RWBY: The Redeemer
Beta-read by Starlight's Poet
Chapter 30: Second Term (IV)
Claude was standing on top of one of many buildings in Vale, overlooking the city's nightlife. He picked up his Scroll and had another look through the device's contents - he had received another intel from Roman: something about the White Fang had stolen several of Atlas' latest war machines, and the organisation planned to give a brief demonstration for their campaign for their so-called 'Faunus Revolution'.
Obviously, James quickly went to work as he ordered Clover and Elm to help in retrieving their lost tech, but Claude had also received another information that Atlas had already assigned a special agent to verify Roman's intel - mainly the White Fang's rally location, possible schedule, possible high-profiled faces, etc.
A few minutes later, however, Claude blinked as he heard something fly in his direction. He looked up, and a second later, he found it was someone hovering towards him.
Claude kept his eyes on the person who landed behind him, revealing herself as the girl he encountered before - Penny Polendina.
"Special agent Polendina reporting for duty!" the girl cheerfully greeted with a salute.
Claude regarded the ginger-head for a moment before he snorted in amusement. "I'll be honest, Penny. Not only you are the last person I had in mind, I also have a lot of questions about the way you flew here, as well as some previous questions I still hold for you." Claude turned and approached her. "...However, since General Ironwood had explained to me stuff about you, I only have one question and I'd like you to be honest with me…. You're not exactly a human are you?"
"No, I'm afraid not, sir." Penny's smile dimmed down, "I'm the first android - a synthetic human that can generate aura on its own. I'm… not a real person." There was a small hiccup - a sign that she was nervous.
Seeing Penny's bitter mood, Claude stepped closer and offered his hand. "...Can I see your hand?"
Penny looked up to see Claude's soft smile at her. She glanced between his face and his open palm, before she slowly placed her hand on it. Claude then proceeded to run his thumb over her exposed skin.
"Fascinating, this feels… just like any other people…. Can you feel my touch here?" Claude asked with a genuine curiosity in his tone.
"I most definitely can, sir. It doesn't exactly work the same as a human's nerves, but my father had ensured to provide me with all the five senses." Penny replied.
Claude nodded as he returned his attention to the android's hand. "...And the fact I can feel your aura coating your skin… Are you sure you're not a real person?" He added a hint of joke in his tone.
"I'm… not sure what you are saying." Penny asked with another small hiccup.
"Flesh and blood may define people - humans and faunus alike, but tell me, Penny... What defines a person?" Claude asked as he met Penny's gaze with his own.
Penny blinked as her mind was caught in the question - it was a good one if she were to say so.
A few seconds later, however, Claude shook his head. "Sorry, you can mull over that later. We have a job to do, don't we?"
Penny seemed to snap out of it and ended up feeling embarrassed. "You are absolutely correct! The fault also lies in me for being distracted."
Claude shrugged, "Fair enough. Anyway, let me reintroduce myself. Claude Rose, a pleasure."
"Sensational! General Ironwood has filled me in about you. It is the most curious to find living evidence of time travel!" Penny clasped her hands in a fit of excitement.
"You seem to take things about me very well." Claude quirked an eyebrow.
"I trust General Ironwood. Also, I've looked into some old records that Roman Torchwick overlooked, and according to my analyses, everything matches your profile and history." The android proudly replied.
Claude only stared at Penny before he merely nodded. "...Right. Then, I'm looking forward to working with you, Penny." He said with a smile as he held up his fist before her.
The girl, however, blinked quizzically as her eyes darted between Claude and his fist. "Um… Did I offend you by any chance?"
"Hm?"
"Your hand; do you... want to punch me? Did I do something wrong?" Penny asked with a hint of anxiety in her tone.
Claude blinked at Penny as he lowered his fist slightly, before he snorted into a small giggling fit. "No, no, Penny… You thought wrong. Here, bring up your fist as well."
Penny was still hesitant, but she complied as she slowly raised her knuckle side-ways. The girl then found Claude bumping his own softly against hers. She looked up to see the man grinning at her.
"It's a sign of trust between friends, Penny. You should try it sometimes with your other friends later."
Penny retracted her hand and clutched them on her chest. Her lips slowly grew into a pleasant smile. "I'd love that!" She then beamed at Claude.
The man nodded, "Good. Now report, special agent."
The girl straightened herself up. "Yes, sir. The intel has been verified and our unit is coordinating with VPD as we speak. The operation shall be ready to commence in approximately five minutes."
"That close already? Alright, let's catch up with them. We don't want to miss the show, after all." Claude replied as he turned on his heels.
"I'm afraid I don't follow the show, Mr. Rose. We are about to conduct a top-priority mission, after all." Penny said in return.
"Figure of speech, Penny. You should talk to my niece and her friends once we go back to Beacon. They'd love to teach you those." Claude replied with a small sigh and rolling eyes.
"Sensational! I shall do so and catch up with my friend Ruby!"
Roman puffed out a smoke as he watched another group of faunus-folks entering the warehouse. The crook was standing at the edge of a stage overseeing the crowd standing a few feet below - faunus of various kinds wearing grimm-like white masks. Several officers and veterans from the White Fang were also present to watch the proceedings.
Roman then turned to his faithful right hand; Neapolitan was standing dutifully on guard albeit her body language said that she wanted to be anywhere but. It was ironic, but a bored Neo was simultaneously easy and hard to work with - considering that she had nothing interesting to do, she opted to do her job properly for now.
He then looked towards the direction leading to outside - at the very least, by this time, the huntsmen and the cops should have begun to mobilize. The plan was simple enough; they would swipe in and take every White Fang and potential members into custody and questioning. To keep his cover convincing, Roman and Neo had to figure out their own way to escape, but in any case of capture, Ozpin and Jimmy would work something out so Roman could 'escape', given that he had to share some more valuable intel in the process.
Speaking of, convincing the tin-man about his change of heart was not as difficult as Roman had initially expected. He probably had Claude and Ozpin to thank for that.
Roman then turned his gaze to the large construct covered in a thick black cloth. He had to say that he was impressed that the mooks from the White Fang were able to get their hands on some of Jimmy's latest toys. From what he knew, there were around two or three more in the trailers parked outside, while the one on the stage was for demonstration.
The Atlesian Paladin they had was still a prototype, but its firepower was not to be sneezed at.
However, taking things into account that they were currently located near the busy road of Vale, the authorities had to wait until there were no more people coming in and the guards stationed outside to be pulled in by the time their meeting began. Otherwise the sight of soldiers and huntsmen setting up the parameter and evacuating the nearby civilians would alert everyone.
Roman's job was to buy enough time for Claude and the others to set everything up.
"...Get ready, we are starting soon."
Roman turned to see one of the White Fang officers speaking to him. The crook only nodded as he squashed the cigar with his boot and looked to the stage, watching the same officer giving a welcoming speech to a crowd of misguided faunus ahead.
It did not take long until Roman heard the cue for him to step up. He nodded to Neo, who straightened up and ready to intervene at any moment's notice, as Roman entered the stage.
As expected, the crook was greeted by loud protests, angry questions of why a human like him was among the faunus-kind. Still, Roman was no longer a stranger to scorn as he took them in stride and smiled to the crowd.
"Thank you, thank you! Please, hold the applause." Roman jovially waved at the angry crowd as if they were cheering for him seconds ago.
"What is a human doing here?!"
Roman noticed a female faunus with deer antlers on her head pointing at him. "Glad that you asked… Dearie!" He replied with the best nickname he could come up on the go with. "I will admit, humans are just the worst - case in point." He pointed to himself. "So, yeah, I can definitely see why you all want us to be locked, or better off dead!"
Roman was inwardly relieved when the crowd in front of him seemed to calm down from his words. Still, the show was far from over as Roman had to do his part, namely dragging the entire charade until Claude arrived with the cavalry.
He then went on with his speech, about both him and the White Fang sharing a common enemy, and how Roman could provide them with enough firepower in the form of Atlesian Paladin-290, earning even more cheer and high morale from the faunus.
However, Roman suddenly paused when his eyes something, or rather, someone among the crowd.
A girl with black hair in black and white outfit. Her face was mostly concealed under the White Fang mask like the rest, but Roman would recognise the pair of feline ears on top of her head. Not to mention, he recognised the weapon strapped on her back, as well as the glimpse of amber eyes gleaming through the mask's slit.
The fuck is she doing here? - Roman inwardly bristled as his mind quickly deduced that Claude's girls were somewhere within the area. One slip-up and the girls could jeopardize the whole operation.
...If the White Fang caught them. Judging that the rally was still going smoothly enough, Roman had no reason to panic yet.
"What are you looking at?"
Roman inwardly cursed when the White Fang officer that spoke on the stage earlier noticed his behaviour and followed his line of sight. Much to the crook's chagrin, the faunus actually recognised the spy among the crowd.
"Traitor! Seize that traitor!" He roared as he pointed at the girl who flinched and reached to the weapon on her back, as the crowd turned their attention towards her.
However, as if to make things more awry, the White Fang officer was not the only one who decided to go loud.
Many other Faunus, roughly a dozen of them, and more around the edge of the crowd - suddenly discarded their masks, took out a gun with one hand and a police badge with the other.
"Hands up, on the ground! VPD! You are all under arrest!" the acting leader shouted as he aimed his gun at several White Fang sympathisers. On cue, several high-lights were switched on and directed inside the building through the windows, throwing the terrorists into panic.
oXo
In an alleyway between the neighbouring buildings - Ruby, Weiss and Yang were waiting while overseeing the complex. The plan was simple; Blake would sneak into a White Fang's regular faction meeting, get out, and regroup with them to share her findings of what the terrorist was planning with Roman Torchwick.
"How long do you think this will take her?" Yang asked with a slightly worried tone for her partner. She was the last person who agreed to the idea.
"Not anytime soon, I reckon." Weiss quipped as she narrowed her eyes at the building. "...Though I am kind of with Yang on this. The best plan we came up with, just had to be the most risky one."
"Blake was the one who suggested this, so we need to have faith in her… And ready to step in if things go wrong." Ruby concluded when her eyes caught on something. "Um… Guys? I see several police cars."
Weiss and Yang blinked and turned to see there are more police and armored cars arriving and a squad of uniformed men setting up parameters.
"Okay… I can't say I was expecting them, but this is not necessarily a bad thing." Weiss commented.
"But if Blake were to get caught, how are we going to explain?" Yang put in her two-cents.
When the girls were sharing uncertain looks, a voice suddenly was heard from their flank.
"Freeze!"
Ruby, Weiss and Yang suddenly dropped to their fighting stances as they found themselves under a spot-light, surrounded by several androids and soldiers in white uniforms aiming their firearms at them. Among them, one in particular stood out - a muscular lady with a bazooka trained at them.
"Wait, wait!" a familiar voice suddenly was heard next. "Hold your fire, stand down!"
The girls turned to see their young teacher come to the scene, appearing with a man with short brown hair and Penny.
"Claude?" Ruby called in confusion. "Penny too? What are you two doing?"
"That's supposed to be my question, young lady." Claude's tone was not amused. "What are you three doing here? This area is being evacuated!"
The trio of girls only glanced around, realising that they had screwed up somewhat.
"Wait, now that I'm talking to you… Where's Blake?" Claude asked when he realised the absence of one member of team RWBY.
Then, Claude's radio earpiece suddenly came to life.
[Hands up, on the ground! VPD! You are all under arrest!]
"What the hell?!" Claude reached out to his earpiece; along with everyone, he turned to see the lights set-up around the premise had been turned on and the cavalry had begun deploying. "This is huntsman Rose, why did you guys go without waiting for my signals!?" He growled.
[We have an uninvited guest blowing a whistle! The White Fang are preparing to get the stolen goods away! We're out of other options here!]
Clicking his teeth, Claude then turned to Elm, Clover and the rest of the squad. "Everyone move out! We're going ahead of schedule!" He casted another glance at the three girls who were now looking around in confusion and panic.
"We will definitely talk later, for now, follow Penny!" Claude gave a quick order before he turned to the android. "Can you get them to a safe place?"
"Absolutely." Penny nodded before making her way to the girls.
Ruby was about to call out to Claude - to ask him what was going on, only to see her uncle had already gone to the direction of the warehouse. Ruby then felt a hand placed on her shoulder.
"We need to go, friend Ruby!"
The young girl saw Penny's urgent look before she turned to Weiss and Yang who looked equally confused. She and her team then slowly followed Penny after giving Claude's retreating back one last glance.
"This is specialist Ebi from Atlas speaking, what's the situation?"
Clover tapped into his earpiece as sounds of gunfire echoed through the warehouse complex. He looked ahead to see several cars were used as a barricade for the police squad to defend themselves from hail of bullets and Dust-rounds.
He scanned around, and he could see around the edge of the complex where some White Fang members were loading up several crates into their trailer. Judging from the size of the vehicle, it was safe to assume that the rest of the stolen paladins were kept inside.
[We are met with heavy resistance from the White Fang personnel. Despite the rest of the faunus' intention to join, right now they were still civilians and currently trapped in our line of fire. It'll take time for us to get them to safety to get a clean shot!]
"I got eyes on the paladins. Keep them busy, I'm going to flank them." Clover then turned to his co-worker. "Elm, back them up."
"Got it. But I just saw Rose heading towards the other side of the complex. What's he planning?"
Clover looked towards the directions Elm was pointing at, but he had to put that thought for later - he had a missing tech to retrieve.
oXo
Blake found herself between a rock and hard place. She did not expect her cover to be blown so soon. Who would have thought the officer overseeing the meeting would be one of her old squad-mates back in the day? She should have worn a hat or something to conceal her entire head.
Not only her cover was blown, apparently the police force had already worked their way inside. Ironic, she just called them out to be incompetent earlier afternoon; getting arrested by the police would put her and her friends into a difficult position. How would she explain this to the authorities? She only intended to spy on White Fang, after all.
Now she felt stupid for going out here.
However, as if her blunder wanted to rub it in her face, the White Fang chose not to surrender and proceeded to retaliate with a surprising amount of firepower, then things went to hell.
The Vale Police Department had their aura unlocked so they could fight back after tanking the onslaught, but the others were not so lucky.
Uncaring for gunning down their own so-called brethren, the White Fang fired at the police among their future members. Blake was quick enough to go down onto the floor as she could only watch in horror at those who were too slow and were littered by bullets.
She gritted her teeth as rage filled her - at the same time the entrance was broken down and the rest of the cavalry showed up. In the midst of gun blazing, Blake saw the sight of Torchwick and Neo sneaking out from the side-door, and she used the chaos to slip away in order to catch the one behind all of the madness.
Meanwhile, Roman and Neo just got out of the building - planning to escape using a route that the police had not barricaded yet, when he heard someone crashing out from one of the windows.
"Torchwick!"
"Oh, come on…" Roman groaned as he recognised the voice. He and Neo turned to see Blake glaring daggers at them with her Gambol Shroud pointed at them. "Look, kid. I really don't have time to play with you, so I suggest you drop it. Don't you have people to save back there?" He pointed his cane at the warehouse behind Blake.
In response, Blake only gave a battle-cry as she dashed towards the crook. However, Her emotional state prevented her from noticing a movement before her face was left with a high-kick.
She staggered back, and glared at a girl in multicolour theme holding an umbrella. The said girl met Blake's glare with a small smirk.
However, before Blake could have done anything else - she was immersed in her emotion that she also failed to sense a presence sneaking up behind her. She was too late to look behind her as a cloth fell on her head, obscuring her vision, before a pair of arms suddenly constricted around her neck.
Roman and Neo blinked as they watched Claude use his own coat to keep Blake from seeing his face, before proceeding to put her into a rear chokehold. The girl trashed around briefly as Claude squeezed, immediately cutting her air supply and caused her body to go limp.
He let go, leaving Blake into a heaving and coughing mess as he laid her to the ground, unraveling his coat off her face. With Blake unconscious, Claude silently looked pointedly at Roman and Neo, telling them to book it.
In return, Roman snorted before he jerked his head, "Come on, Neo."
The multicoloured girl only spared both Claude and Blake a glance before she went after Roman, and the two soon disappeared from view.
Claude put his coat back on to see Blake was asleep after a short fit of coughing. He then tapped into his earpiece. "This is huntsman Rose, we have a huntress down, send a medic immediately."
However, Claude suddenly heard a loud explosion from the warehouse behind him. He looked back to see a truck driving away, followed with a giant robot destroying its surroundings.
"Oh, you've gotta be shittin' me." Claude swore as he tapped into his earpiece. "We have a rogue war-machine on the loose. Tell me that we've evacuated the roads!"
[Negative, sir! The evacuation is only 60% completed, we still have some traffic on the main roads!]
"...Fuck!" Claude spat as he could not leave his unconscious student. Fortunately, Clover, Elm and Penny came to his aid.
Clover was the first to speak, "Claude, we have-!"
"Yes, I've seen it, Clover. How's the rest of our forces?" Claude spoke as he noticed Penny had proceeded to tend Blake.
"They nearly end the gunfight now, but they still have to deal with the injured and the rest of the stragglers." Clover explained.
Claude hummed for a second before turning to Penny. "...Can you look after her?"
"I can." Penny replied as she carried Blake on her shoulder.
Claude nodded as he turned to two members of Atlesian Ace-Ops. "Alright, you two. The three of us are going after that mech."
His feral grin was matched by Elm's enthusiastic reply. "Now that's something I can get behind!"
Blake coughed as she slowly regained consciousness, still feeling the sore around her bruised throat. She gradually got the vision back to her eyes as she could see the hazy image of people in paramedics uniforms looking at her, before they began to speak to their colleagues.
"She's awake!"
"Blake!"
The girl in question groaned before she found herself being surrounded by her team.
"How are you feeling?"
"Are you okay now?"
Ruby and Yang were the ones closest to her personal space, but it was a gesture she could appreciate. "How did I get here…?" Blake asked as she ran her hand through her black locks.
"Claude found you and called Penny to bring you here." Ruby explained as she sent another grateful nod to Penny, who beamed in return.
Blake looked down and soon she remembered what had transpired before she blacked out. "Torchwick!" She lurched forward, only for Yang to hold her in place.
"Whoa! Calm down, you just woke up!"
"Torchwick is here! We got to find him!" Blake shouted with an angry look.
"There was no sign of him when we found you, friend Blake." Penny interjected. "What had happened?"
Blake could only grimace as she recalled the amount of faunus dead during the gunfight - everything happened because Torchwick had spotted her. Then again, in the midst of the gunfire, Blake could hear one of the cops yell something about her being a whistle-blower.
A pit formed in her stomach - if she were not there in the first place, could have those deaths been averted?
"In any case, there's nothing more we can do at this point." Weiss put in her own two-cents. "We should just leave this to Claude and the other huntsmen. They know what they're doing better than we do."
The rest of the team looked reluctant, but they could not retort Weiss' comment either. However, Penny picked up a transmission.
At the same time, one of the transmitters that one officer left near the ambulance also came to life.
[This is huntsman Rose speaking, we have civilians still remain in the area and they are caught in the crossfire! Our hands are full with the paladin at the moment, requesting immediate support!]
Ruby gasped and turned to Penny, who also had heard from her own channel. The android looked around to find the majority of the VPD and Atlas soldiers were still busy in handling the stragglers and tending the injured.
The back-up would not be ready for some time.
However, Penny turned to see team RWBY right before her. "We can help." the leader implored.
"But… We've been ordered-"
Ruby cut the android off, "Please, Penny. If what Claude said is true, they need our help. Right now, every second counts." the rest of her team also mirrored her expression.
Penny looked conflicted for a second before she hardened her expression and nodded. "...Follow me."
Claude, Clover and Elm were riding on a Bullhead Aircraft after a trailer truck driven by a White Fang, that was being escorted by an Atlesian Paladin.
Despite having been under evacuation, the sheer numbers of people occupying the city meant that there were still quite sizable amounts of cars and civilian vehicles that became collateral damage as the Paladin bulldozed through them on the Vale's main highway.
"We have to stop them!" Elm exclaimed as she transformed her war-hammer into a rocket launcher, aiming her sight at the truck.
Agreeing with Elm's tactic, Claude also prepared his Mjolnir Mk. II, ready to fire his railgun at the Paladin. However, aiming with only a hand-canon was not as easy as aiming with a scope. "Bring us closer!" He barked at the pilot, who complied as the aircraft descended towards their targets.
However, as soon as they entered the effective range, the giant robot picked up their presence and aimed one of its energy guns towards the aircraft. Seeing the weapon charging up, the pilot took the obvious course of action.
Claude and Elm had to hold on the handles inside the compartment to keep themselves from falling off, but Clover had another idea.
The leader of Ace-Ops free-fell on top of the Paladin, and launched the line of his Kingfisher towards the energy guns firing at the aircraft. Once the line and the hook had secured themselves on the firearm, Clover reeled in and tugged - forcefully detaching the gun off the robot's arm.
The White Fang pilot inside the robot growled as he lost one of his arsenals. However, the remaining gun was still able to hit the edge of the Bullhead's wing, causing the aircraft to lose balance.
The pilot turned to his remaining two passengers as he did his best to keep his hold on the aircraft. "Go! I got this!"
Claude and Elm shared a brief glance before they nodded at the pilot - silently sending him a gratitude and good luck wish before they jumped off the hangar.
They both dropped and rolled on the ground to soften their landing, and in time to see the trailer truck had gone too far away, with its giant escort being busy with Clover running and swinging around its frame.
Claude clicked his tongue that the truck had escaped, but at least they still had one more Paladin to deal with. He nodded to Elm, who understood his silent gesture and proceeded to prepare her rocket launcher again, while Claude tapped into his communication transmitter again after assessing the collateral damage around - they would need more people to get the civilians to safety.
The Paladin noticed that one of the Atlesian specialists had her rocket launcher aimed at him again, and with a quick thinking, the White Fang chose the next best course of action to take.
Elm fired, unleashing a pair of missiles towards the giant machine. However, when the missiles were only a few meters away, the robot decided to jump off the highway to the road below, narrowingly avoiding the missiles in the last second.
The female Ace-Ops gasped in horror as her missiles ended up on the neighbouring highway, sending a huge chunk of debris to the road below where there were still some vehicles milling around.
On the other hand, after sending the SOS call, Claude booked it after the Paladin along with Clover.
They jumped off and were in luck to find the Paladin had ended up at the bottom below the main highway with no civilians around. Deploying his Shatter Storm in war-axe form, Claude roared as he slammed his weapon right on top of the Paladin, who happened to look up to see any pursuers.
Despite the weight of the Shatter Storm, added with the gravity that sent it down, the prototype was a lot tougher than expected as Claude could not completely wreck its frame. His attack did stagger the giant mecha, however.
Unfortunately for Claude and Clover, the Paladin was still functioning enough to dodge an incoming attack from Elm's Timber, moving away in the nick of time to avoid another devastating strike on its frame.
Timber slammed onto the ground instead, destroying the asphalt beneath as Elm growled at the rogue machine.
Meanwhile, Claude and Clover watched Elm deflect a swing of the giant robot arm with the swing of her own Timber, when the former's transmitter picked up a call.
[This is team RWBY and Penny Polendina! The VPD and the rest of the squad are still busy dealing with the stragglers and the injured back at the warehouse. We are here to help!]
Claude looked aside, not expecting his students and other kids to come to help instead of their squad. Nevertheless, he saw the smoke and fire coming up from the road ahead, no doubt coming from the civilians that were caught during the brief clash and the Paladin earlier.
He glanced at Clover, who was nearly as clueless as he was, before Claude came to a decision, "Team RWBY and Polendina, this is huntsman Rose speaking. There are civilians who are not yet to be evacuated and caught in the crossfire. Your mission is search and rescue - find as many civilians as you can and guide them to safety!"
[What about you and the Paladin?]
"Leave the Paladin to us. Just focus on the rescue effort!"
[...Understood.]
Claude's transmission was ended and he saw Elm was struggling to hold the Paladin off on her own.
"We have to put this thing down ASAP." Claude told Clover as he prepared his revolver. "I assume you'd prefer to take the pilot alive?"
"If possible, yes." Clover nodded, "We need to question how they could breach our security and steal our tech. I might be asking too much, but we also prefer to get our Paladin back… without too much damage on it."
"Just need to disable it, then. I have something that can work." Claude clicked the hammer on his revolver with electricity current running through. "I just need it to stay put for two seconds."
Clover smirked and nodded, "Consider it done."
"INCOMING!" Elm's cry alerted the two men to see the Paladin had launched a barrage of missiles to their location.
oXo
As the sound of explosion roared, the girls arrived to see the carnage on the road ahead of them.
Perhaps calling it a 'carnage' was a stretch, considering the previous evacuation effort had decreased the total number of population on the streets normally; but the sight of vehicles overturned, burned and smashed with injured civilians milling around looking for help was not a good sight either.
"The paramedics are on their way here. We should secure as many people as we can." Penny informed them.
Ruby and her team glanced down to see their teacher and two huntsman and huntress from Atlas were battling with the Paladin. As much as they wanted to help, they knew better than abandoning civilians.
"Alright, team! We have our missions and we have people to save! Let's go!" Ruby then cried out her order and her team moved out.
The girls split up to cover more ground. Penny began to announce instruction to the civilians that help was on the way, with she and the team of four being there to help. As much as the civilians were skeptical about a group of teenage girls helping them instead of the officials, they knew better than taking a gift horse in the mouth, as they followed Penny's directions.
Team RWBY split up into teams of two - Ruby with Weiss and Yang with Blake. The former were already escorting a group of several families with their children and elderlies, while the latter were approaching a bus with a botched door.
The bus was filled with tourists from outside of Vale, young and old alike, who were trying to open the door by fiddling with the handle and banging on the glass.
"Get back!" Yang shouted, hoping that those in the bus could hear her voice. Thankfully, the passengers could understand her gesture as they cleared away from the door.
The blonde then used her enhanced strength to break the lock with her fist, before wrenching the door open. Yang then stepped aside to let the people walking out of the ruined vehicle.
While Yang and Blake were supporting an injured, elderly faunus, the latter could not help but to remember the bodies in the warehouse.
On Ruby and Weiss' side, the former was inside a ruined, up-turned car, rummaging her way inside the interior. Everything was crushed, looking inside a car upside down under the night did not make it easier for the young huntress in training to find her objective. Luckily, she could use her Scroll's light to see through the dark.
She crawled her way through the back of the vehicle until her silver eyes spotted something under, or perhaps, above the ransacked seats. "...Gotcha!" she reached out and grabbed the edge of the object with her fingers, slowly but surely pulled it to her until she secured her hold.
She crawled back, dealing with protrusion of the damaged interior catching the edge of her cloak along the way, until she finally got back outside the car, breathing deeply the fresh night air. She then turned towards a little girl with her father by her side.
"Here you go! Your little guy is safe now!" Ruby beamed at the child as she handed over a stuffed bear.
"Thank you, miss!" the child smiled brightly as she hugged her toy tightly before she was escorted away by her father who nodded gratefully at Ruby.
Weiss, on the other hand, was struggling to contain her emotion as she rapped on the window glass of an old-looking sedan.
"You will not take me alive!"
The heiress sighed as she closed her twitching eyes, taking another deep breath to calm her nerves upon hearing the old man inside screaming at her from furthest away from the door. Things did not help either when she found that the same old man had been keeping a double-barrel shotgun, something that was illegal if the man had no license for firearms-ownership.
"Sir, please get out of the vehicle. I assure you that you are in no danger whatsoever and you will be escorted to safety where the paramedics will see to your injuries…"
"Bah! Bloody Atlas has sprouted those nonsense about safety and their murder machine nearly ran over me and my Betsy! You are one of them, aren't ya?! Those white uniforms you wore screamed that you're gonna take me for yer damned experiments to turn me into one of your tin-can soldiers!"
Weiss wanted to scream at the man's blatant racism and prejudice, but her sister's teaching about maintaining elegance and professionalism helped her to keep her cool. With another deep breath, she peered inside through the glass.
"Sir, I really must ask you to get out of the vehicle. They are other people needing help and you are hindering our job. If you don't comply, I will have to remove you by force." She said it again with a firmer tone.
The reply Weiss received was bullet-pellets bursting out the window. It was only thanks to her training that she managed to dodge in the nick of time.
"Fuck off, you white witch! You are not the boss of me!"
"Did you actually just fire your gun at me!? I am Weiss Schnee! So help me Brothers so I can rescue you!" Weiss finally had enough and forced the door open through the broken window.
Ruby and Penny ignored Weiss dragging the old man screaming something about 'abuse of power and authority, violence in the system, etc.', in favour of approaching a ransacked pick-up truck.
The problem was, the driver had his leg stuck, preventing him from getting away from the ruined vehicle. Much to Ruby and Penny's chagrin, the gasoline could be seen leaking out from its tank, putting the entire vehicle in risk of burning and blowing up.
"What do we do...?" Ruby muttered as the man looked at her pleadingly. She then turned to Penny. "Stay with him, I'm gonna get the others. We need more hands to even budge this."
Penny turned to Ruby before looking around. Everyone was already scattered too far, getting the others to help might put the driver longer in danger. Glancing at her hand, she clutched it and her eyes were filled with determination.
Ruby only watched as Penny walked towards the truck, grabbed the edge of the vehicle and she lifted it up, enough to release the weight on the driver's leg. "Ruby, get him out of here now!"
The young girl who gawked at the sight earlier was snapped out of it - help now, being amazed later; she immediately knelt down and pulled the man out of the vehicle. As Penny dropped the truck down, Weiss immediately arrived and used her Myrtenaster to conjure some ice over the leaking gas tank.
"Nice save, Weiss!"
"Talk later, I think we almost got everyone now." Weiss prompted.
Ruby watched Weiss walk off, before she turned to Penny. When the ginger-head noticed a pair of silver eyes staring at her, she grew an uncomfortable expression on her face.
"...Penny?" Ruby's smile was a mixture of awe and confusion. "That was amazing! How did you do that?"
"I…" Penny looked around with a hiccup as she bit her lip, then she met Ruby's gaze with her own. "I would love to tell you, Ruby. But let's finish our mission first."
Blinking, Ruby found herself agreeing with Penny's words.
Meanwhile, Blake and Yang flinched slightly when they heard another explosion from down below. They were curious - wanting to see how the battle between three professional huntsmen and a giant robot Paladin had progressed, but their mission took precedence.
The evacuation and rescue effort had gone better than they thought. There were not too many people for them to handle, the said people were cooperative so far, and even those with able-bodies had begun lending them extra hands.
Of course, there would be the difficult moment - such as a car that was dangerously hanging on the edge of the highway.
"Please! Someone help!"
Blake and Yang nodded to one another before they quickly went over the unsteady car. They could see from the open window - a pair of mother and her infant child hugging one another by the front seat. They could not get out through the door, or move because they were afraid that the slightest movement could send the car along with them falling off the road.
"Stay calm, okay? We'll get you both out of there." Yang implored with both her hands up to placate the mother hugging her baby.
"Just get my baby boy first, please!" The woman pleaded as she offered her baby through the window.
Knowing better than to argue, Blake stepped forward and carefully took the small baby in her arms. The baby cried as soon as he could not feel his mother's arms around him, and Blake could only do her best to placate the crying child in her arms.
Yang would have found Blake rocking a baby up and down in her arms funny, if not for the fact that the mother had yet to get out of the fire yet. However, much to her horror, the exchange earlier caused the car to slowly tip over towards the chasm below.
"Shit…!" Yang cursed as she quickly moved to grab the car's rear bumper, mustering as much strength as she could to keep the car from falling.
"Yang!" Seeing Yang's boots were skidding slowly across the ground, Blake began to panic; she could not help due to the baby in her arms, and Yang could not hold her ground for long.
"We need help over here!" Blake did the only thing she could. Luckily, Ruby, Weiss and Penny came to their rescue.
At that point, however, Yang's desperate roar had them see that the blonde was starting to lose her grip on the vehicle, as the rear bumper began to tear itself off the vehicle due to unable to hold on the car's weight; the mother could only watch in horror at the girls, particularly at her child.
The bumper finally gave in as Yang let out a horrific gasp at the sudden loss of weight in her arms. "NO!"
Yang and the girls watched the car fall off with the woman inside and followed by a streak of green light going after the said vehicle.
"What the-?!"
A few seconds later, team RWBY saw Penny soaring to the night sky with a woman in her arms, a propulsor on her back and feet were brimming with green energy, levitating her.
Team RWBY only gaped at the sight of Penny landing and put the woman to the ground. Blake could only robotically let the woman take the baby in her arms in favour of watching Penny. She did not even notice the woman thanking her profusely.
Penny looked around uncomfortably under the gaze of team RWBY. Yang was about to voice her curiosity when another voice cut in.
"How is the situation here?"
Everyone turned to see a man in a paramedic uniform. They looked around to find that their back-up had arrived - men and women in similar uniforms of policemen and doctors were running around tending the wounded.
The girls seemed a bit spooked after everything they had seen earlier; but Weiss managed to speak for the team. "We just got another one here, officer."
The officer nodded and ushered the woman and her child to follow him. He then sent one last glance to the girls. "Polendina and team RWBY from Beacon, right? You girls have done enough. We'll take care of the rest. Good job." He said with a genuine smile.
The girls then heard another explosion and they approached the edge of the road to see the fight between the huntsmen and the Paladin had come to a close.
The Paladin was on the ground, unmoving with a good few parts of him blown away and smoking. Claude was putting his Mjolnir Mk. II back in its holster, Clover was inspecting the damage on the Paladin, while Elm was tearing the cockpit open to retrieve the unconscious White Fang inside.
Claude looked up, and when his eyes met with the girls', he only smirked and gave them a brief nod.
"How's it looking?"
Clover looked away from the ruined Paladin to see Claude standing next to him. He briefly looked for Elm to find her securing the White Fang, before he replied to the huntsman from Beacon.
"I guess we did quite a number on it, but we can still salvage it somehow…. I think." Clover awkwardly smiled, which Claude replied with a small snort. "By the way, that thing you did that blew the Paladin's leg away; was that your gun or your Semblance?"
"A little bit of both." Claude smiled knowingly as he tapped on his revolver. "It's still in the development phase, but I'm getting the hang of it. In future, I'm aiming not to rely on my revolver when I want to pull that off again."
"Then, how about when you moved around the missiles? I have to say, your speed earlier was similar to one of my colleagues back in Atlas."
"Another application for my Semblance. Though, I can't really do that all the time without straining myself." Claude replied with a shrug.
"Your Semblance, huh? Whatever it is, that's versatile." Clover noted.
"Yeah, I'm still learning its full potential… Oh, looks like we need to talk later, because here comes the fuss…"
Clover followed Claude's eyes towards an armoured car belonging to the VPD, along with a couple of police cars. However, both Clover and Elm knew that the 'fuss' Claude mentioned was not them, as they looked up towards the highway where people began to congregate.
oXo
Team RWBY gave a collective sigh of relief once they saw more Search and Rescue teams and other paramedics come around to help the civilians. The sound of battle with the Paladin had completely ceased; the girls then decided to go to the edge of the road to see the aftermath.
Ignoring the number of able-bodied civilians gathering around them, Ruby and the rest watched Claude and the huntsman and huntress from Atlas were standing over the ruined machine, with the Atlesian huntress securing the White Fang pilot on the side.
The authorities had also arrived with their cars parked around the vicinity, ready to arrest the perpetrator for tonight's chaos.
They saw Claude looking up from where he stood, meeting their gazes with his. The young teacher merely gave a small smile while jerking his chin forward.
Ruby found herself sighed again in relief, seeing her uncle was alright; her sentiment was more or less shared with her friends.
...With her friends only.
CRASH
Soon, Ruby then found something falling not far from where Claude and the heroes of the hour stood - a glass bottle shattering on the road below.
She blinked - did someone drop their trash? At first, she did not pay it too much mind until another item fell towards them a few seconds later.
The girls blinked again in confusion - another trash? Soon, their confusion grew as more items were falling - no, thrown towards where Claude was.
"What the hell…?" Yang trailed off as the girls saw the rest of the civilians were booing and jeering at the huntsmen down there.
"Nice jobs, you idiots! Now how am I supposed to go to work!?"
"My mom got injured because of you guys!"
"None of this would have happened if you guys from Bloody Atlas were doing your jobs!"
"So much for being the greatest kingdom!"
The girls - Ruby in particular were perplexed at the sheer scorn being thrown by the people towards Claude, who did not move an inch from his spot.
Yang growled as she turned towards a nearby yelling civilian - those people down there were the heroes who took the bad guys out, yet these people had balls to boo at him!?
Her step, however, was stopped and Yang turned to glare at Penny, who shook her head while shooting her a pleading look.
"Let me go, Penny! These assholes-!"
"Yang!"
The blonde's head snapped towards Blake, who had also joined in holding her back. The faunus was biting her lip and her eyes shut tightly before she opened them to look at Yang with unshed tears.
"Blake…?" Yang's anger was mixed with confusion at this point.
oXo
Down below - Claude, Clover and Elm were standing while taking the brunt of the civilian's anger thrown at them. The former two were impassive and took everything in stride, while the woman looked a little distraught at the reception.
Claude then glanced at his two co-workers for the night. "Sorry for dragging you two into this."
In return, both Ace-Ops gave easy smiles, albeit Elm's was rather bitter. "Don't sweat it. We ran into this kind of thing back in Mantle. What's important is that we at least got a part of our job done." Clover gestured at the ruined Paladin behind them.
"You think Atlas will sue me for this?" Claude glanced at the Paladin whose limbs he just blew up.
Clover snorted while Elm giggled, "General Ironwood will take full responsibility for this mission, since it was our fault that all of this happened in the first place. But we'll put in a good word for you." the former replied.
"Much obliged." Claude gave a quick smile as the police squad arrived to talk to them, all while the crowd from the highway was still raging over.
oXo
"What's happening? Why are they mad at Claude? They're the good guys here, right?" Ruby frantically asked Weiss, who was just as confused as her partner.
"...Why are they the bad guys?!" Ruby's eyes began to well up with tears as her question was answered with more angry shouts from people around.
"Go home with your toys to the hole where you came from!"
"I can't believe I pay my tax to the government for this crap!"
"If it wasn't for those girls from Beacon, you'd all have hell to pay!"
Ruby felt her heart sink as her confusion was turning into a dreaded realization, as well as her teammates. Yang looked pale as she glanced at Blake who could only look away in shame.
These people… They have gone through something terrible and they need an outlet for their frustration.
Tears finally fell from Ruby's eyes as she watched her uncle being escorted into one of the armoured cars. Claude did not deserve any of this, he was the hero of the hour! He took down the bad guys! What's wrong with everyone?!
A hand softly grabbed her shoulder, causing Ruby to gasp and turn to see Glynda Goodwitch. Unlike her usual stern persona, the deputy headmistress was sporting a rather gentle look as she quietly urged them to follow her.
"Professor Goodwitch, what's happening?" Ruby asked with distraught plastered over her face. "Why are they angry at Claude? He just saved everyone!"
"Ruby." Glynda simply called her by her name, in contrast to her usual address of surname. "You need to calm down. Just trust me for now, the rest of you too." She also looked at the rest of the girls.
The girls exchanged uncertain looks before they quietly followed the deputy into their own cars.
It was later into that night when Claude was being sent off from the police station. Clover and Elm were heading elsewhere to meet with Penny and report directly to Ironwood.
As Claude reached the front exit, the police officer escorting him placed his hand on his back. "...For anything it's worth, you did good back there, kid. Thanks." The officer said as he gave a firm pat on the huntsman's back.
Claude only gave a small smile with a nod as he was allowed to walk outside. Upon stepping out, he was greeted with the sight of Glynda waiting for him outside.
"'Sup, Glynda." Claude nodded as he walked towards her.
The deputy only replied with a sigh. "It has been quite a night, Claude."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Claude snorted as Glynda led him to the car heading back to Beacon. "...How are the girls?"
"Exhausted." Glynda replied. "...Mentally and emotionally speaking, especially for Ms. Rose. The poor girl couldn't fathom the public's disappointment towards you. The only thing that calmed her down was the fact that your arrest was merely a formality to placate the public instead of actual incarceration."
"She's still young, Glynda. She'll have to come around sooner or later." Claude replied with his own sigh.
"Truly. She and her team were hailed as the hero of the night while her uncle took the blame. Knowing her, 'shaken' is the least I can describe Ms. Rose's current state." Glynda replied with a soft scoff.
Claude shrugged again, "...What's gonna happen to them?"
Both he and Glynda had situated themselves in the car, which immediately drove back to Beacon Academy.
"Team RWBY will be put into questioning by the headmaster himself, considering one of the testimonies reported Ms. Belladonna's presence during the rally. If I guess correctly… They will be put into a light detention… Or to be precise, they will have to go through counselling sessions with you."
Claude blinked and turned towards the woman sitting next to him. "...What?"
"Have you forgotten that you are the new school counsellor? Think of this as a trial period. You can get used to your new position all while assisting team RWBY to get past the events of tonight."
Claude wanted to retort, but found himself unable to as he had to talk to the girls. He heaved a deeper sigh as he leaned back against his seat. "...Any news about Brune?"
Glynda's face hardened slightly as she replied, "Barty, Peter and Griswald have been rotating to keep tabs on her, but nothing suspicious so far. In fact, Shamir seems to be well-respected among the students from Haven."
Claude snorted, "Somehow, I'm not surprised."
Glynda did not retort but to ask her own question, "What about things on your side?"
Claude hummed as he looked up in thought. "...It's possible that the White Fang will have to play it safe and lay low and send out spies and hidden players into the fray."
Glynda caught on. "So you think Cinder Fall will make her move personally?"
"Possibly. But we still need more of Roman's intel to even make predictions." Claude stared outside the window. "Rome said that they are finished with the Dust and entering 'phase 2'. We need to step-up our game as well."
Glynda, however, had another concern. "Brunesteid Shamir is one of the people who knows of your past partnership with Roman. Do you think Roman can remain inside without garnering suspicion?"
Claude sighed yet again. "If Roman says that he's still safe within the fold, I'm willing to hold his words for this."
"Claude… The problem with Roman is similar with the one we have with Lionheart. Are you sure Roman isn't completely swayed into the enemy's side?"
Claude then turned to meet Glynda's eyes with his own. They stared at each other with none of them willing to break the contact. Eventually, it was Claude who broke the contact as he leaned back on his seat and relaxed.
"...Claude?"
"I gotta admit, Glynda. I can see your angle about Rome." Claude replied first. "...But there's this one thing that sets him apart from Leo."
Glynda raised her eyebrows slightly, now curious of Claude's answer.
"Through the years I've worked with him, I know well that Roman is far from the image of an ideal huntsman. But when he feels like the odds are not in his favour, he clearly admits his short-comings and will see other ways to achieve victory, or at least, not to lose too badly. He's a gambling man, but that also makes Roman driven to seek solutions to reach the top. Leonardo, however…" Claude narrowed his eyes slightly. "Honestly? I might not know the guy well enough since we came from different schools, but when I saw him fight, while Leo can hold his own ground well enough, it's as if he doesn't even want to bet, doesn't even want to win. The way he fights, seems like he just wants to be safe and away from danger. Comparing him and Roman is like… Comparing 'running away' and 'tactical retreat' in terms of 'withdrawing'."
Glynda pursed her lips in a mild amusement - the way Claude described Roman and Leonardo was unorthodox, but at the same time, it was not something she could not grasp either.
"The bottom line is: I'd rather trust an asshole who admits he's an asshole rather than an asshole who looks for excuses."
Glynda opened her mouth for a second before saying, "...There are things that I want to say in retort, but I can't, for some reason." She then returned to lean on her seat.
"Thanks for understanding." Claude replied with a small amused smile.
Glynda merely rolled her eyes, although a small smile crept up on her lips. The rest of the ride home was spent in a companionable silence.
Omake
Depending on the mission, each team needed to fill out and sign some letters and files of waiver before going out on the field. Sometimes they also need to sign some paperworks and reports when they end up working with the police.
Team STRQ just finished their first Beacon-issued mission at the end of their first year. They were currently lounging in the common room of the dorms.
It had been some kind of a norm that team CBPR was team STRQ's chaperone, since their respective leaders were siblings. Thus, it was not much of a surprise to see Claude coming and approach Raven, who was enjoying her 'me-time' with a mug of coffee in hand, with a file of documents.
"Rose."
Raven greeted cordially as she looked up from her table.
"Branwen." Claude returned the gesture in kind.
"What's up?" Raven stood up to meet Claude in the eye.
"What's up with you? You forgot to sign these post-mission papers. Ozpin ended up asking me to bring this to you." Claude said as he held up the files in question.
Raven simply stared impassively, but perhaps because she was in a better mood that day, she merely gave a soft sigh. "...Fine, I just have to sign it, right?"
She reached out to grab the file holder, but as she tugged, she found that Claude was still holding it firmly. She stared at the faint smirk that crept up on his lips, as she gave stronger tugs, until she managed to wrench the file off Claude's grasp.
The man then procured a pen for Raven to use, which Raven received easily this time. With her eyes never leaving Claude's she slammed the documents on Claude's chest as a make-shift table, eliciting a soft huff from him.
Tai just came in to get his own refreshment when he saw Raven inched closer towards Claude and signed her name on the paper she pressed on his chest, all while maintaining eye contact with one another.
"What the hell…?" Tai could not help but ask with furrowed eyebrows.
Raven finished signing her name with a firm jab of her pen on the paper, as she returned the pen to Claude. When she handed the paper back, however, she leaned slightly even closer and whispered, "Careful, the ink is still wet."
Without leaving his eyes off Raven's, Claude replied, "...Then this should help."
He then proceeded to give a gentle blow on the paper, the flowing air from his breath washed over the white, ink-written surface.
For some reason, Raven shifted her face towards the paper's direction, and began to blow along with the man before her.
Seeing the strange sight of Claude Rose and Raven Branwen blowing papers together in close proximity, Tai finally cut-in. "Seriously, you two. You gotta knock that off."
However, a new voice came in, "Just leave them be, Tai."
Tai turned to see Roman and Qrow had let themselves in and were sitting on another table with their own drinks in hand; watching the spectacle with amused looks.
"It's summer of love, baby." Qrow quipped while sipping his soda.
Tai only pouted at his two friends. "It's March, man. Shut up."
There you have it! Yes, instead of showing the fight between three veteran huntsmen against a mere prototype, which I believe the result is obvious enough, I decided to focus more on the non-canon events, like the damage control that the girls did, as well as the drama that followed. Thoughts on that folks?
The next thing is about the poll. I'm glad that people are contributing their votes so far, but I'll keep the poll up for now since the numbers are still too few for me to make a solid decision. However, I can show you the poll results so far - Who might Claude end up with? These are the possible candidates:
Glynda Goodwitch - 5 votes.
Winter Schnee - 4 votes.
Brunesteid Shamir - 4 votes.
Cinder Fall - 3 votes.
Neopolitan - 3 votes.
Elm Ederne - 2 votes.
Blake Belladonna - 1 vote.
Yang Xiao-Long - 1 vote.
Velvet Scarlatina - 1 vote.
Harriet Bree - 1 vote.
Robyn Hill - 1 vote.
Truthfully, I didn't expect Glynda, Winter and my OC to be the top contenders for Claude's love interest. Though, some of the guest readers actually demanded that I put Claude back together with Raven, so I ended up putting Raven as one of the candidates just to be fair, along with Willow Schnee. Once again, depending on how the plot progresses, I can't guarantee the winner of the poll will take Claude for herself, although it can influence my final decision.
Please give some constructive reviews! Ahsoei, over and out.