A Harsh Reality Ch. 44: Break's Over

Ehehehe. I'm getting so happy over my current roads. So much to do, and you'll have to endure all of it. Ah, I feel truly horrible for the future of this story. Also, thank you to Dragon441 because he is currently working on making the new cover for the story. Now, where were we?

Ruby laughed at her older sister's ridiculous claims, and just walked over to Weiss' bed.

"You did not do all of that," Ruby said.

"Nope," Yang replied. "I totally did."

"You didn't wreck the whole club, just part of the inside. Come on Yang, no one wants to hear about Junior." Yang roped Blake in with her arms, and dragged her close in.

"Blakey does," Yang said confidently. "Right?"

"No," Blake replied dryly. Yang was flustered for a moment, unsure of where to go.

"Hm, well," Yang started. "I guess this went over poorly."

"Bingo," Weiss said happily. It always pleased the heiress to see the brawler at a loss for words. For once it didn't involve treating Ruby like a trophy. Though, Ruby presented herself as a trophy sometimes. Granted, it wasn't intentional, but still. What's wrong with my mind? Weiss wondered. She walked over to her bed, and sat down with Ruby.

"So Weiss," Ruby started. "Wanna go out and eat soon?"

"Sounds good to me," Weiss replied. "Perhaps your sister and her lady would care to join us?" Yang and Blake both looked a little flustered for a moment, neither of them understanding why Weiss would invite them. But Weiss felt as though she had a great reason.

At this point, they had no reason to believe that Grimm was building up some kind of an army against man. Some key assets included Cinder and Torchwick, Adam, the Dust Grimm, and some of the larger Grimm. Going out in pairs the last time had resulted in the temporary destruction of Bumblebee, injuries to Weiss, Yang, Blake, and Ruby {albeit some of those were inflicted by Yang}, and a lingering threat. Those were nowhere near what Grimm had to offer. They were towards the bottom of what it had to offer. They had seen what it could do, and it seemed like a poor choice to go out in pairs or singles. They would only move as a team, for nothing but their own safety.

"Sure," Blake said, rolling her eyes. "Why not?"

"Guess I have to go," Yang replied. Weiss just nodded, and kept up a false smile. Her secret objectives would remain safe, for that moment. But all Weiss needed was time. The longer her team didn't know about her concerns, then the longer that Grimm remained out of their minds.

Elsewhere

The Nevermore awoke from it's nap, and plucked at it's feather. Grimm kept one of it's creatures awake at all times, and only used Adam when needed. As much as Grimm liked the asset of the man, it despised the form. Adam proved his usefulness when trying to get to Blake or deal with man as a whole. Otherwise, nothing more.

But, it could sense a bit of ease within the four girls. Well, ease within three of them. White seemed to have some distress, but that was in direct relation to her other teammates. Ease, though, would come easily enough to her. This was not something that it could stand for.

I need you here, my Nevermore, Grimm commanded. As a matter of fact, I need all of you here. Making beasts of your size isn't something easily done. I could add in another round of my felines, but that seems a bit much. Don't you agree? The Nevermore let out a caw, and continued to peck at it's feathers. Yes, I expected as much out of you. What do you think of a new idea? Man has so many wonderful beasts to choose from. I think a show of strength would be a nice reminder, don't you think?

Streets of Vale: Team RWBY

Team RWBY was driving along at a good pace. Weiss had volunteered the service of driving all of them in one car, since she deemed splitting up a dangerous thing.

"So Weiss," Yang started from the backseat. "Any particular place you're gonna take us?"

"I thought I'd surprise you," Weiss replied.

"Surprise us? Well, you couldn't surprise us more then when you volunteered all of us for this."

"Yeah," Blake said, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "What's the deal with that?" Weiss just took a deep breath in, and exhaled slowly.

"Is it so wrong for me to take my team to a lunch?" Weiss asked.

"I thought you didn't like team activities," Ruby asked sweetly. Weiss turned her head to her right, and just smiled at her partner.

"I do," Weiss replied. "But I don't really think that I have all that much of a choice as to whether or not I partake in them anymore." Ruby smiled back, and Weiss instantly trained her eyes on the road.

Up to that point, nothing weird had happened. No black clouds in the rear view. No signs of Adam running up to them. No other Grimm appeared. Everything was going over smoothly up to that point. All Weiss had to do was complete the drive and get their safely. Everything was going to go over smoothly. Weiss had to have faith.

"What's that?" Ruby asked, looking out her window. Weiss decided not to avert her gaze, but Yang was seated right behind Ruby. She looked out the window, and focused in.

"I don't know," Blake said. "It's large, it looks black, and-." At black, Weiss slammed on the breaks and brought the car to the curb.

"Get out!" Weiss ordered. No one questioned her, and juts piled out of the car. As soon as they did, the thing that they had seen slammed into the cat, and sent it sailing, forcing the four girls to dive out of the way. The four girls looked over to where the car had been hit, and their eyes widened.

A large, black, bull was standing there. It stood about the same height as a truck, and it was about the width of it too. It had two very long horns protruding from it's head, but perhaps one of the most frightening features was the bone mask that it wore. The mask shielded a pair of glowing red and yellow eyes, both of them looked ready to kill. The entirety of it's back was covered in miscellaneous pieces of armor and spikes, while it's tail whisked around freely in the back.

"What the hell is that?" Yang asked, shakily getting to her feet.

"I don't know," Weiss replied.

"Must be new," Blake contributed. The Grimm snorted, and scraped it's hoof against the ground.

"Well whatever it is, it needs to be killed," Ruby added it. Luckily they all had the good sense to bring their weapons with them. Ruby activated Crescent Rose, and let it spring to life next to her. The bull ran forward again, and this time it lowered it's horns. Ruby fired off a round, but the bullet harmlessly reflected off it's mask.

Ruby fired off another round to get herself over the bull, but it's horn still nicked the bottom of her cloak. Weiss raised up a glyph to stop the charging animal. The Grimm slammed into it, and took a moment to readjust itself. Instantly it picked out the source of the obstacle, and charged at Weiss. Weiss raised up another glyph to block the animal, and the bull just kept butting against it, trying to use brute force to plow through it.

It was having an effect on Weiss as she continued to exert energy to hold back the bull. Blake chose to show her hand, and swung around her sword {in cleaver form} into it's side. The blade harmlessly reflected off of one of it's bone plates, and the bull just brought it's attention around to the Faunus. Blake instantly shadow'd into the air, and landed safely behind the bull.

It snorted, and went to charge again. Before it got the chance, something slammed into it's side and knocked it off balance. The Grimm recovered, and narrowed it's eyes at it's new attacker. Yang was slowly backing away from the bull, and keeping a sharp eye on it. After knocking it away from Blake, she really didn't have a plan. Luckily, Ruby did.

The side of Crescent Rose slammed into the Grimm. Ruby made the strike with the intent to at least seriously damage the bull. But instead, the bull went sailing through the air, and landed with a hard thud.

"Did I kill it?" Ruby asked.

"It's not moving," Yang offered.

"Well that was easy," Ruby said instantly.

It watched from nearby. It's first attempt had failed, and so it was time to take a little more command of the situation. Working it's way over to the unconscious body of it's newest beast, the energy slowly flooded it.

The four girls were unaware of the proceedings. Ruby was just barking out orders for how to clean up the situation, addressing clean up, Ozpin, local authorities, etc.

"Blake," Ruby finally said. "We should probably keep some form of watch over the Grimm. Just in case something else comes by." Ruby left the rest to Blake's imagination, and both girls turned to face the bull Grimm.

Don't move, something ordered. Ruby and Blake both froze as they recognized the voice, and kept still out of panic. That's good. Now, do nothing. Just watch.

The bull Grimm got back to it's feet hastily. Grimm's energy had given it a little bit more strength, which was just enough to get it back on it's feet. But more importantly, Grimm had taken control over the bull. Grimm lowered the bull's head, and angled the horns perfectly at Ruby and Blake. With one last snort, it rushed forward.

The horns made contact with Ruby and Blake's stomach, knocking both girls back. But luckily their aura's were already raised. It didn't leave an open wound, but it did send both Blake and Ruby to the ground. They landed with a hard enough thud to catch Weiss and Yang's attention. Both girls turned, and felt a sudden rush of anger and pain.

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled out.

"Blake!" Yang added in. The bull raised it's head, and flashed a cruel smile.

Yellow, White, Grimm contributed. It's amazing how easy all of this was, isn't it? It removed the pressure from Ruby and Blake, and slowly stepped away. That'll hurt their heads a fair amount. It should also hurt to breath for quite a bit. Now, I could stay and try and finish you off. I can see that only you have your weapon at the ready, Yellow. But instead, I'll leave. I quite like my new Taurox, and I'm sure that the backup that you just requested for won't be very understanding of my wants. So instead, I'll leave you be. I just hope that you realize how important this little show of force is.

The Taurox, as Grimm had called it, started to back away from the two girls, and Yang felt her temperature rise. This thing had just hurt the two people that she loved the most, and now she was supposed to let it go? Weiss noticed Yang's rage, and activated her own aura, and brought her hand on Yang's shoulder. Her temperature started to drop to the point where ice formed on her hands. When it hit Yang's shoulder, they started to steam.

"Think this through," Weiss said, trying to calm down Yang. "If we go after that thing, then it'll lead us to Grimm."

"Good," Yang replied angrily.

"Not so good if the BoarbaDust and then more Grimm are there," Weiss challenged. Yang's eyes remained angry, but she stopped moving forward. By the time both girls brought their heads around, the Taurox was gone.

Instantly, Weiss and Yang ran to the sides of Ruby and Blake, and felt around. Nothing was broken, there were no open wounds, and nothing to indicate anything too terrible. Except one thing. Ruby and Blake had just been pinned without a sound by a large Grimm. That meant they made no effort to dodge. How deep was Grimm's hold on their partners?

End: Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.