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The Greens were just the tiniest bit smaller than the browns, with ever so slightly shorter torsos and longer arms and legs, and even longer fingers. As they lead he and Fiona through winding tunnels further below the old, lost city, they clambered easily over obstacles and along the walls. A few even swung along the ceiling, as if from handle-bars Jaune couldn't see. They were light, flighty creatures, and dressed for it in loose wraps and old shirts they'd pilfered from Mountain Glenn over the years. He could see old icons and sayings, faded with time, in the light of the flashlights he and Fiona had pulled out once it got dark enough Fiona didn't feel like she could actually guide him. It was almost morbid, but…
Well, Minions made use of whatever they could find.
Eventually, deep below Mountain Glenn, the twisting cavern began to straighten. Until its walls smoothed out and Jaune could make out ancient brickwork only barely covered in emerging rock, and dotted in breaches where rock had pressed the walls in. Old torch-stands dotted the walls, but they were empty, falling out of the stone in places or already scattered and broken across the floor alongside the scattered segments of roof that had long since caved in. The new hall continued on for a minute, until…
"Wow…" Fiona murmured as they reached its end and she stepped forward. "Amazing…"
"Yeah." Jaune nodded, "It really is."
They were in a small cavern, maybe two hundred feet long and fifty high, with paths carved into the stone dotted by torches fashioned of luminous stones that glittered with light he couldn't explain. Their light was dim but strangely far-reaching, letting him see well enough. A long path ran through the middle of the cavern, lined on either side by hovels that he could see clustered up the walls as well. Eventually, they reached a river with a tone bridge across it. And, on that side, sat a massive crystal glowing the same faint orange as the smaller ones, with outcroppings of… Growth, almost, breaking through the paving-stone path around it. One one side of the crystal was a worn stone gazebo, with a depressed floor that he could feel with his Gauntlet from here - what had been drawing him in, he was sure - and on the other…
"The Hive…" He smiled as they made their way, dozens of glowing eyes on them from the paths above and to either side.
It was bulbous and swollen looking, resting in a low pool of slimy looking water with long mucus strands connecting to the walls above it, where Minions were clambering up and down, seemingly tending to it. As he neared it, it seemed to shudder gently. Like it knew he was there, knew the Gauntlet was there, and was excited for it. And, standing in front of it, he already felt more powerful for what it all meant.
"Master…" He looked down when he felt a hand touching his Gauntlet gently, and met the gaze of a masked Minion who looked up at him and pointed around the crystal. "Portal."
"Portal…?" He murmured, letting the creature lead him around to the stone gazebo, where half a dozen Minions were already at work, clearing the floor. He could see runes carved along its edge, with a ruddy green gem in the center, and turned to grunt, "Fi, can you… Make anything of this?"
"Some of it…" She nodded, pulling a notebook out of a pack on the back of her waist and holding her light out to a Minion as she sat. "Hey, hold this."
"Uh…"
"Do it." He nodded when they turned to him. Its brows furrowed and it grumbled and, leaning into what he knew, he added, "You should know better than to not obey my Mistress. Or me."
"J-Jaune…" The little Faunus squeaked, flushing scarlet so vibrantly he could see it even in the dim, orange lighting of the cavern. Shaking it off, she leaned so the minion could light the pages she was skimming through and hummed, pointing at four of the glyphs further away. "Those seem to say 'Home, Tower, Heart, Power'. But that's only half…"
"Can you translate them?"
"If you give me enough time," she shrugged, "maybe- Ah! That one, the one that looks like two sickles with an 'I' in the middle? It means 'Engrave'. I, uh, think…"
"You think…?"
"I'd need all my notes, from the Tower, to be sure, but…" She hummed, "I remember reading that the more powerful of the Overlord's weapons had runes engraved into them, to enable various effects. Maybe that's what we need?"
"Hmm…" It made sense, he supposed. Runes weren't a foreign concept, at least, and they were on the floor. The gems matched, too - not in color but shape and the way the gem looked, when he peered into it. Raising his Gauntlet, he looked at its back where the faintest shapes of worn engravings could just barely be picked out. "I think you're right, Fi…"
"Yeah?"
"Can you engrave the symbol for 'Power' and 'Home' into this?" He asked, drawing his axe around and offering it to her.
"Assuming we can find the tools, sure, but…" She grimaced, "What if those aren't the right ones?"
"WHat do you mean…?"
"There's a lot of combinations of just these eight symbols." She explained, frowning deeply as she looked them over. Absently, she almost seemed to ramble, "And who's to say that my idea is even correct? Plus, this is magic. Who knows what will happen if I'm just right enough that the engravings blow your axe up in your hand? There's so many ways this could work, and no way to know what will happen if we're wrong…"
"Then what do you suggest?" He asked, letting the base of his axe 'clang' against the stone. "Should I just… Try to channel into the runes as they are?"
"It's as good a place to start as any, I suppose…" She sighed, flicking the Minion holding her light a look and blinking. "Or… We do the obvious thing."
"Which is?"
"Hey," she smiled, looking at the Minion, "do you know how this works?"
Jaune blinked, turning to look down at the little creature as it waddled over and looked down, cocking its head and chittering in thought. Far above them, something boomed, sending tremors through the cavern, but the Minion ignored it. A second, louder explosion ripped through the caves, and that one did get the little creature's attention.
But, dutifully, it nodded and said, "Overlord put sigil thingy on thingy to teleport to. Not need thingy to use big portal, though."
"You're sure?" It nodded and, testing his confidence, Jaune said, "Then you can be the first one I send through. Right?"
"Yes," it nodded, padding forward to stand in the center of the gazebo and sitting down while Fiona scrambled out of the way, "For my Overlord."
"Jaune…" Fiona warned, "I don't know how this will go…"
"It'll be fine." He smiled behind his helmet, "I trust your studies."
"O-Okay." She nodded, ears flicking excitedly.
Reaching out, Jaune was more than happy to let the power that had been reaching out to him finally touch him. Like paper to a flame, it swamped him, swallowed him, and he felt himself sigh with it. With the strange almost-contentment that the magic brought, he was almost willing to sit and simply wait out the time. The Gauntlet wouldn't let him go, though, burning with energy so hot it brought him back to it. In turn, it directed his focus back on the Portal-shrine, his fingers curling in to point to it of their own accord.
Smiling, he said, "Go."
In a heartbeat, light filled the room-
And the Minion was gone, leaving them in a cavern that brightened as crystals embedded into the stone all throughout the cave's roof lit up, where they'd been hidden until just then, and cast the world in pale light almost like the sun. A handful speckled blue, after a moment, and Jaune smiled and crossed his arms at the familiar comfort it brought.
"That," he smiled, "is more like it."
"It's beautiful…" Fiona agreed, stepping up to his side and leaning into him when he wrapped his arm around her. "I never thought I'd see something… Something like this."
He smiled and held her just a bit closer, "I aim to please."
"You succeed…" Another tremor shook the cavern, this time scattering dust and loose rocks along the walls around them. She sighed and looked up at him, then pulled away and asked, "Does anyone know what that is, exactly?"
"Peoples." A Minion answered simply.
"People doing…?"
"Digging." Another answered, miming singing a pickaxe while one of its fellows mimed using a shovel. Then he clapped his hands and spread them out, "And blasting!"
"Where?"
"Humie city." The first Minion answered, covering his hands with his fingers and peeping between them. "Ones with masks. They sneak around up top, but down here they aren't. They're digging out the old tunnels the old humies dug out, for their big rumblers to come an' go. Blast the rock, pick the rubble, shovel the rest-"
"Up on trucks," another crowed, "out the sides!"
"Rumblers…"
"He means the trains Vale was using back when they tried to set Mountain Glenn up." Fiona explained absently, mind already thinking about something else. Something she voiced a moment later, sounding full of dread, "Overlord, if they're digging out the old train tunnels…"
"They're aiming for Vale." He frowned, turning to his Minions and asking, "Anything else? Anything at all?"
"Others landed up top." A Minion reported, "Students, I heard the tall one say it. One got caught. They have her."
"If the White Fang has a student from Beacon, they aren't long for this world, Jaune." Fiona muttered, giving him one of those hardened, distinctly Huntress looks he'd already grown used to by now. "We have to help them. They won't make it if we don't."
"Right." He nodded, gesturing at her with a hand. "You get to your ship when we're done here, and make sure it's ready to get out of here."
"But-"
"We might need a fast exit, and I can't risk luring them here."
"Right…" She grimaced, "If you're sure…"
"I am, and… Well, uh, thanks, Fi." If anything, he hoped he could make sure they didn't find this place. It would raise far too many questions, if they told Beacon about it. Among other things he'd need to confront - none of which he was ready for. Turning, he spoke to the Minions as well, "Which sigil allows teleportation to and from a thing again?"
They pointed one out and Jaune asked, "Fiona, could this big stone give my axe enough juice to make it work?"
"If the Gauntlet takes…" She shrugged, "Sure. but it's not exact."
"Inscribe it on a stone." He ordered, handing her his axe and turning towards the Hive. "The rest of you, help me - get the Hive to the Tower. Two dozen stay with me, the rest go with Fiona. And obey her as you would me."
"Yes, master…" They all intoned, scrambling over to the Hive with him while Fiona got to work. His clawed Gauntlet made short work of the slime and detritus of the tendrils supporting the Hive. And, as he worked, he noticed…
The Gauntlet had changed, just a bit. The steel was shinier, faintly, and a rune carved in the shape of the teleportation rune was slowly forming. Even as Jaune watched, the steel darkened and seemed to bend. Reshaping and hardening until it gleamed like silver in the light. He watched it, for a moment, before he frowned and got back to work.
That could wait until later.
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Underground, he was at a severe disadvantage. The dim lighting meant that the Faunus forty or so feet below would be able to see him well before he could see them, or tell they had noticed him. More than a few of Ironwood's jackboots had gotten killed wandering into a trap set up like that, when one or two picked them out and quietly informed the others, all while the soldiers couldn't see all that well. Even his bird-form wasn't all that useful, since a crow probably wasn't all that common underground, and Ironwood's techs had spent two years already fielding bird-drones for scouting purposes. He was not getting shot because fucking Jimmy wasn't willing to listen when they said something made one of their jobs harder.
It would be his luck, though…
Slowly, he crawled along the sloped rubble-heap that had once been some kind of store, rocks digging into his belly as he went, and got a good look at the more well-lit work area up the road. The work area was relatively well set apart, with short walls of rubble that had been cleared away at the end of each street and a dozen rifle-armed White Fang scattered along its edge. Inside, he could see Dust being rolled into train cars and the tunnels alike, before the latter was set off and laborers stood to head inside. It was a clearing operation, and an obvious one at that, but…
Why?
"Smuggling ring, maybe?" Qrow rumbled, "The tunnels run all the way to Vale, so they'd be good for that, with some work…"
The issue would be keeping the Grimm at bay, of course, but… Well, he was sure the Fang could handle the worst of it, now that there wasn't so much panic drawing more into the tunnels. Or so their theory probably went. It wasn't like crap like this wasn't typical - if he had a Lien for every time he'd caught smugglers out in Mistral trying similar, he'd have two whole ass Lien. Which wasn't a lot, sure, but it was weird it'd happened twice after Grimm ate most everyone at the first one.
"Can't fight Darwin, I guess…" He muttered, before he heard rock behind him shift and reached for his weapon. A barrel pressed into the small of his back and he sighed, "Ya know, I have Aura…"
"Pressed against the spinal column, a large bore round could inflict significant bruising as to impair movement." A familiar, quick voice spoke from behind him, barely above a whisper. It withdrew and he rolled over, looking up at Oobleck kneeling over him and smiling, "I'm here to scout as well. I spotted you some time ago, and made my way to a meeting."
"Right…" He frowned, setting aside the initial desire to break the man's nose for letting his niece get snatched. Instead, he asked, "Preparing to make a run in, I assume?"
"We were, until…" Oobleck sighed, "Well, you haven't seen him, but Taurus is here."
"Shit…" Taurus was by all regard a monster of combat. He wasn't as skilled as others, from reports, but if he had the chance he could devastate anyone. And he was an adept defensive fighter as well as unit tactician. "That explains the good formation out there. And explosives… He'd have experience from the skirmishes back in Mistral."
"Indeed." Oobleck nodded, "My students are further back, waiting to support our attack."
"What?" He blinked, "You can't let them help. Not with Taurus-"
"They can handle simpler combatants and incoming Grimm." Oobleck reassured him, "Our objective will be to target Taurus himself, and break through to Miss Rose. It's as sound a strategy as we can hope for, and… Well, I don't fancy waiting for further reinforcements and seeing what that is for."
Qrow followed his finger to where a huge Faunus with his arms crossed was overseeing a line of cinderblocks being laid out a few yards from a wall, with rifles leaned against the completed sections. He knew a range when he saw it, and what it could be for. But… He just sighed and shook his head, withdrawing his flask and turning his neck uncomfortably to take a sip.
"Yeah, guess you're right…" He growled, tapping a hand anxiously on his hip. "When can we be ready?"
"We're only waiting for you, now." Oobleck shrugged, "We can move from here, once we see Miss Rose. The young ladies know the plan."
"Right…" Qrow nodded, "When they- When they bring her out, you rush her. I'll handle Taurus."
"A risky gambit…"
"My niece," he grunted, "my place."
"Fair enough…"
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"This is a terrible idea!" Roman shouted from behind Ruby, rushing to keep up while she stumbled along behind the masked man dragging her through the worn, broken halls. She'd tried speaking to him when he came in, but he'd just struck her across the face for it, so she kept her mouth shut and let Roman try and argue, since he could speak freely. "She's got to be worth plenty in trade! Just give me a few days, a week at most- You have to have friends behind bars, right, Taurus?"
"None worth more than killing the Schnee's Human friend." The man grunted, booting open a door and dragging her through it, hurling her bodily into a few waiting grunts who dragged her away and threw her against a wall by the door, shackling her to a heavy cinder-block reinforced with heavy iron brackets so she couldn't escape. Pacing over to a line of riflemen, he bellowed, "Let's hope the Schnee is watching! It'll be a valuable lesson…"
"Taurus, this is bullshit, and you'd know that better than anyone." Roman started, marching over to him and waving a hand at the train off to her side. "They should be working, not-"
'Taurus' turned in one motion, drawing his sword and cleaving across Roman's front so hard it sent him reeling back. He would have fallen if Neo hadn't appeared from seemingly nowhere and caught him, her long sword in one hand pointing towards the masked man. Taurus only chuckled, sheathing his sword and waving them off while Roman staggered away, pressing a hand to a gash in his chest and scowling darkly. When he finally turned to her, though, his scowl died into a deep frown that morphed into a pained grimace when Ruby looked between her and Taurus hopefully, panic starting to creep in.
"Sorry, kid…" He shrugged, turning and limping off.
"No…"
"Aim!" Taurus ordered as Ruby's heart started hammering in her chest.
"No, no…" She shouted, "Please- I-I'm not even-"
"Fire!" He ordered as the Faunus finally braced and-
Screams cut them off before they could fire, ringing out all around them as a poleaxe slammed down into the concrete behind them. They turned just as a man in dark armor appeared, eyes glowing scarlet so bright she could see as he thrust a hand forward to cut off their attempt to turn and fire on him. A crack like thunder ripped the air apart and sent them reeling as he retrieved his axe and twisted, carving through the nearest Grunt's chest in a spray of ruby.
"The Overlord commands!" He bellowed, "Send them running like the ants they are!"
The riflemen fell back as he turned and thrust, crushing one of their rifles and throwing the woman back as Taurus lunged and drew his sword. The strike broke the 'Overlord's' guard and the second sparke off his armor as Taurus advanced, snarling something Ruby couldn't hear in the noise. But a hand on her calf caught her attention before the fight could continue, and she looked down…
At a little green thingy looking up at her, shushing her and murmuring, "We save you…"
"Oh." She blinked, watching it fish out what she guessed was a lockpick and get to work on it. "Okay, but, uh… Go fast?"
She did not want to keep playing the damsel in distress…
It was her least favorite part of the story.
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JRC
He is, yes. However, the person who took it is either unlikely to have gone far unless he took Ruby with him. Else, why take a prisoner? Even if the Scroll is with someone else - THEY may know something. He's hounding leads, that's all.
Guest
No. My max-minimum hasn't changed.
Red Demon Eye
Fion is an outright Huntress - arguably, she's better in a fight than Jaune, minus the magic bullshit and army he brings to bear.