Ch 65: From Shadows (3)

Freed from the confines of the security boxcar, they stepped onto an open-air cargo bed to find even more Atlesian Knights charging towards them.

"Let's do this!" Adam said as he glanced at Blake before both of them rushed forward to engage the androids. Freed of the confines of the boxcar, Blake began using Gambol Shroud in its Kusarigama form to slice through the crowds in arcs of flashing steel while Adam took down the outliers with blasts from his rifle and slashes from his blade. Soon, they had cleared the cargo bed of enemies and were able to make their way into the next boxcar. One thankfully devoid of more AK-130s.

"Perfect," Adam grinned as he opened one of the crates and saw the carefully packed vials of Dust, "Move up to the next car. I'll set the charges."

"What about the crew members?" Blake questioned anxiously, worry shining in her golden eyes.

"What about them?" Adam countered fiercely. Blake turned her head meekly to the side. Unable to hold his demanding gaze even through the slits of his Grimm mask.

*Grrrrrooooowwwrrr* Adam turns at the growling sound behind him. The car was devoid of AK-130s, but it was not, as they had thought, unguarded. A large Spider Droid with four legs and four large cannons, two on its arms and two on its shoulders, descended from the shadows of the ceiling to drop onto the floor between them and the door they had just come in.

"Adam!" Blake exclaimed in concern. This thing was not supposed to be here. Spider Droids were the heavy mobile armors of the Atlas military. Not something that should be guarding a train full of Dust and certainly not something a pair of lightly armed thieves should be fighting.

Not like they had much of a choice now though. A bright white light gathered around the four head-sized muzzles facing them as the Spider Droid charged up its guns.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM* It unleashed several powerful blasts from its cannons in rapid succession, forcing Adam to scamper around the limited open space in the filled box car to avoid them. At the same time, Blake charged through the rain of explosive ordinance. She leapt through the air, aiming for the sensors in its head. If they could blind it, maybe they could beat it.

*Ahh* Blake cried. At the last second, before Gambol Shroud could strike, the droid had jerked its head forward and headbutted her out of the air, sending her tumbling to the ground. The Spider Droid stomped forward to crush the stunned Faunus girl beneath its heavy metal legs.

*HU HA HAA* Adam used the moment when the metal monstrosity was distracted by Blake to slash at its faceplate multiple times with Wilt. The effect was minimal, but it did serve to turn the Spider Droid attention from the downed Blake.

*OOf* The moment Adam landed, he received a heavy kick from the aggroed droid that sent him flying backward, followed closely by blasts from its cannons.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM* As soon as he hit the ground, Adam was forced to roll around to avoid the deadly explosive shots that were detonating crates of Dust around him. But at least he had distracted it from Blake. Or maybe not. While pinning Adam down with its cannon fire, the Spider Droid raised one of its powerful legs into the air and stomped down on Blake, who was still on her hands and knees, struggling to her feet.

*CRASH* The Spider Droid's leg slammed into the ground hard enough to dent the sturdy steel floor and shake the train. But Blake wasn't there. At the last second, Adam had dashed in under the rain of cannon fire and scooped her up in his arms like a princess to carry her to safety.

"We need to get out of here!" Blake said as Adam let her down. Unfortunately, the Spider Droid agreed. As the two Faunus turned to face it, it connected its four cannons together into one and charged up for a full-power shot. Adam and Blake's eyes widened in fear as they put everything they had into raising their Aura shields just before a bright beam of white light erupted from the oversized android's main cannon. Blasting them back and through the sealed steel door behind them.

*Uf Ugh* Blake and Adam groaned in pain as they bounced across the floor of another open cargo bed. Still alive, but their Auras all but depleted. However, their mechanical opponent wasn't finished with them yet. It muscled its way through the twisted, half-melted metal that framed the ragged hole in the wall where the door to its boxcar had previously been.

"By me some time!" Adam ordered Blake as they stumbled to their feet.

"Are you sure?!" Blake asked. Their Auras were almost depleted. If Adam didn't have a good plan, they were both dead if they tried to continue fighting this thing. On the other hand, they had the chance right now to jump off the train before the Spider Droid could reengage them and live to fight another day.

"Do it!" Adam barked and entered an iaido stance. His hair began to glow a bright red as he began to concentrate all his remaining Aura into Wilt and Blush. Trusting in her partner, Blake charged, jinking left and right to dodge the incoming cannon fire from the Spider Droid that had split its cannons again for a faster rate of fire against its nimble targets.

*AAAA* Blake leapt into the air as she reached it. Embedded Gambol Shroud's blade in it and held on tight to the ribbon as she used her Shadow semblance to push herself high into the air behind it.

*Uh Bang* With a grunt and a tug on its ribbon, Blake tore her weapon out of the Spider Droid's torso. Flipping herself through the air, Blake slashed at its hard steel body multiple times as gravity pulled her back down.

*Ha Ha Ah* She dashed between its legs and used her speed and smaller size to slash at its legs and underbelly with both her cleaver and katana with the android unable to retaliate effectively.

*UrrrrrRA* Blake stabbed her katana into the underside of its chin and unloaded an entire clip into it where its throat would be if it were a living creature before ripping her blade back out and propelling herself off its chest, and performing several backward handsprings to land behind Adam.

All to very little effect. Despite Blake's relentless assault, she had achieved little more than scratching its paint job. And it was charging up to fire its joined cannons again.

"Move!" Adam shouted, prompting Blake to retreat further behind him.

*FOOOOOOOOOOOM* The bright light of extinction flashed from the Spider Droids cannon, racing towards Adam. At the last moment, Adam partially unsheathed Wilt and, impossibly, blocked the unstoppable beam.

*Ga Ahaha* Adam chuckled darkly as the beam ended, and he resheathed his blade, his hair and red markings on his mask and jacket glowing a bright red. Not able to recognize the danger behind that laugh, only that its strongest energy attack had been blocked. The Spider Droid jumped into the air towards Adam, intent on squashing him like a bug beneath it.

*SHIIIIIIIIIINNGG* Just before it reached him, Adam drew Wilt in one smooth, fast motion, unleashing all the energy he had absorbed from its last attack in that single swing. For a moment, the world before him turned monotone, and then everything before him started disintegrating. The Spider Droid, the cargo, even the trees growing beside the tracks, all of it was caught in the wake of his slash.

Adam returned Wilt to its sheath, and the moment ended almost as soon as it had begun. Color return to the world as Adam turned around, tired but triumphant, and jogged to meet up with Blake. However, what he found brought him up short.

Blake was standing on the edge of the next cargo bed, just before the train engine, looking down at the coupler with a sad look on her face. Adam stopped at the edge of his cargo bed, concern and confusion eating away at him inside. He reached out his hand towards her and opened his lips to say something, but before he could.

"Goodbye," Blake said and severed the coupler. No longer pulled along by the train engine, Adam's part of the train began to slow down. A gap rapidly widening between the two now-former partners. Adam's shock was so great that he was frozen, unable to move or speak, as he watched the love of his life turn her back on him and walk away from him and out of his life.

######

Blake stayed sitting like that there for a while. Sitting with her back against the cold stone of the archways, her legs drawn up and hugged tight against her chest, and her cheek resting on her knee as she stared blankly into the distance, lost in the past. As her reminiscing ended, Blake raised her head towards the heavens and blinked repeatedly, pulling herself out of her memories.

She was no longer in the shadows. Time had passed, and the moon had already risen high into the sky from the east and had now begun to sink into the west. As time had passed and the shattered moon had continued its eternal march across the sky, the shadows that had surrounded her retreated and left her bathing in the gentle light of a full moon.

The symbolism of it all brought a smile to Blake's face and lifted her spirits that had grown heavy from the memory. As she unfurled her curled-up body, her stiff joints popped and cracked like a caterpillar breaking through its cocoon so that it may soar through the skies as a butterfly.

[I'll find my own liberation. For Ray, for my team, and for myself. I'll find a way out of my past and towards a brighter future for everyone with them all. I'm not sure when. I don't know how. But I will!] Blake stood up and clenched her fists before her in determination. Her vow made, she set off with a strong, purposeful stride back towards the dorm.

[It's late. I should get back. The girls must be worried. Haha. What must they have thought when I ran out of our room like that?] As the initially humorous thought crossed her mind, Blake's steps slowed slightly. The feeling that she had forgotten something important tickling at the back of her mind.

"AHHHH!" Blake suddenly remembered what she had forgotten.

*Whoosh* Blake whipped around and raced back to where she had just been. She had forgotten her book, again. Picking the cause of this entire incident up off the ground, Blake clutched it close to her chest.

While the entire experience had been wonderful in its own way, Blake never wanted to go through something like that again. Her embarrassing treasure finally recovered, Blake directed her steps back towards where her friends were waiting for her. Her steps were less powerful but lighter and more natural than they had been as she walked beneath the comforting light of the moon, a blush decorating her fair cheeks and a slight smile on her delicate pink lips.