InsaneJournal

Who: Blake, Ilia, Logan, Natasha, Ruby
What: Rescue mission
When: Second weekend of June
Where: Undisclosed location near Pevek, Russia
Warnings: Violence, brainwashing
Status: Log | Complete

The Blackbird was silent as they approached the drop point. With the kind of defenses waiting for them, Natasha had suggested a high altitude, low opening jump and there was only so much time one could go over a plan before engaging it.

Jump. Infiltrate. Locate Ilia and Jing-Wei and destroy the facility. Then they could figure out how to help them later.

“Remember,” Natasha said. “She may not recognize you. She and Jing-wei may be hostile. These people excel in breaking minds. We can reverse it, but only if we get them out of there alive.”

Logan approached the hatch and opened it. “People are going to die. An’ we’re gonna be doing the killing. Last chance to back out.”

There was no way that Ruby would have been able to sit back and do nothing more once she knew what was going on. It simply wasn’t who she was. The fact that there were people who used and hurt people in the way that they were Ilia and Jing-Wei and others…. It made her heart hurt. But it also was something she could focus on, the headaches seemingly gone with her singular focus at the moment instead of everything that was going on when she didn’t have this or school to focus on.

A simple enough plan in terms of steps but not in terms of difficulty. That wasn’t simple at all. But infiltrate, locate, destroy…..that was easy to hold onto and she had plenty of fire dust cartridges with her for just that purpose. Plus some bracelets she’d made to help combat the cold.

So there was silence and while usually she found silence like this to be awkward which led to nervous chatter, today there was none of that. While she could have used the time to be going over her notes for her upcoming finals and presentation, she wasn’t. Because she knew what Logan said to be true. There would be deaths and there was a difference between fighting Grimm and Orcs as opposed to people. Because how did they know if the people they were fighting would have gone through the same things as Ilia and Jing-Wei, if it was their fault…

That part was hard to swallow but she also knew she wasn’t going to be backing out of this. So instead she just looked to Blake to see how she was holding up before they would need to jump.

The parallels to her dreams did not go unnoticed. Ilia being taken by people who wanted to use her as a weapon sounded a hell of a lot like what Adam did with the White Fang. Blake had dreamt further of what was happening in Menagerie, and she’d crossed paths with Ilia again. Ilia had tried to warn her to leave, but Blake refused. And then she’d resolved herself to saving her friends for once.

So once she’d learned of what had actually happened to Ilia, Blake was not taking no for an answer in going along for the rescue mission. She didn’t care if she’d end up dead by radiation poisoning later if it meant saving her friend. She did hate dragging Ruby into this when she should be focusing on studying for finals and everything, but she was also very glad for her help, to have another person in this that she trusted.

As it was, Blake’s face didn’t give away much of what was going through her head. She was a little fearful of what they would find, but she wasn’t letting that get in the way of her goal of saving her friend. There was a stony look of determination on her face. She wore her bow to hide her cat ears. She didn’t want to let these people know that she wasn’t human, even though her shadow semblance would plainly give that away.

She glanced at Ruby, then at Logan as he opened the hatch. “I’m not backing out. I want to save my friend for once in my life.” She needed to prove to herself that she could do this without things going sideways. She needed to know this without her own fears and traumas getting in the way.

At least they hadn’t dragged too many more people into this. It didn’t matter how good they were, four or five was the maximum that Nat would take on a mission like this, assuming she hadn’t just gone alone.

But she wasn’t stupid enough or arrogant enough to do this mission alone. She strapped on a parachute as everyone prepared, and then moved to the hatch. “Once we’re on the ground, we’ll regroup in the southwest. Winds aren’t too bad but we’ll probably end up scattered anyway.”

She fixed a look at the girls, then glanced at Logan, “Feels like we can’t escape child soldiers in any universe.”

Logan shrugged, then jumped out of the plane.

With Crescent Rose firmly attached to her hip, Ruby shot Blake a small smile of reassurance that they’d get Ilia back before she jumped out of the plane. Unlike the Dreams when she first arrived at Beacon - or her perchance of falling out of trees, Ruby’s landing strategy had improved and so landing wasn’t a concern.

Nor had she really been prepared for the cold. She’d been told the location, had looked up the location and decided to make the bracelets on a whim for the group plus those that were rescued but now she was definitely glad she had made them.

But right. Now that she was on the ground, it was heading in the direction Natasha had said they were to meet.

Blake noted the rendezvous point once they were on the ground. She had done her best to dress both warmly but not bulky. After all, her fighting style relied on speed. Bulky gear to protect her from the cold would’ve been detrimental to her fighting style. So she was definitely glad for the bracelets Ruby had made. With her parachute strapped on and Gambol Shroud strapped to her, she was ready to get on with the mission.

She looked back at Ruby, returning the little smile, then she followed her out of the plane. And it was cold, and felt quite reminiscent to being launched off the cliff at Beacon. So long as no one made cat jokes, she’d be fine. Because of course she landed gracefully on her feet, then made for the rendezvous point, putting Gambol Shroud on her back where she was used to drawing it from.

The bracelets had mean Nat didn’t need to wear fashionable fur coats. Her regular leathers were preferable anyway, for much the same reason as Blake.

She deployed her chute at the last possible moment, cutting herself free before she landed and rolling as she hit the ground. No one had noticed, and by the time she reached the meeting point she was certain that they were thus far undetected. “Sound off.”

“I’m here.” Logan stepped out of the trees, looking like he’d landed on his head.

Ruby herself had managed to land just fine even if she wasn’t near anyone at first, nor was she focused on that. She was just focused on getting to the rendezvous point so that they could get in and get Ilia and Jing-Wei.

“I’m here.”

She made it easily to the rendezvous part, taking care to keep out of sight as much as possible. Sometimes it was definitely a good thing to be a cat faunus and be light on her feet. Still, she kept hidden until Natasha arrived and the others sounded off.

“I’m here,” she responded, coming out of her hiding spot and keeping low to the ground.

“Blake, you’re with me,” Natasha ordered. “You two take the East entrance. If we have chance of finding Jing-Wei, she’ll be there. We might even luck out and find Deryn here.”

Logan wasn’t going to count on that. If this was him, he’d take Deryn elsewhere. Possibly Jing-Wei too. “Okay kid, don’t worry about hitting me. I’ll heal up. I mean, don’t try to hit me, but don’t worry if you do.”

Ruby had no idea what to expect, this was so different from every other sort of ‘mission’ she had ever been on so she while she was used to coming up with plans and executing them? Yeah. She was fine letting Natasha handle that since she knew what they were up against. She wasn’t so thrilled about being separated from Blake but she also could see the logic behind the move of each of them going with someone more familiar with this type of situation.

“Got it.” Luckily she was a good shot so it shouldn’t be a problem but if it got chaotic, it was good to know that any accidental hitting of him wouldn’t take him out of commission. In some ways it reminded her about training with Qrow. At least some of the gruffness, not the being fine if hit thing. But that was what aura was for.

Blake had done some infiltration before in the dreams, mostly when she and Sun had infiltrated the one meeting of the White Fang to figure out why they were at Beacon. But this wasn’t exactly the type of infiltration she’d done before, but she nodded at Natasha, ready to follow her lead. She just hoped that they weren’t too late to help Ilia.

She glanced at Ruby, also not completely liking being separated from her, but she wasn’t going to fight it. “I’ll see you on the other side,” she said to Ruby. Because they were going to come out of this, she was determined on that. And she was even more determined to save Ilia and get her away from these people.

Chances were they’d all link up anyway during the course of this, but for now it would be easier to manage in pairs. Nat flicked the safety off of her pistol and led Blake through the south entrance.

Logan started for the other entrance, head tilted as he listened. Either they hadn’t been detected, or they were all walking into a trap. “Sounds like the hallway opens up into some kinda larger room. That’ll be good for you.”

“If this is anything like the place I came from,” Natasha whispered, as they passed a room with blood splatters on the wall. “We’ll find Ilia and any other girls in her position down here.”

Of course, if they had to extract more than two or three she’d have to call in Plan B. And Nat didn’t really want to call in Plan B. Revealing certain cards up her sleeve to the Red Room wasn’t high on things she wanted to do.

Ruby gave a small nod to Blake at her comment. There was no doubt in her mind that they would make this out alive, all of them. Plus she had faith in Blake that she would be okay so she turned her attention to the direction she and Logan were told to go into.

As for if they hadn’t been detected or a trap? It was probably a trap.

“Okay.” It was true though, a larger room would be good for Ruby given where her strengths were in regards to fighting. Yes, she’d been practicing her hand to hand combat skills but she was still better when she had room because of Crescent Rose.

Blake followed after Natasha, moving quickly and quietly. She didn’t like the feeling she had after entering the compound. It had the feel of a trap to it. Her weapon was still on her back, and she wouldn’t draw it until it was necessary to do so.

“Got it,” Blake whispered back. There were questions on her mind, but this was definitely not the time to talk if they could help it. While the element of surprise probably wasn’t on their side here, it would be better to not get attacked while they were talking. Blake kept her senses attuned, trying to keep an ear out for any sounds of life.

Or sounds of a potential ambush that was waiting for them. Or traps. Blake suddenly wondered if this place had any built-in traps. Or maybe the building itself was one large trap.

It probably was a trap, but Logan had gone up against worse odds. He listened carefully, realizing that wherever the other two had entered he couldn't sense it. "Watch your back, kid. There's somethin' about this place that's dulling my senses. The walls are absorbing sounds."

The air shifted around them as two women dropped from the ceiling and attacked.

Meanwhile, Nat followed a path that felt like she'd always known. Quietly, she explained, "Girls. It was always girls. They'd train us, indoctrinate us. KGB, FSB, same thing, different letters. No one expects the women, and yet we're called the the deadliest of the species. Now.."

Nat trailed her fingers along the wall, her grip tightening on one of her pistols. At the end of a corridor was a room. "If we're very lucky, she'll be down here."

And if they were very lucky, she'd recognize Blake.

Ruby nodded at Logan’s warning. That wasn’t reassuring. However she had known this would be difficult. She just felt out of sorts because she wasn’t completely familiar with Logan’s fighting style yet so coming up with plans on the fly wasn’t a thing. Not yet. By the end of the mission though she probably would.

For now though she had been about to keep moving forward when suddenly they were attacked from behind. And it was close combat. Because of course it was. At least she’d been getting better at hand to hand combat even if it still wasn’t a strong point for her. Thank goodness for Aura as she fought back.

Blake listened quietly, inwardly horrified by what these people did to others. It wasn’t entirely unlike what Adam turned the White Fang into, she could see the similarities. However, this scenario definitely was worse, and not just because they had her friend here, trying to turn her into one of their weapons. Indoctrinating young girls was a horrifying thought, but she didn’t let it distract her from their goal.

“I’m ready,” she murmured quietly. Blake wasn’t completely ready if she had to fight Ilia, but she most definitely would if she had to. Though she wouldn’t hurt her, at least not seriously, if she could help it. She would fight to defend herself and try to get through to Ilia if needed. And if that failed, then it would be trying to knock her out. Which was easier said than done, of course, at least based off of the abilities Blake knew Ilia had in the dreams.

That combined with whatever these people had done to her would be a dangerous combination.

Logan darted back, claws unsheathing with their distinctive sound. Both men were armed with swords that hummed as though they buzzed at high vibrations. Well, this was going to be fun. "Well darlin', ideas?"

Nodding, Natasha approached the door, checking for traps and if there was a lock. It was a simple doorknob, and she frowned. "I want to say this is a trap, and it probably is. Be ready for anything."

And then she opened the door.

Okay. He had claws in his hands. That could be useful. Ruby still needed to see his typical fighting style but she had a feeling she was going to find out soon enough. Even so, she did a quick calculation in her head about the size of the guys they were about to fight, as well as their weapons.

“Actually, I think I do.”

As for Ilia? She’d been strapped to the table, injected with...something… that made her more pliant to the brainwashing, the images flashing before her eyes with her unable to turn away or close her eyes. She’d had another ‘bad’ day. The days when she thought there was something out there, a reason to fight even as her will to do so had more or less been shattered. She still had days when she knew that this was wrong.

And those were the days everything hurt. Like today.

But things had been cut short and there was pain as she was pulled from the contraption. Things were a haze and a blur and all she knew was that her senses were on high alert. Despite the horrid conditions, she was primed to fight, a lethality in her movements that hadn’t been there before.

The opening of the door was like a gunshot and all Ilia knew to do was fight the intruders.

Blake’s hand went to the hilt of Gambol Shroud as Natasha opened the door. She was definitely expecting a trap, or at least a fight of some sort. She didn’t draw it and took her hand off the hilt completely as she saw Ilia.

“Let me take her.” Blake said to Natasha. After all, she knew how Ilia fought from the dreams, it could give her an advantage in this over Natasha. Also if there was a chance that they could get through to Ilia without having to subdue her, Blake had the best chance at it. “Ilia, it’s me, Blake,” she said as she tried to see just how into fight mode her friend was.

And if there was anyone else in the room, Natasha would need to handle them.

There were two others in the room. Scientists. Natasha recognized them from her files, and while she could have ended them both then and there, she didn't want to make Ilia worse. So instead, she drew their attention, shooting one in the arm to draw them both out of the room.

They followed her, trusting Ilia to take care of the other girl. After all, it would be a good test.

There had been other tests, blood on her hands. One of the reasons she needed ‘re-education’ when she faltered because of that part of her that remained Ilia and not Wren. But the state she was in thanks to the scientists, the fact that Blake clearly knew Ilia…. It was a different test than the ones before.

There were bruises where the straps had held her, scratches around where her eyes had been forced to stay open. And with Natasha leaving the room, it was her and this Blake person. Growling in anger at the supposed familiarity, Ilia raced forward. There was still the muscle memory from the way she fought in the Dreams, but there was also the training from the Red Room.

Once Natasha led the scientists away, it was just her and Ilia. Was she scared? Yes, but she wasn’t going to let that control her. If she did, then she’d end up dead and Ilia would still be under the control of these assholes. But she knew that no matter what, she would not kill her friend.

When Ilia charged her, Blake stood her ground, until the last possible moment and used her shadow semblance to dodge and tumble out of the way.

“Ilia, I know you’re still in there somewhere, and I’m going to get you out of here.” Blake said, hoping that the real Ilia was able to hear her somewhere in there.

The first scientist went down when Natasha snapped his neck. The second took a bit more effort, but she stepped over his body and ran back to where Ilia and Blake were. But the way Blake was positioned meant she wouldn’t be able to dart Ilia without risking hitting Blake. Which she’d do if she had to, but she’d prefer not to.

The shadow clone of Blake did not impress Ilia, mostly because she was so jumbled up that she hadn’t even considered Blake’s semblance. Instead she just focused on the fight, agitated that Blake seemed to be keen on avoiding her. But for Ilia, anger was an anchor, her eyes flashing.

“Quit taking pot shots and fight me like you mean it!”

And more rushing forward, more of Ilia coming through than the training of the Red Room thanks to that anger.

The anger was probably a good sign. It was definitely more of the Ilia she knew in the dreams. Maybe if she kept stoking the anger, she could get a little crack in the defenses and actually reach the real Ilia.

“Maybe if you gave me something to fight, I would,” she returned, again utilizing her semblance and leapt out of the way. She tried to maneuver to get behind Ilia and see if she could bullrush her from behind. She would’ve really liked a dose of Weiss’ dust right now to make an ice version of her semblance that could trap Ilia and render her unable to escape long enough to be rendered unconscious, but she had no dust.

This wasn’t going to work. Nat looked at the dart gun, then tapped the comm in her ear, “I can’t get a clear shot, but I can get you the sedatives!”

Oh hell no. The anger remained and only seemed to intensify and less of the Red Room training was visible as Ilia became more and more the fighter she’d been before, both the street fighting from her life here as well as the training from the White Fang. She had no weapons given the fact she’d been strapped on a table so it was all going to be hand to hand right now as she once again ran forward, this time prepared for the shadow clones and tackled Blake, knocking into the stand with surgical tools as they rolled on the ground.

Good, even more anger. Blake could tell Ilia was moving more like the fighter she knew better. That made it easier for her. Blake braced herself as Ilia tackled her. This time there were no tricks, no shadows. She grunted as they hit the stand and rolled around on the ground. Blake made it a point to roll away from any surgical tools that fell on the ground. Or at least far enough that Ilia couldn’t reach them easily. Sometimes it was an advantage that Ilia wasn’t very tall.

Blake rolled and tried to pin Ilia down on the ground. She’d heard Natasha tell her about getting the sedatives to her. “It’ll be okay, Ilia. We’ll get you back home,” she said, hoping that Natasha understood she was answering her about the sedatives and using this brief moment to get them to her.

Nat set the safety of the dart gun back on and slid it along the floor towards Blake’s left side. At the same time she drew her regular pistol, not above putting a bullet in Ilia if necessary. Not a lethal shot, naturally, but still.

Blake using her height against her was just unfair. It made sense but she was angry and frustrated and unimpressed by the fact that she was being pinned to the ground. Generally she knew how to flip people off of her but given she was currently angry?

“I don’t have a home!”

Which...in a way was true. She lived with Logan and Blake, but after an entire life of always being moved around because no one wanted to put up with her…. She couldn’t see a place she stayed as home. She had made some connections. But home? She didn’t even know what that word meant anymore. Even in the haze of Red Room and before the Red Room….

But there was also a crack. Because it wasn’t just anger and her voice broke some as she tried to fight Blake off even if the strength wasn’t there. Somewhere, Ilia was breaking free and so her will to fight was fading.

When Natasha slid the gun over to her, she grabbed it quickly, though she didn’t use it yet. She could tell there was a crack, that the real Ilia was breaking through. She could hear it in her voice, and she could feel it in how she was trying to fight her off. The strength wasn’t there anymore. Maybe they wouldn’t have to sedate her yet. Blake could talk her down first.

“Neither do I, but I’ve come to understand that home is what you make it to be. It doesn’t have to be a place, it can be people you care about. And I care about you. Chloe cares about you.” Because when it came down to it, Blake didn’t have a home in the physical sense. She was staying at Logan’s until she could afford to get her own place.

“Home isn’t a place,” Natasha agreed, glancing down the corridor as she heard some movement. “It’s people. Just like family isn’t always blood, but the people you let into your life.”

Even if sometimes she felt disconnected from the people who were her people. That didn’t change who they were to her.

Ilia’s will to fight was already wavering as she fought through the chemicals and brainwashing. Then Blake mentioned Chloe and promises she’d made to both the blonde and cat fanus seemed to echo quietly from the suppressed memories that the ones who had taken her had tried to erase so that they could control her. Promises to be there for them and not leave.

Her heart hurt and there were tears as Ilia found herself breaking through. Lost. Scared.

“I don’t know! I don’t know anything anymore! Nothing makes sense.”

Nothing made sense. Images and memories from Dreams. Images and memories from the past. The training and re-writing of her brain by the Red Room. It was all jumbled and confusing and everything hurt and nothing made sense.

It was heartbreaking to see Ilia like this, but Blake kept her emotions in check. But she could certainly tell that Ilia was done fighting, that Blake had managed to break through to her. It was a definite relief to know that Ilia was still there beneath everything this place had done to her. Now it was just getting her away from here and back to people that could help her.

“Come back with us, and slowly things will make sense again.” She wasn’t going to use the tranquilizer unless Ilia needed it, and now that she’d broken through? She wasn’t going to use it without giving Ilia the choice. Because obviously whatever they’d done to her here, they’d simply just done things without her consent. And Blake wasn’t about to add to that trauma.

The movement got closer, and Nat raised her gun. But it was Ruby and Logan, with the two finches slung over his shoulders. Nat lowered her pistol, “You two look good. We’ve got Ilia, I think she’ll come willingly.”

Logan nodded, “Blackbird should be swinging back around soon.”

Ilia didn’t even want to close her eyes, so a tranquilizer was the last thing she wanted. Even if she should probably sleep. All she knew was that she was cold. It was as if the crack in the brainwashing made her remember everything she could feel. The bitter cold of where they were, exhaustion and fear. But it was better than the haze. Better than being made into a weapon.

“That sounds fake...but okay….” Her voice was drained and she didn’t know how things could ever make sense again. But she also wanted away from this place and even if Blake had left in the Dreams...she was here now and she was too tired to fight now. Going with Blake was the better option.

As for Ruby? She knew that if it weren’t for her Aura, she would have been a lot more worse for wear. There were things that had happened in the fight she didn’t want to think about and so she pushed it aside, arm in pain and sprained but better than broken. Besides, they had managed to save Jing-Wei and Deryn, so that was a win.

And it looked like Blake was able to save Ilia. That was good, so she hung back a bit and rocked on her heels some. And then it would be home and….studying.

This had been a whirlwind. Adrenaline was still pumping in her veins, but Blake was relieved that she hadn’t needed to seriously fight Ilia. She hadn’t needed to draw her weapon ro do more than roll around and pin her down. That part had honestly gone so much better than she’d thought it would.

“Something that’s not fake is that Chloe’s waiting for you.” Blake didn’t know where Ilia was in her dreams, but she knew that Chloe was important to her, and that was probably the better focus to use at the moment. Finally getting off of Ilia and standing up, she held her hand out to her, letting her take it if she wanted to.

“Darlin’, both me an’ Nat, we’ve been where you are. Had our identities stripped, been turned against friends and loved ones. Memories shattered like a broken mirror. We’ll get you home, an’ we’ll be there to talk to.”

Mentioning Chloe did seem to help as well. Blake and Chloe had been grounding forces for Ilia ever since Blake had invited her back to Logan’s and her exhausted mind was trying to hold onto tight to both of them so that she remained herself. That and people in the real world were easier to hold onto than the Dreams given those just made it all the more confusing again.

Taking the offered hand to get up, the physical contact both startling after all she’d been through but also another reminder and something to make her realize this was real, she just nodded silently at Logan’s words. She just wanted to be rid of this place.

And rid of this place they could be. Ruby was prepared for that once they were outside.

Blake knew that the healing process was not going to be an easy one for Ilia, but hopefully having both her and Chloe there would help give her some grounding again. It was a starting point, at any rate. And now that they had Ilia and the others, they could all get out of here.

And get out of there before something blew up or the other shoe dropped. Because in Blake’s experience, the other shoe always dropped no matter what. So she was definitely still alert for any danger.

“Let’s get out of here,” she said.