35

 165Chapter 35

Weiss angrily stomped her way into the room. She just had a very…informative conversation with the secretary of Vale's SDC branch. "Where is Ruby?" She asked after not seeing their leader anywhere in the room.

"Smithy, where else." Yang quipped. "What's the matter? Is your father coming and you want to shoot him down?"

I'll keep it in mind. Her mood rose a bit but she needed to focus on the current matter. "No. Remember what that scoundrel told us about something happening at the docks? I called some people and it turned out that it will be a shipment of my dust that will be involved. I want to make sure everything goes smoothly."

"Why do you keep calling him names?" Pyrrha jumped down from her bunk and joined the talks. "I'm actually surprised that you still remember him."

Weiss answered with a huff. "I call him according to his deeds."

"Shouldn't you be calling him an idiot then?" Yang reasoned with an easy smile. "He is not some master criminal but he definitely has some problems with logical reasoning."

She only rolled her eyes but conceded. "That doesn't matter right now. I need to speak to Ruby about it."

"Already wrote her. Should be here soon enough."

-BBW-

It was the day of their impromptu operation and Ruby went for an overkill, surprising absolutely nobody.

They all received earpieces. Detailed maps of the area and even a rundown of what kind of weapons and tactics they should expect from an organized crime group.

Then, for the first time, she opened her massive weapon locker for all to see.

In the middle was a weapon that looked like her usual scythe on steroids. On the doors hung other weapons, ranging from small caliber pistols to a rocket launcher and some abomination that looked like a tube with coils. There was also a gray jumpsuit, neatly packed into a compressed bag but nobody paid it no mind.

"Okay, here's the plan!" Ruby announced as she pulled out the rocket launcher and passed it to Yang. "We will have to split up to cover it all. Yang will be by the water and keep her eyes out for anything coming in." She handed her a small, portable short-range radar. "Pyrrha, Weiss, you will be the main strike team. You will stay near the main entrance and wait there in case something happens. I'll be on sniper duty." With these words she took the monstrous weapon and strapped it on her back. Frankly, it looked quite comical with her weapon being hanging barely above the ground and yet poking about a foot above her head.

"Why is Yang so far away? If the fighting starts, wouldn't it be better if she was close by?" Pyrrha spoke up.

"If there is a fight, we would need to be careful or we might set off all the dust that is there. Yang will come if it becomes necessary but for the time being she will be keeping an eye on the exit route." Ruby explained her reasoning.

"How are we getting there?" Weiss raised a valid concern. "There is no way they will let us on through with all this without some permit."

"I…haven't thought of that…" Ruby replied with a small frown. "I can always take you with my semblance."

Weiss and Pyrrha recalled their one time they had been subjected to that and both paled. The split-second flight almost cost them their stomachs, flying all the way to Vale…they would need a few hours to get back on their feet.

"What about my summon?" Weiss thought about a more comfortable approach. "Goodwitch told me that I can't fly over the school and the city but we can leave the school grounds on foot and fly by the edge of Vale. It should be fine then."

-BBW-

Who dares! Ivory had to pull on her control over the summoned grimm to make it swerve to the side and dodge a barrage of low-caliber green lasers.

"I'll deal with it!" Ruby called over the earpiece and she could only watch as the red cloud was speeding towards the source of incoming fire. She had lowered the nevermore and trees provided at least some protection from the attack.

/

Penny was having a nice day. She was walking the streets of Vale, hoping that she might once again run into new people and make some new friends. Or into her friend Ruby, she wouldn't mind meeting her again. In retrospect they should have at least exchanged numbers. Although she wasn't sure if the general would permit close ties with a foreign force.

Her inbuilt radar picked up a flying object at the edge of the city. It wasn't transmitting a standard identification signal. After a closer inspection she identified the flying object as a large nevermore. Protocol dictated that any grimm this close to the city is to be immediately exterminated. Floating Array was deployed and she opened fire. She could have tried to bring it down in one shot but she always liked to be energy efficient. The nevermore got some scratches but was able to dodge most of the incoming fire before hugging the ground to hide from her. Note: recalibrate long distance aiming subroutines.

She was about to give chase.

Alert! 7 o'clock! Her combat sensors were activated automatically when she engaged the grimm and now the motion sensor was screaming at her to turn around. As she did, Penny had to use half of her deployed blades to block a giant curved blade connected by a chain to a person standing some distance away.

Request reinforcement, send location.

"Penny?" The blade froze mid-air and retracted closer to its wielder.

"Friend Ruby?" Penny also stopped fighting and put the background processes on hold. "Why are you attacking me?"

"Eh…" Ruby shyly poked her fingers together. "Well, we were flying over there and somebody started shooting at us…"

"You were flying on grimm?" Penny asked. It was suspicious and anyone caught working with grimm was to be executed on the spot. She hoped that wasn't the case with her friend.

"Weiss' summon. You know, glyphs that summon defeated op-"

"Ah, of course! I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience!" Penny immediately put the dots together. She saw specialist Schnee use that part of her semblance many times. But something still felt off. Ruby was much more armed than the first time they met and they were actively avoiding the city. "Where were you going?"

"Oh, remember how Sun mentioned something about the docks?"

She gave Ruby a short nod.

"Well, Weiss found that it was an SDC shipment and we decided to keep an eye on it. Nothing big."

"Do you need assistance?" If there was a possible attack within the city it was her duty to help out as much as possible.

Ruby waved her off. "We don't even know if something's going to happen. If you want to kill some time then sure but it will probably be pretty boring."

"I don't mind. Spending time with a friend sounds fun!"

"Sure."

Both girls smiled at each other. Ruby's scroll started to ring.

"What is it, Pyrrha?"

"Is everything alright? Should we come back for you?" Pyrrha asked her in a worried tone.

"Yeha, everything's fine. Penny thought there was a grimm attacking Vale. We cleared that up. Go on without me, I'll get there on my own." Ruby calmed her down and ended the call.

"How are we going to get there? It would take quite some time if we walk." Penny spoke up.

"Well, first, what is your fighting style?" She looked at her floating sword with curious eyes.

"Close quarters skirmisher or artillery support." Penny gave her a by-the-book answer.

"Okay, then you will be with me on sniper duty. Second, what do you think about flying?" Ruby asked with a wide smile.

-BBW-

Penny needed to reboot half of her internal systems and fully recalibrate her gyroscopes after the ordeal. It was quite an interesting experience but she could review the acquired data later.

"All clear, you see anything?" Ruby spoke to the earpiece.

"Nothing." Came Weiss' reply.

"Nothing here as we- Wait! I've got three guys on thermals." Yang made everyone tense up. "Ruby, do you see anything at…" She made a pause, remembering the map they used during the plan. "At C13?"

Ruby looked through the scope of her rifle at the location.

"False alarm. Looks like we weren't the only ones who decided to investigate."

"Who's there?" Weiss asked.

"Blake, Ilia and Sun."

"Maybe they are part of it, or that buffoon is leading them into a trap!"

"Really now?" Yang softly laughed into the ether.

*Beep*

"Yang?"

"Got hit on the radar. In the air from the waterside. *beep* Approaches slowly."

"Okay, change of plans." Ruby switched to a serious mood. "Pyrrha, Weiss, if something starts, group up with the others and keep each other safe."

"Understood." "Got it."

"Should I bring it down?" Yang idly asked.

"No. We don't know who is flying. Until we know for sure we won't fight."

"I've got no ID signal from them." Penny chimed in. Her radar could also see it but the vessel wasn't sending out any proper signals.

/

"I hear something! Sounds like bullhead." Blake stopped the trio and pressed herself into one of the containers. "Ilia?"

"Still only Yang in range. She is looking towards the sea."

She tried to focus on the direction of the sound. "She noticed it too. Get ready. Ilia, keep it on for now."

Soon enough a bullhead passed above them and landed straight in the middle, between many containers.

"Ili-"

"Three locked, three unlocked and one with some training." She told her what her semblance was able to see.

They watched as the doors of the bullhead opened and several people in oh-so familiar uniforms casually walked out and began to mingle around.

"Oh no…" Blake whispered.

"Hey! What's the hold up?" A loud voice came from inside the bullhead. "We are not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment so…" A figure in a white suit and a terrible sense of fashion came out. "Why don't you animals pick up the pace?"

/

"Blake went in. Double-check everything and get ready for a fight." Ruby gave the order and refocused on Blake sneaking up to… Torch-something. The one that she fought before Beacon.

"Two birdies coming in. Fast." Yang chimed on the frequency.

"Tsk." What to do now… "Hold it. Pyrrha, go in guns blazing. Weiss, do you see the bullheads?"

"Yes, but they are too far."

"Get ready, I'll put down the one closer to the shore, you take care of the other one. Yang, continue watching the sky. Penny, get ready to jump into the fray."

/

"...Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together." Torchwick casually replied to Blake even when she was still holding her blade under his neck.

"Tell me what it is or I'll put an end to your little operation." She pressed the blade closer but was interrupted by the sound and wind of arriving bullheads.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a lit-" Roman continued to smile as he looked up to the sky.

His smile disappeared when a large glowing blue arrow flew into one of the ships and covered one half in thick ice. HIs eyes widened further when he heard a gunshot and the other bullhead's engine and part of the tail were torn off in a fiery explosion. The grunts inside were gracelessly jumping or falling off.

Fortunately for the crime lord, the little kitty was much more distracted than he was and couldn't react when he fired an explosive round right under her feet.

He was about to fire one more time to put her down but then a round bronze shield ricocheted from the fangie grunt and hit him in the face.

/

Pyrrha had run off to save Blake and Weiss could already hear the cursing and gunfire. Where did that leave her?

It left her with about twenty terrorists that had fallen off of the ships she and Ruby brought down. She could see it in their eyes. The utter loathing and hatred. Only because she was born in the wrong family. Or not. Their organization already proved that innocent casualties were acceptable, even preferable if they were humans.

"Should I handle this?" Ivory chimed in, her own hatred seeping into her voice.

I'll give them one chance. "Members of the White Fang! By the authority of the huntress of Vale I order you to surrender! I guarantee you will be judged fairly."

She had to immediately use a glyph to block the incoming gunfire.

Their fault. Remember, capture, not kill.

"Yeah, yeah. Ruby would never let me live it down. Although… they do look like grimm with those masks. They even behave like one."

No

"Spoilsport." Ivory said out loud with a sadistic smirk on her lips. With a wave of her hand, six of her knights manifested. Four with claymores, two with bows.

"Attack!"

/

"Three new on the radar!" Yang was getting bored. So what if she set some dust on fire? They would still prevent the bad guys from stealing it. But even then she still ended up sitting out the fun part.

"Yang, Penny, put them in the crossfire." Her sister gave her orders.

Time for fireworks!

Two of the bullheads were close to each other while the third was flying a small distance away. For being alone he received a rocket.

The other two bullheads tried to maneuver around the burning debris but before they could get away, a bright green beam of light clipped their wings.

/

The operation was a complete fiasco but the three crashing ships did provide a nice cover for retreat.

Torchwick was a mess. Mostly due to Blake, Pyrrha, Sun and Ilia switching with each other when fighting him and occasionally teaming up. He himself wasn't even sure how many people he fought. There was definitely somebody attacking him from the shadows but he was never able to retaliate or even catch a glimpse. It was like fighting Neo, well, except that if he was really fighting her, he would be most likely already dead.

He made his way to the only operational bullhead left and took off. Immediately after, the defense systems of the aircraft blared a rocket alert. Thankfully it was a normal one and not a guided missile.

-BBW-

"You really didn't notice anything wrong with the place with all the explosions and fires everywhere?" Winter incredulously asked

Tai only shrugged. "It wasn't anywhere close to the places I've been and well, I've been raising two huntresess at the time. It was more suspicious when something wasn't exploding or on fire." He laughed at the memory.

The three of them already went over the various reports of forest fires that were linked to their case but couldn't find anything of use. Right now they were trying to find the launching place, where the bomb was deployed into the ocean and hopefully, the lab where it was developed. The few researchers in Atlas did propose that the lab should be on the island due to the bomb possibly not being stable enough for long travels. Which still left them essentially combing the entire island with barely any clue where to start. What a great assignment… At least nobody was calling her to tell that her sister or students ended up in the news.

-BBW-

It was over. The only thing left was a simple mop up. Pyrrha kept stealing glances from Blake's ears but didn't comment on it. Yet. Yang had joined them near the entrance where they were gathering tied up soldiers. She looked rather pissed, apparently not participating and not even getting the last hit was enough to ruin her mood.

Weiss' arrival ruined everyone's mood for sure. She walked at a leisure pace. The main problem was the giant deathstalker that was behind her and had a pile of White Fang grunts on its back. The contrast was immediately apparent. The one's beaten by Blake and co. were bruised and probably many of them suffered a concussion but it didn't compare to Weiss' handywork. Twisted and crushed limbs, loud moans of pain from the depths of the pile and small trickles of blood going down the deathstalkers carapace were outright horrifying.

"Weiss…" Pyrrha was the first one to be able to speak. "Are they-"

"All of them are alive." Weiss waved her off. The giant deathstalker scutteled over to the other tied up prisoners and dissolved, dropping the pile on the concrete floor.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Blake snapped at her. "This…this is exactly what made them into terrorists!"

"Oh please, they wanted to eradicate humanity before I even learned how to hold my rapier properly." She rolled her eyes. "They had their chance to surrender. Instead they started shooting." She gestured towards the captured fighters. "Don't think that they were trying to steal all this Dust just for money. They would use it to kill people. And if they are preparing to kill others they should be ready when the same happens to them." She finished, cold fury clear in her voice.

"So what? Are you just going to kill every single faunus that breathes the same air as them?" Blake shouted at her. "What about me? I used to be a member. Are you going to put me down too?!"

Six crystalline archers rose in half-circle around her. "Depends." All of them took aim at Blake.

"Which one?" Weiss asked in a clipped tone.

"Mistral, then Vale."

A few tense moments followed before Weiss 'tsked' and the archer took aim at Ilia. "And you?"

Now, when you are held at gunpoint by a person who is obviously acting on emotions, it's paramount to not act on your own and try to reason and calm down the aggressor. Unfortunately, Ilia just had to watch a Schnee bring a large group of bloodied fighters and treat them like garbage, then she had to stand still and watch her threaten Blake, her closest friend.

"I from Atlas so take a fucking guess!" She snapped at her.

A seventh archer rose, two times taller than the rest. Dust flowed into its arrow and soon it started shining with all the colors of the rainbow. And it was aimed at Ilia.

"Weiss, stop!" Blake shouted at her. "You are just doing the same thing as them!"

Blake flinched when Weiss' cold eyes switched to her. "If I was like them, I would have set a bomb under her chair during one of the classes."

"But so many innocent people would get hurt!"

"That never stopped your friends." She scoffed. "Do you know how many times I heard that dozens of people were killed simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time?! Accountants who were going to work shot dead during a drive-by. Children and their parents, both humans and faunus, were blown to pieces because the school they were in received a donation from SDC. Reports of distant relatives and family friends getting hurt or murdered every month-"

"But…that couldn't be the White Fang!" Blake was completely pale. She saw Adam and some of his more avid followers do questionable things but what Weiss was describing would make even Adam sick.

"It wasn't your White Fang. Today was probably the biggest attempted crime by the Valein group and Mistral is so corrupt that they don't have either necessity or time to target regular people."

"That doesn't give you the right to do this! We are huntresses not executioners!"

Very slowly she turned back to Ilia, who was no longer hiding her chameleon features and was alternating between red and white.

"When" She spat out every word, like it physically hurt her. "Did you leave Atlas."

Ilia could see Blake urge her with her eyes not to make the situation even worse. "About two years ago." She reluctantly admitted.

Several tense seconds passed after which Weiss took a deep breath. The six lesser archers disappeared and the large one turned around and fired the overcharged arrow into the waters. Without uttering any other word she left the scene, Yang following shortly after. Hopefully she will do some damage control.

-BBW-

Ruby and Penny came shortly before the police arrived. They needed to stop by the water and fish out the few people that have fallen down with all the bullheads that were shot down.

They had feared what Ruby's reaction would be to Weiss going overboard with her fight but as long as there were no permanent injuries she wasn't too bothered. Penny even stated that as a part of Atlesian military she is authorized to use deadly force against members of terrorist organisartions unless they do not surrender immediately.

Ruby went with the police officer to handle the paperwork, despite the fact that she was still only in training and professor Goodwitch was on her way.

"So…cat is out of the bag?" Pyrrha walked up to Blake and tried to lift the mood a bit. Both were still quite shaken after Weiss' outburst.

Blake gave her a flat stare. "That was exactly why I hid my ears."

"I'm sorry!" She immediately apologized. "I just…haven't been friends with faunus and I don't know what is appropriate and-"

"Relax." Blake let out a small chuckle. "I know you didn't mean it in a bad way. Just don't make too many, it becomes repetitive very fast."

They stayed in a comfortable silence for some time.

"How are you holding up?" Pyrrha asked the obvious question.

"I…" Blake didn't know what to answer. She wasn't particularly close with Weiss but the two of them were on decent terms. She wasn't even a hardline racist she imagined her to be. Spoiled and with a stick up her butt? Definitely, or at least to an extent. She knew that there was animosity between White Fang and SDC but that went above her head as she never was directly hurt by it. Not like Ilia and Weiss were. And she just saw how deep that vile hatred could run. "I think Weiss had the right idea to go for a walk… I think I need some time as well."

Pyrrha put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a light squeeze. "It will be alright. I'm sure that after everyone cools off you will be able to talk it out. Besides, we still need to get back at her."

Blake barked out a laugh. "Oh, totally!" The two girls shared a conspiratory laugh. "You are being awfully chummy, did Torchwick hit you on the head?" She asked with a smirk.

Pyrrha rolled her eyes. "No. I just thought about the way we were going about it and… It will be much better if we work together and when Ruby finally notices we simply leave the decision to her."

Blake slightly frowned. "What's the catch?"

Pyrrha focused on something behind her and looked slightly uncomfortable. Blake carefully turned around and saw the ginger girl Ruby brought along.

"Her name's Penny. She is really nice, if a bit weird, and is almost as much into weapons as Ruby is…" Pyrrha quickly explained the way they met and how Ruby interacted with the girl.

"So… she is a common enemy." Blake summarized.

"I think that she views Ruby as a friend but the two of them have a lot in common."

/

Sun was watching Blake chat with the tall redhead and was thinking whether it was worth it to hit on her. She had the looks and wit but… hitting on a girl that was held at gunpoint a few minutes ago made him feel like a complete jerk.

"Save yourself the trouble and don't even try." Ilia chimed in from behind him.

"And why exactly shouldn't I?"

"You are not her type. You would just waste your time chasing after something that would never be yours."

"You would know, huh?"

"Shut up." She turned away to hide the small blush at how easily she was seen through.

"So, what's the competition?"

"Ruby."

Sun barked out a laugh. The two girls that jumped him were with each other! It was as ridiculous as it was amusing. "Heh, think that instead of dates in restaurants they start a counter-terrorism mission?"

"As if." Ilia scoffed but there wasn't any heat in her tone. "Ruby is as dense as the concrete we stand on. Blake's been going after her for… a month? Maybe a bit longer. I didn't exactly notice when it started."

"Anyway, you are handling yourself rather well, all things considered." Sun's tone became a bit more serious.

"I'm not some damsel in distress…" Ilia rolled her eyes, but she did appreciate the attention. "It's just… The things she said. I knew about it. It was one of the reasons why I left Atlas. When I joined I wanted to fight for equality not for the reversal of roles or genocide. I never participated but I gathered intelligence. Stole schedules, copied passwords… And they used this information to kill so many people. I-I wouldn't let her hurt Blake, she is a much better person than me. But if she wanted to kill me… I guess it is somewhat justified. I would fight back but those would be just my past actions catching up to me."

Sun bumped her on the forearm and gave a wide smile. "Damn, you made it gloomy. We just kicked a major butt to the criminals and you are being like that… way to kill the mood. Hey, after Ice Queen cools off, let's all go have a celebratory pizza or something." He tried to cheer her up. It did work, at least a little bit.

A bullhead with Beacon's emblem flew by and landed near the police cars. Despite everything that had happened they could all agree on one thing. This wasn't going to be pleasant.

/

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