I have had writer's block and I needed some time to get back to this fic. Sorry for the wait!
Team STRQ and their two new Faunus friends came back to watch their futures after a day to take the time they all needed to talk and process what had been shown.
Painting the Town
They started watching silently and took in what the robot-girl was saying.
In the deserted alleyway with a graffiti-marked dumpster as Penny reveals her secret to Ruby.
"Penny, I-I don't understand..." Ruby says, confused by what her friend was telling her.
"Most girls are born, but I was made. I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura." Penny turns her head to the side sadly. "I'm not real..."
Summer and Kali look down sadly at that statement made by Penny.
Ruby took Penny's hands in her own. "Of course you are. You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?"
Summer and Tai smile at each other, glad that Ruby's showing compassion and is understanding towards Penny.
"I don't... um..." Penny leans in close to Ruby's face. "You're... taking this extraordinarily well."
"Yeah, why though?" Qrow asked, glancing to Summer and Taiyang.
"You're not like those things we saw back there." Ruby taps her chest. "You've got a heart, and a soul; I can feel it!"
"She has compassion. Her kindness is not faked like most." Kali said with certainty.
"Do you think that she really does? Have a soul?" Qrow asked.
"I mean, it seems like she has Aura, and you can't produce Aura without a soul…. So technically, Penny does have a soul." Taiyang said to his teammate.
"But why would Ironwood create a robot, more than that, how in the hell did he give it an Aura?" No one could answer Qrow.
"We will most likely find out later, just keep watching." Raven told her brother.
"Ooohh... oh Ruby!" The android girl grabs Ruby into a hug and shakes her back and forth. "You're the best friend anyone could have!"
"I can see why your father would want to protect such a delicate flower!" Ruby groaned while she was being crushed by the other girl.
The six adults cracked smiles at the scene.
Penny releases Ruby, fully back to her happy self. "Oh, he's very sweet! My father's the one that built me! I'm sure you would love him!"
"I wonder who that would be." Ghira said softly, looking between Summer and Tai.
Ruby giggles, "Wow. He built you all by himself?" The red-cloaked girl was impressed.
Penny nods, "Well, almost! He had some help from Mr. Ironwood."
"Shit." Raven hissed, Qrow tensed and grabbed his sister's hand.
"Calm down, Rae. We'll find out later, we have too." Qrow whispered.
"That doesn't help when we know something is going to happen. I just… I don't want our family to die." She whispered to her brother.
"I know that. But unless we watch our future, we won't know what to prevent."
"The General?! Wait... Is that why those soldiers were after you?" Ruby asked, worried for her friend.
"They like to protect me, too!"
Ruby scoffs, "They don't think you can protect yourself?"
"They're not sure if I'm ready yet... One day, it will be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and test myself in the Tournament." Penny told the young Silver-Eyed Warrior.
Qrow and Raven paled and started to tremble. Ghira caught this and paused the chapter. "Raven, Qrow?"
The twins breathed harshly through gritted teeth. Both were terrified by something, and it was concerning the others. But what could the others do without the twins telling them what was wrong.
"Raven? Qrow? Please tell us what's wrong." Summer tried to touch Raven's shoulder but her hand was smacked away as Qrow pulled his sister away from their team leader in fear.
"Get away!" He screamed. The two other members of Team STRQ jerked back, not expecting such a reaction from Qrow. Ghira and Kali didn't understand what was happening with the twins, but they would help in any way they could.
"Penny, what are you talking about? Save the world from what? We're in a time of peace!" Ruby exclaimed.
Penny frowned, confused. "That's not what Mr. Ironwood said..."
The twins' shaking got worse when Penny said that. Both flinched and closed their eyes. The other four adults didn't know what to do so for the time being they left the twins to their running thoughts and to each other.
Taiyang and Summer kept sneaking glances to the twins, but that was it. "They will be okay." Tai said, trying to put a reassuring smile on his face, but it turned into a grimace.
"Yeah, they are partners after all, and twins. They've been together longer than we have." Summer whispered, still worried and nervous.
"Well Raven did create a portal to Qrow immediately after they were launched into the forest to make sure that he would be her partner." Tai told her.
"What? How do you know?" Summer asked, thinking back to their initiation.
"I wanted Raven as my partner. I was about to come out a reveal myself to her when she disappeared and then reappeared with Qrow next to her. Then I found you. I'm glad I did." Tai smiled at the short woman.
Summer blushed and chuckled softly. "I'm glad we found each other as well. I'm glad that I have you three as my team and I'm glad to experience this along with you, Ghira, and Kali." She laid her head on the blonde's shoulder as she looked to the two Faunus. They smiled at them.
"You two do make a cute couple. No matter what happens, I know that Yang and Ruby will have amazing parents and role models with you four as family." Kali said.
Taiyang and Summer blush a bright red. "Thank you Kali. But I'm still a bit… worried about how to make… this work." Tai said, glancing back to Raven. "I have a daughter with Raven and I have a daughter with Summer. I… I don't know how to deal with that dynamic. I don't know what to do." He confessed, looking at Summer with a conflicted expression on his face.
"I think we all need to take this slow for now. Whatever happens we will do it together, the six of us. You two are also family; we will help you with the White Fang, and whatever else you need. We are friends, but we are family, I can feel it. Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blake…. They aren't just a team, they are family, always." Summer took Taiyang's hand and squeezed.
Both Faunus smile and nod to the leader. "Let's keep watching, maybe that way Raven and Qrow will come back." Ghira suggested, taking a moment to assess the two Branwen's. The other three nod and turn back to the TV.
"Check down here!" The first soldier shouted.
Penny grabs Ruby by the shoulders. "You have to hide!" She lifts Ruby above her head effortlessly.
Ruby struggles and screams as she is carried toward the dumpster. "Penny, wait! What are you doing? You don't have to go with them! I can help you!"
Penny throws Ruby in the trash and lifts the lid so she can still talk. "It's okay, Ruby. They're not bad people; I just don't want to get you in trouble. Just promise me you won't tell anyone else my secret. Okay?" She gravely stares at Ruby.
"I promise." Ruby whispers.
Ruby lowers her head into the garbage as the lid is put down, but she lifts it a little to peek at the scene outside.
"There she is!" The first soldier called out.
Penny waved to them, "Sal-u-tations, officers!"
"Why were you running? And what happened to the other girl?" The first soldier asked.
"What girl? I've been by myself all day!" Penny hiccups loudly, then smiles.
"You shouldn't cause such a scene." The first soldier said sternly.
"Are you okay?" The second soldier asked in concern.
Penny shows off her 'injured' palms. "Just a scratch."
The first soldier sighed, "Penny, your father isn't going to be happy about this."
The second soldier put out his hand to Penny. "Please, just come with us."
"Yes, sir!" Peeny said, smiling at the two soldiers.
Penny and the soldiers are heard walking away as Ruby looks on in sadness... until a rat screeches from below her feet, causing the young Huntress to fall and close the lid on herself.
In the ruined parts of Vale, the sound of an engine gets closer and closer until Bumblebee pulls into the street and stops just short of the camera, showing Yang Xiao Long behind the handlebars in her matching helmet.
Yang took off the helmet, talking to someone off-screen as she gestures with her thumb to the music playing nearby. "Come on, my friend's right in here!"
"She's going to the club that she went to when she was searching for Raven." Taiyang realized.
"Do you think Junior would tell her anything he knows?" Ghira asked.
"Possibly, let's watch." Summer said.
Yang gets off the bike to reveal Neptune sitting right behind her, hair and goggles messed up with a petrified expression of terror on his face.
"Cool..." Neptune says, sounding dizzy. He shakes his head, somehow perfectly fixing his appearance, and gets off the cycle, looking around worriedly. "And where exactly is... here?"
The music from Junior's Club gets louder once inside to show Junior behind the bar adjusting his cuffs as his Henchmen stock the bottles, carry boxes, and otherwise stand around on the dance floor, until...
A henchman ran inside the club and started shouting, "Hurry, close the door - she's coming!" He and another Henchman proceed to roll the doors shut and keep them closed with their bodies.
Junior walked out from behind the bar. "What are you two idiots doing?!" He shouted.
The Henchmen shout incoherently until an explosion knocks them to the ground and forces the doors open, allowing a familiar face to walk in through the smoke as "I Burn" starts playing.
"Yang's theme!" Taiyang smiles, remembering his older daughter's song.
"Guess who's back!" Yang smirked.
Yang continues to smile and pose as eight guns are pointed in her face with an equal number of angry Henchmen behind them. Though this doesn't faze her, she stops and glares at the recording studio where the track is messing up until the frightened bear-headed DJ takes the needle off the record and retreats back under the table.
"Well they certainly fear her if this is how they're acting." Ghira said.
"It's probably because she completely trashed the club the last time she was there and almost killed Junior and the others." Summer said.
Neptune appeared behind Yang as the Henchmen continue hoisting their guns. "Yeah, so could you define 'friend' for me?"
"Stop, stop! Nobody shoot." The mob boss cuts his way through the crowd of goons, straightening out his tie. "Blondie, you're here! ...Why?"
"You still owe me a drink." Yang smirks as she grabs Junior by the arm and drags him to the bar through the hired guns.
"Yang is ballsy." Tai said, glancing at Raven. She had a small smile on her face as she saw her daughter.
"I wonder who she got that from." Kali asks, a knowing grin on her face.
"Whoa-ho-ho-ho, what a woman..." Neptune breaks from his love-struck staring to see the twins Melanie and Miltia Malachite standing beside him. "'Sup?"
Ghira shakes head, Tai, Summer and Kali chuckle at his attempts.
Melanie and Miltia roll their eyes. "Whatever." They walk away, noses in the air.
"Idiot." Raven muttered, Qrow snorted.
At least the two were out of their heads for now. Summer, Taiyang, Kali, and Ghira would be watching them, and making sure whatever happened to them wouldn't happen again, or if it did that they would help them. Raven and Qrow were family, always.
"The White Fang…" Ghira whispered, Kali tightened her grip on Ghira's hand to keep him grounded with whatever they were about to watch.
Meanwhile, Blake's fingers trace three scratch marks on a wall before peeking around its corner and seeing a pair of horned Faunus as they are ushered into a building by a bearded man. She turns to Sun next to her.
"This is it."
"You sure?" Sun asks as Blake glares at him and starts moving towards the entrance while unfastening her bow, "Y'know, I'm just gonna take your word for it."
"Yeah, that's a good idea. You may be a Faunus Sun, but you don't know how the White Fang works… And apparently, neither do I." Ghira mutters the last part, his fist clenched.
"We will fix it. Somehow, we won't let this happen." Kali reassures.
The two walk inside the building to a hallway filled with cases, seeing another man announcing "New recruits, keep to the right!" at the young pair as they follow.
"I don't get it." He holds out the half-mask in his hand. "If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"
"That's what I'm wondering as well." Ghira muttered in worry.
"The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters." The Cat Faunus said angrily.
Kali and Ghira flinched at Blake's tone. Raven and Qrow looked at each other and then at the two Faunus in the room. "It seems like we are not the only ones that Humanity still fears." Raven said.
"What do you mean, Raven?" Summer asks, happy that the other female was talking again.
"Many fear what they do not understand." Raven said. The others waited for Raven or Qrow to say anything else, neither did, they just turned back to watching the future.
"Grimm masks... That's kind of dark." Sun muttered, glancing her way.
"So was the guy who started it." She hissed, putting her mask on and walks into the warehouse.
'Adam.' The two Faunus thought. Concern, anger, and worry plaguing their thoughts. What happened between Blake and Adam, what happened between Blake and them? Did they die when the new leader of the White Fang took over? Did Blake run away and Adam found and saved her?
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you..." The Monkey Faunus mumbled as he follows her lead.
'When was the change from peace to violence? What happened years ago?' Ghira thought
The new recruits to the White Fang are moving in a line to the side of the stage, a mere few dozen compared to the hundreds of white-vested, black-hooded soldiers to their left and up above in the balconies. Blake and Sun look around themselves when they stop, and a fully-masked man with tattoos standing starts speaking before the large sheet emblazoned with the bloody wolf and claw marks.
"Thank you all for coming. For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for so long!" The White Fang Lieutenant said to the crowd.
The dark pants and brown shoes step forward before the orange tip of the Melodic Cudgel taps on the stage. The camera pans up to reveal none other than Roman, smiling confidently even as the crowd starts protesting.
"Torchwick. Faunus wouldn't work with Humans, no matter what." Ghira said, his eyes narrowed.
"They would if they were being threatened, I mean… Torchwick is being manipulated and threatened by Cinder." Kali says softly, worried as thought back to what happened to Tukson.
Ghira snarled, his yellow eyes turning into slits in his rage.
Roman waved mockingly to the assembled crowd of Faunus. "Thank you, thank you!" As he speaks, Neopolitan walks out from behind the sheet. "Please, hold your applause!"
"Who is that?" Summer pointed to Neo.
"Torchwick's partner maybe? Or his something." Taiyang shrugged.
An Antler Faunus was pointing at Roman from her place right in front of Blake and Sun. "What's a human doing here?!"
"I'm glad you asked, 'Deerie'! Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans... are the worst." He salutes as an example. "Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed!"
"He's mocking them." Ghira grit his teeth, his nails clenched so tight in his fists that his Aura flared dark purple around him. Ghira wasn't a violent person, he didn't like it but right now he wanted to break something, preferably Torchwick's face.
"Ghira… Calm down." Kali tried to say. He growled at her. The Cat Faunus jerked back and quickly moved over to Summer's side, not wanting to get hurt by Ghira's rage. She knew that it would be an accident, but still, trying to fight an angry Ghira… well that's bound to be a death wish.
That was when a red and black portal appeared beneath Ghira and he fell through, disappearing. He roared and crashes were heard from the gym that they had in the dimension they were in for the duration of the viewing.
Kali turned to Raven, "Thank you. Give him a bit of time, he needs to let go of his anger before he comes back." The others understood and paused the episode.
They only had to wait an hour before Ghira came back with different cloths on. A white short-sleeve shirt and black pants with black boots. "Thank you for waiting for me. And I'm sorry, Kali. I did not mean to scare you." He whispered to his girlfriend, giving her a small kiss on her lips as a small apology.
"It's alright, I know you were angry, I am too. But we will fix this; we even have Team STRQ's help as well. We will succeed, no matter what." Kali said, optimistic and hopeful.
Sun leaned over to Blake to whisper in her ear, "So, is he going somewhere with this?"
"But, before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!" Roman said as the crowd changes their tune and starts agreeing with him. "Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life!" He lets the crowd cheer as the two heroes share a look. "And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around... No offense to any rodents in the room."
With a snap of the fingers, the curtain falls, and the whole mass of Faunus applaud at the sight of the Atlesian Paladin-290 behind it, the mark of the White Fang painted on its shoulder.
"Fuck! How did he get the Paladins?!" Tai yelled.
"This just went from bad to a whole lot worse!" Ghira said, holding tightly to Kali's hand.
"This should be interesting. How will they fight this?" Raven murmured to her brother, who shrugged.
"Don't know, but I don't think Torchwick and that ice-cream themed girl will play fair." Qrow whispered back.
Sun was in awe looking at the Atlas tech. "Whoa, that's a big robot..."
Blake hissed, "How did he get that?"
"As some of you may have heard, this right here..." He taps the giant mech, "...is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my 'employer', we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, 'hit the shelves'. Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine... But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?" He asks, however the White Fang's roaring applause tells him the answer.
"That's certainly not good. How did they even get the mechs? And how does Cinder have that much pull?" Kali asks, glancing worriedly at Ghira.
Blake whispers to Sun, "We should get out of here."
The White Fang Lieutenant calls out, "Will all new recruits, please come forward!"
The line surges forward with the two having to follow. Sun mutters, "Welp!"
Back at the Club, Junior puts down his glass as he sits behind the bar separating him from his interrogator.
"I don't know!" Junior said.
Yang's eyes narrowed, "How can you not know?"
"I haven't talked to him! I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here." He leans over to point in Yang's face. "He paid up front, I lent him my men, and none of them ever. Came. Back." He grit out.
Neptune rushed over to Yang's side to raise a question of his own. "So where did they go?"
Junior spoke up after a long pause. "What kind of stupid question is that? They never came back!" The he turned to Yang, "Who is this guy?"
The blonde pushed Neptune out of the way with one hand. "Don't worry about him; worry about me if I don't find out what I want!" Yang says angrily.
"I already told you everything! Torchwick hired my boys, and I guess he wasn't happy with them, which is something I can relate to!" He shouts this at his own men, who grumble and walk away in response.
"Come on, Neptune." She turns from the bar and walks away.
Neptune followed her with his hands in his pockets. "We get everything we need?"
"Well, we got everything we can. Hopefully the rest of the team is having better luck."
"They didn't get much of anything from that." Tai grumbled.
The White Fang is still cheering loudly as the recruits are marched to the stage, with Blake and Sun having no choice but to follow along.
"What are we going to do?!" Sun whispered to Blake.
"I'm thinking..."
Sun watches Roman lean on the robot smoking his cigar and laughing with the girl beside him before he zeroes in on the two, frowning. "He sees us..." He tries to smile and wave.
Blake notices the junction box on the wall. "He can't see in the dark."
"He's Human, not a Faunus so that works in their favor." Summer says.
With that, Blake unsheathes Gambol Shroud, transforms it into a pistol, and shoots at the box, making the lights go out for the whole building and turning the screen dark.
"Don't let them get away!" Roman shouts.
"Sun! The window!" Blake rushes to the window with Sun.
"Stop them!" The crime boss yells.
Before the two student Huntsmen crash through the window and start running as fast as they can, the mechanized sound of running power signals the Altesian Paladin's activation, and it crashes through the wall of the building in pursuit of the runaways, who leap off of a car and manage to get on the roofs. The Paladin follows beside them on the street as Blake and Sun run, jump, and flip from rooftop to rooftop.
"Shit!" Tai and Ghira yell. Kali gasps in shock and fear for her daughter and the other Faunus.
"How are they going to fight that?!" Kali screams.
"Wait and see." Raven says with indifference in her voice. She had a feeling that this won't go as planned, for either Torchwick or Team RWBY.
Sun twirls in the air. "So you wouldn't happen to have... oh, I don't know... some form of backup?!"
"On it!" She grabs her Scroll and puts it to her ear as she continues to jump.
Weiss Schnee is seen leaving the Cross Continental Transmit tower's elevator when she grabs her own Scroll and listens to Blake's message.
Blake on the Scroll-call, "Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-"
Sun screams in the background, "HEEEELLLLP!"
Weiss rolls her eyes and starts running out the door, a little smile on her face as she does so.
Ruby is still beside the dumpster, which is boarded up, possibly to keep the rat imprisoned, staring at her Scroll.
Sun screamed into the Scroll-call, "Big robot! And it's big! Really big!"
"Oh, I am not missing this!" Ruby squeals excitedly and runs off to join the fight.
Raven and Qrow send a glance towards Summer.
Yang is back on the motorcycle in her helmet and sunglasses with Neptune looking at the Scroll in her hand over her shoulder.
"That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something!" Sun says on the Scroll-call.
"Where are you guys?" Yang asks as they drive.
Right on cue, behind them, Blake and Sun can be seen running through the street with the Paladin hot on their heels before they all disappear from view.
"HURRYYYY!" Sun screams in fear.
"I think that was them." Neptune deadpanned as he stared at where his partner and team leader disappeared to.
"Yeah, I got it." Yang rolled her eyes, putting the Scroll away; she quickly circles her ride around - much to Neptune's alarm - and drives off to follow them.
"What the hell do they think they're going to do? Have it chase them on the highway? That'll cause so many casualties!" Tai exclaimed.
Blake and Sun somehow make it to the highways, jumping down into the busy street and continuing their escape by hopping on cars while the Paladin follows them by pushing vehicles out of the way. Sun pauses to look at their pursuer's path of destruction and offer a quick "Whoa!" before leaping onto more cars, much to the anger of Roman inside the robot, his face surrounded by blue holographic screens.
"They're going to get people killed!" Summer shouted.
"These kids are in over their heads!" Raven snarled.
Yang and Neptune are able to follow the mech suit on their ride, coming up next to it as it runs.
"We've gotta slow it down!" Yang yells to Neptune.
"Got it!"
Neptune reaches for his gun, but Roman notices the pair on his sensors and crashes into a multitude of cars with the Paladin's strong bulk, sending them flying towards his chasers.
Fuck!" Qrow says as he watches his niece.
"Hold on!" The blonde exclaims.
Yang swerves, leaning her bike to the side in avoidance of flying debris while Neptune flails in a panic. Back on two wheels again, Neptune unslings his weapon, aims as sparks start flying, and fires several bolts of blue electricity at the Paladin, causing Roman to grimace from the force of the attacks.
Switching strategies, Neptune flips the gun and it grows a shaft and an energy blade at the end, then jumps from Yang's bike as the spear's head splits in three and drives it into the top of the Paladin. Sun and Blake pause in their car-hopping to look back.
"Neptune, hang on!" The Monkey Faunus shouts over to his partner.
Neptune is trying his best, but the mech keeps bucking and threatens to make him fall. Closing his eyes, Sun smashes his palms together, and from the golden Aura around him, his Semblance creates two glowing outlines that copy their creator, leaping off and going back over the tops of vehicles to collide into the Paladin's front. They explode into blinding light upon contact to let Sun leap forward with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang held high, but Roman finally turns enough to send Neptune flying off and knocking into his leader, sending both of them off the highway.
"So how many people did they just kill with that stunt?" Qrow asks the others with morbid curiosity.
"I… I don't even want to think about that." Summer whispers in horror.
"That's a useful Semblance." Raven comments.
As Blake looks on from her spot, she hears a voice from her Scroll:
"Blake! I'm in position!" Weiss informs her Faunus teammate.
Weiss is seen twirling over a highway and landing in the middle of the road, holding Myrtenaster at the approaching Roman. He smiles as his robot charges the girl, but Weiss spins and plunges her blade into the ground, summoning a circle of ice across the pavement that causes the Paladin to slip and crash, actually flying over the young Huntress and falling off the ramp, landing further down before Ruby, already having her Crescent Rose out in scythe form.
'This is insane!' Kali mentally screams in her head.
"City property damage, casualties… what else will they rake up in their first year?" Raven mutters.
"Do you want Summer and Tai to kill us?" Qrow hisses at his sister. "You shouldn't be approving this."
"I'm not… partially." Raven smirks. "But it sure is fun to watch the girls' cause havoc."
"You're enjoying this way too much." Qrow mumbles with a shake of his head.
The Paladin stands back up, and the rest of Team RWBY falls beside their leader to take up positions. Roman chuckles, moving the robot slowly towards the girls.
Ruby commands, "Freezer Burn!"
Ruby and Blake jump back out of the way as Weiss performs her same ice-circle trick, but backs out of Yang's way when she jumps into the air and hits the epicenter with her Ember Celica, creating a wave of mist that surrounds Roman. Immediately, the Paladin activates its laser sensors to make up for the lost sight, but it barely sees the afterimage of Blake and narrowly misses the dashing Yang. A gun manages to fire at the area between Blake and Yang, but out from the blast comes Ruby, who slashes the metal with her blade, causing it to falter.
"Checkmate!" The small leader commanded.
Blake and Weiss go in this time, each girl going for the feet until Weiss jumps up and stabs a sensor before leaping off of a white glyph. Roman lifts the Paladin's foot to crush Blake, but Weiss summons another glyph under her teammate to launch her backwards before the crushing blow can land. Roman growls and fires off the missiles, but Weiss and Blake flip backwards as the explosions merely hit where they were.
Finally, Weiss jumps up too high, and Roman fires a double energy blast at her. Myrtenaster absorbs the damage, but Weiss is thrown back, so she casts a beam of light from her weapon to the ground under Blake, forming a yellow clockwork circle that's absorbed into the Faunus girl and lets her slice through each launched missile with ease in a flurry of super-fast slashes.
Ruby ran into the fray, "Ladybug!"
"They are surprisingly good at team combination attacks. That will be useful in the field when they graduate." Summer notes.
"And they have multiple attacks and combinations. Impressive." Raven muses.
Ruby shoots herself forward and cuts at the robot's legs, then turns as Blake aims herself at the giant's feet as well. They both dash forward and attack at the same time, circling each other around the Paladin with each strike until they both launch themselves into the air and come down together on the shoulder, cutting off the left arm entirely.
Yang doesn't waste a second, jumping onto the Paladin's back and punching the top with fiery shotgun blasts. Roman is knocked around in the cabin, but seeing as he can't reach her with his remaining mechanical arm, he runs backwards through two columns and leaves her embedded in a third before backing away and turning towards her. Just as she is falling down, the remaining arm extends a closed fist, and when it punches her, she flies through the column and doesn't get up.
"Yang!" Blake screams out for her partner.
"Her Semblance?" Ghira questioned, looking at Tai and Raven.
"Most definitely." Raven grins darkly, wanting to see the destruction that Yang could cause.
"You are enjoying this way too much." Tai mutters, a bit creeped out by Raven.
"Don't worry! With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special." Ruby tells her teammate, smiling towards her sister.
Yang slowly gets back on her feet, hair burning a brilliant white as she clenches her fists. Sensing victory, Roman throws a punch, but Yang catches it in her own hand despite the ground cracking beneath her and, eyes red with rage, smashes her knuckles into the second arm, obliterating it under her force.
Getting desperate with his armless robot, Roman immediately kicks Yang to the side, but as she passes her sister and teammates...
Raven cackles with glee, Qrow has a giant grin on his face, Summer and Tai stare in horror at the twins, Ghira and Kali looked disturbed.
"Bumblebee!" Ruby shouted.
Blake throws her Gambol Shroud out for Yang to catch while flying, and the Faunus uses the momentum to swing the glowing girl around for a final hit to the robot. Roman, however, steps out of the way just in time to avoid complete destruction.
"We have to slow it down!" Ruby said.
"And how do you propose we do that?" Weiss questioned sarcastically.
"Ice Flower!"
Twirling their weapons so they both point at Roman, Weiss creates a series of glyphs in front of the scythe's sniper barrel, and a single shot through the circles creates a dazzling spiral of energy that creates large icicles upon impact with the Paladin. Ruby continues to shoot as Weiss freezes the fire, and as the ice completely envelops the robot's body, Blake swings her partner around in a circle one more time, but with Roman unable to move, the Paladin is hit by the speed and power of Yang's fists, flying into the air before crashing down in a hundred pieces and a defeated criminal.
Roman got up, slightly dazed but unharmed, as he inspects the damage while brushing himself off "Just got this thing cleaned..." He muttered angrily.
He looks up just in time to see Yang, still burning with her absorbed power, fire a single shot at the defenseless thief, but he's saved at the last instant when the two-toned girl seen before drops in front of him and merely opens Hush, deflecting the blast entirely. The new arrival hangs the weapon over her shoulder as Roman addresses the victors.
"That girl! She has to be his partner." Kali says.
Torchwick smiles, "Ladies, Ice Queen..."
Weiss interrupts him, "Hey!"
"Always a pleasure! Neo, if you would..." The man prompts the girl.
The pink-and-brown girl curtsies her enemies with a bow, but Yang will have none of it, charging forth with fists raised to strike the outlaws... only to break their image as if made out of a mirror and turn just in time to see them escape in a Bullhead. The rest of team RWBY runs up to Yang's side, now cooled down with the end of the fight.
"Powerful Semblance. Useful in espionage and spying. I wonder what the limits of it are." Raven questions.
"You wouldn't know who was the real person if it's like a shape-shifting Semblance." Qrow comments.
"So I guess he got a new henchman..." Yang mutters.
"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans... fall apart!" Weiss tries and fails to make a pun.
"Really Tai? No! You are not teaching our daughters your horrible puns! I will not let anyone be subjected to that horror!" Summer says, getting an approving nod from Raven.
"I'd rather not have Yang grow up to be like you." Raven tells her…. Soon-to-be? Husband.
"What's wrong with how I am?" Tai cries.
Summer, Raven, and Qrow all give the blonde a deadpan stare. Taiyang pouts.
"Shall we continue? I think we are almost at the end of this episode." Ghira says, trying to get back to the viewing at hand.
While Weiss smiles, Ruby giggles, and Blake starts walking away, Yang simply states, "No. Just... no."
Weiss got mad, "What- But, you do it!"
"There's a time and a place for jokes." Yang tells her.
"Was this not it?"
"No, it just wasn't very good." Yang said, shrugging and follows Blake.
Weiss walked along with her teammates. "Well, at least I'm trying!"
Ruby looked around, "Wait... Where are Sun and Neptune?"
"Wiat… where did they go?" Summer asks, looking at the others, thinking that they had the answer for her.
No one answered. "We are almost done, just keep watching it'll be explained." Qrow said.
Sun and Neptune are sitting in the middle stools of the 'A Simple Wok Noodle House' eating their plates of noodles with the Shopkeep behind the counter and their weapons leaning on the other two stools.
"They… They just left the battle to get noodles?!" Summer exclaimed in shock.
"Apparently." Kali muttered, shaking her head at her daughter's friends. They weren't bad people per say, it's just… they weren't the… most… responsible, it appeared.
"They're probably fine, right?" Neptune asks, while glancing at his team leader.
"Probably."
With his question answered, Neptune turns back to his noodles, and the two eat in silence.