Ch29: The Glenn

(Monday, Y+1, M+4, D+20)

"So, what're you doing Ruby?" I ask, as we stand in front of the elevator leading to Ozpin's office.

"Ozpin wanted to talk to me about what happened last night." She answers. "Did he want to talk to you too?" She asks as the elevator door opens with a *ding*.

"Nope." I say, stepping inside. As soon as the doors close I rapidly press every button on the panel. "See ya." I say, as Ruby looks at me with a shocked expression.

*Bamf* *HIGH PITCHED SCREAM*

"AAAUUUGHHHH! THAT HURT!" I shout, hands clamped over my ears. "HOW DO I KEEP ENDING UP RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!" I say, the pain starting to subside.

*Mwapwab waah dawr jaw newr*

"WHAT?"
"Awer ysur aerl rifghter Kehrrt."

I shake my head back and forth a few times. "What?"

"Are you alright Kurt?" Weiss asks, a bit concerned.

"I think so. If I'm not mistaken, that was Karma." I say, stumbling to a chair and steadying myself.

"What?" Yang and Weiss ask simultaneously, as Blake steps out of the shared bathroom.

"Ruby was on the elevator to Ozpin's office and somebody may or may not have pressed every single button on the panel." I say, a small smirk on my face.

*What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing?* It's Still Rock And Roll to Me (By Billy Joel) starts to play from my scroll. I pull it from a pouch and answer the call.

"Hey Dad. Need something? Oh, alright. Be there in a sec." I end the call and put my scroll back in one of my pouches. "Dad wants me to pick up a package. I'll be back." I say without preamble. *Bamf*

"Hey Dad, how's life been treating you?" I ask, stepping from my usual cloud of smoke in the middle of my room to see Dad standing in the doorway holding a small cylindrical package.

"A damn sight better than it's been treating ME!" A voice calls from the family room.

"What's Qrow doing here? Doesn't he have a place of his own?" I ask Dad, recognizing the voice.

"He's been recovering from his time in Forever Fall. I'm keeping an eye on his healing. Physical and mental. We're going out on a short mission tomorrow. Nothing too big, but we'll be out for a while. I need you to take this to your dorm." He says, handing me the deceptively heavy package.

"That's all?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. I'll be on my way. See ya!" *Bamf*

"I'm baaacccckkkk!" I say, appearing in my extension of the dorm, the door open to the rest as usual.

"TRAITOR!" I hear my little sister shout, as she tackles me in a red blur.

"Nice to see you too Ruby." I say, picking myself up off the floor and picking up my package. "Dad gave this to me. He said that he'd be out on a small mission with Qrow for a while and he wants us to take care of this." I say tossing the package to Yang, keeping it out of the grasp of Ruby's flailing arms.

"What's inside this thing? Bricks?" Yang asks, catching the surprisingly heavy package.

"I dunno, just open it." I shrug.
Yang opens the package and out falls a strange black and white fluffy shape that wiggles around a bit before returning to the shape of-

"ZWEI!" Ruby shouts, picking up the dog and almost dancing around the room with him. Blake jumps up onto Ruby's bed in fear of the small bundle of joy.

"Your dad gave you a dog in a mail package?" Blake asks.

"He does stuff like this a lot, you just learn to go along with it." I say with a shrug.

"Your dad or your dog?" Blake questions.

"There's still something in here." Yang says, shaking the container, causing a small pile of dog food cans to fall out, followed by a can opener.

"Why am I not surprised. There goes physics." I say, basking in the sheer implausibility of the package's contents.

"Would all first year students please report to the amphitheater?" Goodwitch asks over the intercom as Weiss goes all goo-goo ga-ga over Zwei. 'It's so… unnatural.'

"C'mon, Zwei'll be here when we get back." I say to the others, leading the way to the amphitheater.

We reach the amphitheater to listen to Ozpin talk about The Great War and the naming conventions of Remnant. After the speech we enter a room filled with hologram screens displaying various missions we can take.

"It's perfect, all we have to do is shadow a huntsman working in the southeast!" Ruby says happily.

"Yeah! We'll follow them around by day and give them the slip by night!" Yang says.

"Let's check search and destroy." Weiss recommends.

"That sounds fun." I say honestly, idly fiddling with one of my knives.

"Alright then, quadrant 5 needs Grimm cleared out!"

"Quadrant 5 is Mountain Glenn, urban terrain. I hate urban combat, too many places for hostiles to hide." I say. "We'll need to remember to watch our corners."

"What?" Weiss asks, confused.

"Nevermind."

Ruby types in the team name. It gets denied. Apparently first years aren't allowed to do these kinds of things.

"Wonderful." Weiss and I both deadpan simultaneously.

"Any other ideas?" Blake asks.

"We mail ourselves there!" Ruby says, causing me to snicker a bit.

"Well, that's one option." Ozpin says, walking over to us. "Unfortunately, we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first-year students. It seems that particular region is rather popular. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that you five will make your way there no matter what job you choose." He says in a slightly conspiratorial manner.

"Whatever makes you say that?" Ruby says.

" I'm still curious how you all found yourself at the docks last semester. I'm interested to know how you really learned about a hideout in the southeast. I certainly wonder why witnesses reported seeing robots and rose petals in a dance club some time ago. And I would like to know what happened in a certain White Fang outpost in Forever Fall earlier this semester." Ozpin says, looking to each of us in turn.

"Umm… well…" Ruby says, a bit embarrassed. 'You foolish fool! He's giving us a break!'

"I doubt I'll ever find the answers I'm looking for. So how about this: instead of waiting for you all to break the rules, why don't we just bend them?" Ozpin presses a few things on his teacher-issue scroll-pad and the words Mission Accepted: Team RWWBY appear on the hologram.

"We won't let you down. Thank you, professor." Ruby says.

"Do not thank me for this. Teamwork and persistence have carried you far. But you must understand, the things that await you beyond the protection of the Kingdom will not care. Stay close to your Huntsman at all times, and do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission, and he can have you sent back to Beacon, if he finds your skills to be unsatisfactory. Good luck." Ozpin tells us.

We leave the auditorium and make our way to the landing pads, through the crowds of students on their way to their missions. On the way to landing pad A-10, We spot team CFVY, Blake walks over to speak with Velvet as the rest of us move onwards, meeting Sun, Neptune, and JNPR on the way.

'Aaaaaannnd there's Oobleck.' I think, seeing the girls' faces take on expressions of pure disbelief and no small amount of terror.

"Why hello girls and Kurt! Who's ready to fight for their lives?" The good doctor asks in a highly encouraging manner.

"Professor Oobleck?" Weiss asks a bit hesitantly. 'Doctor.'

"Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, girls, seeing as you've opted to shadow a Huntsman on what is now essentially a reconnaissance mission. I can assure you, we will not be establishing a single base of operations; rather, we will be traversing several miles of hazardous waste land and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon. I packed all of our essentials myself, plotted our air course, and readied the airship. And…" He says in his usual rapid fire speech, zooming up to Weiss. "It's Doctor Oobleck. I didn't get the PhD for fun, thank you very much!" He says, before promptly covering about half a football field's worth of space in under a second. 'What the hell is he on and where can I get some.' "Come now children! According to my schedule we are already three minutes behind… Schedule!" He says, zipping another half a football field.

"Well, alright then!" Ruby starts off trying to stay positive."Looks like we're going to save the world with Doctor Oobleck- okay yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse." She says, finally succumbing to despair.

"Save the world!?" Nora shouts from behind us. We turn to see her and her teammates heading towards us. "You're going on world-saving missions without us? I'm hurt… sad! Maybe a little hungry?" She says dramatically, before turning to her partner, "That last one isn't your fault, though, Ren..." He faces away from her, arms crossed.

"Sounds exciting. Where ya going?" Jaune asks.

"Quadrant Five. Extermination mission." I say, picking Blue Death from its sling and slapping a magazine from my web gear home. On my person were Blue Death on a sling, Marxman in a holster on my left hip, Anne and Pearl in their sheathes on my back, six conc-frags and two flashbangs in my greatcoat, my collection of knives and as much ammo as I could possibly carry. In other words; 'I am frakking ready.'

"Hey! So are we!" Nora says.

"Nora and Ren wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village." Pyrrha explains.

"We set off tomorrow." Ren elaborates.

"Then you can party with us tonight!" Neptune says, walking up to us with his partner Sun. "We're shadowing a crime-specialist. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges." He says, while Jaune looks on in awe of the Junior Badge.

"We normally go to the city with you guys, which means stuff's always exploding and junk, so we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, you know… normal." Sun explains.

"Well-" Ruby starts before being cut off.

"Four minutes children!" Oobleck calls out, we look at each other and with a few goodbyes, we make our way to Oobleck's Bullhead.

I step aboard with my team and nod to Oobleck.

"Hey Doc, you ready to fight?" I ask, grabbing onto one of the grab-bars on the ceiling of the craft.

"I assure you Kurt, I am more than ready for a tussle." He says.

"Like the mushrooms?" Ruby asks, confused.

"Those are truffles." Blake leans in and corrects our dear leader.

"Like the sprout?" Ruby asks again, still confused.

"Those are brussels." Yang says, leaning in as well.

*snap-hiss* I place my helmet on, hearing the comforting sound of it attaching to my bodysuit and forming an airtight seal. I press a few things on my scroll, turning on my helmet's internal speakers.

*Revvin' up your engine, listen to her howlin' roar, metal under tension, beggin' you to touch and go* Danger Zone (By Kenny Loggins) Plays on my internal speakers, as we fly over the city.

"Hey Kurt, what're you-" Yang asks, before I cut her off.

"HIGHWAY TO THE DANGER ZOOONE! RIDE INTO THE DAAANGER ZOONE! Headin into twilight, spreadin out her wings tonight, she got you jumpin off the deck, and shovin into overdrive! HIGHWAY TOO THE DAAANGEER ZOOONE! I'LL TAKE YOU RIGHT INTO THE DAANGER ZOONE!" I sing aloud, startling the girls, and causing a subtle look of confusion to play across Oobleck's face.

"Well then. Students! It appears that we have arrived!" Oobleck says, as the bullhead hovers over an open area and we leap out, weapons at the ready. As we exit the Bullhead, I notice that Ruby still is wearing her backpack which, if my memory serves, holds our fluffy dog of doom.

"Children! You still may be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as Huntresses and Hunter has begun! From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?" He says rapidly, before zipping right in front of Ruby, startling her. "Ruby! I thought I had told you to leave all of your bags at school." He says to our leader.

"But, uh, you hadn't told us to listen to you yet… so I didn't." She points out.

"She's not wrong." The good doctor says to himself. "Very well, Ruby; leave your bag here, we can pick it upon our return."

"But I, well uh…" Ruby mumbles.

"Young lady, what in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with…" Oobleck trails off as Zwei pops his head from Ruby's pack, surprising all but me.

"Get back in the bag." Ruby whispers to our dog.

"We're here to investigate an…" Oobleck starts talking and I just tune it out, keeping watch over the area, as nobody else is bothering to do so. I check my HUD, seeing Oobleck spinning around holding our dog at arm's length. 'Not even gonna questi- Grimm!' I bring up Blue Death and center my reticle on the thing's head. "Grimm." The Doctor and I both say simultaneously.

"What?" The girls ask.

"Grimm. A creature of grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment." Oobleck says, causing the girls to finally get their shit together and aim their weapons at the beast, a lone Beowulf wandering around almost aimlessly in the street. I tune out the rest of what Oobleck says, running through a mental last-second equipment check. 'Guns? Ja. Knives? Ja. Round in the chamber?' I think, as the grimm's pack appears and soon notice us.

*CRACK* 'Ja.' The Beowulf falls over, half of its head blown off by my round. 'I love these new rounds.' I think, having recently switched propellants from one using whatever Remnant used for propellant mixed with some Blast Dust to something using a mixture that was effectively gunpowder, mixed with a relatively high concentration of Blast Dust. In other words, I had effectively doubled my weapon's killing power.

Next I bamf'd up onto the side of a tall and ruined skyscraper, clinging to it with the help of the retractable spikes that I had recently installed into my gloves and boots. I held on with my right hand and held my AR in my left, picking off various Grimm pretty much at random. 'Boom. Headshot.'

*Bamf* "That wasn't so hard." I say, switching out a nearly dry magazine for a full one, getting ready for a long day.

" Do not celebrate yet, for I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?" Oobleck asks.

The rest of the day is a blur of Grimm-fighting. We shot, bashed, stabbed and slashed our way through an annoying amount of Beowolves, while Oobleck made himself busy doing Murphy-knows-what. We cleared at least half a dozen grid squares, each occupying one square mile of Mountain Glenn.

"So. Mister Wagner, why do you wish to become a hunter?" Oobleck asks me.

"Because I respect those willing to lay down their lives for others." I say, as we continue to search the area. "I do this because I could never live with myself if I didn't." I say solemnly, holding Blue Death in my left hand and pointing it skywards. "And if I can have some fun along the way, all's the better." I smirk under my helmet.

[90 minutes and one grid square later]

"Alright, this building looks like a good place to stay for the night. What do you think Doc?" I ask, standing in front of a ruined building. It was tall, relatively intact, and offered clear fields of fire.

"It seems well situated, a good place to set up camp. Please do make sure there are no more of those… creatures inside. Your leader and I will be securing the perimeter." He says, heading off with Ruby and Zwei in tow.

I place my hand to the side of the building and concentrate for a second. Next I sling Blue Death over my shoulder and unholster Marxman. My other teammates look at me strangely as I take a stance in front of the door.

"What are you-" Weiss asks.

"Shhhh." I cut her off, before kicking the door down and shooting the adolescent Beowolf within in the face.

"Did you know it was there?" Blake, always the perceptive one, asks me.

"Yep." I say, walking inside, my pistol still at the ready in case my check of the building's contents hadn't been entirely correct. "As far as I can tell, my semblance can let me 'see' what's inside something. It's probably got something to do with my teleportation; I've never really tried it but I can probably, with a little practice, take certain parts of something when I teleport. For example I could teleport touching a box and take it but not the contents." I say, checking the building with my teammates in tow. "Or I could be fighting someone and take their weapon, although if I'm not careful I might take part of them with me." I say, causing the girls to shiver a bit. "So yeah, I touched the side of the building and and sensed the Beowolf, along with everything else in the building." I walk to a corner of the room and setting up my hammock. "I'll take care of the fire." I say after setting up the hammock.

I sit next to my hammock, consolidating and reloading my dry magazines and checking my weapons and armor. The girls stand around talking about what they'd said to Oobleck.

"What did you tell him Kurt?" Weiss asks.

"I told him that it was my duty. That if I didn't become a Hunter, I'd never be able to live with myself." I say solemnly, taking off my helmet and staring into the t-slit visor. "I want to die knowing I did something worth doing." I hear something. "They're back." I say flatly, as I hear the Doctor, Ruby, and Zwei enter the building.

"Ooh, fire! Waaarrmm." Ruby exclaims, warming herself.

"Ah, yes! A textbook campfire! Well done! Who will be taking first watch?" Oobleck asks quickly.

"Yo." Ruby says, raising her hand while still sitting by the fire. I chuckle a bit and climb into the hammock, once more placing my helmet on my head and hearing the reassuring snap-hiss of an airtight seal forming.

(Tuesday, Y+1, M+4, D+21)

[A few hours later]

"Kurt! Wake up!" I hear, as I feel my body being shoved.

"What went wrong?" I ask, bolting upright and grabbing Blue Death and flipping the safety off.

"Ruby's missing!" Yang says, cocking Ember-Cecilia.

"Zwei, where's Ruby?" I ask our dog, who is looking at me with a concerned expression.

*Arf!* He barks and quickly leads us to a massive hole in the street, which leads to a large cavern. 'So that's Mountain Glenn.'
"It looks like there's an entry door right there." I say, pointing to a metal door at street level. "You five take that door, I'll be a bit more… direct…" I say, snapping the C-100 to Blue Death's bayonet clips.
"Wait, you can't go in alone! What if something happens?" Yang asks, a bit scared.

"I can teleport. I'd be more worried about the poor bastards who have no idea what's going to happen." I say coldly. "Cry havoc," I say, pulling back Blue Death's bolt, readying the weapon for action, "and let slip the dogs of WAR!"