Chapter Twenty-Five
Moving Dr. Polendina's machines out of the Atlas Command Center was proving to be a challenge. They had to get them up a floor and out through the centinel riddled hallway above. The grimm had been busy in the weeks after Atlas fell, and Ruby thought it was a miracle that they had gotten as far as they did before someone broke through some part of the structure. That it happened to be Nora was just coincidence.
Jaune, Ciel, and the others had joined them, and Ciel was currently puzzling out how best to get the aura-transfer pods back to the Manta. She wanted to rig a hoist to her Paladin and winch them up that way, the only problem was getting the Paladin into the building. Nora, watching Ciel sketch all this out on one of the walls, muttering to herself as she crossed out and redrew diagrams, made a suggestion.
"Why don't you get the hoist in place, and then we can use good old-fashioned elbow grease to lift the pods up?" she asked.
"They're a few hundred kilos apiece. Even if I worked up a pulley and lever we'd need some serious muscle to get them out," Ciel said.
"Did I hear you needed some muscle?" Yang asked, sidling over and into the conversation.
Ciel appraised her and Nora, then nodded, a considering look in her eye. "Fine, we'll do it your way. Let me get started on the pulley."
While Ciel worked on the problem of how to get the pods out of the building, Ruby explored the room Nora had found, bouncing from one discovery to another with her old glee. There were all sorts of technological bits and bobs, some intriguing, most indecipherable. Her curiosity turned to bubbling excitement when her rummaging uncovered a sleek silver pistol. She turned it over in her hands, admiring the weight and balance of it, then pointed it at the wall, feeling pleasure at the elegant, precise engineering of Atlas. What puzzled her was her inability to determine the mechanism that would drop the clip. In fact, the more she looked the gun over, the more convinced she became that it didn't take a clip, and her excitement grew. "Hey Ciel, do you know what this thing is?" she asked.
Ciel, who was dragging in some cables, dropped them at Yang's feet and went over to see what Ruby had. "Energy pistol. Uses a dust alternate. General Ironwood wanted to diversify our armaments if the dust supply ever became scarce. Had a whole division researching tech like this."
"Ooooh. I'm gonna go find me a target," Ruby said, twirling the pistol in her fingers like a duelist, eyes scanning the room.
"I'll go with her, make sure she doesn't hurt herself," Weiss said. "Come on you, let's test fire this thing away from the working folk.
"You do care!" Ruby proclaimed, throwing an arm over Weiss's shoulders.
Weiss just shook her head, but she was smiling. "Let's find you something to shoot."
Ruby bounced out of the room. "Yay!"
Weiss gave Jaune a smile as they passed in the doorway. "Ruby found herself a toy, I'm supervising."
"That looked like a gun, not a toy," Jaune said, shifting the block and tackle Ciel had asked for under one arm.
"Ruby thinks guns are toys, hence me supervising."
"Right, have fun. And be careful!" he called after Ruby.
"Sure Dad," Ruby shot back.
"Someone's in a good mood," Jaune observed.
"She is. It's good to see," Weiss said, smiling. She gave Jaune a quick kiss on the cheek and then followed Ruby.
"You're awfully chipper," Weiss said to Ruby as they searched for something to make a target out of.
Ruby grinned. "Things feel ok right now. I was really worried this mission was going to be a bust, but we found the machines, and Oscar is still hanging in there."
"He's fighting for something, I think," Weiss said, keeping a close watch on Ruby, waiting to see how her friend would react.
"We're all fighting for something, silly," Ruby said.
"That's true, and I really think he's got something special he's holding on for. He's a sweetheart, I'm glad we can help him out."
"He is! And he isn't afraid to fight for himself or others. He's really risen to the challenge Oz put on him."
"Maybe we should sit down and chat with him, after this. You, me, him and Jaune. Make sure he's doing ok."
"Weiss, that's a great idea!"
"It's a deal then," Weiss said. To herself she thought, I don't know if even Ruby knows if she likes Oscar as more than a friend or not. It is a weird situation, though, so maybe she's trying not to think about it too hard. Having a crush on someone who is also Professor Ozpin would be strange.
"Look! Target!" Ruby called out, drawing the pistol and firing before Weiss could react.
A small centinel, protruding from the wall, disappeared in a burst of green discharge. The wall around the grimm sagged and melted as the energy dissipated into it, blackening it to char. Ruby cheered. "That. Was. Awesome!"
Weiss fanned her face, trying to waft away the scent of scorched plaster and melted aluminum. That pistol packed a punch.
"I wonder how this thing works. I kinda want to take it apart and see," Ruby said, fiddling with the grip of the pistol.
"I don't think we should try, what if the cartridge explodes or something?"
"Maybe Ciel knows how we could get it open safely."
"Maybe. Why don't we head back and see how they're doing?"
Ruby holstered the energy gun. "Ok." She took off back the way they came, and then stopped abruptly at a concourse. "Hey, did you see that the jailcells were over this way?"
Weiss looked at the sign Ruby indicated. "I… Ruby, can we take a detour?"
"Sure! You want to see if there's any clues on what happened to your dad?"
"I'd like to know what happened, yes. I don't think he's alive, but some closure would be nice."
"Of course. I'll be right here with you."
Weiss led the way down the hall to the prison cells, legs stiff and heart thumping in her chest. She didn't know what she expected to find, but last she knew her father was being held as a prisoner of the kingdom. That he hadn't shown up in Vacuo suggested his death, but there was always a possibility that he had gotten out. Where he would have gone, she didn't know, but there was a chance.
The steel-shod doors that guarded the entrance to the prison stood ajar. The edge of one was scored with long scratches, bright steel shining through the gloom like an accusation. Weiss paused here, looking at this, then pushed past the doors. Inside she caught an echo of the same smell the melting wall had made when Ruby had shot the centinel, only this one had a deeper, heavier scent that reminded her of scorched flesh. Her nose wrinkled, but she kept moving forward, Ruby by her side.
In the middle of the floor, where the hard light cells would normally have stood, there was only a crater, a blackened wound in the otherwise austere environment of the prison. What happened here? Weiss thought.
Ruby poked her in the side and then pointed at a camera bulb set into the ceiling. Her meaning was clear. Maybe they could pull some footage, see what had happened. Together they found the guard station, a room safe behind thick security glass and heavy doors, and went inside. The doors, not having any power, slid open grudgingly, but they opened. Weiss sat at the desk and went over her options. The station had no power. That was expected, nothing here had power anymore. The question was whether or not she could supply power to it. Myrtenaster came out and she spun open the dust cartridge cylinder, plucking the yellow canister out with nimble fingers.
There might be an emergency power supply port somewhere, and if she could find it, she may be able to brute force the station into working by applying dust directly to it. It wasn't the most elegant plan, it smacked of something Nora would try, in fact, but she was desperate for answers.
There. Weiss crammed the dust crystal into the power supply, pulling her hand back sharply as electricity snapped at her, and then smiled as the console came to life. She had to work fast, she knew, and she was already typing as she slid into the chair. She found the security camera logs and plugged in the date of the attack, letting the footage slide by in fast forward. She stopped when she saw her father, sitting despondent in his cell.
She took a deep breath then hit play again, this time letting the video go at 1.5 times speed. As the events unfolded in the jerky, sliding fashion all sped up video has, she couldn't help but to tap her fingers on the desktop. She felt a hand cover her own and looked at Ruby, who smiled at her. Weiss turned her attention back to the screen, and scrambled to stop it. General Ironwood was outside the cell, pointing a large, silver gun directly at Jacques. With numb fingers, she hit play, and watched, horrified, as the cell disappeared in a green flash. The camera feed went white as the sensors overloaded, and then the picture came back, showing only a smoldering black crater where Jacques had been.
Ruby gasped and her fingers seized on Weiss's. "Weiss I'm so sorry!"
"He executed him. He was in a jail cell, unarmed, and Ironwood executed him." Weiss said. The little color she had drained from her face, and her hand trembled in Ruby's grasp.
"That was terrible!" Ruby said. Her eyes slid to the cratered ruin and she shuddered.
"I can't believe it. I assumed he was dead, but he didn't deserve that."
"C'mon, let's get out of here. We don't need to stay where it happened." Ruby, still holding Weiss by the hand, gently pulled her to her feet and out to the hall. Once free from the room, she crushed Weiss in a hug. She rubbed her back as she began to cry, great, shuddering sobs, and murmured consolations for a long, long time.
It was a very subdued and tear-streaked pair that returned to the group. Jaune was up and across the room immediately, asking what was wrong. Weiss collapsed into his arms, unable to form words.
"We found out what happened to Jacques. Saw it, actually. It was bad," Ruby said.
"What happened?" Yang asked.
"Ironwood… he killed him. In cold blood. Jacques was in his jail cell, and Ironwood just… shot him, with one of those energy guns." Ruby sat on a crate and rubbed her eyes.
"Weiss, I'm so sorry," Blake said. "No one deserves a death like that."
"My father wasn't a good person, but there's processes for people like him. He did terrible things, but even so, to just get murdered like that…" she trailed off as Jaune held her tight.
"No one should have to watch their dad get killed. That sucks, Weiss," Yang said.
Silence fell as they all grieved with Weiss. After a few moments, Ciel, ever a pragmatist, cleared her throat. "We got everything loaded up while you were gone. Came back to pick up anything else that might be useful. JET, Oscar, Nora and Ren are with the Manta."
Weiss wiped her eyes, sniffling. "Good. I think I'm ready to leave."
"Of course. Let's get back to Vacuo," Jaune said, still holding Weiss in an embrace.
"Back to the sunshine. Enough of the cold and ghosts," Yang said, taking point and leaving the room. Everyone followed, eager now to leave the fallen city behind.
Hours later, as the Manta slid through the star-streaked sky, Ruby got a surprise. Her scroll rang, Tai's smiling contact picture lit up on her screen, and she squealed as she answered the call with video. "Dad! It's good to see you!"
Tai chuckled in response. "Good to see you too, kiddo. How's Atlas?"
Ruby's face fell, just a bit, but enough for Tai to notice. "Our mission went well, but we found some heavy stuff out. We're on our way back to Vacuo now. And what's with the room you're in, doesn't look like Patch."
Tai looked over his shoulder at the sandstone walls, and then back to his daughter. "About that, Ruby. I'm in Vacuo now. Everything is ok. Well, more or less. Qrow and Raven are here too, but some 'heavy stuff' happened with me, too. Mostly just wanted to check on my girls while the Amity CCT is up."
Yang leaned over, stuck her head into frame and grinned. "Yo, Dad. We're doing alright. How're you?"
"I promise I'm ok. We'll have to have a sit down when you all get back. Things are moving, and we need all our pieces on the board. That includes you lot."
"We're ready to go, wherever we're needed," Ruby said.
"Glad to hear it. Be safe."
"Wouldn't dream of living dangerously, us," Yang said, winking at her dad.
Tai chuckled again, but his daughter's could sense the tension in him. "Love you guys, see you soon."
"Love you too, Dad," they chorused, and then Tai ended the call.
"You wondering what happened to get him in Vacuo?" Yang asked after Tai disappeared.
"Yeah. I know he said he was ok, but something had to have happened. I hope it wasn't anything too serious."
"We'll find out soon Sis, don't stress too much."
Ruby grinned at Yang. "Fine, I'll try not to." Internally, though, worries nagged at her. What didn't you tell us, Dad?
Author's Note
Short chapter this time, I know, but if you've been paying attention at all to the wider world outside of fanfiction, the American election happened between now and my last post, and, well, shit sucks. But election season is finally over, and my doldrums are ending as I come to terms with everything. But anyway! I'm sure ya'll don't come here for politics, so I'll leave it at that.
Everyone is on course to meet back up in Vacuo, and things are going to start happening at a quicker pace from here on out. Tai, Qrow, and Raven are reunited, SSSNN and the Summer Maiden are in route, Gillian has left Salem and taken Jax with her (more to come on that soon), and Cinder has learned of Ruby's survival. Lots of reunions and conversations coming up, and then likely quite a bit of action as we move into the true end game. Thank you as always for sticking with me!