HA32

"You want to try and break it up?"

Neo picked up a wooden stick off the floor and pushed it toward the combat. It shook wildly and fell apart, cut in four places. Neither combatant noticed, sweeping their whips around and around without any concern for spectators.

"Any ideas?"

Neo stroked her chin, held up a finger and drew the sword from her umbrella. She then handed him Mr Stabby and stooped to pick up a rock. Jaune watched in silence, knowing better than to ask what she was up to. Neo tossed and caught the rock a few times to test it, nodded happily once she was done and lobbed it up into the air. She drew her umbrella back like a baseball bat and judged the rock's descent. She swung the umbrella, catching it dead on and launching it forward.

Jaune tracked it as it flew not for Sienna or Ilia but above them both. He didn't dare tell her she'd missed, and his decision was justified when it struck the central pole at the top of the tent, snapping it in two and dislodging the support holding the canopy up.

Pumping her fist once, Neo turned and sauntered away.

He followed with a brief look back. Neither Ilia nor Sienna had noticed the roof descending on them and both were still going at it like industrial threshers.

From outside, the tent went down like a balloon deflating, falling with an agonising lack of haste. The whips continued to tear and nick at it, but the fabric was heavy and the weapons only moved as fast as momentum allowed. As the space was reduced and they kept snagging and catching, the whips became slow and sluggish. By the time the material had engulfed the two figures – leaving them standing as indistinct outlines – the attacks were smothered altogether. Ilia and Sienna would lash out occasionally, but the tent was so heavy that their whips would only make the fabric rise up a few feet before sinking down again.

It didn't stop them yelling angrily. Ilia at Sienna and Sienna at him for some reason.

"Now what?" he asked Neo.

Shrugging, she stepped onto the tent and wandered over to Ilia, who obviously couldn't see her and was waving her arms to try and dig her way out the tent. The blind terrorist didn't see Neo hoist her umbrella up like a bat once more, but she definitely felt it. The figure collapsed onto her back, still entangled in the tent. Neo brought the umbrella up and down, smacking her over and over. It wasn't very effective both because it was an umbrella and because Ilia had several layers of padding from the tent to protect her – it was like being beaten to death by a foam weapon.

That didn't seem to bother Neo, who was smiling wildly as she ineffectively beat on a downed opponent. Meanwhile, Sienna had crawled her way to the edge of the tent and was glaring at him, not at all pleased her fight had been interrupted.

"Sorry," he said, not feeling very sorry at all. Behind, he heard Team RWBY laughing. "But we want her alive and not flayed to pieces."

"I wouldn't have killed her."

"I surrender! I surrender!" Ilia yelled. "Stop hitting me!"

Neo kept wailing on her.

"Neo!" he called. "She surrendered."