Chapter 47
I don't own anything.
"How much further?"
I looked down at my scroll, just as eager for the answer as Pyrrha herself was. On the screen, I could see five little dots moving around, four of which were grouped together, and one other which was by its lonesome. That last, lonely little dot was Blake.
"Half a mile." I said, almost bitting the words out. Once the shock had worn off, a gaping, sucking pit had formed in my gut, steadily widening until I thought it could widen no more. Alongside me, Pyrrha, Weiss and Oobleck walked, all of us armed to the teeth. Even the doctor, who was technically here as a non-combatant had his weapon out.
"No test, nor assignment is worth the life of a student." He has said, and I couldn't help but take some comfort in the man's steady posture and pace. Where he was usually so hyperactive, now he was a rock, all that energy seemingly directed at the task at hand. I tried, very much, to match it. To appear as confident and unaffected as the doctor did, but judging by the looks I'd been getting, my efforts were mostly in vain.
Regardless, we pushed on, my eyes locked firmly on the screen in front of me now. I watched the little dots come closer, even as Blake's dot moved around on the screen. Her movements were fast, jerky, and most of all unpredictable. She dashed left, right, left again and then back, seemingly at random.
She was fighting, there was no doubt about it.
Unlike during the day, we stopped for nothing as we pursued Blake. What Grimm made the mistake of trying to get in the way died swift deaths, being sliced, stabbed, bludgeoned or even hit by elemental attacks before they could slow us down.
Neither did Oobleck stop to marvel at the architecture, the signs of divergent culture from Vale proper or the scenery. And most of all, we didn't stop for the corpses, the desiccated skeletons which had been eroded and broken down by the elements in this tomb of a city.
My eyes were still locked onto the screen when I heard it. At first, I thought it was a Grimm, after all, we'd already been ambushed by a fair few of them, but it didn't sound right. It was a skill I had picked up in the forest at night, to guess at the type of Grimm just from the sound. I'd even made a game of trying to guess at the size and strength before being able to see them. I had gotten pretty good at it.
And this, well, it didn't sound like a Grimm at all.
It was a faint, popping sound, almost like fireworks. Or guns.
It wouldn't be all that strange to hear gunshots, not if Blake was fighting. After all, she had a rifle of her own. But the rhythm was off. Too fast, too many shots. There were people here.
"People." I said quietly, unwilling to raise my voice. Pyrrha and Weiss simply nodded, coming to the same conclusion as I had. Oobleck, on the other hand, frowned.
"People, here in Mt. Glenn? Could it not just be Miss Belladonna?" He asked, and I shook my head.
"No." I looked back to where the sound was coming from. "Gambol Shroud has a small magazine and Blake uses her ammo sparingly. It can't be her."
"Then we need to be prepared for combat. Remain quiet, signal with gestures if you can, otherwise speak quietly from now on." The doctor said, his voice dropping to a whisper as he pointed forwards, nodding.
It wasn't long before my theory was proven correct.
As we came upon an intersection, we heard a pair of voices from our right. In the distance to our left, the sounds of gunfire still sounded, louder now that we weren't so far. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but they were getting closer.
I looked back at the others, pointed at the corner of the intersection and received a round of nods from them. We moved quietly, careful not to alert the potential enemies as we lined up against the wall of the building on the corner. It was a smaller branch of a convenience store I had become familiar with since I'd come to Vale proper, not offering us much in the way of cover.
It didn't offer them any cover either, though.
Through the remains of what had once been in the display, I could just about make out the twin figures that came closer and closer to the intersection. Even in the low light, it wasn't hard to spot just who they were.
"White Fang." I said, quietly hissing the word out so they wouldn't be alerted. I ignored the wide eyes, and the furious look on Weiss' face, and crept closer to the corner instead. Listening closely, I could almost see them in my minds eye. Every crunch of their boots on what little broken glass remained next to the store, a step. Every rustle of cloth, a gesture.
To the others, I held up a hand.
5…
4…
3…
2…
1
At the last, I pointed for us to go. Just as the White Fang members walked by. They didn't stand a chance.
Before they could even register what was happening, the edge of my shield crashed into one of their skulls, their aura shattering around them in a flash of blue light as they fell to the ground, unconscious. The other had just enough time to widen their eyes before Pyrrha was upon them, Miló's haft cracking them in the skull, even as a glyph formed under them and froze them over. Another hit from Pyrrha made them slump over in their icy bindings.
Overkill, maybe. But we weren't taking any chances.
"We need to move." Now that the immediate threat had been dealt with, the implications of the White Fang being here hit me all at once. It also explained why Blake was still out here. My nostrils flared and the gaping pit of fear that's been eating at me set itself alight. I didn't mind, the anger helped me focus.
I took my scroll out again, looking over the map quickly.
"Two blocks." I said, narrowing me eyes. The gunshots had stopped for the moment, but Blake was still moving around, still fighting.
I set off at a run, the others following close behind as we closed in on Blake like a pack of Beowolves on some prey.
The closer we got, the faster we moved. By the time we got to the street she was on, we were running at a dead sprint, my scroll disappearing into my pocket as I drew Crocea Mors.
Whereas most of the city was a crypt, silent as a grave. This street was alive. As I turned the corner, I immediately spotted nine different members of the White Fang spread throughout the street as they chased down a lone figure in Black.
Blake, for her part, suddenly stood still. As a sword tore into her, I let out a sigh of relief.
It was a clone.
A second later, she was behind her assailant, Gambol Shroud's edge sending purple sparks into the night as it broke the man's aura. Then, there were eight.
I rushed forward, holding my shield out in front of me, charging like a bull. I crashed into a man with deer antlers sticking up out of his brown hair, breaking his aura in a single hit. He flew back, green sparks flying off him as he tumbled over the ground, out cold. I turned, only to see a blur of brown and green smacking around a pair of White Fang members, not giving them even the chance to raise their defences. It was Oobleck.
The man had to be as fast as Ruby was.
I shook my head and turned back to the remaining White Fang, two of which were trying fruitlessly to stop Pyrrha from battering them around as two of them focused on Weiss, one charging while the other stayed behind and laid covering fire. The white-haired girl was having none of it, though.
A glyph formed on the floor between her and the charging opponent, the floor freezing over in an instant. He slipped, though he recovered quickly, only to take the tip of Weiss' rapier to the chest.
The last member of the White Fang was near Blake, swinging wildly as she tried to take down at least one of us. Blake, for her part, was simply ducking and weaving between the strikes, seemingly with little difficulty. Only, Blake wasn't hitting back.
Before I knew it, I was there. I crashed into the other woman's back, Crocea Mors' tip digging into her armour and sparking off her aura as it cracked from the force of the stab. Blake, seeing an opening, simply swung Gambol Shroud's pommel into the White Fang member's temple with enough force to knock her out.
Just then, the sounds of combat that had plagued the street seemed to quiet down, returning the street to the mausoleum silence I'd grown used to. Weiss, done with her own opponents, rushed towards us in a blur of white.
"Blake!" Myrtenaster was back in its sheath and in an instant, Weiss had her hands on Blake's shoulders, checking her over for injuries.
Blake, for her part, bore the inspection with remarkable patience, though looking closer, I could see why. While she seemingly had no injuries, she looked exhausted. Even now, she swayed ever so slightly on her feet. And while I couldn't be sure, I wouldn't bet on her aura being anywhere near full either.
After all, while the White Fang members we'd met so far weren't all that strong, a bullet was still a bullet, and even the best Huntsmen couldn't dodge those.
"I'm fine." She finally said as both Pyrrha and Oobleck joined us as well.
"That is good to hear, Miss Belladonna." Oobleck said, turning to look around the street at the unconscious bodies strewn around. "Now, I believe we should be moving on. I, for one, do not wish to find out how many more members the White Fang has dedicated to this ruin."
"We can't!" Blake's outburst seemed to catch the others off-guard, but I wasn't much surprised. It only made that fire in my gut burn hotter. I was about to snap at her, opening my mouth before I even knew what I wanted to say, but the doctor beat me to it.
"I assure you that we can, and more than that, that we must." He said, and I found myself glad once again for that steady, calming presence. I closed my mouth with an audible click. "As much as the White Fang is a problem, and despite your previous experience with them, I will not risk the lives of students when I can simply call in reinforcements after we have been extracted."
"It's a bomb!" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Oobleck frown, and I found myself doing much the same, only for Blake to continue. "The Dust they stole, they're loading it onto a train and plan to blow it up in Vale."
"The amount of Dust they stole-"
"Is of no consequence!" Oobleck said, his voice rising for the first time. "We know where those train tracks lead. In the event that they do succeed in sending the train into the city, the area would be evacuated and surrounded before the bomb could do anything more than superficial damage."
"And that," A voice cut in, "is why I cannot allow you to leave here." It was gruff, deep and held a calm authority that made me stand up just a little straighter. We turned to face it, and found another two-dozen members of the White Fang stood at the street's entrance.
"Adam…" Blake all but breathed the name out, but in the silence that followed the man's declaration, it carried.
"Blake." The man who'd spoken stood at the helm of the new group, giving Blake a small nod. He was tall, taller than I was at least. His hair was a dark, deep red that reminded me of blood. From his scalp, two small, black horns jutted out.
He, too, wore a mask. Thought it was different from the others. Instead of the grey they had, his was a pure white half-mask, carved with intricate red patterns. It reminded me of the Grimm, and I had to wonder if that was the point.
"I had heard the rumours, but I didn't want to believe it at first." His voice remained calm, steady, but Blake seemed to shrink into herself as the man addressed her. "Blake Belladonna, daughter of the Fang, working with a Schnee." And for the first time, that calm persona cracked as the redhead spat Weiss' name like a curse.
"I…' Blake tried to talk, but her voice was quiet, small. I'd never heard her like this. It felt like I'd swallowed a brick.
"No." The man, Adam, said, cutting her off. "I think I have been lenient enough." Adam took a step forward, his left hand falling to the sheath on his waist.
"I'm afraid I cannot let my students come to harm." The doctor said, stepping forward, staff at the ready. Then, seemingly without warning, the man shot forward in a blur of green.
Only, he never got to Adam. Halfway down the street, another figure appeared, a familiar weapon locked against the doctor's staff.
"Sorry Barty, can't let you do that." Dressed in his signature white coat, Roman Torchwick now stood in the middle of the road.
A little cliffhanger for you all. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed. Let me know what you thought, as always.
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Have a good one
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