Ruby opened her eyes with difficulty. She was being dragged across the hard ground like a bag of junk, held by her forearms.
Her ears were ringing, everything pulsed before her eyes, and her thoughts were a jumbled mess. Fragments of memories surfaced: a fall, her lost weapon, masked faces, and... a slap? No, a kick. With a foot. To the face. She even felt a large boot print somewhere either on her forehead or her cheek. It was a terrorist, sure, but isn't there at least some minimal ethics? Don't they know you don't hit girls in the face? Especially with a foot. Especially such a cute face like hers.
An attempt to turn her head brought on a wave of nausea, but Ruby still managed to look around. The world was spinning, but she realized she was in an abandoned underground city. Occasionally, large mechs caught her eye, dragging containers. One of these machines clumsily placed a crate into a train car, and with a dull clank, a large Fire Dust crystal rolled out of it. It glowed but, fortunately, didn't explode. Ruby would have scolded them for violating Dust safety protocols, but she was no better herself.
These were definitely Paladins, the giant combat machines that had vanished from Atlas. They looked mega-cool, and if Ruby were in different circumstances, she'd definitely want to take one of these home. These were genuine iron titans, but the rust, welding seams, and ominous wolf-maw emblems ruined the overall vibe.
Weiss's assumption turned out to be right. It was exactly here, in Mountain Glenn, that the White Fang had set up their lair. And it looked like they were getting ready to abandon it. Paladins, Dust, and heavily armed terrorists were all bustling around the train cars and cargo.
Ruby prayed that her team would find her soon. She also cursed herself for getting the urge to tail the terrorists alone without even telling her team. All hope rested on Zwei! He's a smart doggy; he'd figure out he needed to wake the others.
"Good boy," she whispered, recalling those desperate little eyes. "Please, find the girls."
"Boss, you better take a look at this."
Ruby forced her head back to see where she had been dragged. Two captors, both in classic White Fang masks and uniforms. One of them... wore goggles over his mask. With them, he looked like he had accidentally picked the wrong side. Did they simply not fit under the mask?
"I hope this is something good?" Torchwick's voice rang out from an open train car. However, he didn't show himself, busy with some evil deeds of his own. "Because I've had a really bad day today, Perry."
Ruby was surprised that Torchwick could tell his thugs apart by their voices, and even knew them by name. She expected something like, "Hey, you, the guy with the horns," but this was a downright cozy atmosphere.
"Well... we got a girl here."
"I mean, I knew you were uncultured barbarians, but this is a bit much, don't you think? And offering her to me, ugh." Torchwick peeked out of the car and looked down at her. "Ah, this girl..."
"Howdy." Ruby, whose head was still tilted back, squeezed out a polite, almost courteous greeting. She had no idea what to do in this situation. Egrer had kinda said that Roman wasn't a bad guy... but the criminal's glare clearly contradicted that.
Torchwick spat out his cigar and twirled his cane in annoyance. His face reflected a mix of confusion and irritation, as if fate had tossed him a live grenade instead of a captive.
"Well sure, why the hell not?" he muttered under his breath, as if complaining to the Twin Gods themselves. He crouched down next to Ruby, rudely grabbed her face, and turned it side to side. "Who did this to her? There's a boot print right on her mug."
'Is he actually... worried about her?'
"That was me, boss!" the second terrorist reported proudly.
"Good job, swung to kill!" At that moment, Ruby refused to believe in his "not-quite-a-villain" nature. Torchwick squeezed his fingers and smirked, as if it amused him to make her pull funny faces. However, as if having had enough playing around, he barked at that very same terrorist. "But it didn't occur to you to tie her up, you moron! Has it been a while since a Huntsman beat your ass, or what?"
The White Fang grunt wilted and hurried to fix this oversight - he quickly ran to get ropes and, together with the other guy, hogtied Ruby's hands and feet. She struggled, of course, but there was little she could do in her condition.
Ruby tried to figure out what to do. Options were few, and all of them bad. Use her Semblance to escape the terrorists' grasping hands? A tempting idea, but with her current tilt, she'd likely just crash into a wall. Her head was spinning so badly it felt like it was about to pop off and float away like a balloon. And it wouldn't save her from the ropes anyway. If only she had thought of that a tiny bit earlier...
Plus, it was unknown how much Aura she had lost during the fall and that notorious kick to the face. Based on how she felt, she wouldn't have enough for a long dash. And if Torchwick fired the grapple from his cane that Blake had talked about, she'd just waste the last of her Aura for nothing.
But even if Ruby got free, where would she run? The only exit she knew of was the notorious hole in the ceiling. Otherwise, everywhere she looked, there were just endless underground ruins.
Only now did Ruby realize just how right Yang had been! She should have learned hand-to-hand combat instead of relying solely on Crescent Rose. Which, to top it off, she had so shamefully lost. If Ruby could, she would have served Torchwick an uppercut right under his neat little nose, then a left hook to the White Fang grunt on the right, and a three-piece combo to the liver of the second one, the guy with the goggles over his mask.
"And what am I supposed to do with you, Red?" Torchwick said this almost affectionately, which somehow made Ruby feel uneasy.
"Understand and forgive?" she offered with puppy-dog eyes. But the scoundrel's heart was deaf to her magic.
"Drag her into the car."
He hopped back into the very train car he had emerged from, and she was dragged in right after him. Inside, it turned out to be surprisingly cozy. It was as if this wasn't a villain's lair, but a TV star's mobile dressing room.
A spare suit jacket in a transparent plastic garment bag hung on the wall, a portable heater radiated dry warmth, and across from an armchair sat an ancient boxy TV. A small table by the mirror was cluttered with a mess of cosmetics: powder, brushes, tubes, even a can of something that looked like hairspray. Ruby only just realized that Torchwick was missing his famous black eyeliner under his right eye. Apparently, she had been hauled in right as he was doing his makeup.
On Torchwick's orders, she was left lying on the floor, while he sat in the comfortable armchair right in front of her. What a rude guy. Though it wasn't surprising, considering his minions kick cute girls in their cute faces. But at the same time, she felt scared. Weiss had told many horror stories about the White Fang, and Blake, who usually defended them, hadn't been in a rush to argue...
"Uhm..." Ruby winced.
She didn't know the proper way to address her captor. Mister? Just Torchwick? Respected sir? Unlike him, she was a well-mannered girl, after all. Only one thing was clear: calling him "Sir" was far too respectful for his disreputable profession.
"Mister, I just want to say... we're kinda on the same side, right? I mean, Eg said you're being pressured by the villainess who's currently at Beacon... and that we all hate her, which means... maybe... we're, like... allies?"
She tried to put on a cute, even friendly smile, trying to hide her desire to simply sweet-talk him and escape. But even so, her strictly black-and-white worldview nearly cracked from this. After all, a villain you could negotiate with simply didn't fit into it at all. If she only had her trusty high-caliber sniper scythe, then she definitely wouldn't have any doubts about who was the bad guy and who was the good guy here.
"And how many more idiots has he managed to blab to about this?" Torchwick said coldly. His intonation sounded as if he was calculating how many witnesses he'd need to eliminate.
"W-well, it's not just me who knows!" she bleated in panic. Ruby thought that if he assumed she was the only one who knew, she wouldn't be around much longer. "E-everyone knows! Almost all of Beacon is aware! Students, teachers, the Headmaster... Zwei!"
Torchwick froze.
"...Zwei?"
"Yeah!" she confirmed fervently. "Zwei! He's a smart doggy!"
Roman paled and thought, 'What the hell is that little squirt doing over there?' But before he could say anything, the train car shook slightly. Then a muffled pop echoed from afar - not too powerful, but suspiciously distinct. Soon, they began to ring out more frequently. Torchwick spun toward the sounds, then threw a glance at Ruby.
"We're under attack!" he barked, dashing out of the car.
Ruby was left lying on the floor. She caught her breath and whispered a thousand thanks to Zwei. Torchwick, meanwhile, was giving orders:
"Lucy, grab your guys and hold them off! Sirius, get the Paladins and load them onto the train, we're leaving immediately!"
A feeble protest came in response:
"But, boss, according to the plan we still need to~"
"According to the plan," Torchwick snapped, "we weren't supposed to get raided by Hunters! Shut up and load those hunks of metal! Peter, grab a couple of sturdy guys and get over here!"
Ruby was already mentally celebrating her victory; it seemed they had forgotten about her in the commotion. While everyone was panicking and running around, she started crawling to the side, but didn't manage to hide in time.
"Damn it!" Torchwick suddenly returned and kicked the old TV with all his might. It smashed into the wall, shattering into pieces with a crash. Ruby froze, pretending to be a rug. Maybe she'd get lucky, maybe he wouldn't look down.
He looked down.
"I'd love to say that whatever happens next is on your conscience..."
Ruby didn't like where this was going. Not one bit. But, to her surprise, Torchwick didn't start preparing to fight her team. He walked over to the mirror and resumed the activity he was interrupted from - applying eyeliner. Very meticulously, as if the automatic gunfire, battle cries, and explosions were merely coming from the late TV.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby noticed a shadow darting out of the car. But Roman grumbled without even turning around:
"Don't rush. I suspect very soon you'll get another chance to meet his little girlfriend." The shadow didn't return, but Torchwick acted as if he had no doubt she would do exactly what he demanded of her.
Only when Roman was ready for the encounter did he effortlessly lift Ruby with one hand, as if she weighed as much as a pillow, and casually snatched a pistol from a terrorist running past. He stood at the exit of the car, holding Ruby in front of him like a captive or a human shield. Meanwhile, the terrorists scrambled around, preparing for departure. Some of them, the largest ones, stood next to Torchwick, while others rushed into the labyrinth of ruined buildings toward the sounds of explosions.
"Behave like a good little girl, and nothing bad will happen to you," Roman said, then turned his head toward his subordinates. "Fire only on my command! If anyone shoots without permission, I'll feed them to the Grimm!"
With a crash, smashing a couple of terrorists through a wall, Team RWBY burst out to face them. Without their leader, but with Professor Oobleck, and most importantly - with Zwei! Her little corgi held Crescent Rose in his teeth with such a serious look, as if he could defeat everyone in this dungeon with it. The girls formed a semicircle in combat stances, and the terrorists instantly took aim at them. More precisely, every last terrorist aimed their sights at Weiss, who already looked morally exhausted.
"Ruby!" Weiss's voice pierced the entire dungeon, loud and almost cracking from the scream.
She saw her friend's battered condition, especially the print on her face, and stopped breathing for a moment. Ruby was about to yell out that she was fine, just so poor Weiss wouldn't start overthinking and imagining the worst again. But Yang beat her to it, her voice shaking everything around:
"What did they do to you!?"
The team bolted forward, but Torchwick lazily, even with a hint of exhaustion, pressed the pistol to Ruby's temple.
"Let's not rush things, ladies and gentlemen!"
And everything froze.
Yang flared up. Her hair ignited like a torch, her eyes burned with fire. She only needed a couple of seconds to reach her sister, but she couldn't risk lunging forward. Blake lowered her gaze and began slowly turning her head. Almost imperceptibly. She was looking for a loophole, trying to read the battlefield and find a way out.
And Weiss... she remained standing like a statue. She didn't take a single step, didn't make a sound. Panic, primal, animalistic terror in her eyes. It was an image that would forever stay in her memories like a scar. Her lips merely mouthed wordlessly:
"Don't..."
"Roman!" Oobleck spat his name like the most terrible curse. "How low you've fallen! Threatening a fifteen-year-old girl!"
"Oh, I disgust myself, doc, believe me," the scoundrel chuckled self-deprecatingly, pressing the gun even harder against Ruby's temple.
She tried to maintain outward calm, but inside, her mind was working in overdrive. Ruby wasn't sure if the remains of her Aura could withstand a shot from such a distance. And even if they could, it was unlikely there was only one bullet in the gun's magazine.
"But, like you, I have no interest in her death," Torchwick said diplomatically. "My terms are simple: You go your way, and I'll go mine. The squirt will stay with me for now, but don't worry, I'll drop her off the train extremely delicately once I'm sure you won't catch me."
Ruby had one single chance to escape. She analyzed everything: the distance to her team, potential covers, Torchwick's gaze, his movements. She needed to vanish before he realized she was capable of it. She really didn't want to break free from his grip only for Torchwick to catch her with his cane the very next moment. And the gun at her temple didn't exactly inspire confidence.
"Why so quiet?" Torchwick snarked, turning to the still-paralyzed team. "You're Huntsmen, heroes! Are you really not willing to save a poor, sweet girl from a vile, pathetic villain? Am I asking too much?"
He began pacing, dragging Ruby along as if she were a prop or a trophy emphasizing his villainous nature. Nevertheless, he held her tightly, and the gun continued to aim right at her temple. And then she realized - this was the moment. The villain's monologue, straight out of a textbook. And this was her chance! If he started rambling or even dramatically raised his head toward the stone ceiling for a second, she'd bolt full tilt to her team.
"Are we ready?" Torchwick whispered, barely moving his lips.
"Almost all the Paladins are on the train," one of the White Fang grunts replied.
"'Almost' is how many?" he growled through his teeth.
"About four left, boss!"
Yes, this was definitely a carefully calibrated villain monologue meant to stall for time. But it was still a villain monologue, so there was a chance.
"So, save the morality lectures, doc," Torchwick continued with feeling. "Red here chose her own fate. Being a hero is her profession. A stupid one, honestly. If not me, someone else will shoot her. What's the difference, really? The world doesn't change. Good and evil, light and dark... it's all fairy tales."
"And you'll really let her go?" Yang asked incredulously. Oh, how she didn't want to trust a man threatening her sister's life, and you don't negotiate with terrorists anyway. But she saw no other way out for now.
Torchwick threw over his shoulder, "Tell them to hurry up, or I'll skin them alive." One of the White Fang instantly scurried off, and Torchwick continued as if nothing had happened:
"Well, of course! I don't keep a collection of little girls' heads under my bed, in case you were wondering, so I have no use for the squirt. I'm a villain, not a maniac!" He chuckled, as if telling a joke, continuing to stall. "But heroes, pfft, heroes! They all think that at the right moment, everything will turn in their favor. Friends will burst in to the rescue by smashing through a wall, and the villain—that's me—will say something flashy but meaningless, giving them a chance to escape. Just like in a fairy tale! I bet you think so too!"
A drawn-out horn blared, and the train slowly began picking up speed. Torchwick tilted his head slightly, as if about to take a final bow, and lifted his gun, just like a conductor before the final note.
"But life isn't a fairy tale. Life is... what is it?.." Roman blinked from a gust of wind, then noticed his other hand was empty. A trail of rose petals stretched from him straight to RWBY. And the former captive had literally slipped through his fingers, awkwardly hopping like a caterpillar toward her team. "Well, Grimm take it... Why didn't you shoot, you idiots?! Attack! Fire!"
The roar of automatic gunfire immediately echoed through the tunnel; the terrorists charged forward. Torchwick, meanwhile, ducked back into his car, quickly slamming the shutters shut. The train was now picking up serious speed.
Weiss was the very first to act. Ruby hadn't noticed, but even before this moment, Weiss had pulled herself together and filled with an unprecedented resolve to punish the one who dared threaten her friend. Her face was still pale, but her eyes blazed. The fear in them was replaced by pure, unadulterated hatred. So strong that it could have drawn Grimm from the entire surrounding area.
"Don't you ever touch her again!" Her voice trembled and rasped with fury. With every word, the ground beneath her feet was covered in a thin layer of ice. Glyphs began flaring up all around, dozens of glyphs, their radiance unbearably white. "Don't even breathe in her direction!"
She swung her rapier. A wall of ice abruptly erupted from the ground beneath Ruby, curving sideways like a shield. Bullets couldn't pierce such cover and simply bogged down in it. With her next swing, Weiss aimed her rapier toward the train car where Torchwick had hidden. The ice wall surged toward the target, expanding with incredible speed. A moment later, a crash resounded; the ice completely obliterated Roman's cover, crumpling the metal like foil.
But Torchwick, as if mocking her, had already moved to the next car. He lingered for a moment in the doorway and tipped his hat slightly in a taunting gesture.
"Bye-bye, White!" he sang out, running further.
"ARGH!" Weiss growled. She had exhausted all her Ice Dust on that ice wall maneuver. Every last grain of it. But she couldn't stop.
She swung her rapier again, and acceleration glyphs flared up in front of the team. One by one, they formed a path leading straight to the train slipping away from them. The team didn't even need words; everything was already clear. An enraged Yang had already dealt with the terrorists Torchwick had sicced on them, and Blake had freed Ruby from her bonds. They dashed forward right along this path of glowing glyphs and jumped onto the tail of the train.
And so they stood together again, all four of them. Four Huntresses, four friends. And now, no longer in danger of losing sight of the criminals, the team allowed themselves a moment for a touching reunion.
Yang, without hesitating for a second, scooped Ruby into a bone-crushing, but oh-so-familiar hug. She proceeded to smother her sister with her immense love until Ruby pitifully wheezed:
"So, how'd I make my escape? Epic?"
"I'd give it a nine out of ten," Yang breathed into the top of her head, reluctantly letting go. "Minus one point for the lack of fireworks. Though, on the other hand, you literally burst into petals... Hmm. Okay, nine and a half."
Blake, appearing beside them almost silently, gently began checking Ruby over. Her hands were slightly rough, but moved confidently. Satisfied that the damage was limited to scrapes, bruises, and an especially prominent boot print on her cheek, she nodded wordlessly. Blake was holding up better than the rest. Perhaps simply because she already knew what it was like to lose comrades in arms.
And Weiss... Weiss simply dropped to her knees, as if her legs had suddenly given out. Her Dust tricks had exacted too heavy a toll, and she had experienced emotions that were far too intense. When Ruby vanished, she had been scared to death, because who knew what the White Fang could do to her. She knew of their atrocities well and had imagined herself in the role of the victim far too often. But for some reason, imagining Ruby in her place was even more terrifying.
Weiss's poor body couldn't handle the emotional rollercoaster that had been plunging her from icy terror to all-consuming rage, to this bright feeling of happiness and relief. It all mixed into a potent cocktail that no sane person could bear. She couldn't figure out what she wanted more: to curl up into a ball and cry, to kill everyone on this train, or to hug Ruby tight.
But something helped her calm down, as if an invisible, warm blanket had draped over her shoulders. She knew who it was. Egrer had been supporting her ever since the moment Torchwick pressed the gun to Ruby's temple. Without that support, she likely would have remained standing there like a useless statue even now.
Her emotions slowly began returning to normal. Weiss thought of something pleasant to let Egrer know she was alright now. But he didn't leave. Maybe he didn't hear, or maybe he just stayed just in case it happened again.
Ruby hesitantly walked up to her, looking down.
"I'm sorry," she blurted out quickly and erratically, as if afraid she'd be interrupted. "I... I did something stupid. I should've called you guys first instead of poking after that terrorist alone, but he could've slipped away, and I didn't want to lose sight of him, so I followed him all the way to their lair... and then the signal dropped, and I was just about to head back, but the ground cracked, and I~"
"What?" Weiss stared at her in astonishment, unable to grasp what Ruby was apologizing for. But then it suddenly dawned on her, and she even felt a little offended. "You dummy, I'm not mad at you. How could I possibly be mad when you're in one piece? If I'm going to scold you for anything, it'll only be for this outburst of unmotivated guilt!"
Zwei trotted over to Ruby, still stubbornly dragging her scythe in his teeth. He looked as if he was ready to stand on his hind legs at any second and demand a medal for bravery.
"He's the one who led us to you," Blake said reluctantly. She might be afraid of dogs (though she claims she simply "dislikes" them), but she simply couldn't deny Zwei's heroism. "He's... a useful creature, after all."
Ruby bent down and with a genuine smile began scratching the doggy behind the ear. Zwei immediately closed his eyes in pleasure and let out a contented snort. But the moment she opened her mouth to begin a eulogy of praise, the train car beneath their feet shuddered unpleasantly. It slowly, but surely, began separating from the rest of the train.
"Break's over!" Professor Oobleck declared, taking a swig of coffee from his thermos. "Duty calls, ladies. The mission is not over yet!"
"Is Torchwick trying to dump us?" Yang guessed. But then answered herself. "But if he were, he'd hardly stop at just one car. Alright, girls, it's time to kick someone's hat!"
They easily leaped onto the next car and, without wasting words, dashed forward toward the locomotive. The train had picked up decent speed, and the wind kept trying to blow them off. The dry, musty air of the dungeon was already unpleasant, and now it was hitting them right in the face.
Suddenly, the car that had just detached exploded with multicolored sparks of all types of Dust. With such force that the shockwave obliterated everything in the vicinity. The rails melted, the walls cracked, and even the ceiling of the underground tunnel collapsed, opening a path to the surface.
"That wasn't meant for us, right?" Ruby asked uncertainly. "I mean, Torchwick can't hate us so much that he'd rig his own train to explode?"
Professor Oobleck suddenly gasped and threw open the hatch of their car. There, on a mountain of Dust containers, lay something that looked very much like a bomb. Ruby leaned forward and peered in after him. She couldn't understand why he would blow up his own Dust. Torchwick had spent so long gathering it, after all.
Team RWBY exchanged stunned looks. And Oobleck, as if realizing something, had already leaped to the adjacent car, opened another hatch, and saw the exact same thing—a bomb surrounded by a mountain of Dust. Another crash rang out - yet another car detached and exploded. From the resulting passage to the surface, Grimm began to pour down. They leaped down and with roars charged after the train.
"Did you figure something out, Professor?" Yang asked in bewilderment, looking at the scene.
"Doctor!" Oobleck quickly rattled off. "I didn't write my dissertation for a joke, thank you very much! And yes, I do have a theory. As I said yesterday, these tracks lead straight to Vale, but the city entrance is sealed. However, if they funnel the Grimm down the tunnel and breach the passage from the inside, they'll end up right in the heart of the city. Since the White Fang base has been here for quite some time, their emotions have managed to draw a multitude of Grimm, which we are seeing right now."
Blake's eyes narrowed dangerously. Grimm in the city. This is what the White Fang had become, these are the methods they didn't shy away from now. Once, their Grimm-mask visages were a symbol of irony, a challenge: "If humanity sees us as monsters, why be anything else?" But now the mask had fused with their faces. They had truly become monsters, no better than the Grimm. And maybe even worse.
"Isn't that," Ruby tensed, recalling her history lessons, "a war crime?"
"Precisely." Oobleck nodded to her, as if praising her attentiveness during his lectures. "Using Grimm or manipulating them in any way as a weapon is forbidden by the Vytal Convention. Especially regarding noncombatants and civilians. The penalty for this is death."
They looked ahead, estimating the train's length. There were many cars. Which meant there were just as many bombs.
"We have to stop the train!" Ruby yelled. "We can't let them let the Grimm into Vale!"
The group of Hunters dashed forward across the car rooftops. Heavily armed terrorists ran out to intercept them, and a fierce firefight broke out. In such a narrow, open space, with absolutely no cover, they were perfect targets. Even the least skilled marksmen could hit them with casual ease. Bullets painfully struck their bodies, rapidly depleting their Aura levels. And those with Dust payloads exploded, froze, or shocked them, causing even more inconvenience and pain. Considering how much Dust was on this train, the scumbags clearly weren't holding back.
"Down!" Oobleck barked, dropping into the gap between cars. He busted the door open with his shoulder, rolling inside. The team followed without hesitation.
Two pieces of news awaited them there. The good news - there was no Dust here, which meant that far from all the cars were bombs. The bad news - several Paladins were already waiting for them. They swung their chainswords, and the Hunters barely had time to scatter away from the swift attack.
"Go!" yelled Oobleck, whose thermos had transformed into a cross between a baseball bat and a flamethrower. "Leave them to me! Time is not on our side!"
From under his feet, a growling Zwei darted out. With a ferocity unexpected for his size, he clamped his jaws onto the hydraulic joint of one of the Paladins, forcing it to topple onto its side. With a metallic screech, it rammed into the train car's wall, sparking a fireworks display and leaving a massive dent.
Team RWBY lunged forward, but the remaining Paladins immediately blocked the exit, clearly under orders to delay them at any cost. Oobleck wound up his weapon and struck... Zwei. The dog, however, jumped up to meet the swing himself, as if they had practiced this move a hundred times already. The pooch ricocheted off the bat and smashed right into the chest plate of the massive robot. It began to fall, its chainsword clipping its neighbor, and the two mechs collapsed together.
The path was almost immediately blocked by other Paladins again, but the Huntresses managed to seize the opening. Behind them, Oobleck's satisfied cackle and the roar of a flamethrower rang out:
"And the baseball star is back in the game! Now I'll show you how I won the gold cup! I hope you know how to catch fireballs!"
RWBY sprinted through a few cars without much trouble. They burst out onto an open flatbed car, the clatter of wheels and the howling wind filling their ears. The train wasn't even thinking of slowing down, as if someone had removed all engine limiters and disabled the brakes.
But, as was to be expected, the brief peace ended quickly—a new obstacle appeared in their path. Seemingly out of nowhere, a short girl appeared before them, sporting heterochromia in both her eyes and her hairstyle: one half was brown, the other pink. Blake instantly recognized who it was.
"Neo."
Hearing this name, the others immediately realized who their enemy was. With exaggerated politeness, she gave a curtsy, graceful but obviously mocking. Her eyes, as if teasing them, swapped colors from brown to pink and vice versa. She unceremoniously poked her umbrella toward Weiss and beckoned her with her other hand, as if challenging her to a fight. After which, she politely stepped aside, letting the rest pass. Neo knew perfectly well they had no time.
"Go," Weiss said grimly. "I will be fine."
Her friends hesitated for only a couple of seconds, but even such a brief delay could cost them too dearly. They ran on, leaving Weiss face to face with Neo.
Egrer had said many good things about his adoptive mother, speaking of her with warmth, but also with anxiety. Because she kills with the exact same ease she used to pat him on the head in his childhood. And he had warned them more than once that fighting her was absolutely not an option.
Taking a combat stance, Weiss experienced conflicting feelings. Because standing before her was a person who, paradoxically, could turn out to be an ally. But their paths were too different. Weiss's duty as a Huntress right now demanded one thing - stop the train and prevent the deaths of innocent people. And if Neo decided to stand between her and her mission, she had only herself to blame. Even if she was doing it under duress.
"Well then..." Weiss sighed, raising her rapier. Neo tilted her head, as she herself was disappointed by this outcome. "I suppose today is the most unfortunate 'meet the parents' in history."
The moment Weiss took a step forward, Neo abruptly lunged and jumped right onto her head. The umbrella tapped Weiss on the forehead with a light click. It didn't hurt, but it was humiliating, like a smack to the back of the head from an older sister. Before she even had time to blink, Neo launched off her shoulders and landed right behind her. Weiss whipped around, but nothing was there. A new hit came from the side—light, almost playful, but invariably annoying.
"Stop playing around with me!"
Neo appeared right in front of her and theatrically puffed out her cheeks, as if to say, 'Well, excu-u-use me...' But then she struck again—fast, precise, and still doing no serious harm.
Weiss's eye began to twitch. She sprang back and attacked again, but she sorely missed her favorite Ice Dust. From multiple fiery glyphs, bursts of flame shot out, flying towards Neo. But the latter seemed to glide right through the fire, twirling like an acrobat in a show. She did somersaults, backflips, practically dancing. When the fire glyphs died down, Neo bowed to the audience - a Weiss driven to white-hot rage.
It was no longer just annoying; it was insulting. She hated being underestimated, being toyed with just for fun. Neo should regret treating her with such condescension. Weiss wanted to land at least some sort of hit on her, but her rapier failed to find its mark even once, only shattering illusions time and time again. Neo herself had been close to landing a lethal blow multiple times, but deferred the pleasure each time.
"You know..." Weiss began, having hatched a plan. An hourglass glyph appeared beneath her, though it remained inactive for now. "I actually wonder how Egrer will react when he finds out his sweet little mommy is now a war criminal~"
That was enough. Neo darted forward, and this time, the hit was real. With a muffled groan, Weiss smashed into the car's wall, nearly falling right under the train's wheels. And in that very moment, the glyph flared to life. Time slowed down; Neo's movements became sluggish, as if she were underwater. Right from the floor, Weiss swung her rapier, and another glyph appeared beneath her opponent - a gravity one. It glowed, pulling Neo down to the floor.
Weiss sprang to her feet, overcoming the pain all over her body. An acceleration glyph lit up beneath her, and she lunged forward, piercing right through Neo with the sound of shattering glass.
Condescending claps sounded from behind her. The real Neo was lounging casually on a bench, enjoying the show. But then the smile vanished from her face. As if acknowledging Weiss as worthy (or taking offense at her words), Neo began to fight at almost full strength.
Weiss couldn't last even a couple of seconds of such intense combat, losing first her weapon, and then her footing.
Neo pinned her to the floor and brazenly sat on top of her. With a smirk, she pulled a narrow blade from her umbrella and pressed it to Weiss's throat. Weiss's Aura glowed blue, preventing the edge from touching her skin. The victor was obvious. But instead of finishing her off, Neo pulled out a marker with a sly grin. Bright pink, permanent.
"Don't you dare," Weiss hissed through her teeth, knowing she simply couldn't endure any more humiliation. But Neo popped the marker's cap off with her teeth and proceeded to write on her face:
Looks: 7/10
Personality: 11/10
Combat Skills: 4/10
APPROVED
Just then, Professor Oobleck and Zwei burst onto the platform.
"Step away from my student, miss!"
"Woof! Grrr!"
Neo theatrically flinched and winked at Weiss. Another moment, and she vanished with a clink, shattering into pieces of greenish glass. Weiss stood up with difficulty as Professor Oobleck rushed over to her.
"Combat Skills..." he read aloud. "I object! At least a seven."
"No comment," Weiss mumbled, rubbing her cheek as hard as she could.
Zwei, tail wagging proudly, brought Weiss her rapier. She picked it up with a brief "Thank you," and the squad ran on. A couple of cars later, they stumbled upon Blake. She was fighting a hulking Faunus wearing a Grimm mask, a roaring chainsaw in his hands. But neither of them noticed the reinforcements; they were far too engrossed in their fight, and more importantly, their argument.
"...no choice!" the terrorist barked, slashing sideways. Blake barely managed to dodge. "Humans made it for us! We're tired of being on our knees, we deserve equality! If the world won't change, then I'll burn it down!"
"Letting the Grimm into the city won't get the Faunus equality!" Blake shouted, striking his leg with her blade. "Humans will only hate us more! This isn't a revolution, this is mass murder, Brock! In response to a human genocide, they'll start a Faunus genocide, how can you not understand?!"
"I don't care about a world where we aren't welcome! I just want them to know what it's like to be afraid to leave the house! For every human, looking at a Faunus, to feel exactly what we've felt our whole lives! They will all pay with their lives! Only the Faunus will remain. This is right, this is justice!"
"Sorry to interrupt," Weiss politely let them know they weren't alone. They both froze mid-pose, turning their heads toward her. "There is a massive logical flaw in your reasoning. If all humans are killed, how will they be able to feel fear?"
The Faunus was taken aback for a second. And then he roared even louder than his chainsaw.
"SCHNEEEEEE!"
Oblivious to everything else, he lunged in her direction with the clearly visible intent of realizing the White Fang's ultimate dream—brutally murdering the SDC heiress. But Blake sharply hurled her blade to intercept, making the ribbon pull taut right in front of his legs. The terrorist tripped, and at that moment, Oobleck stepped forward, winding up his bat.
"Batter up!"
The hit landed squarely on his forehead. His Grimm mask shattered into a thousand pieces, and the brute himself went flying backward, crashing into the wall. A deafening metallic clang echoed through the car, and the terrorist left a dent perfectly tracing the contours of his body. Weiss sighed. It was unpleasant seeing someone who wanted her dead this badly.
Now as a group of four, including Zwei, they continued on their way.
"I didn't know the White Fang offered philosophy courses," Weiss chuckled, trying to shake off that unpleasant, sticky feeling. Blake, however, took things far too much to heart, as usual. She shot a dark glare in her direction, but said nothing.
Further down the corridor, shouts could be heard. The smell of burning hit their noses, making Zwei whimper. When they burst into the engineer's cab, they were met by smoke, sparks, and a panicking Ruby and Yang. In the corner lay an unconscious and slightly singed Torchwick, bearing a very fresh boot print on his cheek. His hat and cane lay next to him.
"That bastard!" Yang jabbed a finger at Roman. "He blew up the control console and broke the brakes! We can't stop the train!"
"We have to break the rails under us!" shouted Blake, already spotting the end of the tunnel. "We'll derail the train!"
"It's gonna hurt, but it'll be quick..." Yang mumbled, punching a hole through the floor with her fists.
They immediately unleashed their entire arsenal down the hole. The wheels shrieked from the assault, and metal screeched. The train jolted as if hitting a giant boulder, and then they were thrown up to the ceiling. The cab began to spin; walls, floor, and ceiling swapped places. Cars started smashing against the tunnel walls, but the train's speed was simply too high. With her gravity glyphs, Weiss tried to at least somehow mitigate the damage from the impending collision, spending the very last of her Aura to do so.
The dead end grew closer and closer.
***
The police siren wailed across the area, echoing the city siren. The car shuddered around corners; Poirot was going full throttle, violating every single traffic law just to reach the site of the breach in time. Streams of cars rushed out from other parts of the city; people were fleeing the danger en masse. Panic gripped everyone. Residents poured into the streets, some with suitcases, others running barefoot.
An SUV blasted past them in the oncoming lane, scraping their side. Yort, having taken the front seat, as if eager to hurl himself into the fight sooner, cursed the driver up and down.
Beacon Bullheads and the Atlas armada were already flying toward the breach, but the lieutenant doubted they would arrive before the Grimm scattered throughout the city. Right now, all hope lay with the Vale law enforcement and interns like Team MJEI.
Mr. Poirot shot a glance into the rearview mirror. The students under his charge were disoriented but ready for battle. Almost all of them. Egrer still hadn't snapped out of his meditative state; he was wincing and moving his head from side to side, as if straining to hear something. He was somewhere far, far away.
Magenta sat next to him, glancing anxiously at his face. Her fingers gently touched his hand.
"Eg, we're getting close," she whispered. Gunshots and the noise of battle could already be heard. "We need you, Eg."
"Don't bother me," Egrer spat out tiredly, squeezing his eyes shut. He felt like just a little more and he'd be able to catch the wave, restore the connection. Understand what happened.
He tried with all his might to feel her again, to grab onto any emotional trace, any imprint of her Aura, her thoughts, her pain, anything at all. But in response to all his attempts, there was only emptiness. Egrer was ready to tear his hair out in despair. Not knowing was killing him.
"Tell me, what happened?" Illmond also hadn't lost hope of reaching him. At first, Egrer got angry. But then he buried his face in his hands, as if holding back a scream.
"She's gone. Weiss is gone. I can't feel her anymore."
An Ursa roared up ahead. The monster tore through an improvised barricade, tossing two police officers aside, and now raised a paw over a third. Poirot immediately floored the gas pedal, and the car slammed into the Grimm's bulky carcass at full speed. The impact was so strong that the monster was launched into the air, and the car flipped and rolled several times, scattering a couple more Grimm in the process.
Yort kicked the door off its hinges, broke free from his airbag prison, and immediately joined the fight. It took the others a little longer to climb out of the smoking vehicle.
Right in the center of the square protruded an accordion-crumpled train. Several cars were smashed and scattered around the area. It looked as though it had been traveling underground and crashed into something at top speed, blowing out the ceiling. And right now, hordes of Grimm were bursting from that hole in an endless stream. Within this black current glinted the claws of Beowolves, the tusks of Boarbatusks, the massive pincers of Death Stalkers, and for now, there was practically nothing to stop them. Grimm scattered throughout the city, and the siren wailed, wailed, wailed...
Only the city police and a few exhausted, battered Hunters who happened to be nearby were trying to hold back the onslaught. Egrer saw Mr. Poirot join his colleagues and begin shooting a Nevermore in the head, but the bullets simply ricocheted off its mask. He saw two fighters grab a comrade and drag him into cover while a spider-like Grimm the size of a truck chased after them.
It seemed to Egrer that he was witnessing the apocalypse. That very moment when the world, on a completely ordinary day, plunges into ruin and begins to die.
"Eg," Magenta called out, already despairing.
"I'm here..."
But none of that mattered. Now, stronger than ever, the realization flared within him that he was a Huntsman. He was a Beacon student; he possessed skills, power, and knowledge. Saving people was his duty, even if he was a three-time fraud[1] who only came to the academy for the diploma. How he became a Huntsman didn't matter right now. What mattered was that he was one.
With difficulty, Egrer pulled himself together. He couldn't succumb to negative emotions right now, otherwise the Grimm would swarm him all at once. It didn't scare him that he was now heading into battle against an endless horde of Grimm. They weren't scary at all. What was scary was failing those standing behind him right now. And that filled him with resolve.
"Ill, to the roof! Weave a net as large and strong as you possibly can. Once you're done, provide ranged support. And on my signal, drop the net right over the breach!"
"Got it!" Illmond tossed a lasso and flew up. His spider-leg gloves were already weaving the most massive pattern of his life.
"Yort! To me, now!"
"Sec, just wrapping up," the Vacuan giant grumbled, snapping a Beowolf's neck with a crunch.
"Madge - we need your abnormal fire! The three of us will push straight to the hole and flood it with Earth Dust from your flamethrower. Then Ill will throw the net over the Grimm, keeping them from scattering. If we act quickly, the immobilized Grimm will become encased in stone and plug the passage. This place will become their tomb!"
"Got it!"
"Keep a triangle formation! Yort in the center, scatter everyone in our path. Use your Semblance to find us the safest and shortest route. Madge, guard his left, but don't waste Dust! I'll take the right. Let's go!"
They fought their way to the breach, where the crumpled train had torn open the ground. At Beacon, they were taught to control their emotions to avoid attracting Grimm. But Egrer additionally used his Semblance on Magenta and Yort, sharing his pleasant memories with them to throw off the monsters' "scent". His teammates felt a sense of peace, and though they didn't know the cause, they glanced a couple of times at the tense Egrer. Maintaining a connection with two people at once was very difficult.
Often, the Grimm ignored them right under their noses, but not all were so blind. A pack of Beowolves charged them head-on. Yort, without breaking stride, swung his knuckledusters twice, and the monsters scattered like bowling pins. They were trampled by other Grimm.
A whistle suddenly sounded from above. They looked up and saw a massive Nevermore dive-bombing Magenta. But she didn't even think to dodge; she simply hurled her spiked, incredibly heavy flamethrower right into the monster's chest. The metal broke practically every bone in the Grimm. The Nevermore wheezed and fell, and Magenta caught her weapon and, stone-faced, crushed the monster's skull into the ground.
"What?" she asked, noticing her friends' bewildered looks. "Eg told me to save Dust. I'm saving it."
Their participation in this slaughter was merely a drop in the ocean. What difference did it make that they managed to take down a dozen Beowolves at once, if hundreds, if not thousands, were pouring out? Grimm kept breaking through the police car barricades and running deeper into the city, sensing the fear of its millions of inhabitants. Amidst the wailing of the siren and the ceaseless roar of gunfire, Egrer commanded only a small group of student Hunters.
With every step toward the breach, the Grimm multiplied, but they seemed maddened by the excess of fear in the city, tearing through the barricades to reach the streets. The locomotive, protruding absurdly from the ground like a crooked lighthouse, served as their beacon. It had erupted from the earth and now hung almost horizontally, propped up by a pile of crumpled cars. But there was something strange about this hunk of twisted steel. Far too many Grimm were persistently trying to get inside, swarming it like flies. They tore at the hull, leaped on top, tried to squeeze inside.
Egrer's thoughts were interrupted by a Death Stalker. Yort, without breaking stride, leaped to meet it and struck. A crunch resounded, and a pincer flew off. Magenta delivered a crushing blow to its head, leaving deep cracks in the carapace. With a single jump, Egrer landed on the Grimm's face and shoved his hand holding the Needle-Shooter into the crack, burying it deep in the black flesh. He pulled the trigger; the meter-long needles spread outward, piercing the Grimm from the inside with a sickening sound.
The Death Stalker shuddered and roared; its remaining pincer tried fruitlessly to snag the nimble Egrer, who hadn't even pulled his hand from the crack. Suddenly, Yort fired an air blast somewhere upward, and the Grimm's stinger flew just a couple of centimeters past Egrer's cheek. Egrer, paying no attention, folded the Needle-Shooter, twisted his arm, and expanded it again. Repeating this a couple more times, the Grimm shuddered one last time and collapsed, beginning to melt right in the air.
And to think, during Initiation, it took ten of them just to barely take down a Death Stalker of this size. That was how much they had grown. His Semblance grabbed this memory and filled them with even greater resolve.
Egrer, still standing on the Grimm's carapace, returned his gaze to the locomotive. This time, he noticed a Beowolf that had shoved itself inside instantly fly back out, splattering its brains across the area. Any doubts vanished; someone was definitely inside.
"Must be the ones who blew up the square," Yort guessed, looking in the same direction. "Can't be any of ours in there."
"It's on our way, let's check it out," Egrer said evenly. "Forward, break's over!"
Closer to the locomotive, the stream of Grimm grew denser. It seemed all the monsters were flocking there. But despite their relentless push, they were dying in droves at the hands of unknowns. Dozens of grotesque bodies littered the area, everything was shrouded in black smoke. The silhouettes of new monsters constantly emerged from the darkness right at Team MJEI, but they worked like a perfectly oiled machine.
Yort swept his arms behind his back and fired blasts of air, propelling himself forward and up. He landed on a crumpled train car and covered the others' ascent, using air strikes to drive off the particularly aggressive Grimm. Together they reached a large hole in the locomotive, nearly getting roasted by a fireball that unexpectedly flew out from within.
"Hold fire, friendlies!" Egrer shouted, jumping inside with his team. What he saw shocked him. "Professor Oobleck?"
"Doctor," he corrected, tired and lacking his usual spark. His glasses were broken, his clothes torn, and his heavy panting betrayed his deadly exhaustion.
Behind him, holding the line at the breaches in the locomotive's hull, was Team RWBY. They looked even worse than the teacher. Yang could barely move her arms, swinging at the brazen Grimm through the holes in the walls. Blake barely managed to overcome a Beowolf that had shoved its jaws inside. An exhausted Ruby had taken a position by a large hole in the floor, shooting at any Grimm trying to jump up to them from below. In a corner, unconscious, lay Roman with a boot print on his cheek, guarded by a little corgi.
Egrer had many questions, but all his attention was instantly consumed by one figure. Weiss lay on the floor with bloodied bandages on her forehead, and her face looked peaceful. Far too peaceful. Everything went cold inside him, but Egrer didn't have time to think the worst.
"She's alive, hit her head," Oobleck said briefly, noticing where he was looking. "But her Aura is shattered."
Egrer felt his chest suddenly fill with air, as if he had been holding his breath this whole time. The tension instantly let go, but almost immediately returned. Weiss was injured, without Aura, and surrounded by hordes of Grimm, and her teammates and the professor were in only a slightly better condition.
It wasn't over yet.
[1] 𝐊𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐨, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮? 😭