RWBY Through Worlds (End)

BC99: Belly of the Beast (Cinder & Co.)-4

Cinder had no reason to doubt Mala's words.

But, she reasoned to herself, Mala still didn't suspect her own servants. For some reason she was missing the obvious... It was almost like a gift.

So...why not just lie?

But it had to be a good lie.

One that would seem true.

"All right," she said aloud. "I'll show you."

"Show me? That sounds like an obvious trick," Mala said.

Cinder just took off her other shoe.

"Why isn't she tied up?" Mala suddenly noticed this.

"She wasn't?" Striker said blankly.

"You morons!" Mala hit him into the wall.

Then she gave Cinder a cold look. "At least you knew better than to try anything. Or were you just waiting to?"

Why would that be shocking?

"I know I'm outnumbered," Cinder said fatly. "Why would I give you a reason to hurt me more?"

"Bold of you to assume I need reason, but whatever. What does that shoe have to do with anything?" Mala asked.

Cinder was furious at Royal for making her have to give this away so soon--she'd wanted to buy more time. But maybe she'd had time enough; the other surely would know by now.

She cracked open the shoe.

Inside the glass she'd hidden one of the tracking devices the base used. Long range.

She'd formed the shoes around the chip.

Even Mala looked a bit impressed, though not in a way that would be reassuring.

"Wow." She took it. "That's almost kind of clever. It's such a shame we can't use you more. If I didn't hate you so much, I'd really want you to work for me."

"I would prefer to die," Cinder couldn't resist saying.

"Well, that does almost make me want to spare you," Mala said, looking up. Then tossed the tracker to one of the others. "Make sure that ends up somewhere far away from here. Somewhere dangerous, preferably. I want you to set a trap."

"Yes, milady," he said, running off to no doubt get help.

Uh oh...this had backfired... Maybe the others would catch on though. It's not like it would just move for no reason.

"So Fly Boy here tracked you," Mala said. "That would explain the plane they found. So far it checks out."

Hopefully that meant she was falling for it.

"And he was dumb enough to come here with just a couple people?" Mala said, amused. "Wow...that is amazingly suicidal. I wonder how you have such loyal followers. Tell me your secret."

The way she said that last part sounded more like a threat than the rest.

"It's all in the line of duty," Cinder said shortly. "It's an Atlas thing. Bandits wouldn't understand it."

"Oh, shut up." Mala tired of this game. "Big from the person who wanted to destroy Atlas. Where did that ambition go?"

"I found a better target," Cinder said pointedly.

Mala shook her head. "The nerve of this woman," she said to Striker, who was rubbing his shoulder where she'd hit it into the wall.

"She's really brazen," Striker said. "We should take her down more."