SAPR

by Scipio Smith

One Foot and Twenty Pounds (New)

One Foot and Twenty Pounds

Rainbow sat down, stretching a little as she settled into the seat. She twisted her body just a bit, swaying first one way and then the other, as she contemplated the wait.

It wasn't as if her aura needed time to recharge, after all.

But she could use the opportunity to plan for the next match.

Pyrrha, Weiss, or Umber. All of them would be tough opponents, each one presenting their own challenges.

Pyrrha, of course, she had fought already — and lost to her, the same way that everyone else had lost to her in tournaments, or elsewhere. But, while Pyrrha had beaten her, she had also shown Rainbow a lot of what was in her box of tricks — Rainbow wouldn't be caught off guard by that stunt with the aura in her legs a second time. But, as she'd just shown in her fight with Arslan, just because you thought you had seen everything that she had, that didn't mean she hadn't added something new.

Although, really, the worst thing about fighting Pyrrha was that she didn't really have any gimmicks. Rainbow meant no offence to Weiss, whom she liked, but her semblance was like, seventy or eighty percent of what she had, which was fine for her because her semblance was a magic box with more goodies stuffed away in there than Trixie had stuffed in her hat, but it meant that beating her was, in theory, mostly a matter of beating her semblance. Umber, of course, would have been cooked in her fight against Yang if she hadn't had that one specific semblance that let her turn the game.

But Pyrrha … when she used her semblance, it was annoying, sure, but she didn't need to use it that much, and she could fight perfectly well without it because, at heart, that was what she was: a perfectly good stand-up fighter. In which case, fighting her at range probably remained Rainbow's best bet. It wasn't that Pyrrha didn't have any ranged options — she wasn't as limited that way as a lot of other Mistralians — but she didn't have a lot of rounds in her rifle, and as for throwing her shield or her spear … weapons could suffer ring-out just like competitors could. If Rainbow could get Pyrrha to disarm herself, then—

"You look like you're thinking about stuff," Sun observed as he sat down beside her.

"It happens," Rainbow replied.

"She's thinking about the next matches," Weiss said as she approached from Rainbow's other side, her left. "Aren't you?"

Rainbow looked up at her, one of the few moments she had cause to look up at Weiss Schnee. "Hey, Weiss," she said. "Not with your team?"

Weiss smiled. "Perhaps I'm here to distract you before you can work out how to defeat me?" She chuckled. "It would be in my interest, since I already know how to defeat you."

"Is that so?" Rainbow replied.

"Yes, it is, as you may find out before too long," Weiss said lightly. "But no, it's more that my team and I have exhausted the subject, and so I thought I'd come over here and pick your brains on—"

"Umber Gorgoneion?" Rainbow guessed.

"Quite. Rather a dark horse, isn't she?" Weiss asked.

"I thought Yang would make it to the semi-finals for sure," Sun said.

"So was I; in fact, I was looking forward to it," Weiss murmured. She paused a moment. "I must say that I'm surprised to see you here sitting so casually with the person who just beat you so handily."

"Eh, at the end of the day, it's just a tournament," Sun said. "It's not really worth getting upset about."

"'Just a tournament'?" Weiss repeated. "So the prestige, the glory, the recognition, it all means nothing to you?"

"It's fun enough, I guess," Sun said. "But I don't need it."

"Then why did you bother?" Weiss muttered.

"I don't know, I think Sun's got kinda the right idea," Rainbow said. "I mean, I think while you're in it, you should take it seriously, but I'm not going to hold a grudge if you beat me."

The corners of Weiss' lips twitched. "Thank you for conceding I might," she said softly. "And I suppose … yes, I wouldn't want this to affect our friendship." She paused. "So, in the spirit of our friendship, do you have any ideas on how to deal with that semblance of Umber's?"

Rainbow tapped her fingers on her knees. “I’m hoping that my goggles will stop her semblance from affecting me the same way that her sunglasses stopped it until she took them off,” she said. “I’ve always got a pair of sunglasses around here somewhere, and they're darker, so I might try them as well.”

“Not a lot to go on,” Weiss observed.

“No, we don’t have a lot to go on,” Rainbow replied. “Don’t you have a glyph that … obscures the view between you and someone else?”

“Sadly not,” Weiss muttered. “I have many glyphs, but not one for that.” She paused. “I don’t suppose you’ve considered—?”

She was interrupted by Rainbow’s scroll going off — and by the fact that it was playing an Atlesian military march, Rainbow knew that it was General Ironwood calling.

“Hang on a second; this could be important,” Rainbow said, half-standing up in her seat and getting her scroll out of her pocket. She stood up all the way before she answered. “Yes, sir?”

“Dash,” General Ironwood said, “have you heard from Belladonna?”

Rainbow blinked. “No, sir, is something up?”

“She didn’t call you before she rushed in, then,” General Ironwood replied. “Obviously, she thought it was duty done when she informed me.”

Rainbow felt a faint tingling on the back of her neck at the General’s use of the phrase ‘rushed in.’ “What’s going on, sir?”

“Belladonna informed me that she spotted a White Fang agent on the Colosseum,” General Ironwood said.

“The White Fang!” Sun exclaimed. “Here?”

“Who is that?” General Ironwood asked.

“Oh, that’s Sun Wukong, sir, Haven student; he’s…” Rainbow hesitated, because introducing the General to Blake’s boyfriend was something that she could do, but it would be so embarrassing that she’d really rather not if she could avoid it. Even saying the word to General Ironwood would just feel weird. If anyone was going to introduce Blake’s boyfriend to the General, then it should be Blake herself. “He’s been a big help sometimes. I mentioned him in my report on the Cold Harbour mission, the…” Rainbow hesitated; she’d kind of sugared over Sun’s part in the Cold Harbour mission. She hadn’t lied to the General, exactly, but saying ‘He volunteered to assist in our operation, which I accepted on the basis of his experience with the White Fang’ sounded a lot better for Sun than ‘he stowed away because he couldn’t stay away from Blake.’ She decided that it was best not to say anymore on that topic, and so elided over the subject. “Weiss Schnee is here as well, sir; was Blake sure that it was the White Fang?”

“Were they wearing the mask?” asked Sun.

General Ironwood ignored him, saying, “Belladonna claimed she recognised them. She might be mistaken, but I’ve got no choice but to act as though she’s correct.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Belladonna lost sight of them in the interior of the arena, but I’ve given orders to start a search. Belladonna intended to join that search.”

“Alone?” Rainbow said. Come on, Blake!

I suppose I should be grateful you called the General first, but … come on, learn a little faster.

“I’ve ordered Team Funky to make their way to her and support her,” General Ironwood replied. He paused for a very brief moment. “I could tell you to stand back, since we’ve got this without you, and it won’t do the morale of Atlas a lot of good if our last Vytal contestant gets incapacitated by the White Fang. But if I did, you wouldn’t listen to me, would you?”

“No, sir, I wouldn’t,” Rainbow said. “But then, you wouldn’t give me an order like that anyway, would you, sir?”

From the screen of Rainbow’s scroll, General Ironwood almost smiled. “Join Team Funky; support Belladonna.”

“Yes, sir,” Rainbow said, and her thumb was already moving to hang up before General Ironwood hung up on her. As Rainbow put her scroll away, she was already looking around. Don’t have already gone. No, they hadn’t; she could see Team FNKI about to leave the stands, but they hadn’t actually left just yet. “NEON!” Rainbow bellowed to get the attention of her fellow students. “Come here a second!”

“I’m coming with you,” Sun said, leaping to his feet.

“And so am I,” added Weiss, also rising.

“Sun, you can go with the rest of Team Funky,” Rainbow said. “Weiss, you should stay here with witnesses — maybe shuffle over a little closer to the Haven teams — in case you’re the target.”

“I … I’m the target?” Weiss repeated. “You think the White Fang took the risk of trying to launch an attack here of all places just to … what? Assassinate me? Kidnap me?”

“If they wanted to kidnap you, they’d probably try it somewhere easier than this, but if they wanted to kill you, this would be dramatic,” Rainbow replied. “I mean, what with this whole thing with the SDC … a lot of faunus don’t like you; imagine how the White Fang must feel. What if this is all some big ploy to lure you somewhere they can get at you? It’s better if you wait here.”

“I’m not a coward,” Weiss declared, raising her chin as she managed to … not exactly look down at Rainbow Dash, but certainly to look as though she wasn’t looking up at Rainbow Dash even though she technically was. “And I’m not afraid of the White Fang.”

“I know,” Rainbow said. “I know both of those, but if this is some kind of a trap for you, then maybe best not walk into it.”

“What’s up, Dash?” Neon asked, as she skidded along the row of seats behind the three of them. “I can’t talk long; we’ve gotta—”

“I know,” Rainbow said. “Blake, White Fang, backup; the General told me. Listen, where are you headed?”

“Corridor Seven,” Neon said.

“Right, that’s … on the other side of the arena, right?” Rainbow said. “So here’s the plan: I want the rest of your team to take Sun with them, while you and I go on ahead; we’ll reach Blake faster. Cutting through the centre of the Colosseum, we’ll get there in no time.”

“That was what we were thinking too, going through the underbelly,” Neon replied. “She should have waited for us to come around the promenade to join her.”

“Yeah, but you know Blake.”

“Not as well as you do, to take it like that,” Neon said. “This must be a thing for you.”

“She’s getting better; at least she called the General first,” Rainbow said. “Now are you in?”

Neon grinned. “No, I’d rather slow-roll with my team and let you go off all by yourself just the same as Blake, of course I’m in, Dash; I’ve got your back. Both your backs. Unlike some people.”

There were times when Rainbow might have pushed back on that, but now wasn’t the time; they had work to do. “Whatever,” she said. “Glad to have you on board.”

Neon nodded; she looked past Rainbow Dash. “Glad to have you on board too, Sunny,” she added, before turning back to shout at Flynt and her other teammates. “Hey, guys, you’ve got a new honorary member for the day, so play nice. Also, I’ll be going on ahead with Dashie, so go on without me, and then I’ll laugh at you as we blow past in a burst of rainbows!”

“Go on, Sun,” Rainbow said.

“Yep!” Sun said, not needing to be told twice as he vaulted over the row of seats, and the one behind that, in order to run down the empty row and join the remainder of Team FNKI as they started down the stairs.

“And how about you, Miss Schnee?” Neon asked. “Didn’t feel like joining the party?”

Weiss folded her arms. “Apparently, I’m not welcome.”

“Awww,” Neon cooed in obviously fake sympathy. “Well, you may be from Atlas, but you aren’t from Atlas, if you know what I mean. Come on, Dash; let’s get this done before they need you for the semi-finals.”

She turned away, and already, there was a little bit of a rainbow behind her as she started for the staircase down out of the stands.

“This is for the best,” Rainbow assured Weiss as she squeezed past her, and then followed Neon, catching up swiftly.

“What’s it like being an ass on purpose all the time?” Rainbow asked.

“A lot of fun, actually,” Neon replied, as they started to descend the staircase, Neon gripping the bannister as she walked on the back of her roller skates, looking more like a waddling penguin than a cat. “It’s a whole lot more fun than being an ass by accident; maybe you should try it some time.”

“It’s tempting to start with you,” Rainbow muttered.

Neon laughed. “So, why do you think they’re here?”

“To kill Weiss, maybe?” Rainbow suggested. “It’d be a big deal. That’s why I wanted her to stay back.”

“I guess,” Neon murmured. “But it’s not a bomb, right? I mean, the General would have ordered the evacuation if he thought there was a bomb.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed. “I mean, apart from anything, they used all their dust on the last bomb, and I haven’t heard of them stealing any since.”

Neon chuckled. “Well remembered; that’s a good point.” They were almost at the bottom of the stairs. “I don’t want my mom or nana to see me get blown up on live television. Or Alain, for that matter.”

“Ciel’s brother? The one that needed that expensive treatment.”

Neon nodded. “He thinks that I’m some kind of hero. I don’t know who gave him that idea.” She smiled. “Losing to Weiss has probably dented my reputation already, but dying to a bomb would be even worse.”

She jumped down off the last stair. “You know where we’re going, right?”

Rainbow nodded. “We take the nearest service door, go straight through the service and maintenance corridors until we hit the central engine room, and then the exit for Corridor Seven will be marked.”

“Awesome,” Neon said. “Are you ready then?”

“Yep,” Rainbow said.

“Okay then,” Neon replied. “Race you there!” she shouted, as she took off, leaving Dash behind in her rainbow-coloured wake.

Rainbow growled. This is serious, Neon; Blake could use our help. But she supposed that Neon was being serious about getting there fast, whatever manner she was using to cover that up with, so she should probably stop complaining about Neon’s attitude and catch up with her.

Rainbow Dash started to run. Neon’s head-start, and the fact that she was rolling instead of running, gave her a little bit of an advantage, but Rainbow had always thought that her semblance was a little faster than Neon’s if she pushed it, and the way that she started gaining and gaining on Neon seemed to bear that out. They did pass Sun and the rest of Team FNKI, in short order, heading down the tunnel the opposite way to the way that they’d all gone earlier that day, heading away from the battlefield instead of towards it, heading towards the promenade that ran all around the edge of the Colosseum and the docking pads where the Skybuses arrived and departed — and where the private airships were docked as well. Maybe that was how the White Fang had gotten on board, on somebody’s private airship that they’d stolen. It would have been a lot less risky than trying to get on board a skybus from Beacon.

But that was for General Ironwood to worry about; Rainbow was sure that he would have someone check the airships, but that someone wasn’t her.

She — and Neon — didn’t even reach the promenade itself; instead, once they reached the first doorway into the maintenance corridors for the janitors, they opened it — since Atlas was providing security for the tournament, even Atlas students could open up these doors with their scrolls — and sped down it, turning down the first flight of steps that led them down into the bowels of the Colosseum.

They passed a combined work and break room for the janitors — disturbing a couple of them along the way, although neither stopped long enough to see what said janitors thought about a couple of rainbows blasting past them and out the other door — and on, past storage cupboards lining the walls, past service elevators, onwards and downwards into completely deserted parts of the Amity Arena.

The corridors were dark and deserted, and the only sound was the thrumming of the immense engines that kept this giant colosseum afloat in the skies over Beacon. Enormous cables ran over the walls and into the ceiling, and occasionally draped across the floor too so that Dash and Neon both had to leap over them to avoid tripping. The air was hot from all the power being generated, it belched out of vents set high and low, and though using her semblance didn’t tire Rainbow out at all, just being down here was making her sweat a little. Even the floor beneath her feet felt hot.

Before the festival, before the arena even left Atlas, this place they ran down would have been crawling with technicians checking every inch of this place, making sure that everything was working perfectly, no faults, no issues, nothing to get in the way of a great Vytal Tournament that everyone would remember.

Now, they were all gone; there was only a skeleton support staff in the field just in case something major did happen, and so, the corridors were empty, with nothing and nobody — bar the cables — to get in the way of Rainbow and Neon as they sped through the corridors on their way to the central engine room.

They arrived at one of the upper levels of the spacious engine chamber, above the central core of the engines itself, the dust reactor that sat somewhere below them, invisible in the darkness, but able to see the huge metal spheres of the sub-reactors, glowing as they powered some of the subsystems like the terrain or the cameras or the hard-light barriers that protected the crowds.

Enormous cooling rods stuck out of the reactors, some of them sliding in, some of them rising out, guided by computers monitoring everything that was going on down here.

Rainbow and Neon had reached a walkway running in a ring around a huge hole going down towards the bottom of the arena; there were corridors running off that ring like it was, shape aside, the hub of a wheel and they were the spokes.

One of them was helpfully marked where they needed to go.

So they kept running, heading upwards now.

“How’s your aura?” Rainbow asked as they sped on, conscious that Neon had taken some hits in her match with Weiss, and then using her semblance like this.

“I’ll be fine,” Neon assured her. “What would I be saving it for if I sat this out?”

They kept going, getting closer and closer but seeing no sign of Blake, so obviously, she wasn’t moving as fast as they were. Maybe they’d get all the way out and find her waiting after all.

Maybe she’d gone somewhere else and they’d have to hope for reception in the depths of the Colosseum.

Or maybe, as a door slid open in front of them to reveal another of those janitors’ rooms, they would see Gilda, standing over Applejack with a sword raised in the air.

Gilda. Gilda here.

Gilda standing over Applejack with her sword raised.

Rainbow kicked off the ground, putting some of her aura into her legs — more of her aura than usual — for some extra speed, setting off the thunderous booming effect with a rainbow blast erupting behind her, which Rainbow would have thought was pretty cool if, you know, Applejack hadn’t been about to get stabbed.

As it was, the thing she thought was really cool was that it enabled her to close the distance between her and Gilda before Gilda could lower that sword of hers any further — and sock her on the jaw too, for good measure.

The look of shock and surprise on Gilda’s face was all too brief, turning to a look of pain as Rainbow’s fist impacted, and then to a look of nothing at all as she was hurled backwards in a spinning blur of discarded feathers to slam into the far wall so hard she put a dent in it.

Now it was Rainbow’s turn to plant her feet on either side of Applejack, standing protectively over her, hands balled into fists.

“Rainbow Dash!” Blake cried out, from … somewhere; Rainbow couldn’t see her from where she was standing and facing.

And she didn’t have time to look around either, as a pretty big rabbit faunus with one eye missing, muscles to spare, and a face that you really wouldn’t want to run into in Mantle on a dark night lunged at her, swiping at Rainbow Dash with the claws coming out of his gauntlets.

In ordinary circumstances, Rainbow might have given ground before him, let him miss, and then counterattack. Obviously, that wasn’t an option in the circumstances; she had to stay where she was and protect Applejack and so did just that, stayed where she was and let him hurl himself upon her, lips curled back to reveal several gaps where his teeth should have been. Rainbow raised her arms protectively as he slashed at her — faster than she’d expected him to be — those claws of his ripping into her aura. She didn’t flinch; if she flinched or turned away or did anything but take it, then taking it would be pointless.

He swiped and sliced and left himself wide open for Rainbow’s counter, enduring the blows as she drove one fist into his gut, then the other, snapping a kick at his thigh as fast as she could before resuming her protective stance over Applejack, then punching him again square in the stomach. His abs weren’t nearly as hard as Sun’s had been, but he hardly seemed to feel the first blow, although the second made him shudder, and the third sent him falling back.

Rainbow would have followed up, but she had to stay where she—

A knife flew at her face. Rainbow twisted at the waist and caught it nimbly in one hand as an otter faunus with a tail coming out of the back of his red pants lunged at her with a short sword held in one hand.

His charge was interrupted when a bat faunus with leather wings sprouting out of his back was thrown at the otter faunus from the other side of the room. Unfortunately, it didn’t actually hit the otter faunus — he nimbly avoided the living missile, rolling in mid-air to let the bat faunus pass over his head and hit the wall face-first — but it did disrupt the momentum of his charge.

“Right,” Rainbow heard Neon say, for all that she couldn’t see where she was. “Your turn. Come here, you little insect. I can say that, you see, cause I’m a faunus, so it’s not racist.”

“I’m a spider faunus!”

“Fries, mashed potatoes, I’m still gonna step on you.”

The big rabbit faunus and the otter faunus attacked her together, closing in on her from the left and the right. Rainbow threw the otter’s knife at the rabbit faunus, who batted it aside as he came on.

The otter faunus made to lunge at her — and was interrupted a second time, this time by Blake attempting to catch him on the side of the head with a spinning kick. Again, he avoided it at the cost of his own momentum, rolling beneath Blake’s leg and away, scuttling back to safety.

Blake landed on the ground beside Rainbow Dash.

“Good to see you,” she said. “Applejack, are you—?”

“Ah’m fine, mostly, ‘cept for mah aura,” Applejack said from below. “Good to see you both, too.”

Gilda groaned as she picked herself up. “Great,” she muttered. “Just great. You’re both in one place.”

“They’re here for me,” Blake whispered to Rainbow Dash.

“Not just you,” Gilda grunted.

The White Fang squad squared off against them: the bat faunus who had been thrown earlier showed no sign of stirring, and there was no sign at all that Rainbow could see of the spider faunus that Neon had threatened to step on — unless that was the little tiny, skinny girl who Rainbow couldn’t tell what kind of faunus she was, just that she looked small enough to tread on if you weren’t careful — but that still left, aside from the small one who looked even smaller the way she was crouched down and trying to look inconspicuous, the big rabbit faunus, the otter faunus, and Gilda.

Four of them, against—

“Neon?” Rainbow called.

From somewhere behind, Rainbow heard Neon cry out in pain.

“Blake, go!” Rainbow snapped, and Blake went, without hesitation.

“Ilia, get the lights!” commanded Gilda.

Well, that’s not good. “Applejacktakemygun,” Rainbow yelled, her words running together as fast as Rainbow’s semblance as she wrenched Plain Awesome out of its holster and dropped it down to Applejack — even if she couldn’t make out what Rainbow had just said, she was handing Applejack a gun, that was pretty obvious, right? — right before she charged forwards.

Unlike some other faunus — like rabbits, otters, eagles, or whatever the shorty was — Rainbow couldn’t see in the dark, and sure, she had her goggles, but that didn’t change the fact that standing on the defence over Applejack wouldn’t look so smart once the lights went down and she couldn’t see who was coming at her.

Better if she could take out her enemies while she could still see them.

And it wasn’t like they’d waste their time on Applejack while she was still kicking, right?

It wasn’t like she’d give them the chance.

Rainbow closed the distance to the otter faunus in a rainbow blur; the enemy tried to dodge her the same way that he’d dodged that flying bat faunus, but Rainbow was just a little faster than that and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, carrying him backwards, drawing Brutal Honesty with her free hand and firing it into his gut all the while — though it wasn’t a long while, quite the opposite — before slamming him into the wall, pinning him there by an arm to his throat.

The other faunus, Gilda and the big rabbit guy, they seemed to be moving so slowly as Rainbow pistol whipped the otter faunus once, twice, and then his aura broke on the third blow.

One down.

Rainbow threw the otter faunus at Gilda as she rounded on the big rabbit faunus with the claws in his gloves, emptying the last rounds in Brutal Honesty’s magazine into him — he was too big a target to miss, not to mention he didn’t really have anything to block the bullets with — before she charged him next. She had to make this quick; Applejack was trying to shoot at the whatever-she-was, but she was still getting closer to that damn light switch.

Rainbow needed to wrap this up; thankfully, it seemed like Applejack had already softened up these guys.

She went low, coming in under the slashing claws, which were moving too slowly for her anyway, much too slow, moving like Sun had moved during their fight. She could have just bulled into him, but he was so big that he might actually stop her in her tracks, semblance or not. So instead, once she was underneath his guard, she leapt up, headbutting him on her way up before kicking off his chest, putting about a fifth of her aura into it — worth it, to get him out of the way — so that he flew into the storage closet, completely smashing it, cleaning products and coffee powder from smashed and burst containers mingling on his face and body as he lay there, still and silent, amongst the ruins.

Rainbow spun on her heel as she landed, turning nimbly to face Gilda, fists raised.

And then the lights went out.

The room was plunged into darkness.

Rainbow cursed inwardly as she swung for where Gilda had been when she’d last seen her, stepping forward to deliver a one-two punch combo into the empty air.

Rainbow started to reach for her goggles, to pull them down over her eyes—

She felt the sword strike her side, slice through her aura, but she didn’t flinch, she didn’t let herself flinch, she had to be like northern ice, which took the scratches but didn’t go anywhere.

She felt the second blow slam into the backs of her knees, and Rainbow wobbled, half falling to the floor, her knees starting to fold up beneath her. She fought to stay upright, but she dipped low enough that she could feel Gilda’s hand on top of her head, through her hair, grabbing at her goggles!

Rainbow twisted, throwing out a punch that she felt connect with something; she heard Gilda grunt in pain and frustration, felt Gilda smack her on the side of the head with the flat of her blade, and for a stupid second, it was like the two of them were kids again, grappling on the floor of Gilda’s bedroom, or Rainbow’s, waiting for one of their parents to come and tell them to knock it off.

Except that wasn’t going to happen this time.

Rainbow threw another punch, ready to pack some of her remaining aura into it this time, but she hit only the air as Gilda retreated, having wrenched Rainbow’s goggles from off the top of her head as she went.

All Rainbow got for her abortive punch was a tap on the knuckles from Gilda’s sword.

Rainbow looked around, for all that that was going to do her any good; she couldn’t even see vague shapes in here, not even the glint of light — of course not, there was no light — on Gilda’s blades.

She would just hope to be fast enough that she could hit back before Gilda could slip a—

She got the chance to test that almost at once as Gilda managed to land three hits on her so fast it was like she’d stolen Rainbow’s semblance, sword strikes landing more all at once than one after the other, coming in so hard that Rainbow wasn’t able to stop from staggering a little. That meant her counter came late, if it was even aimed in the right direction. She didn’t hit a thing.

Rainbow half turned, this way and then that, arms up, fists ready; she had to endure, it was her only chance.

She’d take being able to hear something at this point, but Gilda was as silent as an owl on a branch stalking a mouse.

And as for the other one.

The other one.

Rainbow felt something jab into her back a split second or less before she felt the lightning.

She could feel it through her aura even while she could feel it ripping at her aura. She could feel lit up and down her back, her legs, reaching around to her front, her neck, her face. She had to fight it, she had to stand strong, she had to grit her teeth through it all, she had to be like northern ice that would be here just the same when you were gone no matter how you scratched it.

She had to take advantage of the fact that the little girl had something jabbed into Rainbow’s back to swing around, despite the lightning, and backhand her across the face.

Actually, by the feel of something like a shoulder against her hand, Rainbow thought she might have aimed a little low.

Judging by the grunt of pain and the sound of something hitting the floor, it seemed to have knocked her sideways all the same.

Behind her, Rainbow heard the crash of blade on blade and guessed that Blake had finished saving Neon and decided to save her from Gilda next.

And to think, we came here to rescue you.

She was struck from out of the darkness, something long and thin lashing at her invisibly, striking her across the face. Rainbow shifted her stance, covering her face with her forearms as her feet shuffled on the floor. The same long, slender object — was that a whip the small girl had been holding onto, a segmented metal whip? — struck out at her again, hitting her on the stomach this time.

Rainbow didn’t know exactly how much aura she had left, but she knew — she was certain — that little pinpricks like that from out of the dark weren’t going to bring her down. She might not be able to see the girl to hit back, but she could endure it, if nothing else.

And then when Blake’s done with Gilda, then maybe she can rescue me again.

A third time, the metal whip lashed out at Rainbow Dash, hitting her on the arm — but this time, Rainbow’s hand lashed out as well, catching the slender metal line like an annoying fly buzzing around the room, fist closing around it.

Or maybe not.

A shock ran down the lash, briefly lighting it up with a yellow trail that ran all the way down the line to the girl holding the other end.

Her skin had turned as black as her outfit, as black as, well, as black as a room with the lights turned off and the doors shut on both sides, but that didn’t matter now that her own weapon was lighting her up.

And that was worth a shock that was, anyway, not nearly as bad as the last one she’d given Rainbow Dash.

And the widening of the girl’s eyes said that she knew it too.

Rainbow grinned as she sped forwards, moving as fast as her semblance would allow before the girl could retreat into the darkness and Rainbow lost her again. She didn’t even try; she went on the attack instead, hurling herself at Rainbow with a flying kick into the chest.

Rainbow felt it, but her momentum and her semblance both allowed her to plough on anyway, grabbing the White Fang girl and slamming her down, back first, into the floor.

The other girl grappled with Rainbow, wrapping her legs around Rainbow’s waist and trying to throw her sideways. Rainbow rolled with it, grabbing her opponent with both hands so that, as she rolled, she hoisted her up into the air and threw her over Rainbow and down onto the floor again.

The other girl winced, beating at Rainbow Dash with both fists. “Let go of me you … you traitor!”

“Nope,” Rainbow said as she kept one hand on the other girl even as she hit her with the other.

The White Fang girl growled in frustration. “Why?” she demanded, her skin turning a fiery red, lighting up in the darkness. “What do you have that I don’t?”

“One foot,” Rainbow suggested. “And twenty, maybe thirty pounds?” She hit her again, which was a lot easier now that she could see her.

Not that it mattered that much, because the doors opened, allowing light to stream in from the corridor beyond, at least where it wasn’t obscured by the silhouetted figures who stood in the doorway — and then the lights went on a second later.

It was the other three members of Team FNKI stood in the doorway, along with Sun.

The other combatants already in the room — at least the ones who were still standing, which was … only two of them — froze. Rainbow glanced quickly around the room. Neon was on the ground, arms spread out on either side of her, but she looked in better shape than the ape faunus lying in a crumped up heap against the wall nearby. Blake and Gilda were facing off against one another, each with two blades in their hands, space between them as they paused in the gap between the clash of swords.

And Rainbow Dash and her opponent were on the ground, locked together, trading blows like old-fashioned warships exchanging broadsides.

Gilda must have decided that enough was enough — a wise decision, to Rainbow’s mind — because she started for the other door.

The door which opened before she reached it, revealing Major Schnee and a squad of troopers.

Major Schnee drew her sabre with a flourish and pointed it at Gilda as the soldiers with her spread out from the doorway and levelled their rifles.

Gilda’s swords hit the ground with a clatter. Gilda sighed as she raised her arms up above her head.

“Well, crap,” she muttered.

The other girl also stopped struggling. Her arms relaxed, and her head lolled sideways to rest the side of her temple on the floor.

“Go on, then,” she whispered. “Kill me.” She glared at Rainbow. “Kill me like you killed my parents, you Atlas dog!”

“I’m an Atlas horse, actually,” Rainbow said, as she let go of the other girl and got to her feet. “And I’m not going to kill you, no one is. You’re under arrest.”

She looked at Gilda, standing still with her arms raised as the soldiers closed in around her.

“You’re both under arrest.”

Comments

[AngelicTitan]

Let’s gooooooo!!!! The White Fang has been defeated before the Fall this time, and Rainbow proves why she’s a badass again.
Interesting to see how things will unravel now that Gilda and Illia are under arrest, and how this will change the way that the Fall will occur.

[Stet709]

“Go on, then,” she whispered. “Kill me.” She glared at Rainbow. “Kill me like you killed my parents, you Atlas dog!”

Ilia, you really gotta stop broadsweeping. Just because someone from Atlas killed your parents, doesn't mean everyone from Atlas killed your parents. Oi... extremists...

(Yes, I know she probably can't put a specific face to her parents' killer(s) and say "you in specific killed my parents", but come on...)

[Mastermind4892]

Outstanding work, everyone! Sienna Khan's assassination attempt to salvage her ego has been foiled.

The other girl winced, beating at Rainbow Dash with both fists. “Let go of me you … you traitor!”

"Treason: the crime of betraying one's oath to their nation, especially by levying war against their own country, aiding their enemies, and/or attempting to overthrow their own government."

Ok, this is a common problem of the White Fang, assuming that being born faunus is an automatic declaration of fealty to the White Fang faction. And therefore, those faunus who disagree with the White Fang or act against their aims, despite never swearing any oaths, are thus traitors. This is a very specisist presumption that is little different from the anti-faunus racists on the opposite side who believe any faunus must be a member of the White Fang.

11803634
It was an SDC mining accident.

[Stet709]

11803642
And there lies the problem, the SDC is based in Atlas, but the SDC ≠ Atlas. Yet because of the barbaric practices of the SDC against faunus workers, practices the Schnees themselves were not aware of as we find out, they're made to be one in the same.

[Kiue Jin]

11803648
I mean... Let's be honest. Weiss' father didn't know about the outright slavery practices and the torture... but debt slavery and safety standards/cut corners for profit are perfect acceptable to him.

Honestly, I would be rather curious to see what would have happened if Jacques Schnee had discovered the whole slavery operation before it had all come to light. Because the only way to really end it without it ever coming to light (and thus tanking the share value and confidence in the company) is to have everyone involved killed so they cannot leak what happened. Report the sites and all employees there as 'lost to Grimm activity'.

Hell, you could even take advantage of the Breach in Vale by 'launching an investigation' into how so many sites were suddenly overrun with Grimm and claim that agents of the White Fang/Grimm Cultists had sabotaged the defenses in key locations at key times. Allows the company justification to perform a deep investigation on all employees and dismiss trouble makers and unionists.

[alfonso_rd_33]

11803642
It's more a declaration of brotherhood (broader sense) between all faunus, so siding with Atlas is like rejecting their faunus selves, it seems...
It is like if I said "Everyone that identifies as Mexican is Mexican in my book, but if you commit a crime, you're renouncing to be human and Mexican."
A bit childish and short sighted I know