Chapter Twenty
"Yang, look." Blake had stopped walking and was staring at a shattered building.
"What's up?" Yang stopped next to Blake, looking to where she had indicated.
"I think that's the club where we went dancing."
Sure enough, there was a brightly colored sign sticking up from the wreckage. The last few letters were still visible, neon greens and blues standing out starkly against the white and gray of the broken building. Yang found Blake's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"Hey, we still have the pictures and memories, yeah?"
Blake sniffed once, and gave Yang a weak grin. "Yeah."
Ruby watched this exchange, her mood dipping. Entering the fallen cities was a grim reminder of her failure, and she was taking it a lot harder than she had expected. She was getting assaulted by memories. Memories of the last, frantic minutes as they tried to get the portals open and the people to safety. The fight against Cinder, desperate and violent. Fiasco after fiasco, steadily stacking up.
The ruins themselves were extraordinarily bleak. She had been in abandoned cities before, Mountain Glen being the most prominent, but Atlas and Mantle had been destroyed in part by the actions of her and her team. They had seen human remains, people who had been killed by grimm or who had been unable to get to the portals in time. They hadn't seen a single building left undamaged, and many of the buildings were utterly destroyed. Grimm were out in abundance as well, still being drawn by the echoes of terror and despair that had permeated the cities before the end.
Ruby's breathing started to come more and more quickly as these thoughts swirled through her mind. A hand on her shoulder made her jump and whip her head to the side. Jaune was there, giving her a reassuring squeeze. Weiss put a hand on her other shoulder, and together the two of them helped bring her breathing back in line.
"Easy, Ruby. Salem attacked this place. She's the reason any of this happened, not you. You helped save thousands of people who would have died otherwise," Weiss said. She, too, had a haunted expression on her face.
"Weiss is right, Ruby. Salem was going to go after Atlas and Mantle regardless of what we did," Jaune added.
Ruby nodded once and wiped her eyes. "Sorry. Still hurts." She took a deep, slightly shaky breath. "Okay. Let's keep moving."
Ren watched Ruby with some concern. Blue petals tinged with black were falling thickly through the air around his friend. She was hurting right now but trying to put on a brave face. "We need to keep an eye on Ruby," he told Nora. "She's having a hard time seeing all of this in person. I think she blames herself for what happened here."
"That's crazy though. It wasn't an easy choice, but it was the best one we had to try to keep everyone alive. It's not her fault Salem is a murderous pyscho and Ironwood snapped."
Yang had followed Ruby off into the ruins, while Blake stayed behind, having heard Ren and Nora's conversation. "Has Ruby or Jaune talked to anyone on your team about what really happened in the Ever After?" she asked.
"What do you mean, 'what really happened' Blake? What didn't you guys tell us?" Nora asked.
"Ruby tried to kill herself, didn't she?" Ren asked quietly.
Nora gasped. "No! No way. That can't have possibly happened."
"Ren is right, Nora. None of us realized how badly she was taking everything that was happening. You remember the tree we told you about? Afterans 'die' and then ascend at the tree. Ruby drank some tea made from the tree's leaves to start the ascension process. The tree took her, and whatever happened in there, Ruby came back as herself."
"Oh," Nora said in a small, sad voice. "Why hasn't she told us any of this?"
"It hurts for her to think about, Nora. Suicide is an option that people who feel as though they've been pushed to the brink and have no other choice take. It sounds like she changed her mind in this tree, but that was still a terrible decision she felt she had to make," Ren said.
The trio started to walk again, moving to keep up with the rest of the group as Ciel plodded behind. "Ruby is the last person in the world that should feel that way. She's always been so happy and optimistic. I'm gonna crush the assholes that did this," Nora growled. She had started to caress the haft of Manghild as she talked. "Salem and Cinder better watch their asses."
"You'll have to tag team with Yang and Jaune," Blake said. "Jaune owes Cinder for Pyrrha, and Yang still feels awful for not noticing how bad Ruby had gotten."
A hand signal from Jaune ahead of them had them all suddenly alert. Grimm were nearby. Tranquility spread out from Ren like a wave until it covered all of his team and friends. Emerald stayed on standby, ready to send out an Illusion if needed. The tactic had worked well so far, and the large group of Hunters had yet to engage with the grimm.
As they cautiously moved forward, they passed a quartet of Sabyrs that were feasting on a corpse in the street. Nora's hands kept up their incessant wringing on Manghild. She desperately wanted to kill the creatures, but knew that a fight would likely draw more and more in, and they didn't want to waste their energy here. It felt worse because the person was very evidently a fresh body, judging by the amount of blood that was spread around everywhere. Either they had been an opportunistic scavenger whose luck had run out, or they had been a Huntsman that had finally met their end. Nora guessed scavenger, but either way it felt like a bad omen.
At the head of the group there was a sudden flurry of activity as Ruby went into action. Jaune threw his hands up in exasperation as Ruby disappeared into Petal Burst and rocketed towards the Sabyrs. She never even fully materialized as she attacked, there was a single crimson slash as her scythe emerged from the storm of petals, and then all four grimm blew away on the wind as inky smoke. Ruby reappeared a moment later next to Jaune, twirling Crescent Rose as she stashed the weapon.
"Ruby seems to be in a slightly better mood now," Ren said as he watched this unfold.
"I would be too if I could get some action," Nora grumbled. "But good for her. It makes me itchy leaving grimm behind."
"We agreed not to draw attention to ourselves," Ren argued. "Still, that happened so fast I think we're in the clear."
As quietly as her speakers would allow, Ciel spoke from behind them. "It was an unnecessary risk that could have jeopardized the mission. It wouldn't be the first time a small engagement snowballed into a flat-out brawl that left the Huntsmen dead. Mission protocol exists for a reason." Even though the voice that emitted from the speakers was a low, augmetic, basso rumble, there was no denying Ciel's irritation.
"Not you too," Nora groaned. "I'm going to move up the column. You stick-in-the-muds can keep each other company. You with me Blake?"
Blake started to respond when the unmistakable sound of gunfire erupted from the next street over. She reflexively pulled out Gambol Shroud and looked at Nora. "Sounds like you might get your wish."
"Whooo!" Nora exclaimed happily. She looked eagerly towards Jaune, awaiting confirmation that they could go loud.
Jaune and Ruby, who had been arguing about Ruby's quick execution of the grimm, called out for their teams simultaneously.
"We're helping whoever that is, RWBY, let's go," Ruby said.
"JORNE! On me, sounds like someone is in trouble," Jaune yelled.
A deafening roar split the air followed by a scream of pain. Nora, needing no further encouragement, whooped and charged, eager for action "Jaune!" Nora gave him only this one-word warning before leaping at him feet first. Jaune, having been on the receiving end of this tactic more than once, reflexively raised his shield just in time. Nora hit the shield and dropped into a crouching position, muscles bunching and lightning crackling as she prepared to launch herself from it. Jaune braced himself in turn, grunting as he briefly held the full weight of Nora aloft, and then triggered the gravity dust pulse of his shield the same instant Nora leapt.
Nora rocketed into the sky with a shout of glee and disappeared over a broken rooftop. Her companions were quick to follow, using their own various methods to enter the fight. The sounds of battle once again rang out in the streets of Atlas.
As Jett dodged and weaved, firing off blasts from his shotgun and gutting grimm with his knives, he ruminated on what had led to this point. This fight was the culmination of a series of just awful days. He had convinced his team, Hunters all, Vacuan born and bred, that there was a fortune to be had in the ruins of Atlas. Young, dumb, and eager for riches, they had followed him north. Their first mistake had been to underestimate the horrendous cold of Solitas. They were all harsh weather survivalists, but had found to their extreme discomfort and pain that the cold was not the same as the heat. Fully trusting the environmentally stabilizing properties of their auras, they hadn't purchased adequate cold weather gear and were now paying the price.
On top of being ill-prepared for the climate, they had also lost their transportation. Back in Vacuo they had pooled their meager resources to purchase an old dust hauler. The ancient aircraft, broad, squat, and with decades of high temperature desert flying on its engine, had died with a faint cough shortly after entering what had used to be Atlas's airspace. Their ship falling from the sky, funnily enough, hadn't posed much of a challenge for the young team. Initiation into combat academies frequently found young hunters-to-be flung or dropped from high altitude locations, and team JETT had handled this hurdle with ease, evacuating the failing craft without issue. The problem arose moments later as the dust hauler hit the ground and exploded into a dramatic fireball.
With their way home now a smoking ruin on the ice packed ground, their priorities had shifted from 'finding loot' to 'finding a new set of wings'. Navigating the dead cities had also proved treacherous, from the unfamiliar obstacles of snow and ice to the multitude of grimm that inhabited the ruins. Things had gone from bad to worse this morning, when Jett had woken to his pack getting rifled through by a young, shaggy-haired teen.
"Oy!" Jett had yelled as he scrambled to his feet, drawing his weapon.
The young man had snagged the bag and bolted. Jett, frustrated, thought about shooting at him, but swore and punched a wall instead. The poor guy's clothes were ragged and dirty, and it was obvious he was living here in the ruins. As bad a time as Jett was having, he was still a Huntsman, dammit, and he wasn't going to kill some sad sap that was struggling worse than he was.
Ted, who had awoken immediately to Jett's yell, tracked the youth with his rifle as he fled through the ruins. Jett frantically waved Ted down. They were not going to kill the kid for the theft. That was a step too far.
Topaz had woken up too, much more groggily than the two men, and yawned widely. "S'happenin, Jay?" she asked sleepily.
Jett sighed. "Just had my pack stolen. And no, we're not going after the kid who took it. He probably needs it more than we do, by the looks of him."
"Shit, really? I thought everyone out here woulda been dead by now."
"Well that guy wasn't. Must have been desperate, stealing from a Huntsmen team."
"Gotta say boss, this whole mission has been a shitshow," Topaz grumbled.
"Yeah yeah yeah, rub it in. We can still recover if we find ourselves the right salvage."
"Or we can get ourselves killed if we don't."
Jett had sighed, knowing she was right, and dropped it. Then his morning had gotten worse still. He had looked towards the fourth member of his team, and noticed with a frown that she hadn't stirred yet. He walked over to her bedroll and gently shook her shoulder.
"Em, hey, how you doing?"
A very weak voice emerged. "So cold, Jett."
Jett could feel the woman shivering, and his heart started to drop. "Hey, look at me, Em."
She obliged and turned to face him, and his heart had dropped further still. Her skin, normally a rich umber, was waxen and pale, and her scales, normally a lustrous green, were faded and ashy. Unless he was wrong, she was going hypothermic, fast, and may have been on that path for a while already.
The next few hours had been a blur as his team tried to stabilize their companion. After losing a brief but fierce argument with Topaz, Jett had gone after the morning's thief. His dust cartridges for his weapons were in that bag, and they needed the fire dust to try to keep Em warm. Jett's day continued going downhill when he found the remains of the thief. The teen had run afoul of a pack of Sabyrs, and he had been spread liberally across a wide section of street. With the Sabyrs still in the area, Jett had been forced to retreat.
This had resulted in another argument when he got back to camp. Topaz had managed to get a fire going on the first floor of the building they were sheltering in, and her and Ted had wrapped Em in as many layers as they could. The problem was that they had very little to fuel the fire and keep it going. After another shouting match, Ted had groaned and run upstairs.
"You've attracted the grimm," he had called before disappearing to a higher vantage point, snapping off shots.
Jett and Topaz swore and scrambled for their weapons, ducking beneath the windows of the building they were sheltering in. Jett racked his oversized shotgun, feeling the satisfying clack of shells being slotted into place, and leaned out of cover. He froze momentarily at the scene before him, and then his training kicked in and he started shooting. There was a mass of grimm swarming their building, and in his heart, he knew this was the end of him and his team. Cold fury began to rise in his chest. This was his fault. He had convinced his team to come here, he had picked out the airship, he had neglected to get appropriate gear, and now his team was going to die, because he was a shitty leader.
The least he could do was take some grimm out with him before he went, and maybe buy some time for someone to get away. He vaulted over the windowsill, shotgun booming. There was a scream of pain from behind him as something got their fangs or claws into Topaz, and something in him snapped. He had always called his semblance 'CQC', as in close quarters combat, and Em liked to call it 'Danger Close'. Essentially, the more his temper or desperation rose, the faster and stronger he got to match. It also had an effect on nearby grimm, his heightened vitality acting as a lure to draw them in. It was a high-risk high-reward type of semblance as he drew the grimm to himself, but with his team behind him, the negative effects were easily mitigated. Em backed him up as the other CQC specialist, and the other two provided covering fire. Despite the fast rate CQC burned through his aura, the four of them could quickly end most fights.
This time, however, his team wasn't behind him. His melee partner was dying of the cold, and one of his two marksman had just been badly wounded. It was him, his wits, his shotgun, and his knives. It really was just a terrible day. But really, had he wanted to live forever?
Jett ducked under a Manticore's swiping paw and jammed the barrel of his shotgun into its throat, pulling the trigger. He was moving on even before the corpse hit the ground, katars fully extended from their sheaths. He ripped the wrist-mounted blade on his left hand through a Sabyr's throat while simultaneously moving into a lethal spinning kick which had the blade mounted in the toe of his boot cracking the skull of a second Sabyr. Something heavy and sharp hit him in the back, and he flipped his shotgun over his shoulder and pulled the trigger. He was rewarded with a yowling screech of pain but couldn't celebrate the minor victory due to the horde of foes still before him.
Already starting to slow, his aura having been sapped by day after day of extreme cold and burning fast with semblance usage, he nevertheless continued fighting. A dim part of his mind had registered that gunfire was no longer coming from behind him, and he hoped that that meant Ted was trying to extract his team, and not that his team was already dead. He slid under another Manticore, katar slicing through its stomach, and tried firing his shotgun again. Click. He had lost track of his shots fired, and the gun was empty. Shit. The Sabyr he had tried to shoot grabbed his right arm in its mouth, razor-sharp teeth shredding his flesh through his depleted aura.
Jett grunted in pain, dropping the shotgun, and punched the Sabyr in the temple with his blade. The beast dropped, but the damage had been done. Between the cold and the blood loss, Jett was dying. He hit the street on his knees, his vision fluttering in and out. The ground trembled beneath him, and he looked up to meet his fate head on. A goliath thundered towards him, trunk raised, trumpeting in triumph. The smaller grimm scattered out of its way, and Jett shakily spread his arms, as if to embrace the beast.
Then, he started to hallucinate. An angel with vivid orange hair, wings of lightning, and a gleaming silver maul soared over a rooftop and hit the goliath like a thunderbolt. The massive creature was knocked from its feet, trumpeting in dismay, and Jett fell over and hit the ground as well. She's like a Valkyrie from the old tales, he thought, mind slowing. She's come to take me to the afterlife.
Then a second angel appeared before him, a man who was haloed with golden light. The angel smiled beatifically at him, and told him everything would be OK. Jett tried to protest, he wanted the beautiful winged woman to take him away, but the words wouldn't come. Instead, his vision began to sharpen, he could feel the ice-hard ground under his head, and the pain of his wounds came back. He gasped as consciousness fully returned and saw that it was no angel tending to him, just a man with golden hair, rusted armor, and a seven-day beard.
Jett watched in amazement as his torn arm began to heal, the wounds glowing with a reddish, golden light. "My team?" he asked weakly, imploring.
"The ones in the building? There are others taking care of them now," the rusted man said.
Jett struggled to a sitting position, and took in the scene before him. The woman he had taken to be a Valkyrie was pummeling the goliath, unrelenting, laughing while she fought. Further down the street a pair of women fought in tandem, so fast they were hard to follow. Rose red and snow white intermingled in a lethal dance, flowing around each other in a beautiful display. There were several other Hunters as well, all fighting grimm. Jett blinked rapidly, taking it in. He was saved.
Then, the ground trembled once more and a Megoliath crashed onto the scene with a tremendous bellow. A fiery blonde only just got out of the way in time, pulled out of harm's way by another woman's sickle-like grappling hook. The other duo, red and white, turned to face this new threat. The woman in white stabbed her sword into the ground and a blue-white glyph appeared, covering the width of the street. A moment later a huge, gauntleted hand punched through the glyph, quickly followed by the rest of a towering suit of armor. The spectral figure raised its sword in challenge to the Megoliath, but before the two giants could clash, a third figure bulldozed its way into the fight.
A crumbling building façade exploded outward as an Atlesian Paladin smashed through it, thunder maul crackling. It slammed into the monstrous grimm and vied to knock it from its feet. As the two grappled, the suit of armor charged, sword leveled. The Megoliath hunched its shoulders and tossed the Paladin into another ruined building with a mighty heave of its head. Then the armor arrived and slashed heavily at the grimm's face. The grimm actually parried the blow with its tusks and bulled into the armor. As the armor struggled to keep its feet, the Paladin surged back from the rubble. It punched the grimm in the stomach with its cannon arm, skewering the beast, and then unloaded a barrage of bullets directly into its entrails as its shoulder mounted railgun fired a shot point blank into the elephant-grimm's back.
Amazingly, the titan persisted, and it used its bulk as leverage against the long barrel stuck inside it. There was a shattering, wrenching clang as the cannon mount broke, and the Paladin stumbled. Before the Megoliath could capitalize on this victory, however, the armor stabbed it through the flank, driving its sword in to the hilt. Now pierced in two places, mortally wounded and dribbling umbral ichor from its stomach, the grimm fell onto its knees, bellowing in pain.
Jett had completely forgotten everything else that had happened in the face of this spectacle. His jaw was slack, his pain a faded memory as he watched the battle unfold. He noticed that the Valkyrie was back, high in the air above the Megoliath, glowing with power. She fell from the sky, once again reminding him of a thunderbolt, and smashed her lightning-shrouded silver maul into the grimm's skull. The skull broke with an immense, flat crack, and the beast spasmed in death before smoking into nothingness.
The silence that fell after the death of the titan was deafening. Jett could hardly believe that he was still alive, and the absolute, brutal lethality of his saviors was stunning. He had never seen Hunters fight like this group had. The silence was broken as his lightning-winged angel started to cheer. Her mood was infectious, and Jett started to chuckle. He was alive. He was alive.
Getting into a fight had been a welcome distraction from her thoughts, and Ruby had started to rebound. They had saved a team from certain death, and that felt good. She felt like she was actually helping, and that helped her. The man who had been single-handedly trying to kill several dozen grimm was thanking Jaune profusely as Ruby approached.
"You guys have just the best timing. We've been getting hammered out here, mostly because I messed up and underestimated how hard it would be to operate in the cold."
"We're glad to help. You part of a salvage team?" Ruby asked him.
"Uh. Unofficial salvage, yeah."
"Freelancers, then." Jaune said.
"Yeah, Atlas is paying good money for salvaged tech and dust. I thought we could come up here and make our fortune."
"You and every other small-time team. You know you can join an Atlas sanctioned mission, right? Get military back-up and all that?" Jaune said.
The man bristled slightly at 'small-time,' but then his face dropped and he looked ashamed. "You can make more money if part of your earnings doesn't go towards the extra protection. We're Hunters, I thought we'd be ok."
"Lesson learned, I hope. My name is Ruby. What's yours?" Ruby asked.
"Jett. Wait, Ruby?" He was now looking at Ruby with unrestrained curiosity and whistled when he noticed her silver eyes. "Holy shit. Ruby Rose." He scrambled to his feet, looking around at the other Huntresses that had gathered, wide-eyed. "Your team is legendary. You've fought Salem and her followers, you've come back from the dead, you've even traveled to other worlds, if the stories are right."
"Only partially right. We never actually died," Jaune said.
"Wow, we're legends now," Yang said, amused.
"I'd rather the obscurity, honestly," Blake said from beside her.
Weiss didn't say anything, just moved to Jaune's side.
"Are you really the Rusted Knight?" Jett asked him. "I loved that guy in the stories when I was a kid." This made Weiss smile, though she tried to hide it from Jaune.
"Damn straight he is." Nora had swaggered over, Manghild slung over her shoulders.
Jaune sighed. "I suppose you could call me that, but I'm just another guy. I didn't ask to become the knight. And how did you know?" he asked, looking at Jett suspiciously. "And did you really believe it?" he added as an afterthought.
"Rumors around the city. Ruby Rose, back from the dead. Her team and a man they call the Rusted Knight with her. And crazier things have happened recently. I like to keep an open mind." Jett shrugged.
Jaune looked at Nora with exasperation. "You've been telling people?"
"Hell yeah I've been telling people. Why wouldn't I tell people one of my best friends is the amazing Rusted Knight?"
"It beats 'Hot Lips', I suppose," Jaune said, still irritated. Weiss hid her smile again. To Jett he said, "Please just call me Jaune."
"And I'm Nora," Nora said, holding out a hand.
Jett shook it, and then cleared his throat, embarrassed. "When you came flying in over that building, I thought you were an angel, come to take me to the afterlife."
Nora laughed at this. "Aw, that's sweet, but I'm just me. Not an angel."
"I can second that," Weiss said. Yang snorted.
Oscar called from the doorway to the building. "You guys better come in here."
Jett paled and rushed inside. Ruby, Jaune and the others followed him. Inside, they found Ren tending to a pair of women. One, a snake Faunus with bright green scales, was sitting up and warming herself by the fire, which was now crackling merrily. The other, a muscular woman with a shaved head and sharp features, had a wide swathe of bloody bandages around her throat. This woman glared at Jett as he entered the building. Jaune immediately went over to her and extended his aura, calmly assuring her he would help.
"Ted's dead," she rasped through her torn throat.
"There wasn't a body, so that's speculation," Emerald called from the stairs as she descended. She looked around at everyone and noticed the glare she got from the sharp-featured woman. "Ok, fine, he's probably dead, just trying to give you some hope."
"How are you two doing?" Jett asked, worry on his face.
"Oh, just fine. Got my throat ripped out by a Sabyr after you charged that pack. Really, Jett, you'd think you want for us to all die here, the way"- her voice, already raspy, gave out and she aspirated blood onto Jaune's armor as she coughed.
"Easy! Better not to talk until that wound closes," Jaune said, pushing her back into a sitting position against the wall.
"Still feel weak, Jay, but I think I'll make it," the Faunus said.
Jett collapsed to the ground, put his hands over his knees, and hung his head between them. "I'm so sorry, Topaz, Em. We're in this mess because of me."
"Hey now, I know you've had a hard time, but things are looking up. We can search for your missing team member, and we can escort you back to your airship when everyone is ready to move," Ruby said.
Topaz struggled up against Jaune again, but subsided when Em gave her a look. "We don't have one. It crashed as soon as we got here," Em said.
"In that case, we have more than enough room in our Manta. You can ride back with us when we finish our mission," Ruby said.
"That would be lovely. My name is Emerald, by the way," the Faunus woman said.
"Hey! Her name is Emerald too! You're name twins!" Nora exclaimed, pointing at Emerald Sustrai.
Emerald from Vacuo smiled at the other Emerald. "I usually go by Em, so hopefully there isn't much confusion."
"Nah, we'll work it out. I'm going to see if I can't find a trail for the, uh, 'missing' guy," Emerald said, and went back upstairs.
Ruby sat down next to Em and started warming her hands on the fire. "It sure is cold up here."
"Too cold," Em agreed. "Silly me, I was so excited to see Solitas, I didn't think to take my trait into account."
"Trait?" Ruby asked.
"Her Faunus trait," Blake said. "Like how I can see well in the dark and have excellent hearing." She waggled her ears to demonstrate.
"Ohhhh. So what cool stuff can you do?" Ruby asked the Faunus woman brightly.
In response, Em shook her dark hair back and flared her hood. Her neck extended and flattened outward, showcasing an eye-like pattern on either side of her head. She quickly retracted it again, shivering. "It's great for regulating my body temperature in the desert, and also great at accidentally dissipating body heat in the cold."
"That's rough," Ruby said, commiserating. "But pretty! Um. What does the other guy look like? So, you know, we can I.D. him if necessary."
"He was on the shorter side, pencil mustache, dark hair, wire-rimmed glasses, slight build. Long rifle for a weapon," Topaz rasped. "Don't know what got him, I had my hands full."
Em sighed. "I wish I had been able to help in the fight. My head was so fuzzy, and I had no energy. Even though I knew we were in trouble, it was a struggle just to sit up. I managed to get the Sabyr that attacked Topaz with Snake's Bite." she tapped the whip coiled at her side. "Ted never even screamed or called out. He was always a quiet guy."
"This is my fault. I need to be the one to go find him," Jett said.
"You're staying here, Jett. We'll handle it. Are you aware that when I got to you there was about six inches of Manticore horn sticking out of your back? It was in the process of dissolving, but I'm very surprised it didn't rupture anything major," Jaune said.
"I remember something hitting me in the back, but that was it. It's all a blur now," Jett said, frowning. He reached a hand around his shoulder to finger the wound in his back, and winced.
"We're fresh, and we have a lot of combat experience in this environment," Ren assured the other man. "If anyone can find your missing teammate, we can."
"About that," Ruby said. "I think we need to talk teams, moving forward. We can't just leave these people here."
"You're right, and I've been thinking about it," Jaune said. "We'll need to split up. Ciel and the Paladin should stay here. She's going to want to run some repairs if she can anyway, and I don't think she'll be able to fit where we're going. If we need her for muscle, we can always call her in."
"Ok." Ruby said. "I also think Ren should stay here, as he can help mask everyone, keep them from getting attacked again."
"That was going to be my next point. I should stay as well, especially if we find Ted and he's in need of my semblance."
"Right. Should we leave a fourth?" Ruby asked.
"If we have Ren, I think we're ok. And Ciel is still going to be extremely lethal with that Paladin, even with her cannon down. You can take everyone else deeper into the city. Sound good?" Jaune asked.
"Sounds good. I'll let everyone know." Ruby got up to gather her teammates.
Nora looked at Ren. "You be careful, mister. Keep these people in line, and safe."
"I certainly will," Ren replied. He kissed her, and then she, Blake, and Yang followed Ruby outside.
Weiss looked at Jaune as the others left. "Same to you. Keep these people alive. We'll get what we came for and be back before you know it."
"I know you will," Jaune said with confidence, looking at her with warmth. He kissed her then, and let it linger until Ruby called. "You better go. Love you."
Upstairs, Emerald had been observing the bloodstained floor. The pattern was weird, and it bugged her. It was almost like the missing Huntsman had been stabbed, and then vanished. There was a large pool of blood in the middle of the floor, but none leading to any of the exits. It was like he had been hurt and then just vanished. She looked at the ceiling, and there was a large, jagged hole in the middle of it, open to the sky. But no blood that she could see. She was about to leap up to it and pull herself through when Ruby called from outside. She shrugged. A mystery for later.
Outside, Ciel was methodically dismantling the mostly destroyed cannon on her mech's right arm. Pieces, most damaged and very few undamaged, were spread out around her in neat lines. Ruby expected that she would have been angry at the damage done to her machine, and while Ciel was frowning with intense concentration, she had sounded almost cheerful when Ruby asked her to stay and guard the wounded.
"That will give me time to work. Good. I underestimated the Megoliath. Most creatures wouldn't be able to withstand a barrage of 30mm rounds directly to their internal organs, but that grimm did. Good data for the future. I won't make that mistake again." She spun a ratchet as she talked, hands covered in hydraulic oil.
"Glad you're taking it well. Your close-range communications beacon still working?"
"Affirmative. I will check on you every thirty minutes. Please be near to your scrolls."
"We will." Ruby left Ciel to her work and rounded up the rest of her team. "Emerald! We're heading out. You're with me."
Emerald's head appeared from the second-story window, and then she neatly dropped over the sill and to the ground. She sauntered over as Yang, Blake, Weiss, Nora, and Oscar all gathered around Ruby.
"Right. Jaune, Ren, and Ciel are staying put to watch after Team JETT. We're moving on. Ciel is going to send a check every thirty minutes to our scrolls. We also need to keep an eye out for the missing member of their team. Even if it's just to confirm a K.I.A., I'm sure they'd appreciate closure."
Oscar, who had been intense and quiet for the duration of the mission so far, just nodded once, curtly. Nora gave Ruby a jaunty salute, and the rest affirmed their understanding out loud. As the party traveled deeper into the ruins of the city, grimm shrieked and bellowed. Without Ren to mask them, fights were going to be inevitable. Ruby just smiled. Hunting grimm was what she was born to do. They'd get to the command center and get what they came for, and woe betide whatever tried to stop them.
Author's Note
Hey everyone. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I have another announcement to make, and I hope you'll take it well. Going forward, I'm going to slow down my rate of publication. I've hit a point where I'm feeling a bit stressed about getting stuff out on a weekly basis, and I want to make sure that what I'm publishing isn't suffering for it. In my introduction, I said I would try to get updates out once a month. Well, for the last four months, I've been putting them out on a mostly weekly basis. Which is great! I've kept up with the project better than I anticipated from the start, and I really have enjoyed working on it. That being said, I'm not going to aim for weekly updates anymore. I'm confident that I'm going to get out more than one a month, but it will likely be an update every two weeks or so moving forward. And I will always update you in these notes if anything changes.
As always, I appreciate each and every one of you that reads my work. I especially appreciate those of you who review and comment, and I'm not joking when I say that
seeing the reviews is often the highlight of my day. So thank you, thank you, thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy this work and any other written work you sit down with.
-Flair