The Knights Errant

[Guilop]

So the teams still fight, but under completely different circumstances. I wonder how long it'll take them to figure out that their enemies don't seem all that piratey and they probably aren`t the people they`re looking for.

 

[Zam]

So the teams still fight, but under completely different circumstances. I wonder how long it'll take them to figure out that their enemies don't seem all that piratey and they probably aren`t the people they`re looking for.

Click to shrink...

Quite so, and very different indeed, this time they're all fighting like their lives depend on it. It shouldn't take too long, just enough time for a hopefully cool action scene or two

 

[Zam]

Pirate Signals - Chapter 8:
First Impressions​

It barely took a moment for the field to descend into the anarchy of battle.

It was a familiar situation, one Blake took to with human opponents even more readily than she did Grimm. A boom rang out behind her, as Ruby and Yang clashed with an orange blur and rifle fire poured at them from the tower.

'Take out their support, wear down the stronger fighters with numbers,' she thought. Old lessons but no less true.

Launching herself from her afterimage, Blake flashed towards the pink haired gunner by the door. Gambol Shroud blurred through the air deflecting and bisecting bullets. His eyes widened in fear as she bore down upon him, 'A novice-'

In a flash of green and purple, a fighter shot in the air with an electric buzz. Bouncing off the door frame she flipped through the air and thrust her hover board forward with a double kick.

Meeting the strike with Gambol Shroud's cleaver Blake grunted. 'One arm versus two legs, bad combination,' she thought.

Before Blake could retreat, the whine of the hover board rose. There was a chuckle, before a blast of Aura sent her flying back. Blake barely forced herself upright with another afterimage and found herself battering away another wave of bullets as the green and purple girl rushed to meet her.

'This might, be harder than I thought,' Blake thought as she skidded away from her foes, her slide throwing up dirt and grass.

__________________________________

The Red one was charging him, Bolin barely had a second to prepare himself as he brought his staff up to his side. His body lightened when he was struck by her war scythe's blade and he was sent flying by the massive grinding hunk of metal. The world blurred and tumbled around him. Bolin threw himself into a spin and let his Aura bloat and his hectic spin came to a smashing halt as he slammed into the earth.

Pulling her scythe up, she yanked back the trigger and with a clamorous bang unloaded a round at him. Bolin met the first with his staff, feeling the bullet clap against his Aura infused weapon, he slammed it aside and it crashed into the ground making a crater, 'Strong shots!'

Something hot was coming up above, every instinct cried out, 'Move!' Bolin felt his Aura flicker as he dived. A glowing ball of gold and fire slammed into the ground where he'd stood, the roar of her attack and the exploding earth, second to the force of the shock-wave she sent up.

Slamming his staff into the ground, Bolin flipped over another bullet and watched as the golden fighter bared down on him like a Boarbtusk.

He couldn't help the nervous gulp.

_____________________________________

Weiss conjured a line of Glyphs before herself and skated forward, Myrtenaster drawn back as she charged. The platinum blonde fist fighter, slipped something silver from her wide golden sleeves and met Weiss's blurred thrust with the butt of her dagger.

The air cracked form the force of their strikes, 'It's like hitting Yang!' Weiss realised as her teeth vibrated in her skull.

Blazing forward, the woman attacked her in a wide slash. Dragging herself back a step, Weiss could sense the woman charging her, torso and arms hanging low like she was some kind of lion going in for a pounce.

Smirking, Weiss fell into a defensive stance, daring the blonde to attack. 'Perfect!' She thought at the woman's strike, faster than Yang's, but not fast enough. Weiss slammed her hands together and conjured a massive black Glyph. Crashing against its surface the blonde was thrown back, hopping along the ground to take her distance and-

'Too controlled, she's gauging me,' Weiss thought. Holding her left hand out as if asking for a dance Weiss beckoned her foe to her, or so it would look. Behind the knife fighter a dozen Glyphs sprung, their high trill the only thing that alerted her to the rubble Weiss was launching at her at the speed of gunfire.

The blonde ducked below the first wave and flipped her way around the second. As more and more debris flew towards her she began redirecting them with cupped palms and sweeping kicks.

Dancing her way around the redirected rubble, Weiss pointed two fingers skyward and summoned another Glyph below her foe. The woman tried to flip out of its grasp, but the gravity pulse sent her floating up beyond what martial arts could compensate for.

'Just like Yang, don't get close or you're done,' Weiss reminded herself. Halting her charge, Weiss jumped up, still well away from the woman and thrust Myrtenaster forward. The Gust Dust within whirled as a dense tornado began to form-

Something silver glinted in the air and Weiss felt something pointed dig into her heel, 'No!'. The binding around her ankle tightened and a violent, dragging force, sent her flicking like she was the tip of a whip. There was a mighty snap as her Glyphs and tornado broke from the force and Weiss felt the world surge past her as she was dragged downward, trapped in a wind tunnel of force.

Then a golden blur tore through the air.

__________________________________

Arslan had been watching the other fights as best she could. Reese and Nadir were keeping pace, with the dark haired woman thanks to their tag team, maybe even pushing her back. Bolin was being overwhelmed though, the red scythe wielder and the blonde together had kept him running until she'd swept the fencer up.

Now, Bolin was just fending off the red one; alternating his defence between light as a feather, and dense as a boulder, he could fend her off, but Arslan could tell whose stamina would flag first.

'And now the strongest comes to me,' she thought, at the blazing figure slamming into the ground before her. The blondes strike drove Arslan's bindings into the ground, breaking her momentum and letting her target escape.

"Go help Blake!" She ordered, looking at Arslan with barely concealed excitement, eyes shining red and white teeth bared in a snarl as she dug her boots into the ground and lunged forward.

Arslan's focus wavered a moment, something about the woman's motion looked wrong, like she was unused to it, but still practised. She didn't have another moment more to think though, as the blonde rushed her with a searing right hook.

Arslan leaned out of the way of the blow, legs skirting back to keep balance. 'Strong!' She thought, looking at the swollen muscles and the woman's furious, pulsating Aura. She whipped her right arm back, bringing her knife to her, as the blonde ducked and weaved closer, with her guard up.

'Don't give up the momentum,' Arslan cursed herself, kicking off to the side and making a swipe for her foes red eyes.

The woman brought an arm up to guard but tensed from the strike, 'Is she not used to blows like this?' Arslan wondered.

Flaring her Aura, the heat rose and her foe threw herself away from the attack, kicked off from the ground as she turned to face Arslan again and pulled out her own knife.

Arslan flicked her rope dart back into her sleeve and withdrew her dagger before rushing at the blonde. Meeting her charge, they lunged forward, knees crashing together with enough force that the air roared and the ground rumbled as it was torn up.

'Powerful!' Arslan thought. Her heart beat faster, her blood was flowing and her core flared excitedly, Aura coiling out from within faster and faster.

Not wasting a second, they both lashed out, knives crashing together with a metallic clang that rang out across the battlefield. Teeth bared, the woman growled at Arslan as she tried to push forward with her dagger, even as she drew her left arm back. Muscles bound tight like wire Arslan jammed the hilt of her dagger into the woman's fingers, even as it offered her foe leverage.

With a shout, the blonde unleashed her strike.

Arslan's left hand shot out, her palm crashed against the side of the woman's fist; half spinning around her foe, throwing the woman off balance. The momentary slackening of grip was all she needed. Arslan spun her dagger in her hand and slammed the guard against the blade of her attacker and sent the knife flying from her hand.

'Good, but basic,' Arslan thought as she spiralled around the flaming blonde. Lashing out with a kick she was met with the red eyed warrior slamming one foot into the ground, and spinning her torso to meet her kick with arm.

The shock wave they unleashed, rippled through the earth, but the swift desperation of their blows robbed the strikes of their full potential. Tensing Arslan pushed in deeper against the blonde and used her as a springboard to kick away.

Sliding back along the earth, the woman sent her a smirk as she came to a halt and dropped her guard entirely. With a slash of her arms her Aura surged and writhed around her in golden fire.

'She wants this too,' Arslan thought, her body straining against itself as her muscles shook and swelled. Drawing herself back Arslan sent the woman a toothy grin and rushed forward, arms drawn back, no defence to speak of, just pure momentum, pure power.

'Or so I'd like,' a tiny voice reminded her as she saw her team struggling off to the side. 'I need you gone for a moment, please oblige me warrior.'

Squeezing her core Arslan sent a massive pulse of Aura into her right arm as she rushed to meet the blonde. Their feet slammed against the ground and she tightened it, compacted it, until it was a roiling mass of concentrated power ready to burst from her insides. Their fist's flew towards each-other and Arslan shouted, "Jump!" a mere instant before they crashed together.

The sound rang out like an avalanche, red and gold flashed through the air in a massive wave and the ground surged in every direction. Her own team had just scarcely braced for it, her foes, had not, and were off balance.

Her foe came in for a furious left punch, Arslan leaned back and hooked her foot around the blonde's own and yanked her feet out from under her. The red eyed fighter's strike glanced over her shoulder and stung her Aura, but Arslan dropped low, before her opponent could try to grab her. Just as the woman above her flipped in the air, Arslan shot up. Delivering a double palmed shock-wave strike to the woman's chest, Arslan heard her gasp as she was sent rocketing into the sky.

"Yang!" The red scythe wielder shouted.

'Yang, a good name,' Arslan thought as she rushed to join her team, the fire inside her surging and clawing for escape.

_______________________________________

The moment Yang was sent hurtling into the sky the tide of battle swung the other way. Ruby's brief moment of fear was capitalised on by her opponent. The staff wielder lashed out with an audible cheer. She didn't think to dodge, instead blocking his overhead swing. Only to feel her knees buckle and the ground gave way as her feet sunk into the dirt from the sheer weight of his strike.

'Weight manipulation, gravity control, he has to have something like that!' Ruby realised. A swirl of rose petals burst around her as though caught in a swirling wind. Yet, even the extra force of her Semblance only let her old his strike in place instead of free, while he used his greater leverage to press down against Crescent Rose.

Ruby couldn't see what Blake was doing, but she saw Weiss try to block the blonde's strike with a Glyph only for the shock wave to send her hurtling back. The blonde looked staggered, but charged after Weiss.

'She's taking out our most dangerous!' Ruby realised, eyes widening in horror. She and Blake were strong, but they could be fragile and worn down more easily than Yang ever could. And while softer than any of them, Weiss's Glyphs meant she could make any of them hit as hard as Yang and turn Yang into an avatar of destruction. 'This is different from fighting Grimm or just one guy,' Ruby thought, her insides cold at the thought.

Catching the cocky glint in her foes eyes, Ruby squeezed Crescent Rose tighter for just a moment, a silent apology ringing in her mind before she let her weapon go. The man surged down but without his weight pressing down on her. Ruby's Aura swirled and she exploded from the ground in a shower of dirt and grass.

She came to a skidding halt at the other end of the clearing, the boy was reaching for Crescent Rose, trying to keep her weapon from her when she charged back.

'That won't be enough,' Ruby thought, dropping into a sprinters stance, cape flaring and petals swirling behind her. She caught sight of Blake from the corner of her eyes, using after images to stay ahead of her foes, but the Faunus's stamina was draining under their combined assault. Any attempt to strike was blocked and met with another attack, any dodge was followed by a wave of gun fire.

Her silver eyes widened as she caught the blondes' olive eyes land on hers and the woman shouted, "Bolin!" even as she slid and weaved her way around Weiss's Glyphs defences, when she wasn't just smashing through them.

'Bolin' braced, holding Crescent Rose and his staff in a cross guard, the ground sinking under his weight.

Ruby smirked, as she flared her Aura, a wave of force flowing through her, Ruby shot forward towards him- then broke off, going for Blake.

_______________________________

Flipping out of the way of another hover-board sweep attack, Blake tried to deflect the next stream of bullets, eyes flashing across the battlefield. Ginger and Escuo had fled for the tower the moment their bike was hurled away. Weiss was being overwhelmed by the blondes' mix of flexibility and strength, Yang was straight up gone and Ruby-

A red blur swept under the gunner boys legs and sent him hurtling into the air. Ruby skidded to a halt at her side, hands dragging in the ground and she said, "Crescent R-"

"Got it," Blake said.

The blonde lashed out with a rope dart and dragged the pink-haired gunner to her side, even as she and the staff wielder went for Weiss as the evident leader ordered her fighters to, "Fall in!"

Ruby at her side, Blake shot forward, cleaver drawn back as they bypassed the hover boarder and the gunner was still trying to roll to his feet.

Turning to face them the blonde lashed out with a fireball that sent Ruby leaping off course to dodge as the tore into the ground.

'Damn,' Blake hissed, as she launched herself forward with an after image anyway. She stopped above the blonde and slammed her blade into the woman's dagger with a loud crash. Spying her target, Blake launched herself backwards and unleashed Gambol Shroud's ribbon-bound gun. The blonde unleashed a hot shock-wave that thrashed against her skin and sent Blake into the air.

Eyes half closed as she flew back, Blake managed to snap her bindings around Crescent Rose while Ruby swerved into the melee and skidded out with Weiss. The former heiress conjured a flickering Glyph below her foe's feet that left them staggered for just a moment.

'All I need,' Blake thought, yanking Crescent Rose away from of its jailer.

Not even waiting, Ruby jumped into the air and grasped it, tugging Blake back down to where her side where they took up defensive stances.

'Just in time,' she thought as the four person team before them came together in a tightly bound defensive formation and a loud burning hit their ears as something dropped from the… sky.

Yang slammed into the ground bare metres behind with a savage roar as she spat out a, "Guys!"

"We're OK!" Ruby shouted as the now flame shrouded Yang jumped to her side.

Each one of them leaned forward and readied to charge, their foes bracing for what was to come; a "Round two," was muttered just as they rushed forward as one and-

"They're Hunters!" Escuo shouted.

"They're Hunters! Ginger bellowed.

"You're all Hunters!" they cried together, waving their arms from behind the towers walls.

"What!?" Ruby and Weiss screamed as they staggered forward, practically tripping over each other. Yang skidded to a halt, the pink gunner literally fell on his backside and started panting. He accidentally hit the staff wielder, leaving the man staggering back, cursing under his breath as he looked around blushing.

Blake shot back as the hover boarder tried to undo her aerial swipe at her, only to end up falling from her board onto their leader woman's back with an "Eek!" Their leader was looking at Yang with wide eyes, a half formed defence made as the two twitched, as if trying to hold back from striking each other anyway.

Slowly, each of the eight Hunters turned to the hiding duo and mutually said, "What?"
___________________________________________________________________

'Well... This is awkward,' Ruby thought.

After being interrupted mid-fight, the blonde lady with the rope dart and fireballs, 'Arslan, I think?' Ruby thought, had ordered her team to inspect the tower and they'd revealed a wounded man in Haven Academy equipment.

Now the two teams sat opposite each other on the pockmarked ground, with about a metre of dirt between them. Ginger and Escuo were off to the side, nervously rubbing their hands together while the unconscious person was behind the team of Hunters.

A line of eight eyes seemed to bore into Ruby and her friends, all of them wary and suspicious. 'Can't we all just get along?' She wanted to say, or maybe more squeak. Glancing at her own team however... Ruby figured that wouldn't help much. Blake was impossible to read and impassive, Weiss looked very suspicious as she practically squinted at the other Hunters, and Yang was twitching with unspent energy and annoyance.

"So," the blonde woman said, her voice was rough and tight, like she smoked a lot, Ruby thought. "You are a team of Huntresses? I've not seen you at Haven and neither Beacon nor Atlas students traditionally cross the sea."

'OK this could already be going better!' Ruby thought, hoping against hope-

"Yeah, we're Huntresses," Yang snorted as she folded her arms and glowered. "We were hired by Shorelight to look into some strong fighters who've been making a mess of the local CCT Support Tower, which you guys were messing with. Don't suppose you have any credentials, other than some guy who could be a hostage, do you?"

'OK this could be going way, way better!' Ruby silently screamed. She tried to send the other Hunters a smile that they hopefully wouldn't find threatening. The only one who didn't frown back was the green haired girl, who was rocking her weapon on her lap. Ruby's eyes trailed over the Hover boards Black metal frame and Dust-layered infusion core that turned into dual revolvers. 'What was I thinking about again?'

"Being hired by locals is an easy thing to claim," The blonde said, before pulling out her Scroll. "Credentials however, are much harder to fabricate." Pressing a button on her Scroll it projected an image of her with the name 'Arslan Altan' next to it along with the symbol of Haven Academy. Below it, was a profile that included information such as, 'second year' and 'Leader of team ABRN' accompanied by smaller pictures of her team.

"Well, hehe," Yang stalled as she tapped her hip pouches, "We aren't really tied to any academy, more freelancers."

That got several arched eyebrows and a muttered, "Unaffiliated Huntresses."

Then the staff wielder leaned in next to his leader and whispered something.

"Freelancer Huntresses," Arslan started, before pointing at Weiss, "and the 'missing' Schnee Heiress?" Her eyes seemed to hover on Blake for a moment before she said, "Quite eclectic company."

"Well you can be assured that I am Weiss Schnee," Weiss said.

"I seriously love your music," The hover boarder said, seemingly losing interest in their teams staring contest.

Ruby decided she liked the hover boarder, and added, "I know, great isn't it?!"

Before they could get off track however, Weiss coughed into her fist and muttered a 'thank you', before continuing. "So, we all know who we are then? I feel it's our turn to ask a question, what are you doing out here? Or more to the point, why has it taken Mistral so long to respond to this deplorable situation?"

Arslan seemed to bristle at the comment before answering, "I don't assign missions, just complete them. And I think the question of what your intents out here were, is still an important one, you may be a recognisable face but what is your situation, and your... company?"

"Are you trying to implying something there?" Blake said tightly, her face hidden behind her cloaks hood.

"Was something implied with that remark about Haven?" Arslan shot back. "We came to investigate the tower because of the low level of contact received from this sector. What are you doing out here with a missing person?"

"I've been declared missing?" Weiss asked, anger momentarily forgotten.

"Or dead," The green haired girl said disinterestedly, pulling her lime backpack from her back and into her lap.

"Look, you can ask Escuo and Ginger over there," Ruby said, gesturing to the two natives. "We agreed to escort them here so they could fix the tower and call for help against these pirates that have been ruining things here."

"Escuo and Ginger were registered names on the tower's volunteer repair list," The girl cut in again. There was a crinkling plastic sound that twigged Ruby's ears. She looked at the hover boarder and grinned as she pulled free a bag of marshmallows, a little squashed but so fluffy.

"Really, Reese?" Arslan seemed to sigh, harsh presence ruined as her smaller team mate popped the bag open.

"I was hungry," She said simply.

"You brought marshmallows, can I have one?" Ruby asked.

"If you made that Sniper Scythe of yours, we can split the bag," She said with wink.

"I did!" Ruby said, as they began shuffling closer together under the watchful eyes of their team mates. "I named her Crescent Rose, and how about that hover board of yours, you had to have made that, right?"

"You can tell?" Reese asked.

"Oh of course, one designer to another, that personal tender love and care just shows," Ruby said as she popped a fluffy white marshmallow into her mouth and absorbed the squishy sweet flavour.

"So," Yang said with a broad clap of her hands, "This was all just a misunderstanding. We thought you might be the pirates, and I guess you guys assumed we were some kinda crooked as well?" Yang asked.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose Arslan said, "That appears to be the case. I thought you were connected to the ones that shot our airship out of the sky, coming to make sure we couldn't repair the tower."

"Which," Escuo said, coughing a little as he raised his hand as if in a classroom. "Which we still can't fix," he sighed. "We got a look inside and it's stripped bare. The supplies we brought just... aren't enough from the looks of things, I thought they'd just turned it off or broke some wiring, but this is beyond us I'm afraid."

"Yeah, they were really rough on it," Reese garbled out through a full mouth.

"Reese," Arslan muttered.

"But," she gulped down her mouthful, "They were pretty good at doing what they needed. With the alterations they made and the supplies we have there's no fixing it now, not without more stuff."

"Great, just great," the pink-haired gunner grumbled, his voice rising higher as he said, "So what are we meant to do now?!"

"Nadir, calm down," Arslan ordered blandly. "We'll take time to recuperate and come up with a plan to deal with the perpetrators of these attacks, or a means to inform Mistral."

"Yeah this whole mission looks like a mulligan now," Yang said, running her hands through her hair. "Unless those pirates are kind enough to swing by and let us shoot-em out of the sky our ships not going to be getting repairs for a while and we don't exactly have a Support Tower in our pockets."

"We could destroy the faux signal the tower is sending out so Mistral knows it's down, but that could alert the pirates, as I doubt they wouldn't have set up fail-safes," Arslan said.

"And even on a good week it can take far too long for the kingdoms to respond to a downed tower," Blake added.

"Guys," Ruby said, "You have to try some of these, Reese has like three bags full, and after that fight, I bet we're all hungry."

"These are the extra weight ones as well," Reese said, squeezing one in her fingers. "They have at least three times the amount of kilos and energy as a normal marshmallow, they're real good for getting back energy."

Shrugging Weiss said, "People do think better on full stomachs."

"Well, I mean, if you are offering," the staff wielder said, grinning as he scooched closer.

"You know these would be even better if they were cooked," Escuo murmured as he plucked one up.

Yang bristled, sliding back past Blake and clutching her hair protectively. "Oh no, I am not letting you guys get marshmallow gunk in my hair again!"

"It was just once," Blake muttered.

Sighing Arslan squatted down next to the now much tighter circle, the pink gunner at her side. She held her palm out and with a tiny pulse of Aura conjured a small, but very hot flame.

As Ruby and Reese united their brilliant engineering skills to turn several sticks into cooking implements and Yang slowly slipped back into the group with a wary Blake at her side, Arslan said, "Try not to get goop on my hands."

_______________________________________________________________

In the end, the decision was a fairly simple one. Without the ability to fix the CCT Support Tower there was no reason to stay there. Especially not with the lingering possibility that a large Grimm might be rallying its kind to retake the spot. A truce was brokered between the Knights Errant and ABRN of Haven, and they all agreed to regroup in Shorelight for rest and to ensure at least one towns safety.

Escuo and Ginger were understandably glum despite their brief spot of activity during 'lunch'. The only highlight being that, with Yang and Reese, they'd been able to jump start the bike so they could ride back instead of walking.

"All right, we need to assign positions for the travel to Shorelight, Escuo, Ginger and Crim need to be guarded in the centre, yes?" Arslan said, half lidded eyes taking in Weiss's raised hand.

"Blake and I would be happy to carry your pilot, to make up for putting him in danger earlier," Weiss said cheerily.

"We're still pretty worn out from the fight as well, and the less said about our ammo situation the better," Blake added.

"I see, thank you," Arslan said simply, stepping back and letting the monochrome duo, gather up the stretcher.

"Ruby and I can take the lead," Yang said with a wave.

"I'd prefer Bolin or myself be up there as well," Arslan said, gesturing towards Ruby, "Would you mind taking up the rear-guard? With your sniper rifle you can offer excellent supporting fire."

"No problem, Reese wanna join me? I still wanna ask about recoil combat mechanics," Ruby said cheerily.

"I am so up for that," Reese said, kicking off from the dirt and swerving up to Ruby with a grin on her face.

With all the subtly of a particularly eager horn dog Bolin shouted, "I'll take up the front with Yang if no one minds!"

Yang chuckled and rolled her eyes at the boys' behaviour before shrugging and saying, "Hey I'm easy."

'OK, I know that was intentional,' Blake thought. She could feel Arslan's eyes raking across the formation.

Finally the blonde said, "Nadir and I are in the middle then, if we're all prepared, let's go."

_____________________________________________________________________________
The forest hadn't changed much in the half an hour since she'd last traversed it, Yang decided. The loose path they'd cut with the bike was still noticeable, and made for easy walking, through the twisting over hanging trees of the hill, that would soon give way to the flatter wetlands.

'Of course, at the rate we're going it will be night before we get back, even if we jog all the way,' Yang thought.

Despite his earlier looks, the bo-staff wielder was keeping his mind on task as they kept to the front. If, perhaps, walking with more swagger than was strictly necessary. Not that Yang couldn't respect a show of confidence, the boy clearly wanted a fight, maybe just for his pride, maybe for fun, or to show off.

Whatever the case, she was getting bored and with eight fighters, even if Blake and Weiss were on support, she doubt there was much that could threaten them that they wouldn't see coming a mile away. With that in mind she opted to do some digging, sending Bolin a friendly grin and motioned back to their teams with her eyes she spoke, "So, your team always so cheery?"

Chuckling he said, "Reese, yeah, just don't get her mad or she'll have a tantrum. Nadir is just one of those nervous types, though he's more fun back on campus, and Arslan's kinda always serious. Plus, she's probably a bit worried about Crim." He looked back and frowned as his eyes fell on their pilot.

"Did you guys know him well?" Yang asked softly.

"No, first time meeting him today," Bolin said, jamming his staff into the ground as he hopped over a mud pocket. "But Arslan takes her job as leader and the whole 'guardian'," he finger quoted, "role of Huntresses really seriously."

"Well there's worse things to be than a worry wort," Yang said, trying to drag some levity back to her temporary partner.

Smirking Bolin whispered, "Heh, give her time and she'll be on all of you about getting enough sleep and eating healthy foods."

Yang threw back her head and let out a barking laugh at that.

"So how about you guys, how'd two Vale girls end up with a runaway heiress and lady mysterious back there? I mean come on, there's got to be a good story behind that," Bolin asked, sending her a lopsided grin.

"Oh it's quite a tale, but its one's you should be asking them though," Yang said. Hearing his 'aw' of disappointment, she continued, "I could tell you about how we rode on a Nevermore's back and crashed it, if you're interested."

"I am all ears."

____________________________________________________________________

Weiss flexed her fingers around the handles of the stretcher she was holding behind her. The hill had given way to wide open wetlands with only clusters of forested areas and masses of tall grass that could provide cover for the Grimm. 'I'm glad we killed our way through the weaker ones on our way here,' Weiss thought.

The ground squished under her heels and Weiss failed to repress a Grimace as she tried to keep the stretcher stable, forever grateful her heels kept the sludge out. All things considered, save for the unconscious man in the stretcher, she couldn't deny feeling jealous of everyone else in their little convoy.

'Yang and Ruby, chatting up a storm. Blake's in some kind of 'who's the most taciturn contest' and Escuo and Ginger at least have the bike' She thought. The hover bike itself was by no means a quiet beast. Whirring at her side, the air it radiated chilling Weiss's ankles and making her skirt flutter.

Taking a moment to glance at Nadir, Weiss watched the boys's eyes as they tried to shift in every direction at once. He clutched his rifle tightly, there was a faint clicking, jostling, every few seconds like he thought they were about to be attacked then thought better of it.

'How did someone so nervous not get blown out of the water by Blake in a few seconds?' Weiss wondered. She'd had enough training on reading people to pick up on mood, even if Yang insisted she needed to 'work on it', and she could tell the boy was a ball of nerves and broody tension.

'Speaking of which,' Weiss thought as her eyes trailed over Ginger and Escuo. The duo had a sorrowful set of expressions, eye tight with worry, and bodies rigid as they guided the bike across the planes. Truly, a stark contrast to their nervous enthusiasm from before.

'But then who can blame them? No tower, no transport, no plan!' Weiss thought. She sucked in a deep breath of muggy air and seethed; it had been months since she'd felt so helpless, so... useless.

Shaking her head, Weiss felt her side-tail whip through the air, 'OK, if no one else is going to say anything I'll just have to,' she thought. 'Distractions, distractions, distractions... Well now why didn't I think of that before!?'

Looking to the left, Weiss locked eyes with Nadir for a moment and spoke. "Nadir, with these dreadful state of affairs, I'm sure you can guess that little in the way of news is making its way to places such as Shorelight. I don't suppose there's anything of interest you might know?" Hopefully something that would lift some spirits given how broody her section of the convoy seemed to be. Weiss couldn't make out the clipped conversation sparking between Blake and Arslan which seemed to be half growls, but she could only guess it wasn't friendly. Some good news, any news, would be a nice distraction at any rate.

"Oh, uh," Nadir stammered as her, Escuo and Gingers eyes all fell on him. It almost felt cruel to shove him into the spotlight Weiss felt. He rallied though and said, "Well, the Vytal Festival's coming up to Vale, if we get back from this, our team is actually slated to compete as well."

Brushing past his pessimism, Weiss smiled and said, "That's quite an accomplishment, I hadn't even thought about that,but I guess it is drawing near. Do you know the other Haven Teams competing?"

"Some of them," he said, tone lightening as he seemingly came to be distracted. "We kind of hang out with team SSSN sometimes, most of the others are fourth years. Arslan's also been scoping out team CNEM since we don't share classes with them; they're scholarship students or transfers," he added rolling his lips uncertainly. "Or something like that, but they're good, though uh, not the most talkative. I think they come from outside Mistral." His eyes flew to Escuo and Ginger and he mumbled, "Not that people from outside the kingdoms aren't social or anything!"

The chuckle that Ginger let out was a relief, and Weiss could practically feel the mood lighten. That was when she heard her name being muttered by Blake, turning her head back she asked, "What are you two whispering about back there?"
_______________________________________________________________________

Blake could smell the tension in the air. It wasn't coming from Ruby or Reese, those two were nothing but smiles, confusing lingo and jargon. Bolin and Yang were, Blake sniffed the air as the wind changed. 'They're calm enough, ready for a fight, but hardly off,' she thought. Comparatively Escuo and Ginger were obviously worried, but Blake lacked the experience to offer them anything, though Weiss was trying to engage them.

As for the remaining two members of ABRN, Nadir was on the left side of the bike, gun up and clearly nervous, not tense, just worried. She'd seen his like in the White Fang, in the heat of combat they could fall back on training, but outside of it, there was simply too much to think about and it was far too easy for their nerves to consume them.

'As for Arslan,' Blake thought, turning her amber gaze towards the Huntress, 'She's tense.' It wouldn't be easy to tell, under the thick robes or her smooth motions, but hidden from human senses was the scent of boiling frustration. Her eyes scanned the wetlands, her team, ears twitching at every silence from her teammates, while she glanced over Crim and then Weiss, before settling on her again.

"I'm not going to hurt him you know," Blake whispered.

Arching an eyebrow at her, Arslan kept her voice low as she said, "He is my responsibility, regardless of age, I am simply keeping watch."

"So you expect me to believe you didn't notice?" Blake asked, twitching her ears under her hood.

"That we're kin?" she asked with a smoky chuckle.

Glowering Blake said, "Don't be coy."

Snorting, Arslan rolled her shoulders and said, "I heard your name, and your fighting style matches the reports I skimmed, when a bounty went up one week and down the next." Finally she turned to face Blake fully, her expression Grimm before she smirked. "I cannot begin to guess what absurd events brought the vanished Schnee heiress into the company of a former White Fang. I can only assume the circumstances were more ridiculous than such a partnership even sounds, but don't worry, I won't cause trouble. Nor should my team," she added.

"That's good to hear, I don't want to cause any trouble either," Blake said, the words and tone familiar to her, from overhearing negotiations between the White Fang and villagers who wanted no trouble but could cause it if they wished. "If it's a consolation, coming with us was Weiss's idea."

"Hm, I would imagine so, she seems too self-possessed to be here by anything but choice," Arslan hummed.

"What are you two whispering about back there?" Weiss asked.

"We were just wondering when you were going to stop flirting," Blake joked.

"Ah! Really Blake, can I not hold a polite conversation without you twisting it?" Weiss responded. She then glanced at Escuo and Ginger and said, "Besides, I'm sure you both having charming partners."

Ginger laughed, it was weak but it was better than maudlin silence, as she said, "I'm not sure charming the word, but she is fun. My wife runs the tavern, not much wine these days, but still plenty of music and fish."

Blushing Escuo said, "Unmarried myself though..."

"If you don't take the plunge and ask Madeline out, I'll do it for you!" Ginger said, Escuo on the leg as she flew them over a particularly large log.

"Maybe ask Nadir for some tips," Arslan said, "According to a few students back home he's quite charming."

"What, no, I mean, I just..." Nadir stammered, now very distracted from contemplating being torn apart by Grimm.
______________________________________________________________________

Reese kicked flipped off her board and brought her knees up to her chest, letting the board flick around at a blurring speed below her before slamming her feet back down on its surface. Feeling and hearing the thrum of energy that ran through it, as Ruby quietly applauded her feat.

"That had to be at least thirty spins!" She said.

"I'll break my record at this rate," Reese said, grinning at the other Huntress.

"You know one thing I noticed in the fight though, Reese?" Ruby asked, her voice wavering a little uncertainly.

"It's that I'm not crazy fast except in a straight line right?" Reese said, sighing as she shook her head.

"Yeah kinda," Ruby said.

"I know, I can spin, flip and olly my way around close quarters in a breeze, and terrains no thing, but even I can't keep up as much as I'd like without better boosters. Thing is, they could ruin the stability and control..." Reese said with a shake of her hooded head.

"Well I did have an idea on how to fix that," Ruby said, eyes twinkling with mischief that only a younger sibling could hold.

"You thinking of using that Recoil idea?" She asked, an exited gasp slipping from her lips.

"Not just that," Ruby said, patting her Crescent Rose, "I was also thinking we could try adding my Semblance too!"

Their eyes met, and in unison they both said, "Just imagine how fast we co-

"NO!" Yang and Arslan barked.
_________________________________________________________________
Hello again, as always thanks to Person With Many Aliases for beta reading and to everyone who has stuck with this story so far!

This was another chapter i initially had in two parts "First Impressions" for the fight and "Squishy Tensions" for the talking, but I opted to combine them, hopefully it worked out. As some may have noticed, I subscribe to the 'Arslan is a lion Faunus' head-canon, as to her trait, well, there's some hints but unless asked I won't be directly stating it within Pirate Signals. Also I have wanted to utilise the Yang/Arslan shock-wave punch since the moment I saw it, straight up my favourite moment in that fight, as is probably clear from the amount of times I've posted the 'Brofist' GIF XD

 

[Guilop]

Hm, either ABRN seemed stronger or RWBY weaker than in their canon match up.

Since noone but the pirates has any parts to fix the tower and there are now double the amount of trained hunters and huntresses the logical conclusion should be to wreck the pirates and take all their stuff.

 

[Zam]

Hm, either ABRN seemed stronger or RWBY weaker than in their canon match up.

Click to shrink...

Good observation, it was basically a combination of three things, the first being opponent choices.
What I mean by that is that Bolin was able to give Ruby and Weiss the run around for at least a little while in their fight and this time was fighting Ruby and Yang, the latter of whom has lost her ranged weaponry and speed boost so he was able to dodge around her more easily than he could Weiss. While Reese was getting support from Nadir which helped her keep the heat on Blake, though they were only just pushing her back.

The second is seriousness:
What I mean by this is that the 'game' one brings to a friendly, fun tournament is going to be a bit different to a life or death fight and so while both sides were scaled, it meant certain members of ABRN were more inclined to be active over passive. What I am basing this off is, for example, how showy Nadir and Bolin were in their fights and how easily Nadir gave in to sulking, compared to their more professional 'just keep fighting even when outmatched' attitudes during the Battle of Beacon.
(Note I do usually imagine the fighting is the same due to Aura, IE, lethal attacks that will be blocked by soul power, but the attitude itself would be different which is why Nadir just sulked for example or he and Bolins showed off with so many pointless flips.)

The third is experience:
RWBY are overall stronger in many respects than their canon counterparts, but are mostly used to engaging Grimm rather than people, the latter being something their canon counterparts had more experience with, add in Yang lacking Ember Celica and they were at a bit of a disadvantage.

Overall though, RWBY would have won if the fight had continued.

Since noone but the pirates has any parts to fix the tower and there are now double the amount of trained hunters and huntresses the logical conclusion should be to wreck the pirates and take all their stuff.

Click to shrink...

You raise an excellent point, I like your style and I imagine similar thoughts are going through certain casts members heads as well

Yang: Lets get looting!
Arslan: I feel like I should be stopping this but (sees her team are already robbing the pirates) But I just don't have that kind of energy, besides, they do deserve it.
Yang: That's the spirit!

 

[Zam]

Pirate Signals - Chapter 9:
Return to Shorelight​

Arslan hadn't known what to expect upon arriving at Shorelight, having never travelled this far south, even on her journey to Mistral. 'It looks weak though, just as they said,' she thought. The waterlogged houses, faint signs of disrepair and wary atmosphere, were all encompassing as they marched into town.

Arslan's gaze flicked between her team, Crim, her allies, and the villagers. 'I can't be careless again, far too much is at stake,' she thought. Her team, Crim, they were her responsibility. Arslan's bandaged hand clenched, her insides felt stiff with tension, her bindings stretched taught against her muscles.

"No one looks very happy," Ruby mumbled as she and Reese closed the distance between the rest of the group.

"That's hardly unexpected, we promised to fix the towers, I imagine they'll know we didn't succeed," Weiss said.

Taking in the wary townsfolk and listening for anything suspicious Arslan asked, "Do you want to handle explaining our presence to the Village Head?"

"Sure, that shouldn't be too hard," Yang said with a lazy wave of her hand.

"Maybe it'd be better if we did it," Escuo added.

As it turned out, 'better' was not the word Arslan would have used.
______________________________________________________________

Yang's eyes were half lidded in veiled annoyance, as the Village Head sputtered and ranted as she marched about. Their eleven person party were scattered around the woman's surprisingly spacious, but very cluttered, circular hut. It was all dark wooden walls and floors that creaked, candles flickering in the wind that wafted through the house. Aged tables and stools holding small seashell sculptures and broken and aged momentous from swords to figurines.

Crim was being tended to on a nearby lounge, with some local medicine that would apparently help some. Escuo and Ginger were standing with her and Arslan, before the Village Head, who was in the centre of the room clutching her cane like she wanted to throttle it.

'I notice someone's on watch,' Yang muse as she looked around at how Arslan had scattered her team near windows and doors. 'Just like back at junior's...' Her brief bout of nostalgia was cut off as the Village Head went off again, this time in more obvious anger than shock.

"This was a ridiculous risk," she said, rising to her feet and hobbling in a mad uneven path around her living room. "Not only is the tower still down but you've brought back more people to drain our already stretched resources."

Yang heard a small snort, or maybe a growl rumble in Arslan's throat.

"Don't look at me like that girl," The elder rasped. Her eyes wide with a frantic intensity, it was like looking at someone coming down from a high Yang thought. "We can barely feed ourselves and the pirates, now there's five more people, one of whom won't be able to move for a week. Did you expect a welcome mat, for us to rub your feet and welcome the glorious Huntresses who have already enraged the pirates!?"

"I expected nothing," Arslan said tightly.

A ragged sigh escaping her lips the Village head shook her head and said, "At this point it will almost be a relief when the pirates come to collect the ship."

"You're still giving them our ship, after you tried to get us killed, what the f-," Yang snorted and said, "Frick?!"

"Better to give them what they want than risk the captain's ire," she said back with a sharp wave of her hand. "I expect all of you to be scarce for tomorrow afternoons pick up, if you need somewhere to rest you can come back once the the transaction is done."

"So I should get the bike ready as well?" Ginger asked, shoulders healed, but slumped in obvious defeat.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose the Village head said, "Yes, at this point we should try and meet their expectations as best we can. Hopefully we can allay their suspicious should they have any."

"How many will come for the pick up?" Arslan asked, head tilted to the side, her words smooth and mild.

"Two usually," The Village Head answered, before her eyes shot to Arslan and she spat, "No. You are not permitted to risk our entire village on some fools attack on them. The captain would-"

Catching the olive eyes glance towards her Yang subtly nodded and interrupted, "Hey is the captain really likely to be there? I mean, this would be pretty standard by now right?" She said, palms out in a wide shrug.

"Yang is right, and if they send two ships that's only five, maybe fifteen people at most," Arslan said, feet sliding across the floor as she began to casually amble around the room. "The chances of any of their elites being present is relatively low and the eight of us should be able to handle regular crew members easily enough."

"Yeah, we just wait for them to land then bam!" Yang added, slamming her palm into her hand.

"And if they don't land, we can drag them down and tear them from their crafts," Arslan continued, looming over her downed pilot.

Just as the village Head looked to speak Arslan spun around and said, "We needn't attack the entire crew, just these vessels."

It was Weiss who spoke next, "Indeed, all we need is one ship, then-"

"We can haul ass to Mistral and get reinforcements!" Bolin cheered.

Snorting, well, huffing daintily, Yang was sure Weiss would say, she continued, "Yes, ABRN can," She rolled her eyes, "Haul it to Mistral." Weiss very obviously ignored the little "boo!" From Reese and Ruby as she continued. "While we, the Knights Errant, stay here and protect Shorelight from reprisal."

"If their ships are any good it shouldn't be a ridiculously long flight," Blake said. "Worst case scenario, maybe twelve hours if they take a long path to avoid any dangerous run-ins, maybe another six for a few teams to be sent out and establish defences and patrols."

'Guess you learn all sorts of things about the Kingdom's responses to insurgents in the White Fang,' Yang thought.

"What a perfect plan, just like the one to repair the tower, and look what happened there!" The Village Head said, throwing her arms in the air, flaring her weather beaten robes. "This isn't the kingdoms, children; it's the wilds they will hardly be so fast for us! Should they even bother, Shorelight will have long been ground to dust before they get here."

"What's the alternative?" Arslan asked coolly. "Spend the rest of your lives bowing to a band of brigands, until you collapse under the weight of their demands? You're barely getting by as it is," Arslan said, punctuating her words with a single hard step towards the older woman.

Snorting, the Village Head said, "You're from in the kingdoms with that rosy outlook? No. You're a nomad, aren't you? Sleep together, eat together, live together and die together, isn't it?"

One hand across her chest, Arslan bowed and said, "Arslan Altan," she said with a sharp flick of her tongue, "Of the Northern Nomads."

Whatever passed between them after that was too swift for Yang to truly follow, save that the Village Head turned away from them. Marching to a cracked window she said, "Do whatever you will Huntresses, there's naught I can do to stop you. But," she added, "I will be telling the pirates that you forced this on us."

"I'd ask if you planned to call ahead and warn them, but that would reveal you'd been harbouring us," Arslan said, causing the elder to twitch.

"Just leave, I'm old and need my rest," She finally said.

"I need to ensure Crim's safety," Arslan countered.

"Then take him too, his treatment is done, and he should awaken by tomorrow," The Village Head said, slapping her cane against the floor.

"Very well, thank you for your assistance," Arslan finally said, clasping her hands as she bowed towards the woman.

"Yeah, sorry this is such a mess, but it should be fixed up really soon," Yang said with a wave and a chuckle, hoping to inject some levity into the situation.

"ABRN, you can stay with us in the warehouse; its dry and we can share supplies," Blake said as she and Weiss made their made her way to the door. Bolin and Arslan were picking up their pilot while Reese and Ruby drifted towards the door as well.

Clapping Escuo and Ginger on the back as she passed them, Yang whispered, "Sorry about all of that," as they shuffled out of the room. Marching over to Crim, Yang patted Bolin's shoulder and said, "Hey, I can do half the carrying, you go get Weiss's autograph or whatever." Bolin glanced at his leader, who nodded and the dark haired Huntsmen dashed after the rest of their teams.

Taking up the front of the stretcher and leaving her back to Arslan, Yang squatted down and with the same easy someone might apply to lifting a piece of cloth, lifted the stretcher up with Arslan taking the other end.

As they made their way out of the house, trailing behind their teams, who were seeing off Escuo and Ginger, Yang spoke. "So, think she's gonna back stab us?"

"Maybe, but unlikely, she's desperate and scared, but not stupid," Arslan said.

"Yeah, better to plead ignorance than try to explain why you were trying to screw them over I guess," Yang said. Rolling her head from side to side, Yang groaned as she felt the discs pop, and a small pulse of Aura rippled through her like a little breath of air in her lungs before it faded.

The streets were well dark at this time, to the point where Yang had to suck in a breath and let her Aura thread its way into her hair to provide some light. 'Night really doesn't make this place any less depressing,' she thought. The shadows were even more warped, the decay even more obvious, and the general feel of sludge and mud coated everywhere she looked.

"Not much of a talker are you?" Yang finally said.

Snorting Arslan said, "Apologies, but no. I can try, though."

"Oh~?" Yang asked, her lips forming a little 'O' as she glanced back at her fellow brawler.

The smirk she received was borderline devilish as Arslan said, "Are you missing your weapons?"

"Oh, now that's mean!" Yang said, throwing her head back as if to lament her pain. Her bare wrists still felt too cold, the little twinge in her chest at her lost master work familiar at this point.

"I did not mean anything by it," Arslan added, almost hastily. "I merely noticed it when we were fighting. Some of your punches seemed oddly aimed, a slightly different bracing than one might expect, and the follow through was good but..."

"Compensating for something?" Yang chuckled.

"Just a bit," Arslan said. "Though," she said more lowly, her tone hinting at the barest level of throaty mirth. "You're easily one of the strongest close quarters fighters I've had the pleasure of meeting, in or outside the kingdoms."

"I could say the same for you," Yang laughed. "Don't suppose you're angling for a rematch are you? No one else will be around to keep it from getting fun after all, and we've got time," Yang said. Her words came out hot and almost breathy, the chance to go against someone who could really withstand what she could dish out... She was practically licking her lips at the thought.

"I just might be," Arslan said, "It would be good practise; as well as ideal for us to have a firm gauge of each other skills."

"So, tonight, after dinner?" Yang asked.

"Tomorrow morning, providing you've a good recovery rate," Arslan said. Yang was sure she could hear a faint teasing note to her words, and looking back she saw the barest sign of sharp teeth being bared in a smirk. "It wouldn't do to make too much noise so late, after all."

"Ah, you're cruel," Yang groaned, "But fair I guess, besides, I wouldn't want your team staying up after their bed time."

"Not would I," Arslan said without a hint of mirth.

That was almost enough for Yang to start scoffing, but she showed admirable restraint, she thought, by just snorting a little. "Guess we'll turn in for bed after dinner then?"

"Indeed, we can work out a watch schedule over dinner," Arslan said, as they began ascending the slick stone path that led to the warehouse.

"No leaving Ruby and Reese together, though," Yang said quickly. 'It's nice Ruby's getting along with her, but I don't want to know what they'd do if left alone for three hours,' Yang thought. She could just imagine them trying to slingshot themselves to the moon or at a particularly large Grimm.

Arslan, it seemed, was of the same mind as she nodded firmly and said, "Agreed, leaving them unattended could be risky."

"Ah well," Yang said, "We'll figure out the specifics later; I hope you like fish, assuming Zwei hasn't eaten them all, we should still have some left from when Ruby caught them."

"Zwei?" Arslan asked.

"Our dog!" Yang cheered as a happy yip echoed across the coast and Ruby squealed, dashing towards the corgi.

"Lovely..." Arslan muttered.
___________________________________________________________
The warehouse where Stardust had been temporarily entombed was as lively as Blake had ever seen it. On one side of the cooking dish Yang, Weiss and Ruby sat with Reese and Bolin. Most of them were excitedly exchanging stories and anecdotes, or were being encouraged to do so by Yang. While, Weiss tried to maintain some sense of restraint to the ever increasing roster of antics the rest were willing to talk up.

'And of course, the dog,' Blake thought grimly. Zwei was currently curled up on Weiss's lap, wagging his little tail and stubby paws in the air as she gave over half her meal to his greedy chops.

It wasn't that she hated Zwei, really it wasn't. Blake would just rather that Zwei never occupy space or time anywhere remotely near herself. 'Though it seems I'm not alone on that tonight, at least,' Blake thought, glancing to her right as she swallowed another bite of cooked fish, not quite as good as fresh but still tasty.

On her right, Arslan sat with her legs crossed and an empty plate in her lap. Nadir, who'd just prodded at his food until she'd nudged him into eating, had quickly wavered and collapsed once his meal was done. Now the pink haired gunner was slumped on her shoulder snoring lightly, a fact Arslan seemed quite inured to.

Not great conversationalists, but at least she could respect their taste in company.

It wasn't long though, before Ruby and Bolin started yawning, quickly followed by Weiss and Reese. With a mutual clap of their hands Yang and Arslan decreed it was time for bed, followed by Ruby declaring "Pile on Yang!" much to ABRN's confusion.

Blake volunteered herself for first watch, if only because she was hoping to sleep in and there were few things she loathed more than being awoken mid-sleep to watch over everyone then try and return to rest. It was not a surprise that Arslan volunteered for the same watch.

"But how are we gonna keep warm without you?" Reese groaned, as she nuzzled into her sleeping bag.

"You'll have to manage," Arslan answered, almost apologetically.

"Join us with Yang, Reese, she's super warm!" Ruby said, already under a blanket and situated on Yang's lap.

Grinning, Reese was quick to join her, a half asleep Nadir being dragged along with her.

"Uh," bolin stammered awkwardly, looking at the growing pile of bodies around Yang and possibly feeling left out, as Weiss dropped down into her usual spot and Yang's hair flared gold.

With a lazy wave Yang said, "If you're chilly, come join us. Just mind your hands and my hair, kid." she added a little wink. With that, Bolin quickly slid up to his teammates. All together the six of them were in some form on Yang, or pressed up on the cement wall and floor near her, that radiated the kind of warmth that only came from long exposure to the sun, or Yang Xiao Long.

Taking up opposite side of the warehouse, well away from the dozing teams, Blake kept her eyes focused squarely out the window. Except for those brief moments were darkness piercing amber eyes drifted through the blackened warehouse. Eventually they'd fall on a similarly glinting set of olive eyes and slowly they'd return to their windows, as a light drizzle pattering against the windows.

It was a very quiet watch.
_________________________________________________________________________
"Mmgmff," Bolin grunted. Everything was black, his eyes felt stuck together, twitching and shaking as he shifted in place. Something rough was rubbing on his cheek, and he was still drifting in that wonderful place between waking and sleep.

A rough cough hit his ears and Nadir gasped himself awake, blinking frantically as he shot up, trying to remember where and who he was. Like water from a shower head, context for the rough cement warehouse washed over his mind. He could feel Reese and Bolin trying to get more comfortable, grumbling and groaning as they twitched closer to the ball of heat that was Yang Xiao Long.

"Sorry for waking you," whispered Arslan in her usual rough voice.

Turning to look at his leader, he found her seated at Crim's head, the man was looking up at the world with wavering eyes, as she kept her hand on his forehead.

"Its fine," Nadir said, licking his lips as he crawled towards the two and came to sit as Crim's side. The man was bundled up in more blankets than he thought they had, even still he could see the pilot's chest rising and falling. "Need anything?" Nadir asked, as he spied the man's dry and cracked lips.

"Water," he rasped.

"Thank you, Nadir," Arslan said, slipping wood carved bottle from her pocket and passing it to him before lifting Crim's head up.

Uncorking the lid, Nadir shook off his own dry throat, and placed the smooth rim to Crim's lips and began to slowly tilt, until he felt water ripple at the edges and saw the older man slowly sucking it down.

"Your temperature's back to normal, allegedly you should take another day for sleep and recovery," Arslan said formally.

"Isn't that a bit fast?" Nadir asked, even as Crim shook his head, leading to him taking the water back as Crim licked his lips.

"Aura is an excellent multiplier for healing, once it's focused," Arslan reminded him, as she lowered Crim's head back to his pillow.

'Has she even slept yet?' Nadir asked himself. He hoped she had at least, glancing at her ruffled robe he guessed that was the case, though as expected she'd kept herself to watching over their injured party member. 'I almost forgot he was here,' Nadir thought shamefully. Out loud he said, "Want me to check the bandages?"

"Where are we?" Crim asked, his voice still worn, but no longer sound quite like he'd barf up a lung in the next moment.

"A warehouse in Shorleight, and yes, Nadir, please check them," Arslan said.

"Situation?" Crim asked, as Nadir slid down the blankets and sighed in relief to see the man's bandages were still clean, if looser than they should be.

"Ship's destroyed. Pirates." Arslan said, "We found other Hunters and are taking refuge in Shorelight," she repeated. "Do you know the town?"

While they talked, Nadir gently grasped Crim's left arm and lifted it up, then to the side. 'Phew, he can still move it,' Nadir thought, grinning as he felt the pilot twitch and flex his tired muscles. Moving on to the next one he listened as the two continued to talk.

"Fishing village," Crim said. "I swung by here once or twice, old, bypassed for the usual trade routes 'cause of Vytal's mountains." He staggered for a moment, wincing as Nadir whispered a 'sorry!' as he pulled the pilots right arm to the side. Sucking in a deep breath he asked, "My situation?"

Nadir quickly set about unclasping the bindings on the man's bandages and refastening them, one hand near the wound and waiting for the moment of tension that said he was just tight enough.

"You'll live, a glass shard hit your side and your surprise let it slip by your Aura, then the swamp water infected the wound... I'm sorry," Arslan ground out, refusing to take her eyes off Crim's wound as Nadir finally fastened it up tight.

'This is the part where you say she did all she could,' a little voice reminded Nadir. "A-" he started, before Crim practically spat only to wince at the motion.

Letting out a disgruntled moan he said, "Don't mind it, had worse, should have seen the Grimm coming. Fuckers never waste a chance."

"Swear," Arslan automatically corrected, eyes widening she looked between the two of them, before Crim let out a quiet huff of amusement and Nadir snickered.

"Children," Arslan muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"Can you eat, sir?" Nadir asked.

"I could, but," he said haltingly, a little break being sucked in with each word before he yawned, eyes squinting from the obvious tension in his chest. "I'm tired," he finally said.

"Get some sleep then, we can ready some emergency rations for you later," Arslan said.

"Good kids," Crim said, the words trailing off before he drifted off and Nadir pulled the man's blankets back up.

"Thank you Nadir," Arslan said quietly, eyes trailing across Crim, him, their team and then the 'Knights Errant'.

"Hey, at least I can help a little, hehe," Nadir said running a hand through his fraying ponytail.

Scowling Arslan patting his arm and said, "You acquitted yourself ably yesterday, do not think otherwise."

Letting out a shuddering sigh than ran from his cold chest to his shoulder, Nadir spoke, "Thanks, I mean, I- I don't know. I was freaked out for most of it, and without Reese there I swear I'd have frozen up, it's... weird fighting people." That was the story of his life, barely overcome the trials of an academy, freak out when fighting Grimm. Finally learn to pull together when fighting Grimm... and turn into a paranoid mess the moment people were involved. Why had he wanted to be a Huntsmen again?

"Stop that," Arslan said, tapping his arm just a bit harder to draw him back. "Too long in your own head and you'll get lost."

"Hah, right," Nadir said, trying not to meet her eyes but suddenly finding that very difficult. A cloud must have gone over the still rising sun because the warehouse dimmed, and suddenly Arslan's freaky eyes were the brightest thing around.

"I am here to listen if you need to talk," Arslan said. There was a moment of silence before she continued, "However, whatever fears you might have had you fought. So long as you act, Nadir, you've no reason to feel guilt or shame, more Hunters could benefit from considering their, and others action..."

"Um, thanks," he said. Honestly, every time he and Arslan spoke in-depth it felt like she was conversing with him on two different levels, neither of which he really got. 'Why does social stuff hard to be hard?'

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah, fine, I think, just kind of out of it, still," Nadir could sense the frown she was sending at him, even through the darkness. "Look, if I can put it into words you'll be the first person I come to, just, you know, trying to think and not get..." he tried to cover his mouth and stifle the yawn and failed miserably.

"Get some sleep, we've all earned our rest," Arslan said.

Glancing at her as he crawled back to his spot, "What about you?"

Hey eyes dipped hinting, at the unmistakable look of a smirk hidden in the dark as she said, "I've slept some, and the... dog, is on watch, we'll be fine."

"If you say so," Nadir mumbled half draping himself on his team mates as he drifted back to sleep, or tried to anyway. The pumping of his blood and the memories of yesterday's fight refusing to leave him be as his mind raced until he wanted to slap himself. 'I can fight fine, but the moment there's a break and my stupid brain starts working I can't pull it together!'

Then, a deep rumbling sound emanated from Arslan, which quickly smoothed out into something like a hummed melody or a tune.

Focusing on only that sound, the droplets of rain on the windows keeping his eyes occupied, Nadir found sleep's welcome embrace.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notes:
Hello once again to anyone who's been reading this story, thanks for keeping up with it, as always I hope you've found it a fun ride. My thanks go out to Person With Many Aliases for editing and to everyone who has commented, liked and followed, its been incredibly encouraging. Additional thanks to Always late to the part for suggesting I use word to edit these from now on, its great for catching minor errors I miss so hopefully that has made the job easier on both editor and reader alike

This was actually the chapter where Nadir really came into his own as a character for me, I hadn't originally planned this scene but once I started writing it I couldn't stop. Also, I really ummed and aahed about whether to fuse this chapter and the next one, but due to sickness and not being 100% sure it would flow as well from one scene to the next over one chapter to the next, I opted to leave it here.

 

[Guilop]

I'm constantly forgetting that Yang doesn't have her weapon at the moment, but she shouldn't really need it to punch some noname pirates in the face.

 

[Zam]

I'm constantly forgetting that Yang doesn't have her weapon at the moment, but she shouldn't really need it to punch some noname pirates in the face.

Click to shrink...

Oh don't worry, when it comes to mooks Ember Celica's lack of presence will scarcely make a difference, its against real foes that its a problem.

 

[Zam]

Pirate Signal - Chapter 10:
Morning Rituals ​

A happy little groan vibrated from Ruby's throat, as she slipped from the tangled mess of bodies on the wall and smelt the air. "Cooking already?" She asked, pressing down hard as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes and drive off the blurriness.

"Yep, we still had some fish and Blake managed to scrounge up some potatoes no one will miss either," Yang said.

Looking around quickly Ruby spied Yang squatting next to Stardust and looking over their black cooking dish. Several misshapen, foil-wrapped orbs sat at the heated base of the cooking instrument, that Ruby could only guess where the baked potatoes. Similarly, there was fish laid out on the top of the dish as it slowly rose up into a sizzle.

"What time is it?" Ruby asked as she stumbled over to Yang, slowly finding her feet only to give up on the concept as she dropped to the floor with an 'oof!'

"About six I think," Yang said, "Blake ambled off about half an hour ago, said she'd be back by lunch time though."

"Think she's gonna check out Shorelight again?" Ruby asked. Ruby could sympathise with Blake, being more than a little paranoid, she always was when it came to towns and Shorelight hadn't done much to earn her trust.

"That or fishing, you sleep all right?" Yang asked, prodding the fish with a metal spatula, the hissing, bubbling sounds of frying meat filling the air and drawing groans from those who still slept.

"Not bad," Ruby said, looking down upon breakfast and licking her lips. Ruby ignored the taste of sleep breath in her mouth and said, "Smells great. Though... is this really enough for everyone?"

Yang stalled, her wide smile falling open for a moment and her body stiffening to the point where Ruby could almost imagine a metallic whine or a marionette's strings getting tied. Then she chuckled and sent her a wink, "Actually it is. See Blake said she'd handle herself, I did offer but nope, apparently my cooking's not good enough for her," Yang said in mock offence. "Besides that, Zwei and I went nuts on some rations, and apparently so did Arslan and their pilot, so it's just the rest of you snoring birds."

"Yang, we're meant to be saving those," Ruby huffed.

"Sorry, but I didn't want to wake ya's with lots of clanking," Yang said. In a swift motion she pulled away from the cooking plate and whipped out a battered thermos, mixing Ruby a steaming hot chocolate. Sending her a soft grin, head tilted so her hair fell just right to make her look especially young and bashful, her older sister said, "Forgive me?" and passed her the mug.

"Hmm, maybe?" Ruby snickered as she slurped down her piping hot chocolate.

"Actually, I meant because I'm leaving you, Zwei and Weiss in charge of our guests and breakfast," Yang said quickly.

"What!?" Ruby asked.

Waving her off Yang rose to her feet and said, "Relax, the spices are done. Just keep them cooking until they crisp up nicely and flip. I promise I'll be back for lunch and our planning session."

"But where are you going?" Ruby asked as she scooched closer to their meal and picked up the spatula. Urg, she really hated cooking, 'Give me some piping hot steel or Dust chemicals and we're talking," Ruby thought, squinting at the spatula.

Rolling her shoulders, Yang brought her hands together and cracked her knuckles with an almost grunt of excitement. "Let's just say I've got a meeting planned, anyway catch-ya later, and don't do anything I wouldn't do!" She said, before dashing out of the warehouse.

"As if I would!" Ruby shouted back, sticking out her tongue at her sister, as Yang back flipped the moment she passed the door and disappeared.

Blowing her growing fringe from her forehead, Ruby glanced at the remains of their growing party. Everyone was stirring just a bit, but only in that 'I'm rolling over trying to sleep more' way she knew all too well from cold winter mornings. A low hum emanating from her mouth as Zwei waddled up and flopped down at her side, while Ruby took in all the shiny metal implements around her.

'I could wake them up like that,' she thought, the loud clanging already ringing in her head as she snorted up her drink. The idea left her almost as fast as it came though. Fun was fun, but this was hardly the day to be making fun. 'Even if Weiss's face would be hilarious,' she thought.

Rising to her feet, Ruby said, "Keep an eye on the food Zwei, and no eating," she added, much to his ear drooping chagrin.

In a few quick strides, she was down at her sleeping fellow's side and prodding Weiss's cheek. Her friend, at some point after losing her preferred pillow in Yang, had yanked her entire quilt upwards and then slipped it haphazardly under her head, arms buried in the tangled mess. "Mm- Mmm!" Weiss moaned as she scowled in Ruby's vague direction with half lidded blue eyes and a tiny scowl. "What?"

"Breakfast's almost ready!" Ruby said cheerily, "Come on, up, up, up, guys, today we show some pirates what-for!" That she'd started clapping her hands and marching in place only occurred to Ruby, when Bolin moaned in despair and pulled Nadir's arm over his head to try and drown out the noise.

"Dude, gimme my arm back," Nadir tugged weakly, as he tried to push himself up, half dragging his taller team mate with him.

"Take me to the food..." Bolin groaned in response.

Weiss, seemingly remembering they had company, lurched up like she'd found a Grimm gnawing on her toe and started trying, hopelessly, to tidy her hair. "Where's my comb, where's my-"

"In the bag," Ruby said, pointing with her thumb, only for Weiss to blur passed her.

Looking to Reese's dark blue sleeping bag, Ruby prodded the still sleeping girl who'd, since last night, buried herself in the oversized bag. 'Looks cosy,' Ruby thought. Grasping, what she guessed, was Reese's shoulder, Ruby gave her a shake and said, "Reese, come on, breakfast is ready!"

What met her was a guttural snarl as the green haired girl yanked down her sleeping bag and looked out through messy hair and half open eyes. She sniffed the air once and slipped back into her bag with a gurgling moan.

"Not a morning person huh?" Ruby asked, chuckling even as she tapped her booted foot against the squirming sleeping bag. "Come on, I got hot chocolate."

There was something like a snort and Reese sat up ion her sleeping bag. Then, slowly, she started to rise to her feet without so much as dropping the hood. This lasted all of two second before she fell with a squeak, and began dragging herself along the floor. "The chocolate's mine Bolin!"

"I don't see your name on it!"

As they began to squabble, Weiss seemingly content to fuss over herself and Nadir too sleepy to do anything but watch his team, Ruby wondered, 'Is this what breakfast is normally like for Yang?'

"Hey, is something burning?" Weiss asked.

"Ah!" Ruby shouted, before charging in to save breakfast.

_______________________________________________________________

Arslan stood atop the warehouse and faced the sun, her Aura wavered as she looked at the blinding light, a faint pounding ache still hitting her. The cement scraped beneath her smooth shoes and the wind ruffled her hair and robes. The twin sets of beads around her neck stayed silent even as she breathed deep, feeling her lungs swell until they pressed against her chest.

'Master the body.'

Arslan unclasped her hands, rolled her shoulders and felt the familiar stretch and crack of her bones in motion as she flexed. With a swift, sharp motion she slid one leg out, braced the other and flicked her palm forward. The air cracked against her flesh.

'Master your soul.'

Limbs snapping back, Arslan let her Aura flow. The roiling, writhing energy ran through her frame and she tensed, mind, body, and soul. She let it swell up with each breath and then flow from her; the energy drifted into the air and the floor, warm, thick and pulsing with a size and weight, greater than the faint golden light revealed.

'Control is key.'

The energy coiled and twisted, pressed against her skin and weaved through her form. Muscles swelled, bones hardened, veins and nerves pulsed with power. Knees bent, she shot forward, palms out, a strike smacked against the air, silently this time.

'Ferocity and thought must be one.'

Hands unclasped into claws, her fingers twitched as she dragged down and across, cutting through the air, a trail of light and heat marking her path. Legs came next, sharp kicks, wide and flowing through the air, weaving between her old strikes and stilling the air.

'Power and technique. Ferocity and control.'

Her Aura pulsed, her heart swelled and her strikes flew faster, swifter. She wove a path across her battlefield, a blocked blow was turned back, a kick turned into a gentle sweep and-

'Strike with everything, and leave nothing.'

She struck with two fists. The flowing air was torn asunder, the quiet was subsumed in a roar, and for one brief moment her Aura burst from her hands in a single magnified blast.

'Battle is my home.'

Arslan did not jolt when she heard a high keening whistle. Bending her head back she looked towards Yang, who was hanging from the warehouse roofs side with one hand, the other on her lips. Laughing, the fighter pulled herself up with nary a gasp and said, "That looked nice. I hope you're saving some for me though."

"Don't fret, I was just preparing myself for you," Arslan said. Her mind was abuzz, her heart thumping and her blood flowed like mad, as she felt the heat of Yang's Aura. It radiated off of her like a fire, so different to her tightly bound soul, but so strong.

"So, here?" Yang said, waving her arms.

"No, up there," Arslan said, pointing high at the forest topped cliff that rose above them and she said, "So we don't break anything." Her spine flexed and the nerves at the small of her back tingled, seeking something long absent, as she felt her Aura uncoil, claws drawn and ready to hunt.

"Sounds fun," Yang growled, a wide smile on her lips.

And like that they both bound towards the flat surface, bounding from the roof they flung themselves up the horizontal rock face and into the woods.

_____________________________________________________________

The gentle ruffling of leaves, and the soft drips of water running through the gnarled and overgrown forest were disrupted by a 'fwoosh!'

Yang ducked and weaved her way around Arslan's speedy open strikes, trying to lash out with her own mighty upper cuts. Each blow that slipped passed the other was accompanied by a rush of burning air and a growl. The ground behind her foe was slanted upwards though and Yang grinned as Arslan's pace slowed, by only the smallest of margins.

Heaving her arm back, Yang launched her strike. Arslan's grunt of surprise was accompanied by her bringing up an arm to block. The shock of the strike sent her reeling, torn from the ground she flew and Yang launched herself after the woman. Just as Yang got close though, Arslan flipped backwards, feet barely brushed by her, as Yang threw herself back, but it wasn't enough.

A rope dart unfurled and wrapped around her ankle and Yang was flung through the air, the wind screeching around her like she was atop a Bullhead as she was dragged up to meet Arslan. Crossing her arms, she met Arslan's kick. Grunting and spitting at the force of her foes blow, she felt like it was slamming against her chest even as she flew through the trees.

Blurring backwards, Arslan hopped onto a mound and back-flipped over a tree as Yang's roar tore through the forest. A boulder, at least twice her size, came crashing down like as missile against the soft earth, glowing a hot red and burying itself deep, as it tore up the ground.

Not missing a moment Yang tore from a thick line of bushes leaving smoke in her wake as she lunged into the air. Eager to meet the fighter Arslan grinned and with Aura flowing steps flickered between several tree stumps and the ground as she gained momentum before launching herself at Yang.

Colliding with a mighty crash, both fighters lashed out to try and slam the other down, only for their hands to meet with an air ripping shock wave. The golden-red blast threw back their hair and sent the trees contorting away from the force of their blows.

As their feet met the ground, neither broke away, Arslan just barely had the high ground but Yang was taller still. Growling they drove themselves forward, arms shaking under each other's strength as the water began to hiss, bubble and steam.

Their eyes met, the growing smirks on their dirtied and bloodied features, clear.

"Giving up?" Yang grunted.

Arslan snorted and flung her head forward, slamming it against Yang's just as the taller blonde pushed her back. A sharp crack rang out through the woods as Yang's head was thrown back.

Yang clenched Arslan's hands tighter, their nails dug into each other's Aura, pressing down on skin and bone in a bid to break through by sheer force. Muscles stretched as bones popped and cracked. Something like a cackle escaped her lips as she threw herself forward, this time meeting Arslan's next head-butt with her own.

________________________________

Blake kept to the shadows, easier said than done with the houses as spread out as they were, but she hadn't been an infiltration expert for nothing. Her ears flickered and twitched at even the faintest sound, from the creaking of the wood to the soft shuffle of feet.

'No strange movement, nothing out of the ordinary,' she thought, a tight frown on her face. Blake was currently hiding inside one boxy looking house's out-hanging rafters. A little rippling wave of Aura washed over and into the decaying wood to keep it strong under her weight.

Maybe she was being paranoid: paranoid she'd be found out and reported, paranoid the townsfolk would sell them out to the pirates, paranoid they'd do something foolish. 'But so far they're just quiet, and scared,' Blake mused, the faint roiling mass of kindled anger pressing against her chest swelling. She'd been scouting all morning, only stopping to eat some fresh fish she traded with the fisher for on her first day in the town.

'But lunch is getting close an-'

That was when it hit, her ears shot up and Blake's entire body stiffened and she pressed herself against the wooden frame in a bid to disappear. The sky above Shorelight lit up, in gold and red, as a furious roar tore into the air accompanied by a blast of wooden shrapnel and dirt.

"Ugh," Blake said, as she looked to the blast zone, even her eyes straining to pick out any details. 'That was the biggest one yet,' she thought.

____________________________________

'They're they go again,' Weiss thought, as the calamitous boom rang out from up above. Her only peace came from the fact it was not followed by the usual string of lesser blasts and crashes. 'Maybe they're done?' She hoped, stepping out onto the loosely defined 'porch' of their warehouse to relish the suns warm rays and the crash of the oceans waters down below.

Then there was another bang, followed by Yang's uproarious laughter ringing in the air. Weiss merely groaned and turned back to watching Bolin fanning the flames of a small fire as he boiled some water. 'Wait, where's Ruby!?'

Spinning around, she saw her friend atop Reese's hover-board swerving around the rocky coast like an obstacle part while Reese was spinning Crescent Rose wildly in the air and-

'They wouldn't!' she thought as Ruby swerved towards Reese and, 'They would!'

Reese leapt into the air, towards Ruby and the hover-board-

'I can't watch!' Weiss thought, covering her ears for the inevitable explosion of noise that would ensue, regardless of the success of their gambit.

________________________________________

Dirt and grit clung to her like a second skin. Faint trickles of dried blood and sweat clung to her frame. Yang still had some energy left, but somehow still felt an ache with every laboured breath and her Aura was quelled deep within her, like the coals of a fire that had burnt itself out. Suffice to say, she felt amazing, and looking at her sparring partner's satisfied smirk, she knew Arlsan felt the same way.

"Ah!" Yang gasped as she pulled the water bottle from her mouth, the warm waters rushing down her parched throat. With an almost lazy toss, Yang sent the bottle back to Arslan, sitting in a high tree branch, who snatched it out of the air and gulped down another sip.

Letting out a content sigh, Yang let herself lean back against a thick ridged tree trunk. The grass grew up around her, while the roots and stones bumped up against her back. Somehow though, she couldn't care less, as she lay dangling her legs over the edge of their crater, one so deep they hadn't even been able see over the rim after their brawl had stopped, and turned unto a grappling match. The packed earth was cooked together by the intense force of their battle into something as hard as cement.

Patting her muscled tummy like she'd just enjoyed a big meal Yang sighed, almost willing to drift off into sleep. However a few lingering thoughts niggled at her brain and there was a low key energy tingling at her insides.

"So, was it good for you?" She asked, a little smirk and a wink accompanying her words.

Something rumbled in Arslan's throat before she blinked and finally answered, "It was, though I think you held back some, warrior."

Snorting Yang said, "Yeah and so were you, no Semblance, at your level? I call bullshit."

"I skirted the edges, apologies for not going further but," She froze for a moment as a snarling Beowolf burst into the air behind her. "Quiet," she bit out. Grabbing its head and flinging it upside down before, Arslan wrapped her arms around its neck and-

a snap rang out and its body went limp and she tossed its body into their crater. "I am sorry for that, my Semblance is not something I care to use outside of specific circumstances."

"A oneshoter then?" Yang asked, arching her eyebrow, ears tingling as she heard weaving through the grass behind her. A hand shot through the air as the King Taijitu bared its fangs, the Grimm was barely her own size, and Yang slammed it into her knee and tossed it into the crater before turning back to Arslan. "I'd say that feels odd for you, but then again, those charged strikes aren't nothing to sneeze at."

"Why thank you, your resilience is superb, rare is it to fight someone who can let it become a slug fest with me," Arslan said, deep voice rough with amusement.

"Same, was nice," Yang sighed, as she pressed herself deeper into the ground and snatched the water bottle from the air as it soared towards her with a slosh of water.

Tipping the bottle over her open mouth, Yang gurgled down the last dregs of water and sighed. "So, much as I hate to ruin a good fight, I gotta ask. Do you guys have any plans for Blake and Weiss?"

Half lidded eyes stared back at Yang's own, before Arslan finally shrugged. "The others barely remembered Belladonna, save saying something thoughtless about her heritage, you've little to fear from them. Even back in the kingdoms no one much cares; well, save maybe Vale."

Tilting her head to the side Yang said, "Oh?"

"Dust robberies, White Fang allegedly, but given the SDC is apparently being difficult, so it could just be black marketeers stepping up their game," Arslan said disinterestedly.

"Kinda glad I left when I did, that sounds like something the police would love to throw at me," Yang said, noticing her sparring partners bemused, she guessed it was bemused, look Yang elaborated. "I didn't have a perfect track record with them, fighting spilling onto the streets, and the like."

Nodding Arslan said, "Ah, fair enough, city dwellers are so sensitive about that sort of thing, towns and wanderers too but, because of the Grim. Really, only Academies give one the chance to fight all out, and even then it is always with watchers."

"Academies and desperate measures," Yang added, recalling her recent encounter in Morius, if that could be called a fight anyway.

"Point," Asrslan said, accompanied by a wave. "As to Weiss," she continued, "she's been declared a missing person, and there's a reward on her head for a safe return. However," she shrugged, "I've no fondness for the SDC, and much for the rest of you, so it's an easy decision to make. The others will follow my lead, and I can make sure they keep it secret."

"Thanks, I just wanna make sure nothing bad comes their way, they've been through a lot," Yang said.

"I understand," Arslan said, and with the weight to her words Yang guessed she did, it reminded her of how she talked about Ruby.

"So, guess we should head back, or do ya wanna grapple and head-butt me some more?" Yang said, flexing her fingers until she heard a satisfying pop.

"Head back," Arslan said with a sigh, "get their lunches ready, plan-"

"Smash pirates and head home, I get-cha, we'll have to do this again though," Yang said, throwing her legs up and then flinging herself forward by slamming them down.

"Oh indeed."

___________________________________

"You guys..." Yang said slowly.

"Made your own lunch?" Arslan finished, seemingly just as baffled.

"It was a team effort!" Ruby shouted happily from her seat on a particularly large stone on the shoreline.

"Don't talk with a potato in your mouth dolt!" Weiss snapped.

"Does that mean we can talk with other stuff in our mouths," Reese said, squishing her cheeks as Ruby cackled.

"Gross," Weiss and Nadir muttered.

"Are you two gonna join us, or did you tire yourselves out?" Blake asked, with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Tsk, tired? Please, we barely got started, still I could eat," Yang said, tromping over to the aligned Hunters on the coast, Arslan at her side.

"So once we're done, we start planning right?" Bolin asked from where he lay down on his back, seemingly indifferent to the stone surface.

"Yes," Arslan said, squatting down at her teams' side and snatching up a roasted fish.

"Those pirates aren't gonna know what hit 'em," Ruby swore, a smile on her lips and light in her eyes.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Notes:
Things will get more plot related next chapter, I promise As always thanks to Person With Many Aliases for beta reading and to everyone who has liked, followed, faved and commented!

Blake is mostly scouting around town because her general sense of paranoia has been hyped up due to her still technically being a wanted criminal and the situation in general, as well as based a bit of her canon habit of lone wolfing it when something is bothering her. Arslan's self training scene is actually based on one from Vejiitasei Ascendant a DBZ fic I quite enjoy, however I'm unsure as to how well I translated the general ideas into this piece.

On Yang and Arslan's sparring match, I'm taking some cues from the game in how Aura regenerates, and acting on the assumption that if no one is seriously injured an hour or two's rest and a meal will get those involved back to 100% so they taking any particularly large gamble when it comes to this match and both have ways of compensating if they don't enter a fight at the top of their game anyway. Heck, Yang is probably one of the only people someone would want to fight less, after she's taken a few hits XD

I planned on waiting on this chapter, however the new volume deadline is drawing near and I want as much as out as possible before then, while still taking time for editing, so I hope faster updates are cool with everyone!

 

[Guilop]

So having afight with fire and explosions isn't the most subtle thing. I really hope the pirates didn't have anyone watching the village, because that scuffle should have been noticable from quite far away.

 

[Zam]

So having afight with fire and explosions isn't the most subtle thing. I really hope the pirates didn't have anyone watching the village, because that scuffle should have been noticable from quite far away.

Click to shrink...

You aren't the first to make that wise observation, its a good point, suffice to say the pirates didn't really have someone constantly on watch near the villages due to the Grimm and at the moment they don't have much reason to think anything might to too amiss and so haven't sent anyone to scout ahead. Still this should have been a concern they had with their sparring match, so thanks for the point.

 

[Guilop]

You aren't the first to make that wise observation, its a good point, suffice to say the pirates didn't really have someone constantly on watch near the villages due to the Grimm and at the moment they don't have much reason to think anything might to too amiss and so haven't sent anyone to scout ahead. Still this should have been a concern they had with their sparring match, so thanks for the point.

Click to shrink...

Well, they should wonder what happened to the crew of the ship they just shot down, shouldn't they? I mean if they found the wreckage they should also notice that there are no bodies.

 

[Zam]

Well, they should wonder what happened to the crew of the ship they just shot down, shouldn't they? I mean if they found the wreckage they should also notice that there are no bodies.

Click to shrink...

A good insight, however they know it was a student vessel and have gotten used to using to letting the Grimm dispense with any crash survivors so while they assumed the students got away they mostly figured they'd get torn apart by Grimm sooner or later. Part of the reason they're so seemingly careless is distance from Mistral, there is a giant lake between the area where ABRN crashed and Mistral which the pirates patrol, so anyone trying to walk back would have to take an exceedingly long trip through heavy Grimm territory, or swim, neither of which present many chances for survival.

 

[Zam]

Pirate Signals – Chapter 11:
Counter Attack​

Within the dark recesses of the warehouse, Yang leaned against the wall of the tiny faux office, with Arslan looming near the door.

Holding her Scroll up to her lips, she clacked her teeth together and said, "Ksh breaker, breaker, this is Team Strong reporting in. All is quiet here on the western front, what's your status?"
____________________________________________________________________________________________

Blake arched an eyebrow at her Scroll from where she, Weiss and Nadir concealed themselves behind Ginger's workshop, near the entrance of Shorelight. "What are you even referencing?" She finally asked.

Only for Ruby's voice to pipe in, "Ksh, this is Team Swift, good to hear Team Strong, we got the far south covered."

Just as it looked like Weiss was about to take her Scroll and snap it over her knee, demanding the sisters make sense, Blake answered them. "Ksh, this is team-"

"Brains as it were," Weiss said huffily.

"Reporting in," Blake continued, "All is quiet on the North side."
________________________________________________________

Snickering along with her temporary teammates Reese and Bolin, Ruby threw her Scroll back to Reese. Whipping up Crescent Rose, she rested it atop the boulder she'd taken cover behind and scanned the wetlands and dense woods again. Moving in a long, slow trail, she frowned as she was met with nothing more than bare blue sky-

"I see something," She said.

"We got movement, and it's not just a bird this time," Reese said, her previous chipper tone moderated by something crisper, but still tinged with excitement.

Pulling free from a grove of densely packed trees with a trail of leaves and bark, a Bullhead rose into the sky.

"They're being careful, they either arrived last night or kept low, risky with Grimm, but doable in a Bullhead," Blake's voice cut in.

"They're making a beeline for Shorelight, should-" Ruby said, when the engines suddenly flared, "Be there in a few secs!" She grit her teeth in annoyance as the Bullhead swung into town with a deliberate casualness, almost swaggering. The jets blew away everything, wood panels, little figures, water and mud went everywhere and-

"Why the centre of town?" Blake spat, even as the sound of feet clapping against water and wooden paths ran out through the Scroll.

"Dammit, I thought they'd go for the warehouse, we'll be there!" Yang called in.

Yanking back Crescent Rose, Ruby heaved it behind her and let the metal shift, clank and hiss as it unfolded to its full glory.

"Guys hop on the blade," she ordered.

Unexpectedly Reese flicked up her board and came to hover against Crescent Rose. Only the faintest dispersion of air whispering against Ruby's aura infused weapon told her Reese's board was even there.

"This'll be good," Bolin said with some mix of genuine enthusiasm and wariness as he joined Reese and lightened the board, Reese and himself.

Allies loaded, Ruby pulsed her Aura, a stream of rose petals spilling from her cloak and pulled the trigger, catapulting her teammates into the air.

'That was just as cool as I imagined,' she thought as they were sent hurtling into the sky.
________________________________________________________________________________

Why the pirates weren't just going for the warehouse, Weiss couldn't guess. Blake muttering a curse as she took off was enough to get her moving though. Conjuring Glyphs beneath her feet to keep up with the afterimage leaving Faunus, Weiss sent herself and Nadir towards the town centre.

"Oh seriously!?" Nadir shouted from behind her.

Eyes tilting skyward, Weiss was surprised to see Bolin and Reese hurtling through the air. 'They were paired with Ruby. Why am I surprised by this?' She wondered.

Blake leapt atop the Village Heads house as the Bullhead's doors swung up. However it seemed the pilot was thinking better of it as the jets were swinging upwards to escape.

"I think not!" Weiss said, hands flying out and two bright blue Glyphs surrounded the engines which began stuttering and grunting. She tightened her hold, it felt like tensing her stomach so much it stung, but the ship stayed in place.

"Fire!" Someone within shouted, and five barely men and women, with bandannas over their mouths, pulled out their guns.

'Why is Blake waiting!?' Weiss thought, as even Nadir readied to fire, while Blake just stood on the roof watching the ship pull against her Glyphs as the pirates readied their weapons an-

"Woohoo!" Reese whooped. Board angled flat, she flew straight into the ships deck and slammed her hover-board against their backs. She did some kind of spinning kick and in a blast of emerald green and red, sent them all flying out the ship, as she went after them.

Bolin flung himself from her board and clanged against the top of the ship, slamming his staff into the roof. The metal groaned and Weiss felt her strain to fight the engines lessen as the ship's weight increased.

Blake mostly ignored the pirates, only using one as stepping stone as she jumped off his back and into the ship.

The pirates' landed with a chorus of shouts and curses, one of them shouting to rally and fire, but Weiss just smirked.
________________________________________________________________________________

"What the fuck is going on!?" roared the ship's pilot, slamming his fists toward the throttle, again and-

A snap rang out and a black blur wrapped up his wrist. Before he could even blink he was pulled from his seat and introduced to a boot by way of his face.

As he went slack, Blake let her bindings drop, shooting to the controls she flicked off the throttle, opened the landing gears and even turned on the signal lights as she guided the ship down.
___________________________________

Ruby arrived to a fight practically over. The Bullhead was landing, Weiss had two pirates restrained by Glyphs and shouting insult or pleading for mercy respectively. Nadir and Reese broke through their own opponent's guard in a few seconds and also had them down.

Spying one fellow who'd slipped away and was making a beeline for a house, sword at the ready, Ruby lazily brought Crescent Rose up and fired. With a crack, the bullet slammed into his side and sent the pirate bouncing along the street with several thuds before landing at the newly arrived Yang and Arslan's feet.

'Well that was easy,' Ruby thought, watching as Yang scooped up the dazed pirated by the scruff of his shirt and they all converged at the landed ship.

"I have the pilot," Blake said, disinterestedly shoving the unconscious, limp figure to the ground as she hopped out of the Bullhead.

"Awesome, I'd say you guys hogged all the fun but this, hah, didn't even look like a challenge," Yang said, dropping her own burden to the ground.

"Please, please let me go, I didn't wanna do it, they made me!" A young man screamed from within Weiss's Glyph.

"Shut up Coral, you fucking newbie, and fuck you, bit-" her words cut off as Weiss flicked her finger in her direction and a Glyph sprung up around her tongue leaving the woman grunting in anger.

"Please, I'm from a town just like Shorelight, they made me join cos I was part of the militia!" 'Coral' cried, tears on his cheeks.

"They did tell us the pirates forcefully recruited remember," Blake said, meeting Weiss's gaze with her own, and something passed between the two that Ruby couldn't perceive.

Finally, Weiss said, "Well you look harmless," and flicked her hand, loosening her Glyphs hold and letting the bulky brunette fell to his knees. However she kept a single Glyph shimmering at his feet, just in case.

Looking at the pirates, Ruby noticed the only thing resembling a uniform amongst them were the bandannas and even those came in red, brown and grey. Everything else varied from height, to age, to clothes. She could make out gun swords, sword axes, simple daggers, and a bit of Atlas gear like helmets or gloves, but not worn with any consistency but scattered around their frames haphazardly.

Jumping down from atop the Bullhead, Bolin spun his staff and said, "So the plan is the same, we fly, get back up and you-"

"Die," Spat the man Ruby had shot down. Older than the rest with wrinkles just fading in, thin orange hair and a beard. He wore Metal gloves, boots and an Atlas body suit, though he had looser leathers draped over that instead of armour, and a plasma rifle on his back. At their collective stare, the old man let out a sick, wet laugh, his shoulders shaking as he stared up at them with obvious mirth. "Let me guess, steal the Bullhead, fly to Mistral, and get help? Oh that's cute, as though we haven't had to deal with that before, hehe!"

Like a shot Blake was back inside the ship, and Ruby looked through her lens just in time to see an Atlesian Specialist Ship shoot through the sky like a dart.

"Damn!" Blake cursed, stomping her way back out of the ship and scowling down at the pirate. "They had a backup observer just in case the deal went sour. Knowing they couldn't deal with us they'll be heading back to their base and readying an ambush. I should have thought of this," She hissed, fingers digging into the wall of the ship.

"Hey, we couldn't have known that," Bolin said.

"I should have," Blake said.

"We should have guessed they'd have precautions, we assumed they didn't," Arslan said. She glanced at the pirate Weiss had loosened her grip on, who was just now starting to stop sobbing and asked, "What can you tell us about their plans, Coral?"

"Um, I'm new," he said, "but pull back, air patrols, they'll cut off paths to Mistral or safer settlement and there's trackers-"

"Shut up, new blood," Growled the old man.

"Ignore him, just talk to us," Yang said, hands coming down on the man's shoulders.

"I, I-"

"You know what the captain will do," Snapped the senior pirate.

"Hey, shut up," snapped Bolin, whacking the man upside the head with his staff.

"Ow, little fuck! Do you brats have any idea what you're doing?" He rasped, as the turn coat went completely silent. Smirking, with ugly orange teeth he said, "Of course you don't, just a bunch of little girls and boys playing hero. Once the captain cuts off your escape and hunts you down," he licked his lips, "You'll all pay."

"He- He'll destroy my town, all of it," Coral said, "he's unstoppable, he's a monster, I'm sorry, I can't say anything else!" he screamed.

"That's the spirit! I'll put in a good word for you with the captain!" Laughed the old man.

"Listen," Blake said firmly, even as a Glyph spawned in the old pirate's mouth to quiet him. "He's only saying that to scare you, you've already gone this far, there's more safety in siding with us than with him, he can't promise you anything."

"Uh guys," Ruby said.

"Yeah, and whatever he sends out, we can take, just tell us man," Yang said, trying to sound encouraging.

"I think he's-" Nadir started.

"Stop blubbering and help us out here!" Bolin snapped.

Coral's face was dripping with sweat, his eyes wide and frantic, Blake only seemed to realise it at the last moment as he burst into another bout of tears and tried to pull away from them all. He scrambled and scraped against the ground but Weiss's Glyph held steady, so Coral clamped his hands around his ears and buried his face in his knees.

Blake and Bolin stepped back, eyes wide in obvious worry, as the old pirate let out a grunt of amusement.

"I think we pushed too hard," Ruby said.

"This may take longer than planned," Arslan added.

"Still, we know about patrols," Yang added with a shrug.

"Which means they won't be attacking the town, yet, and then there's the trackers," Blake murmured.

Yang gestured to the new, if –now that Ruby looked at it- battered Bullhead, unloved unlike Stardust, dings and patchwork metal welding jobs covered its frame. Shaking her head, the only word that came to mind was 'shameful'.

"Well I can try and find those and-" Yang started.

"I can help!" Reese added.

"While we interrogate the remaining ruffians and work out a plan," Weiss said, scowling down at the old pirate who just squinted his eyes in obvious amusement.

"Maybe we should move this elsewhere," Ruby said, seeing the wary townsfolk eyeing them.

At the murmurs of agreement from them all, the pirates were quickly bundled up into the ship, and Blake flew them back to the warehouse.

A lingering thought ran through Ruby's mind as they flew, 'This isn't gonna be easy.'
_______________________________________________________________________

Cords, cables, wires, screens, Dust and the shiny metallic apparatuses, along with tools that let her toy with them; this was where Reese felt most at home. The only place she was as comfortable was sliding through the air on her self-made Hover board, unsurprisingly, a result of her love of technology.

Right now, Reese felt at home, sitting on a cold metal Bullhead floor, the cockpits control panels flipped up and the winding internals of the ship laid bare for her to see. An easy grin sat on her features even as she struggled against the pirates, vicious, hack job of securing their information.

Every Scroll her team had, every Scroll the Knights Errant had, were connected up to the Bullhead main computers in some way, laid on the floor, chairs, or the panels themselves. Loading bars flickered on holographic scene, password crackers flashed with new names and codes put in by false users every second.

But still no luck, a fact that left Reese's smile ebbing as she bit the back of her gloves in frustration. 'This is just sick,' she thought disgustedly. Yang had already retired from trying to tear out the tracking systems and Reese wasn't far behind her.

The one saving grace was her own Scroll, ore more specifically, the flight path record she'd been able to pull from the ship's massacred database. 'Who'd have thought they'd be so close to Mistral?' She asked herself, looking at the captured ship's flight patterns. Each time it went out to a marked out town it would also fly a circuitous path 'back' to an island in the great lake that bordered on Mistral; though Reese knew from personal experience that the flight over that lake could be a long one.

"Have you had any luck?" Ruby asked, the scythe wielder's stomping boots somehow not hitting Reese's ears as she looked over her beeping, whining menagerie of machines.

"A bit," She hummed. "These pirates are savages, they tore apart these ships and their on-board computers to isolate like half of what made them work!" Reese said, tugging her Scroll free of its connection to the main hub with an annoyed grunt, before rising to face Ruby. "They've jammed and welded in trackers, removed communication logs and made the Bullhead reliant on these ruined systems."

"Ah," Ruby said, her mouth forming a little 'O' of disappointment. "Meaning we can't remove the trackers and stuff right?"

"Not without tearing apart half of what the ship depends on," Reese shook her head. "All I managed to pull up was a record of their flight path and a bit on how they stay in touch with each other with no tower. From what I've seen, I can only assume they're using left over battleship tech to keep their operation together, that matches with what I saw at the Support Tower anyway."

Shrugging Reese said, "I can barely interact with everything else on this ship because of their hardware tricks, the software massacre," she spat, "and the fact I have barely tools after they shot us down!"

"Sorry," Ruby said slowly, almost leaning away from her.

Sighing Reese flicked her Scroll shut and smiled up at the other girl. "Not your fault. Anyway, how's interrogation going?"

"Well," Ruby said, drawing the word out and rolling her eyes as they jumped out of the ship and made their way towards the warehouse where Weiss was keeping the pirates bound.

"Weiss and I tried good cop bad cop, but we didn't have much to offer them because of how great or scary they think their captains is," Ruby said. "Then Bolin and Nadir went for cocky cop and, uh..."

"Awkward cop?" Reese asked, puffing a lock of hair from her face and chuckling with Ruby.

"Yeah, that didn't go too hot either, and now Yang and Blake are trying the whole 'be scary' thing," Ruby said.

"So how's that going?" Reese asked.

"Just talk you pricks!" Yang roared, her words followed by a crash of metal as something blasted through a wall.

"Not... well," Ruby finally said, the senior pirates' laughter echoing from the room.

The crew of six were bound to the grey cement floor by Weiss's Glyphs. Each one looking some mix of faux stoic in a bid to hide their fear, or simply annoyed. Only the wrinkly pirate seemed different, seemingly relishing in the situation, as he looked them over.

"Calm down lass, perhaps take a seat in my lap!" He jeered. The shock-wave of fire that radiated from Yang was enough to clamp the man's mouth shut though,as the wave of golden heat washed through the air.

Sliding up next to Arslan with Ruby, Reese said, "So uh, still no progress?"

"No, they're either loyal or too afraid and delusional as to their captain and crews ability. Too much so to be reasoned with," She said briskly, arms folded and her usual look of impassive concentration. "You?"

"Well, I know where their base is, but that's about it," Reese said.

She was a little shocked at Arslan's wide eyed stare before the blonde patted her head and said, "Good work Reese, that gives us new options."

"Oh, what's that I hear?" crowed the wrinkled pirate, drawing Reese's attention to him. "You know where our base is? Cute, and what will a band of brats do with that, eh? You still know nothing of our patrols, ya can't remove the trackers without totalling the ship and," he chuckled, "If you fought the captain you'd be taught your place right quick."

"Says you," was Reese's reasoned and thought out response.

"Says facts, you slag," He shot back.

"Screw you!" Reese, shouted, taking one step forward and hand hovering over her revolvers.

"Screw me!" He laughed.

Growling Reese's balled up fists shot open, but just as she reached for her guns Arslan's rough fingers clasped around her wrists. Meeting her gaze her leader shook her head and said, "Ignore the trash, he's beneath us."

"It's you two, who'll be benea- argfllffs!" He grunted as one of Weiss's Glyphs popped into his mouth again, leaving him to only gesticulate wildly at everyone.

Their teams quickly came together under the sunlight let in by the warehouses open door, no one looking happy.

"Look, we're getting nowhere slowly," Blake said, her ears flicking as she clasped her weapon tightly.

"And listening to this brute's ranting is doing my head in," Weiss added, having, since Reese last saw her, changed into blue boots and a long white overcoat that hid... pretty much everything.

"Can we wait it out? I mean, Mistral would have to send someone out to check soon right?" Nadir asked.

"It took a long time for them to notice the problem already," Arslan said, "They may act faster now, but without context they'll be flying blind and right into any number of traps and ambushes."

"Besides, the longer we're left waiting, the longer they have to bug out, or come here in numbers," Yang said, the blondes teeth were grit and she kept clapping her hands together and cracked her knuckles.

"Even if we could stop the pirates if they attacked," Blake said slowly, refusing to meet anyone's gaze as she looked at the floor.

"There's no guarantee we could save the village, or any other location they may swarm with number, let alone the waves of Grimm that would follow," Arslan finished.

'Guess that's one of the things you pick up in living in the wilds,' Reese mused.

"That relies on you stupid brats being able to win," Snorted the grey haired woman who'd been shouting at them before. Snarling, she added, "The elites could tear you all apart like paper bags, and I'm gonna love watching."

Seemingly powering through the woman's commentary Ruby said, "So, unless we get them to talk the pirates are either gonna run away, or blow Shorleight away?"

Seeing Ruby frown, Reese nudged the other girl, but didn't see her usual smile come back and was lost for anything else to do.

"Ruby," Yang said, "We'll figure something out," the blonde said, making her way over to her sister.

Before she could go in for, what Reese guessed would be a hug, Ruby's face shot up; she gave the pirates a look and finally said, "Why don't we just fight?"

"Uh what?" Nadir squeaked.

"Well, we're all Huntresses and Huntsmen, sure some of us have credentials and some of us don't," she added with a little shrug. "But we're all here to fight the bad guys and save people; plus now we know where the bad guys are."

"Ruby," Blake said tightly, "While I agree with you in theory, this isn't one person or a mass of Grimm, it's a borderline military outfit, almost certain to have people just like us at the head."

"So? When we first met we took down a whole White Fang group!" Ruby shot back. Gesturing to Bolin she said, "And I heard about that cartel fight you guys got into. How is this any different? Yes, they might see us coming, but that doesn't mean we can't win and it's better than sitting around doing nothing."

Silence reigned for a few moments, everyone seemed to be looking at everyone and nothing all, at the same time. Reese couldn't stop a little tremor of trepidation in her chest at the thought of that happened if they did fight... and lost? 'Is this what Nadir feels like all the time?' She wondered, trying to shake off the chill instilled in her by classes on crime, history and the older pirates nasty words.

Off to the side Bolin looked to be clutching his bo-staff hard. Finally he droned a noncommittal, "I mean... we could," as he rolled his head from side to side, looking for some sort of guidance.

"I agree," Arslan finally cut in, clipped and quiet as usual.

"Pardon!?" Nadir wheezed.

"I dislike it," she amended, one hand held up flat to forestall argument. "I dislike the idea of dragging you all into such a fight, and if you don't wish to accompany me, that's is acceptable. However, there's no denying, the longer we wait the more precarious our and everyone else's position save the pirates becomes."

"If we're gonna act, do it now huh?" Yang asked, slipping behind Ruby to hug the smaller girl and plopping her chin down on her sisters head.

"At this point, our options do seem few and far between," Weiss said, "I guess that could work."

"I agree, we can't just stand by if this is our only choice," Blake said, half looking at the pirates.

"And you guys?" Ruby asked, looking over Reese and her team mates.

"I'm already with you," Arslan said quickly, "my team though, I believe it may be better for them to stay on guard in Shorelight."

"What!?" No way!" Bolin said, his voice high pitched. Spinning his bo-staff around he laughed and said, "We're not letting you guys have all the fun!"

"I'm with yas!" Reese cheered, slipping her arms into Ruby and Arslan's, practically swinging off the duo.

Blinking warily, Nadir, gulped and said, "If it's what we have to do, it's what we have to do."

"You're sure?" Arslan asked again.

"We're sure!"

"Ooh, and Zwei can watch over the pirates and Shorelight, until we get back!" Ruby added.

The little corgi trundled over to the pirates and growled menacingly, even as its tail wagged jauntily about.

Looking over her team, Arslan pursed her lips and finally nodded, "All right then, we can leave, once I have a bit more information," She said.

"Uh, didn't we just decide that wasn't working?" Yang asked.

"Not about how to solve this problem without fighting, that stopped being an option once we were discovered, however I'd like to know more of what we're going to face," Arslan said. "And if nothing is forthcoming," she added more loudly, "there's no need to keep them."

"Uuh, wait what?" Ruby added quickly as Arslan strode forward.

Arslan's stride, slowed only long enough to nudge Blake and mutter something at her before her march picked up speed as she approached the pirates. Not even sparing a moment's hesitation, Arslan's right hand lashed out and dragged the wrinkled pirate into the air by his throat.

The Glyph holding his stupid tongue still vanished at Weiss's gasp and the man grunted, "Ooh is this the bit where you get rough with me!? Hah, that'll work!"

Arslan remained silent, Blake trailing behind her a few feet as she dragged the wrinkled pirate into the office and slammed the door shut.
_____________________________________

The office was dark and sparse, save for a few rotting crates and overhanging shelves. All of which shook as Arslan weakly –for a Huntress- slammed the wrinkled pirate into the wall. While the man reeled, held at eye level by her right arm; Arslan's skin boiled, and she ran her free hand over her eyes, repressing a hiss at the stinging sensation.

Yet despite his gasping, the pirate's levity didn't waver, he stared at her, smiled with rotting teeth and said, "Oh a tough one are you? Figured something like you'd go straight for the mo-"

Arslan's left palm shot out and with a clap of flesh, she brought her right hand up, and was grasping both sides of the man's head. His meagre flailing, bouncing off of her Aura, the way a lambs charge would bounce off a boulder. Aura swilling and twisting in her body, Arslan's already ruined throat swelled up as she growled out, "Stop talking, human."

His confidence wavered, just for a moment, eyes widening, smile going rigid before he started to force a sickly snicker. "Oh, is that what you are little bint? I wouldn't have guessed by looking, guess your humans are keeping the leash on tight?"

Arslan smiled, it was not a friendly or pleasant smile, white teeth were bared and showed her gums. Sharp teeth, likened to fangs, could be seen even in the miserably dim lighting. Her hold on the side of his face tightened and she could feel his Aura straining like something ready to pop. A deep rumbling growl echoed in the closed off room and his silence was gained again.

She slid two fingers on each hands over his face until she pried his eyes wide open. Throat straining, she snarled, "Do you know the story? Of Faunus and Grimm being the same?"

Spitting the man said, "You're animals, not Grimm, now get this over with."

Arslan snorted, a deep, wheezing laugh escaping her nostrils and strong enough to blow his hair back. As her chest swelled and her grip tightened further, Aura flooded her eyes and they stung painfully as heat began to radiate from them. "Human, that is wrong," she groused.

Pressing her face closer to his, eye to eye, she growled, deep and thick as her skin began to stretch, bones strained and cracked and popped, as her skin grew coarse and thick.

"Now watch closely, prey."
______________________________________

All eyes were on Blake as she guarded the office door, her own team, Arslan's, even the pirates. As Ruby looked about to speak, Blake raised her hand and said, "Just wait and see."

She'd have liked to reassure them but the muttered instructions Arslan left her had been little more than an instruction to follow her lead. Now though her feline ears, first at the sound of the Haven student's words that finally gave her an idea of what she was planning, then they twitched and swivelled at the sounds of cracking bones and twisting flesh. Memories were bubbling to the surface, the stench of blood in battles and wounded protesters limbs being jammed back into place in crammed little cells or safe houses.

"Blake, what is she-" Yang started.

But the sound of someone's breathing going higher and higher, the smell of fear as it engulfed the body, and his frantic scrambling echoing in her eardrums, was all consuming. For a moment, Blake shivered, and then the screaming started.

Desperate, hysterical, screams of gibbering terror, no words, just half muffled shrieking.

Everyone seemed to startle at that, and then a roar tore into the air, shaking the windows and floor, as the wooden door exploded in a shower of shrapnel that hovered around Blake for an instant where time seemed to stop. A golden outline with burning red eyes faded into the darkened office and the pirate scrambled on the floor, desperate for an escape.

Blurring in front of him, Blake tensed her Aura, arms up high and teeth bared she loomed over him, black shadows radiating from her frame like she was vibrating dark matter, obscuring the face and leaving only darkness.

"Get away!" The pirate screamed and before Blake even knew it, Yang was shoving her aside and the pirate practically threw himself behind her in a bid to hide himself.

"Leave!" someone shouted.

Blake flung herself backwards and burst through a window in a shower of glass. Her chest twisting up on itself and her heart was beating in her ears like a drum. An unpleasant coppery taste stung her tongue and Blake pressed herself up against the nearest wall and let out a ragged gasp.

'I never wanted to feel like this again,' she thought, as someone, their voices were blurring together, demanded to know what the pirates had planned for them. 'Please just work,' Blake thought, clutching her belly as she felt it seemingly bubble and coil on itself.
_____________________________________

Yang's boots crunched on the gravel as she walked out of the warehouse, and let out a sigh of relief at seeing Arslan and Blake leaning on a nearby wall. Ignoring, or gulping down any nervousness, Yang waved and said, "Hey guys," she did indeed sound that awkward. "Your little performance worked like a charm, five stars!" She added, grinning with two thumb up.

"He talked then?" Arslan asked from where she leaned against the wall. Her eyes were closed and she looked very much like she was meditating, with Blake simply leaning on the wall at her side in what Yang could only describe as a 'cool' or perhaps 'broody' pose.

"Yep, after you guys pretty much neutered his ego, he and the rest spilled all kinds of beans. Ya know the old dude hasn't brushed his teeth since he became a pirate?" Yang asked.

"Given his breath, I had considered that," Blake thought with an accompany 'ug'.

Silence lingered for a moment, and with a twitchy smile, Yang finally sucked in a breath and tackled the Goliath in the room. "So, I noticed his Aura hadn't really gone down, and I get you guys just gave him a scare. He actually got pretty specific on you guys being Grimm in human skin or whatever." Se glanced at Arslan and said, "Said some stuff about you having the head of a lion and an unhinged jaw, and I figured out was Blake was doing with her shadow clones so… So, yeah, thanks for taking one for the teams there, sorry if I was a bit, ah," Yang rubbed the back of her head, "Aggressive when stepping in."

"We all played our part, it's hardly worth thinking about so long as it worked," Arslan said.

"Fair enough," Yang said, finally slinging an arm around Blake's shoulder. "I hope this didn't bring up any bad memories," Yang added more quietly, Blake's ears twitching as Yang's words washed over them.

"It's fine, nothing really," Blake said.

"If it bothers you, it's not nothing," Yang said, giving Blake's shoulders a squeeze.

"Yang, its fine," she stressed, "I was just reflecting on some things; besides, at least this time, no one actually got hurt."

"I wouldn't say that," Arslan said.

"What'd I miss?" Yang asked.

Looking up at them both and blinking rapidly Arslan said, "Rubbing Burn Dust in your eyes to make them look like a Grimm's stings."
_____________________________________

Ruby locked the second last of her cartridges into Crescent Rose and smiled at the satisfying sound and feel of her creation vibrating as it took in a full round of ammo.

After a brief summary of exactly what Blake and Arslan had done to undermine the pirates' confidence so much it hadn't been long before they readied to set off. Making sure to leave some food and water out for Zwei just in case they weren't back by night time.

Around the rather crowded Bullhead, everyone else was making their own preparations while Blake and Yang readied the Bullhead for lift off. Final tweaks and inspection of weapons, pat downs for supplies and other equipment were all being given the usual rounds. Though with the added looming figure of Arslan opting to check in on everyone to make 'sure', that they all wanted to come and were ready.

"You guys ready to put the stomp on some pirates?" Reese asked, stamping on her Hover-board to make it spin into the air and into her arms.

"Oh yeah!" Ruby said with gleeful grin.

"Shouldn't we be discussing a strategy?" Weiss asked as she spun Myrtenaster's Dust revolver with a mechanical 'whirr' that Ruby would freely admit she loved hearing.

"Indeed," said Arslan. "This is an altered military base camouflaged within a mountain on an island. We're liable to face their blockade, along with reinforced walls, a heavily armed and dug in fortification, long range defences-"

"And that's not even getting into them wanting to just bug out through the air-bay, or the fact we'll have to keep an eye on the radars the entire way in case they send forces to attacks Shorelight," Blake added, accompanied by a click of Yang's fingers with the blonde going 'points!'

"So wait, we really think they'll just try running away?" Ruby asked.

Blake shrugged from the pilot's seat as she revved up the engine, the powerful thrum of the jets vibrating the ships frame as the wings flared up and they began to lift into the air. "It's possible, it'll be hard to gauge how they will react. But with the trackers, we can't sneak passed them and if we start doing damage to their ships they may just decide to scatter and reform elsewhere provided they haven't left already."

"Huh..." Ruby said. 'So even if we break in and catch the bad guys, we could still have dozens of pirates flying every which way?' Turning to Reese, eyes flickering to the cockpit, Ruby asked, "So can we talk to the pirates, like is the radio working?"

Shrugging, Reese said, "Sure, its locked into their sub signal and given how freaking torn up the whole thing is and the wall they put up, we can't exactly call anyone else on it."

"That's fine," Ruby said, hugging Crescent Rose to her chest Ruby marched into the cockpit and without much fanfare pressed down on the radio controls, hard. "Hey, pirates, we know where you are and we're coming for you. Two full teams of Haven Huntsmen and Huntresses! We're leaving some people behind to guard Shorelight as well, just in case you thought of doing something really stupid."

The radio crackled and finally a sharp chuckle rumbled through the cockpit and a man said, "Come, and, get us, children." And then the radio went dead.

"Well, I guess they'll all be waiting for us now!" Ruby said cheerily, as she looked over the gaping stares of her friends.

Finally, Arslan took a step forward and clapped down on her shoulders and murmured, "Ruby, good idea to ensure they focus their forces, but please don't ever do that again."

"So," Blake said, "even if they do concentrate their forces on base thinking they won't need to retreat, we still can't sneak around them thanks to the trackers, meaning an assault is our best bet and I'm gauging us at taking about an hour to get there."

Stepping back into the crowded cockpit it was Arslan who spoke first. "Our first priority will be cutting off their means of escape by securing their air docks on the side of the mountain."

"Do we even know where that is though?" Weiss asked. "I mean, yes, the pirates said it was somewhere in the middle of their fortress and facing East, but even then..."

"We are liable to face a lot of hostility in trying to bypass their firing line," Blake added, "Finding the entrance and getting inside could be rather difficult, even if we use Weiss and Bolin's Semblance to speed up the Bullhead, there's only so much I can do once we get so close."

"So we need a means of breaking their firing line, getting in and cutting off their escape routes, all without being shot down," Arslan said, rubbing her chin, "I have some ideas."

"I do to," Ruby said, eyes already trailing Arslan's bandages and Gambol Shroud's ribbon.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Unacceptable," Arslan said firmly, even as Ruby looked up at her with those big silver eyes filled with hope and determination.

"What? Come on this sounds awesome!" Yang said, looking up at her fellow fist fighter, from the floor of the crowded cockpit.

Glancing at Yang, Arslan said, "Dividing up our forces in a three pronged assault leaves us too vulnerable, if we're going with such a plan I'd rather we have as large numbers as possible on our side."

"Aw come on, we can handle it," Bolin said from where he was leaning up against the wall.

Huffing Weiss said, "I think it's risky and crazy, but also our best chance, so long as we remember to retreat if things get back and can try to regroup it can work."
"You did say you had confidence in us, and the Knight Errant seem on board," Nadir added. Despite his words, the shifty look in his eyes told Arslan his support was born more from that of those around him, than his own feelings.

Biting her tongue, Arslan sucked in a low breath and said, "Are you sure?" at Bolin and Reese's nods she turned to Bolin and said, "Nadir?" The boy gave a small jerky nod. Trying to ignore the tension running through her frame, Arslan said, "Very well, we'll go with your plan, Ruby."
________________________________________________________________________
Notes:
Hello once again to any and all readers, as always thanks go out to Person With Many Aliases for their help with this chapter and to all of you who've read, liked, commented and faced! We're nearing the homestretch of chapters now, so I hope this was a good set up for the ensuing invasion segments.

On Arslan's intimidation thing, I tried to leave it fairly vague and as something I could maybe pass off as a lighting/Dust/Aura trick if we find out her canon Semblance, but if we don't or I am somehow right (Absurdly unlikely) then her Semblance basically transforms her body into that of a bipedal lion that enhances all of her attributes for a brief time before tiring her out. She only a bit of it here over the whole thing so she didn't expend much energy.

As to their plan, they're mostly opting to not try going to Mistral because they know the pirates have faster ships than them and if they aren't expecting an attack then they might seek reprisal against Shorelight or just leave if they somehow failed to catch the team.

 

[Ars Poetica]

The feeling I'm getting from Nadir is that he's the group's "Holy shit" compass.

If things seem risky as all fuck, or if nobody's sure how it'll go down, he's kind of the litmus test for "is this a needlessly stupid idea or not".

 

[Zam]

The feeling I'm getting from Nadir is that he's the group's "Holy shit" compass.

If things seem risky as all fuck, or if nobody's sure how it'll go down, he's kind of the litmus test for "is this a needlessly stupid idea or not".

Click to shrink...

That is awesome, I love the idea of him being a 'holy shit compass' XD

It works well actually, as he's the most inclined to think about the worst that may happen.

 

[Guilop]

Seems like shit's about to go down next chapter. Let's see how good these scary pirates really are.

The standard Atlas goons are speedbumps to your average hunter an IIRC the only Atlas military personnel that we see do something impressive are Winter and Ironwood. Unless you count Penny.

 

[Zam]

Seems like shit's about to go down next chapter. Let's see how good these scary pirates really are.

The standard Atlas goons are speedbumps to your average hunter an IIRC the only Atlas military personnel that we see do something impressive are Winter and Ironwood. Unless you count Penny.

Click to shrink...

Indeed it will, I hopes its works

Yeah, I mean, for mooks they did OK against Cinder but still, they're mooks, its the elites who'll pose the main threat.

 

[Zam]

Pirate Signal - Chapter 12:
Pirate Crashers ​

Blake's hands were wrapped tightly around the controls. Her eyes trailed across the window and screens of the Bullhead. Pushing the Bullhead's lever forward, it moved with an irritating little clunk, reminding her of how much smoother and sturdier, if maybe a tad slower, their Stardust had been.

Down below the dark green and brown swamps of Mistral were giving way to deeper pools of water and stagnant rivers. Up ahead, and blurring towards was the sparkling blue water of Mistral's great lake and outlined in the distance a thick island topped with a tall brown mountain.

"Uh, we got, ah, enemies," Nadir said from his co-pilots seat in the nearly empty Cockpit. His eyes were locked on the scanners as they began to shine brighter, with dozens of tiny dots circling the island flashing onto the screen.

The earpieces in her human ears gave off a slight buzz and Blake spoke. "We have incoming, at least ten ships, get ready."

"Roger that Blake," Weiss said.

"Oh yeah, everyone get ready for the action!" Yang crowed over the winds battering against the headsets microphone.

Groaning, Nadir looked towards the window even as his fingers nervously grasped the Bullhead's twin winged mini-gun controls and said, "We're all going to die aren't we?"

"This plan is totally foolproof!" Was Ruby's snappy reply.

"Foolproof like that half of a bullhead you flew in with?" Nadir said.

"You are made of salt and cruelty," Yang said.

"Incoming fire!" Ruby shouted, the snipers cry stinging Blake's ears.

Even an average Huntress could dodge a bullet, even a regular Huntress could dodge and deflect machine gun or rocket fire. Even at her most humble, Blake knew from personal experience that she was already better than many Huntresses. Add six months of roughing it in the wilds against Grimm and sparring with three people at her level, who were even stronger or faster, had only made her better.

Aura ran through her body like lightning, every muscle primed, every sense wired. So when a missile came hurtling towards the ship Blake saw it coming. There was only an instantaneous moment to act but she took it. Slamming down on the throttle and pushing the lever forward she shot below the missile, leaving it to soar overhead and explode as Ruby opened fire.

"The ships are moving!" Nadir shouted.

"Blake?" Weiss asked.

"Now!" She ordered, and like that two contrasting waves of Aura rippled through the ship.

The metal hummed and clinked as a wave of orange energy flowed through the steel. Gravity's hold weakened and their ships engines pushed them beyond what a mere Bullhead should ever be able to do.

The second wave of Aura Blake felt personally. Sharp, structured and smooth, a line of gold weaved its way through the ship and the sound of clock gears grinding filled her mind as the world slowed.

Two purple beams of energy flew from the base of mountain, accompanied by small rockets and thick sniper-cannon fire. A line of rickety Bullheads spread across the air and unleashed a wave of golden flashing bullets from mini-guns.

To Blake, it was slow, like some old pistol, half-cocked and filled with wet ammo.

Spinning the lever and yanking the controls ajar, Blake twisted the ship on its side and right between the missiles. A stream of machine gun fire was ducked and weaved through as the gunners tried and failed to keep pace with her even as they desperately fell back to maintain their firing line. Someone was rambling on the radio and she could hear the others shouting and whooping in fear or excitement, but the world was slow, and Blake was beyond fast.

__________________________________________________________________

Yang stood atop the liberated Bullhead, a wide grin on her lips, eyes red and her blood pumping. The wind whipped and crashed against her frame, throwing back her golden mane. Everything was a blur, the air was cracking and popping all around her and Yang could scarcely keep track of Blake's flying, let alone the enemies save that they were flailing.

Ships spread across the sky spun and drew back at their approach. Searing bolts of laser fire tore through the air. "They're using Battleship cannons!" She shouted, though the smaller blasts obviously came from a bastardised version, likely to save on Dust. Streams of bullets and explosives tore through the air but with Blake's flying, and Ruby's sharp shooting only a few stray bullets were plinking off their Auras.

The world fell out from under her again, and Yang could feel her inside trying to rush up and out of her at the dizzying speed of the drop. She didn't go flying into the sky though, bound as she was with the rest of their mishmash team. Tied around her waist was a simple band of white cloth, though she could feel the firm, weighty touch or Arslan's Aura meeting her own. She wasn't the only one like this either, save for Weiss, everyone atop the Bullhead were bound together by the Aura infused strips of cloth. Yang couldn't keep herself from letting out a manic laugh as the ship turned on its side as they approached the final line of the desperate blockade.

"It's time!" Weiss shouted.

Ruby fired Crescent Rose at an attacker, even as they rushed to the tail end of the ship, careful not to let the hurricane-like winds tear them from their purchase.

Yang barely heard the 'fwoosh' of an engine burning out as Ruby's bullet tore through the enemy Bullhead's jet engine like it had so many others but she did hear the blast as the wing flew off and the ship fell out of the way.

"They'll reform," Blake's voice said, distorted and warbling because of Weiss's time dilatation, as they tore through the line of ships and the looming mountain came into focus.

"Now!" Blake shouted, the engines flared, their flames roaring and scorching the air.

Weiss spun around to face them, hands flying and weaving, her Aura sung and a shining Glyph flared up behind them.

The ship swerved in the air and an instant before the force might have sent them flying, Yang spun around and slammed her feet against Crescent Rose's Blade. At her side Arslan was braced against Reese's upturned board. The air smacked against their backs and just as they were to be dragged into the sky they pushed against their bracing, Aura unleashed in an ethereal blast to fuel their leap.

Crescent Rose fire and Yang grinned as she felt the extra jolt of speed granted to her by Ruby. At her side, Arslan accepted the same boon form Reese. Everyone jumped, their bodies became light and they were pulled along by the force of their jump, the ships momentum and Yang and Arslan's torpedo like charge.

As they burst through Weiss's speed Glyph, Yang realised what it was like to be Ruby. The world vanished, all save one tiny pin-prick in the centre of her eyes. Grass gave way to brown rock that rose up beyond her sight. Sharply cut squares and circles for weapons fire had been carved out, hidden by faux stone that could be lifted up to unveil a firing line of bullets, missiles and laser cannons at a moment notice. It was meant to overwhelm any too weak or too slow to withstand it, and right now, Yang was neither.

Flames flared around her form, Yang drew back her fist as she tore through the air like a comet. Arslan's Aura radiated next to her own and they let out a unified roar as they punched the fortress walls, their strikes were explosions, and they tore through the walls in a wave of fire.

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In an otherwise dark room a large rectangular computer of shining silver and blue projected a dozen holo-screens. The flashing screens cast shadows across the stone-carved walls and floor, images of a single Bullhead rushing their blockade on every screen. The light of the screens illuminated a floor strewn with worn clothes, the nest of cables keeping it powered and three figures surrounding a large cushy lounge.

Looming over the screens, arms folded over his loose green fatigues, Reaver watched with a grim set to his square features, framed by shaggy hair.

A second, comparatively tiny man, was stretched out atop the top of the lounge. One kneed pointed towards the ceiling and his chin held up by an open palm as he snickered at the display on screen.

Finally, a third figure occupied the three person lounge himself. Leather boots resting on the rim of the projector. His long brown coat, loose fitting pants and shirt might have given off the appearance of a slacker had he not been lined with bullet casings and knives. A beaten wide brimmed hat sat atop his head and a half finished cigarette was clenched in his teeth.

Carmen sucked in a smoky breath as he eyed the kids atop the Bullhead with a bemused grin. 'That looks fun, I'll have to ride into Shorelight like that,' he thought.

In his left hand sat a shiny new Scroll, from which the voice of a crew member said, "Sir, they're on the roof and just dodged around one of our scouts!"

Carmen ignored Blur's snickering, "You should have sent me" the speedster said teasingly.

Toying with his Scroll Carmen chuckled and called out in a sharp crisp, but above all else, amused voice. "Remember crew, these are not Grimm, they think they're Hunters and that means they won't go down on us that easy!"

"Give these kids all of your attention like the squalling brats they are, but never forget they're just a bunch of little bints. Fight with yours eyes on the prize, like they're the only thing that you see and once we've got them on their back by pills or by bullets, devastate them!"

A calamitous cheer bellowed forth from his Scroll and Carmen let it drop to his side as he went back to watching the ensuing debacle. "Hey someone call the twins in here, I won't be needing guards for this and they might as well watch too,' he said, thinking of the heavy armoured gunners he'd sent to watch the bases top entry point.

Blur let out another laugh as something shiny flared atop the ship form one of the Huntresses, somehow she looked familiar but Carmen couldn't place it. "Look at-em go!" Blur cheered as they shot forward.

Unsurprisingly, it was Reaver who had to be ruin the mood as he rumbled, "You're being too casual about this."

Waving a hand as he toyed with his Scroll, only half watching the screens Carmen said, "Please Reaver, when I heard we might have Hunters incoming I got us ready for a full on assault by the best of the best." Snorting at the screens Carmen spat at the approaching Bullhead's projection and watched with amusement as the spittle went straight through the white haired girls head. "Instead though we get a bunch of stupid kids charging head first into enemy fire, frankly I feel blue-balled."

Pulling up his Scroll as the Bullhead weaved out of the way of a missile Carmen said, "Keep those bullets firing, make sure the missiles and lasers fly, and remember the first step to all murder is to have fun!"

Satisfied at a job well done Carmen groaned as he stretched his legs out and looked over the Huntresses again. 'Honestly, pretty things like that, wish they were villagers, then we might keep them, but even students can be irritating,' Carmen thought. Rolling his head to the side he amended, 'Well maybe just one or-'

"They're gone!" Reaver spat.

Carmen's eyes shot towards the screens, but all he caught was a blur of metal and then nothing. The intercom on his Scroll was suddenly filled with chatter as his crew started squawking at each other. "What's going on!?" He snapped.

"They're too fast!"

Carmen felt rough hands glide across his gloves as Reaver dragged him and his Scroll up and barked, "Fall back, focus fire!"

"We're trying, th- they're turnin-"

Even at the top of their mountain carved base Carmen heard it. A thunderous crash, a furious, booming roar, like exploding stone and a firestorm combined.

"What the fuck?!" he bellowed.

"They just shot themselves into the armoury, they-aaah!" The overseer wailed before they were cut off as something cracked across the Scroll and a feminine voice shouted, "You the bosses? We're coming for ya!" her tone was tinged with manic excitement, while another, rougher voice shouted, "Docking Bay!" in the background.

Spinning sharply Carmen said, "Blur get to the-" only to freeze as he found the room empty save for a sticky note on his wrist reading 'We already left, bae.'

"I fucking hate them," Carmen spat, as he threw his head around to watch as the Huntresses Bullhead flipped out of the way of the remaining airships attempts to gun them down from behind.

"Sir, they're fast, one of them's freezing the jets and-" the pilot's report was cut short as gun fire echoed through her ship and her last words before the radio died were, "We're down!"

Carmen's eyes flickered from one screen to the next. A blue light flashed in front of the Bullhead, and it suddenly rocketed away from a pincer manoeuvre, leaving his ships to get shot down by bullets and ice. The Bullhead spun out of the line of fire from another stream of mini-gun before the circular flash flared around the attacking ships engines and it suddenly lurched backward.

'We have fifteen ships out there, ten inside, plus Blur's, there's eight-' He watched the Bullhead flip over a tailing ship shoot out its engines from above as it began to climb. 'Nine active ships lost. We're facing a two, no three pronged assault, they'll cut off the exits and their ship will be coming here if I... Wait, white hair and Blue lights? Those are fucking Glyphs!'

Decision made, Carmen rushed out of his private chambers, bursting through the steel door into his private air-bay, Carmen ignored the stair-well entirely, 'Reaver and Blur can look after them,' he thought. "You two!" he shouted at his black armoured guards at the mouth of the cave, "Fall in, I have a plan!"

Eyes strafing over the long thin bay, jam packed with monitors, engine parts, food stores, long winding cables on thick plastic mats and the thin metal runaway cutting down the centre towards the mouth of mountain. 'My Ship would be here too, if Blur weren't so intent on fucking around and got it burnt up, but no matter,' Carmen thought.

Blurring to a metallic stage, Carmen leapt up atop it and grinned down at a grim faced woman with dark hair.

"Sir?" she asked, with a lazy salute.

"Technician, help me get the fuel cannon online," he said, with a wide grin on his unshaven face. "We're going to catch ourselves a Schnee!"

_____________________________________________________________

The armoury they'd torn into was a grand, circular chamber. Carved from brown stone and reinforced with steel. Multiple tiers allowed for several firing lines to drown the enemy in waves of bullets and missile fire. Stuck into the walls proper were clunky looking laser cannons and missile launchers connected to bulking Dust engines.

'About a hundred pirates, the majority of the crews in here then. Good,' she thought. Most of the bandanna wearing pirates were on the walls, or clustered in small alcoves around heavy duty radio equipment or weapons stores.

It was not however, such a pristine place anymore. She and Yang had torn a gargantuan hole in the ceiling. Their landing had sent out a burning shock wave. melting and scorching much of the floor into a charred black mess. More than a few soldiers were already down and Team 'Speed' were already tearing across the chamber.

The pirates were rallying, bazookas and mini-guns being raised as their commanders bellowed orders, while a few brave or foolish souls charged the fist-fighting duo. Sweeping out her attackers feet, Arslan grabbed her orange bandanna-clad foe and flung her into the wall, the stone smashing under the force. 'We don't have time for this!' She thought, mind already a whirl over her team.

"We're coming for ya!" Yang shouted.

"Docking bay!" Arslan shouted above the rising din and she was pleased to see 'Team Speed' pull together and charge out of the room even while it left her stomach sinking.

'They'll be fine,' she told herself, still eager to finish up and chase down her team, Arslan looked over at Yang and watched her fling an Atlas armoured pirate out of a metal filled alcove filled with wires and boxes. 'A radio room,' she realised, recognising some of the machinery, like a chunkier and barer looking Support Tower with no satellite.

Yang slammed her fists into what could only be a main hub, a cylindrical metal chamber easily waist height. Golden light and fire lanced outwards, as Yang threw herself back and the alcove exploded in sparks and fire.

"Open fire!" Someone roared.

"Yang!" Arslan shouted, drawing back her fist and charging the blonde, she almost bit her tongue as she shouted, "Fist bump!"

The spark of excitement in Yang's eyes was instantaneous. Hair shining gold she lunged at Arslan, her own right fist drawn back, Aura rippling around her skin as they lashed out. Fists collided with a powerful crash that roared in the air, their Aura ran over each other's frames like a surging wave of water and were channelled into the ground.

The tortured earth shone red and gold as a shining wave of light and a rippling tide of metal and stone surged in every direction. Shouts of pain and surprise rang out as the shock-wave sent the pirates flying into the air and walls, guns exploded and Dust fuel surged and flared out.

Feet skidding along the sizzling ground both Huntresses fell back to back, eyes trailing across their foes, only a few had withstood the blast. Most were groaning on the ground or imprinted into walls, body's limps and cracks now ran through the entire chamber.

"All right I think-" Arslan started, only for her ears to twitch.

She and Yang spun around towards the wide, stone-cut door of the armoury. Standing rigidly, in a black bodysuit, with a square jawed face and brown eye, framed by straw blonde hair, was a man. He towered over her, in fact, Arslan could tell he'd tower over Yang as well, his limbs were lanky but rippling with muscles. On his hands were what looked to be two thick metalled whisks that were slowly spinning.

"Mini-boss approaches," Muttered Yang.

Finally he spoke, in a deep voice that boomed, "Anyone who couldn't handle that get out! You have no place in this fight." Any murmurs of surprise or curses were silenced as his weapons began to spin, a high pitched metal scream filled the chamber and he lashed out with two punches that sent the spinning weapons flying at them.

Instincts kicking in, Arslan flipped over the blade and Yang did the same; she could see a trail of air, like a miniature tornado chasing the weapons. Eyes trailing to the man Arslan balked in shock as he shot across the ground and before Yang could even touch the ground sent a right hook at her chest. Yang barely brought her arms up to guard in time but the force of the blow rocketed her into a wall and left the blonde embedded in steel.

The buzzing intensified and Arslan rolled around another attack from the spinning blades. 'Malleable, long distance control, wind manipulation. He's strong, fast, and deadly efficient,' she thought.

Off to the side Yang tore herself from the wall with a grunt and Arslan found herself staring down both spinning blades as the seeming elite fell into a defensive stance at Yang's charge, while one of the few remaining soldiers bellowed, "Open fire!"

'This won't be easy,' Arslan thought, and some little part of her relished in that, even as her mind wandered to her teams state.

'I need to finish this fast!'

________________________________________

As the sound of Team Strong taking care of business in the armoury flared up, Ruby and her Team were already in action. One hand clasped around Bolin's Bo-staff, Ruby pulled him and Reese along by her Hover-board.

Her Semblance ran through her body like a shudder and Ruby unleashed a burst of rose petals as she shot into the air. Blurring and over the rough cut stairs and bouncing off the walls, she ascending higher into the fortress.

As she shot upwards, her team blurred passed several open caves, roughly cut and cramped, they were packed with whatever swag the pirates could keep. However the looming light shining in from a room that's roof was vastly higher than any of the others told her she was getting close to the air docks.

A spindly man with spiky blond hair lobbing grenades at her also gave Ruby the impression that room was important.

The explosives were wreathed in flames and fired from a reloading high speed launcher. Half a dozen were hurtling towards her and Ruby slammed her booted feet into a wall and swung Reese and Bolin upwards.

Releasing her hold on Bolin's weapon, Ruby watched as Reese flipped in the air, Bolin holding onto her shoulders precariously . Baring the bottom of her board upwards Reese tucked in her knees and then thrust back out. An emerald wave of light rippled through the air and in an instant the grenades shot back up at their attacker who shrieked in surprise.

As the duo flipped back down Ruby watched the man throw himself back as the grenades chased him into the chamber. An instant later a gout of flames and rubble bust from the room. Digging in her feet Ruby let her Semblance rip, and launched herself up and into the smoke. A massive figure flew by her, parting the smoke, and barely missing Reese and Bolin as he fell to for the base level. 'He must be one of the elites, be careful Yang!'

Jumping into the room, smoke trailing after and flooding the chamber, Ruby spied her foe; framed by the sunlight let in by stone-cut airship entrance. It was wide enough to fit two Bullheads or something like a hundred Zwei's at once. His battered Atlas Uniform was singed, his hair was burnt, the tips still in flames. That was ignored those as he shouted and readied to fire.

Ruby didn't give him the chance.

Swinging up Crescent Rose in one smooth motion she squeezed the trigger and the high impact round was unleashed. Hurtling through the air it crashed against the Aura charged grenade just as it left the launcher. There was a terrible moment of realisation from her foe as the blast was triggered and he let out a loud shriek before being lost in flames.

Speeding around the massive open chamber Ruby left a trail of rose petals, smoke and dust behind her. She blurred, shot, ducked and weaved her way below, above and around Bullheads, staffed by a small gang of partially armoured mechanics. Those that she saw, or who tried to attack, found themselves sent flying into the air by her slamming Crescent Rose into the ankles and dragging them after her until they went flying off.

She could hear Reese and Bolin leaping in through the door and into the fray with raucous laughter. Coming to a halt before the massive hole in the mountain-side, which the pirates had no doubt been planning to evacuate from. Ruby's eyes flicked over the fifteen ships scattered in the docking bay, no less than three engines flared up as pirates tried to escape, the rest pointlessly rushing Reese and Bolin with guns, batons or wrenches. Not bothering to watch Reese and Bolin's sweeping victory, 'Yang's starting to rub off on me,' Ruby thought as Bolin and Reese literally swept their foes feet out from under them.

Ruby brought back Crescent Rose and opened fire, her Aura charged, armour piercing rounds tore into the jets with a calamitous clang of tearing metal. The flames flared up and died just as quickly, the jets either crunching into nothing or bursting into flames.

'One,' she fired, 'two,' the jets exploded in a sea of shrapnel and steel, 'three,' she thought with finality. The last armour piercing round bypassed the jet and busted a hold straight into the fuel line, blowing the wing right off and leaving each ship helpless.

"Everyone take one ship!" Ruby ordered.

Bolin and Reese jumped at her commands, splitting off and leaping through open doors or breaking in windows to finish off the crews. For her part Ruby flung Crescent Rose back and charged at the one ship that was aiming squarely at her. Its mini-guns began to spin and a stream of loud bullets exploded through the air.

Blurring from side to side, Ruby sidestepped every shot, leapt into the air and cleaved the front window open in a spray of glass, the screech stinging her hears. Levelling Crescent' Roses barrel at the stunned crew she fired, the force sent her body rigidly flying back and the cockpit was engulfed in a blast of fire. 'Explosive rounds, yeah!' She thought cheerily.

Landing atop an empty Bullhead's wing Ruby looked into the cock-pit and sound the pirates staggering around, trying to stand only to collapse from their injuries or exhaustion, their mismatched uniforms now crispy. Battles done, only the faint sounds of torn metal forlornly swinging by a metallic thread, and the strong mountain breeze hit her ears.

Jumping from her perch, Ruby jogged to meet Reese and Bolin in the centre of the wide open chamber, the metal floor, -obviously a bit thrown together, from what she guessed were chunks of the battleship- clanging with each strike of her boots.

Coming to a stop Ruby jumped up and cheered, "We did it!"

Reese jumped at her and pulled Ruby into an excited hug without even hopping off her Hover-board, allowing her to be taller than Ruby herself.

"Oh yeah, air docks secure!" Bolin said, raiding his staff in victory.

"Oh yeah, very secure," a blasé and high voice said. Eyes widening and weapons ready, they all looked right to see a man in a black body suit with silver hair and a cocky smirk on his face standing right behind them.

'When!? How!?' Ruby thought.

Hands on his hips, he leaned forward and well within striking range and said, "You kids really did a number on these idiots."

Bolin acted first, swinging his Bo-staff at the man.

Body shifting into a blur, the pirate leaned out of the way of Bolin's attack and shot behind him. Coming to a stop his hand shout out and rubbed the boy black mop top as he said, "Aw, you're adorable!"

Ruby shot forward, rose petals flickering from her steps she brought Crescent Rose down in a mighty swing and- slammed the blade into the ground, cratering the metal but leaving their foe untouched.

"Wooh, quite the speedster ain't ya?" He asked from behind her.

Ruby kicked out at him, even as she pulled Crescent Rose up and Reese flung herself at the man, an emerald wave of energy was unleashed from her board, but he was already gone.

"You kids put on quite a show!" he called.

They all looked up to find him stretched out on-top of a Bullhead snickering. "But now, how about I show you a real performance?"

____________________________________

Blake's vision of the world had long since returned to normal. Once the others had torn through the pirates' base the firing line had broken and the ships scattered. After that it had been a simple matter of outmanoeuvring the pilots. Some may have been good, but none of them had Weiss's Glyphs speeding up their ship or the Huntress hurling down waves of fire and ice in addition to skilled flying and mini-gun fire.

As the last vessel was sent careening into the hill-side Blake began to climb. Weiss's 'hup!' hit her ears over the howling winds as her friend jumped back into the ship. Glancing to her side, she saw Nadir's obvious relief despite having handled himself well enough in the fire fight.

"I imagine we're heading for that opening near the top of the mountain?" Weiss asked, if she was tired it scarcely showed, her breath sounded tight to Blake, but nothing unusual.

"I haven't seen anyone fly out of the air dock," Blake said with a pleased grin on her face. Pulling back the lever she angled the ship up and flared the engines, sending them soaring towards a thin opening near the top of the mountain. "We're going to strafe by and you two can jump out, then I'll swing around," Blake said.

"Excellent," Weiss said, her tone tinkling with amusement, despite Nadir's nervous groan as he shot up from his seat and drew his rifle up to his chest and made his way onto the deck.

Tilting the ship to its side Blake pulled back on the engines, she felt the weight of gravity push against her and-

Something was coming, she could hear Weiss and Nadir gasp, a hot buzzing sounds somehow keened above the roiling high winds and a faint light flashed in her peripheral vision. Blake slammed down on the throttle but it was too late, a purple beam pierced the tip of her ship and a second tore her left wing right off. The roar of the Bullhead's engines died, and she could only guess more shots were coming.

"Move, move!" Weiss shouted, the lyrical hum of her Glyphs ringing as Nadir shouted in surprise.

Blade flickered out of her seat and dashed for the open deck, Weiss and Nadir at her side they leapt through one of her Glyph and were launched forward. In an instant she saw the long cavern before them, filled with metal and machines with a distant figure in brown standing at the back. With the smirk on his lips and two sniper rifles that would be on par with Crescent Rose, she knew he was responsible.

Another blast of laser fire was unleashed and only Blake's Semblance saved her as she flung herself below the blast and came crashing into the chamber floor. In front of her Weiss skidded to a halt on her Glyphs and Nadir-

"Aaah!" he let out a cry as he slid along the floor, went into a roll only to fall into a hole marked only by stairs. What followed was a mass of gun fire and shouting.

"Nadir!" Weiss cried, rushing to the hole as Blake drew herself up and readied her weapon. Another blast of laser fire cut off Weiss's charge and flew into the distance.

"I'm OK!" he shouted back, panting but evidently alive.

A peel of laughter rang out across the chamber, echoing and booming all around them. It rattled around in Blake's mind and she shuddered at the memory of Adam's laugh, moments before he called for the terrible power of his Semblance upon a foe. "Not for long lad!" He shouted, and two beefy looking armoured soldiers who'd been pressed up against a nearby wall jumped down after him, one toting a mini-gun and the other a flame thrower. "Make sure the lovely Schnee and I aren't interrupted," he ordered, looking over Weiss with a sharp toothed predatory smile.

Weiss drew back her blade as Blake came up to her side and they stood shoulder to shoulder against the looming pirates' captain. Something in Blake's chest shook as she took in the towering warrior, memories of every time she'd faced someone bigger and stronger than her flashing through her mind.

"You know me," Weiss spat, but somehow it lacked her usual vigour Blake thought, something was absent...

"Oh I know you, you'll make a right pretty bargaining chip my dear, your pet though," he shrugged, "maybe I'll let you keep her."

"You watch your mouth!" Weiss spat, but still she stepped back, rather than towards her foe as Blake was so accustomed to her doing when insulted. Even as her sword began to hum, lighted up by blue energy, Weiss's stance seemed ready to dodge, not charge.

"Ah well," he sighed, "I did offer dear, come then girls, let me show you your place."

Blake's eyes scanned futily for traps, for more fighters, for something to explain her sense of dread. Only one person had ever left her so shaken and some pirate with a mad cackle should not be bringing up a horned, redheaded figure in her mind that whispered. 'They saw you Blake, they know the stories of our kind, and they won' be making deals to keep you safe.'

Teeth grit, Blake rushed forward with a shout as the captain raised his gun, Weiss trailing just a moment behind her.
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Notes:
Hello once again, thank you for reading! As always thanks go out to Person With Many Aliases for beta reading and to all of you who have liked, faved and commented, if you have any critique please don't be shy

 

[Guilop]

So we have muscle against muscle and speed against speed.

Don't know about comparing the captain to Adam though. He would have to be pretty fucking strong then and I don't really see how they could pull of a win, if that's the case.

 

[Zam]

So we have muscle against muscle and speed against speed.

Don't know about comparing the captain to Adam though. He would have to be pretty fucking strong then and I don't really see how they could pull of a win, if that's the case.

Click to shrink...

Yep, hopefully the battles come together well

Good insight there, suffice to say its not an apt comparison in terms of capability, but he's making Blake think it is, which is a big part of how he fights.

 

[Guilop]

Yep, hopefully the battles come together well

Good insight there, suffice to say its not an apt comparison in terms of capability, but he's making Blake think it is, which is a big part of how he fights.

Click to shrink...

I kinda hope they turn out to be not that good after all. So that all that build up and talk about how strong and scary they are, turns out to be hot air.

I mean, Muscle wind dude couldn't even punch Yang through a measly steel wall

 

[Zam]

I kinda hope they turn out to be not that good after all. So that all that build up and talk about how strong and scary they are, turns out to be hot air.

I mean, Muscle wind dude couldn't even punch Yang through a measly steel wall

Click to shrink...

(Taps nose) You are closer than you think

Though in all fairness there, Yang's Aura would have dispersed a lot of the force before it sent her flying back XD

 

[Guilop]

(Taps nose) You are closer than you think

Though in all fairness there, Yang's Aura would have dispersed a lot of the force before it sent her flying back XD

Click to shrink...

So we can probably expect some dirty tricks, but not that much actual fighting strength from them. I just really hope Weiss doesn't get herself into a hostage situation and has to be saved from scumbag boss, because that would just be embarassing.

 

[Zam]

So we can probably expect some dirty tricks, but not that much actual fighting strength from them. I just really hope Weiss doesn't get herself into a hostage situation and has to be saved from scumbag boss, because that would just be embarassing.

Click to shrink...

From some of them that will indeed be the case, especially Blur, and the captains memetic badass rep is half of what makes him scary on the battlefield, take it away and he's suddenly just an above average solider with strong weapons. Haha, don't worry about that, taking a Huntress hostage is no easy task

That does give me an amusing mental image though.
KE: We're coming for you Weiss!
Weiss: You all stop right there!
KE: WHAT!?
Weiss: This is, this is just too ridiculous, I am not some damsel, I'll deal with this myself!
Villain: You'll never get awa-
Weiss: Quiet! (Head butts) This doesn't involve you!