305Distortion
The available members of Knightingale were situated on one of the larger floating islands well known in Lake Matsu. Pyrrha, Ren, Velvet, Neo, and Onyx were all double checking their weapons and preparing themselves for what was to happen next. While Jaune and Raven stood upon one of the massive gravity Dust crystals that emerged from the island. Both were looking out into the distance, trying to see the bullhead they were waiting for. Neither said anything to the other, they already knew the plan and didn't need to speak.
Not too long after, they saw the bullhead coming into view and flying on a path that was perpendicular to where they were looking. They would be a mile or so away from where they were stationed but that was fine, it fit into their plan just as easily. Jaune turned to his wife and nodded. She instantly stepped off the crystal they were on and started to fall. A few seconds later, a raven flew up and towards the bullhead.
Once Jaune saw here fly off, he started to walk back to the group. "Listen up." He said loud enough to grab their attentions, "The bullhead is about a mile out. Raven is already on her way, so this won't be much longer. Let's go over the plan again."
"Ren, Pyrrha and Velvet, you three will be with me. We'll stay back and only interfere if we are needed." The three nodded in confirmation, "Onyx, you'll support Raven as she takes down any and all Atlas interference." He quickly nodded as he climbed a nearby rock outcropping to get a better vantage point. "Neo, you'll be the one to slip in and break Vincent out. Take down any guards still watching him as quickly and quietly as you can." She nodded and he just knew she had her usual smirk under her mask. With everyone ready, Jaune swapped his Semblance from Distortion to Telekinesis and waited for the signal.
The pilot of the bullhead was watching the islands around his ship, making sure one wouldn't shift just enough to crash into them. All it would take for one strong gust of wind to shift any of the floating land masses and that had been the end to many inexperienced ships. Luckily, he had flown this route numerous times and could pick up the signs of that happening very quickly.
Along with that, he kept looking down at his sensors to be sure no Grimm were lurking around. Lancers loved to ambush ships around this entire area. That and the General had let them know the man they were transferring was part of the same group that had nearly killed him a few months back. That meant, they could also be lying in wait for them. But his instruments didn't pick up anything at the moment.
He breathed a sigh of relief before hitting a button on his dashboard, "How's everything going back there?" He spoke into his intercom to the other soldiers in the back.
After a second of two, one of them responded. "Everything is fine. Our guest has been on his best behavior so far. The students are getting restless but that's understandable."
The pilot nodded, "Alright, we're going through the land masses now but everything seems to be going smoothly. Keep me posted." His finger came off the intercom and he kept his eyes on the sky around him. His sensors started to go off, showing that something was nearing the ship. He looked over and saw that it was something small but that didn't mean it couldn't be a Grimm still.
His whole body tensed, ready for anything that could happen. What he saw was a raven fly past the ship and up towards one of the islands. His whole body relaxed and he chuckled to himself, "A little jumpy." He sighed to himself. Just in time for a body to slam onto his windscreen and crack the entirety of it. Through all the cracks, he could see the person wearing red and black clothing, black hair, and a white mask. It was Raven Branwen.
He quickly shook himself and slammed his hand onto the intercom, "We've got a situation!" he shouted. That's all he got out as Raven kicked off the windscreen to push herself further in front of the ship. The force shattered it and sent the shards into the pilot, his armor protecting him luckily. She quickly slashed her sword across the air and manifested a large red and black swirling portal. She went through it a second later but the pilot had no chance to steer away from it and followed a few seconds after her.
The swirling interior of the portal lasted only a second or two before they were out into the air again but now over one of the landmasses. He quickly tried to fly off as quickly as the ship could go but the ship moved all of a foot before it was stopped forcefully. The ship coming to a brief stop was similar to them slamming into something, throwing everyone and everything forward. He nearly slammed into the dash from the stop and he didn't even know how everyone in the back was fairing from it. He looked up and saw that the entire ship was covered in a black aura.
He quickly scanned the ground below him and saw another figure with its hand raised to the ship with the same black aura around it. Just like Raven, it was dressed in red and black with another white mask. But this one was definitely male and his eyes widened in shock in realization. He slammed his hand on the intercom again, "Red Alert! The Branwens are here!"
Jaune saw the massive portal of Raven's erupt into existence above his head. He saw Raven jump out of it and land on her feet, sliding across the ground as she did. A few seconds later, the bullhead erupted out of the portal before it slammed shut. As soon as he saw the ship, his right hand shot up and he quickly grabbed it with his Telekinesis. He felt it try to pull out of his grasp by firing off its engines but Jaune grit his teeth as he applied more aura to it.
He was sure that it was not going anywhere but the ship wasn't going down without a fight. The weapons on the ship slowly spun to aim at him. "Pyrrha." He said simply. She quickly stepped to his left and raised her own hand. Her Polarity grabbed ahold of the weapons before she clenched her fist, crushing the weapons upon themselves. "Thank you."
"My pleasure." She answered easily enough. With that he started to lower the ship to the ground. It took the better part of a couple of minutes since the pilot was still trying to fight against his Semblance. But eventually, it was forced to touch down on the ground. Jaune raised his other hand and used both to focus his Semblance on either wing. He pulled his hands away from each other, tearing the wings from the ship. With the ship effectively grounded, Jaune lowered his hands and everyone tensed, readying themselves for battle.
It was a tense couple of seconds before the back of the ship opened up and two dozen Atlesian Knights marched out and to the side of the ship facing them while opening fire on Jaune and Pyrrha. Jaune quickly grabbed the ground in front of him with his Semblance and with an upward swing of his arm, erupted a wall of earth and stone to protect him and Pyrrha. Along with Velvet and Ren who weren't that far behind them. As the androids were firing, six or so soldiers walked out behind them with their weapons at the ready. The higher ranking one shouting, "You're under arrest! Surrender now or lethal force will be authorized!"
"Onyx!" Jaune commanded. From his vantage point, Onyx nocked one of his Gravity arrow and fired it at the mass of Knights. As it impacted the ground, it released a wave of concussive energy that sent them into the air and the soldiers were sent tumbling across the ground. With the robots still in the air, Raven shot forward from the ground and disposed of them with a series of sword strokes. Jaune used his Telekinesis to move the dirt and stone to form platforms for Raven to continue to jump off of. The scrap metal that was their bodies fell to the ground with her landing gracefully in the center.
One of the soldiers recovered from his trip and quickly aimed at her from his position on the ground. He fired several bullets but Raven easily deflected them with Omen. When the poor soul stopped firing to reload, she shot forward like a bullet to run him through. She had to stop just before her target and jumped back as a salvo of bullets impacted the ground and air that she was just occupying.
Raven slid to a stop and looked up to see Coco stepping out with Gianduja's barrels still smoking. "The General was right to ask for us to come along, don't you boys think?" She said with a smirk that just had an edge to it. As she said that, Fox and Yatsu came out with their weapons at the ready and equally hard looks in their eyes.
Jaune just tilted his head before he took a few steps forward, "You three must be gluttons for punishment. I took you down easily on my own and now you want to try again while we have a good portion of our forces here?"
"Maybe so, but the General wasn't dumb enough to send us by ourselves. There were two more ships flying behind us. The pilot has already sent a distress signal and reinforcements will be here shortly. So I suggest that you all surrender now, unless you want your asses handed to you." Coco said with a cocky attitude.
Jaune sighed and looked over his shoulder at Velvet. He could tell she was apprehensive to fight her old team just from her body language, despite how things ended between them. He just gave her a quick nod before turning his attention back to Raven. "Hey, Rave, how do you feel about that?"
She just readjusted her grip on her blade before speaking, "I think this one needs a reality check. She's too arrogant for the little experience she has. Pride should only go to those who know how to survive anything."
"Wanna run that by me again?" she practically hissed at her.
"Case and point." Raven replied simply. "Jaune?"
"Already on it." Jaune clenched his fist and the dirt and stone he used as platforms, condensed into smaller but denser debris. He then snapped his fingers and they flew towards the remains of team CFVY. Coco was able to destroy two of them with her minigun before she was about to be hit with the remaining partial dozen. Yatsu wrapped an arm around her stomach before he jumped away from them, Fox following along with them.
With the fourth years a good distance away from the ship, Raven launched herself towards the fashionista but Yatsu was able to intercept her blade with the help of Fulcrum. He barely flinched at the force of the attack but Raven spun herself to deliver a kick to his jaw, sending him off balance. When her feet touched the ground, Raven swung upwards with Omen and caught the bottom of Coco's weapon and making her fire harmlessly into the air. She reangled her blade to slash across her chest but it was stopped again by the efforts of Fox jumping in front of his leader. As Raven was in a deadlock with Fox's Sharp Retribution, she stared into the blind man's eyes. "Impressive." She said simply before the two devolved into a dance of blades.
As Jaune was observing this he looked over towards Onyx still perched on his rock outcropping. "Raven can handle herself but we're now on a timetable. Give her support to wrap this up quicker."
Onyx nodded, "On it, Boss." He said as he drew and nocked an Explosive Dust arrow. He fired it directly at Yatsu but he managed to move his sword enough to block the bulk of the explosion but it still sent him skidding backwards. Onyx then jumped to the ground and ran towards Raven as he was covered in his blue aura and started to fade from view.
"Pyrrha, Ren and Velvet. You three take care of the soldiers." He told them as he quickly took his place on the same outcropping Onyx was just on. "Neo, you know what to do. I'll deal with the ships." He raised both is hands to waist level with his black aura covering them. As he was doing that, the wings he tore off the initial ship rose from the ground and flew towards him. They went to either side from him and just floated there as Jaune surveyed the surrounding for any sign of the ships. He completely blocked out everything that was happening behind him, trusting his tribe could handle everything without fail. His eyes were peeled for the slightest sign of the reinforcements Coco was hoping for. That's when he saw to dots out in the distance, moving quickly through the islands of Lake Matsu.
He just waited as they drew closer, making sure they had no time to react. He raised his right arm slightly and the respective wing completely froze. He pulled his arm back and when it was time, threw his hand forward. The wing went flying towards the lead airship before it went right through the windshield, directly where the pilot would be. The ship instantly started to lose air before it veered severely to it's left. It was only a few seconds before the ship impacted one of the islands in a fiery explosion.
The remaining ship took offense to that and started to unload a salvo of bullets towards Jaune. He held his left hand in front of himself and started to move it in a clockwise motion. The remaining wing moved in front of him and started to spin clockwise, looking akin to saw blade and protecting him from the airship. He just kept this up as he kept an eye on the ship. They would be move on edge now so he'd need them to be closer to be sure they'd go down.
Once they were close enough, Jaune threw his arm to the left before sweeping it over his head and towards the ship. The wing followed his hand, spinning left than over his head before flying like a buzz saw towards the ship. The pilot saw the spinning blade of metal coming towards his vessel and tried to veer to the side. That stopped the wing from going through the windshield but it did allow it to slice through its right wing. The ship lost balance and started to spin out of control as it fell into the expansion of water below.
With them taken care of, Jaune turned back to the ship to rejoin his tribe and help get Vincent out of there and get all of them back home. No matter what.
Pyrrha, Ren and Velvet took off in a sprint towards the six soldiers that formed a firing line at the Knightingale members. Pyrrha and Velvet started to run in front of Ren with the latter using Anesidora to form a copy of the Champion's own weapon as said Champion attached her shield to her right bracer. Once the copy was in hand, the two knelt down and created a shield wall with their respective Akouos just as the bullets impacted the metal and hard-light.
Ren ran up behind them before jumping off their shoulders and clear most of the distance between himself and the half a dozen gunmen. He landed gracefully in front of the soldier in the middle and before he could react, the martial artist slammed an aura-infused palm to his chest. The poor man flew backwards and into the airship, creating a major dent in the hull. He slowly slid down as he groaned and fell into unconsciousness. The two soldiers on either side spun towards him, ready to fire before Ren crouched down making them hold their fire so they didn't shoot each other.
At that point, two identical shields smashed into their chests. The one on the left with Akouo and the other with the copy. The actual shield came back to Pyrrha's hands while the copy bounced off and away. Ren used his opportunity to stand up with a thrust kick to the one hit by Velvet. It caught him in the chest and sent him backwards into the man behind him, causing both to tumble to the ground.
The three directly behind Ren all aimed at him afterwards, "Freeze!" One shouted and Ren raised his hands in surrender. That was until all three of their guns were covered in black energy and were then ripped away from them. They saw them get twisted out of shape before dropping at their feet. That's when one was shield bashed by Pyrrha and off his feet. In one graceful spin she hit the one on her left with the edge of her shield and the slashed at the other with Milo in its xiphos form.
The one that was slashed stepped backwards and Ren wrapped his arm around his neck from behind. He flipped him onto his stomach and was dealt with by a punch to the back of his head. Ren then rose from the limp body below him. His eyes then surveyed the area before he saw the pilot sneakily look around the front of the airship with his gun in hand. Ren instantly jumped on top of the ship and ran across the top of it, directly at the pilot. The soldier turned the corner with his gun at the ready but was stopped when Ren jumped from the ship and caught him on the top of the head with an axe kick. Before he could lose his consciousness, Ren grabbed him by his arm and threw him away from the ship as he tumbled painfully across the ground.
Pyrrha fully faced the soldier she had just hit with her shield edge and started to lay into him with several slashes of her blade. Atlesian armor was luckily sturdy enough to save him from being sliced to ribbons but with no aura, his body wouldn't hold up to the torment for long. She finally put and end to his torture when she shifted her xiphos into its javelin form and slammed the shaft of it into the side of his head, rendering him unconscious as well.
She then shifted her body enough so the bullet fired at her just missed. She shifted her javelin into its rifle form and spun to face the soldier she had shield bashed. He was still on the ground but now had a pistol aimed at her. She aimed and fired, knocking the firearm from his hand. He screamed in pain from his wrist being retched by the gun being ripped from it before a second round slammed into his helmet and knocking him out as well.
While that was going on, Velvet had closed the distance between herself and the two soldiers Ren had knocked off their feet. The first one rose to their feet and Velvet disarmed him with her copy of Akouo. She then drove her foot into his stomach and slammed him against the airship like his comrade earlier. He bounced off it but didn't leave a dent. Before he could collect himself, Velvet was already on him and punched him in the face. The force smashing the back of his head into the hull and his body falling limply onto the downed body of his comrade.
Velvet turned to the last soldier, who had thrown his rifle to the ground and now was wielding a pistol and knife in a reverse grip. He quickly raised his firearm and started to fire at the Faunus. Using her Semblance, she copied Pyrrha's movements and started to defend herself from the bullets with her blade. As she was doing that, she had her weapon create another copy of Akouo to replace the one that flew from her reach.
As soon as it formed, she used it to block the bullets and shift her copy of Milo into its javelin form. She threw it towards the soldier but he managed to jump to the side to avoid it. That didn't give him time to defend himself when Velvet took the shield with both hands and swung upwards, knocking him onto his back. He landed wrong and had the air driven from his lungs. Velvet straddled his chest and brought the shield down onto his helmet, not enough to break it but to knock him out. She sighed as she rose back to her feet and her hard-light weapon vanished.
With the soldiers taken care of, the three of them regrouped before making their way over to the hatch of the airship to see if anyone else was still inside. As they were doing that, Jaune walked back over to them with a purpose in his step. "The airships are dealt with but I don't want to take anymore chances. Let's get Vincent and get the hell out of here."
As the four started to near the entrance to the airship with Jaune in the lead, he focused on sensing Vincent's aura. Just to be sure on what kind of condition he was in. He picked up his aura easily, it was weakened but still there. Meaning that Vincent was weakened but fine, at least for the most part. What did surprise him though were the four other auras inside the airship. Four very familiar auras.
He stopped in annoyance, "You've gotta be kidding me." Pyrrha, Ren and Velvet looked at him in confusion. "No point hiding, I can sense you easily enough. Come on out."
It only took a few seconds before the familiar forms of Team RWBY stepped out from the ship. Each armed and ready with their weapons and keeping their eyes on the members of Knightingale in front of them. Yang and Blake were in the front with Weiss and Ruby towards the back of their group. An honestly good formation considering their group dynamic. "Seriously? You too? Are you going to go on a whole spiel about bringing us back and saving us because if you are, just save your breath." Jaune said in annoyance.
"Not this time." Weiss spoke from beside her partner. She pointed her rapier in the direction of Jaune as she spoke. "Our mission is to help safely deliver the criminal inside to Atlas. The General knew you would try to get him back so our teams were chosen to make sure you don't succeed."
Jaune raised an eyebrow from under his mask, "He sent you seven, even after all the times we've handed you your asses?" He chuckled, "I knew we took his arm but his brain too? The Tinman is losing it, huh?"
"You've caught us by surprise before." Yang said with an anger fueled tone, not liking to be dismissed so easily. "We know what you all can do now and won't be going down as easily."
"And here Raven and I were hoping you were improving. Such a shame." Jaune said in a mocking tone that earned him a growl from his stepdaughter. When he spoke next, he had a dead serious tone to it. "This is your last chance to step aside. Only two of you are safe from my full wrath but two of you aren't. If you choose to stand between me and my tribesman…" He drew his sword and pointed it directly at them, "It'll be your funeral."
Yang, Blake, and Weiss adopted their usual combat stances. "We can't do that, Jaune. This is your last chance to stop before you dig yourself deeper." Blake told him in a tone that was both serious and asking him to not do this.
Velvet quickly used her weapon to manifest a copy of Omen while Ren pulled StormFlower from his pants, both adopting the respective combat stances. Pyrrha already had her weapons at the ready and had dropped into her own combat stance as soon as Jaune had drawn his blade. Jaune just looked at the three members of RWBY ready to fight. But his eyes slowly settled on their leader who still didn't look up at him. "Ruby. You sure you want to do this?" he asked her.
It took a few more seconds before Ruby slowly turned her head and finally locked eyes with her first friend at Beacon. The reluctance that used to be in them was no longer in those Silver Eyes. Now was just steely determination. She didn't even say a word as she got into her own combat stance. Jaune just observed her for a few extra seconds before he responded, "So be it." That was all he said as he got ready for the fight ahead of him as his Semblance switched from Telekinesis to Distortion.
The two groups stared at each other for what seemed to be hours before both groups charged towards each other. As they were about to clash, only Jaune saw the familiar form of Neo slip into the ship. It wouldn't be long until Vincent was free.
