Sun wasn’t a moron. He knew how to handle himself, even in high stress situations. If he weren’t capable, then he wouldn't have survived on the streets for so long, and going to a school for huntsmen would have been a poor choice.
So when their ship, or, well, the ship that he and Neptune had stowed away on, found itself trapped in some sort of freaky sand tentacle, he had stayed just as calm as the fully fledged huntsmen team on board. When the ship suddenly turned on its side and dumped them out, or at least gave them the option of getting out while they could or risk being killed by whatever was behind the anomaly, he had been ready to stick the landing and get into whatever action might be below.
Neptune, however, was in a state of panic. For all that he acted collected and suave, he was a bit of a scaredy-cat.
Though Sun needed to remove that term from his vocabulary if he wanted a good chance with Blake.
He didn’t really have time to be thinking on that though, not when Neptune was shouting “I’m too handsome to die!” and latching onto him like a child might with their parent.
Suddenly having a whole other person’s weight, along with their equipment, weighing you down unevenly wasn’t exactly conducive to a proper landing. He briefly tried to pry his friend off of him, gave up on that and tried to position themselves so they at least wouldn’t snap their necks when they hit the ground, and loosened himself up for the impact, knowing that being tense was bad for sudden stops.
The landing was a lot softer than he had expected though. There shouldn’t be any large dunes in the middle of the city to cushion the fall, so he had been prepared for brick or some other stone, not-
“Will you get off of me?!”
Sun found himself violently shoved off of his impromptu landing pad, discovering that he had landed on Qrow.
With a quick glance to ensure that Neptune was also fine, he asked the first question that came to mind. “What are you doing in Vacuo?”
No, wait, that was stupid. He was probably here for the same reason that Sun and Neptune had come.
“What does it look like?!” The huntsman gestured wildly off to the side, as if the answer was obvious.
When Sun looked, he saw two flying women. One had her eyes glowing with purple flames as she swiped at the other with a blade made of stone with one hand, the other conjuring up a bolt of lighting to strike her opponent. The other had her eyes glowing with a more natural orange flame, fire bursting out from every limb and swirling around her in a flurry of light and heat.
And, hold on a moment, didn’t he know that one? It looked like that crazy lady who tried to kill Jaune, though he wasn’t so sure of that given the fact that he didn’t remember her pulling out any of this when she’d fled into the city.
Before he could decide whether he was seeing things or not, the familiar woman was hit by a ship. His ship. It had come from behind, and he supposed that she couldn’t hear the sand tentacle coming over the sizzle of flame and crumbling stone and crack of thunder. The ship had reached the end of the tentacle by that point, and though she seemed to be holding up against the other woman decently well, suddenly taking an airship to the back sent her flames sputtering out as she dropped out of the sky and into an alley.
The airship was dropped into the alley with a crash, catching on the roofs and hanging precariously as it kicked up sand and dust, but he wasn't sure if it was the ship or the walls that were taking more damage in that equation.
“...are we meant to understand what we’re looking at? Because I’m a little lost,” Neptune admitted.
“I have to agree with the kid, those are some crazy semblances…” one of the huntsmen from the ship agreed, nervously looking between his sword and the power on display before them.
“I didn’t sign up for something like this!” The pilot cried out.
“An excellent point!” A somewhat familiar voice called out, making Sun jump. Whirling around, he saw… one of the Beacon teachers? Hadn’t this guy been an announcer for the Vytal festival or something? “There are civilians and wounded to tend to! We have two severely injured criminals in the alley behind us,” he pointed to the chasm in question, “who need to be both treated and apprehended. It would also be wise to evacuate any civilians in nearby homes. Most are locked away in their houses due to the breach, but walls that stop grimm may not stop this battle.”
Their attention was drawn away from the conversation by the reveal that the attempted-friend-stabber, Cinder he thought her name was? Flying back into the air with a primal scream of anger, eyes lit up like flashlights as she blew the other woman away with a strong wind and then swept her up in a tornado of flames.
The huntsmen team shared a look. “Right, we’ll let you handle this, then. Come along, kiddos!”
One of them grabbed him by the collar of his shirt before they all leapt down into the alleyway.
“Hey!” He cried out indignantly. “Don’t we get a say in this? That psycho tried to kill my friend, I want a crack at her!”
“No,” he was instantly denied as the group started to fan out, two of them quickly inspecting a body on the ground.
“Uh, hold on a minute,” Neptune nervously spoke up.
“What part of no do you not understand?” their apparent baby sitter complained.
“Not that!” He squawked out. “Didn’t he say two criminals? Where’s the second one?!”
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The whole group perked up at that, but it was for nothing.
There was only one injured person in the alley.
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Cinder was furious.
If she couldn’t forge Midnight out of dust like usual, then she’d forge it out of pure flame, hot enough to burn blue. She’d love to see this bitch make that explode before it seared right through her flesh!
A bolt of lightning was deflected by a hastily erected stone barrier. This Summer Maiden may have more experience with that aspect of the powers, but Cinder could handle something simple like that with little more than a thought.
She’d show her.
Who did she think she was, launching an airship of all things? Such an idiotic maneuver was so beneath her that Cinder hadn’t anticipated it, but now that she knew just how foolish this woman could be, she’d be prepared if there was a second attempt.
Her aura had blunted the blow, but Cinder could feel the ache beneath her skin. Could feel, without looking at a scroll, that the pool of her soul had taken extensive damage.
She knew, thanks to her fight with that idiotic previous Fall Maiden that someone with these powers could fight on past the point of their aura breaking, but she also knew that it left them in a vulnerable state regardless.
Still being able to launch the elements at those who opposed her would be nice, but it would only take a single well placed direct hit at that point to end her life.
Adjusting her flight, Cinder moved herself to the Maiden’s left side, drawing her attention by flaring up the blade of her makeshift sword, slashing it in a move that would horribly burn the hand that kept firing that pesky electricity. A blade of flame might not be all that good for slicing at the temperatures she was able to reliably handle, but it was still more than capable of maiming.
And even if the Maiden managed to avoid that fate, the lightshow would distract her from the blade of glass to her right side that was coming for her neck instead.
“You’re awfully confident in yourself for someone so weak,” the Maiden taunted.
The insult stoked her anger, but it wouldn’t matter once-
Pain flared up in her legs as buckshot struck her aura. Not having been prepared for it, the distraction weakened the false Midnight in her hand. When it passed over the other Maiden’s skin the woman grimaced, backing up but not shouting out in pain.
Not even from a sudden strike to the neck, which never seemed to come. The buckshot must have shattered the second blade…
She and the other Maiden both frowned, but neither looked at where the shot had come from.
“Stay out of this, Qrow!”
“What, you just want me to stand here looking pretty when I could be helping you? I want her taken down too, you know!” Ozpin’s pesky errand boy shouted back.
“I’ve seen what your help does!”
Cinder didn’t say a word, trying to zone out the words and let them flow over her. If her foes wanted to distract themselves, she would allow them to make the mistake.
While the fools underestimating her stung, she was not above using any tools at her disposal.
But what to try next? Her usual flames and glass hadn’t proven effective so far. Perhaps she should spice things up a bit.
The static charge in the air crackled over her fingertips.
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Oobleck kept his eyes peeled for any stray attacks that might be coming towards him or any helpless bystanders as the battle raged on, not really in a position to actually do much in this situation. He was a skilled huntsman, as all Beacon staff were, but this was… well. It was quite a bit more than a group of them descending on Roman with a strong information advantage.
That wasn’t stopping Qrow, though, as he fired off another round of buckshot from his weapon’s shotgun configuration.
It managed to draw a growl out of Cinder as it peppered her back, forced to accept the damage to her aura as she dodged out of the way of a large stone hammer. Electricity that was surely meant for the Summer Maiden quickly surged towards Qrow and himself, but the shot went wide. Poor aim, or Qrow’s semblance working in his favor for once? He didn’t suspect that he’d ever find the answer to that question.
But it did raise a good point.
“She does have a point, Qrow. Your semblance is a liability, especially in a high stakes situation like this. Perhaps we should switch gears and join our guests,” because he didn’t know what else to call the sudden drop ins, “in handling other important matters until this fight dies down.”
“No can do,” Qrow denied. “I like to think that Sam has this in the bag, but if Cinder catches her off guard…”
Bart frowned. If this Sam woman truly were to fall in battle, what would happen to the Maiden’s power? Could someone hold two of them at once? Would the fact that Cinder was a partial Fall Maiden factor in?
And for that matter, what would happen if the reverse were true? Based on the little information available, Bart figured that Sam would be too old to accept the power from Cinder if it were possible. Would it go to a random woman? Or another of Salem’s allies?
No, the best option would be to capture Cinder and ensure both of them lived, at least until they could get some solid answers on the matter. But with the two women fighting as they were, and his and Qrow’s combat prowess being what it was, he didn’t see how that would be possible.
“At this point I’m convinced that everyone waits just until I’m out of sight to cause trouble. Would it really kill you all to keep things calm and orderly for once?” A feminine voice called out from behind their perch on the rooftops.
Oobleck turned back, and felt himself relax a bit.
It seemed their third had caught up to them, and the crowd behind her indicated that she had managed to get the assistance of Shade. He didn’t recognize most of them, but extra hands couldn’t hurt. And besides…
Everyone in Beacon knew that no matter the mess, Glynda was more than capable of cleaning it up.
He just hoped that he wouldn’t be on the receiving end of her wrath this time.
“She managed to escape without revealing her face in our first encounter because I had to protect Miss Rose, and I was distracted by Second Thought’s appearance during the Breach of Vale,” Glynda explained as she lightly smacked The Disciplinarian against her palm.
“I will not allow her to escape a third time.”