#karma gylden

[sageywritings]

Flashback

Target: Beacon Academy

Operatives: Sienna Umberon, Dustin Millaray, Karma Gylden

ETA: 5 minutes

Merry Christmas, dryads and degenerates! Have a day late present from ya boi Sagey! Chapter 9 of my RWBY oc fic Flames of Change! As always check the pinned post on this blog for the chapter list. Thanks for reading and hope ya enjoy!

Solomon Roxos belongs to me.

Sienna Umberon belongs to @gruntnuker-rwby

Tango Squadron (Dusty, Karma, T) belong to @wetsliceofbread

"Captain, everyone’s in position. Awaiting your word."

It was the second time the voice coming from the headset buzzed into Sienna’s ears. The first time was unsuccessful in snapping her back into reality. Her eyes were firmly honed in on the Vale CCT tower sitting motionless in the dead of night. Vale authorities had sent a team in order to establish a safe zone, basically whatever huntsmen that hadn’t abandoned Beacon Academy as a lost cause they could scrape together, along with a limited amount of soldiers provided by Atlas. With the Vale relay tower out of commission, even communication within the same kingdom was spotty at best, and anyone outside the major hubs were completely in the dark. That’s why officials viewed this mission as imperative. After a long and grueling fight against the grimm that still seemingly had no end, they were actually able to procure enough ground to begin making progress in restoring global communications. But, the safe zone’s existence was extremely fragile. The smallest push could erase months of forward advancement.

And that’s why Sienna was here. The White Fang had received intel of this progress, so High Leader Taurus sent her and a team of their own to undo all of it. No one better to lead a strike team into Beacon Academy - or more accurately, its ruins - than a former student. And no one better to spark a little mayhem than Sienna Umberon.

But as she sat perched on a tree branch, mentally tracking the route of every patrolling guard on every level of the tower that she had vision of for the twentieth time, her mind began to wander. Back to the times when she called these walls home. To her first days when she was giddy with excitement telling Jade to tuck and roll before being launched careening through the sky and into the Emerald Forest. The time Sienna started an all-out pillow fight war between Team JASR and their next door neighbors Team DASH that ended up spreading to the entire dorm thanks to her brother spreading the word about it. The time her and Amber devised a plan to sneak away with all the cookie dough when the team decided to bake cookies. All the nights she spent talking with Riley until 5 AM whether they had class the next morning or not. When she met that redhead in that same forest and they grabbed that chess piece together, Sienna had no idea this was going to be someone she poured her aspirations, her passions, her fears to. It was a level of vulnerable she didn’t think she would ever allow for herself, and for every step Riley did the same and let her barriers down in kind.

Then she also remembered the last time she saw them, the last day any student attending Beacon knew normal. She was split up from her teammates after the catastrophe at Amity Colosseum. The voice that spoke through the arena loudspeakers and through every broadcast of the tournament echoed in Sienna’s mind over and over and over again. It was at that moment she knew what needed to be done. She could see Jade, Amber, and Riley from afar, from a rooftop looking down to the street as they had just finished defending a group of civilians from a pack of grimm. Or at least, she made out their vague, blob-like shapes through the tears filling her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to say goodbye. Goodbyes were too hard.

“Hey. You good?” This time it didn’t come from Sienna’s earpiece but instead from directly below her, albeit barely. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her grimm mask and gave it one long survey, running her thumb over it before putting it on. Now focused on the tower once more, through the slits in her mask she saw not her old home but instead only her objective. She dropped to the ground and finally acknowledged the voice that called to her, even though she had to look up to the stratosphere to do so. The liger-tailed faunus leaning casually on the tree before her stood at a whopping 7’1, leaving Sienna face to chest with him. His black hair was done in a half up half down ponytail, and his skin had a reddish tone to it. His name was Dusty Millaray, and while usually he was the leader of a three-man force known as Tango Squadron, tonight he relaxedly turned the reigns over to Sienna.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Sienna answered. Gotta focus. “Where’s Karma?” As soon as she was mentioned, a cheetah faunus raced to stand in between them, her speed semblance giving her a blink and you miss it arrival. Her athletic build stood a few inches taller than Sienna, but still a foot shorter than the imposing Dusty. Tail swaying slightly, she moved to make sure the bun that kept her dyed blonde hair in place was still in good shape. Her light tan skin was freckled all over, growing more spot like the closer they got to her tail. Karma Gylden knew how to make an entrance.

“Sorry! I was just scouting the other side of the building. More of the same,” she said, hardly out of breath from her run. Dusty smirked and took the opportunity to check out his partner in crime in more ways than one. Sienna shot them both a look. C'mon guys, not now. Stay focused.

“They look a bunch of losers that got stuck with the graveyard shift and don’t wanna be here.” Sienna pressed two fingers to her earpiece as the voice from the radio came in again. The third and final member of the squad, the fennec faunus only known as “T”, was not on site with their fellow Fang teammates. Instead they were far away currently tapping into whatever surveillance system the tower had left to offer.

“Then tell me what these losers are armed with,” Sienna asked.

“Basic model 42s. Not even the new 44s. Guess Atlas cheaped out on them.” Sienna smirked to herself. She was hoping for at least a little challenge, but she would take way too easy all the same. “I have no visual of the top floor though. The nest has no internal feed. Appears to be off the grid.”

“That's where I need to get to. All the fun shit to break is up there. Are they working on it right now?”

“I think I saw a couple of engineers enter the building from the other side,” Karma answered.

“They’ve been working on this 24/7,” Dusty said while finally getting off of the tree. He cracked each of his knuckles with a sly grin growing across his face. “Lucky them.”

“You know the rule. No deaths. Got it?” Sienna said. Dusty raised his hands in innocence. He might’ve been the leader normally, but he knew better than to challenge Sienna. He had heard the stories. He secretly thanked his lucky stars he wasn’t under her command normally. 

“I don’t get why,” T chimed in. “Those wastes of oxygen wouldn’t even think twice about killing one of us. Yet we’re the animals.” 

“Maybe you didn’t get the memo, T. But tonight, I’m in charge. Which means you operate by my rules. We’re gonna prove just how we’re better than them by not being them. Otherwise you can drag your ass out your little VPN powered bunker and fight with us. So no deaths. Got it?!” The fiery symbol of chaos had to fight back the urge to take the radio and char it beyond recognition, only appeased by T giving it a quiet but firm “Sorry Captain.” Sienna gave them all an approving nod before facing the tower once more. One last check of each guard’s path, memorizing ever detail she could. “You guys are gonna be my way in. Now raise some hell. Break everything you can, steal what you think is useful.”

“Let’s go babe,” Dusty said to the cheetah faunus. Using the trees and the darkness of night for cover, they began to circle their way to the front entrance of the tower. There, they could spot two sets of guards, one flanking each side of the front door, while the others were slowly circling the perimeter. As Dusty crouched down to somehow hide in the bushes, he could hear the two guards’ conversation as they listlessly sauntered toward him.

“Like you gotta be fucking kidding me, right? You know who doesn’t have to patrol in the middle of the night?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

“Watkins. Watkins is probably back in his bunk fucking sleeping right now with his stupid fucking head laid on a pillow while I’m out here stuck with-”. The soldier’s complaining was cut off by the realization that has partner had stopped a couple steps back. He was frozen, rigid, like he couldn’t shake the feeling something was watching them. Looming over them. Like something was casting a massive shadow over them despite there being no sunlight. Then, a deep unfamiliar voice came from the void to confirm his suspicions.

“That’s rough, buddy. Someone need a nap?” The two guards spun around to see a wall dressed in a White Fang uniform. They both barely had time to let out a panicked “what the fuck” and scramble for their weapons before Dusty grabbed both their heads and cracked them together. Both of them instantly dropped to the floor, unmoving. The two guards posted at the door screamed out at the Fang operative and pointed their weapons at him. But in a golden flash, Karma blurred past them, throwing off their aim. She began racing past them back and forth, each time delivering a blow at highway speed, all while the other had nothing to even aim at. Once the first one finally doubled over and fell, she kicked the gun out of the second’s one hands and jammed the butt of it directly into his nose. Dusty rejoined her, offhandedly stepping over one of the incapacitated Atlesian soldiers while making his way to the door. He took one look at the security keypad to the left of the door before inputting his own code five knuckles at once. The now cracked screen emitted a distressed whirring sound before the doors parted ways. He gestured for Karma to take the lead.

As Sienna caught eye of the guards on the second floor turn away from their lookout post as word of an unknown commotion reached them, she pounced on the moment she had been itching for. She made a beeline for the tower. Grabbing the grappling hook on her hip, she shot it upward so it hooked the upper floor railing. The soldiers in that corridor suddenly hushed at hearing the distinct clank of the hook meeting the metal railing. Right as one of them leaned over to aim at whatever was below, Sienna pulled herself up and delivered two boots to his face. His partner unholstered his pistol and fired several panicked and erratic shots at her, none come close to hitting. She took advantage of his frenzy by charging him with claws out and slashing at his chest three times. Out the corner of her eye, she noticed the first soldier staggering back to his feet. So, she grabbed the second soldier arm and violently whipped him into the first one, knocking him back on all fours. A swift punt to the head ensured that both were out cold. Hands on her hips, she surveyed the damage she caused with a prideful smirk.

“Beacon didn’t have to teach me that one. That’s all Vacuo,” Sienna said to herself. The smirk immediately faded. The last thing she needed to do right now was bring up home. Reaching down to one of the guard’s bodies, she swiped a keycard from his pocket. Once she pressed it to the door, it uttered an affirmative beep before opening up and granting her access inside.

“Now where are those elevators?” she thought to herself. She began sprinting down the maze of hallways in hope for her ticket to the top floor. After a few more turns, one backtrack from a dead end that led to a supply closet, and another guard that received a fiery claw mark across his faces for his troubles, Sienna slowed to a stop at a corner upon hearing voices. She pinpointed two more guards standing in front of the elevators, one nodding while receiving a transmission. They both turned around and queued the elevator, so the moment it opened, Sienna rushed toward it. She ended up catching the doors with her foot at the last second. She stepped in between the guards with a confident smirk, unphased by the commands they were shouting or the weapons they were pointing at her as the doors shut. By the time they opened again, only Sienna sauntered out, as the others were reduced to heaps on the floor.

The way to the main control room was very brief by this point. Each side of the hallway was scattered with machines both new and old. Sienna couldn’t tell which ones were useful, so she dragged her flaming claws through all of them, nonchalantly leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. A storm of sparks and smoke followed her as her tail whipped with evil satisfaction. Once she was faced with the door to the control room, she pressed her keycard once more, but this time she was met with a red light and an “ACCESS DENIED”. She growled before just grabbing the lock with a flaming paw. Her grip remained tight out of rage and annoyance, even though the uncontrollable flames were doing damage to her hand, until the lock melted away.

“Shitty lock you got there,” she muttered to herself while shaking her hand and slowly creeping inside. In front of her were several screens that were lit but nothing on them, the center one much bigger than the others. Terminals, both functioning and broken, lined the walls. A lone chair faced the center screen, one that Sienna dismissed as empty at first until she noticed a pair of feet on the floor. It was all she could see from the figure in the chair. She readied her claws and stalked her way forward. Hard to finish repairs with your engineer nerds out of commission. However, just when she got into striking distance, all of the screens went dark. She froze and backed off slightly in confusion. Then, the large center monitor came to life again, displaying something she couldn’t believe. It was displaying… her. 

The video panned out first to show Beacon Academy coated in a blanket of freshly fallen snow. Sienna remembered this; it lived on in stories and legend as the Great Beacon Snow Day. It was the first time she had ever seen snow, which was apparent when she watched herself on the screen pounce head first into a snow pile. The camera turned to catch her team leader Jade laughing at her antics before lightly trying to dig her out. Then the focus was on Dash, a lot healthier than last she saw him in his cell, bundled up in a jacket with arms crossed. The film was just in time catching him getting pelted with a pair of snowballs. He yelled out and started to pack up some snow in his hands to retaliate at the two cackling culprits, Auburn and Sapphire. The camera then spun around once more to reveal DASH’s last teammate, Solomon, was the one filming. He was currently laid under a tree, with Amber curled up comfortably by his side.

Sienna looked on in silence as her younger self exploded out of the snow bank, blowing past Jade in the process. She was in as much of a full sprint as the terrain would let her, which looked about as graceful as one would expect from Sienna’s first time handling ice, toward a certain redhead in a hockey sweater. Riley was on a frozen lake practicing her maneuvering on skates until Sienna took her down into the whiteout once more. The screen cut to black. The jarring contrast was lost on Sienna. In her mind, the video was still playing on loop. Tears began escaping from under her mask. No. Not now. I can’t think of this now…

The lights in the room flipped on, causing Sienna to first cover her eyes before quickly wiping her cheeks before the figure could see. She knew exactly who it was, even before they tossed a familiar purple pair of Technomancer brand  headphones on the table beside them. She still refused to accept it. But she wasn’t given much choice when the chair spun around, leaving her facing with the one who filmed the video, Solomon Roxos. His black hair was just as messy as it was when last she saw him at Beacon. His signature hoodie, however, had been traded away for some uniform looking polo shirt. He silently rose from his seat. The glare from his glasses gave way to piercing blue eyes. Sienna was desperately searching for signs of his usual timidity in his body language, but could find none.

“So,” Sienna said to finally break the silence. “Looks like you got an upgrade. Guess Beacon had plans for you after all.” She awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. It took effort to maintain eye contact. It took even more effort to not burn a handprint on her neck or singe her hair. Why did you have to show up now?!

“Beacon had plans for all of us. You just ignored yours,” Solomon said back, the soft-spoken shyness that charmed Amber seeming like a distant memory. Sienna’s ears flattened.

“Yeah sure, if you believe that. Nobody’s had plans for me from the day I was born,” she said at about half normal volume. If Solomon heard, he didn’t show any kind of impression he did.

“Regardless, if you’re here to kill me, you might want to be quick about it. Otherwise, you got about-”. He pulled his attention down to his coveted supercharged scroll that was fastened to his left forearm as it always was. With a couple presses and swipes, the monitors behind him illuminated again, this time with camera footage from the downstairs lobby. They could see Dusty tormenting a poor scientist by slamming his head so hard into his desk, he fell backwards out of his office chair out cold. The monitor directly next to it came on next with footage of three huntsmen running towards the tower. Each of them were a faunus; one girl with black and purple cat ears and tail, one girl with cow horns on her head, and one guy with owl feathers mixed into his hair. They looked like students, same as Solomon and Sienna both were, but they were all armed and ready to fight. “Let’s say five minutes before backup arrives. And I want an explanation.”

“You’re so confident that those scabs are gonna get past us? Arrogance is just not you, Sol,” she said in a condemning growl before raising a finger to her earpiece. “D, K, heads up you’re about to have company!”

“What?! Where from?” Karma answered.

“Huntsmen! Three hostiles coming via the north entrance!” T answered for her. As they started to give information on what they’re dealing with, Solomon once again began to work on his tablet.

“That’s enough out of you.” The voices of Sienna’s comrades were suddenly drowned out with a static that was twice as loud in Sienna’s ears than it actually was thanks to her growing rage. She really wished she didn’t know Solomon. Then his introverted self wouldn’t bother trying to talk to her. “Now start talking, Captain Umberon.” Her fists were clenched and the tip of her tail was sparking. All it would take is one punch to shut him up so she could finish her mission. So she could leave this school and not have to worry about it. So she could push it to a back corner of her mind to remain untouched. But, even though it’s something she’s had to do her whole life, she couldn’t swing. She sighed. Why couldn’t these memories just stay away?

“The night Beacon fell. Do… do you remember what that voice that came across the Vytal Festival broadcast said?” Solomon paused for a moment, trying to decipher what “voice” she was referring to before an image of every screen barring the one on his arm lighting up red with a black chess piece.

“The hacker?” he asked softly. “Not really. I didn’t really pay attention. It sounded like some vague firestarting revolution rhetoric.

“Yeah of course you’d think that,” she again mumbled. Solomon was tired of this act from Sienna already. “I thought you of all people would at least be listening. You were always better at that crap in school than me.”

“You really don’t agree with the hacker, d-”

“And what if I fucking did, huh?!” Sienna interrupted as she began to show her teeth again. She was tightly gripping a wrench she took from atop the computer next to her. “Our leaders cling to their status quo just so they can hang onto their precious positions of power with both hands! But this status quo is one that punishes me for something beyond my control. It’s cursed me and many others like me to have to live at the bottom rung of the ladder just because I was born with these stupid fucking things!” She swatted at her fox ears, a slight clang sound coming from one of her piercings. “They say they do this in the name of peace. But is this what peace looks like for me? For the faunus? All the discrimination, the poverty, the shit conditions. Because if this is what “peace” looks like in their system, then their system needs to be fucking broken!”

“You’re right. There’s a lot of injustice in the world, especially towards you. I don’t disagree. But you were already doing the right thing in trying to fix it. Being a huntress is the correct steps in being the change you want to see in the world.”

“You just don’t get it.” Sienna was already adamantly shaking her head before he had even finished. “You never will get it. You’ll never know what it’s like to be in my shoes. You’ll never know it’s like to turn to the White Fang at twelve years old because it’s the only way you can think of to support your brother. They’ve backed me when the rest of the world kicked me while I was down!”

“And what about Alex, hm? Does he approve of this? Since you sound so confident,” Solomon said, perking up at the mention of her brother. Sienna’s knuckles wrapped tight around the wrench before she used it to smash the computer monitor next to her. Finally something she could take out her frustration on. She began going down the row, one after the other, breaking everything in the way. Solomon went on. “And what about your teammates? Your friends? You think they don’t back you? Do you know how much they’d go to hell and back for you?” This got Sienna to stop in her tracks. Her masked gaze was fixated on her boots.

“They’re probably over me by now. Doubt they’d even look back to see me again. I know I didn’t look back for them…” she said.

“So that’s it. Leave your friends behind for a terrorist organization targeting innocent tolerant humans. What about Sapphire? Or me?”

“Tolerant?” Sienna scoffed loudly before it morphed into a full on laugh. “That’s what you call yourself? How many times did you just sit and watch your little tablet while your team leader berated me almost on the daily! You had every chance in the world to ‘do what was right’. And guess what. You didn’t.” Now it was Solomon’s turn to glance downward at the floor. He rubbed his arm. Finally, there’s the Sol I know. “How is someone like me supposed to start a family and raise a child and have them face the world in this kind of state?”

“And what about Riley?” he said.

“Do. NOT. Mention her name.” Sienna didn’t need to hear any more from the tech expert. It was already wracking enough that Sienna had to see her face, her smile, her gorgeous maroon hair, happy from time that they spent together. Squinting at her, Solomon saw exactly what he wanted to see from her. Reluctance. Regret.

“You think she’d start a family with you now?” He went to the wound again. It resulted in an extremely hot wrench being tomahawked at his face. He had to full on duck to dodge it before it crashed into a keyboard behind him.

“SHUT UP!” Sienna had heard enough. She ripped off the mask and glared at Solomon with eyes incensed with fury. Her claws came out and she rushed Beacon’s former resident hacker. Solomon was able to sidestep the first blow, but another one came just as quickly. He was barely able to block this one with his scroll, the claws scraping and sparking off of its bulletproof casing. Solomon was never comfortable in close hand to hand combat. He needed time and space in order to get a grasp of his surroundings. Auburn had worked hard training him to get better, but it was never to a level of excellence, merely competence. So Sienna’s signature blitzing style denying him time to even think was his kryptonite. He took a hard punch to the solar plexus that briefly winded him, before Sienna followed up with a big slash to his face. Knocking him to the floor, the shot sent his glasses flying off his face into shattered pieces.

“I said not to mention her,” Sienna sternly said, standing over him with a boot firmly planted onto his chest. He struggled as hard as he could to get her off, but it was like stone. Sienna could spot he was leaking blood from a cut under his left eye. “Not a day goes by when I don’t regret leaving her. But, I need to take my fate into my own hands for the first time in my life. And I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that isn’t taken away from me too.” Suddenly, the earpiece began stirring to life again, as words began to make their way through the flood of static. It was only a few sparse words, then a few more filled in the blanks, until finally a whole warning.

“Boss! We lost sight of one of them! You might have one coming up to you!” Dusty’s voice came in, ragged from the fight he had been in the whole time. No sooner than when Sienna’s ears flicked with the news did she hear rapidly approaching footsteps to the door. Just as her hold on Solomon loosened, a transforming sound brought her attention to underneath her. Solomon’s tablet had turned into a machine gun, aimed right at the Fang leader. She was able to dodge from the single gunshot fired.

“Fall back! We got what we came here for!” she said to the radio, just hoping her transmission would make it out as she dashed to a window.

“Run away. Just like you did before,” Solomon said shakily as he weakly rolled over to watch her make her exit. Right as the doors were pried open, and that same cat faunus Sienna saw from the security footage came in to Solomon’s aid, Sienna made her exit. She grabbed her mask and busted through the window before using the grappling hook to swing her way safely down to the trees below. The cat faunus never caught a sight of her. With the canopy of trees as more than sufficient cover, she was able to put considerable distance between herself and the campus before eventually reuniting with Dusty and Karma about half a mile away.

“Woooo! Love me a good fight! That bird knew how to throw down!” Dusty said with a laugh. Arms waving like he was just getting warmed up, he sounded more like he just had a fun experience on vacation more than having to fight his way out of a White Fang mission.

“Yeah, and T is gonna love all these toys I found for him!” Karma replied just as gleefully, motioning to a bag slung over her shoulder. She seemed completely unbothered by the run she took to get here. Unlike Sienna, who was doubled over heaving in an attempt to catch her breath. “What about you, Sienna?” the cheetah asked. She didn’t reply at first, only beginning to lead the team back to their transport out of here. “Sienna?” she asked again.

“Mission was a success. We wrecked shop. They aren’t fixing that anytime soon. Good job, guys.” The pair both smirked, with Karma resting her head on Dusty’s shoulder as he pulled her close. “You too, T.”

“Thanks for the souvenirs, K. Can’t wait to see what the kingdoms keep locked away in their basements,” T said over the radio. The celebrations were hardly over though before Sienna started leading the walk to their transport back to base a couple miles away. The other two White Fang soldiers mentally noted she remained mostly quiet. Her eyes were cast downward. Her tone before notably lacked any distinct excitement; it was very straightforward. Any attempt of making small talk only solicited one word answers if it didn’t fall on deaf ears entirely. In fact, she only opened her mouth unprompted once, a question directed at Karma.

“Karma. The prisoner. She’s been doing ok?”

“The girl? Yeah she’s fine. Keeps complaining she wants to go home but we’ve been taking care of her, just like you ordered. I make sure she’s fed and still has her sketch books. She’s even opened up to me a little, way more than Dusty or T.” Dusty shrugged like he couldn’t have cared less; his mission was keep her alive and that’s all there was to it. Sienna nodded softly, arms stuffed in her pockets all the way to their rendezvous point. It was going to be a long, long trip back to base.