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Jaune followed the two Greens in the lead, crawling along the rough, uneven slope of the wall as they got closer and closer to the train-tunnels. Steadily, the rubble below gave way to slightly more clean, ordered areas where paths had been cleared and what the Greens told him were walkways had been built in the ruins by the Faunus. He'd even spotted a machine gun, nestled under a partially collapsed building with a couple Faunus on it, watching the buildings closely. None looked up, though. Not so high. Grimm jumping from here would probably die, he figured…
And why would Grimm sneak like this at all? They'd just rush the target down.
Still, he avoided the edge of the concrete where he could, crawling along paths the Greens knew well. Until the two in front stopped and turned, and one grunted, "We are here. Down below."
"Right…" He nodded, turning and laying along the edge, peering over and down at a wide, open area as a man's voice boomed.
"Aim!" He saw the line of White Fang level rifles and followed their aim to…
"Ruby…" Jaune murmured, blood running cold as the Faunus braced themselves and-
"Are you going to sit by while the girl dies, Overlord?" A voice asked, whispering in his ears and echoing behind his eyes in layers he barely recognized, but felt malic and pain washing through nonetheless, "Or will you protect what is yours? Save your friend?"
"Get the girl to safety!" He snarled lowly.
Then he rose and snarled, turning and hurling his axe straight for the crowd as mana burned up from his Gauntlet and through him. The Minions beside him cackled, like they could feel it too, knew what he was doing. For all he knew, they did. How the Minions connected with the Gauntlet, and how much that really meant, was still a mystery to him. A heartbeat passed, though, and he turned his attention back to his mana-
And thunder cracked around him.
He appeared behind their line as they turned to face him and raised his Gauntlet in the old, familiar gesture. Mana blasted and sent them stumbling a step before they could fire while he retrieved his axe, stepped in and cut one down. Raising his Gauntlet, he heard screams of alarm and surprise echoing around him along the camp's perimeter and snarled, feeling even more mana surging through him as something washed over him. Something heavy and hot and powerful.
He liked it…
"The Overlord commands!" He bellowed, sweeping his axe around his side, "Send them running like the ants they are!"
Around him, gunfire sparked as something - his Minions or Grimm drawn by the noise and emotion, he had no idea - attacked the camp's edges.
The Overlord ignored it, though, pursuing the riflemen as they fell back and thrusting his axe into the woman who was trying to reorganize them. She got her rifle in the way in time, but his blow shattered it and the rifle line both, sending her stumbling across the ground. She fell and he took a step to end her, before a flash caught his attention and he turned, bringing his axe around in two hands. Even so, the blow sent him reeling, pain stinging up his arms and ears ringing.
"You!" The masked swordsman snarled, slashing for his throat and forcing the Overlord to turn and lean back, bounding it off his shoulder. "Dare!"
"I am the Overlord!" He bellowed, "I do more than dare, White Fang!"
The man snarled and leapt in, spinning in midair and hurling his sword at him almost faster than the Overlord could move. It spun through the air like a saw, carving into the ground beside him as the man followed, grabbed it, and cut across his armored chest. He was too close for his axe, though, so instead he swung his armored fist for his face, which he dodged easily. Less easily dodged was the Mana Blast that he set off right in his face, sending him reeling as the Overlord followed, swinging with his free hand and forcing the man back, sword barely redirecting the blow.
"Adam!" A voice called before a man rushed in from the Overlord's side, bringing a sledge-hammer around and forcing the Overlord back.
He staggered back from the hit, but caught the man with the side of his axe, shoving him back and turning to take the poleaxe in both hands. He buried the pointed tip in the man's stomach and turned as 'Adam' stepped around him and sheathed his sword, growling. Yanking his axe free, the Overlord stepped towards him, raising the axe high and thrusting the base at him in a faster jab than his swing would allow. Adam only stepped back and cut up, though, breaking his grip on his left side as the weapon went soaring and the man's sword glowed.
And then came down in a flash of searing heat…
"Ack…" Jaune staggered back, clutching at the rent mail and padding on his front - and the blood running out through it like a lazy red river.
"Pathetic." Adam drawled lazily, pacing in front of him without a care in the world for the cacophony that Jaune only now realised had unfurled around them. "Like every Human arrogant enough to come for me…"
"Arrogant, aren't we?" Jaune cleared his throat, shaking his head as Mana once more began to infuse his body. Taking his axe in both hands, he thought up a plan and smiled, "Did it look like I was done?"
Before the Faunus could respond, Jaune was on him, swinging his axe around awkwardly in one hand. Adam blocked the blow easily, of course, but Jaune was already turning and driving the knee on his opposite side into the man's side. It caught him by surprise but Jaune was too hurt to put real power behind it. Instead, he used it to gain space and raised his Gauntlet to make more with a Mana Burst that drove him back.
Straight into three Minions that had rushed up behind him, which leapt onto his back and hips, clawing and stabbing at him as he roared and spun. One Minion was carved in half before Jaune had even raised his axe, but he ignored it.
Fiona had carved the teleportation runes into his axe just like he'd asked, and he'd already used it to move a couple times now. But the runes were from the ruins they'd found - and it was supposed to do a similar thing, albeit for much greater distances. So, Mana rolling through him and head feeling light, he reached out, and…
The world boomed around him.
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"So, uh…" Ruby stammered, nervously following the goblin through the dark tunnel it was leading her down as fast as she could go. For the like, twelfth time she had to grab at the wall to keep from falling, stammering out, "W-Where are we going?"
"Master want get you to safety." The goblin answered, "So we do."
"And, uh, where is that…?"
"Tower."
"What kind of Tower…?"
"The Dark Tower." It answered like that told her everything she needed to know, scuttling ahead with her just behind. Thankfully, the thing had given her a flashlight - with a dent on the side and what she had decided was rust around it - but even so, it was hard to follow it.
But between that and going back into a big fight with terrorists, Goblins and Grimm - there was no way they weren't there now, with all the noise - all without a weapon…
Well, she did her best to keep up.
Eventually, finally, she stumbled out through the gap and into a wide, open cavern that sparkled with crystals all along its roof. Pacing in, she turned to take it all in, murmuring to herself, "Where's a Scroll when I need it… No one would believe this."
Or the little hut she nearly fell onto when she tripped over a low, uneven rock.
"Careful! Follow, not fall ow! Silly girl…" The goblin scolded her as she stumbled along and managed to catch her balance.
It was perched on the little house andwaved for her to follow before scuttling over the edge and vanishing below. She could see a dip ahead, where another, wider entrance let in, so she knew there was something down there, so she smiled and flashed over the edge with her Semblance, trailing petals around the little guy while he sneezed and batted at them. She rematerialized standing over it, smiling and wiggling her eyebrows.
"Now who looks silly~?"
"You fast." It admitted in a grumble, chuckling under its breath. "Not fast enough to escape though, eh?"
"That's…" A fair enough point, she figured, pouting and crossing her arms. "Not my fault! I was… Surprised!"
"Almost dead, if not for Overlord." It nodded, like that was a way of… Agreeing. It sounded like it was, at least. And Ruby couldn't really argue with any of it, which left her pouting before she caught herself, earning a snicker from the goblin as it scuttered up the little path and called back, "Come! Tower!"
The 'Dark Tower' turned out to be a mostly broken down… Pagoda? With a little platform in the middle circled by runes. And covered in a thin film of some kind of… Slime, like she'd seen on part of the wall a ways back. There was a bit of water, too, though the little river thing that ran a few feet away was below it, so she wasn't sure why the water was there. Maybe they'd washed it off a bit? Before the fighting started and they'd run off?
The cavern… Town? The cavern town was empty enough for that, at least.
"So…" She muttered as the creature sat, picking at a spot of dirt beside the pagoda. It looked up and,bouncing on her heels, she asked, "W-What now?"
"Now, wait." It shrugged, "Master come soon."
"How soon…?" She asked, "I, uh, just don't want anyone to follow us, you know?"
"No one follow." It shrugged, "If they do, we kill."
"T-That seems… Excessive?"
"They wanted to kill you." It pointed out, cocking its head and flicking its ears in the kind of interest that a bored kid might have offered her.
"I-I know…" Gods, did she. Just thinking about how close she'd come made her shiver and had her stomach churning. She shook it off, though - dwelling on it, at least out here, was more likely to bring Grimm down on her than anything - and went on, "B-B-But not trying to kill them makes me a better person. Or at least… Not wanting to does. Accidents, you know, happen, and I get that- But you get my point, right?"
"Yes." It shrugged, "Stupid point, but I get it."
"It's not-"
The air boomed beside her, suddenly, and she flinched and flashed away, trailing petals while her head spun. It was so loud, in the little cavern, she half expected a bomb had gone off and for the pagoda to have been blown apart. Instead, she saw the man in the black armor appear, surrounded by smoke, fog, and a bullet that hit the ground and rolled uselessly, like it had been stopped mid-air. The armored man stumbled a step, axe clattering across the ground, and Ruby saw the red splatter across the floor before her brain got un-discombobulated enough to realise it was blood.
His blood…
"Oh, frick!" She squawked, rushing to catch him when he started to fall. He was heavy, between his armor and his… Well, body, but she managed to mostly break his fall and keep him up while the goblin chittered in anger and confusion, circling her worriedly. "W-Who-"
"Master!" It cut her off, "Master hurt! Hurt bad! Need Tower- Tower help!"
"But I thought…" She blinked and shook the obvious, stupid question off - the pagoda was not the 'Dark Tower' after all. Turning, she asked, "What do we do? How do we get him there?"
"Up!" It chirped, "Master on Portal-Stone- He take us home, he heal!"
"Okay, um, I don't know what any of that means, so…" She grimaced and turned when the man sucked in a shuddering breath and fumbled weakly at his helmet with his over-armored hand. She rushed to set him down, leaning against the curve of the 'Portal-Stone', and rushed to help, muttering, "Here, I got it. Youneed air, right?"
"Yeah, Ruby…" A painfully familiar voice rasped as she pulled it off. Blue eyes blinked up at her and the ghost smiled weakly, chuckling and waving, "H-Hey. Long time no- Hrk. No see."
"J-Jaune…" A wall of emotions slammed into her like a bomb had gone off, and his helmet clattered against the stone of the floor. He smiled weakly and she nearly fell before she caught herself. He was alive… Somehow. Alive, and bleeding badly. Kneeling, she asked, "W-What can I do? The little goblins guy said something about… A Portal-Stone?"
"Behind me." He grunted, "Need my axe- I can get us home. Gnarl should be able to fix me up."
"Gnarl…?" She shook the question off - it could wait - and pulled his heavier arm over her, to tke more of his weight. Turning, she grunted, "Little, uh, guy, get the axe. We gotta go."
"Yes, Mistress…"
"Oh don't you start you little crea- Agh!" Jaune stumbled, clutching at his chest, and sucked in deep breaths as she helped him up onto the stone. He shook his head and apparently decided to ignore whatever… That had been, taking the axe when it held it up, wobbling awkwardly. Raising it, Jaune murmured, "Just gotta… Do one more…"
The pressure around her was like nothing she'd ever felt, and rushed in like a thunderclap. It honestly felt like it might crush her at any moment - crush them all - and her legs trembled under it. Like she'd run a marathon with Yang, from when she was younger and she hadn't given up on having the big muscles her sister did. Only now she felt it while trying to hold up someone that felt more and more like a dead weight hanging on her with every passing second. If he hadn't still been holding up the axe, she'd have worried about it being literal…
Instead, she just worried about trying to breathe.
A moment later, thunder echoed and she felt icy wind at her back, and water up to her calves. She stumbled and dropped Jaune, who splashed into the edge, red spreading out over the water as a half-dozen of the little Goblins - green and brown ones now, though - rushed up, chittering excitedly. Then worriedly, when Jaune tried to pull himself out of the water and slipped while Ruby stumbled stomach spinning.
"What is the meaning of- Master!" A little, bearded one squawked, pushing through the crowd and looking him over. Clapping, he barked, "Get him to the Throne - and get me bandages and whatever passes for food we have to hand!"
A couple dozen of them swarmed him, nearly carrying Jaune off while she watched, stumbling and reaching for him on instinct - she couldn't let him go already - before the little bearded one caught her in the stomach with his walking stick.
"And who are you, Miss Green in the Gills?" She looked down at him, blinked, and his eyes widened. "No, no, don't you da- Aiiieeee!"
It turned out, strawberries and rations tasted awful together coming back up…
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Qrow flew over the battlefield in bird form as Oobleck and what was left of his supervised team started to fall back - Oobleck nearly dragging Yang along, as he'd expected - while the Grimm and… Whatever those little monsters were took the White Fang's attention. But, in spite of the noise they'd caused, and the noise they hadn't, he didn't see Ruby. He knew he'd seen her earlier, before the man in the black armor had screwed their ambush up - he'd been right about to swoop down on Ruby himself, damn it - and then vanished. Which was a problem for later, for Ozpin…
But Ruby had, he hoped, managed to slip away regardless. Even tied up or chained, she was quick and smart - he had to hope she knew to get to the surface.
So he turned back, sweeping high over his nieces' team and coming down ahead of them, resuming his normal form in time to step around the corner and wave for them to follow, "C'mon! We'll search the surface for her."
"She better be there!" Yang snarled, flicking Oobleck a red-eyed look, "If you made me leave her-"
"Threats are best saved for people in the wrong, now run!" Oobleck ordered, turning to look back at the chaos. "This is a mess…"
A few steps later, Qrow's Scroll chirped and he pulled it out, waving for them to slow as they climbed some ruins towards the path they'd taken to get down. Opening it, he saw a message from 'Ruby' and frowned, "It's from… Our contact. It says 'she got away'."
"That's it?" Yang asked, "That's all we get?"
"It's all they can send." Qrow grunted - he knew spy work meant quick messages like that, and wouldn't look the gift horse in it's mouth. Instead, he said, "All the more reason to get away, and get to the surface."
"Right…" Yang grumbled, flicking her wide-eyed, silent partner a look and frowning. "Blake-"
"I'm fine." She grunted, "L-Let's go."
Qrow watched her shuffle back and climb, finding purchase more easily than she ever should have, and frowned. He knew she was Faunus, that much was obvious, but she looked terrified… And not for Ruby, either. She'd looked like that from the moment she got a good, proper look inside the camp. Which meant something more was in play.
More problems for later, he decided, rushing to follow her.
Hopefully Ruby had found a way out to relative safety…
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Adam bellowed, turning and hurling the table across his spartan quarters where it shattered against the wall beside the frowning Human, Torchwick. He leaned against the wall, his little bodyguard between the two of them, and frowned when Adam shot him a look. He threw his hands up in surrender at just that, and somehow, that made Adam all the more enraged. Enough to lay a hand on his sword and turn to him, snarling lowly.
"I thought you'd be more pleased, Human…"
"About having to drop all my plans, literal millions in Dust, and weeks of work?" The man grunted, apparently as irritated as he was. Or at least trying to play to being so - it was hard to tell with a snake like Roman. "Why, I'm absolutely giddy, Moo-Man."
He crossed the room in a flash, sword singing through the air and into the concrete beside Roman before the man could do more than blink.
Neo moved faster, though, ducking and coming up on a hand to kick Roman aside and plant a foot in Adam's stomach at the same time. It was enough to break his attack inches short, but nowhere near enough to actually move him. She'd spent too much of her strength getting Roman out of the way, and Adam punished her for it, grabbing her leg in a hand and turning, pulling her away to throw her onto the floor. The little acrobat was too agile, though, rolling on her hand, then her shoulder, and pushing up off her hip like it had a foot hidden somewhere on it to propel her.
Adam didn't care, though, spinning and hacking down at her with his sword.
She deflected it, of course, snapping off a quick series of thrusts and cuts that he parried easily, backing up a step while she took the advantage he gave her. Neo was quick, but for all her attentiveness when it came to Roman, she never paid Adam much attention. Not enough to know how his Semblance worked, at least, or that she was feeding into it. Not until he lashed out to interrupt a thrust with a kick, shattering the illusion she threw up, and followed with a flash of power, spread out in a wide area to hit everything in front of him. Even if it was less focused, it would be enough for a glass fighter like her, he suspected.
He was proven right when she slammed into the wall, Aura flickering as she slid down it and staggered up, baring her teeth.
Maybe she wasn't quite as made of glass as he thought, he decided as he took a steps towards her…
Only for the familiar round shape of a barrel to press against the back of his neck. "I think that's enough, Adam…"
"That won't kill me." He warned, turning to look at him over a shoulder with his good eye, "You know that."
"Not, but it will hurt." Roman nodded, face flat and angry. Angry in a way Adam understood, somewhat, and respected. "I'm sorry for what I said. It won't happen again. But you hurt her, and you'll have to kill me. And Cinder won't like that. Not one bit."
"You'd die for her?" He asked, "Just like that?"
Roman just glared harder, hand fingering the trigger of his little hand-cannon. They stood like that for a moment before, finally, Adam smiled and relaxed, slowly sheathing his sword and turning to face the man. In spite of the gun against his chin, he nodded his respect and simply said, "Mind your tongue around me, Human."
"Will do." He nodded, "Are we done?"
"We are." Adam waved him off, "See to the evacuation- And send the trains in unmanned. At least some chaos will come of this…"
And Cinder would learn of their failure here this way faster than sending a runner, or trying to get an encrypted Scroll message out to her. The sooner she learned, the sooner she could adapt her plans - which, he hoped, would go some way to stymying her rage. If only for his men's sake.
More distressingly, though…. He pressed a hand against the edge of his mask and took a shuddering breath.
"What were you doing there…" He murmured, "Blake?"
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Argus :
Yeah Adam is a bit too much for him, at this stage.
JRC1700 :
I'm just glad you enjoy the story lmao.
Vastoisshin :
Roman is a thief and a criminal, sure. But executing a fifteen year old by firing squad? That's a bit much for him. He doesn't care about Ruby, per se, so much as it's just a line he doesn't want to cross.
Adam doesn't HAVE that view. Not by the time RWBY starts, at least. Now he's all about revenge and being worshipped. It's why he works with Cinder - he wants to make a name, make a show, and look good. Had Adam been encountered a couple years before now, there's more he could be. But here, now, there is only one real version of Adam.
The one that butchers Sienna, and then everyone around him when he fails and they question him - he just still has his rank and a veneer of respectability he clings to.
Romantic scenes develop characters. When characters spend time together, and talk, they grow. Just because it ends with a smooch doesn't change that any more than if the same scene doesn't end with one would. It's all means to ends. As for relationships…
This is Overlord. They're all canonically harems lmao.