Iris in general was anything but a coward, that's not to say that she was reckless though it would be understandable why someone might come to that conclusion especially if they were to see her in the distance leaping from building to building as she made her deliveries. However, a closer inspection would reveal that the risks she took were all calculated and that she was well equipped to handle any complication that might arise, even if there wasn't much that could challenge a Would-Be-Huntress with a semblance that allowed her to glide through the air. She was brave but cautious and took great pride in that, so when she returned home after a day of semi-honest work and found the door to her apartment unlocked, her rather sensible reaction was to drop everything she was carrying, promptly arm herself with her bow as she carefully and slowly opened the door to peek in... and see nothing. Nothing was out of place, nothing was missing, nothing had been added and there was no sign of any intruders. At this point, any other person might have concluded that they had accidentally left their door unlocked, however, that was a problem for people who were either forgetful or careless, and neither applied to her. So after scanning the interior one last time she cautiously entered her own home and made her way through, making sure to never leave her back exposed. It was a slow tedious process but it was one she was dedicated to seeing through, then her perseverance paid off when she saw that something was out of place but at the very same time, it made her heart drop.
The door to her special room was wide open.
"Shit!" abandoning all her earlier caution she bolted inside the room and began examining every inch from the floor to the ceiling and found to her relief that nothing seemed to have been altered, "Oh thank god! It's all still in one piece but the open door still means that someone was in my apartment, I bet it was that bitch Thumbelina!" Making her way out of the modified closet she walked across her living room and over to her safe, opened it up, and began counting everything inside. It took a few minutes and a couple of recounts but she joyfully closed the safe after finding that everything was still there, Maybe I did just forget to lock the door but what about the closet? I only open it when I'm going inside and I was saving that for tonight.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door and an unknown voice was heard, "Hello, is there anyone here? Your door is wide open and you left your stuff outside, are you there?"
"Yes! I'm here! Don't worry about anything and I'll be there in a moment!" She called back and placed her bow on the ground so as not to accidentally scare the stranger who she naturally assumed was a neighbor.
"Oh don't mind me! I'll just put your things inside for you!"
"Don't come inside!" Iris shouted as she ran to the door only to stop in shock when she saw who it was, Why? Why is Roman Torchwick standing at my door? My bow! I left it back in the closet, Shit!
He was just standing at her doorway looking smug and out of place as he held her things up in one hand while twirling his cane in the other, "Well I have to come inside if I want to properly return this to you like a good law-abiding citizen would do. Unless of course, you want to come over to me." He waited for her to answer before shrugging, stepping inside her apartment without her permission, and placing her stuff on the floor. "Alright I suppose my little joke has gone a bit too far so, can we get down to business?"
"Your little joke…you! You broke into my home! You… you saw it!" she spoke that last part in a barely audible whisper but the gentleman thief didn't need to hear her to know what she said.
"Your drug stash and that special closet? Yes, I did and can I say that I am morbidly impressed! I didn't think that it was possible for someone to get hooked on that stuff." He took a step towards her and she instinctively took a step back not out of fear but rather to prepare herself for a potential fight which made the thief chuckle. "Relax I'm not here to threaten you, I have no reason to. Rather I'm here to give you a job offer!"
"I'm not a thief!"
"But you are an addict and that's what's important right now because your suppliers are going to be history before the end of the week." He paused for a moment to gauge her reaction in order to better decide which direction to take the conversation and noticed that she had a slight tremble despite her attempts to remain in control, Desperation, even the thought of going without Rage is frightening for her. For a moment he felt the pang of the tarred remains of his guilty conscience and considered just apologizing for the inconvenience and walking away to never show his face to her again but that act of kindness came at a cost he wasn't willing to pay, though even knowing that didn't help him feel any better about it.
Torchwick looked away for one moment and that was all Iris needed to push as much Aura as possible into her legs and dash towards the closet where she had foolishly left her weapon behind, only for something to hit her right in the face with enough force to send her sprawling to the ground clenching her head in surprise more than pain, What the fuck was that!? She could hear the sound of heels walking out of the closet and towards her but without a weapon at hand, there was really nothing she could do except try and put some distance between her and whoever it was.
"Thanks for the save Neo," his partner smiled and walked over to him, "I was just overthinking a little. I'll be fine," she pointed at Iris who was getting up. "Don't worry about her, I think she'll behave from here on. Now please keep an eye out for trouble and we'll rob an ice cream place afterward, okay?" He couldn't help but smile as he watched her happily skip out of the room as her Semblance activated, changing her appearance to someone else. After she was gone he then turned back to the business at hand, "Look kid here's the deal. The police know where the Rage is being stored and they are going to raid it, however, someone is going to beat them to the punch." This immediately caught her attention and gave her some hope, "What they will find isn't important, what is important is what will be done with the stuff."
"You're offering me some?" she asked trying not to come off as desperate.
"A lifetime supply," the way her eyes lit up was all the confirmation he needed so he reached into his coat, pulled out a picture, and handed it to her, "This is your target, tomorrow you'll get a package and inside you'll find a device that you are to use on her as well as all the information you'll need to do it. There is no time limit but I strongly recommend that you get this done as soon as possible as that's when you'll receive payment." He turned around and began walking out of the room.
"And what if I refuse? What's stopping me from just reporting this to the police?"
"Well that's an empty threat but sure, I can play along," he answered while turning around and taking a step towards the door. "The police don't have a clue about us and even if they did they have their hands full with more obvious threats but as for your retaliation... We're going to do nothing! But don't celebrate just yet because the withdrawal is going to do the work for us."
"Withdrawal!?" It wasn't a question but rather a realization of the situation that she was in.
"Everything comes with a price tag and your hobby is no different... I'm going, to be frank with you kid. You did this to yourself, I don't know why you did it and I really don't care. But the fact is without Rage you will die and it will not be something peaceful… I'm sorry kid," Roman walked out of the apartment leaving Iris completely alone and scared.
Dr. Riviera handed Jaune a beer mug filled with hot tea and sat down, "So Glynda has been telling me that you've improved significantly since your first exercise session, congratulations!"
"Thanks, I'll admit that it hasn't been easy even with all the extra help we've been receiving but we're pulling through. Though I can't help but feel nervous and it's not about whether we can physically pull it off, it's… what if I'm wrong and this drug has nothing to do with what happened to me?"
"Then I suppose you'll just have to somehow find a way to survive with the satisfaction of only playing an important role in the removal of perhaps the most dangerous drug to ever hit the streets of Vale," the Doctor answered with a smile inciting a bout of laughter from both men.
"Well if you put it that way I suppose it doesn't sound too bad," Jaune chuckled for a bit, "But you are right, I am overthinking it," he took a drink of the tea, "It's funny before all this happened to me, overthinking wasn't something that anyone could accuse me of."
"Circumstances change people, besides it's far better to overthink a problem rather than ignore it completely. So please, I don't care how small it is or how insignificant it is as long as it's something you want to get off of your chest."
Jaune closed his eyes for a moment, It was just a nightmare but… "There is one thing that might be nothing or it could be everything." He knew that Rivera could be trusted to listen to everything he wanted to say but for whatever reason, the good Doctor seemed especially interested in what he had to say, which was rather encouraging for the young man. "Recently I had another nightmare and it started the same as it usually does."
"The Docks?" Rivera asked to make sure they were both on the same page.
"Yes exactly, then it transitioned to my house and sisters but after that, it transitioned again into a bar," Jaune explained.
"A bar? That is new, what happened?"
"There was this guy, I couldn't make out his face but he offered me a drink and I…," Here, a toast to the young hero…No! Please No! Keep that away from me… Mom! Dad! Saph! Please someone anyone please help me! Save me! Please! It was just a dream but he had felt so helpless, for a moment his hands began to unconsciously tremble.
"It's alright, there is nothing wrong with what you are feeling. It's actually a good thing because we cannot conquer the fears which we refuse to acknowledge." Rivera assured him, Now if only that bitch had learned that lesson...
"Thank you," recomposing himself he looked the psychologist dead in the eye and said, "I think I had a memory of what happened to me... a memory of how I ended up this way."
Riviera leaned in completely enraptured by what he was hearing but at the same time deeply concerned, Ozpin will want to know about this in fact he's probably recording all of this right now but that's not the real problem. The actual issue is that this could be a case of false hope if this lead turns out to be nothing it... No, he can handle it. He has the support he needs and people who will push him in the right direction.
Taking comfort in Rivera's obvious interest, Jaune pushed himself forward, "In this memory or dream or whatever it turns out to be, I was in a bar when this guy appeared and offered me a drink that was just wrong. It's hard to describe it but, there was something evil inside it and when I refused he... forced the drink down my throat and a part of me just knew that whatever was inside that drink is responsible for everything!"
There was a lot that Rivera wanted to tell him but couldn't, for example, Qrow's investigation into what happened to the boy had revealed that there was indeed a man at the bar who according to witnesses had approached the boy and offered to buy him a drink under the pretense of celebrating his acceptance into Beacon. Even more interesting was those very same witnesses all claimed that the man had left just before Jaune's problems began, But, there is nothing apart from an odd bit of timing to suggest that the guy had anything to do with this! Even if that man was responsible, we still have no idea who he actually was! I need to approach this carefully, first I need to find out what he wants to do. "So, then what comes next?"
"I had this idea that I wanted to run by you before I try anything potentially stupid," Jaune fidgeted for a moment feeling just a tinge of doubt over his idea but knew that he'd regret not bringing it up when he had the chance, "After the raid, I want to go to a bar and see if I can trigger anything."
"Alright."
"What?" he was surprised, That wasn't the answer I'd thought I'd get!
The Doctor was more than happy to explain himself to the poor boy, "If this is something that you feel that you need to do in order to gain some closure then, I support it. All I ask is that you'll allow me to accompany you along with anyone else you want to be there!"
*BBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRZZZZZZZZZ*
The moment was shattered by an alarm on Jaune's scroll going off but it wasn't just any alarm, it was a special alarm that was programmed into every student's scroll and would only ever go off when there was an emergency that required immediate attention. So without hesitation he grabbed the device and checked to see what was so important that they needed the alarm to reach him and then nearly dropped the scroll when he saw what it was, "The raid is happening now!" he put down the mug and began making his way to the door.
Riviera was so shocked that for a moment he believed that he must have misheard, "What!? How can that be?" he asked while watching his patient leave and making no attempt to stop him.
"I'm sorry but I don't know!" Jaune slammed the door shut in his rush to exit leaving Riviera with nothing to do but pray for their success and safety.
Speed is king, that was a lesson that every Huntsman worth the skin on their back knew by heart but it was so much more than physical speed. Situations could change in a moment and Huntsmen had to be ready to respond whenever, however, it happened and they had to be flexible in their approach even if it meant doing something uncomfortable. In a small way, Jaune put that lesson into practice by heading straight for the launch pads rather than the locker rooms choosing instead to use his scroll in order to the send the locker on ahead to his final destination, sure it would mean having to change in public with nothing but a flimsy curtain to provide privacy but if a little bit of public embarrassment was enough to stop him then he had no right to be in Beacon.
The reward for this course of action was that he was able to take a far more direct path to reach the landing pads where he found his team, still in their uniforms, climbing aboard the vehicle with the help of Sun and Neptune who were already dressed in their combat gear, I've never seen either one wear a uniform, do they even own one? "Sorry for making you all wait!" he said as he climbed aboard and after making a show of looking around then said in an attempt to lighten the heavy mood, "Well I guess that means I won't be the only changing right in the middle of a busy street!" There was an awkward moment of silence but then it was broken by a round of chuckling from his rather grateful friends.
Pyrrha was the first to speak, "Oh I needed that but, you don't worry about it! In situations like this, the lockers are programmed to land close enough to each other so that the curtains can be used to create an impromptu dressing room," then a thought entered into her head, "That does, however, mean that we'll all have to share the room with each other, will you be okay with that?"
"Absolutely," Jaune and Nora answered at exactly the same time leading to more giggles from everyone and slight embarrassment for their respective partners who didn't really mind, anything that could help them get comfortable was more than welcome.
Sun opened his mouth to add something when Neptune gently elbowed him and pointed at his scroll, "Thanks for reminding me," he whispered before turning his attention to everyone else, "Hey guys I'm sorry to have to kill the mood like this but this something that you all need to see before we get there," he said as he offered his scroll to Jaune and Pyrrha while Neptune shared his with Nora and Ren. What they saw was a live news broadcast coming from their destination along with the bizarre sight of two different rows of cars completely blocking off the road and isolating a building from the rest of Vale, the building that they were supposed to raid.
"This is Tony Chamomile reporting live from the site of one of the two major car accidents that have somehow completely cut off a portion of 13th street as well as all access from the building caught in-between. But the strangest part is that eyewitnesses are claiming that this was no accident!" The camera then panned away from the reporter to give a better view of the chaos and a small but growing crowd who was being pushed away from the wall of cars by the police who were making space for the Bullhead's arrival. Thanks to the cameraman they were able to get a better look at the accidents, there was a truck stretching across the narrow street with a couple of smaller cars closing up the gaps in such a manner that they all soon realized were far too complete to be just a coincidence and then the cameraman moved to another spot to gain a better view and what they say only proved their suspicions correct. In between both walls of vehicles were several empty vans parked right in front of a narrow eight-story tall apartment building that was never really completed and was supposedly where Rage was being stored.
Pyrrha suddenly let out an audible gasp as her eyes widened in shock as a revelation hit her with the force of a train, "They knew we were coming! There is no other possible explanation, they somehow knew that the raid was scheduled for the end of the week but, how?! Unless…," She didn't want to say it but it was already too late, everyone was already thinking the same thing, The timing is too perfect to be a mere coincidence, there's a traitor, either in the police or… in Beacon itself.
The reporter's voice brought her attention back to the screen, "Thankfully there has been no report of injury but at the same time nobody has been able to enter the building in order to check on the condition of the people inside." The cameraman then refocused on Tony, "That being said, according to eyewitnesses, early in the morning a convoy of cars drove up to the abandoned apartment complex and parked right in the middle of the street, interrupting the flow of traffic. Then several still unidentified individuals left their vehicles and entered the building, shortly afterward the truck then rammed into the walls of a neighboring building as the other cars followed suit, crashing into the truck and then each other creating the two walls that we see here and as stated earlier: Cutting themselves and the apartment off from the rest of Vale. Police then arrived on the scene and any attempt to communicate with these individuals has gone unanswered."
Jaune tightened his fists with such force that his nails began cutting into his palms but he didn't feel any pain, he didn't even notice when he started bleeding or his body stitching the cuts close, all he felt right now was growing frustration, This was my chance to finally learn what happened to me! Even if the drug turned out to have nothing to do with it then at least I would have the satisfaction of knowing that, but I guess even something like that was just too much to ask! Suddenly he felt all that anger fading away, he noticed Ren's hand on his shoulder and could feel his friend Aura washing over him and taking away all that rising fury, "Thanks Ren, I needed that."
"Anytime," Ren answered as they turned their attention back onto the news.
The reporter then walked up to a stern-looking woman in a police uniform who seemed to be in charge, "With me right now is Captain Jacqueline Dews who has graciously agreed to explain the situation and dispel any rumors about what is actually going on," He then offered her the microphone, "Captain?"
"Well, I'm not going to waste anyone's time by beating around the bush and giving you all some half-baked truths, because at this point, you'dn't believed me and I don't blame you. So here is what's really going down, we are moving forward with the assumption that the witness reports are true and that this is a hostile takeover."
"So what does that exactly mean?" Tony asked for the sake of the audience.
"It means that police negotiators are working hard to make contact with this unknown party to try and see if it is possible to avoid violence. If that fails then we're bringing in the Vale Special Police and Recon to breach and enter the building, this will be done with the aid of some students from both Beacon and Haven Academy who are on their way as we speak. In the meantime, we have some officers doing their best to find all other possible entrances into the building, Vale's Central Hospital has been informed and is sending paramedics over while preparing to receive patients. We are doing our best to avoid a confrontation but we won't back down if they force our hands," she bluntly stated.
"Wow, thank you for sharing so much Captain I'm sure everyone back home appreciates your honesty!"
"It was my pleasure, besides if there is even a fraction of a chance that whoever is inside is watching then this will be wor-!," suddenly she was cut off by an alarm on her scroll going off. Without any hesitation, she turned away from the camera to check to see what was going on and a second later she silenced the alarm before turning back to the reporter, "I'm sorry Tony but I'm going to need you to make some space, the assistance from Beacon will be here soon."
"We will?" Pyrrha asked much to the confusion of Sun and Neptune.
"You live here for the last few months, so shouldn't you know?" asked Neptune.
"Vale is a big place and I don't get to leave Beacon very often. If anyone knows how close we are, it would be Jaune," she answered much to his surprise.
"Why would I know about Vale's capital, when I'm Mistralian?"
"What!?" Nora shouted, "How come you never told us you were from Mistral? I'm Mistralian too and so is Ren but you already knew that, wait... Wait for a second!" Her eyes narrowed as she started to scratch her chin while pacing around the vehicle, "How is it that Team PRAN is made up of four foreign students all from the same kingdom when the process was supposed to be random? And on top of that, we are working together with two other students from the same kingdom!" Then with stylistic flair Detective, Nora Valkyrie made her case, "There is something foul afoot!" She dramatically declared capturing the full attention of everyone around her!
"Actually, I'm from Vacuo," replied Sun.
"Well there goes my theory though I guess it really isn't that weird now that I think about it," she admitted.
However Neptune wasn't ready to let it go just yet, "Wait, how is that not weird?"
She gave the guy a big smile before happily launching into an explanation, "Well Ren and I were always going to be partners, likewise Pyrrha had already decided she wanted Jaune as her partner, and let's be honest there was no way he was ever going to escape her!" Realizing how bad that sounded Pyrrha tried to interject in order to explain herself but Nora ignored her and kept going much to her leader's embarrassment, "After that, we all just happened to pick the castle piece resulting in PRAN! So how does Haven make teams?"
"Well you go through initiation first and if you worked with anyone during the trial then you're partnered with them and after that, it's a lottery to fill in the gaps," Neptune explained, "I worked with Sun which made us partners and both Sage and Scarlet were from the lottery."
Sun opened his mouth to help explain but stopped when he felt the Bullhead slowing down, "Are we already here?" then the doors opened up revealing the barricaded street below. Peeking out, he saw the police keeping people away from the lockers that were already there and awaiting their owners, "Alright, Neptune and I will go talk to the captain while you guys get ready! Deal?"
"Deal!" they answered together before jumping out as a team and once they were in their combat gear, they met with Captain Dews.
Wasting no time the Captain started, "Alright we got a lot to cover so save your questions to the end, okay?"
"Understood," Pyrrha spoke on the behalf of her team.
"Good, so here the gist of the situation: We don't know who those assholes with the cars were, we don't know what their goals are, how they even found out about the raid, if they have hostages or even if they are armed but treat them as hostile, got it?"
"We'll break their knees!" Nora confidently stated.
The Captain kept going as though she wasn't at all bothered by the declaration or maybe she was just ignoring it, "Professor Goodwitch told me what to expect from you guys so I already know how to split you all up, Nora and Jaune, I'm putting you both on Entry Team A and I want you to breach the door and lead the charge. Once inside, search everything and keep an eye out for the basement, we think that is where the Drugs are being kept." She then pointed to the roof of the building, "We have a Bullhead standing by to take Entry Team B up to the top and I want Sun, Neptune, and Ren on that team. Once you're up there wait for me to give the order before entering the building, there shouldn't be anything in the first couple of floors but check everything anyway." She then looked right at Pyrrha, "I'm putting you on a marksman team, if you see anything that is even remotely weird, report it immediately! Does anyone have any questions?"
After a few moments, Pyrrha stepped forward, "I think we understand everything, Captain."
"Good, we got some radios and body cameras for you guys but before you go there is one more thing I need to say," She looked around for a second as though she was checking to see if anyone was listening in before stepping close and speaking in a hushed tone, "The council wants this issue resolved today and they don't care what we have to do to accomplish that."
"What are you saying?" Jaune whispered to her.
"What I'm saying is this, the council is prepared to accept all responsibility for whatever may happen here as long we find Rage." She then walked away letting the implication sink in a bit, it wasn't a possibility that they wanted to imagine but sometimes the
Jaune couldn't help but feel nervous as he stood in front of the doorway with Nora and an entire Entry Team right behind him though, it was small comfort to know that he was far from the only one feeling the jitters and who could blame them when the whole reason they were here was that some unknown 3rd party was now inside waiting for them? You cannot conquer what you refuse to acknowledge, that was perhaps the best piece of advice he ever got, It's certainly much better than, all you need is confidence… though I definitely could use some of that right now, we all could. He took a few practice swings with a borrowed police baton, it felt very different from Corcea Mors but thanks to Glynda he wasn't a complete novice and if things went wrong then… he looked at his sheathed sword, Let's hope that things don't go wrong. Marching up to the front door he stood to one side as Nora stood on the other with Magnhild in grenade launcher form and preloaded with smoke and flashbang grenades. The only thing that was preventing them from entering was that the negotiator was making one final attempt to make contact, and it failed.
"Begin the Operation," ordered Captain Dews.
Jaune kicked the door wide open then moved out of the way as Nora stepped in and fired a flashbang through the entrance as they both ducked for cover. Their hearts were pounding with anticipation as the grenade went off, stunning anyone that may have been waiting for them and the moment it was safe, the pair raised their weapons and led the charge into the building's main lobby but found nothing and no one, Well that explains why they never answered back or maybe they're just hiding somewhere else. In mere moments they were joined by the rest of the Entry Team who began spreading out and searching the floor for any signs of the drugs or for anybody at all, it was a thorough process that required entering every room, searching it from top to bottom peeking into every corner and investigating anything that could even be conceivably be used to hide anything at all. Given the size of the building, it was a task that would've taken a better part of the day had anyone been living here but even empty rooms had hiding places that needed to be found no matter how long it took, But if it is what it takes then I'm more than happy to do it, he thought to himself as he entered a room and began searching it.
The first step was to make sure that the dwelling was truly unoccupied which was a lesson that Glynda made sure that he and the rest of the team fully understood and knew how to do properly. Fortunately, a few other members of the Entry Team followed into the room which would expedite the process, and if they ran into any trouble, there were plenty of others that would come to their aid, But it would be even better if they didn't have too. He carefully looked inside what he assumed was once meant to be a closet and found it to be as empty as the rest of the room, The whole reason we are here is because of that wall of cars and the men who forced their way inside this building so if we can't find them here than that means they are on the upper floors… or the basement, either one would result in a nasty fight. He stepped away from the closet and moved to what he assumed would have been a bathroom and entered it with his shield raised just as he did with the closet, it was also empty, Well no one has sounded the alarm so nothing has been found yet, but they were seen entering this building and there's no way in but the front door… something very weird is going on here. Suddenly his radio came to life and he heard Pyrrha's voice coming through but far more importantly, he noticed the concern in every syllable that she spoke.
"There's movement on the third floor," she reported. "A man just broke out of one of the rooms, he's alone, appears unarmed and his clothing doesn't match the description of the intruders but he is acting weird, I think he's sick!"
"Copy that, continue to monitor him and keep me up to date," Captain Dews answered her before addressing everyone else inside the building, "Clear the floor you are on first before heading upstairs, remember that they can't leave the building without us knowing so focus on checking everything!"
"Yes, sir!"
The report put a pit in Jaune's stomach as he considered what it meant, on one hand, he was now one step closer to learning either something about his condition or crossing off a dead end on the list, which also helped him but, Ren, Sun, and Neptune are going to be sent in soon and now we know that there are people up there... a fight might be unavoidable, stay safe guys. Leaving the room he found that the other officers had already finished checking out this particular section and were about to move on and with no reason to stay he joined them so they could continue the search elsewhere, We're probably nearly done on this floor which means that we'll be-!, He was snapped out of his thoughts by Nora's voice coming through his radio.
"Um, I think we might have a problem," she was speaking in an uncharacteristically calm manner, that she only ever used when she was being serious, "I'm standing in front of a wall that according to the blueprints, is right where the basement entrance is supposed to be. I'm sending you a picture of it now, Ma'am."
Captain Dews quickly answered, "Copy that, I've received the photo and we have your location, we're going to double-check this against our own copy of the blueprints, for now, standby and await further instructions. Jaune, I want you there with her and be ready for combat, the rest of Entry team A can ascend to the second floor as soon as the first is secure. Entry team B, I want you to enter the building now and do a sweep through, prioritize caution. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
Sun was the first one inside with Ren and Neptune catching up to him only a few seconds later then without any words, the three got to work securing the floor. They were nearly done by the time the rest of the Entry Team arrived but that was more due to how this part of the building had been left largely incomplete rather than their own skill. In fact, there were so few places to hide that it was a real temptation to just skip this floor and possibly the next one entirely but it was better to look and find nothing than to assume and miss something vital. Before long every inch of the floor had been searched and the Team began to make their way down to the seventh floor with the trio leading the charge.
"I don't like this," Sun spoke to his friends as they went through the door and down the stairway which connected all the floors, "We're going to end up trapping these guys between ourselves and the Entry Team below, and when that happens any chance of an easy job goes right out the window. There's no other way this can possibly end, not with preparations these crooks have made," he was now standing at the door to the seventh floor and after waiting few moments for everyone to prepare, he opened it and ran inside along with everyone else.
"Do you doubt we can handle it?" Ren asked as he made the way through the barren floor finding it almost as empty as the one above, They didn't even finish making the walls, "Or do you think we've been tricked somehow?" he added remembering the wall that Nora had found.
"Definitely the latter, everything about this is just too weird," answered Sun as he looked around for anything worthwhile but finding nothing, then his and everyone else's radio came to life with Pyrrha's voice coming in loud and clear.
"The man from earlier is heading to the stairs, he's going down to the second floor and… there's someone else!" Then they heard her gasp, "They've begun to fight each other! But why? All they did was look at… oh, no." She never finished that sentence but everyone understood perfectly what had happened, Rage.
Captain Dews moved quickly to try and take control of the situation, "Entry Team A, send some people up there now! Nora, I need you to wait a little longer."
"Right away, Sir!"
"Okay, Ma'am!"
The Trio along with the rest of the Entry Team were already making their way to the sixth floor and when they arrived they found to their collective relief nothing and no one out in the open waiting for them. Unfortunately, the construction company was able to put some serious work into this floor before the project had been axed, which meant unlike the first two floors this one had actual rooms and they all had to be searched before they could move on. "Well at least they never got around to put any doors up here so that's going help speed things up a bit," Neptune observed as he ran into one of the rooms and just like he had hoped found it devoid of anything at all, "Clear!" he shouted before running into another one to repeat the process but stopped dead in his tracks when the radio came to life again.
"This is Franklin from Entry Team A, we've found the two men from earlier, and I'm sorry Captain but they're dead. I don't know what happened but it seems that they killed each other with their bare hands, wait a second! I just heard something… it coming from one of the closed rooms, there's a person trapped inside! There are people locked inside of all these rooms!"
"Damn it," Captain Dews answered grimly, "Let the people in those rooms know that help is coming but wait for the rest of your team before trying to-!" Suddenly Pyrrha along with several of the other riflemen joined together in a confusing cacophony of voices that interrupted the Captain who along with everyone else was trying in vain to interpret what they were saying, "Enough!" She finally shouted, silencing everyone, "Browns, what is happening?"
"Sir, on the third and fourth floor…"
Sun, Neptune, and even Ren stopped listening to their radios and with zero hesitation bolted to the stairs where they began to descend with reckless haste skipping the fifth floor to go right into the fourth. When they arrived what greeted them was the sight of rattling doors as their ears were assaulted by the sound of pounding limbs and angry screams as the people inside struggled to escape. Then one of the doors suddenly broke wide open and a man came stumbling out of the room his fists clenched in fury and his knuckles raw, bleeding, mangled, and full of splinters but he was too angry to even notice. But more importantly, the sight of those hands made the trio realize to their horror that the man before them did not have his Aura unlocked which meant that he was almost certainly a civilian, and when he turned to face them their hearts sank further, "Rage," Ren spoke in a soft whisper, "That man is high on Rage which must mean the other two men that Pyrrha saw earlier, the ones who killed each other… shit."
With a feral cry, the drugged man threw himself at the Huntsmen not caring how much damage he did to his own body as long as he had something he could take his fury out on but, before he even came close Neptune raised his rifle, shot the man in the chest and brought him down. "He's not dead," he explained, "Tri-Hard uses lighting Dust and I can lower the settings to turn this thing into a taser but-!," before he could finish, another door broke open and a woman began to emerge, however before she could do anything Neptune shot her as well and she dropped to the floor unconscious. "Aura or no Aura these guys are not going to stay down forever," he said just before several doors began to break as a handful of men and women both human and Faunus started forcing themselves outside and some of them were even armed with makeshift clubs made of what looked to be broken furniture and whatever else might have been in those rooms.
The whole thing was spiraling into an extremely dangerous situation but not for the Huntsmen, the three of them were more than capable of defeating this group of enraged civilians. The danger laid in the threat these people posed to themselves and each other, the slightest perceived provocation would trigger a chain reaction whose final result would be the group tearing itself to pieces just like the two men from earlier had. Something needed to be done and it needed to happen right now so Ren put away one of his pistols and placed the palm on his hand on the floor before turning to his companions, "I can use my Semblance to pacify a few of the people in front, that should give you an opportunity to neutralize them and grab the attention of everyone else."
"Leave it to us," Sun said as he checked the safeties on his weapon Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang so they wouldn't accidentally go off and potentially kill one of these people.
"Why only the first few?" Neptune asked out of genuine curiosity as he switched Tri-Hard to trident mode in preparation and regulated the voltage.
"Apologizes friend but my Semblance loses potency when it is spread out so thinly," Ren replied as he began to channel his Aura through the floor and towards the group. At first, nothing seemed to happen but then a visible change in attitude came over a few people as they seemed to lose energy and slow down becoming apathetic to everything around them. Recognizing their chance, Sun and Neptune ran forward and with several well-placed strikes, safely knocked them out but more importantly, they made themselves the center of attention.
"Those guys are armed!" one of the drugged men cried pointing at Neptune.
"Are you trying to fuck with me?" screamed another as the people who remained turned their entire focus onto the three in front of them and began surging forward as Ren holstered Storm Flowers before taking his place alongside the other two, they were prepared to defend themselves but would be damned if in the process they killed or crippled any of these victims but that far easier said than done and would only become harder as time went on. Already they could hear some sort of commotion going on the floor beneath them and below even that were the members of Entry Team A who had gone on the second floor to investigate. While the VSPR were well trained, equipped and even had their Aura unlocked they still were not Huntsmen which meant that they had to fight harder to keep themselves alive and add to that the pressure from the council plus the promise that they would not be held responsible for any deaths… casualties were unavoidable.
The sound of violence occurring just upstairs was momentarily overpowered by a thunderclap that echoed throughout the building when Magnhild hit the fake wall with the force of a lightning bolt, tearing it down with a loud crash kicking up a cloud of dust and debris so thick that Nora had to use her arms to cover her eyes while Jaune used his shield to cover his. The pair then waited for the cloud to settle down before peeking through the destroyed remains of the wall finding what appeared to be a small room no bigger than a walk-in closet and for a moment they felt an incredible wave of relief wash over them, then they looked down. The tension in the air grew heavy and for a moment all other concerns faded away as they saw lying right at their feet a trapdoor leading directly to what could only be the basement, the place where the Rage was most likely being kept.
Nora reached for her radio and connected the Captain, "Hey Captain! Jaune and I found the basement!" She looked over to her teammate and saw how he was fidgeting while constantly glancing at the trapdoor, Is the basement making him uncomfortable, or am I imagining it?
"That's the first good news I've heard all day but how did you find it when I ordered you to… you broke the wall, didn't you? Well that explains the sound from earlier," Nora could hear Captain Dews groaning but she didn't sound too angry, rather she just sounded stressed out. "Look I've already sent Pyrrha over to your location along with a squad who are going to enter the basement but I need two people to head upstairs, the situation is getting worse, decide among yourself whose best for what job," Dews then ended the call.
Putting away her radio Nora took a moment to examine him, he was having trouble standing still and kept looking around but she noticed that his eyes always returned to the trapdoor to the basement, So it wasn't my imagination, come to think of it he did seem awfully interested in the drug but why would that unnerve him… there is something he hasn't told us but that can wait it's clear this place is making him uncomfortable. So she walked up to her friend and playfully tapped him on the shoulders, "You go on upstairs with Pyrrha, I got this!"
A part of him was relieved by her suggestion and he took a step towards the stairs but then, he looked at the trapdoor one more time. What is wrong with me? What happened to all my talk about needing to know? Calm down, you're just feeling anxious and it's normal just relax and you'll do fine. "Actually I was thinking that I should go down there since your hammer isn't very good in close quarters and neither is Pyrrha acrobatics making me the best choice," I have to see what down there with my own eyes, right? I have to… right?
"I know that I act like a hyperactive squirrel but I'm not an idiot, I know that there has been something bothering you ever since you first found out about Rage and I can make a few guesses," for a moment there was a look of fear on his face. "Relax, all I have are guesses and that is all I will ever have until you decide on your own to tell me and if you never do, that's fine too… I'm your friend and I don't know what is going on but I do know that whatever is down there is making you uncomfortable. You don't have to force yourself to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable."
"But, what about...," Do I actually need this?
"Then how about I go downstairs?" They turned around to see who was and found Pyrrha standing right where the wall used to be and looking at them both, "I don't know what the problem is but if it has to do with the basement then I should be the one to do this."
However he wasn't ready to give this up, "Pyrrha you don't have to, I can-!"
She cut him off, "As your friend, I'm asking you to trust me and to stop pushing yourself so hard, just because you can regenerate doesn't mean that I or any of us are okay with having to watch you literally pull yourself together every time something goes wrong." She saw a look of guilt come across his face which made her feel the same way but she didn't relent, "I'm not going to pretend to understand what you're going through but please, stop trying to carry it all on your own." Don't repeat my mistakes.
He stared at Pyrrha for a moment before turning to the demolished wall and walking through it with Nora following behind but before he was gone he had one more thing to add, "When this is over I have something I want, no, I need to tell all of you. So until then you better stay safe." Ozpin isn't going to like this but he doesn't have to know but I'm going to talk with Riviera, he and Nora then headed towards the stairs and the fight while Pyrrha watched them both leave.
Once they were gone she offered a silent wordless prayer for their safety and when it was done she found herself surprised that she did it at all, religion was never a passion of hers and while she believed in Fate, the subject of deities was another matter. But still, that unspoken prayer did help alleviate her worries just a little and that was enough for her. Turning her attention to the task before her, she walked up to the trap door and began to search it for means to open but found nothing, There must be a mechanism somewhere or I can just use my Semblance, there was really no contest and in mere seconds the door was forced wide open. Then the smell hit her, it was oddly sweet in a rather sickening way but there were other smells mixed in that she couldn't identify and neither was she willing to risk it, she reached for the radio and called it in, "Captain I've opened the door and there's a passageway but there is an odd smell so we're going to need some masks… thank you, Captain," now all she had to do was wait.
Iris was in general anything but a coward however right now she was also desperate which meant that she wasn't thinking clearly and how could she? Roman's words had affected her deeply because no matter how much she might want to argue she could not deny that he was right about her, she was hopelessly addicted. That was why she was standing on top of a building located nearby the site where the joint police and Beacon raid was taking place, that was why she abandoned the professionalism that she had always prided herself for having just so she could stand like a slack jaw idiot and do nothing. Damn, you Roman! You knew that I would come here, that's why you told me about this raid because you wanted me to suffer! Deep down she knew that wasn't true but right now she couldn't care less about the truth, all she cared about was somehow saving as much Rage as she could.
"This is Delta four, three hostiles on the third floor west hall are about to break free from their rooms," said an unknown speaker which caught her attention and sending her on the hunt.
Carefully following the voice she soon found the source, it was a rifleman and her spotter at work in their sniper nest overlooking the raid and completely unaware of her presence, how could they? Semblances like hers were rare and even then this moment was pure coincidence, it was by pure chance that the building they chose to set up happened to be the same one she chose to land on, it wasn't their fault for not taking this extreme improbability into account. But now that I'm here, what am I going to do next? Maybe I can… for a moment she imagined herself taking the rifle from their hands and using it to sow chaos among the officers in the building, It would be easy to take care of these two… she thought to herself as she lifted her bow and reached for her quiver, Besides, I need that stuff or I'll die! Their actions are going to get me killed, so this isn't murder, this is self-defense!
The first arrow struck the rifleman in the neck killing her instantly, then the spotter turned around to try and face their attacker which resulted in the second arrow hitting him in the shoulder instead of the head though ultimately this changed nothing. Before he could even reach for his pistol a third arrow hit him in the chest and pierced his lung filling it with blood. Realizing that he would soon die, he tried to use the radio to warn the others, Iris reached him first and the last thing he ever saw was her knife plunging into his gut. Afterward, she pulled her arrows out of their bodies and then used her knife to mutilate the wounds, enlarging them and making it impossible to tell that it had been an arrow that killed them, This will make it harder to trace anything back to me. She then took the rifle out of the corpse's hands, checked the sights, and then took aim...
When Jaune and Nora reached the second floor they discovered a battle of attrition between the VSPR who were wisely taking up a defensive position using riot shields to keep away the Rage victims who kept bashing away trying to breakthrough. The result was a stalemate that would theoretically end in favor of the police once the effects of the drugs began to wear out however, that required more time than they could afford especially when there were two more floors to go. Already plans and ideas began to form in the duo's heads as they approached the fight but before anything could be done they needed to make sure that everyone would be on the same page and ready to move as one. Then there was the sound of shattering glass followed by a gasp as one of the officers suddenly fell over clutching his sides. Everyone at first thought that he had simply fallen over but that soon changed when one of his friends noticed that he was in visible pain and bleeding from a gunshot wound, then there was a splatter of blood as another officer fell bleeding from her neck as she tried in vain to keep her self conscious.
"We got a sniper!" someone cried out, splitting the remaining officers' attention between trying to help the ones who had been shot, trying to keep themselves from being shot, and of course trying to keep the Rage victims under control. Unfortunately, even in their drug-addled state, the rabble recognized an opportunity when they saw one so they surged forward, their bodies crashing into the weakened human barricade of the VSPR, and began to dismantle it with a chorus of feral angry cries and bleeding knuckles with broken fingers lashing out and occasionally landing blows, their augmented strength causing every hit to strike with far greater force than normally possible and further destroying their hands in the process as they tried to destroy the people in front of them.
"FLASHBANG!" Nora screamed, giving everyone a warning mere seconds before she fired into the savage crowd, blinding them, stopping their attack, and giving the officers time to reform their ranks as she and Jaune ran past them to get to the frontlines. When they arrived she grabbed the nearest of the now blinded attackers and picked him right off of the ground holding him over her head for a second before throwing him back towards his kin and knocking them over, "Everyone whose wounded or tired get out and warn the Captain about the sniper," she cried before grabbing another Rage victim and punching them in the gut with enough force to make them puke before passing out, then Nora swung her fist at another in order to repeat the processes.
As for Jaune, it was easy for him to push these people back with his shield but that was a temporary solution at best and he soon realized that he needed to follow Nora's example, I'm sorry, so he swung the baton at the person in front of him and winced when he heard a bone crack upon impact. Thankfully he didn't need to swing a second time but the sight of the body crumbling to the floor was a haunting one and for a moment he regretted ever coming here, "Brothers, these must be the people who've been disappearing ever since Rage hit the streets but… what's the point of doing like this?" He wasn't asking anyone in particular and he seriously doubted that he would be getting an answer in this lifetime, somethings just could never be understood and the sheer malice dwelling inside the soul of whoever arranged for all this must be- he fell silently to the floor bleeding from a gunshot to the head.
Fortunately, the bullet did not enter his brain as it hit far too low on his skull to accomplish that however, it was far from harmless. The bullet penetrated through his cheekbone which shattered upon contact and popped both his eyeballs as the hot metal blazed a singed trail of gore in the knight's flesh until emerging from the other side in a shower of blood and bone before finally coming to a rest inside a wall. For a moment Jaune was blind but he could still hear the sound of someone shouting his name, he could feel the blood pouring out of the wound, he could feel the warm liquid covering his face, he could feel his flesh starting to knit itself back together and he could feel someone grabbing a hold of him and pulling him forward. At first, he thought that it was Nora or one of the VSPR who had caught him and was now helping him back onto his feet, "Thanks for the-!" A fist smashing against his face soon dispelled that idea so to his alarm he could feel a set of hands grabbing Crocea Mors trying to pull the shield out of his hands, Shit I can't let them disarm me! Noticing that he still had the baton in his hand he chose to ignore whoever it was that was punching him instead swing the cudgel at whoever was trying to take his shield, there was a loud crack and scream as he struck their arms. Once they let go of his shield he swung against this time aiming at whoever it was punching him and made contact with their jaw, breaking it and knocking out cold. By this time his eyes had regrown enough to allow him to see blurry shapes and colors but he was able to make out that the fight was beginning to come to a close as Nora used her grenade launcher to fire nonlethal shock grenades into the group to bring them down as the rest of the VSPR swarmed forward to secure them.
"We got this!" someone shouted, "Go on and help the guys up top, they're about to be overrun!"
"Jaune, are okay? Do you need a second to recover?" Nora asked while looking at his still regenerating face and frowning at the sight of the exposed raw flesh and bones, I swear if I ever get my hands on that damned sniper…
"I think I'll be fine by the time we get up there, just lead till my eyes recover." Without any objections, Nora held his hand for the first few steps before letting him go and running towards the stairs as he followed closely behind silently marveling at how the pink and white blob in front of him grew gradually sharper and clearer with every step. By the time he was halfway up the stairs, he could just about make everything out though things at a distance were still rather blurry.
"Woah!" Nora suddenly slipped backward towards Jaune who caught her, "Thanks for the save! Geeze what did I even slip on?" Together they briefly examined the floor expecting to find nothing only to be struck by the sight of a trail of blood leading up to the door separating them from their friends on the other side. Together they resumed their climb up slowly, becoming aware of just how eerily silent everything was making them fear that the fighting was already over. "We're too late…," She whispered to no one in particular as she hefted her weapon and wondered to herself what she could have done differently, If I had just used the hammer instead of holding back… no, I can't think like that.
"Let's just do what we can," Jaune said as he walked to the door getting ready to break it down as she nodded and took up position right behind him with Magnhild in grenade launcher form at the ready with electric stun grenades. Together they took a deep breath and burst through ready for anything that they might find.
The moment they opened the door and before they could take even one step inside they were stopped by Sun suddenly shouting orders at them, "Stay back and stay away from the windows, we have an enemy sniper!" and to his relief, the pair was more than happy to oblige. "Sorry about that dudes but I don't want to risk any more casualties."
"Casualties!" Nora asked, becoming very concerned, "Is Ren okay?"
"I'm fine as well Neptune and most of the other officers since we all took cover the moment the shooting began," Ren calmly answered. "However we were taken completely by surprise so we have wounded with some in critical condition." That was a complete understatement as evidenced by the bodies on the floor and while most of them were just unconscious victims of the drug, there were also VSPR officers among them.
"That sniper, that goddamn sniper I swear if I ever get my hands on them their knees are going to be the first thing I break!" Nora growled as she began to load smoke grenades into Magnhild.
"Guys, Nora is going to provide some cover and I'm going to use my shield to provide protection. Can you get the wounded over here?" Jaune asked.
"Sure thing!" Sun then closed his eyes, clasped his hand together, and right before everyone's eyes two aura clones emerged from his body and began to help the others gather the wounded, and when they were done he called out, "We're ready when you are!" With incredible accuracy, Nora fired several canisters with each one landing in front of a different window, and soon smoke filled the entire hallway thick enough to hide them from the sniper but still allowing them to find their way through. Then Jaune with his shield deployed made his way over to where Neptune and another officer were waiting with the first of the wounded and together they began to make their way back to Nora who was using her radio to contact Captain Dews and explain what was going on.
"Thanks, man, we were in a tough position," Neptune said without looking at Jaune instead keeping his attention fully on the task at hand.
Jaune on the other hand was curious about something, "I thought you were supposed to be on the fourth floor, why are you all on the third?"
Neptune gave a small laugh, "My weapon is basically a taser, you saw Sun's clones, Ren has one hell of a scary semblance, add to that the VSPR and that's how we covered so much ground so quickly… but it also made us careless," they carried out the rest of the extraction in heavy silence.
Despite the gasmask securely on her face and a group of fully armed and alert VSPR officers following closely behind, Pyrrha could help but feel uneasy as they journeyed into the basement and she wasn't alone in that regard. The basement was where the Rage was believed to be stored and if they found nothing there was going to be hell to pay, but even beyond that was the bizarre absence of that unidentified group that had forced themselves inside the building and barricaded the streets with cars. Every other floor and hiding place had already been searched with nothing found except victims and no hostile resistance that damned sniper and the aforementioned victims, there was nowhere else that group could be except the basement and there was no reason to think that they would surrender.
"Stop!" Pyrrha ordered as they came across a closed-door, There are no other exits so if there is going to be a fight it's going to happen here! The VSPR fanned out getting into position as she reached out with her Semblance feeling for and potential traps behind the door, "I don't sense anything, on the count of one I'm going to tear the door out… Three… Two… One!" With a powerful magnetic pull, the door was yanked right off of the frame but there was no ambush, there was no opposition of any kind. What she and VSPR found was a storage room with rows of well organized and sealed barrels, a safe that had the combination written on a note taped onto the front, a bookshelf filled with several notebooks that upon inspection was a complete and detailed account of the entire operation and finally one last door all the way in the back that opened to a crudely built tunnel that led to the sewers which meant that people they were after were already long gone leaving nothing behind.
The feeling that Pyrrha and the others felt was a complex one, on one hand, everything that they had found in this room was enough to shut down the whole operation several times over and even take down many dealers in the process, so in that regard, the raid was an undisputable success. However, the casualties that had been sustained made it hard to celebrate, the fact that the people who had triggered the raid were gone without a trace made everything else feel almost hollow and they weren't able to catch or even identify the sniper but they did find the dead marksmen team though that only raised more questions. Today was technically a victory but, this feels like a defeat, Pyrrha thought to herself as she searched the room for the third time today but this time she using one of the notebooks for double-checking everything, "16, 17 and finally 18 barrels in total and according to this," she flipped through a few pages, "These barrels contain Rage," for a moment she considered opening one to see how the stuff looked like but soon decided against it, Perhaps there's some information in the notebooks. She began flipping through them, Let's see, according to this they started with 30 barrels and used up 11 before we, wait they only used 11 barrels?! She put the notebook down and began counting the barrels in the basement and in the process attracting the attention of the officers who were with her.
"Did you find something?" one of them asked, eager to find any lead so this raid wouldn't feel like such a waste.
In response Pyrrha held up the notebook and pointed towards the barrels, "According to this list they started with 30 barrels and used up 11 but there are only 18 barrels here, one is missing! Those people who came here must have taken one of the barrels with them so this isn't over yet! The Rage drug is still out there somewhere!
Author's Notes: Well that's the end of the Rage arc and it only a hint of what is to come. But before any of that, I am going to rewrite the story up to now. Don't worry, I'll be working on the new chapter as I rewrite but I won't upload it until I'm done, as for the rewritten chapters you won't have to read them to understand what's going on. I'm just rewriting them in order to expand, clarify, and keep everything as consistent as possible.
Also, I will keep everyone updated on which chapter has been rewritten along with any changes, thanks for reading and I hope you'll stick with me as I continue to drive this trainwreck!