Chapter 16

The bullhead wobbled in a bit of turbulence before stabilizing. All things considered, Ruby felt the flight was going pretty well. With the pilot they had, expecting a perfectly smooth trip seemed almost greedy.

Stealing the bullhead had been pathetically easy. All it took was Sanguin walking up to a hanger guarded by some of Ironwood's troops, introduce himself, and claim Ironwood had sent them there for a mission. The troopers had been happy to hand over the airship, even asked if they could help in any other ways. By comparison, it had been harder to break out of the infirmary than it had been to steal a piece of military hardware. Speaking of which…

"How are you doing up there?" Ruby called into the cockpit.

"Been worse." Dominic called back. Argos had protested, weakly, asking for his help given his injuries, but Sanguin made the undeniable counterpoint that they didn't really have anyone else to ask. Dominic himself had been all for it. He had carried himself, and what was left of his double edged sword, so well that any passerby would have never guessed he was supposed to be transferred to the hospital in an hour or so. But after they were behind the safety of the bullhead's walls, he had more or less collapsed into the pilot's seat. By now, he was breathing slowly and heavily and he could no longer keep the pain out of his voice. "Had my hands off the stick for a sec, my bad."

Ruby leaned her head back into the bulkhead and settled back in. They were still nearly a half an hour from Mountain Glenn, it wasn't a good sign Dominic was already buckling. Still, worrying did no good; if it became a problem they would just have to do something about it then, that's all. Maybe have one of them fly while Dominic told them what to do or something like that.

Dominic called from the front. "Hey! I got something for you guys!"

Ruby snapped to attention. "What is it? The enemy?"

"No, I mean I have something to give to you." A bag slid out of the cockpit like it had been kicked. Argos, the closest one to the door, scooped it up and dug inside. He pulled out an earpiece. "Radios?"

"For our new helpers." Dominic answered. "They're hooked up to our channel, so we can all keep in touch during the mission."

Argos shrugged and tossed the earpiece and attached radio to Weiss. His eyes widened at the next one he pulled out of the bag. "Hang on, this is my spare. It's broken."

"Was." Dominic replied simply.

Argos' eyes narrowed suspiciously. "When you said you had let go of the stick for a bit, you weren't…?"

There was a sigh from the cockpit. "Since this is really all I can do, I'm going to make the best of it. I may not be of any use on the battlefield, but I can still get you guys ready as best I can."

"Fair enough." Sanguin said, settling the matter. Silence returned to the airship after Argos passed out the remaining radios. Ruby turned the black piece of electronics over and over in her in her hands absently. She might not be of much use in the battle to come either, come to think of it. Weiss wasn't wrong; the enemies they were facing were well outside her weight class. It went unsaid that if they encountered Theron or Mortis it would be the members of Shadow that would fight them, not Team RWBY. At least Dominic had his technical skills to stay useful, she didn't even have that.

Her cloud of self-doubt was interrupted by a shout from Dominic. "I think we're here. Unless there's another destroyed city sitting out in the wilderness around here." Ruby leaned forward to peer out of what little of the cockpit's window she could see. Sure enough, there were the ruined grey towers of Mountain Glenn. Argos unbuckled himself and joined Dominic, blocking her view. Ruby heard him take a deep breath then his head began to pan across the window, surveying the landscape.

"Got something." He pointed. "Over there, there's some Aura."

"Theron or Mortis?" Sanguin asked, almost sounding hungry.

Argos shook his head. "Can't tell from here. Might be a couple of big powers, or a bunch of little ones."

"Is there anything else?"

"Not that I can see. They may be too far underground for me to pick them up."

Sanguin folded his arms. "Fine. We'll have to make do with what we have. Dom, land here."

The bullhead circled as Dominic looked for a spot. Weiss started to look apprehensive. "We should get out of the sky. We're too exposed up here."

"It's a little late for that. If anyone's watching they'll have already seen us." Blake reasoned.

"I'm more worried about getting shot down." Weiss admitted.

"By what?" Ruby asked. This place was a ruin, it's not like there would be working flak cannons to defend it. If nothing else, scavengers would have taken them long before now.

"If it's Theron, he could easily destroy this craft with a thrown spear." Sanguin opined, looking oddly unconcerned about the possibility. Thankfully, the airship settled in for a landing a few moments later. The bulkheads slid open to reveal they were on top of one of the few buildings to still have an intact roof. Probably a useful precaution, though Team RWBY had cleared the area of Grimm recently they were like cockroaches. They always came crawling back no matter how thoroughly you stamp them out. According to Dominic, he didn't have enough fuel for him to go back and then come get them after or to stay in the air until they were ready to leave, so he was going to have to stay on the ground while they dealt with Phantom.

The seven of them had just trooped out of the bullhead when Dominic's voice came over the radio. "Coms check. Everyone receiving?" After getting a chorus of affirmations, he continued. "I have some maps of the area and underground tunnels, but they're fragmentary at best. I'll try to guide you as best I can, but no promises. Good luck."

The stairwell was destroyed, but it was only a five story drop so they could jump down without difficulty. Once on the ground level, Ruby started for the door. "We should spread out to see if we can find an entrance to the tunnels."

Sanguin spoke behind her. "That won't be necessary." Ruby turned at the sound of power surging to see him holding up a Bloody Hand and Argos looking at the floor.

Argos was pointing. "Seventeen meters deep, thirty degree angle." Sanguin nodded and fired a series of slashes into the ground, carving it into pieces that collapsed inward. Will hopped down the new hole

"Clear." Came the call over the radio. The rest of them leapt down after him into a corridor of some sort. Argos took point and led them down the hallway and past several turns. The light from the hole quickly faded as they walked, and they were left mostly stumbling in the dark. All except for Argos, who wasn't affected by the lack of vision for obvious reasons. There was no noise beyond the sounds of their footsteps as they hurried through the empty corridors. Argos led them on, taking turns without the slightest hesitation. Ruby could tell they kept heading in the same direction, but beyond that she was lost.

Finally, the oppressive darkness began to lift. They rounded a corner to see lights on starting at a door midway down the hall. Argos held up a hand, bringing them to a stop. "Contacts ahead." He whispered.

"Our targets?" Sanguin asked back.

"No. Worth checking out anyway?"

There was a moment of silent consideration. "Yes."

The group crept down the corridor until they were flanking the closed door. Will's hand hovered over the knob with the other on the hilt of one of his daggers. Ruby slipped Crescent Rose loose but nothing more, the unfolding process loud enough to give them away. Her teammates were more ready, their weapons being a lot quieter to prepare, so she slipped to the back of the group. Sanguin, his hand on the hilt of his sword, held up three fingers. Two. One.

Will slammed the door open and charged through, followed by Sanguin and Argos. As Blake and Weiss entered Ruby heard the sounds of clashing metal. When Ruby herself got inside, Crescent Rose unfolding like a steel flower, she saw a corpse dressed in black and fading like smoke. Then she got a good look at everyone else.

They were White Fang. Two dozen, maybe more, all bound and locked in cells that lined both walls. This must have been the Glenn's prison, once upon a time, and Theron had made good use of it. He had to get his 'fuel' from somewhere, and where better than the terrorists who had been helping him? Given his speech about drains on society, Ruby doubted he had ever even considered letting any of them use the Icarus machine. About half were unconscious and more were visibly injured, bandages wrapped around legs and arms. Those that were conscious stirred and murmured to each other hopefully at the new arrivals. When they saw Sanguin, those murmurs became a lot less hopeful.

"White Fang." Argos said with derision. "Well I guess we know who Theron is gonna use as fuel."

"It's a good choice." Sanguin replied, while surveying the prisoners. They glared back just as fiercely. "Who would miss them?" The murmurs got louder and angrier.

"Please! You have to help us!" An older man, with spectacles and a gray drooping moustache, grabbed the bars of his cell with manacled hands.

"I don't know about that." Argos said while leaning on his spear.

Blake was already looking for the keys. "We're going to anyway."

"I don't know about that." He said again.

Oh good, this again. Ruby thought as Blake turned angrily. "We can't just leave them here to be sacrificed. We came here to stop people from being murdered, not leave them waiting for their executioner to come back."

"Right. And since these people were the ones who built the Icarus machine, I doubt they share our desire to destroy it. If we let them out, they're bound to get in our way. If we leave them, and we win, we can come back and take them to jail or whatever."

"And if we lose?" Blake asked sharply. "What happens to them then?"

Ruby had always considered Argos fairly easygoing, but right now he looked bone chillingly serious. "I'll be frank. The worst case scenario here is the White Fang getting their hands on the device. With Theron, at least some good will come out of it. We're the men, and women, on the spot, and that means we're obligated to make the hard choices for the sake of everyone else, got it?"

Blake was about to say something back, likely a comment involving what Argos could do with that spear he was leaning on, when Yang clapped her on the shoulder. "We'll just have to win no matter what then." She said with her trademark easy confidence.

Blake took a long, slow breath. "Right." She gave Argos a steely gaze. "We'll win for sure. Bet on it."

He smiled. "Good to hear."

"Argos is wrong about one thing though." Sanguin said, walking over to the old man. "I don't recall ever saying anything about destroying the Icarus machine."

Ruby was flabbergasted at the blatant lie. "Yes you totally did! You said you were going to destroy everything Theron and they had created."

"I was pissed back then." Sanguin replied offhandedly, his face a mask. "Now I'm thinking clearly, and I'm not sure I want to miss this opportunity." He knelt, bringing his face to the level of the old man's. "You were the ones who built the machine, right?"

The other prisoners shouted threats and encouragements, but the old man didn't seem to hear them. He stammered and twitched, not even doing a good job of lying. "No, we didn't. It was…" He trailed off at the merciless green eyes staring into his soul.

"Do not lie to me again." Sanguin said again, in a voice that promised a very long and unpleasant end if he did. The old man wilted, what little was left of his courage draining out of him. And something else, judging by the smell. He almost sobbed as he spoke.

"It wasn't me, I'm just a doctor. Most of us didn't work on the machines, and the ones that did have been taken below."

"All of them?" Somehow, Ruby heard Sanguin's quiet question far clearer than the shouting of the people in the other cells. They were swearing vengeance and bloody death, both on Sanguin and the old man. Some even went so far as to threaten the rest of them, which Ruby thought was a tad unfair.

"N-no." The doctor stammered. "There's two left, in the far cell." Sanguin rose and began to walk down the line. Ruby and her friends moved forward to stop him, only to be blocked by Will. And Argos, who shook his head sadly at them. Ruby stared at him in confusion; he had been on their side back at Beacon. Why was he doing a 180 now?

We're obligated to make the hard choices for the sake of everyone else.

No… he wouldn't. Sanguin opened the cell, causally slashing through the lock with a flick of his Bloody Hand. Of the two inside, one was unconscious with a bandage wrapped around her head, the other wide awake with a bandaged leg. "You get the hell away from me, you psychopathic freak!"

Sanguin stopped advancing, as if he were compromising, and regarded the two of them. "I'll get right to the point. Can the two of you recreate the Icarus machine, given enough time and equipment?"

"Not for you." The prisoner replied, his voice full of venom. Sanguin merely inclined his head slightly.

"I see."

It was over before Ruby could begin to cry out. Sanguin flicked his hand as if to clean it, though all the blood that touched it had been disintegrated by his Semblance. The blood on his face, on the other hand, he left untouched as he turned and smartly exited the cell. He walked past horrified Faunus paying them no attention and brusquely pushed past the rest of them into the hall. "Come on. Lance knows we're here now, we need to get moving."

He murdered them. Ruby couldn't get her mind to shift away from that. He murdered them right in front of her, and she didn't do anything to stop him. Well, a cold voice from inside her said. There's no point in doing all this effort to destroy the Icarus machine if someone else goes off and makes another one, right? If we let them go free, they'd make one and use it for themselves, if we turned them in to Ironwood he'd force them to tell him how to make it. Ruby grit her teeth, wanting to deny the words but knowing they were true. Even if the voice sounded like Mortis.

Mutely, the six of them followed Sanguin outside, Will shutting the door behind him. Sanguin was staring down the hallway. A small treacherous part of Ruby wondered if he had enjoyed it. The White Fang had wronged him before, and he was the sort to like killing. She knew she was probably being unfair but right now she didn't feel very charitable.

"Argos, can you scan again for Mortis and Theron?" He asked, still not facing them.

"On it." Argos' eyes shone as he stared through rock and metal. Ruby continued to stare at Sanguin's back until Will stepped over to her.

"That was what you wanted, back at Beacon. To prevent Icarus from ever being used."

Ruby's head snapped around to glare at him. "It was not." She denied hotly. "I never wanted to have to kill anyone, that was the whole point."

"Then you ought to be grateful someone was willing to do it for you." Will answered before stepping away. Ruby knew he was right, she wasn't a little kid who thought everything would end okay if she just tried hard enough or something. But that didn't mean she had to like it one bit.

Blake apparently shared her distaste. Her voice practically oozed with scorn. "Oh yes, we should be incredibly thankful we have our own personal butcher along."

That was going a bit far, Ruby thought. It was the first time she had actually seen Will get angry. "You-"

"Leave it." Sanguin's flat voice gave no clues as to his emotional state. "It's not like she's wrong."

Will's face twisted, but he let it drop as ordered. As if happy to break up the awkward tension, Argos blinked and pointed down at the floor. "Got em. Two massive powers, with a bunch more behind them."

"Theron and Mortis and everyone at the machine?" Weiss hazarded.

"Yeah." Argos staggered a little as his Semblance faded and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, groaning. Ruby was willing to ignore that, but not Weiss.

"Are you okay?" Sometimes Ruby wondered how someone so allegedly well educated in manners could so badly read a social situation. Obviously, Argos' Semblance was taking a lot out of him, the polite thing to do was to ignore that until it became a liability, not make things awkward for everyone by mentioning it.

"Fine." Argos replied to Weiss curtly. He forced a smile. "We're storming the enemy castle; I can keep this up as long as I have to. Probably sleep for two days straight afterwards though."

Sanguin was ignoring his teammate, a hand on his ear. "Dom, we're outside some sort of prison and the enemy is to the east and below us."

Dominic's voice crackled to life in Ruby's earbud. "A prison, huh? Give me a sec." It was actually ten seconds later when he was back on the line. "Okay, I think you guys are outside the municipal detention center. Are they more east than below, or vice versa?"

"The latter." Argos supplied. After another pause, Dominic continued.

"Okay, I think I know where they holed up. There's an old power station in that general area. After all this time I can't imagine the main generators are intact but they might have been able to strip the parts out of a couple and get an ancillary generator going to power the machine. It's also easily defended, only one way in or out, so if I had a secret and very valuable project that's where I put."

"Why only one way in?" Argos asked.

Weiss, perhaps unsurprisingly given her background, knew the answer. "It's so that any safety breach on the Dust used in the generators can be contained with minimal outlets."

"Something kinda undermined by the chamber right outside that outlet that being a Dust storage depot." Dominic commented wryly.

Weiss shook her head disgustedly. "The more I learn about this place, the more I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did."

"How do we get there?" Sanguin asked with barely concealed annoyance.

"There's an elevator down the corridor you're in and to the left that will take you to the central cavern. From there you can pretty much walk straight over to the storage depot."

"Right. Move out." Dominic's instructions proved to be accurate, and mere minutes later they were standing outside a large metal shutter that served as the depot's door. Ruby felt unusually jumpy as they had walked across the open space of the main cavern, expecting an attack at any moment. Argos even confirmed there wasn't anyone waiting to jump them when they opened the shutter, the easiest and most obvious ambush point. She wondered if it was just Theron being arrogant, or if he really meant what he said about not wanting to fight them. In any event, Yang easily forced the shutter up and there they were, waiting. The hero and the monster.

Theron and Mortis stood in front of a massive set of doors, ones you could drive a truck through. Theron had abandoned his coat, revealing gunmetal gray armor underneath. On each of his shoulders and hips Ruby could see hilts of his collapsible spears, a fifth already extended in his hand. He regarded them as they cautiously approached with a neutral expression. Mortis, on the other hand, had picked up a long, flowing red coat from somewhere and was conspicuously unarmed. He watched them with an eager grin on his face, and Ruby thought she saw him lick his lips.

The room itself was a rather large, open space. To their left was a balcony overlooking what resembled a warehouse, filled with rusty shelving units and stacks of pallets. A freight elevator appeared to be the only way down the three stories to the floor. To their right was a parking lot, of all things, with faded paint lines marking where the spaces had been. Ruby's trained eye assessed the area; the open ground will give them an advantage in a ranged fight, but the crowded lower level might help them flank and surround their enemies better.

"You came." Mortis spread his hands expansively, beckoning them, or more likely just Sanguin, forward. "You're just in time. The device is all but ready to activate, if you want to stop it you'll have to act fast. It seems you come by your sense of dramatic timing honestly, Sanguin."

"Dear God, do you ever stop talking?" Theron asked sourly. He didn't seem too thrilled with his companion's demeanor.

"It's part of my charm." Mortis replied smoothly.

Ignoring him, Ruby focused on Theron. "It's not too late. You can still come back to the good guys." For a long second it looked as though Theron was considering it, but he shook his head in the end.

"Ruby," Yang said not unkindly. "He's made his choice a long time ago. There's nothing you can say that will change that."

Theron nodded in agreement. "Indeed. I won't insult your convictions by telling you to back down now, and would appreciate the same courtesy."

"That and he's the kind of prick who won't listen to you unless you kick his ass first." Yang continued matter-of-factly. Theron actually chuckled at that.

"Well, now that that's all cleared up, shall we get started?" Mortis stepped forward, idly stretching his arms.

Sanguin moved to meet him, his hand bursting into crimson light. "This time, there'll be no tricks or ways to run. This time, I'm going to take your head."

"If you can." Mortis' hands surged with their own power and his monstrous grin widened. The air seemed to have frozen; it was hard to breathe from the sheer pressure of the impending clash. Ruby shifted her grip on Crescent Rose's haft just slightly. The second one of them moved, all hell was going to break loose.

"Dibs."

Everyone in the room stared blankly at Argos. Mortis found his voice first. "What?"

Argos grinned smartly. "I'm calling dibs on you, old man."

"You can't just call dibs on someone in the middle of a mission." Sanguin said with what was clearly long suffering patience.

"Sure I can. This outfit has a long history of abiding by the dibs system. You've done it yourself a bunch of times." Argos pointed out.

"He's right you know." Will confirmed.

"We are not making strategic decisions because you called dibs on someone." Sanguin tried to appeal to reason, with no success.

"You can't just welch on the dibs system because it isn't working in your favor." Argos replied glibly. His expression hardened. "Besides, after going a round with Theron, I can safely say Will and I can't beat him, even if we worked together. But you might just have a chance, boss."

"Except I'm fighting Mortis." Sanguin reminded him darkly.

"No you're not, I called dibs." Argos shrugged helplessly. "Look, if there were another way I wouldn't get in the way. But we need you to take Theron on."

There was a long, strained pause as Sanguin looked from Mortis to Argos to Theron. Finally, with a deep sigh he reached up and pulled his sword from its sheath. Argos nodded. "Bitchin'. Will, you're with me." His teammate nodded and stepped up to join him at the front of the group.

Mortis was no longer smiling. He looked from his challengers to Sanguin, scowling. "If I have to kill a couple of whelps as a warmup, so be it." He drew back a burning hand and sent a scything crescent roaring towards them. Ruby got ready to jump out of the way, but Will's raised hands made her pause. He thrust them to the side and the slash curved off-course, missing them all by several feet.

"Impossible." Mortis was too stunned to watch his footing, and a burst of wind knocked him into the air. Another gust threw him over the balcony to the floor below, Will leaping down after him. Argos made to join him but was held up by Sanguin's hand on his shoulder. "Don't lose."

The spearman gave a huge, shit-eating grin. "Same to you, boss." He nimbly vaulted over the railing to join Will below. Ruby returned her attention to Theron. He had always been the real obstacle anyway; the only difference was who they had to help them try to get past him. The four members of Team RWBY all readied their weapons for battle, taking combat stances. Sanguin surprised them all again.

"Go."

"Huh?" Ruby said, her form deteriorating from confusion.

"Get moving." Sanguin repeated himself. "I will defeat Theron alone."

"But, you can't!" Ruby protested. No matter how good he was, Theron has always been in a league of his own. No single Huntsman or Huntress was going to pose a serious threat to him.

"That remains to be seen." Sanguin had the unsettling grin of his again. "We've already wasted too much time as is. Lance and Mordred are no doubt enhancing themselves as we speak, any further delays may prove disastrous."

"Yeah but…" Ruby looked back to Theron, watching the conversation without saying a word. She may not like Sanguin, but that didn't mean she wanted to leave him to die like this. Her teammates were more pragmatic, however.

"Come on Ruby." Blake clapped her on the shoulder. "We can't afford to waste any more time." Ruby reluctantly nodded and followed her and Yang as they tentatively approached the door. Theron didn't even seem to be paying any attention to them, his eyes fixed on Sanguin.

"Team RWBY." Sanguin called to them. "Mordred and Lance will not hold back. Strangle the mercy in your hearts, or you will die. Fight to kill and you might just stand a chance."

On an impulse, Ruby called back to him. "Don't worry, it's like we said. We're gonna win for sure." She slipped through the tiny opening in the massive doors Yang had pulled open and they boomed shut behind her.

As the doors closed, Sanguin muttered to himself. "Somehow, I think you will." He glanced quizzically at Theron. "I'm surprised you let them go without a fight."

"I was planning on stopping them." Theron replied easily. "But my instincts told me, 'if you take your eyes off this man, he will kill you.'"

Sanguin nodded in agreement. His own instincts were telling him the same thing. Not to mention the way his nerves tingled with anticipation for the battle ahead. He could feel an involuntary grin creep onto his face. "We better get started; else the others will be done before we even begin."

"It doesn't matter to me." Theron gave a half shrug. "The outcome of your friends' fight with Mortis is irrelevant. If he wins I'll just have to put him down myself. If they win, they'll come back up here and try to get through, at which point I will stop them"

"You're both right and wrong." Sanguin slipped into a fighting stance, Theron mimicking the motion.

"Excuse me?" Theron's stance was exceptional, with no natural openings to take advantage of. As expected. Sanguin's grip tightened slightly on his sword as he steeled his nerves.

"You're right; the outcome is irrelevant to you. But your reasoning is wrong. It doesn't matter to you because you'll be dead before either come back up here." His Bloody Hand flickered into existence. As if from some unseen signal, both lunged at the same moment. The hero and the monster clashed.

AN: Cliffhangers are fun to write. Hopefully not for too long though, the race is on to beat volume 3 out. I wrote this kind of in a rush, so let me know if you spot any errors I missed.

See you next time.