47

Faunus always took great pride in their superior sense. Better hearing, better sense of smell…

And better vision.

Right now, with flashbangs flying around, they had to reconsider.

"They're starting the train!" Pyrrha shouted out.

The team turned to Ruby but instead of giving out orders she seemed conflicted and was looking around at the panicking White Fang. "...we can't leave them here. Grimm will soon start going-"

"Ruby!" Weiss interrupted her. "They have guns. People on the other end of that tunnel don't!"

That did the trick, she sharply nodded and her semblance spread out.

"Uh…this again." Weiss complained as she was subjected to, so far, the worst way of travel.

A few moments later, the multicolored blur landed on the last wagon of the starting train.

"Okay, Pyr, open the hatch, we go in and will go wagon by wagon."

"Ehm…that's not the hatch." Pyrrha commented when the supposed hatch came off. There was no opening. But there was a black box with two small lights and wires sticking out.

"So?" Yang raised an eyebrow. "Rip it out too and move on." As soon as she finished, the wagon disconnected and before they could even react they were once more swept in the torrent of petals. A few seconds after they landed the previous wagon exploded and grimm started pouring in from the hole in the ceiling of the tunnel.

"Luring grimm into the city… Why am I not surprised?"

"Weiss, not now." Pyrrha replied with a frown as they continued to run to the next wagon, seeing that this one had a bomb as well. And the next. And the one after that. "Okay, this one is clear. What do we do now?"

"Well, I-I'm…I mean with those… Huntsmen law, article sixteen…" Ruby started to mumble.

"Miss Rose." Oobleck carefully raised his hand. "I think that this decision is…not important right now and can be taken later."

She released a deep breath and refocused. "Yang, Weiss, deal with the grimm and Yang, please try to not make more holes. Pyrrha, Doc-" he sighed "-go inside and deal with whatever personnel they have. I'll go to the front and see what I can do with the controls." She dashed forward, zipping past the paladins and troops rising from the wagons.

-BBW-

"Well…this could have gone better." Qrow spoke into the wind. He tried to follow the girls but chasing after a speeding train followed by grimm as a small bird wouldn't be a good idea.

So instead he flew out, transformed back into the human form and called up the Atlesian fleet. It left a terrible aftertaste in his mouth but he had better things to do than to hunt all of the fleeing White Fang grunts.

Hopefully Oz and Jimmy will manage the city when the thing arrives…

-BBW-

Ruby got to the front wagon without any troubles. While the one's in the back were more or less ready for the fight, the ones in the front were just starting to scramble for their weapons.

She quietly landed in between the first and second wagon, right in front of the heavy door.

Locked.

She could probably try to punch it hard enough to break through but then this heavy thing would end up hitting the controls and everything would be worse…

/

Three wagons later, Pyrrha and Oobleck were making steady progress. He did get a small scare when several paladins showed up but with just a wave of the hand Pyrrha simply walked past them.

Now only to ignore the panicking screams of the trapped pilots coming from the inside.

The same happened when they encountered any other opposition. Guns and machetes suddenly being ripped out of their hands and getting pinned to the ceiling leaving them weaponless.

"Dr. Oobleck?" Pyrrha spoke up as they were making their way further up the train. "What was that thing Ruby was mumbling about?" She mentioned that it was a huntsmen law and she should have probably already known what it was.

"I somehow doubt this is an appropriate time but I'm your teacher, I suppose." He answered with a shrug. "Article 16: Weaponization of grimm and targeting of civilians, or how it was named more poetically, Treason of Light. Most of it is about what to do in case an army lures the grimm into the enemy position and it ends up going after civilians. In case a war breaks out, the huntsmen are meant to stand by and only deal with grimm that would inevitably be attracted but if grimm was used for terror tactics…kill on sight for everyone involved. I think it was made this way to discourage anyone from even attempting."

"That's…terrible." Pyrrha was horrified. And Ruby brought that up… "Wait! Does that mean-"

"I know what you want to say, miss Nikos." He interrupted her before she could make wrong conclusions. "Foot soldiers will be tried for terrorism and will get their sentences. The leadership on the other hand… Whoever came up with this idea will most likely be executed." There was a clause about staying off the punishment in case the subject could provide valuable information but that still wouldn't change the outcome.

/

"This is really boring." Weiss stated, her voice barely hearable behind the roaring minigun, speeding train and distant growls of grimm.

"That's how most of the grimm hunts go." Yang answered with a small shrug, continuing to cover the horde chasing them with a rain of bullets. And occasional grenade if there was something tougher. "You get to the place, kill everything black with red lines and white masks, get paid, go home. You get used to the routine quickly."

Weiss huffed and turned away from the carnage. "What are we going to do with these?" She asked, looking at a line of motionless paladins.

"Dunno. Probably give them back to the army once we are done. Unless Ruby decides to snub one or two."

"Hmm…" She turned around to face Yang. "Gimme."

"What?"

"Give me the gun, I'm bored."

"You can't even lift it." Arma gigas, with size adjusted to hold the minigun, rose next to them. "Okay, sure. Knock yourself out."

/

"Neo, I know what I'm doing." He didn't, he only memorized which one of the levers would make the train go. "I know, we are screwed but if we get to the city we should be able to get away with all the chaos it will make." He just hoped that the idiots that were working on reinforcing the train at least had an idea what they were doing. Otherwise they were going to get acquitted with the tunnel seal way too closely for his liking. "By the way, I get it that you girls have a thing for prettying yourself up but next time take it easier on the perfume. If you are going to bitch at me about blowing smoke in your face then I don't need to be suffocating in roses while ten feet away from you." Roman half turned to shoot a smirk to his partner in crime but instead of any sort of indignation, she was confused by his comment.

And behind her, bright red rose petals were slipping in through the small spaces around the door and jumbling up around the lock.

Then with an ear piercing grinding sound the entire locking mechanism vanished into a fine metal powder.

And the red torrent swept in, first catching Neo who was the closest and then Roman, both ending up in giant cocoons with only their heads sticking out.

If he wasn't really scared from death by a meat-grinder, he would have started laughing over how often that little red brat sticks her nose into his business.

"Stop the train." She ordered and a five feet long curved blade on a chain was poised in front of his face.

"Right…because I can move right now." She rolled her eyes. The cocoon loosened up and was now simply hanging around him, only waiting for a mental command to restrain him again.

*Stare*

"Cut me some slack, I can't work under stress." Three minutes later he finally figured out which stick was responsible for the brakes.

He tried to pull it.

Pull it.

"Ehm, I think there might be a problem."

The two females present gave a perfect deadpan.

"What? I'm a thinker, not a fighter."

You are neither of those things. Their thoughts also mirrored each other.

The petals contracted and now, once again immobilized, Roman was pushed away and Ruby stepped up to the brake stick.

It was still stuck.

"Okay…just have to put my back into it." Ruby mumbled out. She took a step back and grabbed the stick with a giant petal arm. "Aaand pull!"

SNAP

"Great job, little red." Roman sarcastically added.

Ruby gave him a stink eye and started trying to reach out to Pyrrha. Maybe she would be able to-

A large man wearing White Fang uniform flew out of the previous wagon and into theirs, his, presumably, weapon clattering outside. Pyrrha and Oobleck enter soon after.

"And the rest of the gang is here too…"

"And you have a right to remain silent." Pyrrha glared at the thief. "Ruby is everything alright?"

"Brake lever is down, can you look inside and try to pull it from there?"

She reached out, her semblance going through the machinery. "Sorry… It's too complicated, I don't know what's what in there."

"What about going directly for the brakes?" Ruby proposed another idea.

Those were much easier to find, at least the ones at the wagon they were on. Pyrrha pressed them into the wheels.

Skree-crshsh.

"Brothers dammit!" Ruby shouted out after the ruckus from the brakes falling off died down. "Is there anything working on this thing?!"

"In our defense, from what I was told, the only thing that mattered was that it would be able to go forward." Roman sheepishly added, the result was that the cocoon rose several inches higher to cover his mouth.

"And I have no signal here…" Ruby pocketed her mostly useless scroll. Maybe if she could have called Yang, they would have been able to stop it by simply standing in front of it. "Pyrrha, can you stop the wheels? Or break it down?"

"Probably but… I don't know what will happen if we go off the rails right now." Most likely crashing into a wall and then having to deal with all the grimm that is chasing them.

"Dammit… okay, there has to be a map of the railworks somewhere. I want to know how much time we have left." Ruby gave a roundabout order to start looking for it. While they were at it she took a look outside. She still could hear occasional explosions, continuous firing and…maniacal laughter? Well, at least they were having fun.

A sign flashed by.

1.5m.

She jumped back and quickly checked the current speed. A hundred ten.

Even if they still had somewhat working breaks, they wouldn't make it. Hell, even sending the whole thing off the rails wouldn't be enough.

"O fable come to life"

If she couldn't stop it, then she at least had to minimize the damage.

"Let the wolves howl, let the petals dance"

Throughout the entire train, all the tied up or/and unconscious grunts were being enveloped in layers of petals and dragged towards the front wagon.

"To save the men, to slay the beast"

Weiss yelped in surprise when she was swept off her feet and was dragged off into the giant red egg or at least that's how she would have described the reinforced railcar.

"Where the hell are you going?! I'm trying to help!" Should have known he had fire dust in pockets! Ruby shouted after Roman who was running full tilt towards the back of the train. She would have caught him easily but she was already focused on too many things at once.

"Like hell I'm getting caught in that thing again!" He has already been there enough times. He also saw what it did to the doors. Not to add how weirded out he felt when the brat started chanting off all things. Definitely, the crazy grows along with the strength.

Ruby took one last look behind to make sure everyone was at least somewhat secured and dashed after the fleeing criminal.

-BBW-

Yang missed their usual grimm hunts. Chasing after terrorists always ended up being a bigger mess and well…before nobody was telling her off for collateral damage.

At least this time it wasn't their fault. For the most part, anyway.

Ruby's protection did a good job at softening the impact, so when it finally dissolved she only stretched her neck a bit and took a look around.

The first and second railcars were haphazardly thrown on the street with the rest of the train being buried in the tunnel. At least they wouldn't have to deal with the rest of the grimm, now that the tunnel collapsed.

And of course Goodwitch was already there to berate them. Fantastic. She was also followed by a significant police force that was quickly delegated to removing all of the bound fangies from the scene.

Weiss was the first one to show up after Yang. Then Pyrrha and Oobleck jumped out of the first wagon. After kicking out all of the people dragged in, of course.

But where was Ruby?

/

His head was still ringing. His body was aching all over with the exception of his legs that had felt really numb. His aura had broken at some point when the stupid train went all accordion upon impact.

Good news: He had survived this idiotic plan.

Bad news: It was dark. Pitch black dark, meaning that he wasn't outside.

He tried to move but while he could move his arms without much difficulty, the moment he tried to move his legs, he had to use all of his willpower not to scream.

Carefully, he tried to feel what had happened to his lower parts. What happened was around a foot thick piece of metal that was lying across his legs.

Something landed on the back of his hand. Then another. And more was coming.

He tried to pick it up. Whatever it was, it wasn't even an inch in length, paperthin and really smooth.

And smelled of roses.

Of course…

He heard footsteps. And then some idiot gave him all of the Sun's wrath in the eyes.

/

It wasn't that hard to navigate the wreckage. Simply scatter the petals around to avoid the obstacles.

Didn't help her when a twisted piece railing almost took her eye.

She was pretty sure that the exit was the other way she was walking but there was still at least one idiot who got himself stuck in here. And she wouldn't allow him to die on her watch. Throw him in jail? Of course. But leaving him to grimm or getting crushed under rocks was out of the question.

She found him soon enough and now that it wasn't just her, she decided to start using the flashlight.

"Ehm…this might be a problem." Ruby commented, seeing that Roman was stuck under a piece of the train. It would definitely be a problem…for him. Her semblance on the other hand would deal with it within a second.

"Hey! I want my legs to be still attached to my body!" Roman shouted out after realizing what she was about to do.

Ruby just rolled her eyes and got rid of the obstacle. Now that she could see his legs, it was clear he wouldn't be able to walk on his own.

"This is getting really repetitive…" He grumbled when he was once again enveloped, suspended in the air and started levitating after the huntress.

/

"Xiao Long! Do you have any idea what you are doing?!" Glynda yelled at Yang who had started shooting rockets at the blocked tunnel.

Another one was launched, her question completely ignored.

She tried to restrain her with her semblance and pull her away. In response, Yang made a small burst with her aura, spun around and gave Glynda a shotgun amplified death glare, daring her to try to stop her.

While Pyrrha and Oobleck were desperately trying to stop Glynda from escalating, Weiss went to Yang.

"Don't even try to stop me." Yang spat out as soon as she approached.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Weiss answered with a huff. Sure Ruby was trapped in a cave but they all knew that she could handle herself. "I'm just thinking that if you are doing something, you should do it properly." With that several glyphs formed around them and various grimm started helping with digging while Weiss carefully watched the ceiling. "Calm down, everything will be fine."

/

"Can you stop complaining already?" Ruby mirrored Roman's unending whining. She had enough things to worry about.

Like getting them out by carefully carving through the debris while always making sure the whole thing wouldn't collapse.

"Why are you even trying? It's not like you need to make a big opening." He saw how those stupid petals slipped through the door one by one and he knew that she could fall apart into a swarm and travel that way.

"I don't, you on the other hand…"

"And we go back to the original point. I don't need your help, your pity and your proclivity to make a mess out of my plans. I've been in worse places. I can get out by myself."

"Nope! I'm getting both of us out of here."

"Oh for the love of… Why? Are you that much into the whole playing a hero? I've shot at you and tried to set you on fire."

"Well…you did that… But! I'm a huntress and it's my duty to help people and…you may be a criminal but that doesn't mean you deserve to be eaten by grimm."

"Good luck with that kind of mindset…" Roman sarcastically said. "I give it a year at best before our shitty world shows you how screwed everything is."

"Then I just have to try harder to make it better!" Ruby turned around and replied with a wide smile, barely visible in the dim light. "If everyone gives up then it will definitely stay bad but if enough people work really hard then I'm sure the world would one day be a better place."

"Wannabe hero through and through."

Several growls sounded from the depths of the tunnel and three pairs of angry red eyes were closing in.

With a few twitches of Ruby's fingers, the gravity dust in the chain came to life and the trio was dead in one swipe of a giant blade. She didn't even look their way.

But more were coming. Her petals scattered around we acting like a warning system and she was perceiving more and more vibration as the horde was finally catching up.

She gently sat Torchwick down and took a step toward approaching grimm, recalling her blade and brandishing the scythe in full.

"Everybody has to start somewhere." She replied with a shrug. "Being a wannabe is just a step towards becoming a real one."

"O fable come to life"

"Let the wolves howl, let the petals dance"

With each phrase, Roman was growing more anxious.

With each word, the amount of petals was increasing.

"To save the men, to slay the beast"

The storm has begun. Around them, petals started to spin at breakneck speed, reducing everything to dust. Soon enough there was a half sphere of cleared out space around them about forty feet in diameter.

The creatures of grimm had arrived.

The young ones couldn't even get in, getting ground up upon contact. The older and more armored ones lasted a bit longer, Roman briefly catching glimpses of black limbs trying to get in.

More and more came.

Deathstalkers with armor so thick that it was taking several seconds to destroy it. Creepers so thick-headed that even after their bodies were gone, their armored skulls continued to fly further, being carried by the momentum of the charge.

"Be virtuous"

"Be righteous"

The storm grew more violent, pushing back the black horde. Those that somehow managed to get in were struck by the ancient light of their mortal enemy.

Wisps of white light were spilling out of Ruby's eyes, freezing any grimm in place as their bodies were being turned to stone and then shattered.

Above them, as the earth was being dug out due to Ruby's semblance, ground started to crack and thick black smoke from all of the dissolving bodies of grimm was seeping through.

"Bloomed to shine in the darkest night"

She couldn't let them get through.

Even if her team had prepared the defenses.

Even if all of Vale was mobilized to help.

Here and now, all of them could only use only one path. If they started getting out, they would spread.

Inevitably, one of them would be able to avoid death and in turn kill one of the people outside.

And as a huntress, she couldn't allow that. She wouldn't be able to call herself one if that was to happen.

Her dream would be ruined. She would never be able to look her family and friends in the eyes ever again.

She would fail her mom.

"For this memory"

With one final push, a wave of destruction swept through the tunnel, destroying everything in its path. Grimm, fallen stones, what was left of the train. None of it was spared.

The light exploded, akin to a lighthouse being lit up for the first time, its light shining through the cracks all the way to the surface.

Roman had long ago given up on trying to understand what was happening.

And yet, the last thing he saw still surprised him.

He had already gotten used to the feeling. The light was actually somewhat warm and comforting, and for all of the danger the petals swirling around represented, they were more of a safety blanket.

But at the end he saw…something.

He felt the fresh ocean air on his face as he stared at the distant horizon from a cliff he didn't recognize. In the distance the clouds were forming, signaling the oncoming storm. Behind him were deep woods. And some distance away from him was a sole gravestone. And a girl in a red cloak standing over it, crying.

"So kindly burst and scatter"

He heard a whisper and tried to turn around but before his head could even move, he was back in the tunnel. The light that had illuminated the place was gone and what was left was slowly receding back to its source. A face with a warm satisfied smile.

She then dropped on the smoothed out ground face first.