"Penny, how are your heat levels looking? The lasers are causing a bit of scanning interference."
Penny paused her rampage of destruction to respond to her father who had set up his equipment in a mostly intact stone building surrounded by open ground before the carnage of the burned out half of the town.
"All weapons are just within sixty percent of heat threshold. Thrusters are within thirty. The Grimm are thinning out, should I stop to cool off?" Penny hovered well above the many disintegrating Grimm being held aloft by her half deployed flight module that had seen sparse use during its original installation on version two.
"Yes, you should be cooled down by the time team ANCT finishes their patrol, hopefully."
"They'll be back doctor. Besides they can handle themselves. They're not children. Just give them some time," Weiss assured the elderly scientist.
"Who are you? If you're more bandits there's plenty more where that came from! And how do you know who I am?" Yangs eyes burned red and her hair was on fire to Alton's surprise.
"Calm down. We don't want to fight you, we just stumbled on your little information gathering while patrolling the rest of this town for Grimm before continuing our mission. My name's Alton. My teammates are outside if you'd like to meet them too."
"Oh, you're hunters, good I didn't feel like killing anyone else. So where are you guys from? Haven? Shade? Maybe even Beacon, no I'd recognize you if you were from Beacon."
"Atlas actually."
"You're a long way from home then. You said something about my sister, where is she? Is she alright?"
"Ruby's in Mistral with the rest of RNJR. They're on a mission with your uncle right now."
"Qrow. Should have figured he'd be with them. Alright, if you can take me to them I'll stick with your team for tonight. The sun's getting low if I'm going to get introduced to your team we'd best head to your ship or wherever you've dug in for the night. Let me just get my bike," Yang walked out of the ruined house and disappeared around a corner before coming back around on her Bumblebee.
"Nice bike. My names Nadia, you?" Nadia introduced herself.
"Yang. Yang Xiao Long."
"Oh yeah, you're Ruby's sister."
"Hey she's got a prosthetic arm," Carla commented noticing the golden limb.
"Yeah, what about it?" Yang snarled.
"Hey no need to get up in arms," Carla held up her own prosthetic arm for Yang to see and gestured at her legs, "We're sisters in arms you and I."
Yang laughed before responding, "Sorry I got a bit alarmed, I've had a few people with adverse reactions to it recently."
"I don't know why people have a problem with em' they're pretty handy."
"I guess some people just like to point a finger."
"At least they're bold about it and don't get cold feet."
"Though they do need to get a grip on how to handle such things."
"Good one. I think we're going to get along well Yang."
"Me too. I didn't catch your name though."
"It's Carla. Carla Tan. My partner over there is Tiphany," Carla pointed over her shoulder at the green clad huntress.
"You don't have to call me your partner Carla, I'm your girlfriend now," Tiphany corrected.
"Hush, I may have been the one to ask you out but we haven't even been on that date yet so until then we're partners."
"Fine but as soon as we're on that date we're girlfriends."
"You two are cute together. So what's this mission you guys are on?" Yang asked Alton turning to him from her seat on the slow moving motorcycle.
"We're testing some military hardware for Atlas. The hardware is being tested back in the burned out half of town where our ship is landed," Alton pointed in the direction they were headed, "I can't say what kind of hardware but you might recognize it when we arrive. There are two other people with us you might recognize if I'm wrong about who built that arm it's only one. Who did build that actually?"
"Some Atlesian scientist named Geppetto. Why?"
"I was right then. He's here. He's the one that made Carla's prosthetics and the hardware we're testing."
"Neat, now I can actually thank him. You guys said you have your own ship so you're full fledged hunters then, right?"
"Technically yes. Despite never having been to an actual academy or having any sort of official documents. Wait, Alton do we have documents?" Tiphany answered Yangs query.
"Yeah we have documents, Winter gave me them last night. Our ship is called the Adder and it's less ours than Nadia's, she's our pilot."
"You guys haven't even been to an academy yet you're fully official hunters, either you're really good forgers or there's some fishy stuff going on here."
"Well we told Ruby so I guess there's no harm in telling yet another person a highly confidential Atlesian military secret. Alton you're best at explaining it," Tiphany decided.
"Well, to put it simply every Grimm we kill makes us stronger on top of the already abnormal strength we have thanks to a series of highly invasive government experiments. We are one of four teams, the others are SONC, ELMT, and GAAY. Don't ask about the last one Tiphany hacked the database and set those four op together but I guess it was for the best because all four of those guys were crushing on each other. But that's the short answer and the long answer is very scientific and full of words I can't pronounce."
"We're kickass super soldiers, secret weapons designed to destroy Grimm by the millions! Also highly perceptible to emotional trauma and psychological damage," Carla exclaimed with false optimism.
"Cool, so you're basically extra strong hunters that get stronger the more they kill. The world just gets crazier every day."
The five young hunters soon reached the ship and Yang stowed her bike in the hold. They proceeded to walk the short way to where Weiss and the doctor had set up some simple defenses for the night.
Alton opened the door and was greeted by Weiss who didn't look up from where she was attempting to hook up some mobile floodlights to a generator.
"Hey Weiss, we're back."
"Oh hey guys what took so lo-" Weiss stopped talking when she turned to see Yang coming through the slanted doorway, "Yang!" Weiss jumped onto the blonde catching her off guard with a surprisingly tight hug from the heiress.
"What? Weiss? What are you doing here?" Yang shouted in surprise.
"It's a long story. I was in Atlas, then I escaped with these four, then I ended up here in Mistral with my sister on her ship, then I was in the middle of a massive riot, then a huge battle where Ruby showed up with what's left of team JNPR, and now I'm here helping with this mission. What are you doing here is my question?"
"Oh, just chasing down bandits and beating answers out of them. I'm looking for my mom, she left for her tribe here in Mistral and I'm looking for answers."
"Hmm, well your uncle might have some answers and he's off on a mission with Ruby until tomorrow so you'd best stick with us until then. I never thought I'd say this to you Yang but I'm glad to see you again."
"Same here Ice Queen."
"I still hate that stupid nickname however. So why don't we go see how the experiment is going?" Weiss led the way up a crumbling staircase in the corner to the open roof where the majority of Geppetto's equipment was.
Outside they saw the equivalent of a rave taking place except it consisted of military grade laser weaponry and burning plasma. The amount of light emanating from Penny was almost blinding and the excessive firepower was certainly dealing with the Grimm well.
"What is that? I can hardly see it," Yang squinted through the light trying to get a better look.
"It's an old friend. Once these Grimm are dealt with I'm sure she'll be glad to reintroduce herself," Weiss answered.
With a hiss of releasing heat Penny's weapons shut down and she dropped onto the roof of the small building. Yang looked as if she had seen a ghost and in a way she had. Turning to Weiss Yang spoke one word, "Explain."
"It's Penny, duh."
"I realize it's Penny, but how? She died during the fall. Pyrrha killed her," Yang spoke in disbelief.
"Her parts were recovered and she was rebuilt better than ever. She's got top of the line hardware and she's ready to get back onto the frontlines again," Alton explained, "If you need a moment you can go downstairs."
"Yeah I'll do that."
Alton followed Yang down into the burned out building. Yang sat down next to a wall and laid her head in her hand.
"Oh come on. Not again. I don't want to go through it again," Yang muttered to herself before a sob racked her body, "I just wasn't strong enough. I couldn't beat him. And then he... he stabbed her. I didn't make it in time and this is what I get for it, a stupid metal hand. Then to add insult to injury she ran! As if I wasn't dealing with enough she left me there. Alone," Yang sighed and leaned against the wall and sobbed again.
"No. No, no, no. Don't hurt her! Blake!"
"Yang? You okay?" Alton touched Yang's shoulder.
"You son of a bitch!" Yang spun around and punched Alton in the jaw her eyes faded back to violet after realizing what she'd done, "Oh shit! I'm so sorry Alton. I don't know what came over me. Are you alright?"
Alton got his balance back after the staggering hit he's taken, "Oh yeah, I'm just great, besides the whole getting punched thing. What was that for anyways?" He rubbed the bruise that was starting to form on his cheek.
"Sorry, I got caught up in memories I guess. Flashbacks, you know?"
"Yep I've seen some bad cases of PTSD, most of them kind of my fault but that's besides the point, I know how to help. Take some deep breaths, let them out. Maybe punch something inanimate rather than the guy you just met. Kill some Grimm. Face your fears. Get over it. That usually works for the cases I've seen. Some meds could help too."
"I was taking some meds back home but I thought I was fine when I left, I guess Penny proved me wrong, eh?"
"You good now?"
Yang released a deep breath before nodding, "Yep, I'm good now. Why don't I go get reacquainted with the new and improved Penny?"
"Sure, just try not to punch anyone again, alright?" Alton laughed leading Yang back up the stone stairwell.
"Aw man, punching is my whole thing though. I'm joking. I'll try but I make no promises."
On the open roof Alton could see Tiphany had climbed the lone steeple of a long destroyed church for a vantage point from which the high pitched whine followed by a metallic thump and a flash of green could be heard and seen sporadically as she cut down Grimm from a distance keeping their location from being noticed. Penny stood next to a folding table where Geppetto was typing something into a laptop that was connected to an open port in the androids neck. Carla and Nadia stood with Weiss talking about something.
"Hey Doc, could I borrow Penny for a moment?" The doctor looked at Alton and nodded before returning to his work.
"Yang, this is Penny. Penny, this is Yang. I know you've met before but I've always wanted to introduce someone like that."
"Accessing databases," Penny zoned out for a moment before returning to full awareness, "Oh! You are Yang Xiao Long, I had to look rather hard into my archived memories from before my temporary death to find any mention of you. We were friends before, yes?"
"You could say that. You were more Ruby's friend than mine but you were always nice to her and that makes you a friend in my books."
"Yes I remember better now, we did not interact much and you were not present for my death yet you still seemed dismayed to see me again, why is that?"
"Just some memories that my brain likes to bring up to remind me of that crappy day. Mental scarring. Flashbacks."
"I believe I know what you're referring to, I too had some of these flashbacks after I was rebuilt, always reliving my last moments and all the terrible events that took place after while I was still barely conscious."
"Mostly I just remember losing my arm. Phantom pains are the worst. You've definitely changed since I last saw you. I definitely see some visual differences, you look older and you're taller, plus there's something else that I can't quite put my finger on. You've definitely had a ordinance upgrade by what I saw just now."
"Yes my arsenal has been drastically improved from what it was before as well as my flight systems having been improved but you never got to see those until now. Though the most drastic improvement in my opinion is that my aura actually functions as more of a shield now rather than just a power source. That was one of the main reasons that I failed before my aura was primarily being used for power rather than defense but now I have a secondary reactor for that."
"Sounds like you've definitely been improved. I know a bit about improving an old model as is the case with my Bumblebee, she was heavily outmatched whenever I tried to race her and I looked over the internals and half the hardware was outdated by years! So I took a little trip down to the parts shop and soon I was leaving em' in the dust."
"I've always wanted a bike. Nothing like yours though, something more off-road probably," Alton commented from where he had been watching the two catch up.
"I know a really talented mechanic in Vacuo he's the one that originally made mine before it ended up at a used car place on Patch. I sent him some letters asking about how I should refit her and he's apparently a really good custom vehicle outfitter. He's got everything from armored transports to speedboats. The one thing he won't do is airships though, he says they're too complicated."
"Maybe if I'm ever in Vacuo I can see if he can hook me up with a bike."
"I like the sound of armored transport. Personal tank anyone?" Nadia said intrigued by the conversation on vehicles.
"Yeah, he said something about working on a three axle SUV for some rich guy who ended up getting assassinated so now he's got nothing to do with it. I don't know if he's sold it since but maybe not. He mentioned that it had some real legally grey modifications on it which I can only assume he meant weapons which would make sense for some parts of Vacuo."
"I really like the sound of that. Maybe I'll have to join you when you see him Alton," Nadia pulled out her scroll and checked off something, "In other news there's an abso-fucking-lutely massive swarm of Grimm that'll be her in oh, twenty seconds? Maybe thirty. Yeah the Nevermore's will be here in a few seconds but the main swarm will be here right after so I suggest we prepare ourselves," She had barely finished speaking when the corpse of a Nevermore courtesy of Tiphany slammed into the ground with a wet slap.
"Got the formation leader! There's about fifty more where he came from though. Like shooting ducks in a pond!" Tiphany let out a squeal of glee as she aimed the rails of her weapon skyward and let loose a volley of shots each bringing down at least one of the massive corvids.
"Team ANCT combat positions! Weiss, Yang, Penny, you three just do whatever. Kill shit. I'm not picky," Alton shrugged before leaping off of the shabby tower and into the oncoming flood of Grimm that poured out of the forest.
"Now this is my kind of party! Come one Ice Queen, don't wait up," Yang jumped after Alton into the brawl that was forming on the scorched ground.
Weiss sighs before following the two hotheaded hunters. The Grimm are held back by Nadia's semblance allowing them to spread out and fully surround the temporary camp.
"Chief we're surrounded!" Carla laughed maniacally while holding an Ursa in a chokehold.
"So what? Now we can fire in any direction! Nadia let them come," Alton transformed Abbysus Ignis to its anti aircraft form that worked just as well for shredding smaller ground Grimm.
Carla transformed her great sword into its shield form and almost rode the wave of Grimm that surged forward as soon as the blue haired pilot released her semblance. A wall of dead Grimm grew in front of Alton and despite how quickly they faded it continued to grow at the rate he cut them down with the hail of bullets that came from his quad barreled LMG. Around the crumbling building similar piles of Grimm were forming where the young hunters had taken positions and not a single one that came close lived much longer after that. From her tower Tiphany was watching Carla's back as her partner waded through the hundreds of Grimm that were swarming through the ruined town. A trail of death in her wake Carla cleaved dozens of Grimm at a time with her massive blade that switched back to a shield every time a larger Grimm charged before it got its brains blown out by a well placed magnet slug. Nadia blew swathes of Grimm to pieces with rapid salvoes of rockets that definitely earned her weapon it's name. Weiss and Yang pulled their own weight and had killed their own fair share with a combination of Weiss using her glyphs to corral the Grimm before turning them to ashes with a cartridge of fire dust and Yang taking on the larger Grimm headlong and grinding them into nothing with a flurry of punches. Penny had finally finished cooling off and eager to gather more data joined the fray with her signature blades spinning around her. Grimm were slaughtered by the hundreds and it seemed the horde was thinning not even half an hour after the attack had begun.
"Something's up guys. There are pockets of Grimm that are just kind of disappearing I've got a feeling there's something more than meets the eye here," Tiphany called from her perch as she observed a creep, two beowolves, and an ursa disappear from the Grimm numbers.
"I can still sense the same amount though so whatever is happening they're still here," Nadia confirmed, "Wait there's definitely something up, I've got Grimm appearing from nowhere. It's like there's a- Alton did you bring any explosives?"
"Carla did. Why?" Alton called over his shoulder while fighting off an alpha beowolf.
"There are spawning pits in the ground here. They're most likely causing sinkholes that the Grimm are falling into and all this ruckus definitely isn't helping the rate of their production. We need to deal with those if this village is going to ever support life again."
"Understood, Carla you heard her get planting those bombs! Tiphany give her locations on those sinkholes."
"Sure thing Chief. You want immediate detonation, staggered, or simultaneous?" Carla asked holding up multiple pouches of putty explosives.
"Staggered, we don't want them all going at once and giving us one big pit beast. This way we'll just get multiple smaller ones."
"You're the boss!" Carla leapt over the Grimm that were rushing the fortified ruin to reach the first sinkhole.
In the darkness Tiphany caught glimpses of her partner near the sinkholes by the moonlight shining off her bionic limbs. Carla paused to rest on a partly intact roof directly in front of the rising moon and waved to her partner before going back to planting explosives. Tiphany turned away and shook her head trying to clear the blush that had creeped onto her face.
"That's pretty gay, Tiph," muttered Nadia from where she had climbed up next to the blonde sniper.
"Shut the fuck up."
"She's pretty cute though I don't blame you. Not really my type but I can see why you're attracted to her."
"I said shut the fuck up," Tiphany sighed and only blushed more despite her attempt to hide it by pulling up her hood.
"Don't want to talk about it? Your choice," Nadia turned back to the hordes of Grimm that seemed to have grown slightly.
A series of explosions rocked the tower and plumes of flame and rubble shot out of the sinkholes where Carla had finished planting the explosives. A second rumbling shook the ground even more and in the distance trees could be seen getting knocked over and torn from the ground.
"We've got goliaths incoming! Carla get back here now!" Tiphany cried from her vantage point above the battle.
"There're salamanders down here! They're coming out of the craters," Carla shouted from the midst of the Grimm horde.
"I fucking hate salamanders! Carla get back here you can't deal with them as exposed as you are," Alton particularly hated the reptilian Grimm because of their tendency to eat fire dust and rocks combining the two to spit molten rock as a weapon.
The herd of goliaths had broken into the clearing with a trumpeting roar adding another ingredient to the chaos. The largest goliath was borderline alpha and Carla immediately set her sights on the massive Grimm.
"I've always wanted to do this! Come on you giant bastard just slow down a bit and let me ride you," Carla ran alongside the stampeding Grimm before spring boarding off of a beowolf and onto the Grimm's face.
Using the beasts barbed tusks to steer Carla aimed up the goliath with the rest of its herd the rest of them almost miniature compared to the leader. The three smaller goliaths were skewered onto the larger ones tusks as it attempted to come to a skidding halt before slamming into a house and sending Carla careening through the air. Carla stumbled to her feet and wiped blood from a gash running down her left cheek. Glancing at her surroundings Carla spotted eight of the three dozen or so salamanders heading her way.
"Well this should be fun," Carla spat a glob of blood before drawing her sword and switching to its shield form, "Come one you fire breathing bastards! I'll roast you with your own spit!"
"Carla, get down!" Tiphany cried dropping off the slowly careening tower after it suffered a hit from a goliath.
A trio of slugs slammed into a pair of the salamanders one of them burning from the inside like a hydrogen balloon and the other combusting violently taking another with it. Tiphany muscled her way through the swelling Grimm ranks to reach her partner but was too late.
"Agh! My eyes! Damnit I'm already crippled enough, now this? I can still fight you, ya stupid scaly fucks," Carla had gotten hit in the face with a splash of molten stone from one of the salamanders who had been circling around her and burning through her shield.
"Carla hold on!" Tiphany managed to fire a wild shot taking down the last remaining salamander after Carla took out four of the remaining with a blind swing of her sword.
The last salamander had leapt at Carla before being shot and now lay smoldering in front of Carla who couldn't see the explosive Grimms corpse.
"Carla your shield, switch now!" Tiphany warned her petite partner of the impending explosion of fire a moment too late leaving Carla smoldering on the ground with her weapon a misshapen molten lump on the ground.
"Tiph, I can't see you but that's definitely your perfume. Since when do you wear butterscotch, last I smelled you preferred lavender," Carla smiled faintly through closed eyes.
"Quit talking you arrogant idiot, you'll be the death of me one of these days. I can't believe you just did something so reckless. Should've just run," Tiphany hoisted her blinded partner onto her shoulder where the smoldering huntress leaned and slowly limped toward their camp through the now thinning, once again, horde.
"Alton gimme some covering fire! Carla's wounded. It's not the worst she's had and she'll live but she can't see anything and there are sparks in her eyes, and not figurative ones either. Like literal electricity."
"That doesn't sound good, get her to the doc I'll cover you," Alton cut a path through the Grimm for the partners before covering behind them.
"Yeah that's definitely butterscotch. Seriously when did you start wearing this? It smells nice, you smell nice."
"Carla quit rambling. You're hurt and talking isn't helping any. And yes it's butterscotch, I tried it out today to see if I wanted to wear it on our date," Carla smiled at Tiphany's confession despite her own condition.
"I might have to cancel on that date, I wouldn't be able to walk you there if I'm blind. Then you'd be walking me and that's just inconvenient with my clumsy ass."
"Hush. We're almost there just conserve your strength," Tiphany slammed open the door and grunted lifting Carla gently onto a table that sat in the middle of the room.
The sound of frantic footsteps came down the stairs and Geppetto appeared on the stairwell with a worried look on his face.
"What happened to her? Ah let me see, burns, many burns. Weapon melted, chunks burned into hand easy enough to remove will scar permanently despite aura. Hmm. Facial burns, no stuck on rock however, lucky. Now the eyes, damn. All that work wasted. They went and ruined the eyes. At least now I can give back what they made me take," the stout scientist waddled around the table getting a good look at the burned huntress.
"Okay, first of all what do you need to do to get the metal out of her hand, and second of all what's with the sparking eyes?" Tiphany asked confused by the doctors quick talking.
"Wonderful you don't know. Not wonderful actually terrible hindsight on Ironwoods part. Your first question is easy, I need some water and I may be able to remove the metal as it is still warm if not I can cut it out. The second one, long long answer but to put it shortly during her surgeries there was a complication with the brain alteration part and her eyes had to be fully removed as they were too big for what they needed to do, I suggested we work around it and leave her eyes but Mr. Schnee insisted we remove them and continue and merely replace them with a cybernetic replacement. Unique case of removing a Faunus trait and replacing it with a human variant but I had to do it," Tiphany held up her hands to stop his story.
"Wait, Faunus? Carla is a Faunus?"
"Why yes, the majority of the experiments were to avoid complaints of 'humaneness' from the aristocracy. She had the eyes of a hyena and rather unique at that, very sensitive and capable in low light conditions. Also able to see wider range of colors than normal eyes despite hyenas being mostly colorblind. I objected to the whole idea, destroying such a unique example of Faunus heritage but the schedule pushed on and I was forced to remove them and replace them with subpar cybernetics. I hate that dull hazel, her originals were a beautiful bright green much like her mother. Back to my diagnosis, they're completely fried. But luckily the optic nerve is still intact and functioning," Doctor Polendina paused to open Carla's eyelid and glimpse the smoking metal and circuitry within, "I have ample parts to replace them even better and closer to the originals now, my expertise has been expanded and I will make them more organic with synthesized fluids like what I used for Penny's eyes. It will take me a few hours, maybe 8 tops so they'll be done and installed by the time we have finished here. I'm sure you have other questions but they will have to wait, the Grimm grow closer and I need peace to work. Goodbye."
Tiphany groaned and walked out of the ruined building. Shifting Fulgur Mortis to its flail form she stormed through the ever weakening Grimm to the Adder that remained untouched only a few yards away from their camp. Inside Tiphany found a bucket and filled it in the sink in the kitchenette. Tiphany came back to the camp to find Geppetto running a low heat blowtorch near the metal on Carla's organic arm.
"Thank you. I had to keep it warm or it would solidify and I'd have to completely cut it out rather than get it wet and peel off the majority of it," the water steamed on contact and the metal hissed.
The biggest chunk of metal crumbled and fell off and the smaller puddles peeled away entirely leaving small chunks embedded in the skin here and there which the doctor removed easily with a pair of tweezers.
"There we are," a timer went off, "Good the program has finished loading into the chassis of the eye, you can go now I will continue my work and tell you if anything develops. Your partner will be fine," Geppetto shooed Tiphany outside and closed the door behind her.
Tiphany rejoined the fight surrounding the small structure as it began to die down the Grimm came only in small groups and sparsely.
"Hey Tiph, how's Carla doing?" Alton stepped over the fading body of a beowolf and squatted down beside the blonde huntress.
"She'll be fine but apparently her eyes aren't real and the originals were removed when she was around four during the surgeries. The doc actually helped install the previous ones and after arguing against it in the first place is now able to do the original ones justice with proper replacements, and get this, she's a Faunus too! Her eyes were her Faunus trait, she had the eyes of a hyena and they were extra sensitive even compared to normal Faunus senses. So now he's trying to recreate that with these ones," Tiphany explained the situation to her leader.
"Well that sounds wonderful. My problem is that wasn't on her medical file," Alton shrugged dismissively, "Oh check out this thing I can do with my semblance now," Alton held his hand to the ground and activated his semblance focusing it on his hand, smoke began to rise around his hand and a hissing noise could be heard underneath.
"What are you doing?"
"I can get my hand moving so fast that the heat melts the dirt underneath it into an impure glass, see look," Alton lifted his hand and pointed to the glass flakes in the ground where his hand had been, "I figured it out earlier when I was running around and left glass footprints behind. It's super cool isn't it?"
"Yeah that's awesome. I haven't really tested my semblance in a while I wonder if I can do anything new."
"Probably but it would be best to try it away from the ship so as not to crash the thing."
Tiphany laughed, "You're probably right about that. Just computer manipulation gets boring though maybe something cooler will happen."
"Maybe full immersion into the system like not just looking at the code but feeling it. Or maybe direct control as if it were part of you," Alton suggested.
"You never know with semblances they just do whatever."
"Yep. So what do you think those two are talking about?" Alton pointed toward where Yang and Weiss were speaking in hushed tones on a pile of rubble.
"I don't know. Probably whatever happened before they got split up. There's definitely issues with their team especially as far as the terms of their separation is concerned. I definitely don't want to be anywhere near Yang when her partner gets back, well if she comes back."
"I've got faith in this Blake chick, she doesn't sound like the kind of girl to never come back especially something she's invested so much time and emotion into," Alton had heard little of the third member of team RWBY but he knew there was something more to her and her partner, Yang.
"Yang what time is it?"
"Hmm? Oh it's like five in the morning. Didn't realize the time had passed so quickly," the blonde brawler had briefly fallen asleep against a stone fence where they had sat to rest.
"Yeah. I'm still happy to see you Yang. It's been what? Two months? Three months? Somewhere in that range but I somehow came to miss you, Ruby, and even Blake."
"Don't talk about her. She doesn't deserve to be missed. She left us! She left me," Yang stared at her prosthetic forlornly.
"But you know what she did first? She made sure you were okay. I saw her. I was the last one to see her before she disappeared and she was right there next to you after Adam did that. The very last thing she said before she left was 'I'm sorry' Do you think she would have said that if she wanted to leave? Do you?"
"Why else would she leave?"
"Because she was afraid Yang. She was afraid of what might happen to you if she stayed. I saw it in her eyes. She was anything if not well thought out and she planned out everything she did right then. She looked back once before leaving same as I did. She looked to you. Not me. Not Ruby. You. She's coming back. Not now. But eventually. She'll figure it out on her own but you, you need to learn how to forgive her when she does."
"If she's so right then she doesn't need forgiveness. I needed her, don't you understand that Weiss?"
"Yes I do, more than anyone. I was trapped in a mindset my father had molded into me and I needed a kind soul to break it. I needed a good leader, someone who was pure and good. I needed your sister. And she came through, all I needed to do was forgive and let her do the rest and that's when I realized my place, on our team and in this life. You need to do what I did. You need Blake and when she gets here you need to forgive her and let her break you out of your stupid, self deprecating, self destructive mindset and bring back the silly, happy Yang from initiation," Weiss placed her hand on Yangs shoulder which Yang looked at apprehensively before speaking.
"I get what you're saying. I see where you're coming from but that's not at all how I feel and it's not at all how things will happen. Blake abandoned me. Ruby didn't leave you. I thought that Blake was my partner, my best friend, but I guess I was wrong because at my lowest and most vulnerable point she ran. She ran and she left me just like my mom. She'll never come back, not voluntarily anyways and even if she does I still won't forgive her, not in a million years," Weiss sighed at Yangs words but continued.
"Listen Yang, whether you like it or not you and Blake are partners and you'll have to forgive her eventually if you want to live a guilt free life. Trust me that stuff will weigh you down until you manage to work up the strength to throw it off your chest. Sometimes you need a little help, and knowing Blake she'll need help too because she's going through the same thing I'd bet."
"You don't give in do you? Let's just agree to disagree and whatever happens, happens."
"Agreed."
Nadia had found a spot to nap uninterrupted aboard the Adder in the roof mounted flak gun, the bubble window giving her a perfect amount of morning sunlight to keep her warm. Stretching out in the worn leather seat Nadia lounged before a loud clanking awakened her. Down through the rafters the ramp could be seen lowering to allow the rest of her team and their guests stepping aboard.
"Yeah this is a really nice ship. Custom I'd wager by the lack of official markings or serial number plus the absolute mashup of technology. D'you think Nadia would let me fly it sometime?" Yang asked.
"I don't know why don't you ask her? Hey Fangs, Yang wants to know if she can fly the Adder sometime," Nadia groaned at the nickname Alton used to call her when her fangs had first come in when they were six.
"I don't know, can she?"
"Can you?"
"Yeah I can fly an airship, I've flown bullheads and some smaller cargo craft, it can't be that much different."
"Good enough, scratch the paint though and I will end you Blondie," Nadia hooked her bare feet into the top rung of the ladder and stretched upside down hanging there for a few moments before dropping gracefully to the floor.
"Carla how are you doing?" Tiphany asked Carla who had a cloth wrapped around her recently installed eyes.
"Well there's a tingly feeling in my head that wasn't there before but I'm getting used to it. Besides that it's not really dark but more, um, the absence of any ability to discern if I can see at all. Also these burns are tender but that's not a major concern," Carla gently felt at where her eyes were beneath the cloth.
"Tell me when you hear a click or feel a small shock. If you start compulsively crying like when chopping onions is another good sign that it's worked. Once any of those happen we can take off the cloth and test out those new eyes. I'm rather proud of them and from memory I believe I've replicated the originals perfectly as far as looks. This is probably my best work ever, maybe second to that time I sewed a trainee artillery loaders thumb back on and it started working again after his aura kicked in," Geppetto chuckled at the memory of his wartime accomplishments.
"That is both disgusting and intriguing," Weiss commented.
"I'm inclined to agree with Weiss here," Alton called from the kitchenette where he was making rather simple omelets for everyone.
"If only my limbs had survived that explosion maybe they could've just sewn them back on and I'd be fine," Carla muttered wistfully.
"I feel you girl, I feel you," Yang pat Carla on the back.
Geppetto laughed, "Sadly it would not work with either of you as Carla, your limbs were completely destroyed, absolutely shredded like Swiss cheese. And Yang, your arm was severed with Adam Taurus's Moonslice semblance completely severing your auras connection with it. Such a procedure wouldn't work for either of your cases, but if day I were to hack of one of Mr. Goldenrods fingers or limbs and sew it back on and give it proper medical attention then it would probably reattach itself."
"Ouch! That'll be the shock, doctor," Carla shouted in pain.
"Oh there's a bit of smoke, that should not happen. Do you smell hazelnuts?"
"No I don't, just burnt skin."
"That is good, it means you don't have gangrene and that was only a pocket of smoke beneath the skin from your burns, nothing serious or even worth treating. Now let me remove this blindfold but don't open your eyes just yet," Dr. Polendina fumbled with the knot for a moment before pulling it off and standing back.
Carla sat there with her eyes closed and her eyelids and the skin around her eyes looking like a starburst of white on a caramel canvas with how the burns and scars were shaped. Her eyes could be seen flickering about beneath her eyelids causing the scar patterns to ripple. Tiphany stared at her partner intent on how she would react to the new eyes which no one except the doctor had seen so far.
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be. Can I open my eyes now?"
"Yes, go ahead."
Carla slowly opened her eyes earning a gasp from Tiphany at the sight of the slightly wider than normal eyes the majority of which was taken up by a bright green mixed with yellow and a thin band of white around the edge. The pitch black pupil dilated and went from perfect black orb to thin line of black through the middle of the eye as an innate reaction to the sudden bright light.
"How do I look?" Carla asked calmly.
"See for yourself," Geppetto held up a mirror in front of the young cyborg.
Carla looked at herself from many angles before looking straight into her own eyes with a look that bordered between confusion and recognition, "They're beautiful, they just feel right, the way I see with them, all the colors are more crisp and clear. It's like I've seen them before somewhere too."
"You have. Your own mother, your original eyes were so much like hers and I based these off the originals."
"Thank you. Is there anything else besides being able to see they can do?"
"I'm glad you asked because there is. If you check your scroll on your arm there should be three different colored buttons, the red does infrared vision, the green does night vision which you would have had naturally, the black one overlays a HUD which highlights allies in green and known enemies in red with unknown targets in grey as well as marking the aura of anyone with a scroll in our network. Penny has something similar and uses it in most combat situations and finds it extremely useful. There's also a compass to point out whatever objective you have currently. You can change and modify this heads up display however you like if you wish."
Carla pressed each button in turn and marveled at the results, "Hmm that's strange, I can't seem to see Weiss with the infrared," Weiss only glared at Carla's joke, "But besides that these are awesome and I hope that they don't get messed up. Tiphany what do you think of them?"
Tiphany glanced away and then looked back at Carla's wide eyes that stared at her intently, "Well, uhm, they're very pretty. They're very useful too."
"Thanks Tiph," Carla's eyes went wide for a moment before she began to cry. "I just realized, my sword got destroyed. Oh my beautiful, wonderfully sharp sword! What will I do without a weapon? I'm useless now!"
"There, there. We can go shopping for parts to make you a new weapon even better than Fidellis Bellator," Alton reassured her.
"Better? Than Fidellis Bellator? Fat chance. But it's a chance I'm willing to take because there's no way I'll be able to make it again mostly because I built it in one sitting and completely forgot to make schematics."
"I suggest adding some range this time but still something suiting of your style," Nadia suggested from her perch in the flak gun.
"Like a shotgun!" Yang chimed in brandishing Ember Celica.
"That could work, and since my whole fighting style has changed with these new legs I'll need to stay more mobile so no shield this time. Okay maybe shield but a small shield. I'm liking the look of a cleaver for this too. Yeah we need to go parts shopping after Tiphany and I have our date. How's Thursday sound to y'all?"
There were no objections from the other three who would be going.
"Are we done with this trash heap of a town?" Nadia asked from her perch.
"Yes our mission is done. You all will receive payment from the villages inhabitants by tomorrow. Ms. Xiao Long I believe you're flying us home?"
"Yep that's right!"
"I don't trust her I'm getting in the copilot seat to make sure nothing goes wrong with my baby," Nadia patted the hull of her ship lovingly.
"Speaking of your 'baby' do you think Yang should put her emblem with mine on the nose?" Weiss asked Nadia.
"Yeah, sure, why not? Ask Ruby if she wants to add hers too."
"Already planning on it."
"Now let's blow this pop stand!" Yang exclaimed while hopping into the pilots seat.
The Adder took off into the orange morning sky leaving a reclaimed village in its wake.
Authors notes:
Penny's packing some serious heat. Literally.
Yang is shook. This random guy shows up right after a fight and knows who she is? I'd be surprised too.
Company is always welcome in the dangerous wilds of Remnant.
Yang and Carla are already friends because of puns. Let that sink in.
Weiss "don't touch me" Schnee
Seeing someone you're sure died and apparently did but came back has got to bring back some bad memories.
Alton got fucking rekt.
"Just try not to punch anything"
*wink wonk*
This isn't your average few dozen beowolves Grimm pack this is a horde of tens of thousands that have been stalking the area for weeks.
Secret Grimm hole! Secret Grimm hole! In the ground! Secret secret secret secret Grimm hole!
Tiphany has the super gay and Nadia teasing isn't helping.
Zero to a hundred real quick.
Riding a goliath, I totally didn't get that from some other fic *cough* Downward Spiral *cough*
Carla your pyromaniac is showing.
Wait no! Not like that!
Sick burn.
The big reveal! Carla is a Faunus too. Her trait was surgically removed however. But now she's getting it back. Kind of.
Oh man this night is lasting a long time, aaand it's dawn.
Cool semblance upgrades because they just keep getting stronger.
Weiss is the biggest bees supporter and won't rest until her otp happens.
Fucking emotions.
Nadia, master of awkward sleeping positions.
Yang can fly an airship in canon, Thanks Grimm Eclipse.
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