"Wonder what that Jay guy is up to." Tommy Gunn said aloud while leaning back in a wooden chair.
He stared out a window with a miserable view of the city's sea lanes. The abandoned ramshackle shack he occupied was his prison. Imagining himself as a seagull circling the passing trash barges had become his only sense of escape.
Tommy would never go inside again. A decade spent in a tundra penal colony off the coast of Solitas had been more than enough for a lifetime. If cornered, the only place the cops would be taking him was the morgue.
What kept him from following through was that he was not held by VPD. He was a 'guest' of Roman Torchwick. Tommy had been forcibly made a member of the renowned burglar's criminal enterprise, such as it was.
"A bit strange, right? I can't be the only one who sees this."
So far, Torchwick's outfit did not feel like a proper gang. Most groups allowed for the free movement of their members. He was instead restricted to the confines of a cramped room and threatened daily with bodily harm.
Not much different than jail.
His fellow inmate, Leroy Browne, sat at a table behind Tommy. The faunus was absorbed with his Scroll. The Vacuan did not mind. Numerous trips to solitary confinement had him accustomed to speaking to himself.
"He hasn't been around here in ages."
"Not since knocking you out, you mean." The other man said quietly.
So Leroy was listening.
Tommy half turned his chair. "Haven't seen Roman either. It's suspicious."
"It's smart." Leroy countered, never looking up from the device. "I wouldn't come near us either. We're practically unstable compounds."
That might have been true. The nominal reason they were hiding was because the cops were after Leroy. Depending on how recent events were shaking out, they could be looking for Tommy as well.
Just another reason for him to be paranoid. "Anything interesting on the news? Salacious stories? Crimes? The White Fang?"
It was an easy guess. Morning, noon, and night, Leroy checked the major publications. Tommy could set his wristwatch to his actions with regularity.
"The second one. VNN is having a field day with the High Fly Flows. They are parading around some rando and calling him the ringleader. The White Fang have been pushed to the back pages."
"Oh noes. Feeling bad that your furry fellow travelers are not getting enough attention?"
"No." He glared in warning. "Those clout chasing morons thrive on coverage. The less given to them, the better."
"Right…" Leroy was a tad touchy on that subject. "Anything else?"
"We have a new VPD Commissioner. He's being sworn in today and is promising big changes."
"Same old politician crap?"
"Pretty much."
Good to know some things always stay the same. "That's all?"
There was one thing Tommy needed to know specifically. Namely, were their mugshots in the funny pages. Leroy understood. He was just being a jerk about it as payback for the 'fellow travelers' crack.
"Nothing." He set down the Scroll. "Absolutely nothing. Seems as though the police are happy with the bird they have in hand."
"We're in the clear?"
"As far as I can tell. If we weren't, someone would have leaked our names to the press by now."
Tommy let out his held breath. "Best news I've heard in a long while. Now what?"
"We get to work." He stood and walked over to one of the numerous freezers in the room.
Opening the appliance revealed a duffle bag filled with lien and Dust. The bag reminded Tommy of the kind of totes that the Flows would use to move goods around. Torchwick must have shopped at the same place.
Leroy started counting out money on the table. With the heat dying down, there were a few stops they needed to make. Various chores for Torchwick. Some grease would be needed.
"Make yourself useful. Go wake our handler."
Tommy grimaced. "Do I have to?"
"She'll want to come along."
That was what he was afraid of.
If Jay had not been around enough, Neopolitan was around too much. Torchwick had named her their boss in his absence. She had been given the discretion to 'cut them loose' if they were uncooperative.
Neo took the assignment seriously. She watched them like a hungry hawk watching a pair of rabbits. Almost daring them to fall out of line.
The few times they were left to their own devices, it felt like a test. She was giving them enough rope to hang themselves. Leroy took this in stride, but Tommy was wary.
He knew a killer when he saw one. There were plenty of them in Vacuo. The only way to survive in the Wastelands was to be able to spot one before they spotted you.
Neo was a killer. A skilled one, too, if her scrap with the Flows were any indication. His feet felt as though they were once more clasped in irons as he climbed to the warehouse's loft.
The three of them were trading lookout duties in eight-hour shifts. Leroy took the night, Tommy held down the morning, and Neo minded in the afternoon. This also meant they had to sleep in staggered rounds.
Technically, Neo should have been up hours ago. However, they allowed her to wake up according to her own schedule. At least until now.
At the top of the stairs, he had a dekko. All the blankets and pillows of the room were bundled together on a single cot. It rose and fell in a gentle and steady rhythm. The former Flows debt collector did not dare approach.
"Ms. Neo? Ma'am?" He called as the movements ceased. "Leroy wants to run errands. Did you-"
A clawed hand shot out of the cocoon. Soon, a small face covered by a green sleeping mask pushed out of the resulting hole. She slowly turned towards him.
Tommy swallowed. "Did you want to go?"
The mask flipped up. Two brown eyes looked out tiredly. An iris turned pink as her face glowered.
"Is that a no, or…?"
One of her numerous pillows smacked him in the face. He yelped before falling backwards. His butt hit every step on his slide down to the bottom. Once there, he laid out on his back to look at the ceiling.
Groaning, Tommy flopped onto his belly. A pair of winged dress shoes stepped into his vision. Leroy stood over him with an arched eyebrow.
"She'll be right down."
VIII. Fight and Flight
Footsteps echoed in a chamber. Three sets of heeled shoes and a pair of work boots clattered over wind-weathered rock. The owners of these footwear had to stop their running when they encountered a wall.
A dead end. The retreat was taken as far as it could go. They had to fight.
"Form up!" Pyrrha called to her fellow initiates.
Weiss and Nora were quick to line up, weapons drawn. Jaune eventually got beside her. His reactions were slow, but they were enough for now.
While passing over the bridge that led to the old temple, Nora swore she spotted shelter. Taking a chance, they ran along a twisting, descending path into the gorge. They soon entered a narrow crag.
This position was defensible. The overhang prevented the Lancers from swooping down while the rear facing rocks prohibited a pincer maneuver. Now there was only one direction their enemies could come.
The front.
A few Grimm had followed after them. The monsters could not immediately fly in, so they were forced to crawl on their bladed legs. This made them easy pickings for Nora's grenade launcher.
"Ha! Not so tough now." She laughed as four Drones exploded.
Her attack had the unintended effect of creating a blockade of corpses that stopped the other Grimm from entering. It was not permanent, since the bodies would eventually dissolve, but it bought the teens precious minutes to breathe.
Only a few, however. Some of the Grimm were already working their way through the shadowy smoke. Nora fired another shell, killing them as well.
Jaune pushed her barrel down. "Save those. We don't know how long we will be here."
"What are we supposed to do instead?" Weiss asked cattily.
While unkind, Pyrrha wondered about that as well. She was a tournament fighter. This was beyond her experience. Beyond any of their experience, really.
Jaune, though, was at least trying. "This is a marathon. Not a sprint. We should conserve our energy and ammo by funneling the Lancers in so we can dispose of them in manageable groups. We go until they run out of bugs or help arrives."
Or until they were overwhelmed. He left out that possibility.
"We just hold this spot and hope?" Pyrrha asked.
"That's all I have. Know a better way?"
She did not. Nora smacked the head of her hammer to the palm of her hand, unable to produce another plan. She was sold on the idea of smashing some Grimm.
Weiss opened her mouth before closing it. Then opened once more. Closing one last time, she huffed in defeat.
That was how they ended up in a mini-phalanx formation. Grimm, including the occasional Beowolf mixed in with the Lancers, continued crawling into the crevasse. They were immediately met by a wall of steel.
The shield bearers blocked and stabbed where they could. Pyrrha's partner, either too nervous or unsure of his ability, was the main pusher. This worked well, as Akoúo, her smaller Dipylon shield, was better suited for quick bursts than in holding a continuous line.
Weiss, lacking in protection, was behind them. Her rapier would stab between the plates when the monsters were left exposed. Occasionally, she would throw out a Dust manipulation attack to let the frontliners regain their footing.
Nora was at the far back in reserve. When the front line became overcrowded, she lobbed a grenade to buy them space. Otherwise, she stood on guard to prevent sneak attacks. This idleness did not sit well with her. They could hear her bounce on the balls of her feet.
It was grueling work. Each renewed push threatened to be the one that did them in. They danced on the edge of disaster.
Jaune was exceptionally quiet. He had been since formulating the plan. His face expressed panic, but this did not paralyze him. He was clearly giving it his all.
Occasionally he would mutter under his breath. Pyrrha heard words like 'go' and 'distraction' but was uncertain what he meant. The stress of the moment must have been getting to him. Not just him. All of them were ready to crack.
Still, the strategy was working. They were killing Grimm sword over shield. Compared to running through the forest, this was much less strenuous. It was difficult to regret the decision to stand their ground.
"Keep it up!" Pyrrha called while stabbing a hornet through its head. "They have no answer for our defenses! This has to end at some point."
"I hope so!" Weiss puffed before summoning a blue oval in front of them all.
A series of ice daggers were ejected from the center. The projectiles cut and froze wherever they touched. A Lancer in the back row tried shooting its stinger through a small hole left in their wake. This was hurriedly blocked by the disk which slid down to serve as a temporary aegis.
"Fire in the hole!" Nora yelled.
There was the familiar 'puff' of her weapon discharging. Warmth washed over them. They tensed up for the next surge.
But none appeared.
"Is-" The heiress started. "Is that it?"
Despite Pyrrha's earlier declaration, she had not expected to outlast the Grimm. Although feeling like an eternity, there was no way more than fifteen minutes had passed. Yet now they stood with no opposition.
Jaune was the first to relax. "Way to knock 'em dead, team."
"We are not a team." Weiss sniffed.
"Ha. Yeah… It was more a figure of-"
"Yay! We did it!" Nora celebrated by leaping onto his back.
Not anticipating the sudden additional weight, the armored blond pitched forward. The orange-haired girl laughed and yelled 'timber!' on the way down. With a flick of her white hair, the Schnee left them behind.
"I guess we did." Pyrrha conceded before putting away her weapons.
Perhaps the horde had been drawn away. There had to have been other targets to earn their attention. Regardless, it was strange that any Grimm would have given up on cornered prey. Unbelievable, but she wanted it to be true.
Reality was rarely so kind.
"What is the meaning of this!?"
All of them looked to where Weiss had gone. Concerned, Nora popped up to rush over to her partner. Pyrrha shared a glance with Jaune while helping him up before they both raced after.
They arrived to find the rapier-wielder pointing her weapon towards the crag's slender entrance. Past the corpses of the Grimm they had just defeated, was a new line of monsters. Stacked deep, they cast a dark shadow.
The only indication the Lancers were present were their numerous crimson eyes and the ever-present hum of vibrating wings. The late arriving teens took up new positions beside Weiss, preparing themselves for the most intense fight yet.
But the monsters did nothing.
The four humans exchanged looks. The tension was palpable. They thought the Creatures of Grimm were massing for a surge, but instead they created a stationary impediment.
"What are these wicked beasts up to?" Weiss murmured.
"Don't know. I'll ask." Nora whispered before shouting. "Yo! We doing this thing or what!?"
The other three shushed her. But the damage was already done. Or so they thought.
The Grimm did not respond. These monsters simply stood and stared with unique intensity. Pyrrha had never seen anything like this.
"Are they waiting for something?" She wondered aloud.
As if in answer to her question, the earthen walls began to shake. This was not a passing tremor either. It was a sustained quake. Pyrrha had to steady herself using Jaune's heavier frame by wrapping around his upper body.
Weiss, similarly, used him too by grabbing an arm. "What now?"
Pyrrha was not sure. She looked at the Lancers once more. Even with their enemy on the backfoot, the Grimm did not budge. It was as though their only function was to block the way.
To keep them inside.
Her heart quickened. "A trap."
"Huh?" Jaune asked, the only one to hear her.
"They are trapping us in here!" She yelled in horror. "Trapping us to collapse everything on our heads! Like we did to the Death Stalker!"
On cue, the shaking became even more violent. Rocks tumbled down around them. The male of the group went pale. He turned to the others.
"We need to get out of here, fast!"
"How!?" Weiss asked the most pertinent question. "That path is our only escape route! Cutting through will take too long!"
In more ways than one. Killing all the Lancers would cost precious time. So would moving around their carcasses. The monsters had inverted the children's strategy to great effect.
"Oh! I know! I know!" Nora raised her hand, unbothered by the tremors. "Pick me!"
"You don't need to-" The crabby girl groaned. "What is your no doubt brilliant idea?"
"Somebody hit me with Lightning Dust!"
There was a medium-sized pause from the other three. Even as the walls trembled, it was truly the non-sequitur that threw them off kilter. Pyrrha was the first to recover.
"What would-"
Suddenly, Weiss pointed her sword at Nora. A yellow flash struck her in the chest. Pyrrha and Jaune both flinched back, horrified. They expected her to keel over from the sudden injection of pure electricity.
Instead, she became even more hyper. Pink sparks shot off her body as she giggled evilly. Maul in hand, she took off with crackling footfalls toward the Grimm barrier.
They never stood a chance.
Nora punched straight through them. The chittering wails of flying and dying Lancers were only eclipsed in intensity by the abrupt streaming of sunlight into the crevasse. Her unreal strength carried the lightning infused girl all the way to freedom.
Slack jawed, Jaune asked. "Did you know that would happen?"
"No." Weiss freely admitted.
Then she ran out of the Nora-shaped hole. The Nikos-Arc duo were disturbed. Mostly. The boy was having a strange reaction to the total disregard for another's wellbeing.
"Is it strange that I find her endearing?"
"A little." A lot.
As the corridor began to fall around them, they hurried outside. Pyrrha surveyed the carnage. Fallen Lancers littered the silty ground. Most were dead, but a few were merely stunned by the high impact maneuver.
No other Grimm were present. She could hear the crackling of gunfire in the distance. Her earlier assessment may have ended up being correct. Help was not far away.
Weiss was finishing off the downed hornets before they could recover. They met up with her as she stabbed the last one in the chest. There was no sign of the one who had caused the wreckage.
"Where's-"
"Aaaaaaaah!" Nora screamed as she fell from the sky.
Pyrrha, being the closest to the plummeting female, played catcher. She moved perfectly into position with open arms. Her knees tensed in anticipation.
"Gotcha!" She safely caught and cradled the orange-haired girl.
"Whew! Thanks!" Held close, Nora looked up at her savior with rapidly warming cheeks. "Oh, wow. I feel so safe in your arms."
"You're welcome?" Pyrrha wondered if this was going to become a common occurrence.
"How'd you end up airborne?" Jaune asked.
Nora shifted around to point above the crag. "Because of that!"
Their breaths caught in their throats.
Clinging to the sheer cliff was the largest Lancer Pyrrha had ever seen. It was exponentially bigger than any of those that lay dead around them. The lower segment was bulbous, with a large gleaming needle sticking out at the end.
Long claws left grooves in the hard rock as it crawled downward. The titan's head, the size of three of the smaller lancers combined, twisted a hundred and eighty degrees to examine the four of them. It evidently did not like what it saw.
The giant Grimm shrieked in defiance while pushing off. Massive wings beat furiously. Gale force winds assaulted the humans as it took to the sky.
"What possibly made you think you could engage a Queen Lancer on your own!" Weiss gasped as the deadly creature ascended.
"I just went for it." Nora replied sheepishly, climbing down from the red head. "Electricity just really gets my engine revving. Makes me think I could take on the world. Like, sometimes, I lick batteries to-"
"Okay, I get it."
As Weiss yelled, the Queen swept down. They leapt for cover as the stinger gouged the terrain. Pyrrha tried to bring her rifle to bare, but the resulting debris barred any possible shot.
The Monarch took to the air again, sending another wave. Already on wobbly footing, the initiates fell over like bowling pins. Weiss and Nora got to their knees and launched a large fireball and grenade respectively into its flight path.
Neither reached the main body. The wings pushed the projectiles away harmlessly.
"That is-" The Schnee princess spat out grass. "Concerning."
The creature was big, flighty, and mobile. The young adults were four little grounded specks. With the weapons at hand, there was not much they could do except for one thing.
Survive.
"Down!" Pyrrha swept Jaune out of the way of the next fly over.
They tumbled as the Lancer shattered a nearby boulder. Warm wind kissed her skin. A scream was ripped from her mouth as rocks pummeled her back. Twisting around to try and protect the exposed area, her right leg buckled.
His arms instinctively pulled her close, causing the metal in their chest pieces to clink together. The gesture was meant to keep her safe. Unfortunately, the damage was done. She tried to stand but fell over on him again.
"Are you alright?" He asked her with concern.
"No." She knew her body well. "It's an ankle sprain."
A minor injury with Aura and rest. A terminal illness for a huntress in battle. The Queen Lancer would never allow her the time to heal. It passed over again, causing them to roll along the ground while still embracing.
When they came to a stop, he spoke softly. "We'll get out of this."
"I don't know how." Was her breathy confession.
Their saving grace was that the Queen lacked precision and there were no other Grimm to serve as a distraction. Either could change any moment. When it did, they were finished.
"I do."
"Really?"
His face was uncharacteristically stern. The goggles he wore shaded his eyes, but she could tell they were trained on the monster. A plan was rolling around his mind. He carefully flipped them over to be on top.
"Hey Nora!" He called. "You out there?"
"Over here."
She limped over while dragging along a Weiss that was bleeding from the scalp. No objections were forthcoming from the heiress. Nora refused to tease her about that fact. This was as strong an indication as any of how out of sorts they both were.
"Not going to lie. Things are looking bad." Jaune began without any sugar coating. "But I know I can defeat that Grimm. I'll need a hand though. Did you save any grenades?"
"Of course." Nora transparently faked being offended at the thought of running out.
"Our armaments are insufficient." Weiss woozily mumbled, her bangs turning as scarlet as Pyrrha's own. "Simple grenades will leave it unscathed."
"Simple!?" Now Nora was offended.
"They will be enough." He pushed back before the girls could start arguing. "We just haven't gotten a clean hit. If I set off a big enough boom in just the right spot, it will fall like the rest."
"How?"
"I'll need to get close. Real close. Only one way I know how." Pyrrha experienced a sinking feeling. "Next time it comes around, I'll hop aboard."
Her stomach crashed. What he described was a suicide mission. She was not the only one to think so.
"That is a preposterous idea." Weiss said, before raising a point that the natural redhead had not anticipated. "There is no chance you would be able to jump high enough to land on its back."
"He could if you gave him a boost." They turned to Nora. "That magical snowflake thingy you shoot out of your sword would help."
Weiss regained her vigor. "My glyphs are not magic! They are a careful application of Aura and Dust arranged into a lattice structure that carefully mixes the two using my Semblance to-"
"Magic." Nora stressed. "The point is, you can get him up there if we time the jump right."
"I…" Weiss took a calming breath. "I suppose so. Yes."
Jaune nodded. "Then here is what we'll do. Weiss gives me the pop-up and I'll take care of the rest. Regardless of what happens, though, the Lancer Queen will be distracted. You should all use that short window to get as far away as possible. Understand?"
The three future huntresses wanted to disagree. They wanted to help. They wanted to fight.
But none of them would be able to. All were physically compromised. Jaune was not. Going with him would decrease his chances of succeeding.
"I'll take that as a 'yes.' Now, I need those grenades."
Nora bit her lip. "I don't know. Trusting someone with her pocket explosives is a big step for a lady. There are certain expectations that go with sharing. I mean, what will Renny say?"
Although phrased as a joke, she was visibly nervous. Nora was afraid for Jaune. As they spoke though, the ruler of the Lancer colony was turning around.
"He'll understand. Some things can't wait."
They non-verbally communicated before she tossed over a bandolier's worth of explosives. "Please don't die, Jauney."
"Seconded." Weiss lifted her rapier with a pained expression.
The Champion knew this was foolhardy. But the Improbable Knight was the only one who could pull this off. She would have to put her faith in him.
"Come back in one piece." Pyrrha whispered, giving his shoulders a firm squeeze. "Please."
"Yeash, you all are acting like I'm planning on being Lancer chow." He carefully extracted himself from her hold before saying to Weiss. "Are you ready?"
There was no need to ask. The wand-like sword glowed. A dark ring appeared around his waist.
She winced as the wound on her head gushed. Activating her Semblance had taxed her body to the max. A shimmering light encompassed her as the Aura shielding broke. Nora had to stabilize the heiress before she folded.
"Break the glyph to activate the Gravity Dust. I have already set the directionality. Be careful! You will only get one chance to get this right."
"No pressure then."
On unsteady legs, Jaune ran with a purpose. While doing so, he waved his arms and hurled insults to get the Queen's attention. Pyrrha honestly thought he was laying it on thick, but the Grimm made a beeline for him.
The large, bodied monster screeched as it swooped down to fly inches above the gravel. The Grimm was so close to the ground that the lower wings slapped dirt. Crimson eyes were trained on Jaune, wanting to spill his blood.
The Lancer was so fixated that Pyrrha feared the creature would be able to adjust and catch him once he jumped. Jaune seemed to have understood this too. He tossed a grenade.
It exploded on contact, kicking up a cloud of pink between them.
With the Queen's vision obscured as it traveled through the cloud, Jaune punched the glyph. As it split apart, he began to glow. Then he flew straight up.
The blond let out a yelp as he rocketed upward. It almost sent him too high. As the Queen flew under, he nearly did not fall fast enough. Thankfully, the Grimm's torso was sufficiently ample. Jaune landed on its back.
Immediately, the titan knew it had picked up a hitchhiker. This had the desired effect of causing the Lancer to freak out and fly away. The three girls gingerly picked themselves up and began walking in the opposite direction.
"Good luck." Pyrrha mouthed as she watched her partner depart for an uncertain future, before turning back to Nora. "So, this may be an awkward question to answer but…"
"Not sure this brute can feel embarrassment." Weiss grumbled.
Nora nodded. "Go ahead."
"Is sharing 'pocket explosives' really that intimate of a gesture?"
/ / /
"I hate this stupid forest!" Roman Torchwick cried.
Tree after tree passed as he phased through them. Layers of greenery blinded him. Yet he dared not slow down.
Hot on his trail were a dozen Lancer Grimm. A fired stinger narrowly missed his waist. The needle scraped away part of his translucent coat. Those jettisoned bits of living Aura fizzled away.
"I hate these Grimm!"
Finding out that these horrible creatures could see and harm him was unsettling. Losing a hand had not been permanent, but the spirit had still been down a limb. He did not want to know what would happen if he were decapitated.
Fear had returned to his undead life. Having been liberated of the emotion, its return was most vexing. There was one person he blamed for his current predicament.
"And most of all, I hate you, Jaune!"
Wherever that spazzy teenager was, the thief hoped he could be heard. That his rage be felt. That the hair on the boy's head would curl from the hate.
Any further ruminations on strangling the lad with his own hand were put on hold by another stinger. It flew by Roman's nose before embedding in a sycamore tree. Not for the last time, he wished for Melodic Cudgel.
Even a rat, when cornered, would fight. Much like a rodent, though, Roman could not hold a weapon. There was nothing to be done against his pursuers.
Directly, that was. Indirectly was a different story. The bite back began with an observation.
For some reason, the Lancer did not retract its stinger. The single-minded beast instead continued on after Roman. He looked back just as the Drone reached the end of its organic rope and dove into the dirt.
That sparked a bit of inspiration that had the flim-flam man grinning lopsidedly.
He purposefully started flying through trees. Sure enough, the Grimm were following him exactly. They buzzed angrily as they bashed their way through the arbor. One unlucky Lancer skewered itself on a pointed branch.
Concept proven, Roman made his way to a rock mound. This was a dangerous gambit, as the surrounding area lacked cover. He was almost struck several times, but he managed to phase through a vertical plane of jagged earth.
For him, this action was harmless. For them, not so much.
There were horrible smashing noises as the Lancers made contact. When the sounds stopped, the spirit counted to ten. Then he stuck his head back out.
What he saw reminded him of a windshield after a long car trip. Smears of smoking matter splattered the rough barrier. Curled up chunks of Grimm had collected on the ground. Legs twitched as the last vestiges of pseudo-life drained away.
"Oh baby, you are so good." The gentleman thief hugged himself. "And they are so dumb."
If he had known that the enemies of life were this braindead, Roman may have considered becoming a huntsman when younger. A protection racket would have been so easy to implement. He could have extorted so much money from settlements.
Then again, he would have had to pretend to be a hero. That was a bridge too far. He hated pretenders.
After ensuring there were no laggards, Roman soared once more. There was a missing meat suit to find. Though, the spirit soon realized he was unsure of which way to go.
All the trees looked the same and there were no obvious markers. If he had been paying better attention, he could have tried winding his way back. But all the twists and turns while fleeing had messed with his internal compass.
Above the canopy, he gazed outward in all directions. The gorge was not immediately visible. He dared not rise any higher. To do so was to invite trouble from the ever-present Grimm.
Taking his best guess, he picked a direction and flew.
At first, his fortune turned positive. He found the Lancer that had shish kebabbed itself. But this clue was not enough for him to get an idea of where he had come from. Soon he was aimlessly gliding over pristine green.
His futile search continued, until he spied movement directly beneath him. He warily approached. Murmurs from people talking convinced him to commit.
Below the canopy, two boys were walking. One sported burnt orange hair. The broad-shouldered initiate was as encased in tin as Jaune, though the armor was custom made. An emblem of a rising amber eagle on a gray background dominated the chest piece.
The other boy was a head shorter with spiky, green hair and a matching vest. The punk scene reject had a single shoulder guard with spikes sticking out the top. He earned points for asymmetry and lost double on overall composition.
One thing they did have going for them were their weapons. The taller gripped a mace with a red jewel in the center. The shorter brandished two long daggers with revolver hilts. Both looked Dust capable.
"Still can't believe you chose this as our relic." The mace wielder held a black Bishop in his free hand.
"What's wrong with it?" The dagger user asked.
"Nothing. Except it looks like shriveled tackle bait." To emphasize this better, he placed the chess piece near his crotch. "Trying to tell me something, Russel?"
"Screw you, Cardin."
"You'd have a hard time accomplishing that with one of these."
Then he chased his partner around, telling him to touch it. This 'joke' lasted for an uncomfortable amount of time. Somehow, Roman had found teenage boys more uncouth than his own. He did not think that was possible.
Still, they would make great living shields. Roman could shadow them until they reached civilization. Jaune's group would find their way back as well. Then they could all be reunited.
However, this all assumed that the fake student did not get himself killed in the meantime. An assumption Roman felt positive in making. While he did not think much of Jaune in general, he did trust the teen's self-preservation instincts.
In the short time they had known each other, Jaune had survived several dire situations. These included an assassin's rampage, a kidnapping, and a gang shootout. The tenacity alone had to be respected.
On balance, Roman was confident that Jaune would not do anything too reckless or foolhardy. Not when it mattered most. The criminal expert would stake his reputation on that prediction.
Cardin stopped his creepy pursuit. "Do you hear that?"
There was a high-pitched sound. A shrill screech. Faint but distinguishably feminine.
"Think some chick is in trouble?" Russel asked.
There was a shrug. "Who cares? Let's get back to the cliff."
However innocuous the exchange, it did stir a memory in Roman. Something he had noted a while ago. A thought struck him like a cannonball.
Forgetting about the two marks, the spirit flew upwards. His non-existent blood pumped as he passed through the leafy awning. He spun around, trying to trace the noise to the source.
It did not take long.
Circling in the distance was a humongous hornet. It made jerky movements and loop-de-loops that did not fit its threatening image. The reason was not clear until Roman really focused his gaze. That was when he saw a person clinging to the insect's abdomen.
The description was familiar. White and gold armor. Yellow hair. Screaming like a little girl. Roman did not need two guesses to know who that was.
"Oh come on!"
