A/N: I don't own any of the characters associated with the RWBY series. All rights belong to Rooster Teeth.


Bolt stood against the girl, who stood across the street. He was confused at how she hit him without him seeing her. He didn't have time to think about it as four more people circled in on the location from the rooftops, wearing similar outfits to the girl that attacked him.

"Great, there's more." Bolt rolled his eyes.

"Bolt Rai, I presume?"

"Yeah. Why? I do something wrong?" Bolt asked sarcastically, accidentally stepping on the Atlesian Knight.

"You want me to find the list?" The woman said, equally as sarcastic. "For damaging Atlas property, you are under arrest."

"...Right. Look, I'm really not in the mood for this, nor do I care that I'm "arrested"." Bolt said, hand resting on his hip. "I'm here for one reason, and once I'm done, I'll leave."

"That's too bad, because you're coming with us." She said as robotic fists covered her arms.

"Who are you anyways? I mean, you're extremely confidant, even knowing who I am." Bolt said as he got into fighting stance.

"Harriet of Atlas' elite Ace-Ops." Harriet said as she charged Bolt.

The girl ran at Bolt, faster than he thought she could. Bolt quickly ducked her attack, reaching to grab his sword. He was shocked when he grabbed onto nothing. He cursed under his breath as he remembered that he didn't have any of his weapons. Before he knew it, he was punched in the stomach, sending him across the street. Bolt looked up as Harriet stood, prepared to attack him.

Bolt stood, wondering how this girl was so fast. As he went to move, he saw his answer. He saw the lightning trailing behind her as she sprinted towards him. He glared as he side-stepped the woman, watching as she skidded to a stop and turned to face him. He was starting to adapt and learn what she was doing. It was her semblance. She had a similar semblance to his. One that allowed her to run at super-speeds.

"We have similar semblances." Bolt stated, only to dodge another attack, Harriet not wanting to talk. "It's like lightning against lightning."

Bolt's eyes sparked as he prepared to fight, semblance to semblance. Bolt ran towards Harriet, surprised that she dodged him with her own semblance. The two then started running around the battle field, dodging each other's attacks. To the spectators, all that was seen were blurs and lightning trails moving around the field. Bolt was impressed with Harriet's speed, and how she was able to dodge him. That wasn't going to last long, though.

The two collided, entering hand-to-hand combat. Harriet used her robotic enhanced fist to punch Bolt, who blocked it, letting his aura take the blow. The punch, however, did push Bolt back a bit, giving Harriet an advantage. Bolt quickly recovered, dodging Harriet's attacks. Bolt used his semblance to run up behind Harriet, which she was prepared for. She quickly turned around, only to be punched in the stomach. Bolt kept up his momentum, appearing behind Harriet to kick her to the side.

Harriet recovered, running towards Bolt. Bolt's eyes sparked as he ran at Harriet, ready to finish this. Bolt increased his speed, pushing his semblance to make him faster than Harriet. Harriet was quickly overwhelmed by Bolt's faster pace as he started landing punches she swore he didn't move for. Bolt eventually out speed Harriet completely, kicking her in the chest and sending her back across the street.

"You might want to change your strategy," Bolt said, a small smirk on his face. "You're just not as fast as me."

Harriet growled before calling out to someone. "Marrow!"

"Stay!"

Bolt ignored it, running straight towards her. Bolt reeled his fist back as Harriet stood. Before he could get near her, his movement's slowly stopped. Bolt gained a confused look as he found that he couldn't move at all. Bolt looked to see a man, with greenish-black hair, blue eyes and a wolf tail, walk next to Harriet with his finger pointed at Bolt. Now he understood what the girl called out for.

"You must be Marrow." Bolt thought gritting his teeth, trying to move his body.

"Harriet." Marrow motioned to Bolt, with Harriet responding with a smirk.

The girl ran at Bolt, using her speed to gain momentum. She punched Bolt in the face, just as Marrow let his body go. Bolt was sent tumbling across the street before picking himself back up. Bolt stared at the two Atlas elites, already trying to find a way past Marrow's semblance. He clasped his hands into fists as he kept coming up stumped. Bolt's sparked as he ran towards the two. Bolt made sure to watch Marrow, waiting for when he used his semblance.

Instead of using his semblance, Marrow fired at Bolt with his weapon, causing the boy to maneuver around the bullets. Bolt continued forward, dodging the bullets as he got closer. Bolt felt something coming at him, causing him to stop his momentum and move back. He barely dodged Harriet as she ran in front of Bolt, planning on punching him.

"Stay!" Before Bolt could move, Marrow froze him in place. Harriet ran in, punching Bolt in the chest and launching him back.

Bolt rested on his knee as he recovered, angry that he was struggling against these two. He had no clue of how get around Marrow's semblance, and having Harriet rub that in angered him even more. That was even the end it, he was only dealing with two. There were three more waiting on the roof to join in, and Bolt had no clue of what they could do. Bolt took deep breaths to calm himself as he trying to try figure out what their plan was.

"I think they're trying to whittle me down by sending one each time. That's a good tactic, I'll give them that." Bolt thought to himself as he quickly scanned the group. "That's strange, though. They're an Atlas "elite" team. They're supposed to have a more thought out strategies than this. Guess this one's for me specifically."

As Bolt stood, he felt something in his pocket. He reached inside, pulling out his old Kukris. Bolt's eyes widened as he looked at the knife. This is what he needs to beat Marrow's semblance.

"Holy shit! If I could time it correctly and throw this before Marrow freezes me... I should be able to get out of it." Bolt smirked as he held the knife, ready to combat the two Atlas elites. "It should dematerialize my body, and turn it into lightning. Hopefully his semblance doesn't work on anything."

Harriet moved first, charging Bolt, zipping around the battlefield to try and confuse him. Bolt easily saw through it, dodging her attacks. Bolt found an opening and kicked the girl back to Marrow, who continued to fire at Bolt. Bolt used his semblance to side-step the bullets, slowly making his way to the two. Marrow stopped firing, changing his weapon's form. He threw the weapon soon after, which caused Bolt to duck under it.

"I think you missed!" Bolt called out before he went to move. Before he could, he dodged something coming from behind. Marrow's weapon returned to him, exactly like a boomerang. "Huh, that's new."

Bolt gripped onto his knife as he charged at the two with his semblance, faster than what he started with. As he did so, he saw Marrow raise his hand, causing him to smirk. Bolt tossed the knife up weakly in the air, guaranteeing it's descent to be faster. Harriet ran at Bolt, who didn't exactly care. He knew how to take her down, and wasn't worried. He easily moved out of her way, causing her to skid to a stop. Bolt ran straight for Marrow, confident that his plan would work. So when Marrow froze him, he kept his smirk.

"What're you smiling for? You're being arrested." Marrow asked, confused at Bolt's smirk.

"Well, first of all... If you ever "arrest" me, it'll be because I let you. Second, I'm having fun. And third..." Bolt closed his eyes as he focused, listening for the sound of the knife hitting the ground. "I figured it out!"

Suddenly, Bolt vanished from his frozen spot appeared a few feet away, a trail of lightning behind him. Marrow was dumbfounded, completely speechless. Bolt causally picked up the Kukris, as he watched Marrow's face.

"I think I'm ready to finish this now." Bolt shrugged, chuckling as he slightly turned. He causally ducked under Harriet's attack, grabbing onto her arm. He tossed her back over to Marrow, who caught her.

Bolt's eyes sparked as he prepared to continue attacking. Before he could, he heard someone attempting to attack him from above. He quickly used his semblance to move out of the way, saving himself from whatever that was. The attacker created a dust cloud from the impact, blocking Bolt's vision of the Atlas elites. Before Bolt knew what happened, yellow arms latched onto his arms and legs, holding him in place. The arms seemed to be made completely out of aura.

Bolt didn't have time to figure out what it was when he was suddenly slammed in the stomach, launching across the road. Bolt went tumbling before he caught himself. He looked up to see two more people, causing him to groan. They both had the same uniform on as the others, but one had very pale skin and the other was very tall and had a giant hammer in her arms.

"That's what I was hit with?"

Bolt ran back to his original spot, being a few feet away from the opposing group. Bolt had a stared down with them, all waiting on the other to move. Bolt was starting to get tired of waiting, which he could tell that Harriet felt the same. Before anyone could move, a door was flung open. Bolt looked over to see Sierra, holding what looked like his pistols.

"Bolt, I... Oh." Sierra looked over to see the Ace-Ops staring at her. "It seems that you've made friends?"

"Not really, but sure." Bolt said, waving her off. "Get back inside. These guys aren't playing around."

"Oh! Well, I guess this is the best time to test them out." Sierra said, mostly to herself.

"What are you-" Bolt was cut off as he caught what Sierra threw at him. "Woah! These are-"

"You're pistols, yes." Sierra confirmed, giving Bolt time to look at them before explaining.

Bolt noticed one big difference with his twins pistols, besides the fact that they were heavier. They had some kind of stock on the grip, which had a connected metal bar on it. He also noticed a smaller second trigger, just above the first.

"I gave your pistols two new modes. Automatic and shotgun." Sierra informed. "If it isn't obvious, automatic allows them to fire as you hold the trigger down. And if you hit the second trigger, you'll see what shotgun mode does."

Bolt smiled as he hit the second triggers on both pistols, causing the stocks on the grips to fold back towards him. They then flipped over, facing toward the sky. The metal bar seemed to extend out towards him, making the pistols feel lighter. A barrel extended out from both guns, and Bolt noticed that they looked like 12 gauge barrels. Bolt fired one shot into the air, seeing that his pistols hadn't fired out any bullets, which seemed familiar to Bolt. Bolt's eyes widened as he connected the dots.

"Huh, that's something. This is gonna be fun." Bolt nodded to himself as he looked back to Sierra. "Thanks Doc, but I need you to hurry with the weapons. I don't know how long I can deal before I actually start trying."

"Right!" Sierra nodded as she ran back inside, with Bolt turning his attention back to the group in front of him.

"Alright! Let's do this!" He smiled as he faced the Ace-Ops, pistols aimed at the group.

Harriet ran at Bolt, who countered by shooting his pistol at the ground while leaning forward. The action caused Bolt to be propelled up, and over Harriet as he swiped at the now empty spot. Bolt landed on the ground, heading straight towards Marrow and the others. The tall woman got in his way, hammer in hand. Bolt's eyes sparked as he ran faster, ready to challenge her. What surprised Bolt, was the fact that green roots sprouted from the woman's feet and planted themselves into the ground.

Bolt continued forward, though, gaining momentum. The woman swung her hammer, timing it just right. Bolt was barely able to slide under it. He jumped up once he was safe, aiming his guns at Marrow. Before he was able to fire, he felt something grab his foot. He looked down to see the same yellow aura hands the latched onto him before. Bolt was then dragged back down to the ground.

Bolt quickly stood back up, seeing that he was now surrounded by the elite team. "Guess this is gonna be harder than I thought. I won't have enough time to take them all out, if they call for back up. I need to stall long enough for Sierra to finish the weapons."

"Time to test out the next function, then." Bolt tapped the second trigger, causing the stock to return to it's original place. He smirked as he scanned the people around him. "What do you get when you mix flowers and guns?"

His smirked widened as he got confused looks from the Atlas elites. "You get a death blossom!"

Bolt used his semblance, spinning around as he fired his pistols, turning himself into a spinning top. He held the triggers down, enabling automatic mode. The Ace-Ops either put up their guard, letting their aura take the hit, or moved out of the way. The move pushed the elite group back, giving Bolt space. Bolt stopped spinning to see what he caused. He looked around to see that the Ace-Ops had backed off, waiting for him to finish before attacking.

When he did stop, Harriet was the first to attack. Bolt easily dodged her attack, kicking her in return. The two newest fighters to join the fight ran towards Bolt with the confidence of strategy written all over them. Bolt quickly switched one pistol to shotgun mode, while leaving the other as normal. The tall woman swung her hammer, faster than Bolt was expecting. Bolt was able to avoid it, though, having to vaulted over it while also throwing his kukris in the air.

Bolt waited for the yellow glow of arms launching towards him to fire the pistol that was in shotgun mode. The attack didn't do much, but that's not what Bolt wanted. The force of the shot had propelled Bolt backwards, and away from aura arms. Bolt landed on the ground to see Harriet running at him and Marrow running around him while firing bullets at him. He dodged the bullets and parried attacks from Harriet, which he found way too easy. He quickly turned around, ignoring Harriet. Marrow was about to use his semblance to freeze Bolt in place. Luckily, Bolt's kukris landed just before he could. Bolt's eyes sparked as he responded to the knife, appearing in it's location, just behind Marrow. Just before Bolt could attack Marrow, he was pulled out of the way of Bolt's kick. Bolt looked confused as Marrow was dropped a few feet away from him. Bolt got an idea of what happened as the last member jumped down from the roof.

He had the same outfit as the others, but with a rabbits foot, a horseshoe, and a four-leaf clover on him. All the signs of luck. "Who're you?"

"Clover, leader of the Ace-Ops." He said causally, hand on his hip. "And if you were wondering, that's Vine and Elm."

He pointed over to the extremely pale man, and the tall woman with the hammer. "I wasn't. Good to know, though."

Before anything else could happen, Sierra came bursting out of the door, holding, what looked like Bolt's sword in her hands, as she struggled with the bags of the team's weapons. "I'm finished! Well...except for Aaron's. Never mind that, here!"

Sierra tossed Bolt's sword to him, who caught it with one hand. Nothing was too different about it, except that it looked like it had a closed spring connecting the blade to the hilt. There was also a strange pouch on the grip, which also confused Bolt. "Hey, um... what's this-"

"No time to explain! We need to leave." Sierra said. struggling to move the large bag of weapons.

Bolt sighed as sheathed his sword and holstered his pistols. He picked up the back with ease, looking at the Atlas team in front of him. "We'll continue this sometime?"

Clover said nothing as he turned back to his team, with Harriet complaining. Bolt smirked, taunting the girl with a wave, as he grabbed Sierra by the hand and ran back towards the hover-cycle with his semblance. Once at the cycle, the two hopped on, and took off at full speed. As Bolt was driving, Sierra pulled out a weapon from the bag and started welding, surprising Bolt greatly as the sparks scattered around like crazy.

"You're working on it while I'm driving?!" Bolt questioned in shock as he went to slow down. "Are you crazy?! You could fall off!"

"I know I know! I only need to do one thing." Sierra said, her tongue just poking out of her mouth, as she was welded two pieces together. "Keep driving. We'll never make it back before dark if you wait for me."

Bolt rolled his eyes with a groan as he continued forward. "What are you finishing up anyways?"

"Aaron's sword." She answered simply.

"What's so difficult about Aaron's sword?" Bolt questioned as they went from frozen tundra and lakes, to grasslands.

"Well, changing it is a difficult process-"

"Wait. He's getting a new sword?!" Bolt asked, shocked and angry that Aaron, of all people, was getting a completely new weapon rather than a simple upgrade.

"Not what I said at all." Sierra chuckled at Bolt's jealously. "I just thought that his katana didn't really fit the kind of fighter he is, so I'm changing it. He also said that it was having trouble switching to scythe form, so I'm changed that, too."

"That's still the same thing." Bolt mumbled to himself, Sierra now laughing at his jealously.


Similar to Yang's Ember Celica, Bolt's pistols, in shotgun mode, fire pulses of kinetic energy, with no solid projectiles. This allows Bolt to be able to knock opponents back far distances, or launch himself in a direction of his choosing.

Bolt's Kukris is a special knife. It works in a similar matter to the warping in Final Fantasy 15 when Noctis warps when throwing a weapon. Bolt throws the knife, and he can feels a separate piece of his lightning, from his semblance, in the knife. Bolt feels for the missing piece of lightning, and reconnects with it, which causes his body to move towards it, making it seem like he warped to it. It basically replaces Bolt's body from the place he was in, with a lightning trail tailing behind him.

When he's in the middle of a fight and wants to use the Kukris, he listens for the clinging of the metal blade hitting the ground and warps to it.

Aaron's new weapon will be tested in the next chapter, or at least what Sierra changed it to is, the new form is an emergency only type of thing.

Coming up: One Step Closer