章 719: 62
Chapter 62:
For a few seconds, all Ruby could do was stare at her father. What is he doing here? Why did we have to run into him now, of all times?
For his part, Taiyang looked shocked, but also fulfilled. Ruby got the distinct impression he hadn't been just wandering into Vale to hit up the bars and drink away his sorrows.
"There you are," he said, confirming Ruby's suspicions.
He's been looking for me. Just that thought made her stomach twist itself into knots. So this was what he'd been doing, during his leave of absence from Signal. He wasn't allowed up at Beacon, but Beacon students came down to Vale all the time. So he must have been coming to Vale as well, especially on the weekends, looking for her, trying to find her, where she was away from the Academy, and out from under the protective umbrella of its faculty. That sick jerk!
Taiyang's eyes flicked downward, and Ruby realized he was looking at her hand, the hand Jaune was holding. A second later, his hostility piqued. "Jaune!" Ruby shouted, letting go of his hand, and shifting to the side.
Jaune recognized that tone of voice, springing into action immediately. His left hand swooped down, grabbing Crocea Mors by its straps, sliding through them as he lifted sword and sheath up, the sheath expanding outwards to form the shield.
He was barely in time. There was a flash of light glinting off of something silver, and then something slammed into the shield, dead-center. Unfortunately, Jaune hadn't had time to read the path of the attack. And it had been too fast in any case, so he wound up being blasted off his feet. With surprised shout, Jaune was blown backwards, landing hard on his back, and sliding to a stop, groaning with pain at the shock of impact.
His left arm felt numb. The force had been incredible, almost up there with Yang, when she unleashed her Semblance at full-throttle. Jaune could handle that kind of force, normally. But, in the course of sparring matches, he'd come to anticipate when Yang's more powerful attacks would come, and brace himself accordingly. This time, Ruby's shout had been all the warning he'd gotten, and he'd been hit before he'd had a chance to brace, leaving him barely able to so much as twitch his left arm. "Ow..."
"Keep your hands off my daughter," snarled Taiyang, glaring furiously at the prone boy.
His eyes caught a crimson flash from his right, and Taiyang jumped back, raising his forearms. The red blade of Akaibara clanged and screeched off the metal of the pair of silvery gauntlets that covered his forearms. The force behind the blow was incredible, Taiyang being sent skidding back along the sidewalk.
Ruby interposed herself between her father and Jaune, working Akaibara through a pass, before assuming her usual stance. "Keep your hands off of my partner!" Ruby shouted back, glaring furiously at Taiyang.
"Ruby," said Taiyang, his voice stern and expression stony, "drop that sword. You're coming home with me...right now."
"Not a chance," growled Ruby, gritting her teeth, her body tensing. We really don't have time for this.
"If you aren't going to give up that sword, I'm going to take it from you," said Taiyang, speaking as though she were a toddler. "That thing is going in the scrap heap, where it belongs."
The surge of anger that rushed through Ruby at the mere notion of throwing Akaibara, her closest companion, away prompted her Aura to surge, her cloak billowing against the wind, growing around her, and spreading menacingly. Her sword didn't like the idea either, an angry chime issuing forth from the blade, and its own Aura surging to merge with her own.
The force of her Aura and malice hit Taiyang like a slap across his entire body, actually driving him back a step. Ruby bared her teeth, narrowing her eyes at him. "Back off, creep," she said. "You lay a hand on me, or my sword, and I'm cutting it off."
"Watch your words, young lady!" snapped Taiyang. "I am your father. I will not tolerate any backtalk from you."
"When are you going to get it through that thick skull of yours that I don't give a damn what you do and don't tolerate?!" shouted Ruby. "You aren't my father. You haven't been my father for more than ten years. You're an obsessive stalker, and you need to stay out of my life!"
"Don't make this harder on yourself, Ruby." Taiyang took a step forward.
"Ruby," said Jaune, stepping up beside her. "Blake found the rally."
Ruby nodded slightly at Jaune's words, having sensed him pull out his scroll to check the message, as soon as he'd gotten back to his feet. It was good that he was keeping his mind on the mission. But that didn't help the situation here too much. Maybe I should send Jaune ahead.
That seemed logical, but Ruby doubted that Jaune would be willing to just leave her here, not with her father literally trying to drag her away again. In confirmation of that suspicion, she heard the whisper of steel as Jaune drew his own sword from his shield, taking up a stance beside her.
"Stay out of this, boy," Taiyang growled, throwing a glare at Jaune.
"I don't listen to jerks who try and kidnap my partner," Jaune replied. Glancing to Ruby, he asked, "What's the plan?"
"Keep back and let me fight," said Ruby, not taking her eyes off her father. "Watch for an opening."
"Got it," said Jaune, nodding without question.
"Ruby...this is your last warning," said Taiyang. "Do as I say, or there will be consequences."
"Fine, this is your last warning," Ruby retorted. "Get lost, or I'll be the consequence."
She didn't wait for her father to answer. Instead, she shot forward, stepping off with her Aura, her Shukuchi taking her across the distance between them in an instant, Akaibara descending at Taiyang's head. The blade screeched and grated as it met the curved surface of the silver gauntlet Taiyang threw up to block the attack. Shifting his arm, Taiyang deflected the slash to the side. Then he worked the same arm through a circular motion, using it to bring his hand around to grab at Ruby's forearm.
Ruby's response was to jump, going into a roll as she did so, which allowed her to continue moving the sword in the same direction, bringing her arm out of the way of Taiyang's grab, while her jump and spin brought her over his head, bringing the sword around in a complete circle to slash up at Taiyang from behind. Her father grunted, stumbling forward as Akaibara's edge bit into his Aura.
Landing, Ruby found herself staring into her father's eyes, as he'd immediately reversed direction and rushed her. She raised her sword, but found herself thrown off by the fact that Taiyang was closer than he should have been. It wasn't a matter of timing, that he'd closed in too fast. Rather, he'd stepped in too close to properly attack himself. At this distance, there was no way for him to execute a proper punch. Instead, he brought his right arm circling around in front of him, aiming for Ruby's wrist.
Darting back, Ruby slashed at him with Akaibara, which Taiyang deflected again. Then, once again, he closed in, getting too close, both for her to properly swing her sword and for him to throw a proper punch. The attacks Taiyang launched also differed from her expectations. His hands always moved for her arms, targeting either the forearm or the wrist. Instead of closing into fists, his hands opened and reached. Rather than aiming for strikes or blows, Taiyang was seeking to grab and grapple.
He wasn't fighting to defeat Ruby, or even to subdue her. Instead, he was coming at her with the singleminded intent of disarming her. He'd said he was going to take her sword away. And now he was doing his utmost to make that threat come true. Even more troubling, his movements were surprisingly smooth and polished, as though he'd practiced them countless times before.
Revulsion mingled with white-hot fury in Ruby's gut. Don't tell me that's what he's been doing, she thought incredulously. After he'd been thrown out of, and barred from, Beacon's campus, Ruby had assumed that Taiyang had gone back to his old habit of drinking away his sorrow, especially once she'd heard that he'd taken an extended leave of absence from Signal. Never had she considered the possibility that her father was taking that leave in order to train himself up, and focus on disarming techniques, specifically so that he could take her sword away from her.
Once again, it spoke to the disturbing depths of her father's obsession with bringing her home, focusing so intently on developing the means to take away her weapon, which he saw as the most apparent symbol of her empowerment (or defiance, from his perspective). It had been months since their last encounter, and Ruby could see that Taiyang probably hadn't spent an idle minute. It was desperation of the most unnerving and disgusting kind.
On the other hand, it was also infuriating in the extreme. Even now, after seeing what she could do, her father still refused to take her seriously. Ruby had fought Pyrrha Nikos to a draw, an accomplishment regarded as so incredible that it had netted her several weeks of fame, and status as a minor celebrity to boot. Despite that, Taiyang still didn't take her seriously enough to consider her worth fighting. As far as he was concerned, she was an unruly child needing discipline, his skill and strength being honed for the task of parting her with her weapon, which he apparently saw as something more akin to forcing a toddler to give up an implement of mischief.
Which wasn't to say this wasn't a challenging battle. When Taiyang had launched his first attack against Jaune, it had been so fast that Ruby had barely seen it coming with enough leeway to actually warn her partner, and not enough for him to respond properly, for all that Jaune was definitely a world away from the clumsy boy he'd been at the beginning of the year. Unlike Ruby, Taiyang hadn't trained in the advanced Aura-control skills that Ruby had. He hadn't used Shukuchi, or one of the equivalent skills that the Mibu practiced, instead utilizing nothing more than regular Aura-boosted leg-strength and footwork. In doing so, he'd been able to close and strike with incredible speed. Even now, his attempted grapples to wrest Ruby's weapon from her were all launched with blurring speed, Ruby only able to keep up by virtue of her own training honing all her senses to better read her opponent's actions.
Taiyang was a full Huntsman, and a veteran at that. Ruby felt the pressure of all those years of training, growth, and experience now. She'd successfully beaten Adam Taurus twice, and found herself admitting that her father was somewhere within that bracket of strength and skill. Only the fact that he was clearly restricting his own tactics to attempting to disarm Ruby kept this from being all the way at that level.
It didn't help that his tactics were also making it harder for her to properly wield her sword, which was probably intentional on his part. In order to execute his grabs, he needed to get closer than he would need to to punch, often closing in anywhere from half a step to a full step nearer than Ruby would have expected, which kept throwing off own timing and distance. It also introduced an irregular element to his rhythm, which was making it difficult for Ruby to learn it, and properly bring him down.
But, above all else, it was just so. Damn. Frustrating! Ruby Rose was a Huntress-in-training, on a mission no less, a mission that had been issued by none other than Ozpin and General Ironwood. She was supposed to be helping her friends locate a dozen stolen war machines; which were likely in the hands of a deranged, human-hating psychopath; with hundreds, if not thousands, of lives in the balance, should Adam actually get the chance to put them to use.
Blake and Sun were risking their lives to find and infiltrate a White Fang rally, in order to find leads, with the very real possibility that they would run into someone who would recognize and try to kill them on the spot. Ruby should have been with the rest of her friends, prepping to back them up, in case things went wrong, which was a very real possibility. She needed to conserve her strength, stamina, and Aura, and be ready for a serious fight.
And yet...here she was, fighting against her own father, who refused to see anything about the young woman she'd become, who'd instead latched onto the demented image in his head of a doll-like child, who apparently existed solely for him to keep locked up and protected from the world. It was frustrating and disgusting and all so damn pointless.
Still, at this point, there was nothing to do but deal with the situation as it was. Taiyang had made it apparent that he would not be talked out of this. If he couldn't be talked down, then Ruby would just have to beat him down.
Another near miss...the tips of Taiyang's fingers brushed against the sleeve of Ruby's kimono. This time, rather than dodge back, in order to find room to swing her sword, Ruby stepped in. Pulling her right arm in, she opened her right hand, the swirling red petals of her Aura coming together, congealing into an orb of intense, violet plasma, which she then thrust straight into Taiyang's stomach. Her father howled with pain as crackling streamers of electricity danced across his body, before the plasma exploded, blasting him backwards, and sending him flying down the length of the sidewalk.
Ruby grimaced, her hand twitching slightly, palm tingling…and feeling like it had been sunburned. There was a reason she had developed Hibana to fire from detached positions around her, rather than launching it straight out from her hand, like she'd just done. It was much easier and faster to mold her Aura with her hand. But lightning, even if it was lightning she'd created from her own Aura, was difficult to rein in, and trying to use it through her body in any substantial volume, rather than producing it in the air, or using her sword as a medium, had the potential to have repercussions. Still, there had been no real damage this time, and she could still fight.
Taiyang came to a stop, his shoes skidding against the concrete. His muscles spasmed slightly from the shock he'd received, while his outfit smoked and sported a black scorch mark, from where Ruby's attack had made contact. But he remained standing. Raising his head, his eyes met Ruby's with an infuriated look, a look Ruby returned in full. Taiyang opened his mouth, probably to scold her again, only for him to cry out again, as something white flashed behind him, and he was thrown forward.
Ruby's attack had actually sent Taiyang flying back towards Jaune. In the course of their exchange, Taiyang had forgotten all about Ruby's partner, but she hadn't. Taiyang had skidded to a stop just within lunging distance of Jaune and, between Taiyang's obsession and the hampering of his muscles from the electrified attack Ruby had just hit him with, it was all the opening Jaune had needed. Stepping into his attack, Jaune executed a basic downwards slash, an incredibly simple technique, and one he had been honing non-stop since he'd learned it. The force behind the blow sent Taiyang lurching and flying forward, straight into Ruby's followup.
"Raikoben!" arcs of crimson lightning climbed Akaibara's blade, extending out to lash like a thorn-lined whip, which lashed across Taiyang's chest, sending new streamers and arcs of electricity dancing across his body. Not pausing, Ruby transferred her sword to her right hand, while going into a spin that allowed her to bring the blade around and slash at Taiyang's stomach. Her attack carried her past him, while Taiyang pitched over forward, falling face-first to the sidewalk. Ruby's own movement carried her over to stand next to Jaune again.
Despite having scored some serious hits, Ruby and Jaune knew better than to let their guards down. Sure enough, Taiyang quickly got back to his feet, turning to face them, looking even more outraged than before. He bared his teeth, his hands clenching into fists. This time, Ruby thought that her father might have been angered enough to consider attacking her for real. She quickly readied herself to resume the fight.
Then the flutter of wings reached her ears. Less than a second later, someone dropped down between her and Taiyang. Ruby's eyes caught the flash of a familiar red cape, and the white shirt of a lanky figure she knew all too well.
Qrow Branwen landed in a crouch, right in front of Taiyang. Before Ruby's father could respond, Qrow rose up out of his crouch, twisting and immediately snapping one leg out in a powerful back-kick that slammed straight into Taiyang's sternum, driving the breath from his lungs and sending him flying back even farther down the street. Bringing his foot back down, Qrow wasted no time in drawing his sword, and leveling it at his former teammate.
"Uncle Qrow!" shouted Ruby.
"You've got a mission, right Rosebud?" asked Qrow, not even glancing over his shoulder at her. "Get to it. I'll take care of this blockhead."
"Thanks, Uncle Qrow!" said Ruby, relief flooding through her. She and Jaune wasted no time sheathing their weapons and taking off down the street, Jaune bringing Blake's message back up on his scroll to find out where they needed to go.
Meanwhile, Qrow watched and waited as Taiyang got up, his posture swaying. "Give it up, Tai," Qrow told him. "This is beyond idiotic. Keep this up, and you're gonna lose everything."
"Shut up!" snapped Taiyang, glaring at his brother-in-law. "You don't understand! It's obvious that no one does! Ruby belongs at home! She belongs with me!"
"Belongs with you...or to you?" asked Qrow, glaring back.
"What's the difference?" Taiyang asked back.
"The fact that you're even asking that shows just how badly you've lost it," said Qrow. "Ruby isn't some possession, and she sure as hell ain't a replacement for Summer. I don't think you even see Ruby for herself, just how much she looks like Summer, and that is seriously twisted."
"That's ENOUGH!" roared Taiyang, charging forward.
Qrow met him head-on, his sword clashing against Taiyang's silver gauntlets.
"Well...at least our mission is productive," Sun muttered. "We were asked to find the Paladins, and we've already found one."
Blake wished she could share in his optimism. Instead, her mind was overrun by images of this death-machine turned loose in Vale, leveling buildings with missiles, then using its arm-mounted cannons to gun down the fleeing survivors. And there was only one here, right now. A dozen of these machines going on the attack would bring about the worst disaster in Vale's history, since the debacle of Mountain Glenn. Adam must be having wet dreams about that, she thought sourly.
Ilia continued to pace before the mighty machine on the stage, waiting for the crowd's enthusiasm to die down a little, before resuming her speech. "This machine was designed by the Atlesian military to supplement their android forces. Ironwood has talked about the importance of having a man on the battlefield. But...aren't the androids supposed to be enough? Aren't the androids there to ensure that no one has to risk their lives against the Grimm? If that's the case, then just what is this machine for? What...or who...was it made to be used against?"
Angry muttering replaced the earlier cheers.
Ilia continued. "People like Ironwood covet power, so that they can continue to prop up the systems that oppress and enslave us, like the SDC."
Several of the assembled faunus booed at the sound of that name.
"But now, thanks to our new allies, we've managed to obtain some of these machines for ourselves. It's ironic, but we will be the ones to test their effectiveness for the General of Atlas. He designed these machines to be tools of our oppression, symbols of his power. But now, with his own weapons, we shall make him, and all the humans, feel our power!"
Once again, the cheering started back up.
Ilia held up a hand to call for silence. It took a moment, but the noise gradually dropped away. "Now, many of our brothers and sisters have already relocated to our operation in the southeast. If you want to stay within the Kingdom, that's fine. But this is your opportunity to strike back, and make a real difference."
Ilia nodded to Meinrad, and made her way to the edge of the stage. Meinrad moved to the fore, calling out the next set of instructions. "New recruits, come forward!"
"Okay...now what?" asked Sun, looking from side to side.
"I'm thinking," said Blake, also looking around anxiously.
As Ashley had described, soldiers had been stationed at all of the exits, with the recruits being funneled through a small group who were taking names and contact information, before being ushered out the exit, which was off to one side of the stage. There was no way they could see to leave that didn't involve them attracting attention in some way. With this many other people around, they couldn't quietly disable the guards at one of the other exits, and take their leave.
Unfortunately, they were unable to even fully ponder their situation. By stopping the way they had, the crowd parted around them, creating a disturbance in the flow of new recruits to the front. At floor-level, it wasn't really apparent. But it was much more readily visible from the stage. Meinrad, who'd been surveying the whole affair, noticed the strange parting of the crowd, caused by a pair of people who weren't moving, instead looking around furtively. Behind his mask, his eyes widened, then narrowed, as he took in familiar details.
A low growl rose in his throat. Sun was able to sense the pressure of the muscular man's eyes upon them, and swallowed nervously. "He sees us," he said softly, before giving Meinrad a sheepish grin, and raising his hand in a shy wave.
"He'll see a lot more than that," said Blake, smirking.
Drawing Gambol Shroud, she folded over the blade into its revolver-mode, which she then aimed at the fusebox, which rested on the wall behind the stage. A single shot struck the box, plunging the whole warehouse into darkness.
"GET THEM!" roared Meinrad.
"Uh...I don't think that's gonna help all that much," Sun pointed out, he and Blake able to see almost perfectly fine, despite the darkness that had fallen over the warehouse.
"Just cover your eyes," hissed Blake, pulling out her insurance, something she'd asked her friends to prepare before hand.
Sun did as he was bid, hearing what sounded like the clink of something metal hitting the floor. Then, from the air, he heard the sound of something exploding. Even though he'd pulled off his mask, and then planted his hands over his face, he could still see the light, piercing even through his eyelids, though Blake's warning prompted him to block enough of it that his vision wasn't troubled.
On the other hand, all the faunus around them screamed. Blake had borrowed one of Nora's grenades to serve as a housing, turning it over to Weiss, who'd then loaded it with a payload of specially-formulated Dust, a blend designed to produce a brilliant, blinding flare of light. By taking out the lights first, Blake had allowed the faunus around them to fall back on their night-vision, which only made the effects of the resulting flare all the more pronounced.
"Sun, the window!" she shouted over the din.
Both she and Sun jumped, vaulting over prospective recruits and the soldiers who'd been sent to capture them, using the latter's heads as stepping stones to reach the stage, before jumping to smash through the window, getting out into the street. A sense of triumph welled up inside of Blake at the fact that their escape had worked. However, even before she'd struck the window, she'd heard something that had turned her blood to ice in her veins...the faint whining sound of a powerful piece of machinery starting up, gradually growing louder.
They hit the ground, rolling to handle the impact, coming back up into a run that carried them away from the warehouse. Behind them, the wall exploded outward, erupting into a shower of masonry as the Atlesian Paladin plowed right through it, not slowing in the slightest, barreling after them in hot pursuit.
Sometime earlier:
Ruby and Jaune arrived on the warehouse roof, crouching down next to the others. "Sorry we're late," she said.
"Just where have you been?" asked Weiss tartly.
"We ran into Ruby's dad," said Jaune simply.
"What?" gasped Yang, her eyes going wide.
"Did he...?" Pyrrha began to ask.
"Yep," said Ruby.
"But you got away," Ren noted.
"Uncle Qrow showed up and held him off," said Ruby. Then she sighed. "I so did not need that tonight." Shaking her head, she tried to get her mind focused back on the mission. "What'd I miss?"
"Your guess is as good as ours," said Weiss, pointing across a vacant lot at another warehouse. "Blake and Sun went in there about an hour ago, and it's been quiet ever since."
"No news is good news," said Neptune hopefully.
"Or they were caught before they could get out a call for help," said Weiss.
"Wow...would it kill you to be more optimistic, Ice Queen?" asked Yang sourly.
"Hmph!" grunted Weiss. "Why should I? Pessimism is much better than optimism."
"It is?" asked Nora, canting her head in confusion.
"Of course," said Weiss. "Being overly optimistic is a surefire way to set yourself up for disappointment." A wry smirk appeared on her face. "But, as a pessimist, you can always be pleasantly surprised."
"Whoa..." said Nora. "That's deep."
"Not really," Yang muttered.
"Hopefully, those two can find something out that'll help us locate those weapons," mused Jaune.
"If they don't, we could have a lead," said Yang, sharing a glance with Neptune.
"What is it?" asked Ruby.
"We went to an...acquaintance...of mine," said Yang. "His info's pretty solid. Apparently, someone is making a lot of cargo deliveries out past the Kingdom walls, out to the southeast."
"Mountain Glenn...the failed settlement?" asked Weiss.
"Sounds like it," said Neptune. "There's not much else out there...except for Grimm, of course...lots and lots of Grimm."
"Could the Paladins be out there?" mused Ren.
"Sounds likely," said Neptune. "It'd pretty hard to get a round dozen of those things in through the Kingdom's borders without attracting a lot of attention."
"But what would the White Fang be doing with them out there?" asked Ruby.
"I suppose that would be the next thing to investigate," said Weiss, "assuming, of course, the General doesn't take over the investigation from here."
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Blake and Sun find out," said Yang.
Their wait was a long and anxious one, the group watching intently for any sign of activity from the other warehouse, which might indicate that something had gone wrong. However, there was no sign of anything, good or bad.
Closing in on the third hour since Blake and Sun had entered the rally, something finally changed. The lights, visible through the windows of the warehouse, abruptly went out. A couple seconds later, there was a brilliant flare of light form within. Then, another few seconds after that, the window shattered as Blake and Sun leapt through it. Then, a few seconds behind them, the wall crumbled before one of the very Atlesian Paladins they had been sent to find.
"You have got to be kidding me," groaned Yang.
The light from the lamps above flashed off of whirling steel, Qrow's sword clashing harshly against Taiyang's gauntlets, the two Huntsmen exchanging blows at incredible speed. Their fight took them down the street, before Taiyang jumped, vaulting off a lamppost, and using it to reach the roof of a building. Qrow was a beat behind him, rising up and swinging his sword down with incredible force. Taiyang blocked it by crossing his arms, bracing against the powerful slash, which prompted the concrete beneath his feet to crack, then shatter, just shy of sending the pair smashing through the ceiling into someone's apartment.
Tai's really stepped up his game, thought Qrow, using the broad flat of his weapon to block a harsh punch, the force of which sent his feet skidding backwards.
Taking up a job as a professor at Signal, Taiyang had mostly retired from working as an active Huntsman. Following Summer's death, and after he'd gotten out of his drunken funk, Taiyang had given up missions completely. It would have been a positive thing, had Qrow not known that Taiyang had done so solely for the purpose of being there to keep an eye on Ruby. It would have been a stretch to say that Taiyang had gone soft. He still kept in shape, and training prospective Huntsmen and Huntresses helped him keep his skills polished. However, having foregone the danger of actual missions for so long had definitely taken the edge off his skill...before now.
But now, Taiyang's speed, strength, and reflexes were up where Qrow remembered them being, during the height of their time as one half of Team STRQ. Rather than withdraw into drunken depression, upon taking his leave of absence, it was clear that Taiyang had been using that free time to whip himself back into shape, bringing himself back up to full fighting trim. Qrow would have been impressed, had he not realized the singular obsession that underlaid Taiyang's action. He did it to get to Ruby.
That was the apparent aim behind Taiyang's work. Having been forcibly booted off Beacon grounds, and told to not come back, Taiyang should have finally gotten the message that Ruby wasn't coming back to him, not so long as he failed to realize the reason that she'd left in the first place. Instead, it appeared that Taiyang had taken it as a challenge. If Beacon wouldn't hand Ruby over to him, then Taiyang would train himself up, until he could take Ruby back, by force if necessary.
Given how it seemed that he was making regular visits to Vale, Qrow also got the impression that Taiyang was hoping to run into Ruby while she was in town, whether by herself or with her friends. Of course, given the size of Vale, it was a tremendous stroke of luck that they'd managed to bump into each other at all. Despite the trouble it had caused her, Qrow was a little glad he hadn't been around when it had happened, otherwise, he would have said that Ruby had been affected by his Semblance.
Using his wrist, Qrow worked his sword through several swift, deft slashes, Taiyang's arms blurring to block them. However, in the process, Qrow stepped in a little closer. Before Taiyang realized it, Qrow's fist slammed straight into his gut, reminding Taiyang that Qrow could pack a punch, even without his weapon. Taiyang gasped in pain, but responded by stepping in closer, and then driving an elbow at Qrow's sternum. Qrow turned aside, but not fast enough, taking a hit to the bottom of his rib-cage, on one side, making him grunt in pain.
The whirling roundhouse kick that Taiyang followed up with would have been enough to knock Qrow completely off his feet, had Qrow not swiftly maneuvered his forearm to block, before he struck again, this time driving the pommel of his sword into the side of Taiyang's abdomen, triggering a partial transformation of his weapon in the process, and extending the handle into the shaft of his scythe, which multiplied the force generated. When Taiyang was sent flying back, nearly being knocked off the roof by the hit, Qrow retracted the shaft to become the handle of the sword once again.
Taiyang collapsed to his knees, coughing and wheezing, struggling to get his breathing back under control.
"This is pathetic, Tai," said Qrow, not bothering to keep his scorn out of his voice. "Worse than that, it's downright insane. At this rate, you're gonna get committed."
"Shut up!" snapped Taiyang, lifting his head to glare at Qrow, spittle flecking his lips. "I won't give up! I won't let Ruby suffer Summer's fate!"
"None of us want that," said Qrow.
"Then why are you letting her do this?" demanded Taiyang. "Training, missions, putting herself at risk, it's just like Summer all over again..." He snarled in a manner that was downright bestial. "...especially now that Ozpin has his hands on her."
"And I suppose you think your way is better," scoffed Qrow.
"Of course it is!" shouted Taiyang. "I would have kept her secure. I would have kept her safe. I would have kept her alive! I would have protected her!"
"What you were doing wasn't protection, it was imprisonment," Qrow countered. "Locking Ruby up in your house, watching her every move, driving away even her own friends; she wouldn't be alive, because you wouldn't let her actually have a life. You were treating her like some kind of doll to play house with. What next, would you chain her to the freaking wall?"
"If that's what keeps her from rushing off to try some moronically suicidal act, then of course," Taiyang replied. The respite bought by the argument had given him the time he needed to get his legs back under him, and rise back up to a standing position, though one hand was still resting over the spot on his torso, where Qrow's last attack had landed.
"Oh, she'd do something suicidal, all right," muttered Qrow.
His brain was already running over the worst-case scenario, had Taiyang gotten his wish. Qrow could see it in his mind's eye; Taiyang coming back from Signal, Yang gone to Beacon, Ruby having been locked in at home, possibly in her own room all day. Taiyang would call out that he was home, call out for Ruby, only to receive silence. Perhaps he'd ignore it, until it was time for dinner, putting it down to petulance. But, sooner or later, Taiyang would get around to checking up on Ruby, going to her room with the intention of berating her for her sullen behavior. He'd open his door, and be greeted with the sight of Ruby's dangling feet, the girl's body swaying slowly back and forth, strung up from the ceiling light, strangled by her own cloak.
Sure, it was just a fantasy, an imagining of the worst possible outcome. The problem was that it was a depressingly likely one, should Taiyang get his way. it would be all the worse now, with Ruby having gotten a taste of freedom, and the chance to actually follow the road to her dream. Taiyang forcibly taking all that away from her would only do even more-irreparable harm.
Well, at least that's not a real risk this time, thought Qrow, feeling some relief. As much as he'd improved, Taiyang wasn't a fully-credible threat...yet. Sure, he'd trained himself back up to where he'd been during Team STRQ's glory days, but Qrow had gone even further. Where Taiyang had retired, Qrow hadn't, continuing to take missions, all the way up into the present. He'd been through countless life-or-death struggles, and had left the guy he'd been back then in the dust.
On top of that Taiyang wasn't exactly in top shape right now. Qrow had seen enough, right before he'd intervened. Ruby and Jaune had both landed some solid hits on Taiyang, and Qrow had only added to that. Taiyang's Aura had to be flagging. It showed in the way that Taiyang continued to clutch his side, where Qrow's hit had landed last.
"It's time to put an end to this, Tai," said Qrow, brandishing his blade again. "This has gone far enough. If this is what it's come to, then I'm gonna make sure to get you some real help."
"I don't need your kind of help," spat Taiyang. "I need to bring my daughter home."
"But that's the last thing she needs," Qrow countered.
With a roar of anger, Taiyang rushed forward. Glowing inlays flickered to life, throwing the designs of his gauntlets into stark relief, shining bright-orange and red. When Qrow dodged Taiyang's next punch, he had to lean back even farther from the heat emitted by the jet of flame that roared off the end of Taiyang's fist.
Fisticuffs wasn't the only thing Yang had gotten from her father. Taiyang's gauntlets were equipped with Dust-channels, allowing him to unleash the elemental fury of the Dust loaded within. Though he could technically switch it out, Qrow had known Taiyang to mostly rely on fire-Dust. The Dust rounds of Yang's Ember Celica packed a good bit more oomph, compared to her father's attacks from ground Dust. But Taiyang's way was a bit more versatile, with him having more control over the flames that came out.
But that wasn't enough to help Taiyang this time. Qrow knew his techniques well enough. The next jet of flame was dispersed by the whirling blade of his spinning sword, Qrow following through by bringing the sword around and down, before sweeping up. Taiyang blocked the blade with a clang. But his eyes widened as Qrow levered back the grip, the shotgun barrels attached to the hilt swinging up to point right at Taiyang's chest. The blonde man was blown backwards by the scattershot spray, taking the entire blast in the chest, at point-blank range.
Taiyang was knocked backwards off the edge of the building, his body stunned by the hit. He caught sight of a fluttering, black shadow. A crow took off from the edge of the building, swooping up into a tight loop, before diving straight down at him. The next thing Taiyang knew, Qrow planted both feet against his chest, using the combination of momentum and weight to drive Taiyang down to earth with enough force to leave a crater in the asphalt, where they landed.
Qrow stepped off Taiyang, watching with satisfaction as the other man's Aura flickered, then broke. Taiyang slumped, unmoving. Qrow watched him for a minute, wanting to be absolutely sure that Taiyang was out. Then he let out a low sigh. "God dammit, Tai," he muttered.
"You know, when we were planning to back them up, I don't think we were planning for something like this," observed Yang as they rushed to meet up with Blake and Sun.
"You don't say," growled Weiss.
"What should we do?" asked Sun, shouting to be heard through Blake's scroll, as the pair of them vaulted across warehouse roofs. The Paladin charged alongside them.
"It's too fast," said Blake. "Let's get to the highway. If we can catch a ride on a car, then we can leave it behind."
"NO!" shouted Ruby into her scroll with all her might.
"Ruby, we can't keep ahead of it like this!" protested Blake.
"We are not taking that thing onto the highway!" Ruby replied. "It would be a massacre!" In her mind's eye, she could already see the Paladin brutally plowing through vehicles, smashing them aside, or even crushing them underfoot, in an effort to get at the pilot's targets. There was absolutely no way they could allow themselves to lead this thing somewhere where civilians would get caught up.
"Where to then?" asked Sun.
"We'll take it down, right here," declared Ruby.
"That's nuts!" exclaimed Neptune, in between panting breaths.
"If we all work together, we can do it," declared Ren.
"We got a different problem," said Yang, pointing in the direction Blake and Sun had come from.
Several masked figures, wearing familiar uniforms, were running along in the Paladin's wake.
"Let's split up then," said Ruby.
"I'll take my team to support Blake and Sun," said Ren.
"We'll head off the White Fang then," said Ruby.
"What about me?" gasped Neptune.
"Go with Rainbow," said Ruby. "They'll need all the help they can get."
"Got it," said Neptune.
Team RASP veered off, dashing between the warehouses to cut off the pursuing White Fang soldiers. They emerged from the gap between the massive buildings, almost right in the face of the first ranks of pursuing troops. The soldiers faltered, surprised by the sudden emergence of obstacles. As a result, the four students were able to leap right into their midst, taking them down with ease.
Seeing their frontrunners go down so suddenly brought the other soldiers up short. They hesitated, sharing uncertain looks, regarding the four students standing before them warily.
"Maybe they'll back down," suggested Jaune hopefully.
"They won't," said Weiss.
A few seconds later, some woman shouted out, "It's a Schnee!"
That appeared to erase any hesitation on their part, and the rest of the soldiers charged forward.
"Told you," said Weiss sardonically.
"Well, I guess we get to hand over another batch of gift-wrapped White Fang to the police," offered Pyrrha.
None of the others had any chance to offer a response to that, as the soldiers were upon them.
Sun and Blake landed after leaping off the roof of the last warehouse in the row. Landing on the ground, they turned to see the Paladin already bearing down on them, its arm-mounted cannons rising up to aim at the pair.
A trio of grenades, leaving behind contrails of pink smoke, arced out of a nearby alleyway, two smashing into the ground near the mech, while the third struck it right in the chassis. Instead of rocking the machine with explosive force, the grenades instead burst into clouds of dense, pink smoke, expanding out to engulf Blake and Sun as well.
The Paladin's pilot hesitated. The machine began to slowly stalk forward. As it did, streams of red light, laser-sights, swept through the cloud of smoke. The machine turned left, then right, sweeping its guns across a broad arc in front of it.
A shadow darted through the smoke to its left. The machine turned towards it, trying to track the movement, but stopped, the pilot's attention caught by another shadow flickering to the right. Another shadow crossed right in front of it, and the Paladin opened fire, sending a pair of explosive bolts slamming into the ground, near where someone had been a second earlier. However, they was no sign that it had hit anything.
The pilot's attention had been drawn by whoever had come in front of the Paladin. As such, all his machine's sensors were focused in that space. He was caught off-guard when a figure dropped down from straight above. With a loud whoop, Nora descended from a high leap, swinging her hammer down with all her might. The resulting impact made the entire machine jolt, driving its metal feet several inches into the asphalt. The hit of her hammer was followed up by an explosive shockwave, rocking the machine even further, prompting it to stagger drunkenly, as Nora used her own explosion to launch herself clear.
Then Ren seemed to materialize from the dissipating smoke, appearing right in front of the machine, almost directly between its feet. Kicking off the ground, he launched himself for the spherical targeting sensor dangling from the chin of the machine, almost like a fruit. Swinging both his weapons, he plunged the blades right through the lens of the sensor, before tilting the guns forward and pulling the triggers, sending magenta bolts ripping through the attachment point for the sensor, tearing it free entirely.
Landing from his attack, Ren looked up to see a massive metal foot rushing right at him. However, something wrapped around his midsection and pulled him back, just in time. The Paladin's kick barely missed the tip of his chin. Ren skidded to a stop next to Blake, who unwrapped Gambol Shroud's ribbon from around him, while Sun and Neptune took position next to her. Yang and Nora formed up on Ren's other side.
"What's the plan?" asked Yang.
Ren recalled what they'd learned about the Paladin's design, from the plans that Ironwood had begrudgingly given to them. He and Ruby had considered it an outside possibility that they would encounter one of the mechs in combat. Neither of them had entertained the notion that it would happen like this. Still, the plans had given him an idea of how to proceed, now that they were up against one.
"We take it apart," said Ren, "piece by piece."
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