Team SRDS (Stardust)

Chapter 17: This is just the beginning...

Emerald Forest, Near Beacon Academy

Blake stood up, holding a scorched blue shirt in her hand. She winced a little bit. It had ugly, crimson bloodstains near the holes. Almost as if the cloth itself was crying, especially the claw marks on the sleeves. Those were gruesomely dark. Someone, or something, had cut deep and burned deep. She looked down at the ground in front of her, from where she had picked up the miserably tattered cloth. More blood. Someone had been brutally interrogated here. She looked around the makeshift shack she was in. She and Ruby had found it a while ago while looking for clues in the forest.

The installation was crudely and clumsily set up. There were signs of incomplete construction everywhere. There were little to no amenities, just a pit in the ground in which rainwater was gathered. It was overflowing now as the rain bore down hard on them. The mixture of water and the red earth made it look like the crater was filled with the blood from the owner of the item she held loosely in her right hand.

She walked out, covering her face with her free palm briefly to give herself time to get accustomed to the rain and wind slamming into her, soaking her already dripping clothes, which were earlier satisfied with a little respite in the shredded shelter.

She removed her palm to see her team leader pointing Crescent Rose towards the edge of the clearing in its rifle form. As Blake called out, Ruby jogged up to her, though it was a short distance, which was why she hadn't used her Semblance. She wore a look of discomfort on her face, akin to Blake's. She had her hood on, so Blake could only discern her expression when she came close. The small smile on her face grew a little wider as she acknowledged her fellow teammate. It had never left, despite the unkind weather, since Ozpin had essentially given the team their first mission. Blake would have smiled a bit in return if not for the implications of what she found.

"Did you find anything?" Ruby asked, her eyes brimming with curiosity.

Blake held up the tattered cloth for Ruby to see. Her face fell markedly upon seeing its grim state. "Oh," she replied.

"The least we can say is either he's injured or dead," Blake responded, conforming to the mission at hand. No need to worry about the state of the informant. Ruby nodded slowly.

"Right," she responded warily.

"But there's nothing else in there. No tools. Just enough to say that whoever was here left recently."

Ruby adopted a thoughtful look.

"Maybe the Grimm spooked them?"

"They would've panicked and left something behind in that case. Either way, there's no point in trying to search the forest for them. It could take weeks, all for nothing."

"Right," Ruby replied, "Maybe Yang and Weiss had better luck."

"Or worse. This doesn't look good."

"It doesn't," agreed Ruby, "but I have faith in them. We'll find something or the other."

Blake didn't know how to respond to that, so she held her counsel. They both stood in the rain for some time.

"We should get back to the rendezvous point. There's nothing to be salvaged here," Blake suggested. Ruby thought about it. They would be closer to Yang and Weiss from there than from here. Also, it would make things quicker in case the two were already on their way. For some reason, the radio communications here weren't very good, so they had decided to set one point to return to after they split up to cover more ground.

Ruby nodded to Blake and a smooth, deep voice spoke up, "Please don't."

Ruby and Blake turned around to see a figure holding a slate blue and red camoed marksman rifle, which had a sling. Its muzzle was pointed toward the ground.