Advance
“Clover what can you tell me?” Ironwood said, glancing to his side as he walked. Their base and operations had gone into shambles after Harriet’s broadcast. Protesters outside every installation, funding cuts, news stations blasting them, it made field work nearly impossible.
“It’s been two months of near silence from the four general. We have sightings of Weiss Schnee in six electronic stores and eight junk yards but the timing is nearly impossible.” Clover handed his tablet over to the general as he spoke. “In order for all of these hits to be true they’d need to be going at nearly mach sixty.”
“No augmented has ever reached speeds that high, even Harriet barely crossed mach fifteen.” Ironwood flicked through the slides on each location before handing the tablet back. “The others?”
“Belladonna is the most worrying, she’s been seen with several gang leaders, including being spotted possibly meeting with Adam Taurus at one point.” Clover flicked the screen to show a blurry image of a teen in a black hoodie meeting with a red haired figure who seemed to have horns.
“Gathering forces?”
“No sir, appears to be an exchange. They’re running but to where we have no idea.” Clover passed the tablet to a passing assistant and took a fresh one. “We tracked through their lineages, Ghira and Kali Belladonna for Blake and you're not going to believe this sir, Summer Rose and Raven Branwen.”
“Why weren’t they on our radar years ago? If their parents are two of our most dangerous targets.” Ironwood said, his glare harshening by the second.
“The amount of red tape tied to their names is incredible sir. They must have allies in high places, likely as high as the council.” Clover said, he seemed almost awed. “They may even have stealth agents, people that other augmented don’t know about.”
“We can’t be concerned with that now, focus on what we can do. What information on the energy sample do we have?” Ironwood stopped them by a door leading into a lab.
“It’s incredible sir, all biometrics pick it up as if it was Harriet herself and what’s more the energy has no mass.” Clover swiped his card and led them into the room.
“No mass? In the same way as light?”
“No sir, it has no mass at all. Even pure energy would have some mass but this is just nothing. What’s more it seems to grow the more it interacts with electronics rather than atrophying, however the energy seems tied to Harriet, the rate it naturally decays is constantly increasing.” The two stopped in front of a glass window showing a lab space with a flicker of yellow lightning in a glass case.
“Are you implying that Harriet could be a source of infinite self replicating energy?”
“No sir, I’m saying that she already is.” Clover passed a diagnostic scroll over to Ironwood. “More so it behaves similarly to our understanding of quantum physics.”
“Fancy talk for we have no clue how it works?”
“Right sir. The energy can pass through solid matter, for example it can pass through both glass and lead but lead glass is impenetrable to it.” Clover gestured to the testing area as a sheet of glass was slid into the center of the chamber. The energy passing through as if the glass wasn’t there.
“Find Harriet, if we can make use of this we could solve the world's energy problems.” Ironwood leaned against the railing. “Remember, anything for the good of humanity. Anything.”
“Alright, that should be all I need.” Weiss dropped another pile of scrap in front of her friends. Brushing her plants off she smirked at them. Yang was staring at her.
“Fuck your hot.” Yang said. Weiss froze and Ruby fell off the truck laughing. “I uh, I said that outloud didn’t I? Well, I’m gonna go die.”
Weiss glanced down at herself. She was wearing ripped jeans and a black tank top, her white hoodie tied around her waist. Looking up at Blake all Weiss got was a shrug. She dressed like this all the time, dresses weren’t great for skateboarding, or most of her and Ruby’s hobbies.
“Well anyway. Using this and the knowledge from what I did to the van I think I can rig up the truck to be a little faster.” Weiss smirked as Ruby’s head shot up over the side of the truck. “It’ll never be as good as Ruby’s speed, the van didn’t go invisible but I think I can get it faster than sound.”
“If you manage that Ruby is to never drive. I barely trust her behind the wheel as is.” Blake said. The cat faunus glanced over her shoulder to see Ruby pouting. “Aw come on Rosebush, you know I love you.”
“How fast do you think you can get it Weiss?” Ruby said, leaning against the side of the truck bed, several rose petals still hovering in the air.
“Her maximum speed without the petals is mach ten right?” Weiss said. Ruby nodded. “Then no faster than mach five, I need to isolate your speed from everything else in your DNA for it to work at all.”
“Need more blood samples?” Ruby said, Weiss shook her head. As far as she knew she had enough. “Great, I’m going to go check the incoming channels.”
Ruby vanished into the trailer and Weiss turned back to Blake. The two talked briefly about what Weiss would need to do to the truck and Blake set to work breaking down what Weiss needed removed. Weiss started to wield and assemble parts before pausing.
“Hey Blake, does Ruby know about you meeting with Taurus?” Blake leaned back out from under the hood of the truck. “I just- I know there were some issues with him years ago so I’m worried.”
“Thanks for worrying Weiss but we’re over that. He knows about natura now.” Blake leaned against the frame as she thought it over. “Once he found out what I am he got it and tried to find me to apologize. I couldn’t join the White Fang the way he did, couldn’t put a target on my back, he gets that now.”
“Did he say anything about Ruby?”
“Asked if I finally got with the cute little redhead I couldn’t keep my eyes off.” Blake said with a smirk. “Don’t tell Ruby I’m meeting him, it’s for a surprise for her. Since we missed out on prom and all that.”
“Right, could you tell me what’s up with Yang too?”
“Not a clue, girl may be my best friend but I have no idea what’s going on in her head.” Blake said. She then cursed as a spray of oil hit her in the face. “God fucking hell! Weiss! This is why we wear work clothes!”
“No, that’s why you don’t touch the oil lines.” Weiss paused. “Actually, oil won't work out well so we need to flush those lines. The truck will need a specialty lubricant, preferably something military grade or better.”
“I’m sorry, are you saying we need to rob a military base?”
“Well if you're robbing the military you may as well steal an entire jet.”
“I’ll talk to Ruby, see what we can do.” Blake slammed the hood of the truck down and turned to walk away.
“Right, steal a jet. I’m kidding Blake-” Weiss looked up to find the other girl gone. “Blake? Oh no.”
“Rosebush, I’m a little concerned that you put less planning into this than your own murder.” Blake leaned back, making sure to stay within the shadow of the tree. She and Ruby had com e out under cover of darkness to steal a jet for Weiss, something Blake was sure was a joke on their friends' part. “You brought the disrupter?”
“Of course I did.” Ruby grinned at her. Blake had a sneaking suspicion that Ruby would enjoy this far more than she should. “So let’s go, get in, get a jet and take off.”
“And if we need to fight?”
“This is military, they know about the natura.” Ruby lifted a bandanna up over her face and flicked her hood on. Blake did the same and the two of them sat in silence for a moment. “Blake, if things get dicey.”
“You won't be able to talk, I know Rosebush.” Blake watched a truck enter the compound. “You ready?”
“On three.” Ruby placed a hand on Blake’s shoulder. The two crouched and got ready to rush forward. “One.” The gate began to open. “Two.” The truck started to pull in. “Three.” the gate started closing and they blasted forward. They reformed and Ruby winked at her before pushing them apart. A tank round wizzed between them.
“You got this.” Blake said, Ruby nodded and turned to lead the personnel away. Blake vanished into a shadow, a perfect clone of her left behind. Turning on her heel Blake ran deeper into the compound, she needed to find a jet and fast. Blake brought a hand to her ear. “Did Weiss say she has any preferences?”
“She doesn’t even think we’re here. Hey what the fuck? Boob shots, real mature.” Blake paused at the sound of gunshots coming through the headset. There was a distinct sound of running. “So as it turns out, their armor can take hits from me.”
“Do what you need to Ruby.” Blake rounded a corner, briefly flashing back to visibility as her previous clone was destroyed. Blake slipped into a hanger and paused. Sitting in front of her was something unexpected. What appeared to be a Blackbird sat in the middle of the room. “Found it Ruby, give me an opening!”
All Blake heard over their comms was a deep animalistic growl and the sound of paws impacting the ground. Taking a running start she launched up and on top of the jet. Slinging her bag around she planted a small device on the side of the jet, moments later the cockpit popped open.
“Jackpot.” climbing in Blake left it open and set about preparing it for take off. Planting a device over the controls she took a deep breath. “Hope Weiss is right about metaphysical spiritual links.”
“Blake Belladonna and an unknown partner in crime have recently stolen an experimental Blackbird stealth jet from a secure military base.” Lisa Lavender appeared on screen. “This is a major detachment from their previous auctions and it's their first true public action. Some have taken to saying this is signs that Blake Belladonna has joined the terrorist group.”
“This is an odd event.” A man beside her spoke. “You mean to tell me a pair of people broke into a secure military base and stole an experimental jet. How? Just how could two people alone manage that? And what’s with the reports of some kind of beast?”
“There certainly are oddities within-” The screen flickered off.
“I want to know what they did and how they did it.” Ironwood slammed his hands on the table in front of him. “The Blackbird was going to be the leading stealth vehicle in future augmented searches.”
“It appears they ran in when an authorized vehicle entered.” Clover flicked something onto the central projector in the room. “Rose kept the guards distracted while Belladonna snuck off without anyone noticing due to her powers. Once they were in the air they just vanished, sonar, thermal everything went down even the trackers.”
“What are they planning to do with such a high profile jet though? They can’t pilot it around.” Marrow narrowed his eyes at the screen recording of the fight. “Does anyone have any idea?”
“One, and it is quite likely the worst case.” Vine lightly drummed his fingers on the table. “The Blackbird is the cutting edge of stealth and aviation technology today, the fastest and most undetectable jet in the world. Paired with whatever they used to hide their van.”
“They’ll have faster than sound undetectable vehicles.” Clover swiped at the screen. “That would make any non-ambush style attack nearly impossible.”
“We need to find them, before they manage to integrate any of that technology.” Ironwood watched the footage. “Send this down to analysis. We need to know how Rose has more than one transformation trait.”
“You know something Runner, this isn’t a great hiding place.” Harriet Whipped around with her pistol out, lightning climbing her arm. In the doorway to her dingy little motel room stood a tall woman dressed in reds and blacks. On her face she wore a bone white mask. “It was far far too easy to track you down.”
“Who are you?” Harriet kept the weapon drawn, not trusting the woman for simply knowing her guide name. She knew she could likely outrun this woman, only one other natura could outpace her. “What do you want?”
“You likely know me as Nevermore.” Harriet’s breath hitched at the name. “What I want is more complicated. You, I want you.”
“What for your little hide away? So I can just slink into the shadows and disappear like you?” Harriet scoffed at the woman. “No, I have one last mission and i will not abandon it.”
“You’ll need better than a handgun. We can’t supply anything like the works my daughter and her group can make but we can come up with something.” The woman drew her blade and slashed it through the open air. “Come, we will complete your mission.”
“Why should i trust you?”
“Because Runner, your mission is to protect my daughters. There is no one you should trust more.” The woman reached up to remove her mask, her face nearly identical to Yang Xiao-Long’s and her hair just as dark as Ruby Rose. “Come, there are others we need to meet.”
Harriet slowly stepped over to the portal, reaching out with one hand until she made contact. Once she confirmed it was safe she gathered her few belongings and stepped in front of it again. Glancing to the side at Nevermore she took a breath.
“You know, you're on the top of Ironwood’s wanted list?”
“Oh Runner, why do you think I wasn’t there the day he targeted my children.”