Chapter 37: The Herolains
Character Roman Torchwick
"You people actually ride on them," Roman exclaimed as Spyro and Cynder landed beside them as they stood outside the warehouse.
"Oh they aren't that bad," Weiss said, "well not as bad as a Nevermore."
"A what," Roman added, "So I've been outwitted by an old friend, six kids, a car man a slab of meat and two goons, oh this is embarrassing."
"You could always try to fight your way out," Sun said.
"And suffer an even more shameful defeat," Adam said, "That isn't his style."
"There is more of you than the two of us can carry," Cynder said, "Space limitations and all."
"Don't worry," Ruby said, "I've called Shepard he has a transport inbound for us, I think Hawk and Fisher want to show Roman here a thing or two about lawbreaking."
"Oh do we," Hawk said with an icy glare directed at Roman and Adam.
"Yeah I'm screwed aren't I," Roman asked.
"Basically," Adam replied, "But I think they plan on running me through what they've got planned as well, so you can always hid behind me."
"Just don't break anything," Blake said to Hawk and Fisher, "Not all of us are as... honorable as you two."
"Ruby," a young girl called from a jet propelled car that landed near by.
"Gaige," Ruby replied, "Shep sent you and Ax to pick us up?"
"No he sent Gaige and me and Moroni and Imhotep," a man, Ax apparently, said.
"How many of you are there," Roman asked.
"Hundreds," Fisher replied, "Don't worry you'll meet most of them eventually."
"Great," Roman stated, "Well if you have a map I'll show you where Cinder's warehouses and bases are."
"Who's the redhead," Gaige asked.
"That is Roman," Yang said, "Criminal mastermind."
"Really," asked a being that was slightly glowing, wore all red, carried a massive ax, and had two wings of pure energy. It reminded Roman of something Cinder described once, a Cherub or something. Behind him was a bald man, with large muscles, bronze skin and a sharp, black, suit.
"Imagine that DC working with criminals again," the bald man said.
"Moroni, Imhotep," Hawk said.
"Great all the herolains are here," Fisher said.
"All the what," Spyro asked.
"It a combination of hero and villain," Fisher clarified.
"Creative," Velvet said, "I like it."
"Uh just get me a bloody map," Roman stated. Adam spread out a scroll with a map of Remnant on it. Roman zoomed in on an island of land that was to the west. It was a scrap of land that, as far as anyone in Vale knew, was uninhabited. Roman knew better, he had been there, Cinder had cleared the island of Grimm so she could set up her Dust stashes there. "Here," Roman said as he pointed to a section of hills that rolled through the middle of the island, "Under the hills are miles of tunnels, Cinder keeps all her Dust there."
"If she has access to the Sith fleet," Cynder said, "Then the Dust probably won't stay there long, we need to get to it."
"You know even if Cinder isn't there then she will have left some nasty surprises for us," Roman warned.
"Why are you so eager to help us," Ruby asked, "Last time we met you tried..."
"Hey guys," Interrupted a perky, female voice.
"Ah Penny," Roman and Ruby both yelled as they turned to see the generally smiling redhead with her big green eyes, ridiculous, lopsided pink bow, white blouse with overalls and black and green pants. She wasn't smiling.
"Roman what are you doing here," Penny asked as she stuck her face in front of his.
"Helping Ruby steal back Cinder's dust," Roman replied as he shook off the initial shock. In truth Penny was the most unpredictable of all the people who he had run across, and possibly the most dangerous.
"Ruby," Penny asked.
"Its okay," Ruby said, "he is in our custody, you can thank Hawk, Fisher and Velvet for that."
"Hey Penny," Velvet said.
"First time I've seen you jump," Fisher said, "This girl really that dangerous?"
"I'm combat ready," Penny replied with a salute as the smile returned to its place on her freckled face, "Who is everyone else, are they from the ship?"
"Come on," Yang said, "We'll explain it as we go, Cinder is going to move the Dust soon if she hasn't already."
"You six go with Moroni," Adam said to RWBY and friends, "We will ride Spyro and Cynder in, Roman you can guide us."
"Come on buddy," Hawk said as he pulled Roman towards Spyro, "My ax and I will make sure that we can trust you, and we are not very trusting."
"Hmf," Roman responded as he lit his cigar and took a draw of it and blew it in Hawks direction. "Adam, how many of those knight droids did you manage to get?"
"About forty," Adam replied, "There was a whole train of them." Blake scowled at Adam as she and RWBY headed to the Kodiak, as Gaige called it. Roman was scowling as well but probably for a different reason than Blake, forty knights could be very hard to deal with.
"Forty," Roman repeated, "Why do you have to be so good at what you do?"
"K made me who I am," Adam replied, "When you meet him it will make sense."
He and Adam didn't get the chance to continue the conversation as they got onto Spyro and Cynder's backs with Hawk, Fisher, Moroni and Imhotep. The latter two having elected to let Brick and Scooter take their place in the Kodiak. Hawk was behind him and Imhotep was in front of him as Spyro took off. The dragon didn't even use the armor he was wearing to take off, relying instead on his own power for the short, but wild, trip. As Roman slid off of Spyro and caught his breath he thought he had just gotten off the worst ride of his life. Then he saw the Kodiak falling, upside-down, from the sky. The front thrusters fired up and spun the craft right side up before sharply decelerating and only half crashing to the ground.
As RWBY and friends spilled out Brick, Ax and Gaige followed them laughing. "Now that was a ride," Ax said as the three high-fived each other.
"Blarg we should have thrown these two in with them," Fisher remarked, "Ok Roman where to?"
With a quick glance Roman caught the tell for where an entrance to the underground system of warehouses was. He waved them over to a tree that was jutting up from a rock in the hillside. The tree slid open a panel that Roman entered a code into. Then the side of the hill next to him slid open and he waved for the team to head in.
"Ah now that is sneaky," Ax remarked.
"Didn't Church mention something like this when he was trying to find Tex," Moroni asked.
"He has yes," Cynder replied as she stuck her head into the opening, "We will be much to cramped in there to be of any use, you all go on we will wait out here."
"Warning unauthorized access detected. Unknown life form within the system, Warning!"
"Ah sh..." Roman got cut off as four turrets popped up from the hill and started targeting them. Spyro and Cynder spread their wings out to cover them, the suits and shields taking most of the initial damage. Spyro threw the turrets off the hill by causing four spikes of earth to knock them off their moorings. Instead of deactivating the turrets morphed into the four legged, four armed spider droids all of which were pointing their eight cannons at the team. Roman whipped his cane up and sent a blast at each droid. As he expected his attack was useless. Then four pods dropped from the sky and crushed the droids under them. Out of the pods came four heavily armored figures. One had blue armor, one had teal, one black, and one orange.
"Church, Carolina, Tex, York," Spyro greeted, "Nice timing."
"Aw I didn't get to kill them," Tex said.
"You didn't even know they were there," Yang commented.
"So," Tex replied.
"Hurry inside before they lock the door," Roman yelled as he, Hawk, Fisher, Moroni, Imhotep and Adam ran through the door. Team RWBY followed them with the 'new' arrivals right behind them. Brick and Scooter got stuck outside with Ax and Gaige as the door closed and locked.
"Scooter," Ruby yelled as she ran back to the door, "Are you okay?"
"Am I ok are you ok," Scooter replied, "Yeah I'm ok. You guys didn't get crushed by any traps or stuff did you?"
Roman ignored the rest of the conversation as he got a bearing on where they had entered. They were currently in a well lit room used for out processing of the Dust and other valuable goods that were shipped through the complex. Everything was concrete reinforced with steel rods and steel plating. The reflective surface added to the illumination of the area. There were a few bags and crates laying around, Roman opened one of these crates to find Dust crystals stored within. He took a moment to ask himself why he was doing this, helping some of his worst enemies, then he though of Cinder, of her constant threats, strong-arming, and using him only to dump him as soon as she could. His scowl turned into a silent snarl as he grabbed up one of the Dust crystals.
"Weiss, catch," he called as he tossed her the crystal.
Weiss picked the crystal from the air and looked it over before an expression of surprise crossed her face. "This is not a Schnee product, or any of our competitors. Where did this come from?"
"Not one of yours," Adam remarked, "Roman toss me one." Roman threw one to his old associate. "Hmm, Carolina have a look at this."
The teal one walked over and took the crystal as she handed Adam her helmet. Roman was surprised to see she had orange hair like him. His evaluation of her went up a notch just for that. Then he quickly got out of her way as her yellow eyes seemed to burn through him as she headed for the crate. Roman found himself next to Moroni as Carolina kicked the crate open spilling the crystals all over the floor and eliciting a "What are you doing," from Weiss. Carolina bent down and removed something from the crate. Roman could see that it was a crystal, of sorts, not Dust though.
"Church tell me I'm not looking at what I think I am looking at," Carolina hissed.
"I could but it wouldn't change anything," Church said as he zoomed in on the crystal with his sniper rifle.
"It isn't them is it," York asked.
"Them who," Roman added.
"Project Freelancer," Tex said, "That is an AI matrix hidden within these fake Dust crystals."
"Who," Blake asked.
"You're all about to find out," Carolina said, "Roman what are we doing here anyway?"
"Stealing Dust of course," Roman said. "It is in a storage room farther in."
"Is this stuff, this Dust, explosive," Church asked.
"Very," Weiss said. The four Spartans looked at each other as Carolina donned her helmet.
"Then we aren't going to steal it," York said.
"What," Adam asked, "Why not?"
"We're going to blow it up," Tex answered, "And this island with it, Project Freelancer was an abomination created by a sad, old man. So many were destroyed because of us, it is not happening again."
"So you all were a part of this Freelancer project then," Roman said, "They messed with you, fine, but if you have a ship hovering over the city just a few miles away why use the Dust to blow up the island?"
"Carolina what ever happened to the Mother of Invention," York asked.
"I was never able to find it," Carolina replied, "I was about to have the Director when I was killed by demons, remember?"
"If that ship got repaired," Tex said, "It was at least twice as big as the Pestilence and that was forty years ago."
"Wait twice as big as the..." Sun said, "That isn't good is it?"
"But the Pestilence, Pillar II, and the Infinity are the three biggest ships on the records," Church said, "Oh right they probably still think the Invention is wrecked... crap."
"Look lets get the Dust then figure out what to do about your friends," Roman said as he headed for the door that led farther into the complex, "Besides we have to find another way out."
"Well you won't find it through here," a familiar voice said through a comm system, "Ah Roman I wondered when you would come to get revenge."
"Marcus," Roman spat the name, "Oh I've come for revenge all right and guess who is with me."
"The troublesome team RWBY, ah and the renegade Freelancers," Marcus' voice stated.
"Plus a few extra hands," Adam added.
"Taurus," Marcus stated before the comms went dead.
"Ready yourselves," Roman said, "We'll be getting the welcoming committee in a few seconds." His comment was answered with the cambering and unsheathing of weapons. Imhotep stepped up beside Roman as the two faced the inward door. "What no weapon," Roman asked.
"I am the weapon," Imhotep replied. The the door flew open and in rushed a group of AK-130 droids led by ten figures in black.
"Sith," Adam said.
Roman took aim at the Sith and fired off three shots. The Sith whipped out an energy blade of some kind to deflect the Dust powered fireballs. Roman couldn't help but smile, he had designed the fireballs to explode more violently when they passed through an energy field of some kind. Instead of blocking the fire-balls the Sith only caused them to implode taking out two of the Sith and four droids. Imhotep smashed droids together using some kind of grip ability, lifting them from a distance and using the helpless droids as floating clubs. Adam, Ruby, Hawk, Fisher and Moroni were in the middle of the remaining Sith and were winning, quite easily. Roman picked off a droid that was about to stab York in the back and in turn got saved from a nasty slash by Church. Tex and Carolina were with Yang the three of them going fists to blades with the droids. Blake and Weiss were running about and causing general havoc with their weapons and powers respectively. Sun slid over to Church to cover the sniper's back. Imhotep took a blade to the chest but instead of falling or even gasping for air the bald man just picked the droid that had stabbed him up and ripped it in half, the hole in Imhotep's chest closing up as the blade was flung away from him with the half of the droid. Roman used his cane to counter two strikes from another droid before he blew that one into one of the Sith that Ruby had just smacked over towards his direction. Again the energy weapon acted as a catalyst and another implosion leveled another three droids and the Sith. A few moments later and the fight was finished by Moroni as his ax decapitated the last Sith.
"Marcus will already be gone," Roman remarked as he checked the level of Dust in his cane and lit a cigar, "I suspect that we will find the Knight droids and the Dust in the same location, lets go before they..." Clang!
Character Imhotep
He liked this Roman character. Imhotep decided this as soon as the strange man revealed his cane to be a fireball launcher. Despite being thousands of years old, immortal, an old worshiper of K when the elder being called himself Anubis, and even having the powers of the seven plagues themselves, Imhotep would be the first to admit that he liked tech, and Roman seemed to know tech. Which made their current situation more infuriating since a magnetically sealed door just slammed down on their way forward.
"Weiss glyphs," Velvet said as her sword firing revolver morphed into an arm piece. It was silver and smooth and flowed from just below her shoulder to the tips of her fingers, like a really long glove.
"You want to shoot through it," Weiss remarked, "Ok."
Imhotep and Roman watched in curiosity as the two girls worked together, Velvet with her as yet non-demonstrated skills and Weiss with her glyphs. Weiss crafted a stasis glyph into which Velvet hurled an orb of energy. Then Weiss changed the glyph to an acceleration glyph and hurled the orb at the door. Upon impact Velvet detonated the orb and the energy literally blew the door out of the wall, magnetic locks and all.
"Now that was unexpected," Imhotep remarked.
"Oh come on that had to be just a little bit impressive," Roman added, "We didn't think of any way past the door."
"I was not talking about the display of magical prowess," Imhotep corrected, "I was referring to the sword-gun turning into a focus for Velvet's Aura."
"Seriously, two kids just blew a magnetically sealed door through the wall it was mounted in and that is what you comment on," Fisher said, "You know what I give up, you guys are hopeless." Fisher followed Hawk and Tex through the opening.
"What's with her," Moroni asked as he and Adam came up next to Imhotep.
"Who knows," Church answered as he followed Tex through the doorway, "Roman aren't you supposed to show us where this stuff is?"
"Right," Roman said as he headed through the door, "Time for a little payback."
Imhotep, Adam and Moroni followed after the 'leader' as Roman guided them through various rooms and hallways entering the occasional pass-code from time to time. As they neared their destination Ruby got a call from Scooter on her omni-tool.
"Hey we are heading out the whole island is crawling with these Grimm things," Scooter said, "Don't worry though we'll be back with back up can't leave a cute thing like you just stuck down there."
Imhotep allowed a smile to cross his face as Ruby pulled her hood down over her rapidly reddening cheeks as she replied, "Ok just don't bring Bad Co. we don't need this place collapsing on us."
"Copy that," Scooter said as the conversation ended.
"We really need to hurry," Ruby said, "If I know DC by now then the solution to the Grimm will involve a lot of explosions."
"The door is just up ahead," Roman said, "I don't like this though, there is going to be some trap somewhere, Adam let's check it out."
Adam nodded and waved for Imhotep and Moroni to follow him. With the others waiting outside they entered the room and looked around. Other than tons of crates of Dust there was nothing that Imhotep saw that was alarming.
"Ruby call Scooter and tell them to bring some transports with them," Adam yelled back through the door. As soon as he had voiced the words the walls slammed down, locking them in.
"Damn it voice activated," Roman swore, "Cinder I'll get you."
As soon as the man quieted down Imhotep heard it, the sound of metal hitting concrete. Adam drawing his sword from its gun-sheath gave him a clue that the sound wasn't good. Moroni had his Ax in his hand and lightening was dancing across his face. Roman had his cane up ready to fire at the first thing that came out of the grid of pathways that ran through the crates. Imhotep looked around for a weapon and found a sword lying against the wall. He swung it a few times to get the feel for its balance and weight. It felt solid and was well balanced, he liked it, simple but effective. Then the knight droids came into view. Four lines of ten droids came at them from the rows of crates. They were twelve feet tall and carried swords as large as they were. Imhotep heard the sound of an explosion, indicating that their friends were trying to smash through the wall like they did with the door, no hole appeared behind them though.
"Looks like we'll be doing this the hard way," Adam said as he and Roman paired up.
"Lets get to a corner," Moroni said, "Then they will have to come at us from only two directions."
Imhotep led the way to their left the direction of the closest corner. The knights analyzed the situation and twenty of them broke off to head around to the other side of the stack of crates. Roman shot three bursts from his cane which Adam caught on his sword and stored for later use. Moroni and Imhotep readied their weapons to face the oncoming knights. Imhotep looked between the wall the knights and the stack of crates that the knights were walking past. He used his power to slam the Knights into the wall with the crates. The droids reacted faster than he would have expected and turned to hold the crates back.
"Moroni," Imhotep said as he kept the pressure up on the knights, "Have any tricks for this?"
"Well there is this," Moroni said as he charged his ax with energy and then dashed towards the knights, or more to the point through the knight droids. After his dash the line of droids got crushed against the wall. Moroni returned by jumping over the forty foot tall stack of crates and landing next to Imhotep.
"We should help the..." Moroni started, "Or not."
Looking over to where Adam and Roman were guarding against the other twenty droids they saw the last one fall to a combined attack from Roman and Adam. Roman powering up Adam's strike with a Dust blast and Adam using the energy to decapitate the droid which fell atop a pile of its fallen friends, not all of them had been taken out by the swordsman, some were melted and burned by Roman's own skill in combat. Moments later Imhotep heard a much louder explosion and the rest of their team were through the wall.
"Adam," Blake called.
"Over here," Adam replied as he started climbing the crates that were now in the way of the opening that their friends came in through.
"Are you all ok," York asked.
"Yes we are fine," Imhotep answered as he moved the crates out of the way. The others jumped back as the chopped and crushed droids fell out from the wall, "Ignore the mess. How did you managed to punch a hole through such a solid wall?"
"Same as we took out the door," Velvet replied as she changed her arm-piece back to the sword firing gun, "Just had to charge up the orb a bit more for this job."
"A gun, that shoots swords, that is also a focus and armor," Imhotep stated, "Now that is impressive. Ruby your boyfriend on his way back with those transports?"
"Oh come on even you," Ruby exclaimed, "Your the tall, silent, one!"
"Come on sis your nineteen and have never had a boyfriend," Yang said, "It is bound to be a topic of conversation."
"Only cause you make it one," Blake added causing the four girls, Weiss had joined Ruby's side of the argument, to start bickering.
"How was I ever foiled by them," Roman muttered as he opened one of the crates revealing tones of Dust. Imhotep, Moroni and Adam all looked over Roman's shoulder to admire the haul they were getting from Cinder's warehouse.
"You two did good against those droids," Roman commented, "I had thought it would take you longer to take them out, using the crates and the wall like that was inspired."
"You were worried about us," Moroni commented, "We thought you two would have the worst time of it."
"Ha, Roman and I have been through much more difficult spots than this with much less help," Adam replied, "To be honest it was interesting to see what you two are capable of, you both came around after I was gone. I guess we make a pretty good team."
"Great we're team RAIM," Roman said sarcastically.
"Raim," Moroni said musingly, "That is the name of one of our former generals, an Earl of Hell, he likes the form of a crow if I remember correctly. Considering the four of us, perhaps a fitting name, Roman you want to be leader?"
"Lead my own team against Cinder," Roman speculated for a minute, "Well I didn't actually mean anything by the naming of us but since your offering, I am too much a business man to refuse."
"Ok your mellow-drama over with," Carolina said, "We need to find a door to this place that Scooter can use for the loading of the transports."
"I saw a control room on the far side," Imhotep remarked, "We can probably get access for our friends from there."
"Got it," Ruby said as she vanished in a cloud of rose petals.
"Ruby wait," Yang exclaimed.
"She'll be fine," Weiss said, "She is a big girl now."
Blake called Ruby with her omni-tool, "Find anything?"
"Yup," came the cheery reply, "You should find a door that leads to the outside via a truck ramp opening up. Look for it to your left."
Imhotep morphed into a whirlwind of dust and moved in the prescribed direction. Sure enough there was a door that was retracting into the ceiling. Ruby appeared next to him as he reformed his body.
"Whoa how did you do that," Ruby asked as she looked on in amazement.
"How do you leave rose petals everywhere," Imhotep responded, "Same technique just a different style of execution."
"You think I can be all whirlwindy," Ruby exclaimed, "Oh that would be soooo cool."
The others caught up to them by then, "Ruby did you call Scooter and tell him where to meet us," Carolina asked.
"Oh right I need to do that," Ruby replied as she activated the omni-tool. Imhotep decided that he needed one of the strange devices, if only because it was a great means of communication. As Ruby was talking Imhotep thought he heard something. He turned from looking through a box of Dust crystals to the ramp that led out. Two figures appeared on the ramp, two massive Spartans with missile launchers. Imhotep dashed forward in intercept the missiles that were headed for Ruby but Roman beat him to it as the orange haired man knocked Ruby out of the way as Yang and Penny dealt with the rockets. Four sniper rounds went down the tunnel and found their mark in the Spartans but did seemingly no damage. Carolina and Tex were charging the two with Weiss blocking the missiles with her glyphs. Imhotep, tiring of this place and its constant traps, bellowed a roar, a challenge, that dripped with the power he commanded as the mummy of the Hom Dai. Even his friends halted their attacks as the bellow shook the walls. Lifting the Spartans off the ground Imhotep yanked them towards him, his sword found its mark as the Spartans' heads were removed from their bodies. Everybody was quite for a moment as Imhotep cleaned the blood from his sword.
"I like his style," Roman remarked as the thief pocketed some of the Dust, "Lets go get things moving, if the Grimm are out there they will have heard that challenge."
Character Blood-Raven
"The crimson or the magenta," That was the question that was running through Blood-Raven's head as she Nora and Pyrrha were browsing through the shops for, as Pyrrha put it, more suitable attire. Raven had to admit her once beautiful robes and armor had grown tattered and worn over the years. Xarle, Jaune and Ren were in another section of the store looking at cooking wear, so boring.
"Oh should we go paint our nails after this," Nora suggested. Blood-Raven had no idea how team JNPR had hit it off with her and Xarle but she enjoyed the company, especially Nora. It was nice to have people who didn't think of her as just the demonic queen who could rain elemental arrows down upon you from a mile away, raise the undead, and be a General to thousands of demons. So here she was deciding between crimson or magenta armor and a robe to go with it. She had already picked out a white, long sleeved, silk shirt and thick black jeans that were both protective and flexible. She had upgraded her shoes to tall, leather boots and even found a helm she liked.
"I think the cloak should be magenta and the armor crimson," Pyrrha suggested, "Gives it a little more flare."
"You sure its not because you're just partial to red colors," Raven replied, "I could get a blue cloak."
"And you wouldn't wear it a day," Nora said, "You like reds too."
"Who is paying for all this," Raven asked as she picked up a set of crimson armor and a magenta cloak with red thorns etched into it.
"Oh we can cover this," Nora said, "Ren and I made an airship full of Lien not long before we ran into all of you guys."
"And having Weiss as a friend never hurts," Ren said as he, Jaune and Xarle caught up to them at the register. The cashier, a young man, gave them a worried look, focusing mostly on Blood-Raven's spikes and generally demonic appearance. "Don't worry they are not here to hurt you," Ren said, "They are friends of ours."
"Well okay," The man said, "I heard you all got lost or something. Guess you picked these two up then?"
"Yes and a whole fleet of others like us," Xarle remarked, "The ship parked above the city is ours."
"I think I'll just stay out of your way if it is alright with you," the man replied as he rang them up, "That will be three hundred Lien." Ren handed him several green chips and they left the store. The streets were fairly empty as it was about two in the afternoon and most people were either working or in class, a police car passed by them.
"Hey wasn't that Burnie and Joel," Jaune said, "Weren't they with..."
"They were," Pyrrha finished, "We should probably see what has happened."
"I don't guess we get to paint our nails then," Raven remarked as she waved her slightly clawed finger in front of her face.
"Maybe later," Nora said with a grin, "If there is some action we should find it."
"Agreed," Raven added, "You think there is somewhere I can change into this new armor?"
"The Vale PD will probably have a room you can use," Pyrrha said, "We'll take with Burnie while you get changed."
After they got to the PD Raven took her bags from Xarle, who had 'volunteered' to carry them for her. Pyrrha got her pointed in the direction of the locker room while they went to see what had happened to RWBY and their other friends that Hawk and Fisher had hijacked. She walked out of the locker room in her new gear, and right into a shouting match between Nora and, well actually only Nora was yelling, everyone else was cringing.
"You just left them with Roman, what were you thinking," Nora yelled.
"We were thinking that Ruby has a scythe-sniper and we don't," Burnie replied, "Look you want to go chasing after your friends fine, they headed to Marie Island to the west."
"Come on Nora," Raven said as she passed the girl, "Lets go see what they've gotten into." At that moment Scooter pulled up outside with Brick, Spyro and Cynder.
"Oh man we need your help," Scooter said as he pushed his way into the PD, "Ruby and them got stuck inside this bunker thing and now they've got a ton of Dust to haul out of it and we need some huge transports."
Everyone looked at each other then back to Scooter. "Uh Scooter," Jaune remarked as he pointed to Spyro and Cynder, "We've got dragons who operate giant suits, Pelicans that can carry hundred ton tanks and space ships, why come here?"
Everyone was quite until Cynder said, "We probably could carry those crates."
"Well lets get all the dragons to help," Joel said, "There is a lot around back you can put the Dust there."
"Hey Scooter," Ruby called on the omni-tool, "Could you hurry up with that transport, the Grimm are really starting..." She was cut off as gunfire erupted in the back ground, "Just hurry."
"We'll load up a chopper and meet you all over there," Burnie said, "JNPR you and your friends head out there ahead of us."
"We'll get the transports," Brick said as he and Scooter ran outside then drove off.
Raven and the girls got on Cynder while the boys got on Spyro. "Back to the island," Spyro remarked as they took off. As they homed in on their friends, Raven noticed something amiss, there was far to much gunfire compared with the paltry creatures that it was being directed against. Focusing on the creatures, the Grimm as Ren had told her they were called, Raven saw why her fellow DC members were not taking these Grimm out. Someone was maintaining an energy shield around the creatures.
"Xarle," She yelled. He couldn't hear her from Spyro's back though.
"What's the matter," Pyrrha asked.
"Energy shield," Raven replied, "Someone is draining a vast amount of energy to keep these creatures alive."
"I can feel it," Cynder remarked, "It is a cross of shadow energy and necromantic energy."
"Can you trace it," Raven asked.
"On it," Cynder replied, "I've told Spyro to land and help the rest while we go find this mage."
Raven readied an arrow on her bow as Cynder veered off towards the coast. As they approached a figure became visible on the hill, the traditional black Sith robes told Raven immediately who this 'mage' was, she hated Sith.
"Cynder drop us off," Nora said, "We can distract it while you and Raven hit it from above."
"I didn't figure you for the one who came up with plans," Raven remarked, impressed at Nora's thoughts following her own line of thinking.
"Heh this way I get to hit it first," Nora replied as she and Pyrrha rolled off of Cynder, who had landed at the base of the hill. The Sith turned to engage them as Cynder returned to the sky.
"Do a couple of passes then get low enough for me to jump," Raven said, "The only way we can get this fool is by surprise."
"Agreed," Cynder remarked as she flew over the Sith and dropped acidic bombs on it. Pyrrha and Nora had engaged the Sith as well with their rifle and grenade launcher, Nora was charging in though to use Magnhild to it fullest effect. Cynder passed over again and sent several sonic waves at the Sith, those seemed to distract it giving Nora the upper-hand. Pyrrha had switched Milo into its spear form and was trying to flank the Sith, Cynder brought Raven in low and she jumped off releasing a series of six arrows before landing. The Sith deflected her arrows easily but got impaled with Milo while he was distracted. This stunned the Sith and Nora reversed her grip and using the additional force of firing off a grenade slammed the spike on the back of Magnhild into the Sith's head.
"Call and see if the Grimm are taking hits now," Raven said.
Pyrrha's omni-tool glowed to life as she called Jaune and relayed the question. "Yeah the Grimm are falling," Pyrrha replied, "Good call how did you know it was a shield?"
Blood-Raven picked up a rock and let it drop onto her foot, it bounced away harmlessly, "I use the same skill," she remarked, "It does seem to take one to know one. What concerns me is that I can absorb hundreds of hits before I start to feel tired, this Sith seemed just as powerful after having a dozen of our friends beating at his shield for a half hour."
The four of them looked between each other before Cynder said, "Well get on we should head back and they need me to help move this Dust." Before long Raven and Xarle were talking with Adam and Carolina about the Sith she encountered.
"The Sith and Project Freelancer," Carolina commented, "It doesn't make any sense, sure the Director will do anything to get what he wants but he isn't like the Sith, far from it actually."
"Are you sure about that," Adam asked, "Cause they sound a lot alike to me."
"Adam," York warned.
"No I want to know why you are so sure the Director is different," Adam said, "I might have been your enemy, sure I was. You know me, this, I am just me with some good added back in. This is my world, these are my friends and I will do whatever it takes to keep them safe." Adam punctuated this with a sweep of his arm to point to RWBY, JNPR, Sun, Velvet and Penny.
"I know because I am his daughter," Carolina said softly, "Church is an AI based off of the Director, Tex is the same way only she is his memories of my mother, Allison."
"So, do they know," Raven asked.
"Who Church and Tex," Carolina replied, "Yes they know, well they know now. It took them a while to get all their memories back."
"That has got to be weird," Xarle remarked, "Having AI versions of your parents hanging around with you. Still that leaves us with this issue, the Sith and Project Freelancer." Spyro took off with another crate of Dust that Scooter had brought up with his truck armor, Arizona was helping him bring the several ton cases out where the dragons and several Pelicans were working to carry all the Dust to the Vale PD.
"I'd hate to suggest this but what if it is not your father who is the Director," Adam said.
"The only way he would give up that post is if her was dead," Carolina said.
"Adam," Roman yelled, "Call coming in, guess who it is from."
"Cinder," Adam hissed, "Lets hear it."
"Oh speaker phone," Cinder's voice came through Roman's phone, "I'm flattered. Can't say the same for a Lenard Church, former Director of Project Freelancer. His little project tried to interfere with my plans so I had to eliminate him and replaced him with Marcus, you remember him don't you? Stealing my Dust I can't let you go for that, we are done playing nice Roman."
"Well that is good to hear," Roman said mockingly, "Have you ever fought someone who is immortal or dragons, or demons or angles?"
"You speak of Dragon Company I assume," Cinder replied her voice becoming terse, "Yes I've faced them, for all their power they don't concern me."
"Maybe DC doesn't," Adam said, "But I know who does..."
"Adam," Cinder said before the call was terminated.
"Who does she fear," Raven asked.
"Hawk, Fisher, Ruby and Yang," Adam said, "they are the only four that her power has no effect on, Yang was only stopped cause her worry stopped her."
"Four, out of hundreds there are four of us who can face her," Xarle remarked, "She will throw everything she has at them you know."
"Then we don't let any of it get to them," Raven said, "We'll keep up with Hawk and Fisher, you all can keep an eye on Ruby and Yang."
"And their friends," Carolina added, "If one of them is caught then it will be leverage that we don't need Cinder to have."
"Agreed," Xarle stated, "We will talk with the Primes and the Council see what K has to say about this."
"The who," Adam asked.
"Oh right," Raven said, "Tyreal, Hadriel, Auriel and Inarius have declared themselves the new Angeris Council. Seeing as they are the only four angles left from the Arch it seems fitting."
"Ah right," Roman remarked, "Adam a word please?"
The two headed off so Roman could be brought up to speed on the DC members. Carolina got York, Church and Tex and they went off to join with RWBY and JNPR. Raven and Xarle summoned a portal to the Primes and went through. They arrived to find Diablo and Malafor eating the remains of some animal, Raven thought it was a bull or cow of some kind. Baal and Mephisto were arguing with Inarius about the nature of their powers and why Cinder was able to overpower them. Lilith was talking with Lily and Lil about inter-dimensional space and K was paying for the meal that the group were finishing up.
"You're late," Mephisto said, "You missed lunch."
"Yeah we were busy," Xarle remarked, "We need to play watch dog for Hawk and Fisher for a while and you all are going to help."
"Why is that," K asked as he walked over to them.
"Cause they are the only ones who are immune to Cinder's power," Raven replied, "Them and those sisters."
"Ah Ruby and Yang yes," Diablo said through a mouthful of beef, "Watching those four take down that blarg was impressive and frustrating, we should have been able to get to her."
"And what stopped us," Xarle asked.
"We stopped us," Raven said as she suddenly realized the true impact of what Adam said, "We stopped ourselves because we thought we couldn't get past Cinder's powers."
"That is what I've been saying," Inarius said adding his voice to the conversation.
"Inarius you need to chill man," Lil said, "You don't even have eyes and I can feel the icy stare coming from you."
"Oh he has eyes you just can't see them," Lilith added, "anyway we might have a solution to this force barrier."
"Oh," K asked, "and what is that?"
"Easy," Lily said as she brushed her red-orange hair out of her eyes, "When Cinder starts to use this barrier we shift out of phase with this dimension and walk right through."
"It shouldn't matter what dimension we are in," Raven said. "Unless..."
"Unless most of DC thinks it makes a difference," Xarle continued, "Oh that is actually pretty good."
"I thought so," Lil said.
"Ok I'm a little lost," Malafor remarked, "Uh what?"
Everyone looked at Malafor, Blood-Raven put her face in her hand, Lily rolled her eyes Inarius actually chuckled.
"There is that rookie streak coming out again," Baal jibbed, "Doesn't even understand simple inter-dimensional energy differentials."
"Basically we shift our material selves to a slightly higher energy plane and walk through the barrier," Lilith said, "My dear Father, you've gotten rusty in choosing your new Primes."
"Shut up blarg," Mephisto snapped.
"It wouldn't make any difference though," Xarle whispered to Raven, "The only thing it would affect is DC's confidence."
"Unless this idea is completely misguided," Raven replied in equally hushed tones, "I think we should still keep an eye on the four who we know are immune to Cinder."
"Agreed," K's thoughts flashed through her mind. Raven looked to Xarle, he had heard K as well.
"Well while you all figure out how to shift DC we'll go back and see how the progress is coming on that Dust raid," Raven said as she and Xarle headed back through their portal. The returned and almost ran into Hawk who was jumping out of the way of Fisher's sword.
"What the blarg," Xarle exclaimed as the sword bounced off his energy shield, "Baby I ain't that kind of demon."
Fisher glared at him, Hawk laughed out loud and Raven face palmed herself. Xarle was always the ladies man or demon or whatever they were now.
"What were you swinging at each other for," Raven asked.
"Just practice," Hawk said, "It gets boring watching them cart crates off the island."
"Come on you two," Raven said, "lets go find JNPR and RWBY and get off this island. Then I am owed a manicure."
"Are you serious," Fisher asked, the surprise was evident on her face.
"Oh she is serious," Xarle replied, "Back before the spikes she would have a different nail polish on everyday."
Two hours later, Raven, Nora and Weiss came out of a beauty salon. Fisher's jaw just about hit the floor as the three held up their painted fingers. Raven was sporting a deep red, Nora had pink and Weiss had her Schnee emblem on each finger. Then Ruby came out, Crescent Rose was on her thumbs and the other fingers spelled Ruby Rose.
"Show off," Weiss commented.
"It's not my fault your name can't fit on your fingers," Ruby replied.
"Mine could have," Raven remarked, "I just like blood red better."
"Oh you could have had it spelled in black," Nora said.
"I give up," Fisher said as she turned and started walking back towards Beacon. Hawk looked between them and headed for their new HQ.
"I wonder what her deal is," Ren said.
"I don't think I want to know," Blood-Raven said.