ever had on the subject with people who used it. Hardlight Dust is synthesized by combining all the basic Types together, so what if they added Gravity to the final product? That could result in a shield that can push things away but how does knowing that help me?
He then switched thoughts to anything he knew about hardlight shields and he didn't know much. But he did have an older sister named Saphron who lived in a Mistral town called Argus that was protected by a hardlight shield system. If I remember correctly those shields are projected from towers that have a generator built in… The dish must be the generator!
He quickly spun around to look at the drones and was taken off guard by how close they were; there couldn't have been more than 10 feet between him and the shield drone with the rifle drone being about 15 feet away. That's way too close, but that dish. It's facing forward, maybe that thing can only project in the direction the dish is facing?
Jaune didn't have a lot of time to ponder this, the shield drone being in front of the rifle drone was the only reason he hadn't been shot yet and that could change at any moment. But more importantly, the noise of Roy's buzzsaw had been getting louder as he had been getting closer. It was now loud enough that it was conceivable that he was just around the approaching corner, and he was.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that Roy and Ruifo were past the corner and a little down the hallway.
"Switch!" Jaune shouted to Roy while using his pistol to take a shot at Rufio forcing the Lost Boy to defend rather than attack Roy.
"Switch!" Roy answered back and at the same time threw a buzzsaw at the rifle drone to keep it from lining up a shot at Jaune.
The two huntsmen then met in the middle of the hallway and went back to back as they prepared to face off against their new foes. They didn't have a lot of time but they took what little they had to share valuable information with each other.
Roy went first as he retrieved the saw he threw, "Rufio's shield has a Gravity Dust generator, it can pull and push."
Jaune replied as he traded his pistol for his rapier, "So does that drone with the dish but it combines it with hardlight. The rifle can snipe or rapid fire."
"Cool," Roy then threw both saws at the drones to force their attention onto himself while charging towards them. It worked but the drones didn't give up on pursuing Jaune, though that wasn't something they could safely do with buzzsaws being flung at them and soon they were forced to switch focus from Jaune to Roy who was leading them away from Jaune and Rufio.
Meanwhile, Jaune's blade was blocked by Rufio's buckler, and his hook in turn parried Rufio's sword. The two men then moved back and forth with skillful footwork and tested each other's defenses with well-timed strikes, cuts, stabs, and feints. With each one, they gained a better understanding of how the other one fought and what to watch out for.
For example, Rufio liked to get in close and start hacking while using the buckler as a knuckle duster. On paper, it might seem like a sloppy way of fighting but that couldn't be further from the truth. In reality, it was a very calculated method to overwhelm the opponent quickly while eliminating the risk of their main weapon by getting past its effective range and the buckler was very apt at that. Its small size made it quick while providing more protection than one might think. But its real strength lay in how easy it was for its user to maneuver their weapon around it, and Rufio was very skilled in that regard.
But Jaune was a good match against that way of fighting. His rapier let him keep a safe distance and punish any attempts to get in with swift and safe stabs. But the hook was the real MVP, its shape allowed him to strike around Rufio's buckler and control whatever got stuck in its curve. It wasn't easy but if things continued like this, then he could force Rufio into a mistake and win.
Unfortunately, Rufio was quite good at forcing others to fuck up.
"Think fast chucklenuts!" Rufio's buckler glowed with a purple light just as Jaune went in for a stab and pushed him back. But it didn't just push him back, the push caught him off guard and Rufio took full advantage of it and stepped in.
Jaune did his best to defend but his sword was out of position and Rufio used his own sword to lock down the hook.
"Looky looky, I got hooky!" Rufio mockingly said before bashing Jaune's face with his buckler, sending the young man tumbling to the floor and dropping his sword.
But that gave Jaune the space he needed to strike back by launching his now-freed hook at his attacker's chest. However, Rufio predicted the counterattack and sidestepped past the hook as he moved to finish off the now defenseless Jaune but that was a mistake!
Jaune recalled the hook and it struck Rufio in the back and forced him wide open and Jaune was more than happy to take advantage of it. He stood up and punched the manchild right in the face knocking him to the ground and resetting the fight as he picked up his rapier.
"Why are you brats so stubborn!? And where are my drones?" Rufio loudly asked no one and everyone at once as he got back on his feet to meet Jaune's blade with his own.
"Your drones are probably being dismantled by Roy, you should quit while you're ahead. You wouldn't want this to be the last stand of the Lost Boys, would you?"
"And then what? Spend the rest of my life in a prison cell for crimes against humanity? No thanks brat. I'm here for a good time, not a long time."
"That's an incredibly irresponsible way to live your life." It also sounds weirdly prophetic.
"Oh shut up! I don't want to be lectured on responsibility from a barely legal kid who got drunk and married a complete stranger whom he is STILL MARRIED TOO!"
"Hey! She's a good person!"
"She's a bounty hunter who was in Vale so she could celebrate the completion of a job where she CUT A WOMAN'S EYES OUT OF HER SKULL!"
"WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES! SHE DIDN'T KNOW!"
"THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT BETTER!"
"FUCK YOU!"
"FUCK YOU RIGHT BACK!"
"Is she hot, tho?" A third voice suddenly asked.
Jaune and Rufio together turned to see who had spoken and to their surprise saw Roy standing there looking a little scuffed but otherwise alright.
"Is there something wrong?" Roy asked when he noticed the way they were looking at him.
"Did you beat the drones already?" Jaune asked, still confused but hopeful.
"Nope. But I'm getting a good read on them and what that shield is capable of. Right now I'm working on a plan to get around it and once I do, they should go down hard."
Rufio then asked, "But if you haven't beaten my drones yet, where are they?"
"Looking for me. I lost them by ducking into some classrooms and doubling back here. They'll figure it out eventually but before then." Roy cracked his knuckles and moved menacingly towards Rufio alongside Jaune.
The Lostboy considered his options for a moment before turning around and running away.
"Get back here you coward!" Roy shouted as he and Jaune ran after their foe.
Naturally, Rufio declined to comply and opted to instead continue running down an unfamiliar passageway in an unfamiliar building on an unfamiliar campus. But that didn't seem to worry the man, instead, he would occasionally check his scroll as he continued to run.
So it should come as no surprise that soon Rufio found himself running through a windowless hallway with a dead-end waiting for him past a fork. But what was surprising was that he just passed the fork and kept running towards the obvious dead-end while still glancing at his scroll at every opportunity.
"Now I got you!" Roy shouted while tossing one of his buzzsaws at Rufio, then without looking to see if he hit the man or not, he stopped and embedded his second saw into the wall right in front of the fork while the one he threw embedded itself into the wall at the end of the hallway.
"Why did you do that?" Jaune asked as Roy quickly rejoined him as Rufio finally reached the end.
"Look at him," Roy answered. "The guy saw the dead-end and just kept running, and while running he kept glancing at his scroll, this is a trap. I can feel it in my bones."
Roy then looked Rufio in the eye and asked loud enough for the man to hear him, "That scroll is how you're controlling the drones, right? You've probably recalled them and were using the scroll to keep track of their location. But why come here?"
Rufio chuckled darkly, "Yup! You're 100 percent right! Though it's not like guessing is going to help you now!"
Almost as if on cue the two drones emerged from the other side of the fork that the pair had passed by in their pursuit of Rufio. The drones hovered side by side, close enough for the shield drone to protect the rifle drone but without getting in the way. Soon Jaune and Roy found themselves sandwiched between their enemies who were taking quite a lot of pleasure in this reversal of fortunes.
"Hahahah! You brats better keep your eyes on me, I'd hate to miss the stupid look on your faces when your lights get permanently snuffed out!" Rufio said while keeping his buckler and sword at the ready. These idiots are going to try and rush me and when they do, I'll push them away with my gravity buckler while they get gunned down by the drone.
Just like Rufio figured, Jaune looked right at him and prepared to charge. It's not like he had a choice, Rufio had the controller for the drones so this was obviously the correct choice which ironically made it the wrong choice. But unlike what Rufio figured would happen, Roy seemed weirdly confident and wasn't in a rush to move.
"Hey Jaune, how confident are you that you can take this guy?"
"Pretty good. He caught me off guard once with that Gravity Dust of his but that's not happening a second time."
"Cool." Roy then sent Aura into his vambraces before addressing Rufio. "I also use gravity Dust. It's how I can throw my saws around and pull them back, and can I use my Semblance to amplify the effect of the Dust making the pull even stronger."
At first, Rufo wasn't impressed, why would he be when being able to recall a pair of buzzsaws didn't do much to help you hit whatever you threw those saws at? And besides, the kid didn't even have any saws on him to throw s- Hold up! Where are the saws?
It was at that moment that Rufio became keenly aware of an odd sound coming from right behind him. A sound that he had heard before whenever his sword got stuck in something and he was trying to pull it out. The saw he threw at me earlier, it must have kept going and now it's stuck in the wall behind me!
He resisted the urge to turn around and look, doing something like that would be all but begging to be hit. So instead he just shuffled out of the way while keeping his eyes on the pair. But he felt no sense of victory even as he watched the bladed disk dislodge itself and fly back to Roy… Why is that brat still looking so smug, and where is the other saw?
It was at that moment did Roy's brilliance reveal itself as the saw that he left behind was now behind the drones. And when it broke free, it struck the shield drone on the return back to its owner.
"NOOOOOO!" Rufio cried as he watched one of the drones be disabled with Roy moving in to disable the remaining one. It was a ploy! That son of a bitch got me monologuing while setting up the trap! No! The trap was set the moment he left that saw behind, I was fucked from the get-go! But I-!?
The point of Jaune's blade found a gap in the Lost Boy's defense and exploited it. Rufio's Aura held but he soon found himself in the worst position possible as the wannabe pirate punished every effort to disengage and read every attempt to counter. Even Rufio's gravity buckler wasn't helping him now as Jaune's hook kept that shield on lockdown.
"I'M NOT DONE YET!" Rufio screamed before abandoning all defense to get in and start swinging. I'll take a lot of hits but good luck stabbing me with that rapier when I'm right in your face!
It wasn't the worst plan ever. It was reckless but Aura allowed for some recklessness and against an ill-prepared fencer, it was a viable tactic… but Captain Jaune Arc wasn't a fencer. He was a pirate and that was a distinction that made all of the difference.
In a situation where most fencers would have tried to make some distance, Jaune did the unthinkable. Instead of retreating he reeled his head back and then shot it forward to meet Rufio's lunge. Jaune's forehead met Rufio's nose with a terrible crack and sent the madman stumbling back into the wall.
Then Jaune stepped even closer and swung his rapier's handguard into Rufio's face as though it were some sort of knuckle duster before striking him again but with his hook and then following that up with a hammer strike using the pommel of his sword. Then he hammered him again and again and again and continued using his rapier in a manner that would break the heart of any fencer but it worked and soon Rufio's Aura broke and his body went limp and fell to the floor unconscious but still alive.
And then Jaune with zero hesitation, stabbed the last Lost Boy through the heart before wiping the blood off of his sword, sheathing, and without taking a moment to celebrate their victory spoke. "Alright, let's get out of here and head to the library."
"Cool!" Roy answered while casting a glance at the drone and making a mental note to return and try to scavenge some parts. "You know this place better than I do so lead the way."
Jaune glanced around for a bit to figure out where they were and once they did, they were on their way. "This way, there should be some doors leading outside real close by."
He was soon proven right but as the pair stepped outside, Jaune had an encounter that he'd remember for the rest of his life and it started with an unexpected but familiar and oh-so-welcomed voice calling out to him.
"Jaune? Is that really ye?
Adam didn't know why things were turning out this way but he for sure didn't mind. He wasn't a sadist but looking at Blake's calm face and spotting just a little hint of fear creeping in from the corner of her eyes was awakening something in him and it wasn't just her. The blond bimbo beside Blake was beneath his notice but her occasional nervous glances towards Blake betraying her facade of confidence was a sight to behold. Add in the fact that a goddamned Schnee had also shown up in a foolish attempt to help the other two was just the cherry on top of a beautiful fudge sundae of his newly discovered fetish. He could not wait to see what kind of face the heiress would make once he put fear in her heart.
"I must truly be blessed!" Adam spoke to himself but also loud enough for the others to hear. "How else could everything just fall into my lap!"
Weiss attempted to hit him with a fireball but he just sidestepped it, "If you were blessed then it was probably by the devil."
"I assure you that your father has never met me let alone given me his blessing," Adam retorted as he began to walk towards the trio with his arms wide open as though he was inviting them to take a shot at him… because he was.
He wanted them to try because they would fail and that failure would linger in their minds. It would be a seed of self-doubt that would quickly take root and erode away their already cracking will. And when they finally broke… it would be such sweet ecstasy.
"Eat this, freak!" Yang shouted before unloading her gauntlets at him and hitting nothing but the ground around him.
Adam shot back with insults as he moved in closer, "Pathetic, are you really a student here? I can't imagine that they would have ever passed you on your qualifications. I can only imagine that you passed because of a… private on-hand oral examination." The tone of his voice in that last part was so sleazy that anyone would feel gross just by listening and that was his intention.
But Yang rolled her eyes, this wasn't anything she hadn't heard before. More importantly, was that his intentions were crystal clear and she wasn't going to give him what he wanted. But that didn't mean that she was just going to take it either. Taking the abuse in silence was the worst thing she could do right now. This guy wants to get under our skin so we need to beat him at his own game.
"Blake, what did you see in this loser?" Yang asked her teammate with a sly smile that she hoped her partner picked up on.
Weiss didn't see the smile so she had no idea what her teammate was doing, "Yang! Now's not the ti-!"
However, Blake did see the smile. She didn't understand why Yang wanted to do this but she decided to trust her partner and put on a brave face to play along, "I thought he was kinda cute, in a really pathetic sort of way." She made sure to emphasize the word; pathetic. Nothing pisses off Adam more than being seen as weak.
"Blake! Now isn't the time to talk about why you started dating your ex!" Weiss nearly shouted.
"I can't believe that I'm agreeing with a Schnee," Adam said while wincing. "But she's right. I'm trying to kill you guys, can we focus on me?" What's going on? They were both worried just a few moments ago, why are they acting like this?
"Can we focus on me?" Yang repeated with a mocking tone. "I get what Blake meant when she called you pathetic and just look at your clothes! Just how much money did you spend just to dress like a needy bitch! Just who are you trying to impress? Or are you trying to compensate for something?"
Adam was gobsmacked, he just couldn't believe what he was hearing. He couldn't believe that they were mocking him like when they should have been terrified… instead that Blond Slut was staring disappointedly at his crotch! WHY!? He couldn't wrap his head around why they were doing this but he knew how to shut them up… His patience was rapidly wearing thin and their snide comments wouldn't save them from his Moonslice.
He just needed to charge it up and then they'd pay. He just needed to be the mature one and wait, besides, there was nothing that they could say that would really get under his skin,
Blake then answered the question that Yang had asked Adam, "Oh he is compensating alright, you how it is with guys like him. They put so much effort to look cool and badass to hide the fact that they're not packing much under those pants. And before you ask, his other sword is like a butter knife."
"So small, thin, and utterly dull?"
"I'd say yes, but butter knives at least have a use."
Adam heard enough and calmly gave his retort, "FUCK YOU! YOU FUCKING WHORES! DEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
He then gathered all of the Aura that he had accumulated up till now and unleashed it in a tsunami of crimson that rushed forward slicing through anything unfortunate enough to make contact with it. But, no matter how powerful a blow may be, it is worthless if it doesn't hit the target. It can even be less than worthless if it leaves you open and Adam was open.
Several shots from Blake's gun struck him in the shoulder from above as Yang's shotgun gauntlets struck the ground around him and tore it up as flakes of ice fell around him.
"HOW!?" he screamed but received no answer. But he would need no answer if he simply calmed himself down and thought it through.
His attack while devastating was also telegraphed, the glow from the Aura as he charged it up plus his posture gave away what he was going to do. The ice flakes falling around were the result of a wall of ice Weiss created to protect from the attack like she had done earlier. While his vision was obscured by his own attack, Blake used her Semblance to get onto a nearby roof and then helped Yang up at the same time. It was a maneuver that was only possible thanks to his refusal to exercise restraint.
But it also was a maneuver that put Weiss directly in Adam's sight.
"You're mine, Schnee!" Adam declared as he deflected a few shots from Blake before sprinting towards the heiress… only to stumble after a few steps, "What?!"
Adam looked around to see what made him fall and spotted a hole in the ground, his foot had stepped into it and the unevenness made him fall. And then it clicked for him, All those missed shots from the blonde one weren't misses at all. She had been aiming at the ground around him from the very start! She's trying to destroy my footing… I've never dealt with a smart bimbo before but there's a first time for everything.
In an ideal world, Adam would have lost right here and then. But the world was far from ideal and if this was all that it took to beat him then he would have been caught a long time ago.
Soon Adam was back on his feet and began to beeline towards Weiss who was trying her best to keep her distance. But Adam was much faster than her and he never fell into the same trap twice, this time he wasn't going to stumble.
"Weiss, watch out!" Yang shouted just before Adam reached her.
The Heiress despite what many would believe based on her appearance wasn't a soft princess that needed protection. Sure she often stayed in the backline providing support but that was because she enjoyed that, she loved using her Dust to manipulate the battlefield but there was a reason why her weapon was a sword and not a wand. There was a reason why she didn't use makeup to hide that scar on her face, that scar wasn't a mark of failure.
The red-coated steel of Adam's Wilt brushed against the silvery tip of Myrtenaster and pushed Weiss backwards but that was what she wanted. With her Semblance she created a series of Glyphs as she fenced with Adam and then sent Dust into those Glyphs to activate them, pushing her away from him but she wasn't running away. It was the opposite!
Those Glyphs snaked around the battlefield allowing her to gather speed as it pushed her until she was behind Adam and ready to strike! However, he had visually followed the trail of Glyphs and deduced where it led, allowing him to block the stab. But she was already prepared for that possibility and her Glyphs pushed her away before he could counterattack, giving her space to try again… and giving him another chance to try and catch her.
Meanwhile, Blake was providing support fire whenever she got a chance while Yang seemed to be waiting for something.
"What are you doing Yang?" Blake asked. "Weiss needs help."
"I have a plan but I need him to keep still for a moment," Yang's body was wound up like a spring. Whatever she was planning was going to be big.
"Understood." Blake then leaped off the roof and fired off what few bullets she had left before landing. She didn't wait to see whether she had hit him or not, she was too focused on the fact that Adam was about to catch Weiss.
As Blake made her move, Yang made hers and took to the air with the help of Ember Celica to reach an incredible height before descending. As she fell, she used her weapon to correct her aim and pick up speed.
Meanwhile, Weiss saw an opportunity to nail Adam in the back, but his sword intercepted hers which was okay. She could just reverse and try again… except this time he was ready for that and burnt some of his Aura to speed up and grab her by the throat.
"I gotta say princess, you're surprisingly tough for a human but you're also really predictable." He raised his sword to knock aside a desperate attempt to stab him. "See what I mean? I could see that stab coming from a mile away."
"May the dark brother take you," Weiss defiantly said, refusing to show him any fear.
"Cute. I didn't take you for the religious type." Adam then pulled his arm back to stab her but then felt a familiar cloth wrap around his arm to hold him back. "Blake, be a dear and wait your turn. I'll be sure to penetrate all of you before this night is…-!" His vision suddenly darkened as a shadowed suddenly appeared where he was standing. Where's the blond?
The shadow over Adam's head was the only warning he got just before Yang hit him like a meteor. In the short time he had, protected himself in the only way he could by letting go of Weiss and using Blush, his Gun and sheath for Wilt, as a makeshift shield.
There was a deafening CRACK when the two weapons met each other and the ground beneath Adam's feet crumbled from the force of the impact. Dust and debris were kicked into the air obscuring the vision of both Weiss and Blake who still held on to her weapon as it was the only thing holding back Adam's blade.
Soon the thick cloud of dust began to slowly clear but before it did, Yang flew out of it and landed right on top of Blake who couldn't get out of the way in time. Both were knocked to the ground but were quick to get back to their feet. But unfortunately… Blake had loosened her grip on her weapon leaving half of Gambol Shroud wrapped around Adam's sword arm.
"Are you alright Blake?" Yang asked as she raised her fists to face Adam, she could see his clothes glowing from behind the veil of dust.
"I should be asking you that! What happened!" Blake asked her partner as she drew the other half of her weapon, a sheath that was also a cleaver.
"He blocked it and is now fully charged up. But I think he's taken some damage."
Weiss came up beside them, "Why is he just standing there, what is he waiting for?"
Blake rolled her eyes and groaned, "He's doing it for dramatic effect."
"Really?" Weiss couldn't believe what she was hearing. "We're fighting for our lives in the middle of a war zone and he's acting like a theater kid? WHY!?"
"Because he can." Yang grimly answered. "He is doing this to hammer into our head that he is so far above us that he can afford to play around like this."
A dark chuckle emerged from the fading dust and soon Adam followed. In one hand he held his sword and the other hand was unwrapping Blake's ribbon from his arm. Behind him was a small crater created by the force of Yang's attack, in the middle of the crater was a piece of warped metal that used to be Adam's gun… But none of them noticed that detail, they were understandably too focused on the fact that his entire body was glowing with Aura.
"You know blondie, you're not as stupid as you look," Adam said as he freed his hand from Gambol Shroud and then went to adjust his mask as he dropped Blake's weapon.
"Fuck you."
"I'd rather you didn't, who knows what disease you human sluts carry." He then took off his mask revealing a terrible burn scar on his face in the shape of the SDC logo, it was proof that he had been branded. "Humans aren't just diseased, you are the disease, and I am the cure."
Weiss gasped and Yang was taken aback by the aftermath of whatever cruelty he must have endured, it was hard not to feel some kind of sympathy for him. Even Blake winced at the reminder of what led him down this path. It was all too easy to think about the innocent boy he must have been in the past, it was all too easy to wonder where it all went wrong… which was exactly what Adam wanted.
He wanted their sympathy only so he could take advantage of it. All he needed was a moment, a brief lapse in judgment and he'd be among them like a wolf among sheep. He just needed an opening, he just needed them to feel a shred of sympathy for him… And they did. It was only for a moment and then they remembered who he was, but it was enough.
In that brief moment, Adam made his move. Indulging in his wealth of Aura, he fired off a couple of Aura slashes at the girls before empowering his legs to sprint and close the distance between himself and the girls. And he came in like a lightning bolt.
The Aura slashes reached the girls first though it didn't hit them. Instead, it hit around them and kicked up debris blocking their eyesight. Soon their eyes would clear but Adam arrived before they could and he got right behind them. Blake would be his first victim, his sword was raised and he was just about to swing at her defenseless neck but thankfully he did not get that chance.
Lie Ren appeared at Adam's side and landed an Aura-enhanced double palm strike that knocked the terrorist away several yards. And before Adam could regain his footing, a grenade landed at his feet.
*BOOM*
"Apologizes for arriving so late, Nora and I ran into some Grimm as we tried to follow you." Ren quickly explained to his friends who were both confused and grateful for his arrival.
Nora strode up beside her partner, "That's putting it lightly. But the good news is that things are finally stabilizing."
"The bad news is that none of you are going to live long enough to see how this ends," Adam said as he stood back up. The Aura that he had accumulated from blocking hits was still glowing but it was somewhat faded, the hits that he hadn't blocked weren't in vain and that was something he was keenly aware of. So instead of rushing in, he approached slowly and cautiously to try and figure out what the two newcomers were about.
This caution gave Blake the opportunity to lay out what they needed to do to win. "We need to take away his sword. His Semblance needs an object to act like a shield, it doesn't work without one."
"You're also gonna need your weapon back unless you're confident you can take him with just that cleaver," Yang pointed out.
"I'll figure it out," Blake replied as she eyed her weapon lying on the ground right behind Adam.
"And I'll help you out!" Nora said as she threw down a smoke grenade that quickly hid them all in a blanket of thick white smoke. And then she threw down several more smokescreens.
Adam paused, he wasn't sure what they were planning, and that made him feel a bit nervous. So he considered his options, the most tempting by far was using Moonslice to try and hit them despite the cover. It would cost a bit of Aura but he could make it wide enough to guarantee at least a couple of hits but he wasn't sure that it would be worth it.
So instead he decided to enhance his ears and eyes. That way he could track them despite the smoke. With his ears he heard faint footsteps in several directions and with his eyes, he saw silhouettes in the smoke surrounding him in every direction. So that's their plan, they're going to shoot me from multiple directions and wear me down. I won't be able to block all of that and those grenades… Swords can't block explosions! It's time to fall back.
Soon bullets flew at him from several directions and a grenade was fired right at him just as he had expected. And just like he had predicted, it would have been impossible for him to block. It was an excellent plan, but when the smoke cleared a major flaw with the plan was uncovered.
"He's gone!? Did he run?" Yang asked everyone.
Ren answered, "He must have taken advantage of the fact that we couldn't completely encircle him if we wanted to avoid hitting each other."
"And with all the buildings here, he could be hiding in or behind any of them," Weiss observed with a frown.
"Do we chase after him?" Nora asked.
"No," Blake answered while shaking her head. "This is one of his favorite tricks. He wants us to chase him, we better head to the library and join the people there."
"And if he attacks us again?" Yang asked her partner.
"He will. I guarantee that he will, but I'd rather force him to come to us than try to come to him."
Author Notes: Finally, the Lost Boys are gone! Jesus, those guys were such a drag that a few times I was sorely tempted to put the story on hiatus a second time so I could write them out. That way I could replace them with characters that have a logical reason to be there, like Watts or Hazel or maybe I could expand on the White Fang by including Yuma, Trifa, and maybe an OC or two so they can cover more ground!
Oh well. At least I can give Adam, Blake, and Yang the fight they deserve.
