Chapter Ninety-Four
Ruby stood at the ready, as the wooden door swung open, revealing a dark clearing. It was just short of exactly three days since they'd left, about five days since they'd left Beacon even though it felt like weeks ago, and… there was nothing.
Well, not, like, nothing nothing, there was a forest clearing, and the dirt and grass was torn up, trees with ripped and blown out bark, but there were no Grimm.
They'd expected to have to fight their way out, but… huh.
"Should… should we just go?" Weiss questioned, looking at the two very large Muspell Blooms Ruby and Nora had put together, the short team lead feeling a little awkward herself, and disappointed, but…
"Can't take 'em with us, and," Nora replied, glancing towards Mr. Sparkle, "Don't think we should leave 'em here. So why not use 'em?"
Behind them, Mr. Alyashm noted, "Without emotions to guide them, Grimm act much like the animals they are based on. A detonation should cause any in the area to flee."
"Well, fire in the hole, I guess. Weiss?" Ruby directed, her white-haired partner nodding, gesturing, a circular Glyph forming behind them. Nora hefted the first Muspell Bloom+, setting it on the spinning white circular Semblance, which kind of gripped the device a little.
With a call of "Firing," from the heiress, the barrel sized, and shaped, Dust explosive was launched out through the doorway, flying end over end, bouncing off the ground before rolling to a halt a good hundred feet away, which still put them still well into the primary blast zone.
Trying to use her Scroll to interface with the first Bloom+'s receiver… it's designer got nothing.
Leaning over her shoulder, Weiss suggested, tapping the dark-haired girl's scroll, "Maybe put it through the doorway?"
"Uh, sure," Ruby replied, very carefully sticking her Scroll into the forest and… connection!
She started to go through the steps to activate it, when their Huntsman Guide questioned, "Ms. Schnee. You can create shapes with your Semblance. Statues, correct?" At the girl's nod, he directed, "Once the device starts, please create five around it. If they can look like us, that would be best, but any five works once the 'mist' starts."
The Dustcaster nodded, and her team lead waited as the girl reached up to take her amulet out of her shirt, holding onto the blue-white crystal, until Weiss said, "Okay, ready."
Pressing the start button, the three-foot tall, two foot wide cylinder beeped, then started to whir, as the bright red aerated Fire Dust started to billow out. Then, with five flash-frozen cracks, statues formed. All of the same person. Who… had antlers?
"Is that Jaune?" Ruby asked.
"Shut it," was her partner's instant, snappy reply, adding, "It's easier to make them all the same. And-"
GRAAAAAAAAAHHH!
She was cut off as the forest exploded with sound and movement, as inky black, dotted with white and red, waves pouring through the trees, the monsters having hidden from sight, converging on Muspell Bloom, Slenders flying through the air and latching onto the statues, breaking them, Graspoids breaking up through the ground, as Grimm rushed past the doorway she and her team were looking out of, not even looking back at them at all, while Ruby stared, not frozen, still feeling scared, but, but it was blunted, like she could still fight, if she needed, as she watched the Grimm Tide converg-
Slam.
She jumped, turning to see Nora having shut the door, the hammer-wielder casually flicking the lock, and only now did the team lead realize that there was no way that doing that should stop the blast, which was going to happen any second!
Any second.
Aaaany second…
Where's the kaboom?
There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!
She glanced at the door, which was in no way rated to handle that many kilotons of force, and looked over to ask Mr. Sparkle how it could, only to, looking at the wolf-man, standing behind the desk of his magically travelling inn, realize she was being just a little silly.
But, checking her Scroll, the blast should've long since passed, so the mini-reaper unlocked the door, and, carefully, opened the door.
Revealing a blast crater.
And, leaning out a little to look down, the ground was now a couple feet below the bottom of the door, which just kind of hung in the air, because the magic teleporting door was magic.
Checked out.
Looking to Nora, who was hefting the other Muspell Bloom+, the mini-reaper asked, "Again?"
"I'm a little confused," Ren stated slowly. "I… I feel a bit as if I have activated my Semblance, but it is not all of my emotions are deadened, only fear. And even then…"
"It was dinner," their Dustcaster commented idly, setting up another Glyph. "Some kind of Aura-Tech. Likely the same sort of thing that keeps the Grimm out, and makes these doors."
"Oh, that's what I felt," Nora nodded.
However, the older Huntsman looked at them in confusion. "Felt what?"
"The Aura in the food!" the orange-haired girl smiled. "I just thought it made it taste better!"
"I didn't feel any… nevermind," the Faunus sighed, as Weiss set her glyph to spinning, and, once the second MP+ was loaded, launched it into the crater that used to be a forest clearing, felled trees visible, and, yeah, a couple were on fire, giving the previously calm space a devilish sense of danger.
But the trees, and whatever might be in them, could be more on fire.
"Make the statues first," Ruby asked her partner, another five 'Jaunes' appearing around the device, and… nothing happened.
"Did we get them all?" Nora questioned skeptically, drooping. "That's no fun."
"Gimme a sec," their team leader disagreed, taking a deep breath, closing her eyes, and, doing like Uncle Qrow had taught her, focusing inwards to pull the Grimm.
Ruby Rose tried to remembered her mother, who she'd never get the chance to really meet, thought about how, growing up, she hadn't had friends, and, while she had them now, that thought would lessen her negative emotions, so she pushed it into the back of her mind, remembering the lonely nights, when Yang was off with her friends, and she just had herself, and maybe Zwei, if he wasn't working with dad, Uncle Qrow never able to stay overnight for reasons he'd never explained, and it was just her, alone, in her room, in the forest, with her comic books, reading about adventures and friends some dark part of her thought she would never have.
Because, a stupid, strange little girl like her didn't deserve them.
That deep well of despair, that sinking, drowning feeling filled her, and, leaning out of the doorway, she sighed, trying not to cry, because she was a big girl, and big girls didn't cry, but she still needed to feel, and so sh-
GRAAAAAAAAAHHH!
Pulling herself back, the Grimm, who'd been holding back, rushed forward, charging, not the statues, but the door. Trying to start the ignition sequence, it didn't connect, right, stupid, no connection here, so the student shoved her Scroll through the door, got the connection, hit start, and pulled back, a Slender passing through the door, arms outstretched, to grab onto her and cut her to ribbons, only to come apart into black smoke that blew over them, the red fog pouring from the device.
Nora slammed the door shut, locked it, and they all just stood there, waiting, for several minutes, as Ruby got her head back in the game, as she told herself that, while she wouldn't ever meet her mom, from everything she'd heard about her, the woman would be proud of her, and that she not only had friends, she had friends that went down a Grimm Tunnel after her, which, holey smokes that'd been stupid!
But she'd survived, and found stuff that no one had ever seen, and, while she wasn't going to do that again, the fact that she had… made her feel a lot better about her dream of being a Huntress.
And then, opening the door again, yeah, the hole was waaay bigger now. Probably because the crater would actually concentrate the blast. Forest was definitely on fire too, the residual fire-Dust at the edge of the blast-zone not adding to the blast-wave, but, instead, turned into hundreds of tiny fireballs, just like they'd designed it to.
"So, anyone else thinking we probably should've made a third?" Nora asked.
"They probably wouldn't fall for it three times," Weiss disagreed.
"They should not have 'fallen' for it once," Mr. Alyashym noted. "Nor should a Tide wait in a single place for three days." The man checked Consequences, in its warhammer configuration, remarking, "That said, nothing about this mission has turned out how it should. Our respite included. I suppose. We should continue with our planned tactics. Whenever you are ready, Ms. Rose?"
Taking a deep breath, banishing any lingering negativity, and nodded. "Okay, ready team?"
"Ready!" Nora cheered, Ren nodding, and Weiss, after a moment of hesitation, did as well, spinning up another Glyph.
"Okay… Let's go!" the speedster cheered, activating her Semblance and swooping out the doorway, reforming herself mid-air, flying backwards, with Crescent Rose in its rifle configuration pointed at the door, looking for any waiting ambush, but, while she did see a few more Grimm, they were a good bit back, leading her to call, "Clear!"
Her partner fired herself through the doorway, flying out, and creating another Glyph to land upon in the center of the blast, turning, holding her amulet, and, with a wide sweep of her arms, flash freezing the ground, building up a rough-textured solid platform of ice for them to fight on without Graspoids coming up to try and eat them, a couple collapsed tunnels in the blast-zone showing that that more had been here, before their team's creations had blown them to kingdom come.
The other three came running, Nora firing off a fusillade of grenades at the once more charging Grimm, Ruby wondering where they all were coming from, Ren raking another front with SMG rounds, while Alyashm flipped his weapon to a cannon, fired at a dropping Girgoyle, blasting the armored humanoid Grimm that was diving for Weiss to pieces.
Landing on the ice, Ruby turned, her focus narrowing, the world seeming to slow, just a little, as she sighted in on a leaping Slender, only one coming at them this time, her shot taking it through the chest and killing it instantly, moving to the next target, and the next, until her magazine emptied and she ejected it without thinking, grabbing one of the dozens hanging from her new harness, all of her team covered with ammo, and slamming it into place, cocking her rifle and taking out a Beowulf Alpha that was charging with its pack, sending the tightly coordinated wedge of dark wolf-guys it was leading into disarray.
Weiss wasn't stopping either, landing on the platform she'd made, the floor then shooting out two hundred feet in every direction, creating one enormous snowflake pattern that seemed to pulse for a moment before it started faintly glowing. The edges of the circle curved upwards, creating a wall in every direction except for one, leaving it open for the Grimm Tide to flow into, her partner not making a fort, but an arena they could fight in without getting swarmed.
The girl making it all was glowing brightly, the light from her now shining amulet peeking out from her clenched fingers, eyes closed as she focused on her Dustcasting, trusting in her team to keep her safe.
And they did, Ren darting in to parry a bone spear that came for the white-haired girl, a grenade from Nora blowing the Brucha off the top of the wall, the Grimm Porcupine killed instantly, as Ruby, twisting about, saw another scrabbling up, cresting the eight foot, and growing, battlement, a shot taking it under the chin as it struggled to get its bulk over the edge, Weiss making the defenses as slippery as possible, but that, according to the girl, meant she had to make them both very strong and very consistent, which slowed things down.
Seeing the Grimm pouring in through the gate, while others kept trying to go over, that wasn't how Grimm Tides were supposed to work, according to their teachers, but Ruby didn't worry about it, darting over with her Semblance, flipping Crescent Rose to its scythe configuration and speeding along the forming battlements, taking off arms, heads, or anything in range while Nora and Mr. Alyashm, both now swinging their hammers with abandon, the former trailing pink lighting while the latter seemed almost boneless as he darted flowed around enemies, were facing the oncoming horde.
The wall continued to grow, and Ruby continued to run, the outside painting the black bodies of the Grimm in flickering oranges and reds as the forest continued to burn, the inside lit by the constant soft blue-white of Weiss' Glyph, though the ice arena itself was faintly glowing, lighting the desperate fight from below, not just from the huge snowflake etched into it, though that was brighter than the rest.
The team leader, meanwhile, was focused, feeling more on her game than she ever had, whatever was in the potion she'd drunk almost nudging her, here and there, to aim just a little bit better, to react just a little bit faster, sometimes pushing her to go a little further, sometimes a little less, but always doing more than she ever could before, which sometimes made the difference between a miss and a hit, a dodge or a hit, still taking a few glancing blows, but so little of them that her Aura was still almost full, though she was going through a lot of ammo.
Completing another loop, reaching the now-forming 'gate', the red-clad girl leaped into the mass of Grimm shoving their way through the opening, scythe-out, a few Gravity-Dust enhanced shots sending her spinning faster, and faster, cutting through the monsters with ease, another shot sending her arcing up high in the air, where the half-dozen Girgoyles still hanging out high in the dark night sky swooped in after her, but, just like the Slenders, she could reposition mid-air, but, unlike them, she was good at it!
Bouncing from flier to flier, while they were armored, her work with Pyrrha had taught the mini-reaper how to hit just right, slipping her blade in through the weaker joints of the bone-clad Grimm's necks and wings, sending them plummeting to the ground, before she dived back down, seeing Weiss had finished the walls, caping them with a flared ridge to make going over them from the outside even harder.
While Slenders could still come over, they had to use their second jump to do so, putting them on long, parabolic arcs that any self-respecting sniper could track easily, especially as they screeched, though, only now did Ruby notice that, last time, the sound had rattled her, putting her on edge, but this time it was just… loud.
Shooting the 'skeet', the team lead darted inwards, to the center of the arena, landed beside her partner, and asked, "You good?"
"Just under half left," the Dustcaster replied, the glow from her amulet dimming, the girl breathing hard, but she turned to the Tide that was slowly pushing back Nora and Mr. Alysham, and frowned. One gesture grew a ten foot platform under her, Ruby, and Ren, giving them a better view, while another unholstered the Atlesian's weapon, spinning Myrtlenaster's chamber.
The white-haired girl ran her fingers along its blade, muttering to herself, "How did Jaune do it, again?"
Nodding to Ren, the team leader darted forward, going after the Grimm that had gotten through enough to get around the defenders, dropping out of her Semblance only for a single step at a time to shift Crescent Rose for another swing, her pulse pounding, her lungs aching, muscles hot, but she trusted her team, and, and they could do this!
Hearing her partner yell, "Clear the Gate," Ruby darted back, glancing up to see a half dozen bright red glyphs hanging over the Dustcaster's head, each one holding a roiling ball of fire that was loosed into the masses charging Nora and Mr. Alyashm, which seemed endless, but they'd either be able to handle it, or they wouldn't, and there was nothing else they could do about it now other than try.
Explosions ripped through the gate area as the fireballs detonated, the two frontline fighters using the opportunity to reload their hammers from their stocks, Magnhild and Consequences both running through ammo to increase their striking power, Ruby down to a third of her magazines, spinning her weapon one handed to pull her Scroll to see they'd been fighting for overtwenty minutes straight, time just kind of slipping by as she'd worked, but the brunette stowed it, because that didn't matter, as all that did was the fight!
More Grimm started to pour through the Gate, only for some to pull back, others to be physically bowled aside as something large sped through, faster than anyone on the team except for Ruby herself, two gaunt, clawed hands that were still each as big as a person's torso lashing out, both Mr. Alyashm and Nora blocking but getting thrown back, as the newest Grimm, a Windago, who they'd been taught by Professor Port were always Alphas, threw back its head and let out its distinctive Howl.
The sound, which was known to send even hardened Huntsmen and Huntresses to running, breaking defensive lines in an instant, hit the mini reaper and did… nothing.
Well, it was kinda loud, but that was it.
… Huh.
Honestly, the Alpha Grimm seemed just as confused as she was, tilting its horned head to the side, taking a another deep breath, furred chest expanding, 'ribcage' armor shifting, and it tried again.
.
.
.
Nope. Nada.
Like, Ruby could feel there was something else to the sound, but it just slid right over her, like water off a duck's back, or milk, or really just any kind of fluid really.
That'd been a fun afternoon, even if Mr. Quackers had gotten kinda annoyed with her, before flying off.
Focus, Ruby!
A shot from Nora took it from behind, sending it staggering, and the other thing Windago's could do came into focus, as it blurred, moving as fast as the wind it was named after, going after the girl, who, sparking, met its claw with Magnhild, triggering a grenade to hit it extra-hard, the Alpha moving with the hit to break away. Moving itself instead of being the one who moved her teammate, the monster was shifting its focus to go after Weiss, but Ruby was already on the way.
The fifteen-foot-tall Grimm stopped right behind the Atlesian girl, claws coming down, as the white-haired Dustcaster turned, eyes wide, Ren throwing up an Aura shield to protect them both, but he didn't need to as Ruby was there, having used her Semblance to match the creature's speed, Crescent Rose spinning to cut its bony palm, swinging up to stop its counter-swipe too, the Alpha blurring back, almost faster than the mini-reaper could track, but she hadn't been going to Beacon, and drinking her milk, for nothing, and her team training, along with Mrs. Sepper's, made the difference!
The Alpha went for Mr. Alyashm, who was putting down an Ursa, but while it pulled back from the group before charging, darting along the ice, whose glowing highlighted its shifting position, Ruby could make a bee-line, meeting its claws again and again, leaping under a hoofed sweeping kick. The Windago, showing the smarts that Alphas were known for, tried to take advantage of her being in the air to lash out with a downward slash, claws whistling to rip her apart, and while she did come apart, it was into petals, reforming to fire her weapon for more speed, her spin tightening as she took a chunk out of the monster's mask.
Grinning, feeling like she had this, the Windago pulled back, going for Weiss once more, Ruby moving to match it, scythe already moving to block the strike, except it wasn't going for her partner.
It was going for her.
Aura flaring as she took the hit, feeling the fake-pain as her chest wasn't ripped apart, her Aura was, the team lead was sent flying, thoughts scrambled by the unexpected hit, the Windago following her, parrying her counter only to hit her again, and sending her high above the arena, only it could walk on air, and was there too, clawed hand grabbing her weapon with finger-crushing force, as its jaws opened wide and it jerked forward to close sharpened teeth on her neck, to decapitate her.
Part of her still froze in panic, but her training kicked in, and she moved, her Semblance turning her to petals, but the thing pulled at her, even spread out as she was, trying to keep her there, her strength against it.
And something in her flared.
Her body didn't just pull, it tore, her petals hitting the black flesh of the Grimm and burning through them, as she reformed a few feet back, faintly glowing red holes seen in the Windago's hand, bringing Crescent Rose about and unloading it in the creature's surprised face, the red-orange light of the forest continue to burn, painting them both, as it fell back, staggering on the air itself, then charged her again.
This time, she was ready.
The force of its blows sent her flying, but each flight curved around for another confrontation, the Windago having to be careful with its blows, as it went for her while she was turning about, and she had just… kept going.
Burning through the Grimm's flesh was a drain, not just on her Aura, though that was going down, and fast, but on something else, something different,but she couldn't stop to think about it, couldn't let her focus slip again, keeping the Alpha focused on her instead of her teammates, and while she felt she couldn't use whatever her petals did enough to win the fight outright with… with whatever she was doing, the Windago didn't know that.
Again and again they clashed, her reserves dropping further and further, but, while she was tiring, the cuts she were inflicting were doing the same on the creature, whatever it used to move not liking it being cut open, the Alpha bleeding black smoke every time it blurred, slowing, while, Ruby, feeling more and more like she was on the edge of falling off a cliff into the abyss, just kept getting faster.
Because she was learning.
The Windago's way of moving wasn't hers, but it was close enough that she was able to see how it did it, doing it herself, turning corners faster, feeling something in how it blurred and trying to do the same, until she wasn't on the defensive, the Alpha going after her with every strike, it was, defending more and more, until she'd forced it stand still, even as she gasped for breath with the effort, unable to stop herself from grinning, no part of its surviving armor more than a couple feet wide, dozens of bright red rents in its black flesh, and-
"Ruby, get clear!" Weiss yelled, the sound coming through her Scroll.
Pulling back, trusting her teammates, the Windago staggered, looked at her confusion, and-
BWAAAA!
A thick beam of blue-white light slammed into the Alpha, knocking it backwards, ice flash-forming on its chest, spreading to its shoulders and thighs, locking the creature up in a single second, sending it plummeting down, towards the arena below, where Weiss fell to her knees, drained from the effort.
"Got it!" Ruby yelled back, judging distance, repositioning herself, then, popping her magazine and slamming in her last set of Gravity Dust rounds in. She started firing them, one after another, speeding up, wind howling in her ears, until she caught up with the Windago and sank Crescent Rose's blade up to the hilt in its chest, slamming into it at full speed. The Alpha was desperately clawing at itself to try and get free, but her blow, just as its had done to her, stunned the monster for the few critical seconds, the strike she'd landed in its body shooting themboth down at deadly velocities, the unforgiving ice of the floor rushing up to meet them, their deaths certain as soon as they hit.
But Ruby Rose came apart in shower of petals, momentarily dispersed, gathering herself up next to her partner, kneeling, Crescent Rose resting against the floor, positioned just as she'd been when she'd shifted, unharmed.
And the Windago came apart too, but in a shower of black and red gore, half of it frozen, that shot out across the iced arena floor, even the few Grimm still at the gates pausing to watch, before, with a chorus of shrieks and howls, they ran, the Tide Broken.
Struggling to her feet, feeling exhausted, Ren helped her stand, Weiss also looking pooped, and checking her Scroll, Ruby saw her Aura was at… four percent.
… Oh. That was… close, the Team Leader thought numbly, noting Ren's was at seventy, Weiss' was at seven, Mr. Alyashm's was at sixteen, and Nora's was at… negative twelve? Showing it to her partner, her the white-haired girl laughed, "The food and aperitif gave us… extra Aura."
Not that close then, but still, Ruby thought, smiling, "I'll thank him next time I see… next time I see Mr…" she trailed off, for some reason unable to remember the name of the.. of the..
"Sparkle," Weiss supplied absently, looking around the faintly-glowing ice.
"Mr. Sparkle," the mini-reaper agreed, wondering why she'd forgotten about… about the.. the. "Uh, Weiss, what was the name of Mr. Sparkle's place?"
"God, Ruby," the white-haired girl laughed, "I know your memory's bad, but how do you not remember a name like 'The House of Mercy'."
Feeling things clicking into place, her memories, which seemed fuzzy, like a half-remembered dream, sharpened once more, and the team leader wondered how she had forgotten about it, even though other parts of it were still kinda iffy, but she put her concerns aside.
Stepping off the platform Weiss was on, as the last of the Grimm ran away, well, was blown away by Nora, Ruby smiled tiredly at their Huntsman Guide. "So, what next?"
The Faunus just looked at her, for a long moment, then started laughing.
Glancing towards her orange-haired teammate, the other girl shrugged, so Ruby just waited for him to finish, soooo glad they were almost done with this.
DR
'What next', turned out to be call for a pickup, Mr. Alyashm having to give his full credentials, as their first pickup, seeing the Grimm Tide, had already reported them as dead, which… rude. But, while they had built a giant Ice Dust arena, which would've been a good landing zone, Mr. Alyashm pointed out that, if they were picked up at the Bandit Camp, they could call 'salvage' and get a share of the profits from everything that was scavenged by the clean-up team.
Not only that, going back meant they could get their bags, which they'd abandoned, and since the backpack was a gift from her dad, Ruby really wanted to go do that, only now realizing that taking stuff like that on-mission was probably… not the best idea.
So they'd jogged back to the camp, just needing to follow the trail of destruction they'd left on the way up to The House of Mercy's door, Mr. Alyashm promising them that he'd take care of the post-mission paperwork, while also pointing out the Windago that Ruby had killed, with Weiss' help, was a town-killer, using its Howl to send everyone running, and then darting around, picking them off, one at a time, though he had no idea why its Howl hadn't worked.
So, go her! And Weiss! That 'Polar Beam' coming in clutch, the girl trying to recreate the beam they'd seen from that huge Ice Dust Crystal under Patch, and even doing it, even if hers was only a half foot across, though the Atlesian had admitted, afterwards, she still wasn't sure how she'd done it, just that she'd needed to, and then just… did.
The other odd thing was that, exactly an hour after they'd drunk Mr. Sparkle's potions, the weird extra 'guidance' they'd had disappeared, though they still felt good, and their worries just… didn't feel so bad.
Getting back to the bandit's camp, they found their bags, at the bottom of the thorny wooden tower, repacked, almost waiting for them, which was… weird. Unfortunately, the thermos' full of smoothie were all gone, though, after five days, they probably wouldn't've been that good, though they were the only thing that was missing, and were missing from all of their bags.
They'd had to wait a couple hours, until after the sun had risen, before the Bullhead arrived, the camp kind of far away from any major travel hub, which made sense, because bandits, the vehicle landing in the center of the compound and opening its back door.
"Thought you all died!" the pilot called to them as they started to board. "How'd y'all survive that Tide?"
Mr. Alyashm smiled. "Skill, opportunity, and a great deal of explosives."
Weiss, who was still tired, even though all their Auras were mostly replenished, got on after, Ren and Nora following, while Ruby waited a moment, feeling like someone, or something, was watching her.
Turning around, she looked out around the camp, not seeing anything, when a flash of something caught her eye, and, turning, standing almost out of sight, far beyond the gate, was a man in white full plate armor, head to toe, though something about the helmet seemed… off, the armor bearing strange bright red highlights, as he stared her way.
The man nodded to her, though the Huntress in training wasn't sure if it was respectful or mocking, then turned and stepped behind a tree, disappearing, and, as she took off, moving at supernatural speeds to the gate to try and… she wasn't sure what, the stranger was gone, nowhere to be seen, not on the other side of the tree, not down the road, not anywhere.
"Ms. Rose!" their Huntsman Guide called. "What's wrong?"
Casting one last glance down the road, wondering if she'd been seeing things, as she had been through a lot, and been up, for, like, almost twenty-four hours, she sped back to the Bullhead, which was pointed in an entirely different direction.
"Sorry," she smiled, chagrined, getting onboard and closing the door behind her. "Thought I saw something. Maybe I'm just jumpy."
"Don't worry," the Snake Faunus smiled. "We all have been there. Now, it will be a while before we get back to Beacon, so sleep, if you can."
Ruby nodded, seeing Weiss was already out of it, and settled in to try and catch some Z's herself.
She wasn't sure if she had, but things just seemed to skip, when she heard the Pilot angrily snap, "I'm sorry, you're what? Repeat that, Vale Command!"
Blinking, feeling even more tired than when she'd woken up, Ruby muttered, "Whazzup?"
"Distress signal," Ren quietly informed her, the boy tense as well. "Pilot switched it to private, but they sounded… scared."
"FUCK!" the man behind the stick swore, slamming a fist on the control panel, quickly reaching over, flicking switches, and Ruby felt momentarily pushed back in her seat as the Bullhead started to speed up, going so fast that it would beguzzling Dust. "Huntsman Alyashm, wake up your team. There's been an emergency."
"With all due respect, my team is exhausted," the older man replied. "We just handled a Grimm Tide. What could-"
The pilot cut him off. "Priority Zero Emergency. Everyone's getting called, sir. Students, Militia, Retirees, everyone. We'll be there in twenty minutes, and you need to be ready to fight."
Priority Zero? Ruby thought, as the scale went from 1-10, with one being 'OMG, Do This ASAP!'
Ren spoke up, "You said we were three hours out. Where are we going? Duskbrook?"
"We'd be that far," the helmeted driver said grimly, "at economic flight speeds. Priority Zero means all costs covered, which means I'm redlining my baby the entire way there."
"But," Ruby replied, not understanding, "Where are we going? Where's being attacked?"
Glancing back at the girl the Pilot told her, tension thick in his voice, "Vale."
Music:
Something – This Will Be The Day (Feat. Casey Lee Williams)
AN: Okay, Apartment has been moved into, so posting speed should pick back up (those boxes don't need to be that unpacked after all! ). And, this brings us to the end of the RWBY mission, where we start to see some of the effects of their Dragonblood Diet, in more ways than one!
