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Chapter 52: Downfall
Velvet made herself comfortable in her seat the camera component of her weapon within easy reach, she already had an image of almost every weapon wielded by competitors in the Vytal Tournament saved and ready to form a replica of said weapon, currently she was planning on using the camera for its' intended purpose and taking some photos of the matches, the victors would no doubt want them framed as mementos. Coco sat next to her, arm wrapping around her shoulders, the two of them were still taking things slowly and not giving a name to whatever was between them, as Fox and Yatsuhashi made themselves comfortable on Velvet's opposite side and handed a tub of popcorn over Coco gestured to Velvet then to the row in front of them
"Hey Weiss, Squish….all of you how's it going?" the Rabbit-Faunus chuckled, unsure of how she'd missed the white haired heiress
"Hey Velvet" the white haired girl gave her a bright smile as turned to face them, Squish merely held an arm for long enough for members of Team CFVY to give him a fistbump while Neon nuzzled into him, Rover and Artemis gave them a small wave
"Where's everybody else?" Velvet asked
"Well Gang's going through to the next round so he's waiting to be called up" Squish explained grinning in anticipation
"I already wished him in luck" Weiss added blushing slightly
"You jumped on him and kissed him 'til he was blue in the face" Artemis chuckled
"Aww, that's sweet" Velvet laughed "You take care of him Weiss, he's delicate" the comment got a laugh from everyone present
"Where are the rest of Team RWBY?" Coco enquired
"Well Penny made it through to the next round as well" Weiss and the fashionista shared a knowing glance "Ruby wants to be as close to her as possible…..Yang was banned from the stadium, Blake decided to stay her with her"
"That's harsh" Coco shrugged "Come on, who here hasn't wanted to punch Mercury Black in the face at least once?"
"What made her attack him like that?" Velvet asked "She knows he's working for Adam's business partner"
"The whole fiasco was never meant to happen" Weiss sighed bitterly "My sister is covertly working on stopping Adam and his partner's plan, Gangrel was meant to face Mercury and Mercury was meant to lose, Winter has managed to turn him to our side; apparently whoever Adam is working with has access to software on par with the Atlesian Military, when Mercury lost his partner triggered her Semblance and made Yang hallucinate"
"She can make….THAT'S HOW THE BITCH BEAT US!" Coco spat furiously "Satani Arbor was never broken!"
"Calm down Coco" Velvet warned her "People are staring"
"Let them stare, I disassembled that gun and put it back together seven fucking times to see what she'd done to it!" Coco ranted
"So does your sister have a plan moving forward? Velvet asked, Weiss gave an anxious nod
"Basically Gangrel wins his next match and we try again, pit those two against each other so it looks believable when he loses"
"Hey" Squish interrupted "Don't worry about it, Gang will get the job done, matches are about to start any minute"
"Hey Ciel" Ruby beamed at her girlfriend's partner through a mouthful of cookie
"Ruby, what are you doing here?" Ruby swallowed before answering
"I came to wish Penny good luck before her fight" Ruby shrugged looking at her as if it was the most obvious answer in the world
"Penny is already with the other students competing, there's a partition between us and them, you won't be able to get to her" Ciel shot her an apologetic glance, Ruby merely snorted
"Heh, barriers aren't really a problem for me, wanna come with?" Ciel considered it for a moment before shaking her head
"Somebody has to maintain proper protocol" she sighed before placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder as the smaller girl made to pass her "Ruby I just want to thank you, since meeting you Penny has come out of her shell and grown into such an amazing person, seriously the first time I met her one of our team-mates tried to fistbump her and she had no idea how to react. The thing is, I wasn't much better than she was and as Penny has grown it's forced me to become more than I was as well, so thank you Ruby for indirectly making me a better person" Ruby pulled her into a crushing hug
"Anything for a friend Ciel" Ruby then turned and sped towards the partition, phasing through it
"RUBY!" the mechanical girl gasped
"Hey, I'm glad I didn't have to go searching for you" the smaller Huntress smiled pulling her closer
"What are you doing here?" Penny asked
"Waiting until you get called up and then giving you the best kiss for good luck ever" Ruby grinned, gaining a series of older students around them exclaiming 'that's so cute'
"Ladies and gentlemen" Port's voice sounded throughout the stadium "Welcome back to Sky-Reach stadium where we return to the first singles round of the fortieth biennial Vytal Tournament" the crowds response was frenzied cheering as if they were eager to use the following matches as a way to purge the memory of Yang versus Mercury from their memories
"And we'll get straight into it then shall we" Professor Oobleck followed up, clearly intending to move things along swiftly and make up for the time lost as the screen cycled through the faces of competitors yet to fight "Our first competitor of the day representing Team JNPR and the Beacon Academy of Vale is Pyrrha Nikos!"
"Well hopefully this lasts more than thirty seconds" Qrow joked making his presence known, Pyrrha's fans cheering even louder at his comment
"And her opponent" the screen cycled through faces once again "Representing Team CPIA and the Atlas Academy is Penny Polendina!"
"Oh you had to made to make this awkward for me to judge talk about didn't you! My niece is going to give me death glares for a month because of this" Qrow complained over the sound of the audience.
"Good look" Ruby said simply before pulling Penny's head down and pressing their lips together her fingers curling in coppery hair, Penny's arms wrapped around her waist as their breaths mingled
"Oh for Oum's sake will you two cut that out!" Qrow's voice over the speakers broke them apart, looking at the screen they realised that the cameras had focused on their kiss and that the crowd were all cheering for the couple, as was Pyrrha who had already made her way to the arena
"Ruby" Penny whispered softly, getting her attention "Whatever happens in this match I'm going to talk to my father afterwards. I meant what I said about transferring to Beacon, I don't know much about feelings Ruby but everything I do know tells me that I love you" Ruby pulled her into a tight embrace
"I love you too Penny" Ruby let her go and fixed her with a broad smile and determined stare "And Pyrrha's a friend, but go out there and win this" Penny returned the smile
"Don't worry, I'm combat ready"
It had taken Emerald longer than anticipated to get into position having been halted at the entrance upon producing her identification and unexpectedly being told that she was not allowed to be in the stadium, her Semblance had proven ineffective as every person allowing guests into Colosseum was accompanied by at least two Atlesian Knights, the machines proving immune to her trickery. She had managed to use the blades of her weapons to clamber along the bottom of the stadium avoiding being seen as she pulled herself up through a maintenance shaft of the propulsion systems and working her way through the staff only sections of the stadium, using her Semblance to work her way around individual workers as she encountered them and lurking in the shadows as she finally found herself in view of the arena itself
"I'm in position" she breathed into the headset she was wearing
"Understood" Mercury's voice responded, all traces of his usual sarcasm and joking absent "I'm ready to move, I'm tuned into the matches as soon as you act I'll be en route, you'll need to hold out for two minutes tops"
"Okay" Emerald sighed "I'm going silent, let's get this over with"
"I love you Em"
"I love you too Merc" as she ended the call on her scroll she removed her headset and focused her gaze on the two fighters, taking a few deep breaths to steady herself and waited for her moment to strike.
"Three, two, one. Begin!" Port's voice resonated across the arena, without preamble Penny drew two of her swords, keeping them on their tethers and instantly throwing the left forwards, Pyrrha's weapons flew from her back into her hands, Milo shifting to its' rifle form as she crouched and ducked behind Akuo, Penny's sword clanged against the shield and was retracted back immediately, the prizefighter returned fire with three shots snapped off in rapid succession, Penny gracefully deflected the rounds by twirling her blades; giving her opponent an impressed nod Pyrrha sprinted forwards firing a stream of bullets from Milo before throwing Akuo at Penny's waist, the smaller Huntress deflected shot after shot before replacing one of her swords and vaulting over Akuo, Pyrrha having to return her own weapon to it's sword form to halt her downward slash
"The crowd are going wild as Penny Polendina of Atlas not only holds her own but seemingly puts Pyrrha Nikos on the defensive!" Oobleck exclaimed
"This match is going to be sensational" Penny smiled as their blades clashed against each other as the Huntresses gave a blinding display of skill, Pyrrha's face dropped slightly at her opponents genuine happiness
"Sorry" before Penny could react the prizefighter had summoned her shield towards herself with her Semblance, Akuo sweeping the smaller girls' legs from under her as Pyrrha retrieved it, Penny cartwheeled herself upright and put some distance between the two of them
"I see" she frowned "That's how this is going to be fought"
"It's nothing personal" Pyrrha assured you "I just have to use everything at my disposal"
"Likewise, and when this is over we'll still be friends" Penny gave her a genuine smile "But now" she trailed off as she deployed all eight of her swords on their tethers
"Okay what the….How the….Where the…." Qrow couldn't seem to decide which of the several questions the weapons designer in him demanded to know the answer to he should ask first
"An interesting technique" Pyrrha called to her opponent as she used her Semblance to hold her shield in the air and flip off of it to gain some distance, stopping dead as she returned to her feet, where there had been eight swords before there were now two dozen
"Nikos seems to be stumped by Polendina's latest manoeuvre" Oobleck's voice seemed distant and distorted, dread formed a knot in her stomach as she ducked and rolled under blades as they were thrown forwards, every sword she countered with her own weapon seemed to be replaced by three more as if they were the heads of some ancient monster until she stood at the opposite end of the arena to Penny, backed up against the edge trembling as she faced down scores upon scores of floating swords aimed at her
"This might be it!" Port's voice sounded as though she were hearing it from underwater and then it happened, Penny flung every single one of her swords forwards, Pyrrha dropped her weapons and projected her semblance in an almost tangible wave of darkness reversing the projectiles back from whence they had come. There was a split second where Pyrrha saw the look of sheer terror on Penny's face and realised too late what she had done.
"Kill the feed!" Qrow screamed to the two professors beside him in the commentators box as he saw Penny Polendina stagger a few paces forwards, a blade piercing through the centre of her chest, another through her stomach, a third in her right thigh, her left hand cleaved in half and a blade lodged in the shoulder with a gash tearing her face below her right eye. Her remaining swords scattered around her as she finally lost the ability to stand and collapsed backwards; through the outraged din of the Qrow heard a single voice piercing through the others, the voice of his niece
"PENNY!" he watched as Ruby phased through the protective shielding of the arena and rushed to the fallen girls side, kneeling over her and while he couldn't see her face from this angle, he knew she was weeping
"Qrow we can't kill the feed!" Port exclaimed
"We've been shut out of the system, nothing is responding" Oobleck added
"This shouldn't be poss-" Port was silenced by the power being cut to the stadium, the shield around the arena vanished, the lights were cut and the screens faded to black.; a moment later the screen flickered back into life displaying the image of a chess piece; a black queen on a red background
"This is not a tragedy" a feminine voice rang throughout the stadium, broadcasting it to everyone in the four Kingdoms viewing the tournament "This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety and your power. These are your Hunters, these are your heroes, Atlas's prototype for a synthetic army mercilessly destroyed by a woman many of your children have aspired to be more like; yet these are the same people who allowed the breach to happen. These Huntsman and Huntresses you have entrusted yourselves to are at best nothing but the private armies of those that trained them, much like those in the service of Atlas who's fleet hangs in the skies above us right now and at worst bands of marauders bending the helpless to their will. The time for Hunters has passed, the time for unaccountable men ruling us with an iron fist has passed. Peace is fragile and the first crack has been made, welcome to a new age" as the speaker ended their monologue the screens once again faded to black across the Kingdom of Vale several things took place simultaneously….
"We have to get out there!" Blake cried leaping from her bed "This is Adam's business partner!"
"We have to get in touch with the others" Yang slid Ember Celica onto her wrists and produced her scroll "Blake there's no service, I can't contact anyone"
"They must have jammed it" the Faunus reasoned "The same way they hacked the broadcast"
"How do we get to Ruby?" Yang demanded, her voice panicked
"We can't" Blake whispered
"Oh Oum, she just saw Penny die in front of her, we need to do something!"
"We can't get up there!" Blake snapped "She has Qrow with her, she has Weiss, Winter and the whole of Team GRAP up there. Adam will be here, leading the attack. We need to stop him!"
"I have to go to my sister"
"Your sister is a Huntress Yang!" Blake took the blondes shoulders "Ruby won't be okay, Ruby may never be okay after what just happened, but she will make it through this the people with her will make sure she does. There are too few Hunters on the ground to stop what's going to happen now, we need to get out there and save the people" Yang took a deep shuddering breath
"You're right. I will never forgive myself if anything happens to her but you're right. Let's go, we're taking the Bumblebee"
Neo grinned like a madwoman as she skipped through the corridors of the Friedenswatcher, The Disturbed Garfunkel leaving burning craters in the bodies of any who stood against her, human, Faunus and robot alike
"What the fuck is wrong with…." the private never finished his sentence as her blade punctured his throat, spraying her in gore. Finally she neared her destination, the bridge, as soon as the doors slid open with a hiss she began firing and weaving her way around bullets, refusing to stop until the screams of the dying stopped ringing in her ears. When the smoke cleared she stalked across the room, shedding the disguise of a crew member as she made her way towards the terminal she required and planted the scroll Cinder had given her into the necessary port, moments later the lighting of the ship took on a bloody hue as the virus was uploaded, bringing the Atlesian automatons in Vale under the control of the one behind the keyboard. Her smile faded as she drew her own scroll, which was not subject to the blackout imposed on the Kingdom at large and swiftly typed out a message
"Mission complete, Watts is in control. We're done here. Neo" moments later she received a reply
"We are far from done meet me and we'll proceed to Ozpin's lair" her expression turned murderous at Cinders words
"No, I'm finding Roman but feel free to try and stop me if it means that much to you" With that she turned her Scroll off and blasted a hole through the main window of the ship and making her way out onto its' hull, pausing for a moment she could already see the Grimm attacking the walls en mass, thousands of glowing red eyes lit the skies in the distance; Watts had already taken active control of the Atlesian Knights evidenced by the fact that several Bull-Heads had broken off and began flying towards smoke billowing from the Emerald Forest where Adam's charges had disabled the sentry guns and cleared a landing zone, they would be returning to deploy Grimm directly into the Kingdom, shaking her head Neo vanished.
Roman clutched a stitch in his side as he struggled to keep up with the White Fang, the riot and subsequent escape had been masterful within moments of tragedy striking the tournament they were out of their cells and retrieving their belongings
"Wait, wait up" Roman forced out "You need to get this collar off of me!" the Faunus ahead of him stopped and turned to face him, their own Aura dampeners having been removed in the breakout
"Why would we do that? it's fun to see a Human in a collar, so many of you want to see us in them" a voiced behind him asked, their tone mocking, Cheshire Motley arrived, her own contingent of White Fang escapees with her, her face a savage smile as she shifted her weapon Shere-Khanage to it's double-barrelled shotgun mode
"I don't know, maybe so I can actually fucking keep up with you and get you to my damn freighter you stupid animal" the Tiger-Faunus laughed, her expression turning coy which somehow made her look even more dangerous
"I wasn't a stupid animal when I was in your bed Roman" she sneered "When you told me exactly where your freighter is and that your lieutenant won't be aboard when we get there. Goodbye Roman" with no more to be said she raised her weapon and fired twice, the collar preventing Roman from raising his Aura, he took the full force of the attack collapsing backwards his body racked by spasms as blood soaking through his clothes, the White Fang escapees sprinted away towards his freighter, leaving him for dead on an empty road.
The truck ploughed through the streets, mowing down any civilian caught in its' path, sending smaller vehicles spinning as it collided with them, those vehicles being driven by people who had enough sense to know what was about to happen. Eventually the truck skidded to a halt, tires screeching as it destroyed a monument in Vale town square. The moment the truck stopped moving the trailer of the truck was opened and masked Faunus poured out brandishing weapons at their head was Adam Taurus
"Kill every human you find!" he roared, his mask turning his words into a demented scream "The Grimm don't get to take the first blood from us!" a cheer went up from the White Fang, he had chosen only his most loyal for this
"Boss!" the voice of a teenage boy sounded from behind a mask
"Squish is a Hunter, he'll make his way into the city eventually if he isn't already here" Adam growled, anticipating his comrades question "If you can find him he's yours Screech, you've earned the right to take your revenge personally" with a nod the Bat Faunus withdrew a small blade from his pocket and clenched it tightly before sprinting into the city.
"Everyone spread out and work your way through the streets, make your way to our old base at the freight docks, that's where our ship will be" as the White Fang moved to act on his orders Adam caught sight of a heavily bleeding man clambering from the wreckage of one of the cars that the stolen truck had hit, grinning behind his mask he withdrew Wilt and triggered his Semblance, cleanly bisecting the human before cackling and throwing his head back
"THIS IS HOW IT STARTS! THIS IS HOW THE FAUNUS TAKE BACK CONTROL OF THEIR DESTINY!"
Authors Notes:
Well writing this chapter, combined with work related antics and having to console my American friends because their country decided to press the self destruct button has left a bit of a downer on my mood; but the show must go on.
This story has over 10k hits THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH
So, let's summarise:
"Look after him he's delicate" is a massive call back, it's what Gangrel said to Velvet about Adam, now she's saying to Weiss about Gangrel.
Penny couldn't fistbump, Penny was Baymax.
I refuse to let Penny die before she gets to tell Ruby she loves her, I refuse.
Apparently the stadium is called Amity in Canon, I didn't realise it had been named when I called it Sky-Reach but I'm not going to go back and change it
Penny's body is still in one piece, but she has a blade sticking through her power supply.
To quote the esteemed Miss Nikos I'M SORRY
Cinder is now ready to make her move.
Blake and Yang are together and going after Adam.
Neo has handed control of the Atlesian flagship and robots to Watts.
Roman really should have seen that coming.
Adam has officially lost his mind.
Thank you to Drake187 and 6TailedNinja for the reviews on the last chapter
Yeah this is Vol.3 hope is in limited supply.
Hey, she didn't get quartered.
Emerald and Mercury have got a much more immediate threat to deal with than Cinder.
Also, kicking hearts in the dick….Yes I like that phrase it sums it up perfectly.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.
