Hunted
“In other news, today we’ve been told that four high school girls have gone missing.” A woman shuffled paper on the desk. “Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao-Long, Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee seem to have been kidnapped, the government has stepped in to say they may have been taken by a terrorist cell that was being followed downtown today.”
“That’s right Lisa, the government is urging the public to steer clear just in case these so-called terrorists are nearby. It is asked that should you confirm their location you alert the police and if possible should the terrorist be away to get the girls somewhere safe.” A man next to Lisa spoke. “It’s incredibly important that this is resolved however consider your own safety above all else.”
“We do have general James Ironwood with us to discuss this topic.” Lisa smiled at the camera.
“Thank you Lisa. It’s important to note however that there’s more danger to this situation than we know.” Ironwood’s face was grim. “We know so little of how these four were captured that we can’t even rule out them being involved, I urge everyone to be extremely careful and treat them as victims until otherwise is proven.”
“It seems like this whole situation is one big mess.” Lisa glanced down at her notes.
“It is, as I said we have no real way of knowing what role the four take in this all and that is the worst part.” One of the cameramen winced and pointed to a screen showing a social feed. “I do want it to be clear however, we’re only entertaining the idea of their involvement because the Valkyrie case three years ago.”
“The girl who almost collapsed sections of the Bayview bridge?” Lisa said.
“Exactly, she was only sixteen at the time, it made us more cautious. I hope beyond a shadow of a doubt that they aren’t involved however.“
“I must ask Ironwood, why these girls? What could one gain from this?” The man next to Lisa said.
“Well, there are several possibilities, wrong place wrong time and such however it is also important to note Weiss Schnee’s standing in the world as heiress to one of the richest companies in the world.” Ironwood had to spin this right. “I find it interesting that the four to go missing are Weiss and her closest friends, being that they’ve known each other for just over a decade.”
“You think this may be a targeted kidnapping?”
“That is the leading theory yes, if so they are likely looking to get something out of the SDC, what they are after is unclear. It is vital this is solved and quickly, I assure you we are doing everything we can to bring them home.”
“Lying bastard.” Yang’s voice held an angry edge to it. The four were in a simple highway side cafe and dinner. Each of them wore a hoodie and baseball cap, a surprisingly effective disguise. Weiss had always thought it ridiculous but humans would never cease to amaze. “Bring us home? His people will just kill us.”
“Yang.” Blake hissed. “Not the place.”
“We’ll talk later, eat now.” Weiss marveled at how well Ruby took their group over, she had expected either Blake or Yang to step up. “We need to save our rations for when they’re our only option.”
The four got their orders and ate in quiet silence, just listening to those around them. Quickly they finished up and grabbed an extra round of coffee to go. Making their way into the cool morning air outside the dinner they climbed into their truck and took off down the highway. Looking for all the world simply like a group of cross country campers.
“Ironwood just took one of our biggest advantages away by revealing that Blake is with us.” Ruby said. Once they were on the road the four started discussing the latest news report. “We need to save our non-perishables and rations for when they’re needed, he just made getting perishables and keeping our food stores up far harder.”
“He also made it far easier to isolate us, if the public thinks we’re held by a dangerous terrorist they’ll report our location, maybe follow us but we can’t do anything about it without vilifying ourselves.” Blake said. Slamming herself back in her seat she looked to the others. “He’s learning with every one of us he catches.”
“But he did just hand us a silver platter as well.” Weiss said. Leaning forward she turned to look at a passing news bulletin board, a sign used to convey important news such as weather warnings to travelers. Their pictures were plastered all over it. “He made us sympathetic to the public, so long as we can play up this story he’s angled and keep ourselves as the victims…”
“He can’t just sweep this under the rug, it needs to be done in the public's eye.” Ruby said. Her grin spread ever wider. “He controls so much but we can manipulate the public’s view of things in a way he can’t counter.”
“He’s playing a risky card and we can use it.” Weiss’s smile held an edge of malice. “If we play up the scared victim angle, make ourselves more and more sympathetic we could control enough to let us get away.”
“What about Tai? I know the plan is for him to leave a couple days after we did.” Blake looked to Yang for confirmation. “Right, can we use that then?”
“We could, he’s supposed to be going to mama Raven, our own end goal but since we were caught we take the roundabout way.” Ruby said. She flicked through files on her scroll. “The closest she was to being caught was about a week and a half after Yang was born, Dad’d vanish once he reached her. We could use the idea that the terrorist threatened to kill him if we disobeyed.”
“That would open doors for us and we can cover mistakes with it.” Weiss said. She pulled her laptop free from their bags, an item she was glad to have with her at school three days ago, and began to write notes out. “Imagine the public's reaction to a terrified sixteen year old telling them that she has to do something or they’ll kill her father, it could shatter Ironwoods control entirely.”
The four spent the day simply talking and planning out their trip. Weiss was surprised to find just how much money they had access to when it came time to budgeting for the trip. They were supposed to lead the government on a wild goose chase around the country before Raven picked them up. Once Raven picked them up they would simply disappear from the world at large.
If she added the numbers up her three friends had enough money to keep them in the same lifestyle as before they left. Weiss played around with the information they’d given her, everything she knew of the natura and stared at the screen as Yang drove. Something wasn’t adding up to her, something she was missing.
“How do you have access to this money? I thought the government would watch our accounts.” Weiss said. Blake looked nervous.
“Pseudonym. Specifically Patty Berdioler.” Blake said. Weiss blinked, she had heard that name before but where had it been?
“Are you telling me you wrote Ninjas of Love?” Weiss said. Blake’s nod made her blink in shock. “As a highschooler, that’s fairly impressive.”
“Thank you Weiss.” Blake said. Scrambling over the seats to one of their travel bags she retrieved her drone and began wiping the harddrive. “Writing them wasn’t easy but in the end that money may save our lives.”
Yang switched lanes and merged with the expressway minutes later. The other three going about their own activities, Blake checking over all her surveillance equipment while Weiss sets up a virtual shopping list, making sure to include some things they may need. Ruby was going through a small case in her lap making sure everything was where it needed to be when a small click startled Weiss. In her hand Ruby held a black handgun.
“I have an idea to take advantage of Ironwood's story but you might not like it.” Ruby said while slipping the gun back into its holster. She flicked the case closed and slid it under her seat. “We essentially have free reign right now, we could do anything. Use terrorist attacks to our advantage, stage them anything like that.”
“Ruby that’s-” Yang began.
“Not okay, I know but we don’t have a choice guys, they will kill us if we’re caught.” Ruby ran a hand through her hair. “It really shouldn’t be more than a last resort but it’s an option and right now we have to consider everything.”
“Ruby’s right, Ironwood probably already plans on declaring us part of this terrorist group in the future, anything we can do to prove that wrong we need to.” Blake said. They sat in silence for a while before Blake spoke up. “Ruby next time we stop to pick up food, come with me, bring your gun.”
Yang would pull off the road and into a street side motel hours later. Weiss and Yang worked on some simple plans while Ruby and Blake went out to get some grocery shopping done. After several hours Blake and Ruby would slam the door open and began packing everything up.
“We need to go.” Blake said as she threw her favorite leather jacket on. “Now. We need to go now.”
“What happened?” Yang said as she snatched the truck keys off their hook. “The hell did you do?”
“Ruby pulled her gun on a woman.” Blake said, she practically kicked the door open as she finished. “Which was the idea just didn’t think it’d happen today.”
“Has your father left yet?” Weiss turned to Ruby.
“No but once this hits the news he’ll be gone.” Ruby burst apart and reformed inside the truck, her petals having slipped through the slightly open window. Quickly the four piled in and the truck tore down the road and back to the highway.
“BREAKING! Just twenty minutes ago the four girls missing from Vale were spotted at a grocery store off of a northbound highway.” Lisa appeared on screen, seemingly frantic. “Only Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna were spotted; however the results of this encounter are the important part. A woman had seen them and having noticed no suspicious people around went up to see if she could help, at this point Ruby Rose pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the woman. We have exclusive footage of the incident.”
The footage started playing over the screen. On it two teens, one in a red hoodie and the other in a black one are seen with bundles of plastic bags in hand slowly backing away from a woman standing with her hands in the air. She said something to the pair and the one in the red hoodie turned, her hood falling down and holding a pistol in hand.
“I said leave us alone!” Her voice wavered and her arm was shaking. Even in the footage it was clear her finger wasn't on the trigger. “Please just go.”
“I’m trying to help. Please, maybe we can get the two of you away from all this.”
“No! You can’t, just go!” it was clear to almost anyone that Ruby Rose was scared of something.
“Please ma’am, just go. Don’t risk your own life for us.” the one in the Black hoodie said. “There’s more going on than you know.”
“They’ll kill my dad if we don’t do what they want, leave us alone!” Ruby continued to back up before stowing the gun and bolting. The girl in black on her heels and her own hood falling down. The video cut out and Lisa reappeared on screen.
“As you saw and heard it seems as if the four girls are being threatened into doing as their captors tell them.” Lisa said and her eyes flickered to one screen taking note of what was said. “It seems we have people calling in about today’s latest development. I’ll be talking with the first caller now.”
“Uh, hey, you can hear me?” Lisa gave confirmation and the man sighed. “My names Carlos, I uh, I knew Ruby briefly, I run the gun range she visits in Vale.”
“Gun range? Was ms. Rose a frequent visitor?”
“Yeah, three times a week, girl holds almost all the marksmen records nationally actually. Went to a lot of competitions, anyway, I recognise that gun she’s got, has to be Lumina, her pistol the crimson slide is custom made.” The man continued. “Point is, she knows her way around that thing and she’s good with it, I’ve never seen her so much as twitch while holding it and I have seen her point it at people. The girls scared outta her mind.”
“Thank you sir, that was enlightening.” Lisa smiled at the camera. “I’m glad to know they at least have something to protect themselves with. I’ve got a second caller on the line.”
“Hey, name’s Coco.” There was a distinct cracking sound from the other line. “Listen, Ruby’s pretty young okay, she’s god damn terrified right now. We’re friends so I know it, Ruby has no idea what to do and she’s scared.”
“Thank you ma’am but I’m afraid we’ll have to cut this short.” Lisa looked frantic as she held a hand to her ear. “I’ve just gotten word that police have gone to the Xiao-Long home after the revelation of Ruby Rose’s father being in danger. The man is missing and his home has been left in tatters. The only details I’m getting at the moment are a single note left at the scene.”
“All it says is…” Lisa froze for a moment as the news reached her. “We told you not to say anything.”