Well.
I am here for another installment in this story. Since I really enjoyed writing that chapter, I am going to continue it. To those who have already put notifications on when this story updates, Thanks! I appreciate knowing that even if people don't physically let me know, they still can not wait for another part of the story. So yeah! That's my side of this whole detail.
Once more, I don't own anything Rwby. My Ticks are mine. I also do not own any songs or anything else I reference. There will be a couple of those. Also, this chapter is going to contain descriptions of the survivors. I accidentally forgot those last time.
Anyways, this chapter is going to largely focus on the period of time after the incident and its effects on everyone impacted. Let's get going!
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Well, they had made it to Atlas, after a long, silent flight. Almost every single Tick was unconscious, with only a few exceptions. Those exceptions were Tessera, Pente, Exi, Otto, and Nove. All five of them sat in a Bullhead together, not making eye contact. They were visibly distressed despite having had a fairly easy time in the fierce legendary battle, having been in the nigh impenetrable Flamma. Said tank was firmly secured in the same bullhead as them, and Nove would get up and check out his baby, running his hands across it and whispering to it. He would say things like "papa's gonna fix you up…" or "It's ok baby…", which undoubtedly unnerved several of the Atlas personnel on that specific bullhead. None of the personnel knew what to do with these five men. So they simply kept their distance from these men, seeing them almost as monsters to have been able to survive for so long in the forsaken lands, not to mention the terror the nuclear bomb imprinted on them all.
Tessera's mind was occupied with the safety of the other Ticks. He personally had never tried a popper before, but he had heard the tales of what happened from his other crew mates. He knew that they were not something safe, and feared what might happen to his friends if any of them overdosed. Over time, his squad of twenty one people had become like a second family to him. He and the other two Greeks had had a difficult childhood, so finding good friends like the ones in the Ticks was a godsend. He had often thought about the crew as a big family, with Leonidas as the father and Eins as the mother, though he would never say that out loud. He ran a hand through his black hair cut short and closed his blue eyes. This whole reverting to teenagers things was weird for all of them. Suddenly becoming the same age as the father figure in his life was absolutely ridiculous. He clenched his fists. Working in the tank, while not strenuous, did require a certain degree of flexibility so they could all reach around each other and not get in the way. This had meant that there were three body types in the Ticks. There was the Tankies, the Bruties, and the Beauties. Being a tankie meant that he had a slim build, while not being bony. They could easily be compared to gymnasts, seeing as the inside of the tank was always an acrobatic show in battle. The outside may have been steady, calm, and death dealing, but the inside was always a squirming mass of unspoken orders. He who controlled Olympus determined the movements of the other bodies, as the metal seat would swivel with the cannon. However, the age revert had sent them back to the bodies they had at seventeen. This meant Tessera was a measly five foot two. He had had a late growth spurt, shooting up to six foot three by the time he was twenty. This extra space had left plenty of room in the tank for the other, less shrunken people.
Pente was thinking about Tessera. His brother had always been one to worry about the safety of the others in this large "family". So this situation was undoubtedly going to impact him heavily. The losses had hit him hard when they were fighting, but the new, patient wait to see who survived had to be demolishing him on the inside. So Pente was worried. He was often joked about being the overprotective sister of the triplets, not only because of his considerable care for the other two brothers, but because of his long black hair. That, combined with a more feminine facial structure and his Tankie body had resulted in him being able to pass off as a flat chested girl with the right outfit. He blinked his own blue eyes as they flicked over to the body of the third triplet, who had always been the hardest to read. Despite being a triplet, he had always been very very tight lipped about everything. There were secrets upon secrets that he had heard and never told. Yet his gaze softened when he saw the silent tear rolling down his final brother's cheek.
Exi was never one to be overly emotional, but these last few hours had been extremely difficult on him. The only reason any tear had escaped was a simple one, and it had something to do with one of his deepest secrets. Not a single person knew about this fact, but Exi was gay. He had not told anyone in his family, old or new. Ever since he had joined the Ticks, he had had a deep crush on one of the other members of the crew, who was more openly gay. Aon-deug had made it clear to everyone on his first week of joining that he was gay, and he would blow up anyone who took offense to that. Exi had always admired his courage to be able to do that, and had since then always wished to be able to announce that the same way. Yet whenever he would try to say anything to Aon or anyone else, he would back down with crippling fear. So to avoid any more of that kind of stress, he stayed silent. Yet after the most recent mission, Exi and Aon had saved each other's lives on numerous occasions, inspiring him to attempt once more. He was going to talk to Aon and confess his feelings towards the other man when they got back to the base, but had never gotten the opportunity, what with the sudden assault and what not. In combat, he had decided to confess after they had all escaped this terror, but then… Aon had gone and died on him. The regrets weighed heavily on his soul. And so the tears flowed one at a time, from impassive blue eyes.
Meanwhile, Otto was concerned for his friend Nove. The man had an almost unhealthy obsession with Flamma and the level of destruction applied to the tank had to have been devastating. He knew that wherever and whatever they went and did next, Flamma would have to be there with them. The level of love between man and machine was enough to make Otto want to mess up his well groomed dark brown hair, though he'd never bring himself to do that. Seriously, he cared for his hair as much as Yang did. His body was the largest of the Tankies, and very well built. He really prided himself on his looks, something that made him the subject of relentless mockery by everyone except for Seize, who truly understood the importance of looking good. He was wondering what would actually happen to the Ticks when they got to… wherever they were going. Needless to say, he was worried, but would make sure to be by Nove's side in the future. Especially to help him maybe eventually part ways with Flamma.
Nove, meanwhile, was figuring how to fix up Flamma. He knew that the tank was fixable, and he would fix his baby. He had first begun treating Flamma like his child shortly after it had protected him and Otto from a three day bombardment in the alps. At first it had been a joke, but then it became such a habit that it ultimately stuck and he took it seriously. Seeing how everyone would take such great care of their equipment and weaponry, but no one would care for Flamma with the same respect left Nove severely disappointed. This was the weapon that everyone needed. So he made it his mission to make sure the tank was in pristine condition at all times. Seeing it in such a state of disrepair brought an almost physical pain to his chest. He knew he could fix it. He just needed the time and materials to bring his baby back.
"It's gonna be alright baby…."
…..
The arrival to Atlas was one with no decorum, but all bustle. The injured members were immediately sent to the infirmary, while the conscious five took Flamma to a secure warehouse. Then the security forces at the military base they had landed at came to take the five members in for questioning. Ironwood had lots and lots of questions for these boys- men. If the one was to be believed, all of these boys are actually men. He wanted to know as much as he possibly could about these men, where they came from, their weapons, everything possible. He had sent a squadron of ten guys to escort them, two for each, to the designated questioning rooms.
The problem came when they tried to get Nove to leave his "baby" alone in the warehouse.
Despite the promises that it was safe, the promises to keep a constant set of guards to watch over it, and even the threats of physical force to him, he refused to leave it. So, to avoid any more conflict, Ironwood himself came down and told the guards that he would question Nove in the room with Flamma in it. With that matter settled, the others all left for their rooms. Nove stared at Ironwood, while Ironwood stared back at him.
"Well, generale? I'm here. Questions?" He said, crossing his arms as he leaned up against the mighty tank.
"Right. Who are you, and where are you from?" A simple start. Ironwood would ask these questions to all the men to make sure their stories all matched. Nove nodded.
"My name is Nove. I come from the city of Rome, in the nation of Italy, on the continent Europe, on the planet Earth. I understand Seize has… explained the peculiar situation. That is, if you were the person on the other side of that telephone call. My name means 'nine' in my home language, as the system we have goes."
Ironwood nodded. So far, one story matched. "I was told you are not actually all seventeen. How old were you?"
Nove shook his head tiredly. "I do not quite get the situation entirely myself. I am- was i guess- twenty-four. I figure I can guess what your next few questions are going to be. 'How did you join this group? What position do you hold? What is your relationship with your leader? What the hell is the thing behind you? Well, buckle up, mio amico. You're gonna get more than you bargained for."
Ironwood gulped nervously. This was going to be a long day, he could tell already.
….
Ironwood had spent nearly an hour in the room with Nove, learning more about the tank and the weapons and what Nove did with the tank. He had received two different tours of the machine, and had to sit through Nove's photo album of him and Flamma around the world. The talk was… enlightening. The technology was certainly something interesting, and after hearing how Flamma was one of the main reasons they had survived out there for so long, he decided the massive gun on top was not just for show. However, he did not nearly get enough information about the group themselves to suit his needs. He rubbed his temples before walking into the next room that held a Tick member. He almost felt the need to call Qrow up just so he could steal his flask.
….
In the medical ward of the military base, the medical staff were desperately treating the unconscious members. They were all shocked to discover that their Auras were not unlocked, and so they decided that they should activate them to give the boys the best chance of living. They had not been briefed on the backstory of these kids, so they just saw them as a group of several teenagers who had somehow been pulled out of the forsaken lands. To survive in the forsaken lands with no aura took a lot of skill, but there were no records for any of the names given to them by Ironwood. They had simply appeared. In the separated med bays, a team of experienced doctors placed their hands on the unconscious people's heads and spoke the required words.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."
The boys' auras had… various reactions to this.
…..
The doctor who was unlocking Leonidas's aura stepped forward to do the brief ceremony. If the reports were correct, this kid was the leader of the group that had been extracted. Though the doctor did not know what he looked like prior to arriving on remnant, he could almost see what he would end up looking like. The current chestnut brown hair was slightly shaggy, and the faint wisps of a beard were visible on his chin. He definitely held the 'brutie' body type, ridiculously well muscled for a teenager. However, the muscles scaled well with the rest of his 5 foot 9 body. The doctor shook his head to try and clear the image of a tall, proud man from his mind as he placed his hands on Leonidas's forehead. He spoke the famous words required.
Now, it is known that unlocking someone's aura takes more out of the unlocker, based on the aura of the person being unlocked. So it was a shock to all medical staff in that specific room when the doctor's eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he dropped to the floor like a sack of rocks. After quickly checking his pulse and settling him somewhere comfy and safe to recover, they look back at Leonidas, whose aura was now glowing around him. It was red, a shade of crimson the color of blood. It glowed incredibly bright for a few seconds then faded. The nurses all looked at each other. Just who had they pulled from the forsaken lands?
…...
It was a female in charge of unlocking Eins's aura. She looked down at the unconscious teen, unaware she was looking at a forty-something year old man. She had to admit that the young teen had some sort of militaristic charm about him, with the close cropped blonde hair and the well tanned muscular body. He was larger in stature than Leonidas was, with a couple of inches and pounds over the leader. The only feature marring his face was the jagged scar that ran from the upper left forehead to his ear. The doctor wondered to herself what kind of hardship this boy had one through and when to get that mark.
When she placed her hands on his forehead to say the designated words, she was not expecting what came next. The usual drain of aura came along with the glow of the boy's temporarily visible aura. However, his aura was strange, almost as if there was something wrong with it. Instead of being a glow across his whole body, it only glowed surrounding the kid's head and chest as if it were a helmet and chestplate. Yet those areas were glowing with an abnormal amount of navy blue light. The doctor quickly sketched out the locations before it faded and wrote down several notes before going and sitting down. What happened?
…..
Next up was Ni. The doctor in charge was a fresh graduate out of a doctor's academy. He looked over the kid before him, only a few years younger than himself. He took note of the peculiarly slanted eyes and straight, smooth black hair. He was a very lean man, obviously meant more for agility than brute force, yet the tightness of his muscles told the doctor that he could definitely pack a punch. The doctor gulped, placing his hands on Ni's forehead and recited the words.
Only to immediately jump back as the glow of aura around Ni separated and floated above his body as a silhouette of the body. Then it promptly faded. He quickly wrote down what he saw. Aura color: black. Aura seemed to separate from body. Unknown cause. He sighed. What a way to become a doctor.
…..
The doctor for Three had more pressing matters than unlocking the aura to attend to. He ended up removing the hastily wrapped bandage from the stump of his shoulder. He investigated the wound closely and quickly began remedying the situation with some stitches and sutures. As soon as the wound was closed and bandaged, he took a deep breath. He gave himself a moment to get ready, and used that moment to take a look at the injured kid. The thin, wiry boy with the very short… blue? Yes, blue hair. He pushed the goggles upwards, then he placed his hands on the forehead of Three and got ready to give the rite.
As soon as the last word left his lips, he stepped back. Then he tilted his head as he watched as something peculiar happened to the man's aura. His aura glowed a neon blue, but seemed to fluctuate like the surface of the sun, flaring out in great arcs before it faded again. He rubbed his eyes but still jotted the notes on that appearance down. This was just too weird for him.
….
Next in the hospital beds was Ten. This doctor certainly was having one of the most stressful days of her year. She of course had to get the man with several impaled limbs, a lost eye, and a couple ruptured organs as well. That's not counting the several broken bones all around. This led her to take forever before going to unlock his aura. She felt a bit bad for the kid, after all, he had no guarantees that he was going to walk again, and his one eye was gone for certain. She removed his hat and brushed some of his spiky blond hair away from his forehead. He looked a lot like her son, now that she thought about it. She placed her hands on his forehead and spoke the words required.
When she stepped back to observe his aura, it was a lovely shade of purple, yet it didn't follow the contours of his body. It expanded around him, and after closer inspection, she realized it was in the shape of an eye. This was only cemented when the center portion of the glow, where a pupil would be, turned black, before the whole thing faded away. A little shocked by this, she looked at one of the other staff there.
"You saw that too?"
….
The doctor working on Dha-deug was getting nervous. The large, muscular brute was brought in quickly, and he immediately began checking him for injuries. Having patched up the few external injuries visible, he checked the status of his internal organs. And what he found was disturbing indeed.
He was not sure how the scotsman had survived this far. There was such an abundance of the popper drug in his system, that it had actually caused a couple of the chambers of his heart to rupture. Not only that, but blood vessels everywhere had collapsed and ruptured as well. He had no time to do the aura ceremony, as he needed to save this kid's life. He rushed him to the nearest operating room, desperate to do something, anything for this guy. No kid deserved to die at this age from a catastrophic circulatory failure. That kind of death was a highly unpleasant one, but he had no idea if he would make it in time.
…..
Ceithir-Deug was brought into his hospital room and laid down on the bed that was there. The doctor took a moment to examine his body closely, noticing the several claw marks all over him. After neatly bandaging the huge bite mark on his left shoulder, she placed her hands on his forehead and spoke the needed rite. Something uniquely particular happened to his aura when it briefly became visible.
It started out normal, A regular glow of greenish shade. Then some orange started bleeding in and mixed, along with some purple. It all blended together, forming a murky brown, and just before fading, a light tan was seen beginning to creep in on the edges. She tilted her head. She didn't think people could have more than one aura color or have the color change. This was all a bit weird...
…..
Shiwu had been brought to the medical ward quickly. The emergency staff had rapidly bandaged the wound in his leg, binding it tight and neat. The nevermore feather had managed to pierce through his flesh, shatter the femur, and stick out the other side. Yet aside from that one injury, he seemed to be mostly unharmed, which caused the staff to sigh in relief. The chief examiner of the group walked forward and placed his hands on Shiwu's forehead, reciting the well known chant.
When it was done, he stepped back. Yet for some reason, the aura was not lighting up like it should. Upon closer examination, they saw a slight distortion around him where the aura should be. When the examiner had reached forward to try and touch Shiwu, his hand was stopped by some invisible force, and he felt a sensation on his skin similar to that of a horde of millipedes crawling over it.
"A clear aura that works, albeit strangely, even when unconscious? Who is this man?" the doc muttered.
….
Next came Seize's turn. Now this group of doctors were very concerned with the state of his head. The growing contusion on the back of it was not the greatest concern. Instead it was the fractured skull that was the most nerve wracking. After cutting open the back of his head, they pulled the skull fragments out of the brain matter as gently as they could. After grafting some new bone in place and trying to make sure everything is alright, they moved on to unlocking his aura. A new nurse volunteered to do it, and the doctor decided to allow her to do so. When she stepped forward, she rubbed her hands together with the briefest flash of a lecherous grin, unnoticed by the rest of the med staff. In her eyes, the tall kid was quite the looker in a dignified manner. She had seen the rest of the men and he looked far and away the most put together of them. She had plans for later… but for now she had to unlock his aura. She placed her hands on his forehead and spoke the words confidently.
Then she almost immediately staggered back. This boy had a lot of aura, and it felt weird as well. The feeling was matched by the weird event that had happened next. Starting right at his heart, a ring of pink glow rippled outwards, followed by a second one a second later. This went on a couple times before the colorful glows faded. The staff all looked at one another, before looking at the nurse in confusion. When she looked back at them, her face matched all of theirs: utter confusion.
…
Poor, poor Sautjan. The medical staff really had no idea what to do with him. First off, his feet hung off the surgery table by a couple inches. Nobody really had to treat a man of his impressive musculature or stature before, so the surgery squad had to fumble around with assorted supplies to form a stable base for his feet to rest on as well. Then when that was all settled, they took a look at his injuries and were horrified. Every single tendon had been strained in his legs, arms, torso, and neck. It seemed almost as if they were just the tiniest bit shorter, all of his muscles would have torn right off his body. As it was, they had to immediately leap in and start stitching the muscles back together again so the giant man wouldn't be crippled for life. As this happened, they had to use the defibrillator several times to restart his heart when the feeble beating stopped. Eventually, after almost several hours had passed, his heart was stable enough, and the muscles were sewn back together. After the skin was stitched back up, the head surgeon decided to unlock his aura. He placed his comparatively small hands on the mountain's forehead and spoke the needed verse.
Everybody watched in shocked horror as a cloud of color started glowing. It was a mixture of a dark mahogany and an icy blue color. It started off in a normal compressed form around his body like all aura should, but it began expanding and swirling outwards in a maelstrom. Unlike Ceithir's aura, It was not mixing and melding. Instead the two stayed separated from each other in equal portions. The spirals reached out like the branches of a galaxy, and they caused different effects when each color touched any of the staff present in the room. Where the icy blue colored clouds touched a member, they slowly sank to the floor with dazed smiles on their faces, completely relaxed. On the other hand, the mahogany colored clouds had a very opposite effect. Those that were touched by the darker shade immediately froze up and began trembling, fear overwhelming all cohesive thoughts. It was a primal fear, akin to that a cornered rabbit feels. The doctor overseeing the surgery watched as the clouds faded and the staff returned slowly back to normal. He tapped a message into his scroll, sending it to Ironwood. The general needed to know this immediately.
…..
Neunzehn was the final member to go into surgery. Despite being heavily unconscious, he was twitching and mumbling. After having restrained him so that the teen wouldn't hurt himself on anything nearby, the doctors began treating his nasty wounds. After almost his whole body had been bandaged, the doctor stepped forward to take a look at the poor boy. Despite his face being screwed up in apparent terror, he was a fairly handsome boy. His appearance was strikingly like the other boy brought in, Eins the report said? He wondered if they were brothers or something else like that. He placed his hands on top of the boy's forehead, trying to ignore the flinch the boy made. He took a deep breath before reciting the words he knew by heart.
He stepped back to look at the boy as his aura slowly became visible. A gentle yellow aura surrounded him, looking normal. That is, until a second yellow aura shaped identically to his appeared next to him and gently stroked his face. At the gentle touch, the young boy seemed to calm down greatly, sinking deeper into unconsciousness. The doctor watched on with a gentle gaze, feeling sorry for the poor boy.
….
Ironwood was seated in front of Tessera, the last of the conscious Ticks to be questioned. The others had not been particularly helpful. Otto seemed to give a more calm discussion than his other Italian counterpart, but it was clear his mind was elsewhere. The only new information he had gotten out of the man was the fact that he actually was the one who officially drove the tank, which of the three greeks operated what weapons, and that Three had designed all of the weaponry. Exi was completely silent, only giving Ironwood a look over before focusing on the wall again. Pente was a bit more talkative, but all he really talked about was the battle they had gone through. The different Grimm they saw, which members died and how, and the aftermath of the nuclear blast. This last bit of information caught the general's attention fully, and resulted in the military man's jaw slowly dropping as heard the impossible dimensions of the blast. He shook his head, remembering how casually Pente had talked about that devastating power. He refocused on the questioning at hand. He looked at Tessera.
"Alright, so I need to ask you about this. None of your friends gave me much information on the rest of your crewmates. Seeing as they are unconscious currently, I can not talk to them personally to ask them about themselves. Do you have any information on them you would like to share?" he said, leaning forward and steepling his fingers. Tessera gave him a relieved smile.
"Well, o fílos mou, I am very relieved to hear that they are only unconscious. However, based off of previous experiences, I have a few tips for you on what to do when some of them awake. Sautjan, the massive man… well I fear for him. This will be the first time he awakes without Muoi Tam by his side. This is going to make him very very upset. I would recommend having a small, bubbly person there for your questioning. He will likely bind with them as fast as he can. The sooner he has someone like that to be friends with, the sooner he will cooperate. It's… a quirk of his. He may be monstrous in strength and size, but the biggest part of him is his heart. Most of the rest will likely be fine when they wake up. Ni will likely spout gibberish and try to attack the first person near him for a total of ten seconds before he calms down. The Scotsmen will demand a heavy alcohol. Three will likely take a look around the room and immediately say everything that the doctors and nurses are doing wrong, as well as call out every nervous habit he sees and every visible slight action. Then he will go into heavy speculation about their backgrounds and future motives. He hasn't been wrong yet. And as for Shiwu…. Err…."
The general blinked at the sudden influx of information, but tilted his head when he trailed off after saying Shiwu's name. "What about this… Shiwu man?"
"Well, I hope for your sake, Leonidas wakes up before him or shortly after. As soon as Leo wakes up, send him to Shiwu's room. Shiwu has had a rather… difficult past, which involved heavy torture, drug induced hallucinations of betrayals, and other such incidents. No comrades barring Leonidas, will he trust, and he absolutely will not trust any of your soldiers or doctors. In fact, he will try to kill everyone in the room unless Leonidas is there to say the secret key phrase. None of us know it due to Shiwu's paranoia of betrayal, and no illusions you create will fool him unless it contains the key phrase. And while I hate to admit it, the poor man is fairly justified in his reactions. So I say as soon as he no longer needs direct medical care, get all people out of there and seal off all vents and windows in his vicinity, and remove all potential weapons from his immediate area. Do not, i repeat, do not restrain him to the bed. Do not send in soldiers, no matter how well trained. And as soon as Leonidas wakes up, send him to calm the paranoïkís kinéziko dolofónos. If you follow all of these instructions, then you will likely escape with zero casualties. Fail even one of those instructions, and there will be a few deaths in his wake."
General Ironwood narrowed his eyes. "I assure you, my guards are well trained enough to handle one injured man." Tessera grinned.
"I trust you, but Shiwu is much more accomplished than anyone you can send. After escaping a certain maximum security prison, he managed to not only evade a platoon of robotic soldiers hunting for him, along with a squadron of bloodhounds, but he managed to sneak back into the prison, kill the warden, all of the remaining guards, and free all the prisoners, then proceed to escape the prison a second time, evading the robotic soldiers and the bloodhounds a second time, and leave the country through the most heavily populated airport in the country. Now that in and of itself is impressive beyond belief, but he did that all while bleeding out through an infected gut wound he received from a prison shank he received willingly. Now, tell me. Are your soldiers really capable to handle a threat of that magnitude?"
Ironwood's look of shock was impressive. However, he immediately recovered with the most obvious response. "You're bluffing."
Tessera laughed. "Bluffing? I assure you, that is not the case. Ask any of the Ticks, the story is true. And if you don't believe them, perhaps you should ask all of the family members of the guards he had killed, seeing as he went and apologized to every single one of them after he had escaped." He smirked. "Or would you perhaps want to be in the same room as him when he awakens."
Ironwood shook his head and tapped a message in his scroll to the doctors sitting in the room with Shiwu. Shortly after that he received the message from the observer of Sautjan's surgery. His eyebrows slowly raised up as he read on. "What more can you tell me about Sautjan?"
"Sautjan? Why is that? Is something wrong with him?" Tessera leaned forwards anxiously, looking at the general's eyes.
"His aura is showing some incredibly abnormal effects." There was a buzz. "In fact, every single one of your unconscious friends have had something really odd about their aura. However, Sautjan's is most concerning."
"Hold on, back up. Aura? What is that?"
Ironwood sighed. "That's right, you're not from here. Aura is a manifestation of one's soul as a defense. It can heal you and protect you from blows, for a certain amount of time at least. Too many hits will cause it to decrease your aura reserves, until it breaks and you can be injured."
"So… its soul powered armor?"
"Yes, pretty much. When it is awakened, it causes the person to glow a certain color based on their soul. Then it simply fades. However, none of your unconscious friends had that normal event happen. For some reason, all of their auras did something strange. None of those things should have happened at all, and it couldn't be their semblances."
"Semblances?"
"A special ability unique to each individual, such as super speed or growing stronger for each hit you take. Those can only be used when awake though. So in short, do you know anything that could have caused this weird result?"
"Well… I have a theory. Has a nuclear blast ever been seen on remnant before, and therefore, radiation?"
"Nuclear? If you are referring to that massive explosion you had set off, I can assure you we have thankfully never seen such an event. Why?"
"Where we come from, thorough tests of these devices have been made, and there have been several accidents involving them as well. Certainly, one of the most dangerous parts of nuclear energy has to come from the radiation. Three can explain it in much more detail, but the whole idea of radiation is that the atoms that make up everything that becomes irradiated start decaying at a certain pace until it reaches a new stable configuration. The element in nuclear bombs breaks apart, unleashing untold quantities of energy and several neutrons, which destabilize the nearby elements. I suppose that the radiation left over from the blast affected their bodies as they ran through the fallout, causing these oddities. It seems the most logical explanation for it."
"Are we in danger from this 'radiation'?" Ironwood asked urgently, wondering if his men were at risk. "Are there other side effects of this stuff?"
"Well, i wouldn't need to worry about that, o fílos mou, as your men were too far away and the wind blew the fallout farther away. So your men are safe. However, to answer your second question, allow me to show you what radiation can do to people." He reached into his pocket, causing the guards to immediately point their guns at him. He held his one hand up. "ηρέμησε! Dear lord! I'm grabbing my phone." He said, slowly removing the black square device from his pocket. He opened it up, opening the photo album. He quickly pulled up black and white photographs of victims of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Chernobyl. One of the guards stumbled to the corner and lost his lunch, as the other ones looked just as ill. General Ironwood looked fairly disturbed.
"Does this happen often? This is… horrible…" He said, shocked at the horrific injuries the images had shown. The one that impacted him the most was the one of the poor child, horrifically mutilated beyond recognition.
"More often than it should…" Tessera grimaced. "The first two sets of images were from the only times that these weapons were used in warfare. The third set was from a complete accident that left a whole city uninhabitable for decades. These accidents have happened other times."
"Used in warfare? Against what?"
"Each other." Tessera said simply yet grimly. The room was silent.
"You mean to tell me that people used this against other people?"
"The only difference between the two opposing forces was their nation and ideals. All humans."
Ironwood sat back. He couldn't imagine what drove these armies to use such a devastating weapon on civilians. He shook his head. "How often are these wars waged? Are you at a time of peace?"
Tessera began chuckling. Then the chuckles evolved into full blown laughter. The peals of amusement, while melodic to listen to, gave all others in the room a chill down their spine.
"Stop laughing!" Ironwood shouted, smashing his hand down on the table that sat between them. "What is so amusing about that question?"
"With all due respect sir, not only is it nearly impossible to find peace in any country around the world at any time, but I doubt you can find a period of peace on Earth since it was formed. And even then, the way it formed was a brutal and violent affair. In fact, the lack of peace is our employment. At least, it was when we were still there. We were private contractors. Hired to wage private wars against others. Hopefully you can now see why I found the question of 'a time of peace' laughable."
If it was possible, General Ironwood looked even more shocked. A world constantly at war? That made Remnant seem like a vacation, even with the Grimm. The fact that these men were able to form a complete business off of offering their military might to foreign nations not only spoke of the horror of Earth but also of the veterancy of these soldiers. When he had seen the pictures of Nove with his tank, he never realised that all of them were taken at job spots. A lot was starting to connect together. The logo on the tank, the fact that a group of teenagers blew the previous record in the forsaken lands out of the water, the power behind the weapons locked up in the vault down below, everything was explained. He blinked. Silence reigned over the room. Of course, the silence in the room meant that everybody jumped out of their skins when the alarms started blaring. Ironwood looked down at his scroll.
"That's…. That's the room Shiwu is in…" Ironwood groaned. "Great. I hope Leonidas wakes up soon. I don't feel like losing too many men if what you say is true." He said, rising from the table and walking to the door. Tessera sighed.
"καλή τύχη σε σας και τη δική σας"
"What does that mean?" Ironwood asked, looking back at the greek.
"Best of luck to you and yours." Tessera said with a weak smile.
….
At the Atlas base's landing pads…
A bullhead had just landed down on the pad assigned to it. Fresh from Vale, but with more passengers than Ironwood had originally expected. On an unexpected whim, Qrow had arrived to Beacon university when Ozpin was preparing to head off, and after being informed of the situation, the drunkard immediately demanded he join in. Ozpin had approved of that, much to Glynda's chagrin. As if that wasn't enough to irritate Glynda, Team RWBY had seen Qrow, causing Ruby to rush on over to give him a flying hug. After asking what was going on, Qrow had told them the situation. Glynda was just about ready to smash Qrow into the wall with her semblance at that, but then her rage was redirected to Ozpin when he had asked the team if they wanted to come with them. The excitable first years had, unsurprisingly, immediately accepted the offer. When the riding crop wielding professor whirled on Ozpin to give him her two cents, The man had given her a charming grin and simply replied with:
"A hunch."
So she had no choice but to grab Qrow's flask and down a gulp of the harsh liquor, much to the unlucky man's amusement. The flight was a long one for the blond, so she was the first one to step off of the bullhead and onto the platform at the base.
Only to groan in annoyance at the first noise she heard when she stepped off.
The blaring alarm of the military base.
Of course.
The rest of the group stepped off the bullhead as well. Qrow chuckled as he heard the panicked tramps of feet and shouted orders.
"Sounds like jimmy's good little soldiers are freaking out. I wonder what has gotten their little panties in a twist?"
Ozpin sighed and sipped his coffee. "Well, we should let them got to it. Follow me and stay out of the way." With that, he started off at a brisk pace down the hallway to where he knew Ironwood's office laid.
…..
A little while prior…
Shiwu was not a man to take lightly.
Shiwu was also a man who didn't like not knowing where he was, especially when he just woke up. He also is a man who doesn't like being hooked up to machinery, especially when he just woke up. He really doesn't like being near people in overly clean clothes, especially, especially when he just woke up.
Needless to say, he is not a waking up kind of person. Not a bouncy "Zǎoshang hǎo" kinda guy. Not even a "don't speak until I have coffee" kinda guy.
No, Shiwu was more of a "I'm gonna tear out your voice box if you don't get out of my way" kind of guy when he wakes up. Doubly so when the above negative enforcers all come into play.
So needless to say, when he awoke in a clean white room, with beeping machinery hooked up all over him, and a man who definitely was not Three leaving the room quickly and locking the door, he instantly went into a blind panic. He shot upright in his bed and grabbed his head, taking deep breaths to calm his nerves. He looked around the room, then at the door, where he saw a couple nervous faces looking at him through a barred window. He investigated all of the loose objects in the room. His nightgown, the bed sheets, the mattress, and the pipes attached to him with needles. He rose up and carefully walked to the door before wedging the top of the bed sheet in the tiny gap at the top of the door, allowing it to hang freely down and hide everything from view of the doctors. Then he turned to the rest of the room and rubbed his hands together, thinking of the best way to escape from this room. He sat in the middle and began to meditate.
The doctors outside his room slowly dispersed from the door, leaving one curious doctor and the two guards posted outside his door. The hallway was empty except for those three, making them feel uneasy. The message from General Ironwood had set them all on edge, and they had no ideas on what the mysterious kid was planning. They had no idea of the true potential of the chinese assassin. They heard glass breaking and the light on the other side of the sheet went out. They jumped at the noise and nervously peeked at the darkened sheet. All of a sudden, two holes appeared in the sheet as two of the needles, still attached to the pipes, shot out and impaled themselves right in the jugulars of both guards. On the other side of the cloth, Shiwu exhaled forcefully into the pipes, causing a large bubble of carbon dioxide to form in the blood vessels of the two men, stopping the blood from traveling to the brain, causing both men to have a stroke. The doctor screamed as the two guards struggled briefly before slowly sinking to the floor. He backed up and placed his back against the wall as the needles retracted. He was breathing heavily, frozen in fear. The curtain fell to reveal no one on the other side. Suddenly a shard of glass flew out with perfect accuracy and opened up a gash on the poor doctor's throat. He clutched his throat desperately trying to staunch the flow of blood. Shiwu appeared at the window and flung one of the needles and pipes, but this time the needle was curved. It hooked onto his belt, and a quick jerk flung the doctor right up against the door. Shiwu reached through and gripped the front of the labcoat, lifting him up so they were face to face.
"Key. Xiànzài." He said. The doctor gurgled incoherently before pointing at the guard on the right. Shiwu sighed, stuck a blade of glass between his middle and ring finger, and thrust his hand straight forward, severing his vocal cords, windpipe, jugular, and even piercing the spinal cord. He retracted the curved needle and flung it once more, using his ridiculous training to loop the key ring. He pulled it up and unlocked the door, slipping out. He spotted an air vent and leapt up, grabbing the grate and pulling it off. It hit the floor with a clang, alerting the guards further down the hall. They came running over in time to see a foot wrapped up in cloth pull into the vent, leaving the scene of the murder of three innocents.
"... fuck." one of the guards muttered, promptly smashing the alarm button on his scroll.
…..
Ironwood strode through the halls towards his office with determined purpose. The report he had received from the guards was grim. Two guards and one doctor, murdered in a fairly brutal fashion to boot. The stories of Shiwu were seeming to be no mere fiction. He pushed a few buttons, only to groan when he received the message that Ozpin had arrived with some… unexpected guests. Things were not going that well. He slammed onto one of the numbers he had on speed dial. He held his scroll up. The instant he heard the other line pick up, he stopped.
"SCHNEE!"
"Yes sir!"
"I need you to go and contain this threat. Take as many soldiers as you can! Do not underestimate this man. If his compatriots were not lying, there will be many casualties no matter what we do. Keep it at a minimum please. Understood?"
"Understood sir. Anything you think I should know?"
"Do not allow your soldiers to split up at all. Now go. Seize him, and for Oum's sake, do not let him get to my office. Ozpin is there… with your sister's team, for some reason. I hope that is enough incentive to stop him."
A sound of a throat clearing was heard from the other side of the line. "Understood sir."
The line went dead and Ironwood rubbed his head. This was… not how he wanted this day to go.
…
Winter Schnee marched down the hallway of the base followed by thirty soldiers. She had not been pleased to hear about her sister being here as this problem was occurring, so she knew that this man… Shiwu, had to be stopped. She had already lost two men to him, and did not wish to lose any more. Ironwood wanted this man to be detained, not with lethal force. This would make her job more difficult. A beep from her scroll alerted her to the fact that a small cluster of four soldiers on guard up ahead had just had their auras dropped to zero, and she could only assume that it was the work of this assassin. Her pace quickened as her impassive face contorted into a determined frown. She mentally counted. Seven now. Seven casualties, and that was only the known ones. She drew her sword and strode faster and faster until she and her soldiers were sprinting down the hall. They soon came across a busted vent, several broken lights, and four dead guards underneath it. Each guard had a single puncture wound on their neck, right in the back. It was easy to tell that the spinal cord had been broken, but the confusing part was the air bubble that slowly was letting out through the tiny wound. Winter clutched her fist and looked back up at the busted vent. A glyph opened up behind her and a small flock of tiny, glowing Nevermores flew up into the vents, flying quickly down the echoey metal tunnel.
Shiwu, meanwhile, was not pleased. The first guard had dropped instantly, but the rest of them were a bit more difficult. He had to break the lights and forcibly stab the needle into their necks. It was almost as if they had a forcefield that went up when their guard was up. He had absolutely no explanation for that, but it was something he was able to bypass with a little extra force given to him from some mysterious tingling feeling that he had. Right before he would thrust the needle forward, a feeling like millipedes crawling over him came over him. Then he would stab, meet resistance for a fraction of a second, then pierce on through the neck. For some reason, these people were not nearly well prepared enough to deal with recapturing him. He figured that if they had caught him once, they should at least be able to succeed a second time. Then he tilted his head, listening as he kept moving. Due to his training, he was able to crawl through the vents without making a sound, something very hard to do. However, a sound was present. A sound not dissimilar to a flock of birds…
He looked behind him.
"...Wángbā dàn…." he muttered.
What seemed like a glowing flock of armored birds were streaking towards him through the vents. Now, he wasn't one to put a lot of faith into what he saw, but seeing as he had built up immunity to just about every single hallucinogen out there, he figured what he was seeing had to be real. His paranoia really had no bounds, so it was rather hard to find any poisons or other things Shiwu was not immune to. Seriously, the man refused to get any unopened drinks from anyone, even if the bartender was the one to open it right in front of him. Realizing that the birds had wicked sharp beaks and were gaining rapidly on him, he looked and saw a grate just a foot or two ahead of him. He leapt forward and smashed open the grate, spilling out into an odd room. The flock of birds flew through the hole and dove at him. Looking around the room, he noted the fact that it was a rather massive, almost warehouse-like room. High shelves ran throughout with various weaponry sitting on them, and at the far end, there seemed to be large walker mechs. He swore as the birds relentlessly pursued him. Figuring that he would need to find some way to destroy them before they could destroy him, he pulled out a short knife that he had pulled from one of the guards he had murdered earlier. He held it in a reverse grip, waiting for the birds to swoop down at him again. When they started circling him at a blazing speed, he growled. He watched closely, starting to swing here and there, expertly slicing wings off of the birds as he avoided their strikes. Soon only two birds were left and were dispatched with no small amount of prejudice.
"Xuèxīng de gēzi…" he growled, turning quickly when he heard the door beginning to open. He scrambled up the shelf closest to him, quickly beginning to dispatch the lightbulbs in the light fixtures. He had no idea who had sent those birds or how many people were pursuing him, but he needed every advantage he could get.
…
Ironwood was not happy. Currently, he was standing in his office in front of the much larger entourage than he expected. Qrow was not exactly wanted, but his appearance wasn't unwarranted. It was a huge deal that these people were making, so naturally Qrow would have wanted to get involved. However, it was the unexpected arrival of team RWBY that he definitely did not appreciate.
"Ozpin, why did you decide to bring team RWBY along with you? Qrow I can understand, but them? You do realize how big of a threat these people can pose? I can imagine the last thing you want to do is endanger your students. As it stands, one of these people have awoken incredibly hostile, and have killed seven people in a terrifyingly efficient way. Not only that, but it seems as if he can bypass aura! So tell me, why had you wanted to bring these girls along?"
"This person is a lone example. There is little doubt in my mind that the rest will wake up more peacefully. Also, if they are to be believed about their age reversal, then perhaps interacting with these four can bring them to a point where they can behave as much like average teenagers as they can. As of now, the rest of the world is unaware of their presence, so we should probably give them as best a shot of blending in with the population of a new more peaceful world. What information on the people have you received?"
As Ironwood debriefed Ozpin on all of the information, from the peculiar aura results to the explanation of earth and the brutal violence within, Team RWBY was talking amongst itself in hushed tones.
"So uhh… What do you guys think of all this?" Yang started off.
"Well, it's incredibly exciting! They are people from another world! They fought off a literal storm of grimm, surviving in the forsaken lands for hours! Completely unprepared! Ooh! I wonder what weapons they all have?" This was obviously the voice of the excitable team leader Ruby, who was overcome with childlike wonder with the whole situation.
Blake was again, quite obviously more hesitant. "I don't know about this… You heard what the general said. One of the men has already killed seven Atlas personnel, and I doubt that he is fully healed from his incident out in the forsaken lands. That's honestly kind of terrifying. I'm not entirely sure we should be here, or that we should trust these other-worlders…"
Weiss meanwhile, was distracted. "Excuse me, General sir?"
"Yes Ms. Schnee?"
"Do you know where Winter is?"
The other girls got quiet and looked over. "Winter?"
"Yes winter. My sister." She said, turning back to the general.
"Yes. Specialist Schnee is currently engaging Shiwu, the awakened assassin."
"WHAT?!"
….
Winter was wary as the door to the weapon storage room opened up and no lights were turning on. Already, she knew that this man was a skilled assassin, so the dark was probably not going to affect him too much. She had her men turn on the aura sensing goggles. If her sources were to be believed, then the man had his aura awakened, and there was no way he could be able to hide his aura. The men fanned out into an arc, the laser sights on their guns beaming out through the darkness.
Shiwu was up close to the top of the room, hiding in the rafters. He was naturally acclimated to the dark, having trained in the dark for a long time, and of course, the night was the most common times for assassinations. So in short, he was fully prepared to do this. He took the electrical wires he had pulled from the lights and wrapped an improvised rope around his ankle and held two knives in reverse grips. In the brief times he had to use it, he slowly adapted to having that little mental tingle so he could bypass these force fields everybody had. Focusing until he felt the tell tale creeping sensation of millipedes across his skin, he opened his eyes. He braced and jumped backwards, using the rope like a pendulum as he swung down in an arc. He passed silently down through the air and swung down an aisle.
The thing about not knowing what nuclear radiation did to auras is just that. Everything is unknown. So when it was recorded that his aura was invisible, the higher ups should have realized that this could potentially mean that certain equipments would not work. Such as these prototype Aura Sensing Goggles, ASGs, being unable to pick up Shiwu's aura. It was completely unexpected, which means that the soldiers had no idea what was coming, until a semblance enhanced knife slashed through the back of their necks. The deadly arc had swung down and slashed through the necks of seven soldiers in a row. When he reached the top of the swing, he slashed the cords holding his ankle and gracefully grabbed the next rafter. He crouched down again and paused to see the reaction. Well, that's fourteen total killed. I'm pretty sure I have their attention now. Shiwu thought to himself.
Winter Schnee was an interesting combination of livid with rage and mortally terrified. Seven of her men had just dropped instantly, and no one had even caught a glimpse of their quarry. She had 23 soldiers left now. They needed to change tactics. "Men! Swap to infrared vision. It's apparent we can't see his aura for some ridiculous reason." She pushed the button for her own goggles and watched as all of her men instantly looked up to the rafter where Shiwu was. She could see him now, this small, unassuming figure, holding two triangles of cold metal with something warm dripping off the tips. No real stretch of the imagination as to what that stuff was. Now that she could see him, she had lost much of her fear, replacing it with anger. "FIRE!"
Shiwu swore as he jumped behind one of the armored crates in the room. He was not a fan of infrared vision. Now he kinda regretted not taking Three's offer to surgically make him cold-blooded. He chuckled. That insane freak of intellectual nature…. He hoped he was alright. Now he just needed the easiest way to conceal himself from infrared vision. He scanned the room, spotting the mechs from earlier. He quickly started running towards them. He had no idea of how to drive a mech, that was more the tank bearing five's specialty. However, he thought, how hard can it be? He dodged from cover to cover as he made his way to the mechs. The more he thought about it, there was an easier way than driving such a mech. He opened the crate he hid behind. Guns. Nope. Next one. Ammo? Nope. Ok, maybe the next. His grin widened, feeling the familiar feeling of a cylinder with a pin. Upon close inspection, he saw a symbol of a lightning bolt on some with fire on others. Well, no time like the present to figure out what these did. He grabbed the pins of three simultaneously. He lobbed them over from his cover straight into the middle of the aisle in front of the soldiers. They had all grouped up after sighting their quarry, thinking it would be rather easy to take care of. So none of them expected the sudden three projectiles coming towards them, nor were they ready for the massive ball of fire and lightning that erupted outwards. The force was overwhelming for those closest to the blast, depleting their auras immediately. The rest of the soldiers were blinded by the intense surge of heat in front of them. The intense white that the level of heat produced when viewed through infrared had filled up their vision, completely blinding them.
Shiwu was completely caught off guard by this sudden eruption of elements, put decided to put it to use. He began lobbing grenade after grenade at them, keeping up a continuous blinding barrage in front of them. Once he determined that they were blinded enough, he rushed forward again with his knives. He almost laughed as he slashed throats and plunged knives into backs. Who did these people think they are? This was not how any military should be trained. By the time the remaining alive soldiers had been able to see him, he had closed to close quarter combat range. The soldiers quickly attempted to switch their weapons to their sword forms, but by that time, Shiwu had felled three more. But now it was time for the first real resistance Shiwu had met.
The first soldier swung his sword in an overhand, one handed grasp. Shiwu barely avoided it on purpose, and as the man stumbled past him, he slashed one of his knives across his side before spinning the other knife to a forwards grip and whirling around, driving the knife straight through the soldier's chin, piercing his brain. The second one charged him alongside a third, both of them swinging with a little more restraint, having seen the easy dispatchment of their comrade. He returned the one knife back to a reverse grip, parrying the two strikes with the shorter blades he wielded. He slightly redirected the momentum of the blades so that the men's arms crossed. In that instant, he plunged his blade straight down so that their arms were impaled to one another. The two men screamed at the sudden pain. Shiwu leapt up and kicked into a straddle-split, kicking both men in the face in opposite directions as he held the knife steady, splitting their arms from the middle of their forearms to their fingertips messily in half. He quickly spun his two knife blades within his grasp to fling them both into the heads of the men. He reached into his dressing gown and pulled out the remaining two knifes he had taken, in time to cross his blades in an X pattern to block an incoming swipe from the next grunt to step forward. This one seemed to be more veteran than the others, and assaulted Shiwu with a complex set of perfectly executed strikes. Shiwu stepped back repeatedly, ignoring the pain shooting up his leg. The bandages around his thigh had begun to unravel, meaning the bone was grinding a bit more than it should. He gritted his teeth, knowing that he had to end this whole spat soon or else he would undoubtedly lose. He launched his own flurry of strikes at the man, surprising him with the sheer ferocity and strength coming from the tiny man with a broken leg. He began to sweat as he recognised that every single strike was aimed to kill. Eventually, Shiwu broke through. With a slight tilt of his knife blade, his strike slid down the blade, causing the man to flinch slightly, from the lack of force he had been expecting. That flinch was all it took for shiwu to quickly twist his knife around and pry the sword from the man's grasp, flinging it across the aisle. He swiped forward with his knife, and just when it was about to slash the man's jugular open, a silver rapier flashed forward, blocking the strike. Shiwu swore. The leader had finally engaged.
Winter was so far beyond livid, she was pissed off. This man had woken up and immediately started killing without even a chance for Atlas to explain themselves. Not only that, but it was done with such a level of gruesome efficiency that her soldiers had not been prepared for. She had been staring straight when the grenades went off, causing her to be as badly blinded as the rest. By the time she was able to see regularly, she had witnessed the gruesome incident with her two soldiers that charged together. When she saw the last conscious member of her squad about to lose his life, she knew she had to stop this rampaging monster. She leapt forward with the aid of her glyphs, stopping in time to save the man's life. As the soldier retreated at her order, she pushed Shiwu further away from her. The two stood looking at each other warily.
"Why are you doing this?" Winter demanded.
Shiwu growled. "Gee. Lets see. I woke up in a place I did not fall asleep in. In my line of work, that is a very bad thing. In previous experiences, bad things always come out of that situation. Namely, questioning and torture. So why should I have stayed where I was?" He was humoring her and he knew that the longer this conversation went on, the more dangerous the situation became for him. He charged at Winter, delivering an expert set of strikes, which she easily dodged backwards from.
"That is no reason to continuously slaughter my men! Haven't you considered the possibility that we had helped you guys and saved your life?" Winter shouted, even more frustrated.
"Your men? Awfully greedy. I shudder to imagine the wedding reception bills" he smirked. If there was one thing those scots in the brute squad had given him, it was an appreciation for sarcastic one liners. It was a good way to make your opponent more enraged and easy to predict. Boy was he correct.
Winter was needless to say, quite infuriated. She yelled and lunged forward at an impressive speed, which Shiwu only managed to redirect at the last second. The minor correction to her course was enough to put the blindly enraged Schnee in harm's way, and he slashed at her side. Only to be surprised as she managed to avoid it, only receiving slightly torn clothing for her troubles. This alone told Shiwu that this was an incredibly high threat. He retreated back a short distance.
…..
The people in Ironwood's office were startled when a loud sound rang out from the General's scroll. Ironwood opened it up and his eyes widened, his face paling.
"What's wrong jimmy?" Qrow asked, trying to milk some drops from his flask.
"Well… twenty-nine of the thirty soldiers sent with Specialist Schnee have been completely incapacitated…" he stated quietly. Everyone had various reactions of shock at this. The four girls of RWBY all felt the color drain from their faces from hearing the news. This was insane. Goodwitch's eyes widened before becoming a glare aimed at Ozpin. Ozpin meanwhile, only raised an eyebrow to hear that number. Qrow started coughing in shock and almost ended up falling over. Their eyes all went to Ironwood. Weiss said what was on everyone's mind.
"Winter…"
…
In the darkened room, a lot had happened in the space of three minutes. The fierce sets of traded blows started becoming one-sided in Winter's favor as the bandage had completely fallen off of his leg. In a split second, everything changed. He leapt backwards and screamed as the bones suddenly shifted back out of alignment, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. He dropped his weapons and clutched his leg in pain as a portion of the bone stabbed through the flesh of his thigh. Winter stood over him, panting heavily. Shiwu looked up at her, defiance still bright in his eyes. He knew he should get up and keep fighting, but the rapier at his throat easily dissuaded any illusions he had of potential escape. He merely growled his frustration as she pulled a device from her pocket and put it up to her ear.
"General. I have the escapee captured. What are your orders?"
…..
Everyone in the office let out a tremendous sigh of relief to hear the news. Ironwood looked down at his scroll to see a new alert pop up. "Schnee, take Shiwu to room A113. It appears Leonidas has started coming to. Get him to give Shiwu the special code I was told he knows. Then bring that boy here to my office, making sure he is firmly restrained. I have some questions for the little bastard." The general growled out the last portion, his distaste for the murderer very very clear.
The girls of team RWBY all shared a glance at each other. This was it. They were going to meet a really dangerous man from another world. Who was apparently their age. How someone would willingly kill a total of 36 people in such a short time was unbelievable to them. While still excited to see him, it was more akin to how one would find the roman gladiator fights fun. A sense of gruesome delight at the impressively terrifying. Needless to say, they waited anxiously, Blake's ears twitching occasionally.
….
Winter walked along with Shiwu, the short man bound in cords tightly, only leaving the knees down unbound. This was entirely done for security precautions. The pair made their way down the halls to the room where Leonidas had woken up. Shiwu had been told that his leader had just woken up and needed to speak to him. That put him on edge a little bit upon hearing, but it was not like he could do anything about the situation. So he walked with this tall, slightly imposing white haired woman.
His opinions on this woman were varied. She had reacted way too easily to him taunting her, which could be dangerous against say, an opponent without a broken leg. As such, he widely regarded their fight as one that would have to be done again when his leg is healed. That was the only thing that he felt really contributed to his loss. Had he not been so tired and injured, he felt that this was a target he could eliminate without too much trouble. On the other hand, she was a high threat to anyone on her bad side, and he could only assume she was the one to summon those birds from earlier. That was another thing. This woman had some supernatural speeds. She should not have been able to traverse the distance needed to block his knife in time. That meant either the people at this base were not human, or she was a unique soldier.
Unknown to him, similar analysis of him was running through Winter's mind. She was honestly impressed with his improvised planning skills, and a bit amazed, though frustrated, at how efficiently he had wiped out her whole team. That was no simple task, seeing as it required a lot to take down professional Atlas soldiers. Also, he seemed to have near perfect vision at night, despite him evidently not being a faunus nor having any night vision gear like her squad had. The fact that their Aura scanners could not pick him up concerned her. There was a distinct report of having unlocked his aura, though it had been strangely peculiar. There had been no glow like usual, but there was a feeling like "a handful of millipedes" as the report stated. That seemed to be enough to let them know that while having been awakened, it was untraceable. She idly thought about what that would mean in context of an arena duel. Then there was the whole bypassing Aura thing. Shiwu seemed to have achieved his semblance and gotten the hang of it ridiculously fast. She knew that they had to keep an eye on him if he was not incarcerated for life as a result of his actions. Should his ability fall into the hands of the enemies, be they the white fang or something else entirely, he would instantly become the most dangerous man alive. She knew for a fact that her men had gone in with their auras up, yet they had fallen as quickly as those without. Obviously his semblance was aura negation, as the knives were completely standard issue. Then there was the matter of him appearing seventeen years old. Sure, she knew that he had apparently been older before he arrived, but that really did not change the image of a tiny teen the same age as her sister wiping out as many soldiers as he had. Oh well. This one needed an eye to be kept on him.
…..
Leonidas was groggy. He sat there in the hospital bed, rubbing the back of his neck. The man had been through a lot. It took a surprising amount of effort to fire his powerful railgun, and it was even harder to fight off three deathstalkers at once with his trusty machete. However, the doctors in the room with him had informed him that Shiwu had already woken up, escaped, killed a ton of people, and been recovered. He was currently on his way, which meant that Leo had to remember the incredibly complex code Shiwu had made him memorize to make sure that he was the true Leonidas. He felt a bit bad for Shiwu after what he had gone through in the past, so this was a small price to pay to keep him sane and safe. He was not looking forward to negotiating Shiwu's release from the authority figures in the building, knowing it was inevitable. No general, no matter how incompetent, appreciates when a squadron of his men are killed. So it was guaranteed that he would have to discuss the matter with the general… Ironwood. That was his name. He looked down at his smaller frame with slight distaste. Though it was obvious he had not lost any strength from his older body, it was going to be difficult to adapt to this new concept.
Adapting. That had always been a strength of his organisation, adapting to any inclement situations they were put into. So he guessed that they would have to deal with this one, despite it being much more difficult than anything they had been through before. Attempting to readapt to a brand new society while simultaneously getting used to a teenage body. Well, he shouldn't really be that surprised that they were the ones to get this bad luck. They have always had shitty runs, but they come out on top. It made him very proud of his men. He looked up to see Shiwu walk in bound shoulders to knees by electrical cords. It made him start to chuckle quietly, before cutting off after the evil glare he had received from Shiwu. He motioned to be alone with Shiwu for a bit. The white haired companion with Shiwu looked very hesitant to leave, but deemed it necessary. The rest of the staff quickly followed her out as Shiwu kinda hopped over with some difficulty. Leo quickly recited the long, complicated verse in chinese, causing Shiwu to instantly relax more. Then Leonidas glared at him with the legendary face. That face of disapproval that was famous among the Ticks for when someone did something wrong. Shiwu instantly knew he was in for an earful.
…
Winter had never heard such a stream of curses in english before. Or whatever those thirty other languages were. She was quietly impressed, and decided to save a few of them for later. What? She could swear at times, she didn't always have a stick up her ass. Yet as the verbal lashing wore on, she kinda started feeling bad for the guy. That is, until she remembered why he was receiving this oratory from hell. Then she smiled, satisfied that this leader was as displeased with the tiny chinese man as she was. After a while longer, there was silence. Then there was a quiet mumbled response from the small man. She looked through the window to see Leonidas giving the still restrained man a hug. The scene seemed like a familial spat instead of a scolding for a lot of murders. It brought a small smile to her face when she saw how close these two people were. However, it faded quickly when she found herself wishing that her family was as close as this group of teens. She stiffened and opened the door when she saw Leonidas untying him.
"What are you doing?" She demanded, storming in.
"Untying him. What does it look like?" He asked as the cords fell down.
Shiwu stepped back and turned to Winter. He bowed low, perfectly in half at the waist. "I am terribly sorry. I have had major issues in my past and panicked when I woke up with a needle in my arm in a bed that was certainly not where I fell unconscious. I know it does nothing to assuage the murders I committed, but I hope it can put some perspective on why I did it. I wish I can do something to make up for all the murders."
Winter really had no idea how to deal with this scenario. He seemed genuinely upset, but when she thought back to what he did, she growled. "We'll let the General decide." She spat out. She turned on her heel and motioned for Shiwu to follow. Giving one last look back at his leader, he took a deep breath and followed the taller woman.
…
Ironwood, Ozpin, Qrow, Glynda, and team RWBY stood in anticipation of Shiwu's arrival. They had received a message from Winter that said that Leonidas had removed the restraints and that Shiwu was not trying to kill anyone anymore. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief as that news reached their ears. Needless to say, despite being in the presence of four of the best hunters and huntresses, team RWBY had felt very unsafe when they had heard about how many had died. But now they were just quietly ready for the person to arrive.
Ruby was putting on a brave face, but she was internally terrified. This otherworlder…. Had wiped the floor with a huge amount of trained Atlas professionals. She had not heard anything about what he looks like, this information conjured in her head tons of images of a massive, brutish blue skinned alien. Or maybe green. Obviously someone with tons of muscles, towering over everyone who dared challenge him. This image frightened her, but hearing that he was apparently calm relieved her a tiny bit.
Yang looked down with a bit of pity at her sister. She knew the look that Ruby got when she was frightened but trying to be brave. Seeing that now made her feel kinda bad about coming. She was kind of excited to meet this monstrous person who had defeated so many soldiers single handedly. She had heard that he was under control now, so that removed most of the worry she had about him. She had her usual cheerful attitude about the whole situation.
Blake meanwhile, was completely horrified. Thanks to her past, she was incredibly leery about someone able to change attitudes so quickly, especially after having an unsupervised conversation with their supposed leader. This could easily have been a setup to gain their trust more easily. Her eyes narrowed as her ears picked up faint footsteps coming down the hall.
Weiss was not worried about Shiwu at all. Her mind was entirely occupied with the state of her sister. Relations were a bit of a sore spot in the Schnee heiress's mind. Her family had always had a stressful time, no thanks to the interactions between her father and the White Fang. So needless to say, she was excited and nervous to see her sister again.
There came a knock at the door that pulled everyone out of their respective thoughts. They all looked over as Ironwood called out to enter. When the door opened and Shiwu stepped through, the thoughts that went through all of team RWBY's heads were exactly the same.
'THIS is who destroyed the soldiers?!'
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Well, another chapter done completed. I had no ideas where to cut this off, so I figured that this would be as good a spot as any.
In regards to how the canon of the story is going to change, well, what do you possibly think? A group of highly skilled warriors from another world have arrived, and not a small one at that. There's no way in hell Cinder won't notice this. Likewise, there is no way in hell that they canon can continue in the manner which it does in the plot of RWBY. With so many new powerful players on the board now, the game is like a game of chess that suddenly had a ton of clear pieces dumped onto the board. No one (except me) knows where each one will go, but it will definitely impact any and all plots and plans that are made.
I really really REALLY need y'all who read this to respond. I have no idea how well I am portraying these canon characters, so I want to hear your thoughts about it. Likewise, if any of you notice plot points that conflict with each other, (politely) point them out to me in reviews.
Also, just little comments would be nice as well. Just me being selfish. Heheh.
So yah!
