RWBY is property of Roosterteeth, I only own my characters.
Chapter 36
Vortex stood, staring blankly at the metal wall of his "office" within the hideout. Since he had recovered from his battle, the Lord had been pondering the Order's next move. Conflicts with the EDC while they had Charles would be costly, and his scouts reported the forces were now mobile, supposedly searching for him.
The Lord's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door.
"You may enter." He said. The door squeaked slightly as Roman pushed it open.
"Sir." The thief greeted. "I have something that might interest you."
"Very well." Vortex turned. "What is it?"
"This." Roman held up a vial containing a Dust crystal. The Lord eyed the strange item. Unlike the slightly opaque coloration of every other sample of Dust he had seen, this crystal was perfectly clear, like glass. Roman handed him the vial.
"Dust?" Vortex raised an eyebrow underneath his helmet. "How does this help?"
"Not just any Dust. Void Dust."
"And that is?"
"This stuff is extremely rare, and it's unique compared to all other types of Dust."
"Can it be used as a weapon?"
"Er...no. But based off an old legend and something my...previous employer...discovered, you might not need it to be."
"You've gained my interest. Explain."
"Alright. There's this old legend in Remnant, that talks about an ancient temple somewhere in the world. It's said that the temple was built by a fifth kingdom, one that rivaled all the others' combined might. The king of this realm desired to fulfill his greatest desires. He constructed the temple to be powered by aura, but he needed some way to harness the raw energy of the soul. That's where Void Dust comes in. The legend says that the Void Dust acts as a catalyst to transform the energy in a person's aura into a power source for the temple."
"Did this king succeed?"
"Apparently not. The legend says the king built the temple to destroy the Grimm, but the temple heard only his deepest personal desire. The temple only heard the king's wish for his people to be safe from their enemies, so the kingdom's people were whisked away to some unknown place or plane of existence instead of killing the Grimm."
"An interesting story...but it is a mere legend, as you say."
"That's what I thought as well. Until Cinder, my old employer, found evidence that the temple actually exists. She wouldn't shut up about it for a whole day. It was her plan to use the temple as some sort of last resort. But...I had a thought when I saw this little crystal today. You seem like a fairly level-headed man. Detail oriented and all that. I would imagine someone like you could use the temple quite effectively..."
"..and we would not have to engage the EDC directly, is that what you're suggesting."
"Took the words right out of my mouth."
"Hm." Vortex pondered for a moment before coming to a decision. "Very well, a less costly and hazardous plan of action is certainly more welcome than constant stalemates. Where would we find more of this Void Dust."
"Well, I stole an awful lot of Dust for our good old pals in the White Fang..."
Meanwhile, the sun had set behind the tall forested mountains outside the borders of Vale. The EDCs aircraft had set down in front of the cavern formation they had gone to investigate. After a day of searching the caves, the forces had turned up nothing aside from an abandoned Deathstalker nest. Alex sat down on the edge of the open door of one of the Albatrosses. He stared at the darkening sky. A slight weight settled next to him in the open door. He looked to his side, seeing Ruby had seated herself next to him, swinging her legs idly, as they didn't quite reach the ground.
"Hi, Ruby." Alex greeted her briefly.
"...Are you mad at me?" She questioned suddenly.
"No, but I wish you had listened." Alex paused, then addressed something that had been weighing on him. "Ruby, despite what you may think, you and I are in very different lines of work. You're training to be a hero, a defender, a champion of the people. That's not what I am. I'm a soldier. I'm used to being on the offensive, for being the person that takes the fight to an enemy. I'm not a hero."
"Nope. You're definitely a hero." Ruby shook her head.
"Ru-"
"Nope." She cut him off. "You save and protect people even if it is by being the attacker. By pushing a bad guy back, you keep all the people behind you safe. I'd say that's pretty heroic."
"You're not going to give me a chance to argue, are you?"
"Nope. Not when the argument's about something dumb." the student stated firmly. She crossed her arms. "Alex, don't spend all your time worrying about the rest of us. Make sure to take care of your self too."
"I'm fine, Ruby. I just-"
"You haven't eaten since this morning, you look like you haven't slept well in days, and-"
"Alright, I get it. Things have just been stressful lately."
"I know that. Just...make sure you don't get hurt, okay? I don't want to lose the cool older brother I got out of all this." Ruby didn't notice Alex flinch slightly at the word "brother".
"What?"
"I dunno..." She explained, "You've kinda watched out for me ever since you got here...and, well I guess I look at you kind of as another sibling...Is that alright?"
Alex held a long pause before replying with a kind smile. "Guess I have to watch out for my little sister then, don't I?" Ruby happily hugged his arm. Alex ruffled the girl's hair. Looks like I'm stuck with siblings wherever I go, huh Mikey?
As night fully enveloped the landed EDC aircraft, both soldiers and students sat down for some much deserved food and rest. Over the course of dinner, Mac brought something up. He suggested that the forces be divided into traditional three-man fireteams like back on Earth, so that everyone would have some sort of assigned team. Alex had agreed and begun to parcel out trios that he believed would work well together.
Ryland would work well with Yang and Carbon, the two heavy-hitters being able to defend the scrawny engineer if he needed to work on something in the field. Blake and Firo were both well suited for scouting and infiltration roles, and Dimitri could supply explosives expertise and a heavy weapon element if any of their missions went south. Charles...well...the Bloodline really didn't need help in most cases...but, he seemed to have taken the two Schnee sisters under his wing before Alex could say anything.
Then there was his own team, Ruby and Luna. Aside from the nagging thoughts in his head that told his to look after them both, the three of them made a well-balanced trio. Ruby was excellent at long range, Luna could handle an automatic weapon at medium, and Alex himself had a tendency to get closer to his opponents than planned.
Arthur and Anika would now work with Mac. Their two Vanguards were accompanied by Corporal Landric. This left them with five left, four of which were the three pilots and one flight-trainee, responsible for flying the aircraft. This presented a slight issue, which Alex eventually resolved by tossing Landric's team the remaining engineer, since the Vanguards could use the extra help in the field.
Following their meal, the newly formed teams split off from the main group to talk with their assigned partners. Dimitri was pulled to the side by Blake and Firo, where the three of them stood in awkward silence for several minutes.
"Dimitri..." Firo started, "We're sor-"
"No need." The Russian smiled and held up a hand. "I knew at least one of you would try to follow us. It's why I asked Alex to put in extra beds on the transports."
"You...knew?" Blake gaped at him.
"Well, I assumed, anyway." He laughed. "I wish you had stayed where it was safe..but I'm also glad that both of you are here."
"Thanks." Blake smiled.
"So...what now?" Firo asked, a wide, calm grin on her face as well.
"Since Boss wants us to act as a scouting team, I figured I'd get us these." Dimitri removed three small black boxes from a pouch on his waist. He handed one to both Blake and Firo, keeping one for himself. "These are active camouflage modules. As long as you stay perfectly still, you're as good as invisible. However, they tend to flicker if either you or the environment you're in is in motion."
"How do we use them?" Blake turned the module over in her hands.
"That's simple. Here, turn around." The student turned so the back of her armor was facing Dimitri. She handed the Russian the box in her palm. With a click, the device slotted into an open connector on the back of her right shoulder. "Next, put these on." Dimitri handed her a pair of EDC shooting glasses like the ones Firo had been using since she had lost her old Atlesian helmet. Blake put the glasses over her eyes, a quick message reading "Synchronized" flashing across the clear material.
"Now what do I do?" Blake couldn't help but feel a little excited at the prospect of being almost invisible to the naked eye.
"Press the button on the right side of the glasses." Dimitri instructed. Blake did so, and immediately saw a wave of distortion surround her. She looked down at her arm, which was now surrounded by a mirage-like shimmer. She held still, keeping an eye on her hand. As Dimitri has said, the distortion became nearly unnoticeable. She pressed the button again to deactivate the module.
"It's an amazing tool. Thank you, Mr. Averin."
"You're welcome, Blake. Now let's get Firo hooked in."
Charles leaned against a wall inside the Albatross, while the two Schnee sisters seated themselves on Winter's bed. He sighed to himself, if the girls were going to be here, then he was going to look after them. No one else was capable of protecting them if Vortex suddenly decided to make an appearance.
"So..." Winter hesitantly began, "Lem...is alive...and he's..." She trailed off.
"Yes, Lem is Vortex."
"But, how?" Weiss asked, "You said he was dead..."
"When he joined the Order and started killing people, my friend was gone. Something...changed him. He wasn't always a monster..."
"What kind of person was he?" Winter inquired next.
"Back when he was still Lem? He was the straight arrow among our group of friends. While Kyle and I were stealing cars and generally being delinquents, Lem was there to straighten us out. He'd always show up at the most inopportune times, and end up getting dragged along on whatever stupid plan the rest of us concocted. And when things inevitably went wrong...well, he'd be the voice of reason in cleaning up the mess." Charles' face fell. "After we all ended up going our separate ways, I didn't hear from him for years. Then, he just...showed up one day...ranting about he was going to join the Order. There was something...broken...about him. I tried to change his mind, I even begged him to reconsider. Kyle's mother, who was the Reaper before him, had taught the kids in our town about how our powers meant we had a responsibility to watch over the people without them. Now, here was my friend, yelling about how he was going to kill the people we'd been told to protect. If he left, I knew the next time we met, we'd be on opposite sides. The next morning, he just left without another word. I didn't see him again for over a decade, and apparently, I died when I did."
"...I'm sorry..." Winter stood and took one of Charles' hands in her own.
"It's nothing you have to apologize for, Winter." She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. Weiss also stood, placing her palms over her sister's.
"Could you do it?" Weiss asked, "Could you really kill someone who used to be your friend?"
"It's not a matter of 'can', Weiss. If he is allowed to continue, people I care about will die. So, I will kill him."
A/N: The next hand of cards is being dealt...yeah, that analogy doesn't really work. As usual, a big thanks to all the people dropping favorites, follows, and reviews!
REVIEW REPLIES:
Arukune: If we're going for the chess-piece analogy...oh god, Charles is the Queen.
Dimas15: Thanks!
That Guy: I don't have an exact number for you, since I have a tendency to make last-minute revisions as I write. At the moment, I have chapters planned out until Chapter 41, and I try to maintain a five chapter lead on myself. I would not be surprised if this story hits somewhere within the 50-60 chapter range, but I assure you, this isn't the end quite yet.