Firen Lhain: Chapter 712: Collision: Part I | III
The copilot turned around and looked into the cabin. "Primary target is in the secondary tower. Secondary target is pressumed to be in the primary tower. Details unknown." He then turned back into the cockpit, before turning back. "We have no landing area, so pickup will be down the hill." He then turned back.
"Listen up." the mercenary captain stated, and everyone looked at him.
"Who put you in charge?" one of the assassins asked.
"I am the captain!" the mercenary captain shouted at him, "Now listen up, this is for your own good."
"Fine." the captain said, and looked between the rest, focusing on the other assassins. "Our goal isn't to kill the targets, but lock them down. Squad one will target the secondary tower. Our goal is to isolate the primary target from her cohorts, while these two take her out." He then looked back to the first assassin. "Our job with this one is to keep him away from the primary target."
"What the fuck is that?!" he asked, and looked at Neo, "How the hell is that fair?"
Neo simply shrugged at him before developing a wicked smile and then looked back at the mercenary captain.
"Second squad," he stated, "your goal is to lock down the primary tower, keep them from getting to the third floor and roof, and suppressing anyone who tries to cross to the secondary tower. We're paid by the hour, but the assassins only get paid if they make the kill, so," he said, and looked at the second and third assassins, "let these two make the kill." He then looked back to the first one, "Him, though, fuck him."
"How can you do this to me?!" the first assassin spat at Neo. Neo just looked at him questionginly and then gestured to the mercenary captain. "He's working for you?" he spat. Neo gestured to the captain and then the rest of those in the back of the airship. She then gestured to him, giving him her best 'you-did-this-to-yourself' look. "Why the hell am I even here?!" he shouted, and once again Neo just shrugged. He did not take this well, causing a lot of noise.
"What if he gets in our way?" the mercenary captain asked, and Neo pointed her fingers at the first assassins and pretended to shoot a pistol at him. "Got it." He then looked between everyone else, "Any questions?" The mercenaries looked between each other and then back at the captain.
The copilot turned back around, "ETA 8 minutes. Prepare to drop. Squad 2 on the tower and then we'll lower to the wall and garden for squad 1. Everyone ready, it's show time."
One of the mercenaries raised his hand, "I kind of have to go to the bathroom."
"Will you shut the fuck up for once, Whitaker?" the captain asked.
"Uh?" Whitaker asked, "No? What would the rest of you do without my colour commentary?"
An alarm started to sound from Aurora's scroll, which she quickly pulled from her pocket and examined.
"Care to share with the rest of the class?" Nora asked.
"Oh?" Aurora asked, "Simply the proximity sensor I placed on the roof."
"You can't be serious?!" Blake shouted.
"Where'd you get the money?" Ruby asked.
"From managing Ms. Weiss' assets." Aurora said with a smile. Weiss looked concerned for a moment, "I stayed well without my discretionary amount."
Weiss breathed in for a moment, "You can purchase proximity sensors for that cheap?"
"Not so much a proper proximity sensor." Aurora replied, "It's something typically used by hobbiest radio users."
"But you said it was a proximity thing?" Nora asked.
"Because I set it up as such." Aurora quiped. "I could explain the details, or perhaps you could try and deal with whatever is airship-sized and flying near the top of our tower."
"Oh, no!" Ruby shouted, and Blake faded to black and disappeared. Ruby Petal Burst a moment later.
Weiss placed her hands together. "Is there any chance you could fly up the outside of the tower?" she asked Nora.
"Uh?.." Nora uttered, "I mean, not without my hammer?"
Weiss turned on her heels and elegantly walked to the door to the garden. "Perhaps my Glyphs?"
"I get a Weissapult?!" Nora excitedly stated.
Aurora tapped on her scroll.
Jaune picked up his scroll. "What's it say?" Yang asked.
"Uh?" Jaune asked, "Intruders. Top of tower?" he asked, and looked at Yang. The two clicked at the same moment and rushed into the garden, looking up at the tower. They saw an airship with soldiers dismounting. Jaune looked about for a moment. "Yang?"
"Walls." Jaune stated, and ran over towards one of the surrounding walls.
"Right!" Yang shouted, and turned towards the other wall. She dropped her hands behind her, ready to blast off when it occured to her she didn't have her weapons. "Oh, right. Shit." She shook her head and started running to the wall. Jaune jumped up to his wall, Yang up to hers. As the two rushed towards the tower, the airship turned towards the turret and flew towards it.
"HELP RUBY!" Jaune shouted.
"What about you?!" Yang shouted back.
"GET - RUBY - AND - SAVE - ME!"
"OH, shit?" she asked, and ran back towards the tower as she saw Weiss use multiple Glyphs to launch Nora into the air.
Jaune jumped into the air at the airship, ramming it with his antlers. He hit it hard enough to knock it off course, but at the same time his antlers cracked from the strain.
"Any more bright ideas?" Jaune asked himself as Weiss used her heels to summon her Glyphs, launching herself up the side of the tower as Nora's wing's opened up.
"Time to show you what Glorious Leader gave me!" Nora shouted, "The pleasure he gave me when he inserted his Aura inside me!"
Ruby Petal Burst onto the roof and had to stop to snicker before dropping down to all fours. She ran on all fours to the nearest soldiers, using the weight from her momentum as she tackled him . She grabbed his leg, putting the full power of her momentum into it. She heard several bones breaking, and likely some joints dislocating. He flew up against one of the parapets, barely able to move.
"What are they?" Ruby asked, "Paper people?"
Weiss landed beside her, lifting her left knee at him. She shifted her weight, using her hanging leg to pull herself into a flying kick. She struck one of the soldiers in their torso, causing him to fall over backwards. She landed, and dropped her left leg to the ground. She swept it along, and assisted by her Glyphs launched him at one of the parapets. Nora landed, and charged at one of the soldiers. She dropped under his guard and took him out with an upper cut. "Feel the warm white power my leader has infused me with!"
Ruby had to stop to giggle again.
Ren pulled out his scroll to find a message from his leader. 'Kill the power.' it stated.
Yang ran up the stairs through the fourth floor and up to the roof. "I'll try to leave you some." Yang stated.
"Don't mind me," Blake replied from the shadows, "I'm just here to make sure none of them get inside."
"Your loss." Yang stated, and blew her a kiss just as she passed up to the roof. Blake pulled out of the shadows just long enough to catch the kiss before returning.
The airship drifted off as it tried to right itself. It eventually started to stabilize itself. Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald appeared on the top of the turret.
"So?," Mercury asked, cricked his neck, "what side are we on?"
"The beasts, obviously." Cinder said with glee.
"Just checking." Mercury stated and ran towards the garden, jumping up to the top of a parapet before springing off.
"What the fucking hell is going on?" the captain asked.
"A guy with antlers air-rammed us." the copilot stated.
"And I think squad 2 are fucked." the pilot added. "Foxtrox-Uniform..."
"Don't say it." the captain stated. He then looked over to where Neo had been sitting. "Well, looks like the plan's still on."
"Find someplace to drop me." the first assassin stated, "I might still have a chance to get paid."
"I fucking hate to say it," the captain stated, "but Armin's right."
"This fucking bitch-boy might be our only chance." the captain continued. "And the boss is still here, so we can't exactly pull out."
"So?" The pilot asked, "The wall?"
"Good thing I got that FUBAR clause added to our contract." the captain stated, "We're going to need it to pay for the medical expenses. South wall. Good thing we already dropped squad 3 already. But what the fucking hell happened to the rangers in the forest?"
Soldiers huddled on the top of the wall on the southside, just east of the tower. They dropped a rope and rappeled down. Two of the four ran down the ramp into the first basement while the other two stacked up by the ground floor's garden door.
"Is that a fucking fireball?" the captain asked, as a panicked pilot tried to steer the ship off to the side.
"I don't know what to say?" the copilot asked. "But, yeah?"
"Why didn't we have intel on a canon?" the captain asked.
"Because?" the copilot asked him and paused, "It's a woman in red."
"The primary target?!" the captain asked.
"The intel file did say she could do this." the copilot stated, bracing just before the fireball hit them. The airship slowly started to list and spiral around, fire and smoke coming from various places.
"Impact." the captain stated, as everyone quickly braced. "And let's pray the Light Brother is not too pissed off at us."
The two soldiers filed in through the floor to the ground floor before quickly being disarmed and knocked out by Taj. "Aurora, let's get you underground!"
Aurora stepped into the antechambre, and stood, trying her best not to quake with fear. "Yes..." she barely voiced, "please?"
Taj grabbed her hand and ran her to the stairwell, taking her down as the lights turned out. Aurora screamed, and Taj quickly stopped, turned, and put his hand over her mouth. "It's a good thing." he stated. "We're all Faunus here. Easy now." Aurora started to slowly walk down the stairs, one step at a time. She had not exactly lived a peaceful life, but she flashed back to the gangsters she had to play nice with. She always made sure to stay on their good side, ever careful never to cross, or even disrespect them. Somehow, her life had managed to be relatively peaceful. Until-right-now-when-she-had-mercenaries-after-her-life-as-her-heart-threatened-to-beat-out-of-her-chest. She clutched her chest as the two slowly made their way down the dark stairs. They heard a light thud as Ren took out the two soldiers.
"I don't mean to startle you." Ren said, which, of course, startled them. Aurora nearly fell down the stairs, only caught by Taj before she could.
