章 735: 78
Chapter 78:
Day 3:
"Well...that's unfortunate," deadpanned Blake, watching the Paladins pry themselves free of the rubble with a flat look.
"Tell me about it," grumbled Qrow, under his breath.
The situation was bad enough on the surface. Just one Paladin had given both RASP and RYNB trouble. Now, RYNB and CPPR were facing down three. On top of that, the students and Qrow were battered and worn from the explosive shockwave unleashed by the train's destruction. Some, like Ren and Rain, were clearly on their last legs, while the rest of them were a long ways from the top of their game.
It looked to be a losing proposition, until...
"Uh...I think we might be okay," said Nora, a smile appearing on her face as she watched the first of the three Paladins struggle out from beneath the rubble that now filled the tunnel.
The others could see what she meant. The first Paladin to fully emerge had clearly not escaped unscathed. In fact, it seemed barely operational. The mech's left arm was completely gone, having apparently been torn off, either shredded by the explosion or trapped by the literal mountain of stone that had dropped onto the machine. Its right arm wasn't in much better shape, the barrel of its cannon warped and crushed, like an empty soda can. The limb's movements were jerky, accompanied by the sound of straining servos. The forearm section twitched, the pilot apparently attempting to shift the limb to its close-combat configuration, only to find the arm too damaged to properly make the transition. As the Paladin lumbered away from the rubble, it moved with a limping gait, its right leg unable to articulate to properly step forward.
It quickly became clear that the other two were in a similar state, their motions lurching and unbalanced, limbs mangled. They had all lost their missile pods, the protruding structures having been especially exposed to the worst of the impact of both the explosion and the tunnel collapse, with the pilots fortunate that the destruction of said pods hadn't set off the missiles within, which would have likely wrought even more catastrophic damage on their machines. Of the three of them, only one of the Paladins had a single working cannon. The third one had already been in its full close-combat configuration, but one of its arms was slow to respond, and trailing sparks with each movement. Their chassis were dented and deformed, plates splitting in some places.
"We might have a chance after all," noted Piper.
"Well...let's not give 'em a chance to get their bearings," said Qrow, hefting his sword. "Take 'em fast. I'll get the one on the right." He immediately charged, angling towards the Paladin in question, the only one with a gun intact.
Yang sighted on the center one. "I've got enough in the tank to polish off our first contender," she declared.
"We'll...cover you," wheezed Ren, forcing himself to his feet. He wasn't in shape to fight by a long shot, but he could at least pepper the Paladin with his guns. Nora stepped up beside him, leveling Magnhild, in its grenade-launcher-mode, at the mech. Blake equipped her pistol, though she, like Ren, knew her weapon wouldn't do much harm.
"We'll take the last one then," declared Ciel, looking to Penny and trading a nod with her, before looking to Piper. "How are your reserves?"
Piper, who'd taken her weapon back from Penny, was already in the process of reloading it. Holding up her hands, she displayed eight small gravity-Dust crystals, one neatly balanced on the tip of each gloved finger. The orbs moved to hover above her fingers. A single hole irised open at the bottom of each orb, and the Dust crystals shot up into each orb, as though drawn by some kind of vacuum.
"Good to go," Piper declared. "I'm on my second-to-last batch, though, so we need to make this count."
Ciel nodded, looking to her boyfriend. "Rain?"
"I don't really have much left," Rain admitted, shrugging his shoulders and working his arms. "But I'll keep you covered."
Ciel nodded, and looked to Penny and Piper. "Lancer formation, then."
"Affirmative!" declared Penny, grinning.
"Here I go!" declared Yang, slamming her gauntlets together. Her entire body flashed, a wave of golden flame enveloping her form.
Though Yang had expended a good bit of the power accumulated by her Semblance to hold off the explosion earlier, the remnants of the shockwave had built that expended power back up again. Granted, it had come at the cost of wearing down Yang's Aura almost to the point of complete depletion, to the point where her Aura reserves were currently resting in the red. But, until her Semblance ran out, she would be able to fight even better than she would at her normal level.
Of course, she was currently running on borrowed time, so Yang had to make every second count. Not wasting any time on hesitation, she set off after her uncle, charging the center of the three Paladins, the one probably most-mangled by the explosion and collapse.
Meanwhile, the Paladin on the right responded to Qrow's approach by leveling the barrel of its working gun at him. There was a flash from within. However, instead of sending a bolt of energy lancing out at the incoming Huntsman, the flash of energy instead emitted from the back, near the cannon's action, exploding and shattering the gun, right where it met the Paladin's elbow joint, the remnants of the weapon sent tumbling away by the explosion.
Not waiting for his opponent to come to grips with what had just happened to his machine, Qrow took to the air. As he did, his weapon transitioned to its scythe-mode. Holding the weapon in both hands, so that its shaft was pressed up against the small of his back, Qrow triggered the shotguns built into the weapon's head, the barrels pointing opposite the blade, their recoil sending him into a rapid spin, until both man and weapon were nothing more than a blur.
The Paladin responded by trying to counter with its other, more-intact arm, swinging a metal fist up to meet Qrow. However, the arm's movements were halting and lethargic, not even amounting to a proper swing. So Qrow flashed by, transferring the momentum of his spin into a single, powerful slash, cleaving all the way through the hull...and the pilot within the mech. The Paladin's chassis split in two along a diagonal line, the top half sliding off, before the bottom section toppled over in the opposite direction.
Yang charged right in at her target. The Paladin's pilot clearly saw Yang approach. However, its response was sluggish, which wasn't helped when the rest of RYNB opened fire. It jolted as it was riddled with shots, the explosions of Nora's grenades being particularly disruptive. As things were, it was completely helpless when Yang closed in with a roar, slamming one glowing fist dead center into its chassis. The entire mech shattered into pieces, its pilot spilling out amidst the wreckage, unconscious.
In contrast, none of Team CPPR moved from their original location. Ciel raised her left arm, the blade of her pata sword splitting down the center, separating into two parallel tines. Reaching behind her, Ciel produced a single heavy-caliber rifle bullet, which she loaded into the indentation behind her knuckles, near the base of what had been her weapon's blade, then tapped the screen of her watch, the face turning yellow. With a low hum, the edges of the tines of Ciel's weapon began to shine yellow, crackling arcs of electricity jumping between them, while running from the base to the tip.
Then Penny joined her, standing with her right shoulder pressed to Ciel's left, using her right hand to steady Ciel's left arm, helping her aim. At the same time, Penny's swords deployed once more, transforming into their gun-modes, and whirling around in that familiar, cylindrical formation. This time, their revolutions were centered around the crackling tines of Ciel's weapon, the electricity taking on a greenish tinge, while an orb of emerald energy gathered at the base of Ciel's blade.
Piper stepped up behind the pair, directing her own weapon, the eight orbs assembling ahead of Penny's guns, within the circumference described by their formation, before revolving in the direction opposite Penny's blades. A cylindrical field of ebony energy enshrouded the tines of Ciel's weapon, and the energy-sphere Penny had produced, condensing it down until it was no longer a crackling orb, but almost a solid marble of green energy, while the gravity-field produced by Piper's weapon extended out ahead of Ciel's, almost like the barrel of a large gun.
Meanwhile, Rain stood to one side, shield at the ready, prepared to intercept any attacks that came the girls' way, though he probably needn't have bothered. As badly damaged as it was, their target Paladin was in no shape to retaliate from its current distance. It tried to approach them, but couldn't manage more than a few hobbling steps before the three girls were ready to fire.
The buzz and hum of Ciel's railgun rapidly increased in intensity and pitch. Then, with a shriek of splitting air, the bullet raced out, piercing through the center of the energy-sphere created by Penny, which seemed to be pulled into the bullet itself as it passed through. As the bullet continued to accelerate down the tines of Ciel's weapon, it also drew in the gravitational energy produced by Piper's orbs, forming an ebony core within a green streak of light, which lanced out at blinding speed, the shockwave of its passage throwing up dust along the ground as it raced towards its target.
There was no chance for the unfortunate Paladin to evade, and CPPR's shot struck it dead-center. The Paladin's entire chassis detonated with a loud roar, shattering into even smaller fragments than the one that Yang had destroyed. The shot continued on to pierce into the pile of rubble behind it, boring a hole several meters deep in the pile of rubble filling the tunnel ahead of them. All that was left of the Paladin was a pair of legs, which slowly toppled over, landing with a loud clang.
"Damn!" exclaimed Yang, staring at the aftermath of CPPR's attack. "That's kinda overkill, don't you think?" Part of her balked at the realization that there was nothing left of that Paladin's pilot either. But, then again, Qrow had killed the pilot of his Paladin as well.
"Some things are best not left to chance," said Ciel, lowering her arm, and retracting her weapon. "Given the information the General supplied us, it is best not to underestimate even the prototype Paladins."
"Besides, it's nice to do something flashy, once in a while," declared Piper, grinning exultantly as she held up her right hand, first two fingers extended and spread in a victory pose. "I love Lancer Formation! It's my favorite combo-attack."
"It is really cool," agreed Nora.
"Well...cool or not, we've got other things to worry about," said Qrow, looking back down the way they'd come, towards Mountain Glenn and the White Fang encampment. "We stopped the attack. Now we've got to deal with the White Fang we left behind."
Retracting her weapon, Ciel checked her watch. "We still have a little over half an hour until the General and his forces are scheduled to attack."
"So the question is what prompted the White Fang to go ahead with their attack ahead of schedule," said Ren, "seeing as it's unlikely that we were the ones who tripped the alarm."
"I wouldn't have put it past Jimmy to jump the gun," grumbled Qrow.
"I don't believe the General would do that," Ciel asserted.
Ren folded his arms. "The way I see it, we have two options. We can either wait here, either for the General's forces or the White Fang, or we can return the way we came, and see for ourselves just what the situation is."
"Assuming we don't run into the White Fang on the way back," said Blake dourly. "Whatever happened back at the camp, I very much doubt that that..." She gestured to the pile of smoldering rubble and the three wrecked Paladins. "...went unnoticed. The White Fang would, at the very least, send someone to investigate."
"Well...I'm all for heading back," said Yang. "I really don't want to get bottled up back here."
Perhaps they could use some of the rubble to fortify their position and hold out. But it was all too likely that the White Fang might use explosives to either bring more of the tunnel down, right on top of them, or trap them on both sides, something none of them wanted to contend with.
"I agree," said Piper. "We'll have a better chance of fighting our way free. Besides, that'll enable us to meet up with the General's forces."
"Well...we're still in pretty rough shape," Nora pointed out. "I don't know about the rest of you...but I could use a nap."
Nora's teammates stared at her in shock. "Things must be bad, if you're saying that," Blake noted.
"What?" asked Nora innocently. "I get sleepy too."
"We are a long ways from fighting trim," noted Rain.
The members of RYNB exchanged looks, then nodded. In unison, they used Suppression, closing off their Auras completely.
The members of CPPR stared at RYNB in confusion. They weren't able to sense exactly what RYNB had done, but had noticed that strange fading sensation, as the four Beacon students' Auras vanished.
"What did you just do?" asked Ciel.
"It's a trick my sister taught us," explained Yang. "We basically closed off our Auras. That means that we're basically as vulnerable as someone without an unlocked Aura right now, but it boosts the rate our Auras recover at. So, if we keep this going, while we head up the tunnel, we'll be able to recover some extra Aura, which'll help us, when the fighting starts again."
Ciel exchanged looks with her teammates. "We will need to look into this matter, after the mission is over."
"I'm sure that Ruby would be happy to give you all pointers," said Nora, grinning broadly.
"Well...let's head out," said Qrow, knowing full well what his niece was teaching her peers. He'd already gotten the skinny on where she'd picked up that trick.
They set off, walking as quickly as they could, which was surprisingly quick, considering all that they'd been through. As they did, their attention turned to Penny, the gray splotches of metal still visible through the torn patches of her skin.
"So...shall we address the Goliath in the tunnel?" asked Rain.
"Um...I...really shouldn't say," said Penny, averting her eyes, her manner slightly guilty.
As she walked, Piper reached up, brushing a finger across the patch of metal visible on Penny's cheek. "It's too extensive to be a regular prosthetic," Piper noted. "Penny...what is this?"
"That's enough," said Ciel firmly, prompting surprised looks from everyone else. "We shouldn't pry."
"You don't want to know?" asked Piper, looking a Ciel skeptically.
"I'll admit to being curious," said Ciel. "However, it does explain why the General has been keeping Ms. Penny close, and has limited her interactions with the rest of us before. That means that Ms. Penny is not permitted to answer your question."
"That does make sense," noted Rain. "Very well...we shall not pry."
"Uh...I kinda still want to know," said Nora, raising a hand.
"If Penny doesn't wish to answer, and if answering is likely to get her in trouble with Ironwood, then it's best we not press the matter," said Ren.
"Fiiiiiiine..." groaned Yang and Piper in reluctant unison, prompting a smirk from Blake.
Penny looked down, watching the tracks as they passed, her eyes darting back and forth for a moment. "I'll tell you," she said finally.
"Are you sure, Ma'am?" asked Ciel worriedly. "The General probably wouldn't approve."
"At this point, we've been doin' quite a few things Jimmy might not approve of," commented Qrow, idly folding his arms behind his head as he walked.
The others nodded, remembering that this entire operation had been…unsanctioned…as they hadn't had the time to get approval from Ironwood beforehand. Of course, given the nature of the situation, that was understandable.
"At this point, it's probably just best to just tell you," said Penny forlornly. "I don't think the General would be able to keep you in the dark, with what you've seen now."
"So what's the deal then?" asked Piper.
"Well...I'm not human...not really," said Penny.
She explained the truth of her nature as the world's first, and only, Aura-producing android. The others listened raptly, amazed by the revelation. Once Penny finished explaining, she trailed off into an uneasy silence as she waited for the others to process what she revealed.
Nora was the first. "Wow! That is totally awesome!"
"Huh?" Penny blinked, staring at Nora in confusion.
"Well...it really is cool isn't it?" Nora pointed out, grinning. "I mean, you've got super-strength, and those ultra-cool weapons. As far as I'm concerned, you're the bee's knees."
"Um...thanks," said Penny, shocked that someone could accept her so easily.
"It explains a few things," said Blake, "like how you knew the alarm had been raised at the encampment, and how you heard the train coming well before the rest of us."
Penny nodded silently.
"I've just got one question," said Yang.
"Yes?" said Penny, looking to her.
"Does Ruby know?"
Penny nodded. "Ruby was able to figure it out one her own," she explained. "She said she couldn't sense the typical signs of life from me, even though I have an Aura."
"Sounds like the kinda thing our Rosebud would notice," said Qrow, a wry smile on his face. She was able to sense that Cinder had stolen the Maiden's power. Compared to that, sensing that something was off with this girl would be a cakewalk for her.
"And she's okay with it?" asked Yang.
"Yes," said Penny, smiling at the memory. "She said it doesn't matter that I'm made of metal, instead of squishy guts."
"That does sound like the kind of thing Ruby would say," mused Ren with a small smile on his own.
"Well, I'm down with this," said Yang, grinning and gently clapping Penny on the shoulder.
"Thank you," said Penny, her anxiety lessening, though the greater part of her reservations remained as she awaited to reaction of her own teammates.
Piper frowned and hummed. "Well...I can kinda see why this would be a big secret," she said, before her expression turned slightly angry. "But still...we're your teammates, so we should've been told, at least."
"I'm sorry," said Penny, ducking her head.
Piper gave Penny a small smile. "I'm not mad at you," she said. "I'm mad at the General. Being an effective team is based on trust, and it feels like he...uh...forced you to...not trust us. That's the kind of thing that can cause serious problems...like say, if you're damaged on a mission, and we suddenly see that you ain't sporting flesh and blood beneath that skin." Her smile turned rueful.
"I suppose that's true," Penny admitted.
"Well, I cannot fault you for anything," said Rain, smiling kindly at her. "I agree with Piper's view on General Ironwood's decision to force you to keep this secret from us, but none of that is on you."
"Thank you," said Penny, her voice heavy with relief, before she turned her gaze to her partner. "Ciel...?"
Ciel stared stoically ahead. "I don't have anything to add," she said simply.
"You...don't?" asked Penny, tilting her head.
Ciel turned to look at Penny, her expression firm and businesslike. "This information changes nothing. I am still responsible for you, when you are not under General Ironwood's supervision. Most importantly, you are still my assigned partner, both on and off the battlefield. None of that has changed." Ciel then allowed her lips to curl up in the smallest of smiles, prompting a wave of relief to rush through Penny.
"Thank you," said Penny earnestly.
"Wow, you've really loosened up on this trip, Boss," commented Piper with a wry grin.
"I blame it on the company," said Ciel, flashing a small smirk over at the members of RYNB, prompting a chortle from Yang and Nora, while Blake smirked back.
"Good that you've all cleared the air," commented Qrow. "That's gonna make this walk a whole lot less awkward."
Their journey continued for a while longer. The entire group lapsed into a comfortable, if wary, silence. They didn't have much to say, and wanted to make sure that they weren't caught off-guard by any attacks. However, as the minutes passed, the strangeness set in anew, as there were no signs of any White Fang soldiers coming down the tunnel to investigate the cataclysmic commotion that RYNB and CPPR had caused.
"This feels weird," Yang commented.
"Could they have been wiped out?" wondered Piper. "I mean, something raised the alarm, which means that they might've been attacked. If that's the case, and no one's coming to see what we did, then maybe that means there's no one left to investigate."
Blake's stride faltered, a yawning abyss opening up in the pit of her stomach as the impact of Piper's words sank in. What if they were wiped out? she wondered. What if Ilia...?
"Take it easy," said Yang, resting a comforting hand on Blake's shoulder. "We'll find out what happened, sooner or later."
Blake nodded uneasily. Despite Yang's words, Blake couldn't quite keep from worrying about the fate her old friend.
Then Penny came to an abrupt halt, holding up a hand to forestall any further movement. "Someone is approaching," she declared, using that strangely flat, serious tone she'd used when she'd announced the alarm had been raised earlier. "I'm picking up two contacts."
"Thanks for the head's up," said Yang.
"See, I told you this is cool!" said Nora excitedly. "I bet she totally has radar built in."
"I do," confirmed Penny, beaming at the excited squeal that came from Nora.
"Nora, please focus," said Ren tiredly.
"Oh...right, possible bad guys coming," said Nora, perking up.
They quickly drew their weapons. RYNB ended their Suppression, bringing up their Temper once more. They arrayed themselves ahead of CPPR, with Penny joining them on the front line, planning to use their more-recovered Auras to fend off whatever attacked.
"What else can you tell us?" asked Yang, opening up Ember Celica, and taking up her stance.
"The contacts are staggered," said Penny. "One is ahead of the other. I'm not sure, but it seems as though the one in front is being pursued."
"Weird..." muttered Piper.
Another couple of minutes later, they heard the sound of heavy footfalls, the sound of someone quite bulky running. After a few more seconds, that sound was joined the sound of panting breaths. From the darkness, a familiar burly, masked figure appeared, jogging down the tunnel towards them. Hefted in his right hand, so that its motor rested on his shoulder, was a massive chainsaw. When he saw them, the man came to a stop, bringing the weapon down and holding it at the ready, the engine revving with a menacing buzz.
"Meinrad?" said Blake, her eyes widening at the sight of Adam's lieutenant coming towards them.
"You..." growled Meinraid, rage palpable in his voice. "I should have known it was you. You brought this upon us!"
"Brought what?" asked Blake worriedly. "What happened?"
"You...are the reason they're all dead," growled Meinrad. "All your brothers and sisters...you led their death right to them."
"They're dead...?" gasped Blake, horrified, thinking of all the faunus they'd seen in the encampment. "All of them...?" Ilia's face flashed through her mind, and Blake felt as though she was about to throw up.
"You..." Meinrad began, before his voice tapered off. "You..."
"Uh...what's his deal?" asked Yang.
She got her answer a second later...when blood erupted from Meinrad's body, suddenly revealing him to be sliced into several pieces vertically, as though he'd been diced by an invisible knife. His chainsaw was not spared the treatment, fragments of its chain flung away as the blade and engine were sliced through just as cleanly.
Nora screamed.
Blake dropped to her knees, her expression horrified and vacant.
Yang's arms went slack.
The members of CPPR all reacted with varying degrees of shock and confusion, though their response was more wary, as they looked for any sign of the attack that had killed Meinrad. In the meantime, Ren turned to comfort Nora.
"Uh oh," muttered Qrow.
"You know what that was?" asked Yang, looking to her uncle.
"I've got a pretty good idea," said Qrow, his throat bobbing as he swallowed, "mainly because I was on the receiving end of that, once upon a time."
"What?" gasped Yang.
Qrow favored Yang with a shaky smile. "Well...remember what I told you about where Ruby's been the past few years?"
"Yeah?" said Yang, her eyes widening. "You don't mean...?"
"I was wondering where the Grimm went," continued Qrow, looking down the tunnel. "Guess we know now."
In the silence that followed Meinrad's abrupt demise, the sound of sandals scraping on the floor could be heard. A moment later, a figure in a black kimono melted out of the darkness, his red eyes faintly luminous in the low light of the tunnel.
"Well now," said Demon Eyes Kyo, smiling as he regarded the group in front of him. "I thought there was someone else down this way. I never imagined that we would meet like this, Branwen-san."
"Hey there, pal," said Qrow, one eyelid twitching. "Been awhile. At least we know what the hubbub was about, now."
"Uh...who is this?" asked Nora, she, and everyone else, looking back and forth between Kyo and Qrow. "You know him?"
"Yep," said Qrow, his voice dry. "Kids, meet Kyo, Ruby's big brother."
Ashley sat back and stretched, yawning widely.
"It isn't even noon yet," Elowen admonished her, giving her daughter a wry smile over the top of her book. "It's far too early for you to be yawning like that. And you slept in to boot."
"Can you blame me?" asked Ashley, staring down at the latest packet of work her school had sent her. "I mean, anybody would start yawning, having to just read all this stuff, then answer a bunch of questions about it. Besides, just hanging around in this room all the time is making me sleepy."
Elowen's smile twitched a little. "Well, you're not wrong," she said with a sigh.
Even if it was for the most benign of reasons, their quarters at Beacon were little more than a prison, a gilded cage. There were perfectly valid reasons as to why they couldn't go out without supervision. But that didn't make being stuck in this same room for most of the day, every day, any less of a tedious affair. Before, they'd at least had the semi-regular visits of Ruby and her friends to look forward to, not to mention those times said friends would escort them outside, just so they could enjoy a change of scenery. But now that RASP and RYNB had both left on their respective missions, there was little reason for them to be about. As pleasant as they were, the faculty members of Beacon weren't as engaging company as Ruby and her friends were.
The high point of the week, so far, had been the interview. Lisa Lavender and her crew had arrived, escorted by Glynda, to take Ashley's statement about what she had been through at the hands of the White Fang. Ashley had given them everything, telling them about her forced induction, Chrys' death, and Adam's attempt on her life, which had also been a trap for Ruby. Her parents had added their own experience, about how they'd been held hostage in their own home, to be killed if Adam had failed to kill Ruby and/or Ashley.
It was the kind of story that would utterly destroy the White Fang's credibility as a faunus-rights organization. Of course, the backlash would be intense, which made Ashley a little glad that she and her family were already under Beacon's protection.
Ashley stretched again, popping the joints in her back, preparing to knuckle back down and focus on her work. Despite their situation, her mother had insisted upon at least some kind of work ethic, namely that Ashley was required to complete a certain number of assignments each day, before she was permitted to do much else, like watch shows on the holoscreen, or play games on her scroll. It wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world, but it was fair, Ashley supposed.
Unfortunately, schoolwork was still just so boring. The fact that she was, technically, free to complete it at her own pace only served as an incentive to put it off to deal with, until later. It didn't help that the couch Ashley was currently sitting on, as she worked, also doubled as her bed, where she slept every night, while her parents slept in the sole bedroom of the suite. The impulse to just stretch out and nap the day away was compelling, not helped by this presently lethargic lifestyle of theirs.
After a few more minutes of work, Ashley found herself distracted by a sound that had the hairs of her neck standing on end, the sound of someone knocking on the door to their room.
She wasn't the only one. At the first knock, Elowen sat bolt-upright, the book in her hands tumbling to the floor. In the kitchen, they heard something clatter as it was dropped, before Oliver peaked his head out, all of them looking at the door with unusual intensity.
Slowly, Ashley got to her feet, setting down her pencil. With one hand, she motioned her parents to get back, Elowen and Oliver falling back towards the bedroom. With her other, she drew out her scroll, already paging down through her contacts, and selecting one. Reaching the door, Ashley, swallowed, before speaking up. "Hello?"
"Hi!" chirped a familiar voice. "It's me, Ashley. You gonna let me in?"
Looking through the peephole, Ashley was greeted by the sight of a familiar head of black hair, with red tips, and silver eyes. The sight of Ruby Rose beaming at her through the door should have been reassuring. But it only served to put Ashley's nerves even more on-edge.
"Weren't you supposed to be on a mission?" asked Ashley, trying to make it sound like a friendly query, rather than a suspicious one.
There was a distinct pause, before Ruby answered. "Yeah, but we finished up early, so we got to come back right away. Is something wrong, Ashley? Aren't you gonna let me in?"
"Just a moment," Ashley said quickly. "It's a mess in here. Let me get things cleaned up."
Stepping back away from the door, Ashley pulled back out of range, holding her scroll up to her ear. The person she'd called had already answered.
"Ms. Forrest?" inquired Glynda Goodwitch. "Is something wrong?"
"Professor...Ruby's still out on a mission, isn't she?"
"She is indeed," replied Glynda crisply. "Ms. Forrest, such inquiries are understandable, but now is not the time. I am in the middle of a very important meeting, right now-"
"But I'm seeing Ruby outside our door, right now," said Ashley, talking over Glynda, silencing the woman on the other end. "And she knocked without calling."
"I see," said Glynda, her tone much more tense. "I will have help to you momentarily. In the meantime, you and your parents will take the agreed-upon actions."
"A-all right," said Ashley.
"We will have help to you as soon as humanly possible," assured Glynda. "I am on my way now."
"All right," said Ashley.
"Stay on the line with me, and keep me appraised of the situation," instructed Glynda.
Ashley nodded, forgetting that Glynda couldn't see her do so, and darted into the bedroom, where her parents were already waiting.
"Something's wrong," muttered Emerald, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Give it time," said Mercury casually, the two of them standing in the empty hallway, right before the door that led into the Forrest Family's suite. "They're probably making things presentable. Don't want to be caught messing up the place when you're a guest, right?"
"It feels like she's stalling," grumbled Emerald.
"Well, doesn't your Semblance help to figure that out?" asked Mercury.
"It's hard to do, if I can't get direct line-of-sight," replied Emerald, glaring at her companion. "It was tough enough just getting her close enough to the door that I could use it on her. Even then, I can't really get anything from her, right now."
"Talk about useless," Mercury grumbled. "But still, there's no reason to worry. It's not like they have any reason to expect someone coming after them here, remember? As far as they know, they're safe, and away from the White Fang's reach."
"I don't think so," muttered Emerald.
She remembered watching their targets before, noting that the Forrest family spent very little time outside their suite, and never without someone escorting them. Sure, Beacon wasn't exactly the safest place in the world for regular civilians to be wandering around, so it made sense that the staff would want to make sure that the Forrests didn't wander into someplace where they could get hit by a stray round or a piece of debris. But the security measures that had been taken on their behalf went above and beyond that, like they were expecting that the Forrests might be attacked, despite supposedly being safe at Beacon.
"Well, what do you want to do then?" asked Mercury. "I can break down the door easily enough. But that makes things noisy. You wanna try popping the locks?"
Emerald frowned. That was a last resort. Sure, it would be quieter than Mercury kicking the door in, but only initially. Focusing on the locks would keep Emerald from being able to use her Semblance until after the door was open, at which point, there was every chance that any one of her targets could yell or scream. Using her Semblance on one person required pretty intense concentration. Using it on two at once left her with a persistent migraine afterwards. Using it on three people was all but impossible, and Emerald was liable to knock herself out trying. That being the case, her working the lock was only slightly less-noisy than straight up forcing an entry.
Leaning in, Emerald pressed her ear to the door, listening for any signs that Ashley was following through on her claim of cleaning things up. But she couldn't hear anything. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean that Ashley wasn't still working on making the suite presentable. She just might not have needed to do anything particularly noisy. However, with things being what they were, it only made Emerald all the more paranoid.
Pulling back, she looked to Mercury. "I'm calling it off," she said.
"What!?" Mercury explained, before catching Emerald's warning glare, a silent reminder to keep things down. They weren't supposed to be here, after all.
"They didn't take the bait," Emerald decided. "And I'm willing to bet she called Goodwitch, or someone else. We've been compromised. I know Cinder won't be happy if we can't off these three, but she'll be even more pissed if we blow our cover."
"Well...you're not wrong," said Mercury, groaning in resignation. "Fine. Let's bail. But you're the one who's gonna have to explain this to Cinder."
"Fine by me," said Emerald, already setting off down the hall. Mercury quickly moved to follow her.
Just as they were about to reach the corner, which would take them to the stairs they would take to exit, they heard the sound of heavy footsteps thudding on the carpet. Smacking her arm against Mercury's chest, Emerald forced him back against the wall as a familiar portly figure barreled around the corner, nearly slamming right into them.
Emerald's eyes narrowed and she immediately went to work, activating her Semblance as fast as she could. She made it just in time. Port might have caught a flash of...something...in his peripheral vision. But by the time he whipped his head around to confirm, Emerald had already worked her way inside his head, showing him an image of an empty hallway, while she and Mercury schooled their breathing to near complete silence, pressing back as far away from him as the wall at their backs would allow.
Fortunately, Port was in such a hurry that he didn't bother to spend more than a second checking. After that, he resumed his run down the hallway, heading right for the Forrest Family's door. In the meantime, Emerald and Mercury quickly ducked around the corner, allowing Emerald to release her Semblance. They peeked around, in order to see what happened next.
Sure enough, Port stopped right in front of the Forrest Family's door, confirming Emerald's suspicions that Ashley had been stalling, waiting for help to arrive. Then, to their surprise, Port pulled his scroll out, and held it up to his ear.
"Hello, Mrs. Forrest," he said, listening to the response. "This is Peter. I'm outside your door, right now. Is everyone all right?...Very good. Can you confirm that there is no one else in the apartment?...I see. If you're sure it's safe, then you can come out and open the door. Glynda is only a little bit behind me. Everything will be fine."
Emerald pulled back and exchanged nods with Mercury, the two of them making themselves scarce before Glynda Goodwitch arrived. Emerald didn't want to test her Semblance's speed against the much more careful Deputy Headmistress of Beacon, so it was best they were gone before she got there.
Glynda was a mere two minutes behind Port. She arrived to find the Forrests, scared, but unharmed. Ashely was quick to explain what had happened, making Glynda glad for the precautions they had taken, their suspicions having been borne out. After confirming the family's safety, Glynda left Peter with them, and made her way back to Beacon Tower.
By this point, Ironwood and Oobleck had already left to carry out the operation against the White Fang in Mountain Glenn. Ironwood hadn't been happy to learn that the students were acting beyond the parameters of the assigned mission. However, once Oobleck had explained what was going on, Ironwood had proven much more understanding, even if he was leery about trusting the word of an active White Fang member. But that was an issue for another time.
"I see," said Ozpin, frowning over the desk at her, as Glynda made her report. "And you're certain it was not a false alarm?"
"I am," said Glynda firmly. "Granted, we found no signs of the ones who apparently tried to trick their way into the suite, but all three members of the Forrest family confirmed hearing the knocks, even though Ashley was the only one who saw Ruby outside the door."
"And yet..." Ozpin activated the interface built into his desk, bringing up a holographic image. Glynda immediately recognized the image, one of the security feed from the hallway that ran outside the family's suite.
"I'm guessing this is from the time the attempt was made," said Glynda.
"Correct," confirmed Ozpin. "As you can see, there is no one out there...no one visible, anyway."
"So you think they were either mistaken or lying?" asked Glynda.
"Actually...no," said Ozpin, his frown becoming a small smile. "On the contrary. I think that their testimony is extremely important in figuring out several things at once. I believe that someone did indeed attempt entry into their suite. More importantly, this clarifies an important question."
"Which one?" asked Glynda.
Ozpin brought up several additional images, all of them camera feeds from the security cameras around the faculty quarters, including the main entryway and just outside. They were from the same period of time as the first feed. All of them showed...no one.
"Note the feeds with views of the outside," said Ozpin. "Do you see the angle of the shadows?"
"Yes," said Glynda, examining the visible shadows, cast by trees and lampposts in the courtyard outside. "The shadows indicate that this feed is from the afternoon, but it isn't even past noon yet."
"In other words, our camera feeds were hacked," said Ozpin. "The footage they were actually taking was instead substituted by a loop of earlier footage, footage that showed no one entering or leaving the building, or moving through its hallways.
"Therefore, in their attempt on the Forrest family's lives, our enemy has, in fact, played their hand. Ever since Saturday evening, we have been wondering just what Cinder Fall was up to, in the CCT. Now we have an idea."
"She's done something to our systems," said Glynda, her eyes widening. "She's subverted control."
"Yes," agreed Ozpin. "In fact, I suspect that hijacking our security feeds is hardly the only thing she is capable of right now. Given the length of time between her entry and when Ms. Rose encountered her, I suspect she downloaded something onto the network."
"A virus," said Glynda. "This is a serious breach. That means that any information we have on the network, or even our communications, is something she will be privy to."
"Amongst other things, yes," agreed Ozpin. "It also gives her power to subvert control over our systems, including what we see and hear."
"So, it was Cinder who made the attempt," guessed Glynda.
"Most likely one of her associates," said Ozpin. "Given what we know about Ms. Fall, it is highly unlikely that illusions are amongst her repertoire."
Glynda nodded.
"And," continued Ozpin, bringing up other security feeds, "if we do things properly, then..."
He brought up a feed from earlier, before the attempt on the Forrest family. It showed Emerald and Mercury leaving their rooms in the guest dormitories, and making their way together down the hallway. Ozpin switched the feeds, which showed them moving across the campus, in the direction of the faculty quarters, following them across different cameras, until the point where they should have reached their destination, only for them to enter at the moment where the feeds of the faculty quarters were replaced by loops.
"So it was those two," noted Glynda, frowning. "That seems remiss of them, that they would only bother to change the footage of the cameras around the faculty quarters themselves."
"Keep in mind that they have no reason to believe that we suspect them," said Ozpin, his smile widening. "They can't have realized that Ms. Rose sensed Autumn's magic within Cinder Fall, and figured out just what was going on."
"So this is absolute confirmation that Cinder Fall and her cohorts are working with the White Fang," said Glynda.
"Probably more accurate to say that, at the moment, the White Fang is working for Ms. Fall," said Ozpin gravely.
"And now...we must figure out just how to respond," mused Glynda.
"This guy is Ruby's brother?" gasped Blake, staring at Kyo incredulously.
"I am," replied Kyo cheerfully. "In fact, I was hoping to visit her, so I was looking for a discreet entry point into Vale. I'm afraid that, unlike Sasame, I've never been all that good at incognito activities." He sheathed his sword, before scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin.
Blake glanced down at Meinrad, then up at Kyo. "You killed them," she said softly, "all of them."
"Well, not all," said Kyo. "A few of them ran. Those I didn't bother with. I merely killed everyone who tried to kill me."
"Including Ilia?" pressed Blake. "Did you kill her?"
"Um..." Kyo canted his head to one side. "I don't know. I'm afraid I have no idea who that was."
"A girl with tanned skin," said Ren. "She wielded a whip-sword-type weapon."
"Hmm...Her?" Kyo pinched his chin, rolling his eyes up thoughtfully. "I do remember her. It was a bit odd."
"Why?" asked Blake, tensing, her hand going for Gambol Shroud.
"Because I didn't get the chance to fight her at all," said Kyo. He gestured to Meinrad. "She was standing quite close to this fellow, I remember. However, the very moment he gave the order to attack, someone else attacked her from concealment. I believe she was knocked out and carried away. But I could only track them with my other senses, and I couldn't see them at all. On top of that, shortly after, I had...other...concerns."
"So someone knocked Ilia out and took her away...?" said Yang, eyes narrowing.
"Someone you couldn't see," said Ren.
"Neo," whispered Blake. "But why?"
Kyo shrugged. "I have no idea," he admitted. "I'm afraid I'm not so good that I can read my opponents' minds."
"Well, that's something we can worry about later," said Qrow. "The big question, right now, is what to do with you."
It was Penny who answered initially. "I believe we are required to take him into custody," she said. "Demon Eyes Kyo has several high-profile bounties throughout all four Kingdoms." She immediately deployed her swords.
"Hang on-!" Yang began to protest.
"Stop!"
To everyone's surprise, the shouted order came from Ciel, who immediately grasped Penny by the arm, before she could begin to attack. Given Penny's immense strength, Ciel could have very easily simply been dragged along by the android. However, Penny stopped herself, upon feeling the contact of Ciel's fingers against her arm.
"Ciel?" asked Penny, glancing at her partner.
"Do not attempt anything against him," said Ciel gravely.
"But-" Penny began to protest.
"If you do, you will not survive," said Ciel firmly. "General Ironwood himself classified Kyo as above S-Class. No one below Senior Specialist rank would even be permitted to try and take him in."
"Uh...What?" Yang blinked, looking to Qrow.
"Well, that's Jimmy's way of trying to keep the bodycount down," said Qrow. "S-Rank bounties are darn rare already. Someone above that is pretty much untouchable, no matter how much money you throw into the bounty. Truth be told, even Senior Specialists would balk at taking a run at him."
"At him...?" Nora threw a dubious look at Kyo, who smiled politely and waved.
"You're gonna have to see the aftermath of what he left in that White Fang encampment to understand," growled Qrow. He glanced meaningfully down at Meinrad's corpse. "I know, first-hand, just what a monster he is."
"Wait! This is the guy who beat you, six years ago?" asked Yang, staring at Kyo.
"Yep," admitted Qrow readily. "Trust me, Firecracker, he's way out of our league. Let's just consider it lucky that he did the heavy lifting for us. Ironwood won't be too happy about so many corpses, but there's no helping it now."
Blake threw a bitter glare Kyo's way. Even if she had parted ways with the White Fang, she still regarded the organization in general as one with good intentions, even if they had lost their way, particularly in the case of the Vale Branch. But Kyo had slaughtered nearly all of them, yet betrayed no signs of remorse.
"At least we don't have to worry about fighting our way out of this tunnel," said Ren, finding the silver lining. "We should head back."
"True," said Qrow. "If Kyo's here, we don't have to worry about the Grimm either."
"So the rumors are true," said Rain, staring at Kyo with wide eyes.
"You mean about him scaring off all the Grimm?" asked Nora.
"You know about that?" asked Piper, staring at the members of RYNB.
"Ruby told us," said Yang. "Kyo's her adopted brother, after all."
"We had heard as much about the investigations into him," said Ciel. "Investigators rarely found a trace of information about his whereabouts, as the settlements he visited almost never reported him in any fashion. When someone did investigate, they wound up hearing whispers that Kyo's arrival at any location signaled a period free from any Grimm incursion.
"Most of the higher-ups in the military believe that to be impossible. They believe that Kyo's arrival coincidentally coincided with a decline in localized Grimm activity in a few locations, and the members of the settlements, not knowing any better, credited him for it, and the reputation stuck." She swallowed. "But you're all saying that this is true."
"According to Ruby, yep," said Yang, folding her arms. "Though, I think we've had a pretty good demonstration of it during our mission, haven't we?"
"It is true," noted Rain. "When we first arrived, Mountain Glenn was crawling with Grimm. But, ever since yesterday, there has not been a single one to be found."
"Yesterday would be the time I arrived in the vicinity," said Kyo.
"So...now what?" asked Ren, looking to Qrow.
Qrow sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "Well, we head back out, and meet up with Jimmy's forces." He looked at Kyo. "If we're lucky, they haven't closed in yet. If they have...things could get a bit messy."
They continued walking down the tunnel. Their journey was in relative silence. However, as they approached the tunnel mouth, they began to hear the sounds of frantic activity.
"The General's forces are there," said Penny.
"Uh..." Everyone glanced uneasily at Kyo, who looked completely unbothered by the situation.
"No point in trying to hide him back there," said Qrow, glancing into the darkness behind them. "James is gonna search the tunnel anyway." He sighed. "Might as well get this over with. Hopefully, we don't wind up with another pile of corpses on our hands."
They continued out, stepping into the larger cavern. Indeed, Ironwood's forces were already there, soldiers mingling with Knight-class androids, cataloguing crates of munitions and Dust, inspecting the remaining Paladins, which looked to have been sliced to pieces...and gathering up the remains of the White Fang soldiers that had met their ends at the edge of Kyo's sword. None of the students could keep from blanching, or their stomachs from roiling, as a Knight marched past, a severed head held in its hands.
The entire encampment had been turned into a charnel house. The corpses of slain faunus were strewn about, many of them in multiple pieces. Even the imposing figures of the Paladins had been reduced to so much scrap. The sight was enough to make the students turn uneasy eyes on Kyo once again.
"Halt!" snapped a firm and imperious voice, making the students jump.
"Uh oh," grumbled Qrow.
Ironwood strode forward, followed by another squad of Knights, and a separate squad of soldiers. They all formed up beside him, training their rifles directly on Kyo. Ironwood reached into his jacket, pulling forth his revolver, and leveling it at Kyo as once.
"Demon Eyes Kyo, you are wanted for crimes against the states of Atlas and Vale," declared Ironwood, his eyes narrowed into a stony glare at the red-eyed man. "Surrender at once!"
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