24

Chapter 24 – Jaune in the Shell

"Remind me how this happened again."

"Shut up," Blake hissed to the spectral blond, pressing her back against a mound of ruined concrete. Her ears strained, trying to pin-point the location of the giant robot, which was even now whirring and slamming as it moved about.

"Like he can even hear me," Jaune shrugged, "I just mean… how do you manage this Blake? You were literally a faunus hiding in a crowd of faunus, yet they were able to pick you out? That's kinda impressive, really."

Okay, she totally wasn't taking the blame for that one! She'd changed what she normally wore, with her new white top. Add onto that the mask and having her ears revealed? She'd looked completely different.

The blond monkey faunus with the bright white shirt and bare abs?

Somewhat less incognito.

Damn it Sun…

This was why she hated blondes. Seriously… between Jaune, Sun and Yang – Blake felt justified in her thoughts that there was something in the hair pigment that sapped away common sense. There just had to be…

"Come on out kitty-kat," the familiar voice crowed over the huge robot's speaker system, "you can run, but you can't hide."

"We can totally hide," Jaune scoffed.

"Engaging thermal optics," a robotic voice intoned.

"We totally can't hide."

She was able to put some distance between herself and the hiding spot in time, as a large explosion blanketed the area behind her, the heat of it washing over her back. She wasn't exactly sure why the White Fang suddenly had large death robots. No one had been particularly clear on that, even in the meeting the two of them had crashed.

Speaking of…

"Where's Sun? Did you see what happened to him?" She paused at the next turning, considering her options. The left turn would lead her to the overpass, where she could maybe lost him in the traffic… while also putting hundreds of innocent people at risk.

She took the right, heading deeper into the abandoned dockyards.

"He said he was going to go get help, managed to sneak off while you distracted it. Wasn't that your plan all along, to grab its attention so he could escape?"

"S-Sure, of course." Definitely… absolutely, in fact. She just hoped the guy had managed to get away, and that when he came back it was such some seriously heavy ordinance.

On the bright side at least this meant he wasn't going to get killed by Roman. Because knowing her luck, he'd end up as another ghostly blond figure following her around… the mere thought of there being two Jaune's was enough to make her shudder.

That would probably be the point at which she gave up. Just went to the nearest pier and `noped` her way out of life. Okay, maybe that was a little melodramatic, but still. It wasn't something she needed.

Much like the killer robot chasing her.

"This is fun and all, but you're just prolonging things. Come on out, we can discuss this like adults." Did he honestly expect her to acknowledge that? Or did he love the sound of his own voice that much?

"Tell me you have a plan."

"I don't have a plan."

"I'm pretty disappoint right now, just so you know. Ugh, I wish the rest of your team was here." That comment earned a glance from her, though it was filled with sarcasm.

"I don't want them involved in my problems, not when this kind of stuff happens." The White Fang was her problem, and her mistake. Bringing the others in… it would place them at risk. Oh, she knew they'd help her – they were incredible like that. But it would be her risking the lives of her best friends, just to satisfy her own selfish ego.

Live or die, the White Fang was something she needed to put a stop to. But that didn't mean they should have to die for it too.

"I get that, but we could really use them right now…"

"And what would be different?" She whispered, ducking behind a nearby building and jogging along it. Maybe she could lose him among the warehouses… "Do you think that they'd just have a magical answer to a giant death robot? That maybe Yang'll just punch it and it explodes or something?"

"Maybe? I mean she is pretty strong."

Idiot…

"Well I mean… what have you got? Weiss has magic, Yang has shotgun fists and Ruby has a sniper, those might all be pretty handy – what do we have to work with?"

"I have a handgun, two swords and a ribbon."

"Blake..."

She looked away, coughing while trying to hide the red tint on her cheeks. It was hardly her fault she hadn't prepared for fighting a robot, was it? This wasn't exactly typical Grimm behaviour! Live and learn – assuming she lived – next time she'd be coming out with some heavy explosives.

Or at least something that could jam the electroni- wait!

"Can you possess it?"

"Huh?"

"The robot," she clarified, nodding back in its direction, "it doesn't have a soul – it's pretty much the same as the teddy bear. Do you think you could possess it?" He seemed to think on it, face scrunching up as he looked back to where they could just make out the cockpit, moving between the warehouses.

"Maybe? I've no idea…"

If he could… if he could actually take control of the entire robot… they wouldn't need to capture Torchwick, Jaune could just walk the Paladin to the local police station and hand himself in. It would be perfect, the White Fang would lose one of their new weapons – and the backing of the master criminal.

All that to gain, and the only risk, herself?

"Well, we're going to find out. I'll try and get close – you possess it."

"I already don't like this plan," he sighed, floating beside her. Neither did she, if she was being honest about it. It would have been a much easier task to just toss the bear at it, like some kind of ghostly grenade. But Jaune had shown time and time again that he simply couldn't leave the confines of whatever he was possessing if she wasn't nearby.

So she'd have to be close enough to the mech for him to get inside it. Which was much closer than anyone with a sense of self-preservation really wanted to be when a rampaging robot was involved.

When did this become my average Tuesday?

Torchwick didn't seem to notice her initially. The front of the robot was facing away from her, as its giant hands rummaged about the area – strange red lines of light emanating from its chest, as though scanning for something. It was the perfect chance for her to sneak up on it, and for a moment she dared to hope.

"Heat signature detected," the automated voice piped up, coming from the speakers of the Paladin, even as it began to turn.

Oh that's just unfair…

"Nice to see you came out to play," the criminal taunted, giant legs slamming into concrete as it turned about. Amber eyes narrowed, a sigh escaping her as she dashed forward. She didn't need to attack it, just to deliver him into it. From there, he could do the rest.

From its position half turned about, she ducked beneath one gargantuan foot, her hair whipping against her face from the sheer force of the metallic limb striking solid concrete. "Now!" She shouted, as they passed directly beneath it.

Jaune let out a short sigh, despite that he didn't need to – before pushing away from her, as though he were kicking his legs to swim through the air. His spectral body phased into the left leg of the robot, as she sprinted away.

"I just want to talk kit-kat, come on!" A missile struck the building before her, causing the warehouse door to erupt in a violent conflagration, blowing her back. She hit the ground hard, skimming across the gravel surface like a stone across a pond – except with a lot more pain. Heat rolled across her form, the warehouse billowing thick smoke into the sky.

Definitely a good idea to keep this to the abandoned parts of Vale…

"Any last words?" The bipedal creation lumbered towards her, weapons trained on her downed form. With a grim chuckle she pushed herself onto two feet, looking up towards the cockpit.

"Yeah," she grinned, despite the pain, "surprise."

"Huh?" Torchwick paused, as did the robot. "Surprise, what?"

…

"Blake! I can't possess it," the voice came from within the mech, as though he were shouting, "it's not like a normal person – it's all electronics. I'm in the main CPU, but that doesn't mean I can affect anything!"

Well… shit.

"Yeah," Torchwick's voice came back over the PA, "I don't know what you mean – so I'm just going to kill you now if that's okay."

She tried to speak. To explain that actually it wasn't `okay` and that if he could give her a moment she'd come up with something better. All that came out however was a squeak, her voice giving in as multiple barrels and missiles looked down on her.

That looked like a whole lot of overkill… she ought to feel proud.

She didn't though…

"Actually, it's not okay," a voice intoned, at the exact same moment that a multi-tonne industrial crane connected with the Paladin. Torchwick was about as surprised as she was, failing to account for the sudden application of blunt trauma as the mech collapsed to the side, sliding a few metres from her. Jaune took his chance to slip out, floating across to her as she looked for who had spoken.

The person she needed to thank for the impromptu rescue.

"Uh-oh…"

Jaune summed up her thoughts perfectly, and probably Torchwick's too – as they watched the irate blonde storm forwards, pushing her glasses up her nose. The woman flicked her crop to the side, before raising it above her. To Blake's amazement the crane did the same, solid steel grinding and buckling as it extricated itself from the Paladin.

"I'm afraid I cannot let you kill my student," the teacher said, as casually as one might when discussing the weather. "After all, she still owes me an explanation for why she failed to show up for her detention." The crop whipped down, as did the woman's impromptu industrial weapon.

"Wait, is she here to save you – or punish you?"

The scary answer was that she wasn't quite sure. The only thing she did know was that all she could do was sit on her ass, staring at the woman who could wield ten tonnes of solid steel as a weapon. One final slam seemed to be enough for the robot, causing the cockpit to detach from the rest of the body. Her sharp eyes could just make out the man dragging himself from the ruined vehicle.

They could also make out the pink and brown haired figure – the same one from the first warehouse – who grabbed the crook, hoisting him up onto her shoulder.

"I will ask you both to surrender," the tall blonde intoned, crossing her arms while still keeping her crop held out. "My weapon of choice is quite imprecise, I'd hate for there to be an accident."

Imprecise, she says… Blake mused, watching as the two criminals looked up at the twisted mess of metal floating ominously above them. I suppose that's one way to put it. Is this the difference between me and a real Huntress?

Also, how the hell had no one captured Torchwick before this, if this was how strong Hunters were!?

"I'd love to, but I've got a bit of a – ack, Neo!" The man's sarcastic rant was cut off halfway, the small girl blinking them out of existence as Glynda's hand fell, shattering the ground where they had once stood.

It was enough to make Blake shiver.

"They got away," the faunus sighed, punching the ground with one hand. So damn close, they had him dead to rights, and again he got away! It was so damn unfair.

"I'd worry less about Mr Torchwick," a voice intoned, as Blake's body suddenly went stiff – and began levitating a few feet off the floor, "and more about yourself, Miss Belladonna."

"I can explain," she tried, trying to shake her head but finding that the woman had her in a full body bind. She literally couldn't move a muscle.

"You can? Thank God, cuz I've got nothing."

"I'm very pleased," the woman nodded, eyes shining from behind her glasses, "rest assured you'll have more than your fair time to explain it. In front of Ozpin, in front of your team and then – in the multitude of detentions we will be spending together."

"Wait… you have got an explanation, right? Or was that one of those automatic response things?"

I hate my life…