Replaceable Parts: Chapter 2

This chapter was commissioned by LazyMinx

Read the first chapter HERE

Chapter Two: The Dark Returns

Smoke on the horizon, almost fading into the sky as day turned to night. And here I was, with my adopted sister Penny and a trainee huntress from Beacon.

I flicked open my scroll and connected to my first contact.

Ironwood’s face came into focus, metal plate at his temple glinting in the evening light. “Steele, we just spoke.”

“There’s a disturbance in Vale, I see smoke rising, and the sound of an explosion.”

He frowned, looking away. “I haven’t—No. Reports are coming in from the manufacturing district.”

I’d thought that was the direction of the docks, but I guess my map of Vale had gotten mixed up with…home. In my head I’d connected the two cities too close.

“Your mission is still locating the package,” Ironwood said. “Leave the explosion to the locals.”

“I’ve located Penny,” I replied. “She wasn’t far. I’ll route her back to base now.”

He frowned.

“Sir.” I turned my eyes back to the sky. No more explosions, but I could hear the sound of car horns, rising up like a cacophony. “I’m close by.”

“…Polendina’s safety must be assured first and foremost.”

First of what?  I was Penny’s big sister, but I didn’t delude myself. If we got attacked on the way back, Penny would be the one protecting me. I swallowed that and my next retort. “Understood.” I closed the scroll.

For their part, the girls were both staring at Ruby’s scroll. I caught a glimpse, flashing and reversed through the back glass. A face sprinting down a freeway. An Atlas Paladin sprinting after them. I bit back a curse, even as Ruby closed her own scroll.

I took one look at the expression on the girl’s face and planted myself directly in front of her. “Where are they located?”

Ruby blinked, silver eyes flashing. They looked at my blankly, like mirrors, before she came back to herself. “Ah, uh, that’s…”

“Ms. Rose, we don’t have time for this. I don’t need to know why, or how, but I just saw an Atlas Paladin tearing down a road in Vale. I need you to share the location, and I need a favor.”

That got her moving. “R-right.” She nodded. “Downtown Vale, on the freeway heading, uh, heading out of the industrial district.”

“They’re on a freeway?” I shook my head. “Ms. Rose. I need you to take Penny with you back to Beacon.”

They both started talking at once.

“But my team—”
“Sister! I can—”

“Do you know how to disable a Paladin?” I asked. “Do you think we have time for this discussion? If I have to escort Penny, I can’t help your team.”

“But…” Ruby shook her head.

“I know we just met, but I’m asking you to trust me.” I raised my arm, prosthetic morphing into a grapple. “I need to trust you too. Take my sister home, let me help your team, please.”

Her face flashed through a series of emotions. First and foremost no doubt ‘why don’t you go your way and I go mine,’ but if there was a Paladin rampaging through downtown Vale, I was one of the better people to handle it, despite my lack of training compared to the girls in front of me.

“Every second we waste,” I said.

“Oooh, cream cheese crackers!” Ruby stomped. “You better keep my team safe!”

I nodded. “Keep my sister safe.” I launched the grapple, leaping and letting it spool me up onto the rooftops.

Behind me, I heard one last, “Okay that’s still really cool—” and then I was racing south.

My aura—the power of my soul, to hear the people of Remnant talk about it—pulsed beneath my skin. It lent me the speed and strength to leap across the rooftops, gaining height as quickly as I dared. Once I passed the closest skyscrapers, I could make out the freeway in the distance.

In the distance was a gleaming mass of metal, lights swerving. That had to be my target.

I sucked in a deep breath and sprinted.

Ahead, the roads rose up overhead, higher than the nearest buildings as they cut over warehouses and stacks of storage crates. The last jump sent my heart into my throat as I hurled myself into the air, arm outstretched. The grappling hook shoot from my wrist, sinking home into concrete. I reeled it in even as I started to fall.

The wind whipped past my ears, ground rushing up to meet me.

Steel cable jerked tight. I tucked my legs. The ground came close enough for the gravel to brush against the soles of my shoes and then—

Sky.

I whipped up, rotational speed increased by shortening my anchor point. I released the grapple, flipping once as I soared over the Vale freeway. The twining roads, think with traffic, flashed beneath my like arteries. Ahead, I saw the Paladin just as it went over the edge of the freeway and into the darkness below.

A fall like that wouldn’t be enough to take it out.

Another swing like the last one might rip my prosthetic right out off my arm, if I did it too fast. Luckily, I had another strategy.

Blackness rushed out of my aura in countless wings, swirling around me like a storm. Like a swarm. I stretched my legs out and planted them on the near intangible wisps of my own aura. It wasn’t enough to make me fly; it wasn’t even enough to make me stop falling. Instead, it gave me distance. I slid down a ramp of shadowy butterflies, even as the impact splintered them and sent the aura looping back into me. Then I gathered a platform, thick as I could make it, and jumped.

I arced over the gap in the overpasses. There, in the dark, I could see the flickering lights from the Paladin’s lamps and the spark of gunfire off its armor. It was still fighting someone. I pursed my lips even as I felt gravity start to pull me down once again.

The only Paladins slated to be in Vale right now were the ones for public display.

I dropped like a stone.

The wind plucked at my hair and clothes as the darkness rushed up to meet me. I took one last steadying breath.

Compared to the people of this world, I wasn’t a good fighter. Even with my training, I was still catching up. Regardless of my wishes to protect that silver-eyed girl, Penny’s first friend, she’d probably do better in a head-in fight against someone in a Paladin warsuit. I did have one advantage, though: aura was the strength of the soul.

I crashed into the top of the Paladin, feet first, hard enough to make the mountain of metal stagger a single step. The impact rocked me, sending a shiver up my aura, but not enough to make it flicker.

My soul was strong indeed.

“Another fucking party crasher?” The Paladin righted itself. Top-mounted cameras rotated to catch a look at me, even as one of the arms rose to brush me off like a fly. “Listen, Lady, I’m busy here.” The arm-mounted canon started to whir. “Get lost before I decide on a new coat of paint.”

I rose to my full height. Beneath me, almost directly beneath the overpasses, was the stolen Paladin. In front of me, I saw three young women; Ruby’s team. Even as the Paladin’s pilot shifted focus, the black and white trainees darted back into the shadows of the highways. The blonde smacked her fists together, bouncing lightly on her feet like she was about to get into a boxing match and not a dust up with a war machine.

For the audience, I made a show of dusting myself off. “You are in possession of stolen Atlesian military hardware,” I said. “Relinquish it and surrender.”

“Oh great,” came the operator’s voice. “A cop.”

The canon started spinning faster.

“I love cops.”

I tilted back. The gun fired.

I fell backwards off the Paladin a hairs breadth ahead of the bullets. My semblance, my swarm, exploded out from me once more. I directed it over the sensors, flickering creatures of pure aura settling over every camera.

I landed on the ground as the mech started to flail. “Gah, what the hell is this stuff!”

I placed more ‘bugs’ on the external mics. “Should have taken my offer.” Then they started to whirr, black wings beating gently against the air. Not enough to block out every sound, but more than enough to clog the one sense the pilot had remaining.

I darted back as the Paladin took a wild stomp. “Aim for the joints!”

The blonde raced forward with a roar and leapt. Her fist slammed into the cockpit, right where the armor was the thickest.

I sighed. “Teenagers.”

The Paladin rocked back, swinging a wild backhand that caught the woman out of the air. She went flying. I tagged her with a fragment of my swarm, paying just enough attention to feel her right herself in the air.

I danced away, pistol pinging at the actuators in the back of the knee. The armor was thinner there.

“Just because I can’t see you doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you!”

The Paladin threw itself into a roll. It hit the ground in a massive crash, nowhere near where I was standing. The impact dispersed a large part of my swarm, sending bits and pieces of aura back to me. The mech pushed itself upright, sensors flashing.

I clicked my tongue.

“There you are!”

I darted back and to the right through a cloud of whirling darkness. With a twist of thought, the swarm thickened the other direction, peeling away like I was attempting to flee. The guns tracked it, spitting out a rain of bullets through the cloud. New tools, old tricks.

My grapple shout of out of the smoke, only to deflect off the slanted armor. “I hate aiming this thing.” Position revealed, I sprinted away. This time, lasers from the other arm peppered the ground around me, thinning my swarm even as I pushed it towards the mech. I ignored the shots pinging off my aura with practiced ease. The pain barely even registered.

Still, the pilot was smart enough to make distance, make it harder for me to blind him again.

Then Black and White finally made their appearance. They darted out from behind the Paladin, bright rapier and dark saber cutting deep into the Paladin’s back leg. It stumbled, knee hissing and sputtering fluid.

My swarm washed over the mech again, blinding it just in time for Blonde to race out of the darkness. She glowed brighter, eyes a flash of red in the dark. A wild haymaker caught the Paladin’s arm and tore the gun mount free.

I rose, starting forward even as wild shots filled the air from the other arm. The other three women circled, picking the mech apart whenever the pilot swung.

“Do these things have their own guidance systems?” The pilot laughed, angry and displeased, “Screw it, lets find out!” The missile tubes set in the Paladin’s back launched.

They did not have independent guidance systems.

“Stop those before they hit the freeway!” I shouted.

The majority of my swarm lifted into the air, catching what they could. I thickened my semblance enough around one of the missiles to detonate it early, and managed to send two others spinning back into the ground. One hit a pile of storage crates, sending them tipping with an earth-rumbling crash.

Flashes of white and purple and red filled the night as the three knocked the scattering missiles out of the air with pinpoint accuracy.

I really needed to get back to the shooting range.

Then a laser volley hit me dead on.

I flew backwards, skidding and rolling across the ground.

“Can see you now, sweet cheeks!”

I cursed. I must have thinned out my swarm too much. With a mad burst of darkness, I escaped behind the nearest pillar. Bullets and lasers peppered the concrete, chipping it. “I may not have much left, but you can have it all!”

“Hey asshole!” someone roared. “Kneed a hand?”

I heard the impact, the sound of ripping metal, and then a crash that made the last one seem quiet. A wave of dust rushed past my hiding spot. Standing, I spun out from the other side, gun up.

The Paladin lay on its side, gun arm trapped under its frame. One leg twitched as severed servos tried to work, and the other ended in a shattered stump, metal strewn across the pitted ground.

At his feet, the blonde woman blew on her knuckles. “Get it?” she asked.

A sigh over the speakers. “What are they feeding you kids?”

“A diet of pure badass, that’s what.” The woman slammed her fists together in a shower of sparks. “Now get out of there before I pry you out with my bare hands.”

“I’ll thank you for not damaging Atlesian property anymore than we already have,” I said.

Walking forward, I sent a thinner swarm out again, settling over the Paladin’s sensors once again, while the rest drifted off into the darkness in case a large group of reinforcements showed up.

The blonde turned to look at me. “Who’re you?”

“Taylor Steele,” I said. “Atlas military. Thank you for the assistance.”

“You’re Atlas Military?” That would be the white-haired girl. A closer look revealed an almost familiar face. “A specialist should be able to handle something like this one their own.”

“I never claimed to be a specialist, Miss Schnee.” I came to a stop a few feet away from the mech and pulled out my scroll. “Your sister speaks highly of you. I’ll have to tell her you’ve lived up to her expectations.”

Pride and surprise flickered across her face, before she mastered her emotions. “You know Winter?”

I nodded. “I also know the fourth member of your team. Ran into her on the way here.”

The blonde whipped her head around. “Where’s Ruby?”

“She should be on her way back to Beacon right now, and so should you three,” I said, before turning to my scroll. “Sir.”

“That was fast, Agent Steele.” The man greeted me with a serious frown.

“Hey wait a second, there!” The blonde stepped forward. “There’s no way you’d get here before Rubes!”

I flicked a glance her way. “I took out the disturbance with some help from the local Beacon students. It’s a paladin mech sir, you’re gonna want to get a team down here.”

“A Paladin?” His frown deepened.

I nodded. “I’ll—” I paused, glancing up at the mech. It still lay there, unmoving.

Conspicuously still.

“Agent Steele.”

“Man, these Atlas types, am I right?”

“Excuse me?” Weiss stomped her foot. “I’m an Atlas type!”

“Kinda proving my point, Weisscrea—”

I snapped off a shot. It hit the front of the Paladin with the sound of shattering glass. The tableau in front of me was wiped away to reveal a battered man in a white overcoat halfway through clambering out of the cockpit. At his side stood another woman with three-toned hair, black laced parasol held in front of her to block the bullet.

“Stranger!” I shouted. My swarm boiled out of my aura once again, even as I shot another round, high and to the right, catching yet another illusion.

The man glowered at me from beneath his bowler hat. “You really keep ruining my day, don’t you.” At his side, the young woman glared at me as well, eyes flicking between shades.

“Stop resisting and I won’t have to.”

“Yeah.” He snorted, holding up his cane like a gun. I threw myself to the side on instinct. “No.”

He pointed down and fired. The blast cleared my swarm, and they vanished in the smoke. I raced after them, my semblance whirling around me like storm. I felt the edge of something once again, darting into the industrial district.

I followed, only for a blow out of nowhere to catch me in the stomach. I rolled away from the follow up stab. The tip of the parasol bit deep into the concrete, and the girl stood upright.

“Over there!” Weiss shouted.

The woman flicked a glance at them, then me. I lifted my arms.

Two steps forward, then she rushed so quick I lost sight of her. I caught the body of the parasol on my prosthetic, then—

I went flying, head ringing. As I spun, I caught one last glimpse of her, leg raised in a high kick that must have snaked around my guard. She stuck her tongue out at me once more.

Then the blonde landed on top of her like a meteor, and she shattered into glass once again. This time, when I sent my swarm out, I caught nothing. They were too far away, or else had figured out my trick. With a grunt, I pushed myself to my feet.

“Dang, she rocked you, huh?” The blonde turned towards me. “You’re definitely not a specialist.”

I brushed off my uniform. “Thanks for the feedback.”

“No problem.” She grinned wide enough that I couldn’t tell if she was making fun of me or being serious. But then, I’d never had much luck reading blondes. “So…How do you know Ruby?”

I glanced around. There, in a heap, sat the Paladin. The other two girls had raced after us, but likewise seemed to think the danger had passed and were regarding me with mixed expressions. Weiss seemed cooly curious, but the third woman, with long black hair that almost seemed to blend into the dark, looked at me with no small amount of caution.

I flexed my prosthetic, rolling the wrist joint. “Ran into her while shopping around Vale this afternoon.”

The black-haired woman raised an eyebrow. “You don’t look like a shopper.”

I shrugged. “My sister wanted to see the sights.”

“Eyy, big sisters unite.” She held out a fist, still covered in a golden shotgun gauntlet. I stared. “C’mon, don’t leave me Yanging.”

Then an Atlesian hovercraft dropped out of the sky and saved my life.