Greetings, huntresses and huntsmen, welcome to the next chapter of RWBYS: Heroes and probably the last chapter I upload for 2017. I hope you will all enjoy it as much as I had writing it and now on to the review.
kyrogue23: That it would have been, but I wanted a cool introduction scene for Sky. Well of course Morgenstern would save that kid, aside from being his niece, the same thing that happened to him almost happend to her, and one of his motivations to take over the Worlds has always been so that no family would ever be torn apart.
Anyways, now story time.
"We have driven Salem and her forces out of Harwood County, and with minimal loses on our forces.", Skywalker said when they were back at HQ, having a debriefing of the previous mission.
"Thanks to her use of World travel, we can retrace her steps and locate her base of operations.", Aqua said, looking at his notes, "But it will takes some time to trace and verify it and there is still the lingering threat on Minstrel."
"We need to find out about that too. I want to put her out of commission as fast as possible.", Skywalker said to his second-in-command, before turning to the others, "I am proud of everyone, take it easy for now, you all deserve some rest because we are going to need you all at your best and ready when we move out. You are dismissed."
The teams of Remnant and the others turned around to leave only to have the door slid open, and a tall woman with a healthy sun tan stepped in. Her hair is a combination of light green, light blue and purple, that waves as if held by the wind. She was dressed in a clear white dress with golden accessories, she had both a white horn and large white wings.
"Not going to run off to save another World or off to your next adventure without saying hello, are you Jason?", the woman said with a kind smile.
"Celestia...", Skywalker said, getting a big smile of his own before rushing over to the woman, wrapping the woman in his arms, hugging her like a son would hug his mother, something the woman returned.
"Who is that?", Blake whispered to Sutakira, "Is she another one of Jason's ex-girlfriends?"
"No, that's Princess Celestia, the co-ruler of this World.", Sutakira said, "She is also Jason's ancestor or something... And I am pretty sure Griffifth is her boyfriend."
"I am not!", the blonde protested, but nobody believed him.
"So... Celestia, why didn't you fought with us?", McGrath said, arms crossed.
Letting go of Skywalker, the princess turned to the brunette, "Oh, McGrath dear.", Celestia began, "You know I am not a big fan of violence..."
It was at this moment, that the doors slid open to reveal Marc walking in, he was about to say something before his blue eyes caught Celestia's magenta once.
"Celestia...", was all he could get out, before with a short sprint, Celestia draws her fist and punch him in the face, sending him to the ground, "Good to see you too, old friend."
The people walked out of the room, Marc to have a conversation with Celestia. Skywalker was about to follow them, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw that it was Avaro Drayce.
"Mr. Drayce.", Skywalker said, "Is something the matter?"
"Actually yes. In the debriefing you mentioned you wanted more information on Salem's plans against Mistral.", the Faunus said, "I went ahead and asked a contact of mine, and he's got it."
"Why come to me with that?", Skywalker said, as the two were now alone in the Command Room.
"Well your obviously running the show around here, everyone listens to you.", Avaro pointed out, and for a moment, the young man in front of him looked as if he had forgotten that he was the Commander of the Alliance, "But there is one thing about this contact. You might find it useful, might piss you off. He isn't exactly on the side of the law, but he has always been straight with me."
"And how much would this information cost me exactly?", Skywalker said, leaning against the map table.
"It wouldn't cost you anything personally, unless you want to buy him drinks later.", Avaro assured him, "But the thing, well the person, he wants as payment is in your prison. He wants Roman Torchwick."
Over at the other side of HQ, Ciaran, wearing a black t-shirt, running shorts as well as black running shoes, and Gabriel, carrying a book under his arm, were walking the hallway leading to the gym.
"So when we were in Harwood County, you and Salem talked like you knew each other already.", Gabriel said to his white haired friend, "Did something happen on a mission for the General, or is it classified?"
"Of course not! Ironwood never said I couldn't talk about it!", Ciaran said, "Me and Salem had a one night stand. True story."
"Okay, I know your bullshiting on that one.", Gabriel said to his friend turning to look at him just as a gold, black and silver armored robot, who was walking in the opposite direction.
"Good morning to you sirs.", the robot greeted, passing around the corner.
"Good morning.", Gabriel said. The two suddenly stops and takes a backwards glance to registers what they saw, but only found an empty hallway. Shrugging his shoulder, the two continues on their way.
"Explain to me why we are in the gym again?", Blake said as she was leaning against on of the training machines in the HQ gym while Yang was using a different one to train her legs.
"I thought we could spend some time together!", Yang said, while doing her work-out, "And maybe you get inspired by me."
"Yeah, your sweaty arm pits are a big inspiration for me.", Blake said with a roll of her eyes.
The two girls continued to make small talk, just as they saw the two Hunter from Atlas walking in. Upon seeing the white haired youth, Yang got a flirty smirk as they potted the two.
"Oh, so that's why we are here.", Gabriel said, walking after his friend, who joined Yang and Blake at the training machines, going for some lifting weights.
"Need me to spot you?", the goldy blonde girl offered as she watched the boy lay down beneath the weights.
"No need.", Ciaran said as he began his seat, lifting the weights with uncanny ease.
The two continued to talk, almost forgetting that their two friends where standing there as well.
The brunette and the female Faunus looked at each other, an awkward silence filling the space between the two as neither were sure what to talk about.
"Oh, uhm... Hi.", Gabriel said, getting a nod from the Faunus, "I am Gabriel."
"I think I caught your name during the debriefing.", Blake brushed him off, taking him back a little, before she noticed the book under his arm, "The Potter And Kent Chronicles?"
The brunette looked surprised from her to the book under his arm, "Oh yeah. I am a big fan of the series.", Gabriel said, showing the book, "Have you read them?"
"Ruby has been trying me to get into them, she has been trying very hard.", Blake admitted, "Not sure if they are my thing. Though I admit, that Clark guy looks cute."
"That he does... I mean he is cool and all.", he quickly corrected himself, "Anyways, if you are going to read the series, I can tell you, the fourth is the best one."
"Really?", Blake said, tapping her chin, "Then I'll buy that one next."
"Maybe I can let you borrow it.", Gabriel offered.
"Really?", the Faunus said, surprised by his suggestion, lending a book is not something to be taken lightly after all.
"Yeah, you seem like the type of person who takes care of her books.", Gabriel said, "And if it would convert you to the PAKC fandom, it's worth the risk.", his attempt at humor made the Faunus slightly giggle.
"You know?", Blake said, "It's really good to have someone to talk to about this kind of thing."
"I agree, not everybody has that kind of taste for books.", Gabriel said with a nod, "Usually, they just go to the movie and claim to know everything about it!"
"I know, it is very annoying!", Blake said and the two shared a laugh.
The two looked back to their respective teammates, who also seemed to be having a good time though the white haired male was benching a ridicules amount of weights.
"Miss Belladonna.", Ciaran began, "Would you mind poking Ciaran's knee? Just a little poke."
Blake wasn't sure why he would want that, but she did as she asked. The moment her pale finger touched his knee, Ciaran seemed to lose all strength and was struggling to get out from under the weight.
"S-Someone help me!", Ciaran struggled to get out, kicking with his legs.
Over at Skywalker's place, the owner was kneeling in his garage, tweaking his motorcycle with the door open, fine tuning his machine to keep it at peek condition.
"I can hear you, you know.", he said suddenly to the person approaching him from behind. Turning around he saw that is was the Black Ninja Ranger, Ethan Morgenstern.
"I guess my ninja skills are not very effective against you.", Ethan said, rubbing the back of his head, "So uhm... How is it going?"
"I am very tired.", Skywalker said, turning back to his motorcycle, "I just want to hit the sack and then go to bed. But I can't, not just yet."
"Well your no use against that strange female demon looking motherfucker when your dropping down from exhaustion.", Ethan joked, but this didn't seem to get much of a reaction from him, "So, that's a pretty cool motorcycle..." before being cut off by Skywalker.
"Your not riding her.", he told him.
"Oh, no, wouldn't dream of it. That's like asking if I could ride your girlfriend.", Ethan said quickly, "I am just saying, I have this friend back home, Calvin, who would love to have a look at it. And I think Sarah would love to see all the high-tech things you got build into it."
"I guess they would...", Skywalker said stand-offish, "What do you want?"
"Nothing much... I just want to get to know you.", Ethan said weakly, "Aunt Solana and uncle Riley don't have kids, so I never met a cousin before... I just wanted to get to know you and Toshi..."
Skywalker was quite at this for a moment, taking a moment to really look at his cousin. "Sorry... I am just tired.", he said, rubbing the back of his hair, "Let's just start over, alright?"
"Sure, I am Ethan Morgenstern.", he said, extending his hand.
"Nice to meet you, cousin. I am Jason Skywalker.", he said, accepting the handshake, and the two young man smiled at each other.
The two cousins continued to chat, Ethan looking over Skywalker's shoulder as he finished up his motorcycle.
"You know, this view your house got over the village, it reminds me of the view I get from my room back at Summer Cove. It overlooks the entire city.", Ethan said, turning from his cousin to admire the view, "I loved it at first... but after a while, all I could see was all those people depending on me."
"You're lucky it is just a single city.", Skywalker said dryly, "I've got all of the Arcmoani Network."
"True, you're doing everything you can to protect them.", Ethan admitted with a nod, "Does it ever get any easier?"
At this his cousin let out a deep sad sigh, "I'll let you know.", he admitted, "I think I understand you now, cousin. I think we are similar, we both hide a warrior's sorrow."
"Dude, the bad guys went down, and nobody got hurt.", Ethan said with an amused smirk, crossing his arms, "You know what I call that? A really good day."
"That's... A good point. It's something I should try and remember.", he admitted, before changing the subject, "So do you have any powers aside from being a freaking Power Ranger?"
"I do actually.", Ethan said, thinking it would be best to demonstrate. A dark grey aura surrounded his hand. Thrusting it forward, a similar colored tendril shot from his hand, wrapping around a support beam and pulling him up.
"So your Spider-man?", Skywalker said.
"That sounds like a very oversimplification.", Ethan said, hanging upside down. Tapping a shadow near him, his entire body was covered in his aura before he disappeared.
Skywalker looked around, only to find his cousin appearing out of a the shadow his cast. "Umbrakinesis? Impressive.", he admitted.
"It's nothing compare to what you can do.", Ethan admitted sheepishly, "Though there is one more thing I can do. I can tag someone, and if I would punch someone else, the tagged person would feel it as well."
"That sounds really cool.", Skywalker said before turning to an question that had been burning in his mind for a while now, "That girl, your sister... Was she born with those eyes?"
"As far as I know, yeah. We had those special glasses for her that would make them appear normal, but she doesn't need them anymore.", Ethan said, "I know that the Morgenstern has the same eyes, but my sister is nothing like him."
"I wouldn't expect her to be an Omnicidal Maniac.", Skywalker said, approving of his cousin for directly standing up for his sister, "It's not once gifts that you should be judged for, but your decisions. And it would be a little hypocritical of me to distrust someone on the off chance that they would burn the whole place down, if they feel like it."
"That's a commendable attitude.", Ethan said as the two stepped out of the garage and his cousin closed it off.
"Not at all, it is merely a sensible one.", Skywalker said, putting his jacket back on, "So wanna go do something fun? Like I don't know, go bowling or something?"
"Sure, oh we should invite Alexis and Toshi as well. Make it a cousin day.", Ethan said, and his cousin agreed and the two texted their respective siblings, "Wanna make it a little race to the village?", he added gesturing to the other way.
Skywalker nodded, gesturing to the direction. The two cousins got ready to make a run for it.
"So you were using your Semblance to copy your teammates telekinesis?", Yang said as she was now sitting with Ciaran at the sports bar, still at HQ.
"Yeah... But you still have to admit it was impressive!", Ciaran said, and the blonde agreed, "Anyways, Yang. I have been meaning to ask... Are you related to Raven Branwen? Because your pretty much a blonder, hotter version of her."
"You know of my mother!?", Yang said surprised.
"I... Ran into her a few months back.", Ciaran said, before adding quietly, "It... wasn't a very good meeting."
"What happened?", Yang said, but he seemed reluctant to talk, "Tell me, what was my mother up to."
The white haired youth took a deep sigh, before finally relenting, "Alright, but don't blame me if you won't like what you hear.", Ciaran said, looking up from his drink, "I was on a scouting mission for Ironwood in Anima, when I came across a village being ransacked by bandits. I stepped in and took out as many of them as I could, leaving one alive and force him to tell me where their base of operation was located."
After finding the camp, Ciaran blazed a way through the bandits, with Fusion Blade in hand, he took revenge against the bandits for killing those innocent villagers. He found himself surrounded by more of them, but all the white haired young man could do was smirk, gesturing for them to attack him.
Like the fools they were, three more did so and he lines up another swing. When he takes it, two duck under the blade like they should while one slides instead.
Adjusting his sword, Ciaran hits the fool that slid with the blunt side of his sword, like a golf ball before turning to the rest and begins to tear through the other two. The first, whom wielded gauntlets, went for a punch.
Ciaran waves under it, kicking the bandits arm, bending it in an unnatural way as he screams in agony. Ciaran then hits the bandit in the head with the pommel of his sword, knocking him out.
He dodges a slice from the second man and grabs his throat with one hand. Ciaran slams him on the ground twice forcing the bandit to drop his sword.
"Would the leader please come and relieve me from my boredom!?", Ciaran shouted as another one bites the dust, "Because it is very clear these scum don't have what it takes to fight a competent Huntsman!"
He turned to the largest tent to see that the masked woman he would come to know as Raven Branwen was standing, her sword at the ready.
"Ah, boss lady!", Ciaran shouted, approaching her but not bothering to turn around as one of the disabled warriors tried to ambush him from behind, but was knocked out by a back-hand, "You know boss lady, you need to train your 'warriors' better. If you could call scum like them that. Attacking what they consider weak for their own damn gain. I mean, how strong are you really if you only destroy what you deem weak?"
The red eyed woman didn't show it, but it could be seen she was a tad angered by his sarcastic tone of voice.
"Take that stupid thing off.", Ciaran said, "I want to see the terror on your face when I bring down the justice people like you deserve."
He could see she was slightly hesitate before doing just that, placing it on the ground.
"Okay... Wasn't expecting that...", Ciaran mumbled, "Definitely wasn't expecting a hot babe to be a filthy bandit leader."
"Jest if you must, it will not lessen the suffering you will be going through, Raven said firmly, "We do what is needed to keep the world strong."
"Lady, I have seen some shit that would make you shit that skirt of yours.", Ciaran said laughing, thinking of the stories Ironwood had told him about the Maidens, Salem and Morgenstern.
"What so damn funny!?", Raven demanded to know.
"Because your a damn fool.", Ciaran said, shaking his head at her, "If strength matters that much than come try and kill me. Emphasis on try."
"So smug.", Raven growled, taking her fighting stance, "First I will teach you humility, then I will teach you pain, then fear and then... Well the pain will stop."
Ciaran charge at her, she goes for a counter swing, which he dodge. He goes for a swing and she simply ducks but Ciaran goes for a kick and make impact. Raven goes back slightly before rushing him with her sword. Taking one of the long swords, B-1, from the main blade, he began to match her swing.
The bandit leader and the Huntsman clashed for a good while, she even managed to get a few hits against his upper arm a couple of times, but he soon found his opening.
A potentially lethal strike was side stepped, Ciaran used the mistake to began to hammer away at his opponent's sword, knocking it off her grip and she evaded what would have been the final strike, but was left with a broken nose from his elbow.
Sliding across the ground, she ended up next to her sword, panting a little as her Aura begins to heal her nose. She turned to face him only to instead of seeing the Huntsman charging at her, he was floating above her, six of his swords floating behind him as if they were wings, while his Fusion blade was still in his hand.
"I am going to kill you, for all the deaths you have caused.", Ciaran said, pointing his Fusion Blade at her, "In your final moments, when my blades pierce you, I want you to remember every last man, woman and child you and your bandit scum have killed."
It was then that the remaining six blades charged down at high speed to pierce Raven's flesh, but with a single sword swing, she created a portal, quickly escaping through it, the D-2 Dagger making a cut across her face as it closed behind her.
"It was later that I found out it was the Branwen Tribe, and I fought their leader Raven Branwen.", Ciaran finished explaining, "I was on a mission to track her down and put an end to the Tribe, but it was then that Ironwood wanted me to investigate Doctor Arthur Watts. But then the fall of Beacon happend, and then Avaro called me, and now we are here."
"Why did he want you to investigate a Doctor instead of stopping a... A bandit tribe?", Yang said.
"Oh, Watts is a suspected member of Salem's inner circle.", Ciaran said, leaning back in his chair, "I am sorry for trying to kill your mom, but I have a very, very, very bad history with bandits."
Yang decided to not pry into his history with bandits, going from his tone of voice, it was a very sore subject, something she could relate to with her own mother.
"Ciaran... How close where you to finding my mother?", she asked gently.
"I had tracked down their latest base of operations.", Ciaran said, before turning serious, "I was also close to finding out their home addresses, what kind of underwear they have, and where they have hidden the keys to their diaries."
"Ciaran... I want you to take me to her. ", Yang said, a bit hesitant, "I know you have no reason to..."
"Okay.", Ciaran cut her off, surprising the blonde, "I'll do it."
"Really? Just like that? Okay, whoa.", Yang mumbled, any doubt she might have felt washing away from her, being replaced with a fiery determination.
There ya go, hope you enjoyed it.
Many thanks to everyone who read, reviews, favorite or follows this story, you beautiful bastards!
If you like my work, don't forget to leave a review. For now I wish you all a fantastic day, a happy new year and I hope yo see you ladies and gents next year.
