Greetings all Quake here,
First off thank you very much for the reviews for the first part of the prologue, it is always good to see that people do enjoy this story however I must say if you are going to leave feedback preferably of the constructive kind... actually leave feedback don't say something is wrong or missing then walk around thinking "yeah bruh that mic drop was tots sick yo"... that helps no one, how is a writer meant to improve if people don't tell them the areas where improvements are needed. I reread my stories so many times that to the point that the entire story itself blurrs into a single paragraph trying to find mistakes and the like... With that I will stop my rant and leave you guys with one last thing before the story.
To remind everyone, this story is set a 100 years into the future of current timeline, using what is released with every volume of RWBY as a basis to help Avis B, Uzai Sagi and myself bring this shared universe of ours to life. Saying that don't assume that the canon characters will be making appearance for multiple reasons,
1. We don't know how RWBY ends or the fate of the canon cast
2. if there will alive the entire canon cast will be over 100 years old, therefore they will have no impact to the story we are trying to tell... besides an meaningless cameo name drop.
3. Using what currently know about RWBY as a basis to set the world and not the story itself allows us to adjust the world setting ever so sightly with new concepts that get released in each new volume of RWBY.
As for story itself, I am still accepting characters, there are still 3 spots open to get me to that 4 team cast which seems like a good number.
With that, sit back, relax and enjoy the story!
Prologue Part 2 - The Hunted
"Rosie, how long until we reach to the drop off point?" Iris says with a smile at Anya's confused expression from Violet's bizarre exit out of the bullhead mid flight.
"10 minutes Iris... but we have an issue... I've identified the chatter... The source is coming from a couple of mechanised platoons" Rosie responds, having a hint of worry in her voice as Anya sees Gwen start to tense up with each word spoken.
"Atlesian Knights... The AK-300 models to be precise..." Rosie added as Gwen's eyes open wide with shock and she instinctively holds her right arm while clenching her right fist.
"AK-300 models?" Anya wondered, growing more worried about Gwen's sudden change in demeanor "I've never heard of that model"
"Yeah…. Atlas decided that their old faithful scrap buckets needed an serious overhaul…. From the information released from their press conferences…. Even the chassis has been completely redesigned…." Rosie lets out a sigh, there was a hint of pain in her voice from the intercom as the bullhead shook like it had hit some bad turbulence "Sorry!... it's just that…. ahhh…. they are really loud"
"Just hang in there Rosie…. It's just a little bit further" Iris kindly says as the worry starts to build up in Anya. She is noticing that with every mention of Atlas, Gwen seems to tense up to the point that she might snap and break something. Then there was that thing with Rosie, she sounded slightly in pain but still was flying the bullhead.
Anya looked around, but the others weren't concerned about it "so what are they doing here?"
"Now that's the question….. I don't know…. Well whatever the reason is, I'm sure they will hide it under a guise of an military exercise to test their new toys" Iris replies while analysing the holographic map in front of her. "judging by their formation, it seems that they are in a form of search pattern"
"Search pattern…. Iris do you think they could have caught wind of this operation?" Azura calmly asks, her voice was clear and direct, grabbing the attention of everyone in the personnel hold.
Iris lets out a sigh. She had recently came to that conclusion, why else would the Atlas military be there. "It wouldn't surprise me, knowing that old bastard and the sheer amount of resources he has at his disposal"
Anya noticed that even Iris tensed up a little while mentioning that so called old bastard. "Who?" she enquired, throughout her time as an huntress she had never dealt with any figures of power from other kingdoms before.
"General Roderick Stirling the Immortal, Headmaster of Atlas Academy and current person in charge of the Atlas Military" Azura replies.
"Immortal?... that can't be right" Anya said, feeling rather shocked this was the first time hearing someone referred to by a title like that. She has heard of Bernhard Strum's title 'The Man of A Thousand Beasts' but how can someone earn the title like the immortal?
"It is Anya, that old bastard is just too stubborn to die..." Iris replied, however, she got interrupted by a rough patch of turbulence and Rosie speaking over the intercom.
"Sorry to interrupt girls, but we are at the drop off... It's going to be a touch and go landing, so get yourselves ready" Rosie calls out over the intercom, causing all the women in the personnel hold to double check their equipment then secure themselves into their seats. Within a few moments the entire bullhead shook as it came into land.
As soon as the girls finished departing the bullhead, the engines of the bullhead fired back up and took to the sky leaving them to carry on their mission. "Well there she goes..." Anya says while checking her surroundings "Umm... Iris... do you know how Rosie was manipulating the holograms before while flying?"
"Well that's easy to explain, my dear..." Anya heard Rosie's voice coming from nowhere. It took her a bit to figure out that Rosie's voice was coming from her scroll. "My semblance allows me to intercept and create digital transmissions with my mind... Basically I am a walking, talking CCT tower without an off switch and the cross continental functionality" Rosie giggles to herself
Anya stared at her scroll as Rosie's voice is being projected through its speakers informing Anya about her little trick. Gwen was hard at work, examining the surroundings for any irregularities that would signify a person had recently passed through the area.
Iris noticed that Gwen may have found a trail to follow "Found a lead?" She asked as she walked up to Gwen. Gwen was putting her right glove back on when she heard Iris speak, she simply nodded in response. Iris clapped her hands together to get Azura and Anya's attention "Alright, girls, let's move out" she called out.
With Gwen leading the way, they started to move throughout the forest in search of their target while making sure that the atlas soldiers and their platoon of robots don't catch up. Every now and then Gwen would stop and take her glove off to get a better feel of the trail is she following.
Anya noticed every time Gwen did that, she wanted to ask but kept quiet not wanting to break her focus. They continued to move throughout the forest until Gwen noticed something rather strange, she crouched down to investigate the ground around a nearby tree root. It looked like something had disturbed and by the skid marks on the ground following it.
She could easily determine that someone snagged their foot on that root, which caused them to fall onto the ground and slide down the slight hill coming to a stop a little bit further on. Gwen also noticed that second lot of tracks that would appear randomly through the trail stood out a lot at the end of the skid mark.
Gwen followed the trail down to that slid mark, she let out a sigh before pulling off her right glove with her teeth. Gwen was confident that she was on the right trial to even look deep into the tracks in front of her.
As Iris, Azura and Anya come to stop "You might want to step back, Anya," Iris called out as they watched Gwen try to focus herself while hovering her bare hand over the slid mark with some hesitation.
"Umm…. what is she doing?" Ayna ask as she heeded Iris' suggestion.
"Well, Gwen's semblance allows her to see the past of whatever she touches with her bare hands…. She told us that she can see the surrounding area and the further she looks back the blurrer the vision gets" Iris informs Anya.
"Also she can't see the real world while vision is active" Azura adds while giving Gwen plenty of space.
With a deep breath Gwen places her hand onto the ground, as she does her eyes immediately go white. Through Gwen's eyes the entire world took on an spectral appearance as Iris, Azura and Anya disappear from her sight.
Looking in the direction that they came from, two spectral figures appeared, they were running as one of them suddenly tripped and fell, sliding across the ground and coming to a stop right where Gwen was. "Cece!" Gwen said as she mimicked the other spectre who stopped around turned around to help the other.
As Gwen watched the spectre help the other one to its feet, she noticed that they look like the description of the girls that rosie informed them about prior to the leaving the bullhead. As the visioned started to fade, she saw the direction of they left in, they were traveling at a much slower pace due to the injury that one of them received while running.
As the vision faded, Gwen gasped for air as she lost her balance. Falling into Iris arms, maintaining an vision like that requires a lot of energy from Gwen and it takes a bit for her to regain her senses once it has faded. "I saw them…. We are close" She said while breathing heavily.
"Which way, Gwen?" Iris asks as Gwen points in the direction she saw them run. As Gwen regained her composure, they set of in the direction that Gwen saw. With her knowledge on the area and the condition she saw those two girls, Gwen knew that they couldn't get far without need rest, and there was an area up ahead that had some caves which would be perfect for an rest spot.
Gwen took the party to an area which had some cave openings, after checking the surrounding area. She identified the cave that the girls entered and double checked the area for any exit trails but found no sign. "This is the one" Gwen informs everyone.
"Good work, Gwen…. Anya, you're up" Iris commands as she pulls out her scroll and looks at it "Rosie, are you there?"
"Yes, Iris, I can hear you loud and clear," Rosie's voice appearing through the speakers of Iris' scroll.
"I believe we have found them, inform Vee of our location and tell her to fall back" Iris said before looking to Gwen and Azura "Azura, Gwen secure the area…. I will back up Anya"
"Yes ma'am" they all reply
"Iris…. One of them has ankle injury…. Be mindful" Gwen adds before moving off to help Azura secure the surroundings.
"Thanks, Gwen…. Anya, lead the way" Iris says while gesturing Anya to take the led.
With a deep breath, both Anya and Iris cautiously entered the cave, not sure what to expect or how the two within would react to their presence. As they move through the cave, coming up to an large section, Iris noticed something and quickly grabbed Anya, turning her back as a shield appears from the entrance of the opening.
Knowing Anya is safe from that ambush attack, Iris reaches for her own weapon that's on her hip, "Iris, don't" Anya says, fearing the worst. In front of her was an teenager running on empty with desperation in those purple eyes.
Iris just smiles moving towards the teenager with the shield, drawing her sword, sheath and all. With an serious expression Iris dashes forward, raises her weapon in the process. The teenager braces herself by raising her shield, waiting for the impact of Iris' strike. However, what the teenager didn't expect was that Iris stop her strike when the teenager lost sight of her from the shield.
Once Iris lost eye connect with the teenager, she quickly spun around sweeping the teenagers' legs from out beneath her. As the teenager crashes onto the ground "all clear, Anya," Iris calls out while kicking away the teenager's weapon and putting away her own.
Anya walked in to large area of the cave and saw two teenagers, one laying on the ground near Iris and the other one further back in, both looked exhausted. They both stood 5'7" tall with an athletic build that has noticeable curves. Both their eyes were purple and they had silver hair. They were dressed in old clothes that could be considered as rags, judging by the condition of the girls it seems like they didn't have a opinion in what they wore.
Anya was surprised at how similar they looked, she could tell they were twins and if it wasn't for the minor differences she wouldn't be able to tell them apart. The teenager laying on the ground had long flowing hair with her bangs sitting from left to right and framing her face. Her bust seem bigger than the other one, but it was difficult to tell with clothes they wore.
The teenager further in the back had shoulder length hair with her bangs sitting from right to left and framing her face. Her hair is slightly parted to the right of her head. There was some pain in her expression as she tied to move when Iris moved closer to her.
"Get… away…. from…. her" The teenager struggled to say as all the energy she had left was to glare at Iris as she moved closer to her sister.
"It's ok, sweetie, Iris won't do a thing…. Won't you Iris" Anya said with an commanding tone as she offered an hand to the teenager on the ground who wanted to refuse it. "It's alright now, sweetie, you're safe now. I'm Anya Fiore" she said with warm inviting smile.
Iris just smiles as she kneels down "Don't worry…. Now let's look at that ankle of yours" her voice was just as soft as her touch. She gently took of the girls boot and wrapped her hands along the girl's ankle. "Yep, definitely swollen but I don't think it's broken…. Now this is going to hurt a bit, so bare with it"
Soon as Iris said that, an aura appeared around her hands as the teenager weeped in pain every time the glow of the aura intensified. The teenager tied to get remove her foot but Iris' grip was to strong.
"I SAID LEAVE HER ALONE!" the other teenager shouted as she was supported by Anya.
"Iris!" Anya called out as the glow of the aura disappeared.
"There all done, nice work little one" Iris with a smile as she pulled out some bandages from her pouches and wrapped the teenagers ankle up then place her boot back on. "It was a type of deep massage, which will help with the blood flow and reducing the swelling…. I'm Iris Remington a fully trained medic…. So relax, your sister is in good hands"
An hour had passed and during that time Anya managed to convince the girls that they mean no harm and can be trusted. She learn that twin with the long hair was named Soleil and the one with short hair was named Celine. The most surprising fact she learnt was that her mother was indeed named Estelle Valliere.
As they were talking and gaining the trust of the twins, Violet appeared with Gwen and Azura "Iris, we have trouble, the Atlas forces are nearly on top of us…. Are they in a shape to move?"
At the mention of Altas, Gwen tensed up again as Soleil managed to stand in front of Celine. "We should just wipe them out, leave none of them standing" Gwen stated with anger in her voice.
"No…." Iris replied with a seriously look.
This started an argument between the two, the more it went on the more angier Gwen got. The angier Gwen got, Anya noticed that Celine's hair was darkening and Soleil was getting more agitated "JUST SHUT UP!" She shouted putting an end to argument "Fighting will get us nowhere, and can't you see that you were making the girls uncomfortable?"
Everyone noticed the change in Celines hair and surprised about it, Celine quickly grabbed Soleil's arm which turn her hair back to silver. Gwen took a couple of deep breaths and calmed down as Iris spoke up "I know your history with Atlas and as much as I want to help you pay them back for all they had done, the fact is…. Vale is no shape to take on Atlas"
"I get it, I get it…. I'm sorry for losing my cool" Gwen said while rubbing the back of her head "So, what's the plan?" she asked.
"Hmm…. well we need to move it's not safe here…. Gwen, do you know any safe locations that will keep us hidden from their search party?" Iris said in a commanding tone.
"Umm…. there is one spot I know of, but it requires us to scale down a cliff" Gwen replies
"That will do, Vee scout ahead and keep an eye on our unwanted guests, Gwen lead the way, Azura give Soleil an hand…. Anya you're with me, we have to move Celine" Iris responds.
"Yes ma'am" they all reply, which surprises the twins.
As commanded everyone did the job assigned to them, Gwen guided them to the top of the cliff. Now they needed a way to get down it, calling in Rosie would be too risky. Iris looked around until Violet reappeared.
"We gotta move…. Iris, Anya let me take her" Violet called out as she came to a stop then picked up Celine in an princess carry. Then ran for the cliff, she made sure to cover Celine's mouth with her hand to prevent her from screaming as she jumped off the cliff.
Celine wanted to scream but couldn't due to Violet's hand, she felt an strange sensation instead of falling it felt like they were slowly descending like they were going down a staircase. "Gwen, Azura…. Go ahead and secure their landing" Iris ordered
Celine looked up at Violet so was smiling as they slowly descended down the cliff, they were basically walking on the air. Suddenly she noticed both Azura and Gwen fly past them. As those two came closer to the ground below, Azura launched a cabled from one of her sleeves. There appeared to have a kunai attached to it, it hit an nearby tree which allowed her to swing to a safe landing.
As for Gwen, she took out her chakram and spun really fast while engaging her weapons. A small jet of fire appeared from the centre of her weapons which was enough to slow her fall so she could safely land without hurting herself.
Anya was surprised that Azura and Gwen without a second thought just jumped of the cliff "So what's your plan Iris?" she enquired after taking soleil's arm from Azura before she jumped.
"Working on it, but we need to help Soleil down the cliff," Iris replied as Soleil held the strap of her weapon
Anya sighed and turned to the teenager "It's going to be fine," she reassured her. Noticing Iris position herself to make the climb down, Anya did the same, however she touched the face of the cliff, which caused some vines to grow out and down the cliffside to make it easier for them to climb down.
Anya offered her hand out for Soleil to grab and start her climb with Iris and herself watching over. As they got half way down the cliff Iris signalled them to stop and hug the cliff as some of the Atlas military appeared overhead, looking over the cliff. "Nothing there, move on" one of the soldiers said as the girls let out a sigh of relief.
It took them awhile to regroup with the others, Gwen had found a similar cave which was more trickier to find than the previous one. As Soleil entered their new hiding spot, she saw her sister and ran over hugging her in the process "Celine!" she cried out.
Anya just smiled at the sight as she noticed Iris move to the entrance of the cave with her scroll in hand "Rosie, are you there?"
"Yes, Iris, what's up?" Rosie replied
"We have the twins in an secure location, awaiting pick up…. When are you able to fly in?" Iris asked
"Sorry Iris, looking at the map the Atlas robots are still in the area and will pick up my bullhead, if we want to keep this under wraps, pick up is going to have to wait until morning…." Rosie said with an apologetic voice.
Iris sighs "Very well, we will wait until morning… head back and refuel…. We will see you tomorrow."
"Copy that," Rosie says as she cuts the connection making Iris' scroll go back to its off state.
With that Iris walked back into the cave to see Anya putting a blanket onto twins as they have fallen fast asleep against each other. "After having some rations, they fell straight to sleep…. Considering how exhausted they were, I'm surprised that they didn't pass out sooner," Anya said as Iris got closer.
Iris just smiled "Well, let them sleep, pick up will be in the morning so we are staying the night here…. Vee you will take first watch"
"Yes, ma'am," Violet cheerfully replied.
The rest of the afternoon and night passed quickly while the twins slept. They were rudely awoken by the rumblings of the cave itself. They notice that the others were not there, Soleil helped Celine up to her feet and to the entrance of the cave to see everyone there as a bullhead floats over head.
Iris turns to face the girls "good morning girls, are you ready to head a place you can call home?"
Thank you for reading the second part to the prologue, if you want to submit an character please do to the forum, the link can be found on my profile page.
Last thing, if you enjoy this story please drop an review. It really helps to see that feedback and know that people enjoy this tale and its shared universe.
