RWBYond Home: Mayhem in Mistral

AN: Yep, still writing from my phone. One thing I wanted to bring up is that the title of these chapters is a bit misleading. It was perfect….when the scope of this story was much grander. The actual tournament part has been trimmed down.

Review Response: Kyrogue- This chapter is going to be more action packed than last chapter.

Previously on RWBYond Home: A shady organization is causing people to disappear. Verdant went missing while investigating them and Tetsu enlisted Team PNGC to aid him in getting to the bottom of this problem.

King of the Iron Fist Tournament Part 2

Tetsu sat patiently, waiting for Johnny to report. It had been several hours since the fights had ended and Chenzi was getting restless. Glade was staring at his scroll waiting to hear from Prim. Nickel and Nova had set up camp up the mountain and were waiting Johnny's return.

"We should have heard something by now." Chenzi said.

"Johnny's a smart man. He'll be fine." Tetsu said.

"And Prim is liable to stay out all night." Glade sighed. "I try not to worry but with everything going on it's hard not to fret."

"Well if she's anything like Citrine…" Tetsu started.

"She's not." Glade said. "She's thick-headed and arrogant and uses that as a mask to cover up the fact she's actually insecure about her position."

"I have a hard time buying that." Tetsu said.

"Ask her yourself. Bring up Abraham or The Guardian and she averts your gaze and shuts down."

Tetsu took Glade's word for it. He didn't know the Arc twins all that well. He mostly knew them through Citrine and Johnny. Tetsu was their age, two years older than Team PNGC, and a student at Haven instead of Beacon.

"So, you and Prim have the same powers?" Tetsu asked.

"Yeah, both of our parents have hereditary semblances." Glade said. "Citrine got our mom's scattering speed. Prim and I got our dad's hard-light constructs."

"Hereditary semblances are rare. And in the rarer cases of offspring like you lott, I thought a new semblance, one that combines the two prior semblances."

"I wonder if that's why Argent's is so different." Glade said.

"My semblance is classified as common." Tetsu said. "I can harden my skin to be as strong as steel. Pretty worthless at first since it uses aura to harden. But I've gotten good enough to where it barely drains my aura."

"I can control electricity." Chenzi said. "I can't absorb it like my mom but I can do plenty of other things with it."

"I can see that coming in handy." Tetsu said.

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Chenzi hurriedly opened the door. He didn't know what to expect but he was disappointed nonetheless. Nichell was the one who knocked.

"What do you want?" Chenzi huffed.

"I wanted to make sure the three of you were all set before I turn in for the night." Nichell said.

"We're fine." Tetsu said. Nichell's eyes darted around the room. Her eyes fixated on Glade for a moment. Then she examined Chenzi.

"Have a good night." Chenzi ushered her away.

"I need to be absolutely sure that there isn't something I can do for you."

"We said we're fine." Glade said. "Is something going on with you?"

"Everything is normal. Perfectly normal." Nichell shut the door.

"That woman gives me the creeps." Glade said.

"She is unsettling." Tetsu grinned. Chenzi walked to the window and started to crawl out.

"What are you doing?" Glade hissed.

"Something is seriously off. It might be normal for Prim to be careless but Johnny is anal about keeping track of things." Chenzi reasoned.

"Don't be dumb." Glade said.

"I'm not." Chenzi said. "I'm going to find Johnny and come right back."

"If this is about you never fighting the villain…"

"It's not." Chenzi said. "One hour. That's all I'm asking for. If I can't find him by then, then something definitely happened to him."

Johnny worked quickly to cover his flanks. He elbowed the nearest worker, and decked the next one with a haymaker. They crowded around him. He could see there was no gap to slip through. Someone grabbed him from behind. He pushed off of his feet and kicked a pair of attackers in their heads.

The one who grabbed him fell to the ground. Johnny broke out and rolled over his shoulder. He took out someone's knee and threw him into the crowd. He spun around, kicking a trio down to the floor behind him.

As the crowd picked themselves up, Johnny blasted them with Amon's Rod. He tried jumping over the pile. If he could, he'd eliminate the advantage in numbers they had. He'd bottleneck them and bring them down.

Rubar plucked him from the air and slammed him down. Johnny sprung up and kneed Rubar in the stomach. The statuesque man didn't budge. Rubar was the only thing standing between Johnny and a strategic advantage. And the man with the iron fist was not budging.

Johnny jumped back to dodge the robotic hand. He bumped into more workers. He quickly threw the man he nudged. Someone had picked up a chair and threw it. Johnny caught it and broke it over someone's ribs.

Rubar grabbed his shoulder and slammed him into the wall. The narrow hallway constricted Johnny's movements while Rubar clutched him and the others pounded him.

He fired at the ground with a radial blast, knocking the workers away. He took a deep breath and focused. He couldn't break Rubar's grip through force. But he had read about an advanced technique only true masters of aura could use. He punched Rubar's chest, releasing a razor thin strand of aura from his knuckle. The blow didn't work as planned but it forced Rubar to stagger enough. Johnny kicked the back of his leg and threw Rubar down.

Rubar sprayed a strange gas from his mechanical hand. Johnny jumped back, elbowing a pair of people as he did so. The Lightbringer held his breath, guessing it was some kind of toxin. The fumes latched onto his aura. His protective barrier receded on impact. With his aura, his semblance disappeared.

His nose crunched as Rubar's iron fist slammed into his face. Johnny held back his life force. This wasn't the kind of situation where he was willing to use Lightbringer Heal. In his current situation, there wasn't any way to escape. He had to just let himself be captured and wait for his powers to return.

Prim woke up in a nice medical bed. The walls were decorated with expensive looking tapestries. For a second, Prim remembered what had happened just a short while ago. She remembered the Grimm and the bodies and the mission. The quick flashes caused her to jump out.

"Wow, you're up sooner than expected." Lora beamed.

"Where am I? What time is it?"

"You're at the Hone industrial complex." Lora said. "My name is Lora Grey, handmaid to Lady Krait. We found you out in the marshes and brought you back here."

"What time is it?" Prim asked.

"About ten at night. You were only out for a few hours. You must be amazing to recover from that so quickly." Lora said. "You're a huntress aren't you?"

"What's it to you?" Prim asked.

"Only a huntress would be out in the woods all by her lonesome. Especially at that time of night."

"What exactly happened?" Prim asked.

"Well, unfortunately, we had people working a little too far from the compound." Lora's cheery demeanor diminished into a dreary tone. "They were killed by Grimm. We sent aid as soon as we could. You were the only one alive when we got there."

"Is that so?" Prim was suspicious. "I recall being awake when someone got there and knocked me out."

"Oh, you remember?" Lora was surprised. "Well, I wasn't there. All I know is what my friend Nichell told me. I guess if she didn't recognize you she might have mistakenly attacked you and knocked you out."

"I don't know." Prim shrugged. "Everything after I came across the Grimm is a bit blurry." She scratched her scalp. "And if you weren't actually there, I can't expect you to know what exactly happened."

"Well, the point now is that you're safe." Lora beamed.

"Say, where's my scroll?" Prim asked as she checked around.

"It was apparently damaged on the way here. We have someone fixing it for you." Another person entered the room and the conversation switched focus. "Lady Krait!"

The tall woman slipped into the room. She studied Prim carefully. She held a small folder with pictures in it. The two leaders sized each other up. Krait seemed less surprised Prim was up and more curious.

"To what do we owe the pleasure, Primrose Arc?" Krait started.

"Ah, so you know who I am." Prim blushed.

"I don't keep track of huntsmen files but I do recognize you from commercials." Krait said. Prim guessed as much. It's why she could never go undercover. It was best to tell the partial truth. Krait might have been a villain but that wasn't a guaranteed. Even if it was, she was still human and could be at risk.

"To tell you the truth, there's a powerful Grimm somewhere in the Mistral area. I've been looking for it for several weeks now."

"So I heard." Krait said. "Tell me, do you know these three?" Krait held up pictures of Tetsu, Chenzi and Glade. "The redheaded one in particular bears a striking resemblance."

"Um, no, I mean yes, sort of." Prim rushed to get a convincing story together. Best to use partial truths. "They work for my sister-in-law; well, future sister-in-law that is. Eiess Schnee, she's been dating my older sister for a long time now so...I know a lot of the huntsmen in their employ."

"That's what I thought." Krait put a finger to her chin. "I just find it awfully convenient that so many flies have gathered here all in one day."

"Well thank you for your hospitality." Prim said. "I guess it's best if I stay here tonight and leave in the morning."

"I'll arrange for safe transport for you and the ones who came here on behalf of the Schnees." Krait said.

"Alright then." Prim smiled. "It was a pleasure meeting you."

"Pleasure is all mine." Krait said. As soon as Krait and Lora left, Prim gave a sigh of relief. She grabbed her scroll and checked in, hoping they weren't too worried about her.

Nova paced back and forth. It had been too long since either Prim or Johnny had checked in. Nova wasn't worried about Prim but this was out of character for the meticulous Johnny Clay. Nova couldn't push the growing pit in her stomach away. Something happened to him, just like with Yuma and she was once again powerless to stop him because of the restraints placed on her for the mission. If she didn't have to worry about Team PNGC or the workers, Johnny wouldn't be in whatever dilemma he was in.

It was getting bad enough to where even Nickel started fidgeting. Nova had never seen the android growing anxious like this. That's how Nova knew it wasn't just in her head. That's when she knew things were serious and she had to act now or risk things getting worse.

"I'm going to look for him." Nova finally said.

"I'm sure he's…"

"Don't lie to me!" Nova said. "If you honestly believed that then you wouldn't be fidgeting around the way you are."

"If something bad did happen to him then you might make it worse." Nickel pleaded.

"I will not be put on a leash, especially by a tin can like you. Sometimes if you want to get to heaven you have to raise a little hell."

"And what do you hope to gain by going off half-cocked?"

"Best case scenario, an end to all this waiting and the dismantling of this operation. At worse, catharsis."

Her scroll buzzed in her back pocket. Her tail fished it out to check the message. She was praying it was Johnny finally calling in. It was a message from Chenzi saying he was looking for Johnny and to give him one hour. Nova came to a decision. She would look for Johnny at her own pace. If Chenzi didn't check back in an hour, it'll be time to take the place down.

Chenzi was fortunate that Johnny was good at utilizing the environment. It took him a whole second of roof surfing to see the hole left by Rubar. People were cleaning up the hallway. Chenzi swiftly swooped in to get a closer look.

Johnny was definitely there at some point. One of the workers was examining Amon's Rod. Chenzi waited until that worker was alone before he pounced. He dropped in, grabbed him and jumped back to the roof.

"Gyaah!" The worker screamed.

"Quiet down or I'll drop you." Chenzi said. "I know they don't like recruiting people with potent aura so a fall like this from this height would probably kill you."

"You wouldn't!"

"I work with Cinder Fall." Chenzi lied. "Try me!" He held up Amon's Rod. "The huntsman who had this, where is he?"

"Why should I…" The worker was shaken and nearly dropped. "Shit! I don't get paid enough for this. "There's a lab underneath the compound. They probably took him there."

"Thank you."

"Now please let me go!"

"It's bedtime anyway." Chenzi said as he threw him up.

"Wait!" The worker yelled. Chenzi caught him by the collar and punched his lights out.

He found a couple people, including Rubar, heading down to a lower level. Chenzi ambushed a guard, knocked him out, then shoved the unconscious body in a locker while he took his guard uniform.

He maintained a stealthy demeanor. These guys had their ducks in a row. A flimsy disguise wouldn't hold up under scrutiny. The tunnels provided all the shadows he needed to stay discreet.

He managed to follow Rubar all the way to where Johnny was. Rubar was questioning him. He stuck needles of something into Johnny's neck before he started talking.

"Not bad for the first subject in this phase." Rubar said. "Our first attempts at this killed people on contact. So we had to perfect it on workers who couldn't outwardly manifest aura."

"That explains the workers." Johnny coughed. "But to what end?"

"The only end anyone can agree on. Cold hard lien."

"You're just looking to turn a profit? Surprisingly shallow for such a shady organization."

"People will pay out the ass for a drug that weaponizes aura. Sports will become more interesting. Militaries and police will use it against criminals. And criminals, they'd love to find ways to take you huntsmen down a peg. But the real reason is Stagg's Disease."

"Stagg's disease? That's a rarity and all it does it solidify the aura to restrict movement."

"Imagine being unable to dodge a Grimm." Rubar said coldly. "I for one wish I was as mobile as your friend Verdant Lee. Better to move with no aura than to have aura and be unable to move."

"Bingo." Chenzi whispered as he sent the message to Nova just as Rubar got on an elevator heading up.

Nova tapped on Verdant's window. The sleepy Verdant came to it and opened it. Nova slipped into the room and covered Verdant's mouth. His face became red from embarrassment at their closeness.

"They have Johnny." She whispered. "Chenzi is with him now." Nova released her hand.

"Then why are you here?" Verdant asked.

"Because some fireworks are about to go off and I wanted to give you the heads up." Nova said.

"I just got the message from Chenzi." Glade said. "They have Johnny and Johnny has all the information we need to end this operation."

"Is it really that bad?" Tetsu asked.

"Well, I'd wager they don't exactly have a permit to experiment with drugs that turn people's aura against them." Glade said. His scroll started buzzing again. The call was from an unknown number.

"Glade?" Prim's voice came from the other side.

"Prim, where are you?" Glade said. "And what happened to your scroll."

"No time to explain. I'm on the top part of the compound. The girl who greeted me put me to sleep and brought me here. Then she lied to me."

"Alright listen." Glade said. "We've uncovered a lot of stuff. Talk to the boss if you can. If not, force your way out and say that you know everything."

"What do I know?"

"The point is, we know and we're with you." Glade said. "I'm heading up to you now."

"I'll head towards Verdant." Tetsu said.

"Alright buddy, let's get you out of here." Chenzi said as he untied Johnny.

"Stop right there!" A guard said. Chenzi quickly blasted him with a bolt of lightning.

"What's going on?" A voice called over the radio. "Is everything alright?"

"Ahh!" Chenzi dashed over and grabbed the radio. "Um, yeah, everything is fine. We're all fine."

"What was that noise?"

"Just a spark from the machine. Everything is fine."

"We'll send someone to check it out."

"Um, no need for that."

"If a computer is…" Chenzi crushed the radio to cut off the conversation.

"Johnny, we're going to have company!"

"We'll draw the line here." Johnny said. "The authorities will want to take a look at this."

"Alright." Nova said. "I'm heading to the top."

"Are you sure?" Verdant said.

"Are you doubting my abilities?"

"No of course not." Verdant said. "It is just, if Prim is already up there...I could use your help keeping the rest of the workers safe. They are good people."

"I understand but…"

"But nothing. Saving people is more important than beating up some villain. Besides, I'm sure Prim can handle Krait all on her own."

Nova sighed as she nodded. She just didn't want Prim to get the glory for this. She wanted to be the hero so desperately. But Verdant was right. Making sure all these people were safe was more important than beating up some old hag.

With that thought, she opened the door. Lora and Rubar were already on the other side. Her eyes went wide. Lora started to activate her semblance. Nova felt consciousness leave her. With her last bit of attention, she quickly blasted Lora with a radiant beam of pure heat.

Tetsu ran up the stairs to the second level. He urged people to stay in the rooms and that there were people causing trouble. Which of course, was the truth. The problem was that most of these people considered themselves fighters and wanted to help out. The problem with that is that he was with the people causing trouble.

He quickly knocked out a pair of workers. By the time the third one attacked, someone else lunged from the shadows. Tetsu activated his semblance in time to block the sais. Nichell's blades bounced off his armor. As she passed by, she hit him with a cloud of smoke.

"Game over." She slashed at his throat but once again the blade did nothing. "What?"

"Ooh, looks like that didn't go as planned." Tetsu punched her in the face and pulled out his blade.

"Your aura should be cowering away inside your body." Nichell said.

"Well, that's just one of life's great mysteries." Tetsu grinned. His aura is what generated the iron skin. Having it activated slowly drained his aura. But the armor was on top of his aura and therefore any damage he took wouldn't affect his aura.

He blocked her sais again and kicked her in the stomach. No wonder they wanted to keep huntsmen away. None of these people were particularly good against strong opponents like him. He managed to catch Nichell's weapon with his hand. He channeled some lightning dust into his blade and slashed her across the chest, shattering her aura with the blow.

Verdant grabbed Nova and jumped out of the window. Rubar followed him out. He set Nova against the tree and turned to face his opponent. Rubar had many jobs around the compound and all the other workers seemed to have a fear of him. Verdant was sure he was the one who had beaten Johnny.

"It took us a while to look through the huntsmen database before we found your friend, and you." Rubar said. "To think that a huntsman could suppress their aura to the extent you have."

"It is not exactly suppressing." Verdant readied himself. He held one fist in front of him and the other behind him. He started forward, aiming a kick for Rubar's head. Rubar blocked it with his iron fist.

"So you were holding back all those times in the ring." Rubar grinned. He dashed forward and elbowed Verdant in the stomach. Verdant went flying into the trees. He rebounded and charged at Rubar with even more effort. He connected his fist with the taller man's sternum, sending him backwards.

"I'm still just getting started." Verdant dropped all inhibitions. He was going to end this as soon as he could. His body heated up. His skin turned red. His lungs expanded. His muscles condensed, fueled by his fighting spirit.

In a flash, he closed the distance to Rubar. The taller man barely had enough time to block. He countered, connecting a swift jab to Verdant's cheek. Verdant was practically immune to blunt force when he was like this. His skin would likely bruise later but it would take a bullet or a blade to stop him now.

Verdant kicked the statuesque man in the chin and elbowed him in the shoulder. Rubar connected another fast punch to Verdant's ribs. The smaller man's fist caught fire as he pummeled away at Rubar's defenses. He was too fast to dodge and too strong to counter.

Each hit was precise and brutal. Rubar was a tough fighter. He was tougher than anyone Verdant had fought in a long time. But he had his limits. Verdant was swiftly breaking through those limits.

Verdant reaches his peak performance but Rubar wasn't quite done yet. He swatted at Verdant, cutting the smaller man's cheeks with his mechanical hand.

Verdant winced as he kept up his advance. He couldn't afford to pull back now. Not with his opponent on the ropes. With one more mighty blow he sent Rubar into the building's roof and beyond. As the large man crashed back to the ground, his aura shattered and he passed out.

"Verdant." Nova whispered.

"Nova?" Verdant ran to her side.

"Kuso." She hissed. "You has to fight while I was unconscious again."

"Well, it was either that or have me be completely useless." He gave her a confident grin.

"You're not useless." Nova said. "Even compared to me you're not useless." Nova thought about the time they fought Titan-one of Merlot's more powerful androids. Yang and Nova had only weakened him. Verdant had been the one to stop him.

"Thanks for thinking that." Verdant looked longingly at Nova. It was obvious he still had feelings for her. Just as it was obvious she no longer felt that way about him.

"Krait Hone!" Prim kicked down the door like a bad ass.

She blocked an incoming bone spear. She reacted by firing a cannon construct into Krait's stomach. Krait was knocked into the wall. Before she could stumble any further, Fighting Dreamer grabbed her and slammed her through several floors.

She followed the attack with Arc Cannon. As the smoke from the energy blast dissipated, Prim jumped down. To her surprise, Krait was holding her hands up.

"I give up." The tall woman said.

"That's it?" Prim said.

"Hey, I'm a businesswoman." Krait said. "I have people for this sort of work. And seeing as how they've all been beaten, surely worth every penny they were, there's no point in fighting you now."

"Prim!" Glade called from the edge of the hallway. Prim creates handcuffs to bind Krait's hands.

"This got wrapped up fast." Prim said as she greeted her brother.

"Well eight huntsmen against a couple cheap laborers. What would you epect?" Glade said as he gave a thumbs up.

"WHAT!" Prim cried as handcuffs were put on her.

"Sorry Prim." Neptune said.

"Wasn't expecting this." Johnny said.

"What Krait was doing here might have been shady but you can't just go barging in on private property causing thousands of lien worth of damage." Neptune reasoned.

"But I was kidnapped!" Prim said. "They took Johnny...and...and…"

"Krait and her gang are under arrest for illegally detaining the two of you while you were on official huntsmen business." Neptune said. "But they were in their right to be suspicious and at least detain you until we arrived."

"Why?"

"You invaded her property."

"I didn't! I didn't! I didn't!" She cried.

"You act like you've never been in trouble before." Nova said.

"You shut your face!" Prim shouted.

"Why aren't they in trouble?" Nova pointed to Tetsu, Glade and Chenzi.

"They actually had permission to be there." Neptune said.

"I WAS KIDNAPPED!" Prim pleaded again. "I was a mile away from here when Lora put me to sleep."

"Is that so?" Neptune asked.

"Yes!" Prim said.

"She was right inside the border of our property." Lora said.

"Liar." Prim sighed as the car door shut. She was sitting next to Verdant and across from Johnny and Nova.

"Chin up Prim." Verdant said. "They're probably just going to to have us fill out a testimony and let us go."

"Yeah, and it's not your fault." Johnny said. "I got ambushed, drugged, dragged to a basement, tested, rescued and then didn't even fight anyone before they all gave up."

"But this is going on my permanent record." Prim sighed.

"People don't care about stuff like that. I did it all the time as a kid." Nova said.

"Now I'm a delinquent like Nova." Prim whimpered.

"Kuso brat." Nova hissed.

"We did good." Verdant said.

"And I'm sure Eiess will clear up any financial problems like the property damage." Johnny said.

"That'll just be another reason for Citrine to be upset with me." Prim said.

"If it makes you feel better, I will take you to get something to eat after they let us go." Verdant said.

"Will you really?" Prim asked.

"It is the least I could do for you as thanks for getting your team involved." Verdant smiled and winked with his thumb up.

"Don't bother charming this one." Nova said.

"I'm not." Verdant said.

"Thank you!" Prim senses the tension and exploited it by pulling Verdant in for a hug. She held his face close to her chest. A date might make her feel a little better but Nova's reaction was even better than that.

"A drug that can suppress aura?" Lionheart said.

"Yeah." Neptune said. "It's not illegal but we should still keep an eye out."

"Yes, this isn't the sort of thing that should fall into unsavory hands." Oscar said from his seat.

"Unsavory as in Cinder's." Neptune assumes.

"Precisely." Oscar said. "We're months away from a highly publicized tournament. There are forces out there. Both Cinder and the Grimoire are lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce. We can't afford them getting ahold of something this dangerous."

Amaterasu's violet eyes were focused on The Masked Man sitting hunched over on a stump. The ember glow of the campfire licked at the air, gently crackling.

"Your left arm." The Masked Man started. Amaterasu clutched the nub from beneath his poncho. "Surely with your abilities you could have earned a prosthetic from Atlas."

"It's not that simple." Amaterasu said. "Most of the nerves going down that arm were fried. There's nothing to attach a prosthetic to."

"How did it happen?" The Masked Man asked.

"I was just a kid. It was during the Grimm War. My home was already being evacuated. The huntsmen had launched a major operation to cover our escape. It looked like they were succeeding with minimal casualties." Amaterasu shivered.

"What happened next?"

"Cinder came." Amaterasu's voice shook as he said that name. "Within seconds the mountain became a volcano. The entire forest was set ablaze. I was lucky to survive the meteor that struck me….my parents weren't so lucky."

"The Battle of Mt. Serenade." The Masked Man said. "Victory was barely snatched from the jaws of death. The hero of the war-Ruby Rose- barely held Cinder off long enough for everyone to escape."

"She wasn't the great hero yet." Amaterasu said. "She became the great hero after that."

"Regardless, Cinder Fall still lives and is accumulating power."

"The huntsmen will deal with that when she poses a threat. Just like they did with Salem and Cipher."

"What if I told you we could end her before that?"

"I'd say you were crazy." Amaterasu laughed as he took a drink from his flask.

"I can give you the power to destroy her once and for all, to make her pay for everything she has done. Let me see your weapon."

Amaterasu was intrigued. The Masked Man seemed sure of himself. The mercenary wondered why this man sought his help to destroy Cinder. So, he entertained The Masked Man's notion.

The Masked Man examined the blade. It was three feet long and lined with dust. A single trigger on the hilt would activate the dust.

"So?" Amaterasu said as his blade was given back to him.

"Give me three weeks and I will return with a weapon that suits you. One strong enough to obliterate the Fall Maiden once and for all. Then we'll negotiate our plan." The Masked Man began to glow as he summoned a portal and disappeared.

AN: That had a more comedic conclusion than I thought it would. But it makes sense with how many times I said the operation looked legitimate. Well, next time isn't going to have PNGC. Also, I've been brainstorming a wholly original story. Keep an eye out on the inter webs for something from that.

Next Time: A family outing goes awry. A rare and spectacular creature is hunted. Team SPRA accepts an unorthodox mission.