Ladies and gentlemen! We have hit double figures for the chapter count!
*Applause*
While I am the one keeping this story up and running, I owe so much to all of you readers and followers! Without you guys motivating me, I would have given up on this story ages ago!
So from the bottom of my heart, thank you all!
Enough sentimental stuff though! Onwards!
"And that, boys and girls, is why you should never fight a Nevermore after drinking a mug of Professor Oobleck's coffee."
It was Professor Port's class, about half way through the lesson. That story though, was enough for Team RWBY and X already!
Most of them were standing there, jaws dropped at the story they just heard. Most of their faces had turned pale white as well.
Weiss had decided to go one further and had promptly collapsed, the heiress lying rigid on the floor, shivering slightly with panicked eyes.
"I REALLY did not need to hear any of that." Yang said, shaking her head as she came back to reality.
She looked to her little sister, still frozen with... disgust? Fear? Something like that anyway. Yang waved a hand in front of Ruby's face, trying to get some sort of reaction. No such luck however, and it was the same story with Blake. Her cat like instincts kicking in, making her dig her nails into the desk.
"How you holding up X?"
…
"X?"
X was staring blankly at the professor, his pupils shrunk. Without looking away, he pressed a few buttons on his wrist.
MEMORY FROM PAST 30 MINUTES HAS BEEN DELETED.
His pupils returning to normal, X looked around the room in confusion.
"Huh, how did we get here? You okay Ruby? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."
Yang grumbled to herself. "Lucky duck."
"Umm... is Weiss alright down there?"
The tannoy pinging got the attention of the class.
TEAM RWBY AND X TO THE HEADMASTER'S OFFICE. TEAM RWBY AND X TO HEADMASTER'S OFFICE PLEASE.
Ruby and Blake turned to Yang.
"What? Just because we get called to see Ozpin, you think I did something? I am shocked and appalled!"
Yang turned away, her arms crossed in a mock huff. A few moments later however, a large amount of dust crystals fell out of her bag, along with some thumb tacks, feathers and super glue.
Yang opened one eye and saw this, looking at her friends sheepishly.
"I never said I wasn't going to do something. Just that I hadn't dome anything yet."
"In any case, we better get going." Ruby said. "Someone get Weiss and lets go!"
Yang then proceeded to go over to Weiss, still lying on the floor, and carry her over her shoulder in a fireman's lift.
Blake tapped Yang on the shoulder. "That's not what Ruby meant by..."
"It works doesn't it?"
Still feeling too ill from the last lesson to argue with her, Ruby led her team along the corridors towards the elevator to Ozpin's office.
"So, if Yang didn't do anything, why do you think Ozpin is looking for us?" X asked.
"Much as I hate to say it, when we get called to him for something, its not usually good news." Ruby admitted.
"It could just be a mission, Rubes." Yang tried to cheer up her sister.
"Or maybe they found something out about your past, X." Blake hypothesised.
"Well, we'll find out soon enough. Hop in girls!" Ruby pointed heroically to the golden lift. "Oh and X too!"
As the lift ascended up through the glass shaft, the girls and X could get a clear view of the city. The normal beauty however, was ignored as they all saw something in the distance they didn't like the look of.
"What is that?" Yang asked.
"Smoke, something big is going down, but where?"
"If you put me down, I might be able to tell you!" An irate Weiss said.
"Ah, snowflake is awake!" Yang chirped, putting the heiress down.
Weiss, let herself be placed back down and grumpily dusted off her dress, several strands of Yang's hair covering it. She was just about to scold Yang when she looked out of the shaft, her mouth agape in shock. She pressed her hands against the window, staring in disbelief.
"There is only one business in that area: Schnee Robotics."
"Someone is attacking the robot factory? Who would do that?" X asked.
"If I had to guess, I'd say the White Fang. Any terrorist group would want their hands on some of Schnee's cutting edge tech!" Yang answered.
Blake however, had something to say. "I know about the White Fang. They may be well known but I'm pretty sure they don't have the resources to assault a place like Schnee Robotics."
They were so busy looking out at the smokey battlefield, that the Team did not notice the elevator door had already opened.
"I see you have already figured out why I called you to see me."
Turning around, the team could see Professor Ozpin, sat behind his desk with a very battle weary looking Team JNPR in front of him, minus Ren.
"Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora! When did you guys get back?" Ruby joyfully ran up and hugged Nora, who was all to happy to return the gesture.
"And what happened to you? You look like you've just fought off an army!" Blake asked as she saw the state of her fellow team.
Ozpin answered the query. "Team JNPR has just been debriefing me on their last mission. They had to take an unexpected detour to protect Vacuo from an attack. But not from any foe we have seen before."
Pyrrha took over. "We encountered some of the ancient machines known as Reaverbots."
Yang was puzzled. "Well, that's nothing new. Those junk piles have been wandering around for ages. Ever since the first ruins were discovered."
"This time was different." Jaune added. "They were co-ordinated, aiming for a target. Something no one who has fought the Reaverbots claims to have seen before."
"They also had a leader. A robot unlike any we have seen in all our battles, massively powerful." Pyrrha finished.
"How powerful are we talking here?" Blake asked with interest.
"You remember our battle, at initiation, with the Death Stalker?"
The girls nodded.
"Well, this monstrosity was able to fell it with a single blow."
Understandably, Team RWBY was somewhat taken aback by the statement. Had it come from any other team, they would have thought they were lying or exaggerating. To hear such a claim from their closest friends was a shock to say the least.
"There is one other matter to discuss." Ozpin said.
"That robot." Jaune continued. "It was looking for something. When it killed that Grimm, it took something from it."
"Its essence." Pyrrha said.
"That is why I called you here too, X. You will of course be helping to defend the robot factory, but I wanted to ask you this first. Tell me, do you remember anything like that robot that JNPR faced? It's ability to extract Grimm essence?"
X shook his head sadly. "I wish there was sir. But even looking through all of my memory files, I cannot find anything about that."
Ozpin sighed slightly. "I understand. We shall look into this in detail later. For now, please head to the factory and repel the attackers."
"Roger." X replied.
"As for you JNPR. I would recommend a visit to the medical bay. Ren is already down there, though he will be fine soon enough."
"Of course sir." Pyrrha politely acknowledged. "Good luck girls, and you too X."
"Give 'em hell!" Nora said, punching X's shoulder.
"Alright team!" Ruby ordered. "Let's move out!"
Schnee Robotics – Main Entrance
Leaning against a now ruined wall close to the entrance of Schnee Robotics, a young staff member tried to catch her breath. As she tried to regain her composure, she took a look around.
The entire area was devastated. Small fires blazed out all over the grounds, mesh fencing was torn to shreds and pieces of the main building and nearby structures fell down at random intervals. Along with the fires crackling, she could hear distant explosions as well as a mix of security alarms and emergency vehicle sirens.
Through all of this however, she was able to focus her vision on a strange sight.
The ground around her seemed to shimmer slightly, little blue orbs rising from the ground like bubbles in a fizzy drink. They then converged into five separate glowing lights, seemingly beamed down from the sky itself.
With a bright flash, the lights were replaced by five figures. Though the people were unknown to the staff member, X and Team RWBY had arrived on the scene.
The girl stood up gingerly. "Hunters! Thank Oum you're here!"
As she tried to stand, she toppled forward, obviously still in shock. Yang quickly caught her and motioned for medics to come forward.
"What happened her ma'am?" Blake asked.
"I was just working at the main desk, when there was a massive explosion. Fearing for my safety, I hid under my work station. I only just plucked up the courage to come out now."
"Did you see who these attackers were?"
"Yes, I recognised the symbol. It was those brutes from the White Fang."
Blake's face dropped a little. Yang was right with her hunch, but how Blake wished she hadn't been.
"If you want to try and stop them, they were heading straight for the assembly line. There is a lot of dangerous equipment in there, please be careful."
"Thank you ma'am, just relax now, we'll take it from here." Yang reassured her as the medics took over.
The group wasted no time and headed with all haste to chase down the perpetrators.
Entering the assembly line, the group could see what a massive task this would be. This was no small factory, rather, there was enough robot tech here to build an army! And they had to find the ringleader in this mess!
"We should split up." Blake suggested.
"Well, if I remember anything from what my sister told me, it's that the factory only has two main points of interest to thieves. Namely the blueprint data bank, and the construction command centre." Weiss added.
Ruby slammed a closed fist against her palm. "It's settled then. I'll take Blake and Yang and clear out the data bank. X, you and Weiss shut down the command centre."
Weiss, however, seemed to be very much against the idea. "Wait, why do I get stuck with the bucket of bolts?"
"Because I am your leader and I say so." Ruby answered, putting on a mock authoritative voice.
Weiss was practically beside herself with rage, though she tried her best to hide it.
"It's a bad thing Weiss. I'm sure you'll see things differently after this is all over."
"Yeah!" Yang backed up her sister. "Nothing bonds people together like a life or death mission! I speak from experience!"
Begrudgingly, Weiss agreed to her leader's request. "Fine, but you follow my lead, okay?"
X had to lean back when Weiss shoved a pointing finger in his face as she said that.
"Um... sure, I guess?"
Without saying another word, Weiss walked off towards the control centre, not even bothering to wait for X.
"We'll be fine." X assured Team RBY. "Good luck!"
With that, the two squads split up, ready for whatever threat they might face, they hoped.
With RBY – Database Storage area
Ruby, Yang and Blake burst through a security door, weapons primed. A decision they quickly realised was not the best one.
The hallway between them and the data bank was completely blocked by White fang members, all dressed in their traditional white and black garb along with their grey face masks covering the top half of their faces. They wielded a mix of small firearms and simple melee weapons.
After a few awkward moments of staring at each other, a member walked forward. He was much more of a brute than the rest, wearing a special white mask that covered his whole face. His voice was almost like a growl and very aggressive sounding.
"Finally, someone worthy of fighting the White Fang. It was no fun eliminating those pathetic security guards."
RBY braced themselves, Ruby loading a shot into Crescent Rose by sliding the reload mechanism back.
"Kill them!"
As soon as the leader gave the command, two members with pistols aimed at RBY.
Using her semblance, Ruby dashed straight towards them, a trail of petals falling behind her as she did so. In the blink of an eye, she appeared in front of them and high kicked one of the guns out of the members hand. Instinctively, the other fired a shot, only for Ruby to lean back and dodge it before following up with a swipe from her scythe, disarming the opponent.
Another squad with a mix of firearms tried to reinforce their comrades, only to be attacked by Blake. Diving in with her katanas, she slashed at the first tow with a blade each, both falling down injured. Another member tried to rush her but Blake used the wire attached to her weapon to immobilize the attacker. With surprising strength, she swung him around, using him like a mace to knock his allies aside.
Having taken care of their respective fights, it was now Yang's turn. As fortune would have it, she had been left those who were fighting in close combat, just the style of combat she liked.
If one could see the look of terror in her opponent's eyes as the blonde punched a fist into her palm, a toothy smirk on her face, you would almost feel sorry for them.
Yang began her assault on the enemy. A mix of quick hooks to the jaws of some, along with low punches to the gut and an uppercut to one poor sap that sent him flying into the air.
"Fine." They heard the larger one say, turning to him. "If you want something done right. Do it yourself!"
Following this, he drew a blade, roughly the same size as himself. It had large numbers of jagged teeth on the edge of the blade sides. He then squeezed a small trigger under the handle. A sudden roar of an engine filled he room, as the teeth began to rotate around the blade rapidly.
"A chainsaw sword?" Ruby said before her eyes glittered. "That is so cool!"
The brute White Fang member gave a small chuckle. "Perhaps you would like a closer look?"
As soon as the words left his lips, he rushed at Ruby, revving the chainsaw as he swung for her. He was too slow however, as Ruby blinked out of the way with a small squeal.
"We are already in the process of downloading the entire Schnee robot database." He gestured with a wide sweep of his arm over the large databank behind him, "Soon the White Fang will have an army far more capable then anything the kingdoms can muster! Killing you here is just an added bonus!"
Enraged, Yang made a bid for the White Fang member, arm backed up to punch him into next week! In response he thrust his chainsaw forward, smoke pouring out as he revved it up.
Yang was about to make contact with the blade when Blake pulled her back using the wires on her weapon.
"Yang, don't be foolish! If you take a hit from that, the chain strikes will tear through your aura!"
Yang wanted to argue but Blake was right.
"What do you suppose we do then?" she asked.
"We fight smart. Use numbers to our advantage."
The trio readied themselves for a new tactic as the chainsaw wielder walked slowly towards them.
"Man, I hope Weiss and X are doing better than we are." Ruby said, mostly to herself.
Command Centre
Silence.
Darkness.
That was all that came to the minds of X and Weiss as they trekked down the hallway to the main control room.
The main power was clearly not working. No machinery whirred or buzzed around them. There was only some faint emergency lighting to guide there way. Though X had a light on his buster cannon to help them see, it wasn't much, but it would have to suffice.
If there was any fear between the two however, they were doing a good job of hiding it. Weiss especially seemed to care little for this development, she seemed more focused on being stuck with X. Walking on ahead with a much quicker pace than X, quickening every time he came close to her.
"Weiss!" X called after her as he stumbled over some debris. "Think you could slow down a bit?"
She walked on, ignoring X's request. X gave her the benefit of the doubt though, as was his nature. He assumed she hadn't heard him, or was focusing on their mission. The second was not entirely untrue.
Weiss was deep in thought about all of this. The whole area had been shut down but, aside from a few small pieces of debris, the route to the command centre was largely intact.
Either the security had not put up much of a fight... or the enemy was powerful enough to simply barrel through them with no problems.
She hoped it was the former.
X finally caught up to Weiss, just as they reached the entrance to the main control room. Weiss looked up to the windows of the room as X walked past her.
With a small gasp, she pulled X by the arm back around a corner, much to X's surprise. He pulled himself out of Weiss' grip and turned to address her.
"What was that all about?"
"Take a look for yourself." she whispered.
X poked his head around the corner slightly, just enough to be able to see through the windows above him. He saw a woman there, typing into the console. A woman that he didn't yet know, but one that Weiss knew all too well.
She had long black hair the covered one of her eyes, eyes that glowed a fiery orange! He could also see her wearing a red, short cut dress with golden highlights that extended to her wrists. The pattern then continued onto her hands via some kind of tattoo. As she walked about, he could hear her high heels clicking on the ground. Most striking however, was the smile on her face, a look of pure evil that sent shivers down X's spine.
"Who is she? You know her?" X asked, still having his head poked out.
"Unfortunately yes. Her name is Cinder, and she leads the White Fang." Weiss answered, some disgust in her voice as she mentioned the woman's name.
"Wonder what she's doing." X asked himself as he turned back around for another look. Only for his eyes to widen in shock.
Cinder had obviously heard them as she stared right back at X, the malicious joy from her grin changing to a stern expression. She raised her hand and a small ball of fire appeared spontaneously in it. X backed away slightly before turning to Weiss and grabbing her.
"Move!" he shouted.
As he did so, Cinder threw the fireball, smashing the glass in the process. As it impacted the area where our heroes were, X and Weiss leapt to the side just as the projectile exploded with a flash of light.
The two landed with a small grunt, as X checked to see if Weiss was alright.
"Get off me!"
She was. The two got up and drew their weapons as Cinder addressed them, her voice smooth and intoxicating, yet still carrying that air of menace.
"Ozpin finally sent his beloved students after me again. That is such a relief. I was afraid that he would get all protective after the breach, then who would give me a challenge?"
X and Weiss both grit there teeth. Was she mocking them? Or trying to scare them out of fighting? It was then that she looked at X again.
"My my. It seems Ozpin is bringing in the big guns! He actually let X out to play as well!"
"How... how do you know about X?"
"Oh Miss Schnee, I have my ways. You honestly think that I, the leader of the White Fang, wouldn't know of the most powerful being on Remnant right now?"
"I hope you aren't looking for a new recruit, because I'm not interested in terrorists!" X defiantly said.
Cinder merely laughed. "I have plenty of recruits, in fact, one of them is the whole reason I know about you! I still would like to have you in the White Fang though. The only choice you have is whether you come with me in one piece..."
Cinder hit a key on the panel and the area was suddenly filled with flashing red lights and blaring alarms.
Suddenly, there came the sound of hissing hydraulics, and two heavy doors on the floor opened to make way for an elevator.
And upon it, was a Cyclops Ride Armour. A bipedal machine, shining blue with a large shoulder mounted cannon and two arms with sharpened, three pronged grips on the ends. The cockpit had been covered with a protective material and could not bee seen through, though the driver seemed all to happy to hear the command from Cinder as she leapt onto it's shoulder,
"Destroy them, now!"
So we are all set for some big fights, and a reveal that I have been waiting to sharre with you all!
Let's see if we can hit triple figures on the review.
Until next time!