RWBY Through Worlds

83: Not Superhuman

She moved to a different wall, where some metal boxes with locks on them were kept.

"If you hurt any one in my family, I'll...I'll kill you," Yang said.

"Oh, heroic." Victoria pulled some kind of wire out and attached it to one box, then began stringing it along the floor.

"You're...you're crazy," Yang tried again.

"I've been called that before." Victoria didn't sound like she cared. "Nice arm, by the way. Who did that for you? Polendina? He's a hand with robotics."

Yang frowned.

"Get it? A hand?" Victoria said. "Because it's an arm... Huh, I thought that would get a laugh."

"What do you really want from us?" Yang asked.

"Oh, from you, nothing," Victoria said. "You're not too bad, but you're far from perfect, or even exceptional."

Well, that was just rude.

"I'm really only interested in the very best," Victoria said. "And that means the Maidens. You have to admit, for all the moral questions about magical powers, they really are something else. Flawless almost."

She adjusted something in the wall. "And even things like the Grimm--perfect destructive forces...hideous, I'll grant you, but so powerful. Why can't we be like that? That's my philosophy. Better than what we're doing now. I daresay that witch wouldn't be kicking our a---s if we were just upping our game. Ozpin likes to play it safe, and so do all his insipid followers. Even Raven, though she left the pack, she's just the same. Safe. Comfortable. Complacent."

She faced Yang, brushing off her gloves.

"I'm not satisfied with safe," she said. "So I really need that magic. But the rest of the details, you really don't need to know. But you should be happy. It was either Raven or that Schnee woman, and I heard you all liked the second one better. Count your blessings."

"You're sick!" Yang was horrified. "Like you're doing us some big favor by killing someone."

"Who said I was going to kill her?" Victoria said. "I'm not going to kill her. What a waste that would be. I just need to use her. Don't worry, child, the only thing I've killed in my experiments is Grimm...and a few animals...but humans are a bit more resilient usually. Now, you're not going to be a pest and try to scream or cry or argue with me, are you? I think this will work better if you're awake, but I'm not above knocking you back out to get some peace and quiet."

Yang stared at her. She sounded serious.

"Well, good, glad we're clear on that," Victoria said. "Now...I'm surprised your mother isn't here already... Slow day for her. Can't she sense you're in trouble?"

"Huh?" Yang said.

"Do they not explain their Semblances to you?" Victoria said with a strange look. "Really? Her portal thing? It's quite interesting--she bonds with people, and she can portal to them. Really, it's a Semblance I always envied, though mine is useful enough, but it took me years to realize its applications, and portals, that would make my life so much easier. But there you are."

"I know how it works, but she doesn't know I'm here," Yang said. "She's not anywhere near Vacuo."

"You can lie all you want about that. I know better. You pick up a few things over time, Goldie. She has a 6th sense about when people are in trouble who she bonded with. Don't you know that?"

Yang frowned at her.

[Really, how else do you explain how Raven knew the magical, perfect moment to save Yang from Neo. There's no way as a bird she could have just flown into that tunnel, caught up with the train, and looked in the window.]