"Ruby!"
The girl with the scythe, who must have been Ruby, approached Penny. "We came as soon as we saw the smoke. Are you alright?"
"Yes," Penny nodded. "I am ninety-two percent undamaged, presently working on the remaining eight percent."
"You, um…" Cortana interjected, "know each other?"
"This is Ruby. She is my best friend. She is the one I told you about a minute ago."
"I see." She extended her hand. "Cortana Halsey, UNSC Infinity."
The girl returned the gesture. "Ruby Rose, second-year Huntress at Beacon Academy." She paused. "…UNSC?"
"United Nations Security Council. It's a military government based in space."
"Ah…"
"They came on a space ship!" Penny said excitedly. "It's malfunctioning, so they stopped for repairs on Remnant, of all places!"
"I'm not… sure… how to respond to… that." Ruby said tiredly.
"…Is something wrong, Ruby? You seem distressed."
"I'm fine. I've just had a rough day."
"It's about to get worse," Cortana said, pointing to the large aggressor, who seemed to have finished with Tex and Washington.
"You two annoy me," he said, raising his saw.
He brought it down, getting deflected by the girl with black hair. "We'll take care of him," she called as the girl in white moved to assist.
"Ah, the Schnee girl." He rolled his shoulders. "Perhaps you'll do better this time."
He swung his saw, sweeping just past the two girls as he twisted straight into a back fist. The one in white ducked, jabbing him repeatedly with something akin to a rapier. "Can they handle him?" Wash asked once he'd regrouped by Penny.
Ruby nodded, but still crossed her fingers when the 'Schnee girl' got kicked away. "They… should be fine."
/-/
Chief wasn't making any headway whatsoever. This woman was smaller and faster than most people he'd fought previously, and she took punches like a sponge did water. He was certain he was landing hits - he could hear pained grunts - but she didn't stop for anything. Come on, he thought. You ended a war and destroyed the Halo array, and you're going to lose to a small woman with feathers? …Feathers? What?
A second look confirmed that the woman, indeed, seemed to have almost-black feathers covering her shoulders and part of her hair. This isn't real, he tried to convince himself, still unused to the idea. This is all some nightmare caused by being around those Reds and Blues. The woman landed a solid kick to Chief's cheek, much harder than should be possible for someone of her size. No, he groaned, this is real.
/-/
Neo accompanied Maine through the halls of the ship, searching up and down for Maine's weapon. ["I don't see what's so special about it,"] Neo shrugged. ["Some rusty old grenade launcher with a bayonet."]
["Sentiment,"] Maine harrumphed. ["Had it forever. You wouldn't understand."]
["Oh, but I do!"] The girl patted her umbrella affectionately. ["Stoic Parabrella and I have been together since I met Mr. Torchwick, all the way back to when I could talk."]
["You talked too?"]
Neo nodded. ["When I was little -"]
["Littler."]
["…When I was little, I was on my own on the streets of Vale. I was cold, hungry, dirty, and alone. Then Mr. Torchwick found me."] She smiled, tapping her finger to her chin in thought. ["I believe I was rooting through his garbage that night. A cat had scratched my arm, and I'd tied it off with part of my dress."]
Neo continued to walk a good six paces before she realized that Maine had stopped. She turned around, finding him looking into a window, his eyes dark. Standing on the tips of her toes, Neo saw just what had upset the titan: on a lab table inside sat a few circles, a curved blade, and a couple of rectangles, disassembled and being examined. ["…Little girl,"] Maine growled, marching to the door and smashing the panel to open it, ["get back."]
Neo politely obliged, opening her umbrella in front of her for protection as Maine entered the lab. Several shouts and a couple of roars came out of the resulting ruckus, and one engineer crashed through the window in a bloody pulp. When the commotion died, and probably the examiners as well, Maine exited, holding the dismantled remains of his bladed grenade cannon in his arms. Neo tapped him on the elbow. ["…I can take us back to the others if you don't feel like walking."]
Maine nodded as he removed the shirt he'd been wearing, stuffed the mechanisms inside, and hoisted the makeshift bag over his shoulder. ["…Let's go."]
/-/
Team RWBY set to work repelling the White Fang. As Weiss and Blake took care of the big bad guy, Yang decided to assist the big good guy with the terrorist captain. She punched the faunus extremist, who recoiled momentarily before looking at her. "The loudmouth," she jeered. "The boss doesn't speak too highly of you and your friends."
"You and your friends need to leave right now," Yang said, taking a boxer's stance. "Otherwise, I can't guarantee your safety."
The big one looked confused. "Do you two know each other?" he asked.
"No." Yang smiled. "It's just my job to pummel her."
"I beg you to try!" The aggressor lunged, opting for a flying kick that was instantly countered by the monster to Yang's left. Grabbing her leg, he turned and slammed her against the ground.
Yang blinked. What had just happened?
"I think I can handle myself," the hulking man said. "Master Chief Petty Officer of the UNSC, Spartan-117."
"Uh… Oh! Yang Xiao Long, second-year huntress in training, Beacon Academy. I'm, uh… gonna take care of the others now." She looked over to another group of White Fang. They'll do.
/-/
In the meantime, Ruby was picking out intruders from the perimeter, zipping around the building and swinging Crescent Rose around her person. It wouldn't be enough to break through their auras - she never could do that in one swing - but it would keep them down for a while.
She looked over at her teammates; Yang was decimating a group of bad guys while Blake and Weiss held their own against a giant with a chainsaw. Penny sat safely behind a few crates with Miss/Mrs. /Ms. Halsey and a handful of the other aliens (for lack of a more accurate term).
She slid to a halt to see what kind of damage she'd done behind her. A couple dozen White Fang lay unconscious in her wake as she nodded. And now the tricky part… Ruby slammed her scythe's blade into the ground, pivoting to point at the fanatic lieutenant. "Just keep him still," she whispered.
Ruby fired, the shot impacting the berserker's arm and forcing the chainsaw out of his hand. Weiss found the opportunity to freeze him to the ground, and Yang launched one of the offenders into him.
The one Chief had slammed earlier rose back to her feet and answered her headset. "…Roger… Got it." She waved to the door, shouting "Retreat! Everyone fall back now!"
The remaining White Fang complied, exiting hastily through the various breaks in the walls. Yang and the Chief attempted to catch as many as they could, but still many escaped, including the captain and giant lieutenant. Once the dust settled, Yang felt compelled to shout out of one of the holes, "Yeah, you'd better run! And don't come back!"
When the Blood Gulchers, Team RWBY, and etcetera gathered back around, Sarge was the first to speak. "Does anybody know what the hell just happened?"
"The White Fang attacked us at 16:13," Penny answered. "A squadron of roughly 40 members came and went in a matter of twelve minutes and thirty-seven seconds." She paused. "Total damage comes up to 710,000 lien; we were fortunate the attack did not leave this room."
"Why is this girl so goddamn robotic?" Tucker asked.
Ruby shuffled her feet, looking around the complex. "I'm certain there's a totally reasonable explanation."
General Ironwood and Commander Lasky entered. The former seemed more irritated than anything, and the latter seemed confused. "What just happened?" Ironwood said.
"That's just what Sarge said!" Grif responded.
"Damages have been cataloged, General Ironwood," Penny reported. "No major casualties; nothing seems out of place at the moment."
"That's weird," Ruby pondered. "Why would the White Fang go through the trouble of attacking this place if they weren't gonna take anything?"
"Well," Wash guessed, "a bunch of aliens just landed on your planet, so maybe they caught wind of that?"
"We weren't exactly covert," Simmons said. "We nearly crashed; this dock isn't built for frigates."
"Firstly, it's a warship," Cortana corrected, "not a frigate. Second, none of them made it close to the ramp. The closest was the big one, and that was still almost twenty meters."
"Why do bad guys always have big cronies?" Tucker asked. "First Freelancer with Maine, now the... White Fang?"
A thought occurred to Yang as she spoke up. "Neo!"
"What?" nearly everybody asked.
"Roman, the one who probably orchestrated this whole attack," Blake explained, "he has this little woman named Neo constantly at his heels. She could have gotten into your ship!"
"How?" Lasky asked. "Getting on the Infinity is near impossible without proper clearance."
Weiss crossed her arms. "Not if you can teleport."
"The fuck?" Tucker half-yelled. "Is everyone on this planet made of magic?"
"No," Blake said, puzzled by the accusation.
"Well, I'm not convinced," Lasky said. "No offense, but your planet doesn't seem advanced enough to develop instantaneous travel."
"So," Cortana summed up, "the White Fang have someone who can teleport without the use of special equipment. Is she able to transport other people as well?"
Yang nodded, and Chief bolted up the ramp almost immediately. "Chief!" Washington, Tex, Lasky, and Cortana chased after him. It took them a total of twelve minutes to find him in the brig. The cells that had been holding their newest prisoners, even the heavy restraints on the back wall where Chief stood, had been cut open, and the Freelancers were nowhere to be found.
/-/
"So, here's where we stand," Cortana said once she and the others were back. "The former director of Project Freelancer is no longer in the Infinity brig, nor are Carolina, Maine, or the Dakota twins. Someone, presumably this 'Roman' person, is suspect prime for their escape."
" 'Presumably?' " Yang contested. "He's in charge of the guys that we just got through repelling."
"So we're on an alien world," Tucker picked up, "our ship is busted, magic exists, and the really, really bad guys we just went through hell to put away are loose again."
Chief nodded. "Even if we get the ship back in working order, we can't allow Dr. Church and his team remain on this planet."
"So we're fucked?"
"That's what it sounds like," Lasky confirmed, "At least until such time as we can properly assess our new allies." He turned to the General. "That is, if you're willing to help us?"
Ironwood thought a moment. "I'll make you a deal, Commander: I'll commit my troops to fighting the White Fang and their new friends as long as it takes you and your troops to put the Freelancers back into custody."
"Sounds a little like you don't want anything to do with us."
"The safety of the populace is my highest priority right now, and I doubt five new delinquents will be able to spread farther. Do we have an agreement?"
"I suppose we do, General." Lasky shook the general's hand. "Where should we begin?"