RWBY Through Worlds (End)

BC27: Royal Problem

"Oh, okay, that's a good idea," Oscar agreed. "Uh...Cinder, you might want to step back."

Cinder shrugged. "Why not just lure both of them back here?"

"But who would fly the plane?" Royal asked.

"They could put it on autopilot," Oscar pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but this area has been known to have Grimm in it, at least if we're around Argus still but not in the towns. I figure we have to be south. There's lots of Grimm between Argus and the other cities. They're small usually, but still, if you can't see them.... And there's the floating rocks too," Royal protested.

"We could risk it for a few minutes if you could get to the front," Oscar said.

Cinder gave Oscar a look.

"Oh...right," he said. "I forgot about that. Okay, Id think it's a good idea. But then we should make some noise."

"Maybe knock some of the crates over. That should do it," Royal suggested. "As long as they don't hit us when this thing turns."

"I guess one problem at a time." Oscar was so used to dodging stuff in training that this sounded like a small issue in comparison.

Cinder just nodded curtly.

"What...?" they heard Calico say suddenly. "Where did she go?"

Cinder tensed.

"She can't be free. She'd have killed us by now," Calico went on talking to himself. "Maybe she crawled around to try to hide. The other two should be long dead by now, but if those Grimm killed her too, the customers will not be happy."

He moved closer to them.

The pause was really dreadful. It took seconds, but it felt like hours.

Oscar tightened his grip.

Cinder, knowing to stay out of his way, stepped back a little more.

She was closer to the screen and the Grimm now, which she didn't like, but they had made no move to grab any of them before, after Oscar hit them, so it was probably okay.

She wondered to herself if she was still covered or if Argus had figured out it was her. Maybe not if the air pirates hadn't told them themselves. Would they have?

Could Winter or Raven hush it up? Would they want to?

Probably not.

This was all Faye's fault. This would never have happened if she'd just gone to Argus herself.

Cinder reflected way too late that thinking negative thoughts in front of Grimm was not the smartest idea.

At the same time, Calico stepped around the boxes and saw them all standing there, totally not dead, and stopped short.

"What the h---?!" he said.

"Heaven." Oscar readily used one of Shine's lines.

Calico didn't get it.

"Teach!" He began to holler. "Teach, they didn't die!"

He held out his weapon.

Royal knocked some of the crates toward him, and Oscar shot his spear out--it extended farther than it used to--then he pressed a button, and a coil came out of the tip of it and lashed around Calico's taser-like weapon. Oscar then yanked it out of his hand.

The crates crashed down and made a noise that was startlingly loud after all that whispering.

Teach heard it, dimly, and started to look back.