11The Things We Go Through
Chapter 12
Disclaimer: Neither Blaisingfire nor myself have ownership over RWBY
A whistle through the air and a sharp reverberating clang filled the area. Sparks showered down upon the two combatants, though they did little in the way of noticing. Pulling back and retreating to cover they put their swords away and changed mags in the rifles. One waited as a gentle breeze flitted his way and brought with it the soft scraps of boots against rocks and shrubbery. Pulling a mirror out of his pocket he peaked around the corners of the cover he was in and saw his opponent crawling towards him on his left flank. Natural instincts screamed at him to move away in the opposite direction but he remained still and tried to control his rapidly beating heart. They were so close now that any movement on his part would be giving his position away, not that it wasn't anyway. Flicking his eyes down he saw that his weapon was set on semi, looking back the enemy was gone. Searching from one spot to the other quickly he couldn't spot any movement. They were just gone, not even a whisper of sound to give a hint of their whereabouts. Slowly shifting forward and avoiding anything that might scratch his uniform he leaned out from his cover enough to shoulder the, now surprisingly heavy, rifle. Scanning the area, nothing moved. The plants swayed in the wind but nothing odd was happening, then a soft rustle and he trained his gun on a nearby shrub as green leaves exploded outwards and a rabbit darted from the bushes to a faraway place. His heart was beating a tattoo in his breastbone as he closed his eyes momentarily and when he opened them he felt the cold piercing of a barrel against the base of his skull.
"Never take your eyes off the enemy, the second you do your dead son."
A soft click and a hand showed itself from above his shoulder, turning in place he reached up and grabbed it. Keeping his weapon ready front, he was pulled to his feet.
"Next time, let's head back and grab chow."
"Yes sir."
"Hey, what'd I say about that shit? The names Buck."
In the mess hall, the two had returned from the field and grabbed a tray while getting in line. It wasn't terribly crowded but just enough to warrant some conversation, at least the rook thought so.
"Sir, why do they make us go out in the barren desert for training like that? We have holographic rooms that could easily do the same job."
Shaking his head Buck sighed and responded. "Because, while the holorooms offer a good refresher experience, there's no substitute for being out in the real world where nature can either aid or hinder you. A prime example was the rabbit that scared the piss outta you. Holorooms can't be unpredictable in that manner unless specifically programmed to do so. Nature doesn't care what you want, she just does what she feels like 99% of the time." The specialist motion for certain foods and politely declined others as he was explaining. "Let's grab a table, I'm starving."
"Yes, sir."
"Stop that."
Making their way to a table in the far corner Bucks eyes never stood still for very long, always looking at everything and still somehow managed to avoid people running into him that seemed almost on purpose. Sitting at the table Buck wasted little time in devouring his food, the new recruit said a soft prayer before tenderly eating his way through his meal. Noticing this Buck shrugged and said nothing.
'Everyone has their own thing, hopefully the field doesn't take that away from him.' eating the last of his bread he silently watched the room, not out of concern of an attack from anyone he called an ally, just out of habit. After waiting for nearly fifteen minutes he finally finished his food and Buck gathered his tray and made to leave.
"Best put a move on, next training is in an hour and you better not be late. I'll be waiting at the usual spot."
Buck leaving him behind at the table he sighed. For nearly two weeks straight he'd been subject to the 'torture' that was training with Buck and various members of his team. He relented that they were the best and hed learn well from them but there was absolutely no room for error. One small miscalculation and they pounced, even after waiting in a stalemate for seven hours, crouched in the same spot, he moved to get his leg more comfortable and he found himself face down in the dirt with a boot in his back.
"Almost a new record kid, another ten minutes and you probably could have had him." Soft, almost inaudible scratches from a pencil could be heard jotting notes down. "Pick yourself up and report back to base for debriefing, then chow and sleep. Were doing this again tomorrow till you beat one of us." Lifting his face up and spitting out a dirt clod he didn't know how he would have just beat his opponent by just sitting there!
"Bullshit! How is this teaching me anything, sir? Day after day I'm subject to fighting the best of the best. Me with little to no training, going up against battle hardened veterans and heroes who rescued Yang Xiao Long and Jaune Arc! This is fair, this isn't training its a refresher course for you guys!" Not knowing where this came from he didn't back down as Buck got in his face and stared him down but not breaking the gaze. Tilting his head Buck shouted to his partner.
"What you think Chemo? He pass?"
Smirking at the recruit the one known as Chemo answered, "Oh yeah, he's got balls. Let's see how long he'll keep'm." Chemo chuckled to himself and turned to walk away. "Good luck kid, you've just chosen the harder of the two paths before you."
"You heard him, head back to base and wait for my instructions." Turning to join Chemo he jogged over to his partner. "You think that he'll make it? Stuff like that is usually only a spurt of being driven over the edge too many times."
"Reminds me of someone." Letting his words hang in the air, Buck punched his arm.
"I got lucky, Captain Schnee kept pushing me." Bucks eyes going dark as he remembered the brutal training on his own time just to keep up with everyone else.
"I believe that my title is Specialist Schnee, Buck." Both Chemo and Buck froze solid, their eyes going wide with fear as slow, methodical steps approached them. "Though I suppose I was just a Captain back then. Still, it's rather rude to talk about me when you nearly ran me over just now." Standing behind the pair Winter smirked, "You can try that, but you won't get far. That I promise." Her icy words hung in the air as Buck and Chemo looked at each other. Chemos eyes pleaded with Buck to reconsider while Buck had a fire light under his feet as he made a mad dash down the hall. "You stay right there, I'll deal with you in a minute," Winter said cooly as a glyph formed behind her and she sped off towards a sprinting Buck. Ramming into him she pinned him to the ground and held him there as she summoned another glyph beneath the feet Chemo, who was slowly walking back.
As Buck was currently eating the freshly waxed floor, courtesy of the elbow in his back, he thought two things.
1) Why did he have to choose then to not pay attention to his surroundings?
2)Why, on Monty's green earth, did he run?
He tried to come up with an answer but blinding pain suddenly whited out his vision as Winter dug her elbow deeper into his back, just to the right of his spine.
"So, If you can explain to me in one sentence why running from me was a good idea I might just let you go." Winters cool eyes stared at the back of her favorite punching bag…..trainee.
A meer gasp for air was all Buck could do as Winter's elbow was dug, almost literally, into his lung.
"Yeah, see, I don't get it either." Winter kept her elbow in Buck as Chemo stepped up. "So, mind explaining why I have a new scuff mark on my boot Chemo?"
"Well, You see Specialist-" Chemo started but was interrupted by a Blonde mane of wild hair pushing another blonde confined to a wheelchair.
"Yo, Schnee. Ironwood said to find you and deliver a message before we went off to the medical wing." Yang stopped just short of the scene that was played out before her. Two soldiers were pinned by glyphs that were undoubtedly Schnees doing. One was pinned with Schnee's elbow and it looked painful as hell, if his grunts were anything to go by. A sharp inhale of breath and the glyphs went away as Winter picked herself up and brushed her coat of the dust.
"You two are dismissed. We'll continue this later." Turning to the two blondes she looked as calm and collected as ever. "What's this message you were sent to deliver Miss Xiao Long?"
"Ironwood said he needs to see you right away. That's all. We'll be on our way now." As Yang started to push Jaune, Winter stopped her by grabbing her arm.
"How much did you see?"
"Enough to compromise your position, unless its accepted to beat up people when you're not watching where you're going? We won't say anything, in return we don't want you going easy on us in training. But don't go overboard with it ok?" Winter glared at the smaller girl but noticed that Yang had a hand on Jaunes shoulder, almost protectively. Smirking to herself before framing her features again.
"Deal, best you hurry along. You've got a rough time ahead of you after all." Releasing Yang's arm, Winter folded her arms behind her back and slowly made her way towards Ironwood.
The blinding pain in his lungs gone he picked himself up just in time to see the blondes heading towards the medical wing while Winter was nowhere to be seen. Still fearful over being tackled again a friendly face made itself known.
"Hey, Buck, you alright?" More than a hint of concern in his voice at the rough treatment he just witnessed.
"Yeah, I might not breathe right for the next few days but nothing some drills shouldn't fix. We need to hurry, that little run-in with Schnee cost us and we have a rook to train." Buck dropped his head, The loss of both Meat and Ozone after going back through the building. If it wasn't for General Ironwood he doubted that they would have made it out alive.
*flashback*
That damned officer had a semblance that allowed him to make a perfect body double capable of acting on its own. After the first shot, the officer exploded in a cloud of toxic gas and the real one emerged from the bushes behind them as everyone but the droids were blinded. His first shots took our the droids, then he took his time lining up the next shot on Bucks back. As his finger applied pressure to the trigger an impossible loud bang followed by gunsmoke filled the air. The officer looked down to see a fist-sized hole in his chest, his aura having been completely drained from the use of the clone. Ironwood walked up to the man with his smoking gun in hand and rapidly put three more shots in him. Running back to the team he dragged everyone he could out, after the gas had cleared they went back to see Ozone and Meat had succumbed to the gas.
*end flashback*
Chemo grabbed ahold of Buck's shoulders. As he was shouting at him.
"Snap out of it! Their gone and we need to move on, I know its difficult but it happens all the time. Are you with me or do you need to go rest?" Chemo had a very stern face on as Buck shook his head clear of the thoughts and haunting memories of their faces stuck in that horrible expression.
"I'm good, go on ahead. I'll catch up with you, besides he'll be training with you first anyway." Grabbing his head as the fleeting thoughts still lingered in the corners of his mind Chemo stared at him but moved on. Chemo continued down the hall, silently worrying about his friend and leader. The loss of Meat and Ozone weren't the first teammates they had lost but definitely one of the worst, they could even bury them properly. They had planned a retrieval operation but before they left their bodies liquified, nothing more than a puddle of goop. After that he hadn't heard much of anything from his team aside from Buck.
Not paying any attention to his surrounds his feet carried him right to the training grounds where the rook was waiting. Looking up he saw him field stripping his weapon, he looked up and noticed Chemo and hurriedly put it back together and slung it over his shoulder.
"Sorry Sir, you were taking a while so I kept myself busy." He stammered nervously.
"Calm down, and knock off the Sir crap. We're equals, and if you pass these next tests you're on our squad. So don't disappoint."
Chemo had cleared his head and rushed the guy, as he raised his rifle he hesitated. Chemo immediately grabbed it and yanked out the bolt carrier, rendering the gun useless, he backed off as the new recruit clicked the trigger for nothing to happen. Looking at it he noticed the missing parts and tossed the weapon. Settling into the stance for CQB. He and Chemo kept their distance, only closing the gap one tentative step at a time. In an explosion of movement, he rushed Chemo with a faint left, followed by a right hook, only for his arm to be caught as Chemo slam the flat of his hand against the rooks nose, making a sickening crack and a torrent of blood flowed from his nostrils. He tried to backpedal but Chemo still had a grip on his arm and threw him to the ground. With his wrist still locked in an iron grip Chemo wrapped his legs across his chest and pulled tight.
"You have a choice kid. Surrender and live with the shame. Or fight, and I break your arm." His face completely straight as he was contemplating what he should have for dinner, the good MRE's in storage, or chow hall? Feeling a shift under him shooked Chemo from his thoughts.
"So, fight then? Alright." Chemo tightened the grip on his wrist and raised his hips till he heard a very satisfying pop. letting go he rolled backward into a fighting stance as the recruit picked himself up and cradled his shoulder.
"I thought you said you'd break my arm?"
"What, you calling me a liar?" Chemo zigzagged towards him blinding fast and ended up behind him just as he turned around. Grabbing his good arm Chemo straightened it out and brought his hand down directly on his elbow making a sickening crack followed by the recruit screaming at the top of his lungs. Falling to his knees Chemo finished with a swift kick to the face, more precisely the nose, causing him to feel so much pain he passed out as blood flowed freely from his nose.
"CHEMO WHAT THE FUCK!?" came the highly irritated voice of Peasant.
"Oh relax, its nothing a bit of aura and a few days in the infirmary can't fix." Chemo said with a huff as he stepped back.
Peasant looked the kid over as he shook his head. "If you needed to blow off steam you should have sparred with someone who knows how you fight, not a newbie whos fresh outta boot!" Shaking his head as he knew he'd hear it later from the medic he walked away. "Hey! We're not done here!" But Chemo was already around the corner leaving Peasant with the unconscious form of their newest replacement. "I'm sorry you had to join our squad like this kid. Believe it or not, he is the nicest one here."
Chemo wandered the halls, not really ready for dinner and the "training" going quicker than expected. He'd have to apologize to the kid when he got better. Chemo was having a bad day and took it out on him, looking around he noticed he was at Generals Ironwoods door. The receptionist was gone but he could tell the general was in a meeting. Looking over his shoulder and not seeing anyone he pressed his ear to the door and heard the sounds of a gentle conversation. From who he could tell, that was until he heard something that made his face as red as a tomato. Stepping back the moans got louder but anyone would have to be listening for it. Understanding why the receptionist was gone he decided to follow suit and go have dinner after all.
Shaking his head from the thoughts of who the General could be with he instead focused his mind on going over combat techniques, taking the kid down with an armbar was low. He shuddered to think that actually worked. Having decided a while ago what he wanted to eat he went back to the barracks. Grabbing an MRE he went through the motions and proceeded to eat, his thoughts straying, once again to his annoyance, to the two blondes. He vaguely remembered them, but from where? The one only had one arm and the other was bound to a wheelchair. Where had he seen them before? The scene was different and there was more blood but he recognized the wheelchair blonde, jumping up and spilling the hot water all over his pants Chemo yelped out and brushed it off. His name, What was his name?! Pulling out his scroll he tried to contact Cardin, the huntsman in training grew on him even though he was brash most of the time, his scroll not getting any response he closed it and put it back. Walking at a brisk pace to the medical wing with one question on his mind, who was the blonde in the wheelchair?
Peasant had called for a medical crew to come pick up their newest recruit to the squad. He was going to give Chemo an earful for what he did to the kid. Following the crew, he had to explain to the best of his knowledge, what had happened.
"Training accident." He said mildly. Scribbling it down the soldier gave a huff.
"You realize you're squad holds the record for most visits to the infirmary for 'training accidents'?" Peasant didn't say a word as they continued down the hall until the culprit ran straight into him that is.
"CHEMO! Will you please watch where it is you're going?!" Peasant picked himself up and tried to hurry back to the quickly advancing group only from Chemo to grab his arm.
"Peasant! Who was the blonde kid we went to that building to save?! What was his name, I know you know because you helped treat him!" Chemo stared him down waiting for an answer from the medic.
"Ummmm, Jean? No, jack? No, that's not it. Jaune! His name was Jaune, why do you ask?" Peasant was suddenly curious about why his friend would want to know about a mission that happened months ago.
"Because Jaune's here with the other blonde we saved. I saw them heading this way earlier today!" This news shocked Peasant as he had an idea of what they were here for. Clenching his fist he prayed for those two.
"Listen, they chose this. We can't worry about them, you need to be ready to train the new kid right this time around when he gets better. Pray that Buck doesn't hear what you did either. He'll have your ass in a sling faster than General Ironwood will for that shit."
"What shit is that Peasant?"
For the second time that day Chemo found himself rooted to the spot, frozen in absolute fear. Not daring to turn around Chemo felt a strong grip on his shoulder, painful almost to the point of blinding but not enough to fracture the bone, he dared turn his head and saw Buck, a fire in his eyes as he waited for an answer.
"Y-you know boss, I-i think I'm going to go help the new kid." Before Peasant could leave Buck gripped his shoulder as well holding them both in place.
"You two are going to explain things right now, the fewer words you use the better." Buck's voice was an icy calm, something he picked up from all the 'training' sessions with the former Captain Schnee.
Peasant, not one to piss off Buck more than usual, jumped on the chance to throw his friend under the proverbial bus.
"Chemo did it." Slipping out of Bucks grip Peasant ran faster than he ever did before. Even a hungry Beowulf would have trouble catching him at the moment.
As Peasant half-ran/half-walked away from what would surely be a brutal murder between Buck and Chemo, he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, continually glancing over his shoulder to make sure Buck wasn't on his tail. Making random turns down hallways he hardly ever went down, Peasant ended up on a side of the building that he had never visited before. Looking around he tried to get his bearings and realized that he was somewhere below General Ironwoods quarters. Walking around he saw pipes and steam everywhere.
"Must be the lower levels where they have the boilers. No wonder I've never been here, no reason to be here." Continuing his trek to try and find a way out he continued his way deeper into the belly of the beast, as it were. He heard soft footsteps but didn't see anyone around, crouching down Peasant followed the sound.
The steps stopped and Peasant followed suit. The deafening silence was suffocating as Peasant refused to even breathe heavy to avoid giving away his position. Suddenly the steps weren't just steps but almost an all-out run! Scowling that he had been found out, Peasant threw caution to the wind and picked up the pace but still listening for the sound. After several minutes, and more than a dozen turns down hallways, Peasant was facing the back of someone in a black cloak. Soldiers all around just walking past as if unable to see the stranger. Soon it was just Peasant and the stranger all alone, they lifted their arm and started walking away. Peasant ran over to them and made to pull off the hood but felt a blind pain in his back and stomach. Looking down he saw a sharp metal spike going through his abdomen and a stain of blood forming.
*stranger POV*
Following the fool who had somehow stumbled upon them was child's play, making them think they had the lead while matching footsteps was another thing. Almost at a full-on sprint, they made several turns to waste time. After all, five minutes can take forever when you're giving chase to someone. Eventually, they found the way outside and he stopped, keeping the illusion that they were standing still about twenty feet ahead of them they kept an eye on the scrolls timer. At thirty seconds the illusion moved and it was time to act. Moving faster than him the stranger took out a sharp and thin spike and quickly thrust it into his back, not stopping there they pushed until it was out the other side. The man looked down and made to scream but pulling the spike out of his stomach and quickly shoving it into the base of his neck prevented any sounds from alerting anyone else. Pulling the spike out and wiping the blood off they replaced it back in its sheath. Putting the object back under the cloak they made the walk towards the waiting bullhead, as the first step was taken on the ramp an explosion blew the building behind them into several pieces, the shockwave from the explosion blew off the cloak that the stranger was wearing to reveal none other than the ice-cream haired mute, Neo. Turning to look at her handy work she saw the top half of the building completely blown off, the exposed sections now had people pouring out of them. Several on fire and panicking, sure to entice some Grimm she made her way up the ramp and motioned to Cinder to take off.
Taking a step out of the broken building she had finally found the landing pad, noticing that several bullheads were closing in, flying much lower than safety regs said to, her eyes landed upon one pink and brown haired bitch. The boarding ramp closed and started to rapidly ascend, cocking her arm back the man beside her said something to which she cocked her head towards him.
"Take aim at the engine, the bird will fall and she'll burn." No hint of remorse in his voice as she nodded and aimed carefully. Once she was certain she wouldn't miss she let loose a single shot that whistled through the air chasing its target. The wind had caught the shot and drifted it slightly left but it still hit true. Knocking one of the engines off, the bullhead began a fast downward spiral to the forest floor, a satisfying explosion and tower of smoke climbing to the skies. Lowering her arm an armored hand rested on her shoulder.
"Come on, those bullheads are probably filled with Grimm or fang, either isn't good news. Let's evacuate the building and check for survivors." His heavy footsteps thudded away, crumbling any loose concrete Yang looked back at Jaune. The once innocent light that filled his eyes was gone, replaced by vengeance, his body language was that of someone out for blood for the wrong of the world. She couldn't blame him.
"There's two people we need to find Ironwood, and Schnee. They'll know the layout the best." Yang ran after her partner.
Multiple bullheads unloaded their cargo, one had landed on the very pad they just left. As the off-ramp lowered a towering man made his way off the airship, revving his chainsaw the whole time.
As Banesaw walked off the bullhead he looked around, the top secret facility of the scientific Atlesian military was blow up. The Grimm that the fang were depositing were going to have a field day. Making his way to the giant hole in the wall in front of him he held his chainsaw at the ready. He looked around the building and saw wreckage and busted pipes, water and steam pouring from them. He cared little for this, what he did care about was the location right above him if the schematics were correct. Planting a breaching charge above his head he took a good amount of steps back and pressed the detonator. The floor came crashing down after the small controlled explosion and the debris conveniently made steps to the upper level.
His vision blurring, he rose to a sitting position. Looking around someone had blown the entire building apart. On top of that, someone had just blown a hole in his floor, he could hear a chainsaw revving and his heart dropped. He saw the glint of the white mask along with the revving of the chainsaw, this man was second-in-command just below Adam of the white fang. As the man known widely as Banesaw was on top of Ironwood. He could feel Banesaw grinning behind the mask as six other White Fang joined him and surrounded him. A bit of rubble shifted and a coughing Glynda who was bleeding from multiple places and gasping for air. Ironwood stared in horror as Banesaw shifted his attention to Glynda and chuckled.
"Glynda Goodwitch, I've waited a long time to kill you. How many of you want a piece of that fine ass first?" Banesaw asked the small group with him as they all chuckled.
Ironwood was seeing red at the implication of what these animals were suggesting. After Glynda's confession not minutes before Ironwood wanted nothing more than to rip them limb from limb, unfortunately his legs were pinned beneath a fallen piece of the ceiling. Looking over at the woman he loved he saw that she was calm and smiling at him as Banesaw was monologuing his heart out. Waving his arms around in a spectacular fashion but failing to notice that all the fang weapons were coated in a purple aura, Glynda drank the potion that Ironwood had told her not to drink! It wasn't even out of prototype stage, the side effects were unknown and her condition made Ironwood worry even more.
Glynda smiled at James as she concentrated her aura around all the weapons and mouthed three simple words to him. 'I love you.' Ironwood went wide-eyed at the realization of what she was doing. He reached a lone hand towards her as all the fang member weapons suddenly lifted out of their owner's hands and sliced clean through all seven White Fang members. Ironwood watched as their bodies slowly split into two and slide away from themselves with a squelch and plopped down on the floor.
"Good work Glynda, you did it!" Ironwood shouted and looked over at the haggard looking woman.
"Good, wasn't sure if that'd work but I'm glad it did. Take care James, this is the end-game. Give it everything." With that being said, Ironwood started struggling to move the rubble.
"No! No no no no, don't you give me that shit Glynda! You hold on! You can't tell me all that then die on me! You're a fighter, now you fight Glynda!" Desperately scrapping at the rubble a robotic hand grabbed the rubble and lifted it off the general. Hearing the smooth metal against metal sound of a sword entering its sheath, he spotted Yang and Jaune. Crawling over to Glynda he went to check her vitals and felt nothing. Tears beginning to sting his eyes he hugged her body close to him.
"General, are you able to move? We have to evacuate the building and ensure the safety of everyone else. There're Grimm and White Fang all over the building. We need to move!" Jaune was looking everywhere for more people as Ironwood softly cried into Glynda's unmoving body. Yang turned to Jaune.
"We know what we have to do, let's get moving." Yang said with a small frown.
Taking their advance slow and methodical, the two blondes searched high and low, not finding much and when they did find a body it was either shot, crushed, or mauled. So far no survivors, not that they held any hope that there would be. They had been taken completely off guard, even Yang and Jaune weren't supposed to be up but the procedure was done and they were supposed to be healing. The docs have said three to four weeks, the white fang and Grimm said otherwise.
The building wasn't much now since the upper levels had been blown off, over the next few floors the same results were there, they saw dead Grimm and White Fang alike scattered everywhere. Jaune took a closer look at the Fang members and noticed that had all been slashed, some had gunshot wounds as well.
"Yang, there's survivors fighting here, either people without ammo or someone extremely confident in using a sword," Jaune said with several people coming to mind but Yang beat him to the punch.
"We won't find anything here, let's hurry up and move down some floors, we'll probably run into them soon," Yang said with her fists clenched. "Let's take the quickest path, shall we?"
As Jaune twitched for the stairwell he remembered who he was with and stepped back. With a roar, Yang aimed straight at the ground beneath her feet and punched a hole downwards. With the upgrades in her arm, she punched a hole in three more floors before she got tired.
"That'll save us some time huh." Looking around they both darted to the stairwell leading down as the sounds of battle grew louder. Rounding the corner they saw a four man team holding off Grimm and White Fang alike with the unmistakable form of one Specialist Winter Schnee in the middle. Commanding the men at the right place at the right time to avoid getting overrun it was like watching a conductor leading an orchestra with how fluid her movements were.
"Winter, your eight o'clock!" Jaune called out and she immediately turned and nodded at them, returning to her job they proceeded as fast as they could. Once with the group, Winter addressed them.
"Yang, since your long range I need you focusing on bigger targets, anything gets closer than ten meters you let me know."
"Got it." She kept her head on a swivel and the whistle of her rounds could be heard every few seconds.
"Arc, you're close support, anything gets within melee range is your responsibility."
"Will do ma'am." Keeping his eyes peeled he took care of anything to got to close for comfort.
This continued for several minutes for what felt like hours, the numbers never seemed to cease from the Grimm but the White Fang members soon stopped all-together.
"Winter, its just Grimm at this point. The likelihood of survivors is nil at this point. With numbers this vast and the White Fang are either not showing themselves or are gone completely. We need to fall back, grab Ironwood and Glynda, and get out of here." Turning towards Jaune, Winters' eyes grew wide.
"The Generals alive? Where?!" Winter practically shouted as she grabs Jaunes shoulders.
"He's about seven floors up, Glynda took out several Fang members that had him surrounded. We need to hurry if we all want to get out of here!" Jaune started to move but suddenly stopped. "Where's Jessica and Jemima?" Not noting them with the group Yang suddenly went still as the air gained a spark of electricity.
Winters' face fell as they all ran down the hall and up to the next floor before she answered.
"We haven't seen them, The last we saw of them they were training with us," Buck said with a sad tone.
"Don't, no. No no no no, don't you act like they're dead! They're tougher than that! They're Arc's dammit!" Jaune felt the tears starting to sting the corners of his eyes as they ran, and Jaune felt a hand on his back. Looking back he saw Yang was doing her best to be supportive. Tears began to freely fall as he lost track of his movements. The pounding of his heavy metal feet on the floor drawing his mind into a state of emptiness, no thoughts, no emotions, no words, just death to all wore that horrible Grimm mask for the hurt they cause him and his family, both alive and dead.
Arriving at the now top of the building and landing pad, they looked but found no Ironwood and no Glynda either.
"Winter, they were here. Ironwood had his legs crushed and Glynda had no pulse, someone helped them out of here." Yang said still scanning the area. Looking off in the distance she saw trees, a smoldering fire from the bullhead she shot down, and at the edge was someone supporting/carrying a man and another smaller person, maybe a woman, looking everywhere. Trying harder to focus she waved over to Jaune but failed to catch his attention. Turning her head she saw Jaune stare off into space with dead eyes. Walking over she grabbed his shoulders and shook him for all her worth.
"Snap out of it Jaune! I need your help to get over here and look at this." For good measure she cocked her arm back and slapped him hard across the face which seemed to snap him out of it.
"Ow! Yang, that fucking hurt!" Glaring at her she began dragging him to the edge and pointed downwards. Looking down where she was pointing a small glimmer of hope at the white with accents of gold that caught the light around the gloves and boots.
"That's Jessica!" Before anyone could react to this news, or what was going to happen, Jaune jumped.
Winter POV
As she saw Yang drag Jaune to the edge, her heart beat a little faster but she highly doubted that she'd throw him off the edge. Looking back across the broken remains of the building she didn't see any signs of people coming or going, aside from the general chaos of everything that is.
"That's Jessica!"
Then she heard a gasp, quickly turning her head, and the screamed that followed. It wasn't a frightened or desperate scream from someone whose life was in danger. It was a scream of the unexpected, someone doing something very stupid and the only action anyone could do was scream or follow them. Looking at the sight before her, Winter was stunned into silence. Yang was reaching out to Jaune, who was suspended in midair. The very air felt solid as her movements seemed like an underwater sequence. Winter struggled to move fast enough but even with her glyphs, she couldn't have made it.
End POV
Yang didn't have this problem as she had opted to take both courses of action open to her. Scream to let everyone know what had happened, then follow him. She'd be damned if they fought all this way only for that selfish blonde bastard to jump! She made a promise to stay with him until the end, they'd be together forever, did he forget that?! Taking one final step on the edge then jumping straight down towards Jaune he stared down the trio that was slowly entering the forest.
As the wind whistled past her ear, blocking out any other sound, her mind was seething with rage at the actions of the big-headed idiot who held her heart. Tears started to sting her eyes but were whipped away by the wind just as fast as they formed.
'He's crazy! Ever since we got back to Beacon he has been looking for excuses to throw himself at danger.' Her thoughts became shattered as she noticed an abundance of green rapidly closing, looking around the forest was on fire and the ground was rapidly approaching. Shifting her weight and flipping midair, she landed on her feet as the ground cracked. Standing up she looked around for signs of the blonde jerk who worried her so, she slowed her breathing and pay more attention to the ground seeing heavy imprints of boots. 'That has to be him.' Dashing off in the general direction of the billowing flames coming from the forest she heard the twang of metal clashing against itself and female screams. 'I've got to hurry before he does anything reckless.'
Branches whipped at the exposed skin, though nothing was felt as his aura protected him from such flimsy things anymore. Heavy footsteps crushed anything beneath them, his attention was on getting to his sisters as fast as his mechanical legs could take him. As he got closer, he heard a scream that made his blood freeze. 'That sounds like..' Jaune doubled his efforts and cleared the last two hundred feet to a massive clearing where the bullhead had made a crash landing. Dirt and metal were scattered at the sight of the main impact then another unknown distance of wreckage was the airship had dug a huge trench, leaving behind flames and various liquids. About fifty feet away was Jessica and the downed form of general Ironwood, fighting off hordes of Grimm that were drawn to the attack behind them but took a sudden detour at this new meal that had come to them. As two Beowolfs closed in from behind them Jaune started towards them when a shotgun blast went off and a trail of blonde flew past and smashed into the two unseen Grimm, startling Jessica and the general both.
"Figured you two might need someone to watch your back. JAUNE, get over here!" Yang shouted at him as she took down another three turned to see Jaune and nearly collapsed at seeing him standing.
"H-hey sis, where Jemima?" Swinging his sword and decapitating another Beowulf his sister just stood in silence, not answering him. "Jessica, where's Jemima?" Jaune asked more firmly as Jessica teared up.
"S-she…" Jessica collapsed to the ground as tears streaked her face. Before Jaune could question her more a fireball flew through the air straight and true to its master's wishes and struck the youngest Arc in the back. Yang's eyes grew wide at the sight of Jaune gasping for breath and whirled around to face the assailant only to see the rapidly disappearing form of a badly wounded Cinder Fall. She re-appeared several feet away, doubled over and gasping for air.
"So that little trick takes its toll, you're already hurt you really shouldn't be wearing yourself out, not that I won't enjoy beating the shit outta you either way." Strangely calm Yang slowly walked over to Cinder as the older woman held out a hand, seeming to try and grasp Yang herself.
Jessica hovered over Jaune protectively and she and Ironwood fought back the Grimm that seemed to swell in number with each passing minute. He finally stirred but groaned as his back was, almost literally, on fire.
"What the hell happened?" Jaune resisted the urge to move too much and eventually got into a sitting position.
"You were hit in the back by a fireball, after that the Grimm got a second wind or something because they're non-stop now!" Jessica fire several more round until rapid clicks came from the gun, tilting it she saw the bolt was in the open locked position. "General, I'm out. Any more mags?"
As James shot two more he sighed and tilted his head towards Jessica. "Sorry, fresh out. Jaune, you're good with that sword, time to fight." Ironwood took out his own knife as Jessica unsheathed her up Jaune took sword and sheath all and got ready for close combat.
"Gentleman, if the worst happens, it's been an honor." Jessica gripped her sword with both her shaking hands. A reassuring hand rested on her shoulder as she looked into Jaunes eyes. 'Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be looking to my younger brother for strength.' softly smiling she refocused as the horde of Beowolfs and other assorted Grimm closed in.
"Fucking bitch!" scaring everyone in the immediate vicinity with not only the harshness of her voice but also the shock of the usually cool and detached attitude being broken by said person. "How are we supposed to help them now? UGH, SERGEANT!" Jumping nearly half a foot in the air, Buck landed almost exactly at her side.
"Yes Ma'am?"
Turning to the man, her face was back to the scary calm that she was famous for. "Tell me, when was the last time you had free fall training?"
Buck paled at the suggestion but knew in the back of his mind that doing anything that suggested retreat would result in a sharp pain of a young woman planting her foot squarely on his back. "It's been a hot minute. Easy as riding a bike though right?" Suddenly unable to move and sweat dripping profusely down his face. Everyone else had finally caught on and everyone tensed up, finding the urge to search for a safer way down. Fairly unsuccessful in their endeavor they all lined up at the edge of the building, but no one moved an inch more.
"Come now boys, we do this the easy way or the easier way. Which is it?" everyone shuffled around but no one jumped. 'How disappointing, for them at least. I've always enjoyed this.' As she slowly walked behind Buck he went stiff as a board. Lifting her foot up she pulled back and viciously kicked him off the roof, the others stared in horror at what they just witnessed until they saw a parachute open followed by several black glyphs slowing his descent further. "See, I won't let you die. Now jump or get kicked, your choice." Following this statement, the rest of the team jumped before she could move. Smiling internally Winter formed a large glyph and proceeded to make her way down, occasionally providing some glyphs for the men.
Once they all reached the ground Buck was waiting for them, still rubbing his back.
"Specialist, areas secured. I found which way they went."
"Good, let's not waste any more time than we already have" Winter drew her sword as the small group ran into the forest towards the sound of shotgun explosions.
*Unknown POV*
She fell backward with the force of the last punch. Rolling in the dirt and slamming her back into a tree, knocking the breath from her lungs. Shakily climbing to her feet she crouches down and ran to try and get around the enraged melee fighter, only to catch Yang's arm chopping her windpipe. Gasping for air she couldn't realize why Yang was doing this. What'd she do? Getting up once again she yelled at her again only for her words to fall on deaf ears as Yang mercilessly strode towards her. She was never one for close quarters battles, and never having won. 'Well, I'm fucked either way. I love you sis.'
*End POV*
Yang took another swing at the bitch that solidly connected as she sped past her. 'She's got to be feeling this but it looks as if she's fine. Just makes me pissed!' Cocking her arm back she discharged a shot from Ember Celica, knocking her back again. Yang stood over the downed woman with a scowling painting her face.
*Ruby POV*
Her arm was broken in four places. She'd lost count of her ribs, all that was there was a throbbing pain, leg was fractured, deep chest wounds, broken nose, left eye swollen shut, pretty sure a concussion wasn't out of the question, crescent rose was shattered, and she couldn't even stand up properly anymore, and forget breathing that didn't devolve into cough fits of blood. All in all, not the worst assignment she'd ever had, Yang was truly a different person when she was ready to kill her opponent. 'I won't fight you Yang, I'm sorry for whatever I did. I tried to love you as a sister should. I guess I didn't do a good enough job. I'm so sorry Yang, I love you'
*Back to Yang*
"Get up, I know that's not all you have. Get up! For everything you've done, I'll kill you!" Yang shot backwards and propelled herself forward and connected with a shotgun infused punch that knocked her back through several trees. Reloading Ember Celica Yang looked up in time to see a blur charging at her. Cocking back and taking careful aim she let loose with a massive punch that solidly connected with the blur and sent it flying, along with a ton of rose petals. Her eyes went wide in shock, 'Only one thing I know makes rose petals like that.' Yang ran forward, ignoring the screams in the background, following the wreckage of trees and petals. After stumbling around a dozen broken trees she came across the unconscious body of Ruby Rose, beaten, broken, bleeding, barely breathing. Yang broke, tears falling from her eyes as she grabbed her sister and wailed at the sky from the top of her lungs.
Walking from the edge of the forest, Winter dropped the body of a green haired thief off the end of her rapier. Pulling out a cloth and whipping the blood off of the blade, she found Yang in a clearing. Winter had followed the noise and appeared behind Yang, quickly followed by Jaune. Neither said anything, nothing could be said. Winter turned and lay her hand on Jaunes shoulder and nodded. Jaune returned the nod and sheathed his sword and slowly walked towards Yang.
Not bothering to keep her crying down she hugged Ruby's body tighter as she felt arms settle around her. She kept her sister there, no one else could do anything else to hurt her. She's safe, safe in her big sister's arms. 'I'll protect you, Rubes, like always, I'll keep the bad guys out. No matter what, you'll be fine I promise.' Crying even harder the arms around her grew tighter as well.
"Shhh Yang, I'm here." The two sat there; one holding her dear sister's crumpled form, the other crying over a lost friend.
Winter walked solemnly over to the group. Buck and what remained of his team were holding the perimeter from the few remaining Grimm. Jessica Arc was tending to general Ironwood as best she could while Jemima's fate was still unknown. Putting her sword away Winter looked around, burning wreckage of the bullhead slowly smoldering out; the body of one Cinder Fall lay in a heap, multiple metal rods jammed into her chest. Somehow it didn't seem painful enough. Beside her was the body of the partner of Roman Torchwick Neoplaitain, or Neo for short. The massive amounts of paperwork here, not to mention the calls to families of the fallen or those M.I.A. First and foremost was a hospital for everyone here, a psychiatric ward for a few. Pulling out her scroll she tapped the screen a few times, only to find it destroyed. Heaving a sigh she threw it away and placed her hands behind her back and began the trek back towards the tower looking towards the tops of the trees she saw a pair of black birds, one looking in the direction of Yang and Jaune, the other hung its head and looked... sad? Stranger things have been seen in Remnant, she shook her head and proceeded on.