Chapter 14: No Choice

Ratchet told Ivin he wouldn't tell anyone that Neo had a crush on him. Or that she slept with him last night. As of right now, Ratchet was gathering everyone to talk about what's going to go down in a month. Assuming Neo can be trusted, the hunters and huntress's had little time to prepare a counter measure for Operation MoonLight and also needed a way to stop Freedom in the process.

After about twenty minutes, everyone was gathered in team RAIN's dorm. It took some time, but Ratchet was able to get a hold of Jaune, Nora and Ren and get them back into town. This did mean that him and Pyrrha wouldn't be getting any alone time but right now there were bigger problems that had to be taken care of first.

Everyone was either sitting on the floor or on one of the beds. Ratchet cleared his throat before speaking.

"Alright guys we have a massive problem. Two actually. The moon and Freedom. Both are gonna kill everyone unless we do something about it and we need to act fast because we only have a month before the moon comes down."

Anna raised her hand but didn't even bother waiting to be called on before speaking. "How exactly is Freedom going to do this? I thought space travel wasn't possible since no type of dust helps us get past the atmosphere."

"Anna has a point," Weiss said as she folded her arms. "There has to be another way they're planning on doing this. Assuming they actually can."

"I doubt they would do all this as a joke or a simple diversion." Blake said flatly.

"What about the documents?" Pyrrha asked.

Ivin snapped his fingers at her comment. "Exactly. What about them? We assume these are their plans but who does that? You don't just have an evil plan and then give it all to someone."

"Maybe they want us to stop them?" Ruby said with a smile.

"I don't know sis. If that's how criminals worked then we should've stopped Roman way faster than we did." Said Yang who had brought Zwei and was petting him.

"Ah. Yeah you're probably right." Ruby pouted.

Nick sighed. "Just what the hell do they want from us…"

Ratchet looked outside the window and up into the clouds as if they would help answer their questions. The group saw him in thought and Nora spoke up. "So what are we gonna do Ratchet? I'd like to break their legs but the moon doesn't have legs so I can't do it to that. Plus it's already a little broken."

Ruby and Yang giggled while Weiss and Ren sighed at Nora's comment. Ratchet's eyes narrowed as he was deep in thought and then he had an idea. It wasn't that crazy and he knew it probably would work if he was convincing enough. But then again, he had someone who was more convincing. Turning around to Ruby, Ratchet smiled.

"Hey Ruby, wanna be the key to saving the world?"

Deep in the slums of Vale...

Irene was never a city person. She hated it. All the people, noises and lights irritated her immensely. She also didn't like quiet places. It was awkward and uneventful and not her cup of tea. A nice small town was enough for her but she has yet to see one of those. Perhaps if she ever got the chance to visit the other kingdoms, there would be more towns then big cities.

Irene walked slowly through the slums of Vale looking for something. Though she didn't even know what she was looking for. Liz had told her she had a search mission here and it was of some importance, but not necessary, for Operation MoonLight. Though she didn't want to do it, she knew better than to go against orders especially since this was from the boss.

How annoying. Irene thought as she saw homeless people litter the streets and prostitutes around every corner trying to pick up drunk or depressed men or women. You'd think Vale wouldn't have a dark side to it. But I suppose all things have a side we don't want. Irene thought of her Grimm arm and sighed. No matter what…

Suddenly, she heard a beeping sound coming from her pocket. Irene pulled out her scroll but when she saw the number it was unknown.

"Ugh. Probably just a prank call or something stupid." Choosing to ignore the call, she kept walking. Maybe I'm looking for a glyph? Or maybe a spot to create one? Irene stopped to take a break on a bench that was in the middle of the sidewalk. After letting her feet rest a bit, she got up but her scroll made another beep sound.

"For the love of…Ruby?" Irene looked confused at the message she had just received.

Hey Irene. Could we meet up sometime today? I kinda need some help with something and I'm sorry if you're really busy but I would really appreciate it. Love, Ruby Rose

Irene looked around the area she was in to see if maybe Ruby had seen her. She didn't see anyone suspicious looking and she frowned. Irene never told Ruby her scroll number. Though someone with tech skills could easily hack into the locations of any scrolls in said hackers city. Only one person came to mind.

Ivin Kekovich.

Tsk, and now Ruby has my scroll number. No problem, but now I gotta be extra careful when Liz is around. Irene tapped away on her scroll and told Ruby she'd meet up with her in another hour or two. Putting her scroll away, Irene continued her aimless walk around the slums.

Back at beacon academy…

"Well?" Jaune asked looking at Ruby. "What did she say?"

Ruby smiled as she got Irene's message and her face lit up as she read it. "She says another hour or two. She's a bit busy at the moment but she can make it when she's done."

"A bit busy huh?" Yang said clearly skeptical about it. "Think she could be doing something for Freedom?"

"Well," Ivin began as he leaned back in his fancy chair and stretched. "Irene hated the city due to so much noise and lights and people. She also has a problem with small towns since they are awkward and silent. Her scroll is showing up in the city slums witch is strange."

"How so?" Pyrrha asked the gentleman.

"Well why would she be there? From what I know of Irene, she's not one to go into shady areas without her team or a friend with her. My scroll isn't picking up anyone near Irene either. She appears to be alone."

"Ivin you…are highly skilled with all this." Weiss applauded him. "Your skills with observation and technology is incredible. It's a shame that…well…"

"That he's stuck with us huh?" Anna said, taking the words right out of Weiss's mouth.

Weiss immediately felt the sting in Anna's words. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that.."

"Don't worry about it," Nick said shrugging. "Honestly our individual skills are great. As expected since we are in Beacon. However our teamwork is downright awful. We can't really match up well. Ain't that right Ratchet?"

Everyone looked over at the curly haired leader of the team. He was still deep in thought and he probably didn't even realize what the group was talking about. Pyrrha got up and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder which startled him.

"Ratchet…what's wrong?"

Ratchet looked into Pyrrha's eyes and could see she was deeply worried about him. Looking around the room, everyone had the same worry in their eyes. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. "Sorry. This is all just a little tiring and stressful. But don't worry, I have faith we can all do this."

A loud beeping sound came from Ruby's scroll which made her jump. Checking the message, she stood up and looked at Ratchet. "Irene's ready. She says…to meet where it all started. What does that mean?"

Ivin got up from his chair and grabbed his coat. "It means we go to the docks."

The Docks Of Vale...

Irene didn't have to wait long after she had sent her message. Ruby showed up with Ratchet, Ivin and Yang behind her. She assumed Weiss, Blake, Nick and Anna were all hiding in case this was a trap. At least their cautious. Irene thought.

Ruby stepped forward towards her. "Hey Irene."

"Hello Ruby." Irene replied casually.

"Uh…how's it going?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Fine. Though from what I can determine by how worried you look and sound, I'm guessing you aren't the same."

Ruby shook her head quickly. "Wh-what?! No, no! I'm fine. We're all fine! Just friends meeting up and talking at the docks. Nothing to be worried about. Heh." Ruby gave Irene a smile but it wasn't a very convincing one.

Irene sighed. "You're a terrible liar. Also I'm not friends with Ivin and me and Yang barely talked in the past. And Ratchet was always trying to get in her pants so it's not like he bothered to spend time with me either."

Yang clenched her fist and Ivin narrowed his eyes as his grip on his sheath tightened. Ratchet placed his hands on both of their shoulders to try and get them to relax and let it go. Surprisingly it worked, though only slightly. Irene grinned as she noticed she was getting under their skin rather easily. Ruby however did not approve and she moved closer towards her.

"Irene stop." Ruby said, her voice cracking slightly. "That's not you talking."

Irene chuckled. "Oh yes, because you know what I'm going through. Let me show you Ruby." Irene raised her hand to remove her hood that covered her face. As soon as she did, Ruby gasped loudly and took a few steps back, Ivin drew his sword and Yang moved to get in front of Ruby. Irene's face was now half and half just like her arms and torso. The left side of her face was now covered in bone and her eye was a bright red.

Ratchet moved slowly to get with Yang and Ruby, with Ivin slowly following. "Irene," Ratchet called out. Her head twitched slightly. "What's happened to you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She said slowly. Raising her left arm, she pointed at the moon. "It's gotten closer."

"What?!" Ivin yelled and looked up along with the others. Sure enough, the cracked moon was slightly bigger. "That's…not possible. What happened to only one month?!"

Irene just laughed. She sounded insane and Ruby was getting scared. Yang picked Ruby up and moved back behind Ratchet and Ivin. After Irene was done laughing, she looked right at Ratchet and Ivin. "Your dad would be ashamed of both of you."

"What…?" Ivin and Ratchet said in unison with perplexed expressions on their faces.

Irene laughed and covered her face with her Grimm hand while doing so. She couldn't think straight. This situation was funny. All of it was funny. Freedom. Operation MoonLight. Team RAIN. Her so called crush on Ruby Rose. It was all just a glorious joke and she was the punchline. It all made sense.

Ivin was still in thought about what Irene said but now was not the time for such nonsense. "Ratchet. We need to do something. I don't think she's all there. It's like…there's two of her."

Ratchet nodded. "So you felt it too huh?" Ratchet turned to look at Ruby. To say the girl was terrified was an understatement. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was shaking uncontrollably. Even Yang couldn't keep her still. "Yang get her out of here. You and the others pull back. Somethings not right with Irene and in the event that this gets out of hand…"

Yang nodded. She knew very well what he was going to say. "Stay safe Ratchet. Ivin make sure he doesn't do something stupid."

Ivin smiled. "Easier said then done I'm afraid."

Yang smiled and then turned to run back to where her friends were hidden. Ratchet and Ivin were now focused on Irene who had stopped laughing. But now, she was twitching. Slowly raising her left arm, the claws extended and she slashed through the air sending four blades of pure aura at the two boys. Ratchet summoned his shield and got in front of Ivin who in turn crouched behind Ratchet. The four blades hit the shield and pushed the two back a bit but they were unharmed from the attack.

"I thought Grimm didn't have aura?" Ratchet asked Ivin who slowly got up.

"You and me both." Quickly pulling out his scroll, he saw that team RWBY and JNPR had retreated. Though Nick and Anna had stayed behind and were hiding behind a crate to the far left of them. "Nick and Anna are still here. There's also no civilians in the area. What should we do?"

Ratchet weighed his options carefully before making a choice. Running may cause her to chase us. That would just bring harm to the people in the city. Staying will keep the fight here but if she runs towards the city then we won't have a choice but to chase her and people could still get hurt. Looks like we are going to have to keep her here and make this fast or else this could get from bad to worse in a matter of seconds.

"Ivin…we really don't have a choice here. We gotta stay and fight." Ratchet said. His breathing felt shallowed and out of place while his hands were shaking slightly. Heh. Now I get nervous huh? "We need to keep her here and make sure she doesn't go into the city. If anything, we make her run away from the city."

Ivin nodded slowly. "This is gonna hurt huh?"

"Oh my friend...you have no idea."