Fragile But Brave: The Battle with Adam Taurus

*The desert wind howled, blowing sand through the air and across their faces.*

*Somewhere ahead of them was their target; Adam Taurus.*

*He had Blake in his clutches. She was probably being tortured, or even sexually assaulted at this very moment. Yang's fists clenched on her gauntlets.*

*She would not let that happen. She and Blake had already survived together longer than she could have ever hoped. And the odds were stacked against them yet again, but they fought on.*

*Yang wouldn't stop now.*

*The rocks under her feet shifted again, sending her falling forward towards a knee-high rock outcropping. Her hand slammed into the ground to break her fall; she winced as the pebbles penetrated through her gloves and cut into her skin.*

*"Dammit,"* she hissed quietly, trying to stand back up onto the pebbles.*

*She knew better than to walk over uneven ground without proper equipment. She'd been lucky so far in keeping all of her limbs intact in the chase for Adam, but one slip-up was all it would take for him to get away with Blake. The most important thing right now was to keep going. Her eyes scanned the area ahead of her. There was a small hill just ahead, and down at its base was a cluster of boulders almost like a cave entrance.*

*That must be it.*

*Adam wouldn't risk leaving Blake exposed where he didn't have any cover. He needed those boulders for protection against their fire, but he would be able to see out of them to shoot back at them too.*

*Yang took a deep breath before sprinting towards the hilltop.*

"Fuck!" she heard someone curse from within the cluster of rocks. It must be him! She couldn't hear anything from Blake - no screams or cries for help - but she could only hope that her teammate was still alive somewhere within those boulders.*

Yang kept running up the hill towards where Adam's voice came from, looking around for any other signs of movement inside the cluster of rocks before reaching the top of the hill.*

*There!* she thought as she saw Adam's silhouette duck behind one of the larger rocks. He wasn't alone; there were two others with him - one seated on a rock facing away from her, and another standing close by holding onto a chain leash connected to a collar around Blake's neck.*

"Damnit," Yang cursed quietly to herself as she approached closer to see if she could see any weak points in their defense. The sitting one seemed pretty motionless - perhaps dead? The other one seemed to be... playing with Blake's hair? Was that Penny? She couldn't exactly tell because they were both wearing full black cloaks that covered everything except their heads and hands.*

Yang backed off slightly when she noticed movement above her head - multiple ropes hanging down from trees lining up along their side of the boulder cluster directly above Adam's position.*

*So they can escape by climbing up those ropes if I decide to flush them out by firing into their hiding spot...* Yang frowned, before noticing that there were more ropes higher up in some of the bigger trees higher up on the hillside until they disappeared over the hilltop ahead of them.*

*Ugh... This is really annoying... I guess I'll need to get creative about how I want to get rid of this guy... And these two don't look like they're helping much either.... Man, I wish Qrow was here! He'd know what to do. Well... Maybe Ruby would too. Or Weiss... Ugh... This isn't working! I'm getting distracted! What should I do!? ... Okay okay okay.... Focus Yang! You can do this! Think rationally ! What do we know about our enemies!? ... We know Adam wants to capture us so he can use us as hostages or something...? Yeah... But... Why is he doing this!? Where is he taking us!? Why do we have to stop him!? ... Because we need to save Blake and Penny...? Yeah... That's it. We need to save both of them no matter what it takes! ... Can we afford not stopping him though!? Is stopping him worth risking sacrificing ourselves!? ... No way!! We're not letting him get away with kidnapping either one of them!! We don't have time for this crap!! He's going after my partner first next!! Then Penny!! Then some random village somewhere else later!! We can't let him get away with it! So we need a plan! Something that can kill him quickly without us getting killed in turn!! ... Wait wait WAIT!! If we don't have time for this crap then why are we wasting it thinking about it!? Why are we thinking about what *we want*, when all we really *need* is for Blake and Penny not get hurt anymore than they already have been! Don't think about yourself Yang - think about your teammates who need you right now! Think about saving people in trouble who can teach you stuff later!! Let go of your ego and think only about what matters right now!" *