Destiny No More

Chapter 55

The address that Torchwick had sent her wasn't quite what Pyrrha had expected, although she wasn't sure why she was surprised. The vast majority of her missions against the White Fang had taken place in the industrial district after the sun had gone down and it only made sense that the city's criminal element would be the same way. It was probably due to the low number of civilians in the area, residential and commercial districts would be busy at all times of the day while these would be left mostly abandoned.

Or maybe it was a result of the city's economic issues after the Mountain Glenn incident. She'd heard the population had dropped drastically after, so it was likely that some places had gone out of business.

Pyrrha knew that none of that truly mattered, but sitting in the dark watching what appeared to be an empty warehouse was boring work; no promise of a fight could change that. Winter stood beside her, maintaining the calm and disciplined demeanor she had become known for, even after three hours of nothing. Qrow had left to scout out the area after only thirty minutes, he sent the occasional text to assure them he hadn't been captured or spotted, but other than that he hadn't returned.

The Atlesian soldiers under Winter's command had set up in a few different locations, each with some kind of strategic value that Winter had meticulously chosen. Clover was in charge of watching the perimeter once they moved in, guaranteeing that nobody could escape without at least being identified and tracked. They had gone through the briefing before arriving, a frighteningly short brief due to the lack of solid information. Despite that, the Atlesian's seemed in their element.

Pyrrha had grown used to waiting for matches in her tournament days; but this was something else. Back then, the fights had been set to start at an exact time, with no uncertainty as to whether she was wasting her time. Even her outings with Team CFVY had been more active, though that was probably due to poor planning on their part. But this was the Atlesian Military, they were famous for putting planning and organization above more or less anything else, for better and for worse.

She'd spent the first hour and a half trying to get her new body armor to fit comfortably. When Winter and Qrow had given it to her they had said it was still technically in the prototype stage, but if what they said about it was true, she couldn't wait to buy the real deal. It was surprisingly light, and managed to form around her body fairly well. It even had a few prebuilt spots for her to clip things to, one of which currently held a radio keyed into an Atlesian frequency. Sadly, checking her gear had gotten boring by hour two.

She and Winter had set up on the rooftop of a nearby building, giving them clear sightlines; in the event something happened on the other side of the warehouse they would know. All they needed was a cup of coffee, and it would be exactly like a stakeout in a buddy cop film.

Pyrrha's discipline finally cracked, the silent anticipation having worn down her resolve enough for her nervousness to start showing through. In an attempt to calm herself, she jumped on the only thing she could think of.

"Weiss did well during initiation." Pyrrha hoped the quiet conversation wouldn't be rebuffed, partially because she needed the distraction but mostly because she didn't know if it was proper to talk during this type of thing. Beacon didn't offer such lessons, at least not to first years.

"Hmm," Winter hummed softly. "I had the Headmaster send me the recordings. She composed herself well at the end, the rest however..." She didn't finish her statement. Pyrrha smiled softly at the idea of Weiss finding out. Her mortification at knowing Winter had seen her argue so much with her partner was amusing. Winter meant the world to her younger sister.

"She'll get better." Pyrrha assured her. "It'll take her some time to get used to being away from Atlas, but she will love her team... or, well, she loved team RWBY anyways." It was a sore reminder of how things had changed, and it was difficult to say if Weiss would have the same change of heart now without Yang and Blake there to force her to grow.