"Did I miss anything?" Sun asked, landing quietly on the shipping container beside a prone Blake.
Blake looked back over her shoulder at him. "No," she answered. "They offloaded some crates, but nothing has happened since then."
"Cool." He offered her one of the many apples he had procured. "I stole you some food!"
Blake looked at him questioningly. "Do you… always break the law without a second thought?"
"Weren't you like, part of a cult?" he countered.
She glared at him, before rolling her eyes slightly and tilting her head in concession.
The wind picked up suddenly, and the dull whine of bullhead engines filled the air. A moment later, its spotlight came into view, tracing the ground in back and forth sweeps as it scanned the area for a suitable landing location.
A space between containers lit up with the illumination of the powerful spotlight, and the bullhead carefully moved over top of it, before slowly setting down onto the ground, opening its rear hatch, and extending a ramp.
"Oh no," Blake muttered, as faunus after faunus stepped out of the vehicle and into the light, the signature uniform and Grimm-like mask of the White Fang visible on every member.
"Is that them?" Sun asked, despite already knowing the answer.
"Yes. That's them," Blake admitted.
"You… You really didn't think it was them, did you?" he asked.
"Grab those tow cables!" one member of the White Fang shouted in the distance.
"No," Blake answered, "I think deep down, I knew. I don't- I just wish I was wrong."
"Hey!" shouted a rather obnoxious voice. "What's the holdup?" A man in a crisp white suit with styled orange hair under a black bowler hat stepped down the ramp, waving a pale cane around in his right hand. Roman Torchwick, renowned thief and self-proclaimed stylish gentleman. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous group of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"
"This isn't right," Blake declared, narrowing her eyes. "The White Fang would never work with a human, especially not one like him."
Blake stood, suddenly and silently, and drew her weapon with the quiet hiss of metal on leather before stepping forward to the edge of the container.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Sun asked in alarm.
She ignored him and took a step to drop from the container to the ground silently. She moved, darting between shadows and corners, making her way to the group of White Fang as they steadily loaded crates from their containers to the ship.
"No, you idiot!" Roman barked at one of the faunus. "This isn't a leash!"
Roman turned, exposing his back to Blake. She took the opportunity, darting forward and slipping the blade of the katana around his neck, dangerously close.
"Oh, you've gotta be fucking kiddi—"
"Nobody move!" Blake shouted, cutting Roman off.
"Woah, take it easy there, little lady," Roman said, his casual tone belying his precarious position of a blade to his throat. "You really don't wanna be playing hero here."
The White Fang were slow to respond, but they eventually drew and aimed their weapons at Blake, gradually closing in around her and her hostage.
Blake lifted her hand from Roman's shoulder to the bow in her hair, deftly untying it and letting it flutter to the ground to expose her faunus heritage.
"Brothers of the White Fang!" Blake shouted. "Why are you aiding this scum?!"
"Oh kid, didn't you get the memo?" Roman asked, voice smug.
"What are you talking about?"
"The White Fang and I have come together for a joint business venture."
"Tell me what it is, or I'll put an end to your little operation," Blake threatened.
"Oh," Roman gloated with a smirk, "I wouldn't call it a little operation."
The telltale whine of bullhead engines reverberated through the docks, and a pair of the vehicles appeared shortly after as they came to a stop above them, spotlights blaring down on them.
Blake yelped in surprise as the ground beneath her feet exploded.
The echoing boom of an explosion broke through the quiet of the downtown street.
Penny, Ruby, and Jaune turned in tandem towards the direction of the noise and watched as smoke crawled into the sky from the docks.
"Oh no," Ruby muttered.
"Oh no," Jaune echoed.
Blake landed with a roll, bleeding most of her downward speed into forward momentum to gain distance from her attacker. She turned, only to find Roman striding confidently towards her, twirling his cane gracefully.
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty-" Roman's taunt was efficiently cut off by the banana peel that slapped him in the face. He growled, flicking it aside to find the perpetrator.
Sun leapt at Roman, a red and gold bo staff arcing down towards the criminal's head.
Roman dodged artfully and sent a forward kick towards Sun's shin. It connected, and Sun tipped forward to accommodate the sudden backwards momentum. Roman capitalised, flicking the cane ahead with surprising speed to strike Sun in the cheek.
Sun spun with the blow, bringing the staff around in a vicious sweep, however, it was deflected upwards by Roman's cane, which he had spun in a reverse arc. Sun moved with the motion, bringing the staff's other end around to knock Roman's cane up, and continued with a forward jab at the man's midsection.
Roman jumped away from the strike with ease.
"Leave her alone," Sun growled.
From the low-hovering bullheads, several White Fang members jumped, landing quickly and readying their weapons, each pointed at Sun.
Roman sneered. "You're not really the brightest banana of the bunch, are ya kid?"
The White Fang charged at Sun, and Blake reentered the fray with a swing from Gambol Shroud aimed at Roman's head.
Sun disarmed the sword-wielding faunus with a strike at his hand before knocking the staff cautiously against the side of his head. He went down and didn't get back up. He had to be careful with the force behind his blows; these guys didn't have aura, and they were clearly untrained.
Roman dodged the swing of Gambol Shroud easily and retaliated with a flick of his cane. Blake's body flickered, and the cane passed clear through the shadow copy without resistance, as the real version jumped backward.
She dashed forward again, this time with a low, sweeping kick. Roman jumped it and brought his cane down at her head; she flickered again as her Semblance activated and she sidestepped the attack, allowing the shimmering clone to take the blow as she spun to deliver another attack.
Roman blocked and jabbed with his off-hand.
Blake grunted as the attack struck, but continued her assault. She spun and brought her sword around from her right. Roman deflected upward and sent a boot at her chest. She dodged, barely,, and jumped for a high kick.
Blake's form flickered, and Roman's strike passed through her airborne figure as she flipped away. She landed deftly and struck forward with a stab. Roman flicked it aside with ease, laughing mockingly.
Blake growled, jumping back to avoid the counter-attack. With the press of a button, Gambol Shroud folded, and the ribbon fluttered free as the weapon transformed into its kusarigama configuration.
Roman jumped back with a gasp of surprise as the bladed head of the weapon carved a deadly arc through the air, its range drastically increased. Blake twirled, the weapon spinning with her on the taut ribbon, gaining speed and strength with each rotation as she gradually stepped closer to him.
With a carefully aimed swing, he knocked the bladed end down towards the ground as it spun past him, but Blake kept it controlled and used the new downward motion to direct it upwards at the back of the swing, up and over her head. With a shout of exertion, she brought it down with incredible force.
The crack was audible as Gambol Shroud buried itself in the cement of the dock's floor, missing the intended target as, once again, he dodged. For a thief, he had some incredible training and seemingly endless finesse.
Blake flicked her wrist to free her weapon from the ground, but it was too late. Roman's foot slammed into her midsection and she was sent flying backwards, a grunt of pain escaping her lips as her weapon followed her weakly.
Sun, having cleanly dispatched the White Fang, jumped over Blake and kicked at Roman. He reacted admirably, but was too slow to do more than roll with the blow.
The staff Sun carried split down the middle into two pairs of nunchucks. What they lacked in strength of blows, they made up for in sheer quantity. Sun pushed Roman back with a flurry of strikes. Roman was still holding his own, weaving, parrying, and blocking the faunus' assault.
Roman parried aggressively, knocking one of Sun's arms wide and jabbing his cane forward as he turned side-on to avoid the other nunchuck. Sun staggered, and Roman went on the offence.
Or, he tried to, at least, only to find that the staff-turned-nunchucks were actually made of shotguns. The first blast impacted Roman's aura, though he was able to flick away the second with his cane. Now he was truly on the defensive, as with each rapid turn, the faunus boy flicked the small lever of the weapon, chambering a new shot each and every time to barrage Roman with buckshot.
He searched desperately for an opening, doing everything he could to block and deflect the oncoming blasts.
He grunted in pain as the head of Gambol Shroud impacted with his forehead, flicked forward with an audible thwip. He was sent to the ground, landing poorly on his back and left open to attack, though the faunus pair seemed to have no intention of following through.
A mistake.
He lifted his cane and took aim, before firing an explosive round at the shipping container suspended above the pair's heads.
"Blake!" Sun warned as he jumped away.
She looked up and gasped, before diving forward desperately.
"I told you that you shouldn't have played hero," Roman growled, his cane pointed at her head, ready to fire.
It was the bark of a high powered rifle that interrupted him.
"Son-of-a-bitch!" he shouted as a large round struck his hand. It was only through his training, and a not insignificant degree of luck, that he managed to keep hold of his weapon.
Ruby cycled the bolt of Crescent Rose, and the still-smoking casing clattered to the cement of the roof she was perched upon.
Roman suppressed a snarl and waved cheerily in Ruby's direction. "Well hello, Red," he greeted. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"
Penny looked forward over the edge of the building. "Who is that man?" she asked.
Ruby looked away from Roman to her friend. "No, Penny, stay back!" she warned.
Roman capitalised on her distraction, and fired another round from his cane.
"Ruby!" Jaune shouted in warning. He leant forward and snatched a handful of her hood, yanking her back with all of his weight.
The explosive streaked over their heads as they fell, and detonated with a bright flash and loud pop.
Penny stepped forward, returning to the edge of the roof.
"Penny, wait! Stop!" Ruby shouted.
"Don't worry, Ruby," Penny assured, "I am com-bat ready!"
Jaune knew what was coming next.
A panel on Penny's backpack slid open, and out floated a short, folded blade. It opened to reveal a thick, straight-backed sword with an inner curve along the blade. And then it split, and one became ten.
After two steps, she leapt, the ground beneath her feet cracking under the force of an aura enhanced jump. She landed gracefully, knocking aside White Fang members with the backs of the blades. They circled her, floating in an ominous silence as she smiled politely at the stunned faunus.
Jaune reached out and connected to her mind as he had before. He watched from the roof, using both his human eyes, and the many cameras in the surrounding area, feeding the android girl information and strategy as she flowed between targets like water in a river.
Penny stepped forward, thrusting an arm out, and the swords flowed around her, striking against the nearby White Fang members. The floating blades returned to her, and she gathered them into a spinning disk, which she sent at an approaching collection of enemy forces.
Jaune watched, carefully guiding each blade so that the flat back edge would strike the White Fang members, likely preserving their lives in the process.
Overhead, a trio of bullheads came into view over the city skyline, and after a moment, two of them opened fire at Penny.
Once more, Jaune guided Penny, using the intrinsic knowledge of how the weapons functioned he had gained from their brief mental merging. Shot after shot pinged off Penny's blades as she spun them in front of her as a pseudo-shield, Jaune's watchful eye and subtle guidance enough to ensure that not a single round struck its intended location.
Two more blades emerged from Penny's back and flew away from her quickly, before sinking into the brickwork of a warehouse some distance behind her. She jumped, and the thin wire tethers dragged her back to the embedded weapons at high speed, the floating circle of swords following closely after.
Penny pulled them closely together and spun them. Between them, a bubble of green plasma grew, emerging from the high-strength electrical currents that jumped between the points of each blade like tiny bolts of lightning.
Penny thrust her arms forward, and green streaks of powerful plasma struck the oncoming bullheads, cutting through their minimal armour as though it didn't even exist. A moment later, the two vehicles that had fired on her split, completely cut through, and White Fang soldiers fell through the now open air.
It wasn't too long of a fall, Jaune knew. It would hurt, and cause numerous injuries, but the probability of fatalities was very low.
The bisected remains of the vehicles sailed overhead, exposed cuts still glowing and smoking, before they fell into the ocean behind Jaune and Ruby.
Ruby watched in awe, while Penny turned back to the last airborne bullhead.
It had gone low and attached a shipping container of dust to its underside, and was now attempting to make away with it.
Penny thrust her arms forward again, and her swords raced forward and embedded themselves in the vehicles starboard side. Penny started walking backwards, dragging the protesting vehicle with her.
A moment later, a number of things happened. The first, Jaune checked the interior of the bullhead through the onboard cameras, and found only the pilot and co-pilot onboard. The second, Penny pulled with all her might. The third, Jaune took control and redirected the engines inline with Penny's pull. The fourth and final thing that happened was Jaune triggering the ejection seats of the two pilots, sending them safely out of the way of their now crashing ship.
And crash it did.
With a spectacular flash and deafening boom, the bullhead's engine ignited the fractured container full of Dust, and it vanished in a fireball that made Jaune wince from the heat, even well over a hundred metres away.
"Jaune!" Ruby called, pointing at a retreating bullhead, "He's getting away!"
They were far, but he could still feel it, if barely. He just had to reach and-
Roman looked away from the blinding fireball as the final bullhead made its escape.
With jittery fingers, he pulled a cigar from a pocket on the inside of his jacket and placed it in his mouth. He then drew his lighter and flicked it open, ignoring the noises of complaint coming from the seated faunus.
The dumb fucking animals could bitch as much as they wanted about the smoke, they weren't the ones who'd be getting a cap in their ass, despite the mission's failure a result of their ineptitude.
"Quiet," he barked around the cigar, as he lit it and took a long drag.
The smoke filled his lungs, soothing his frayed nerves, both with the calming effect of the nicotine, and the familiarity of the action.
He sighed deeply, smoke billowing out from between his lips. He was not looking forward to what followed.
And then the cabin flooded with darkness. A deafening silence permeated the cabin as everything turned off simultaneously.
His stomach dropped, and the pounding of his heart deafened his ears as they plummeted through the air.
"Son of a bi-"
The bullhead hit the water, and a second later, the loud splash reached their ears.
Jaune dropped his outstretched hand, and as he took a step, he stumbled.
"Jaune!" Ruby cried in alarm, catching him before he could fall, nearly toppling the both of them. "Are you okay?"
"Ugh," he grunted, "Yeah. That-uh, that took a lot more out of me than I thought."
Not to self, working at range is a bitch when there's no trail of devices to connect back to him.
Ruby helped him down from the roof and supported him as they made their way over to where Blake and that faunus boy they'd seen yesterday were sitting. The blare of sirens echoed through the streets as the police started to arrive.
Blake's eyes landed on Jaune and Ruby, and she jumped to her feet and rushed over.
"Jaune! Ruby! Are you okay? What happened?" Blake asked with concern, looking over the two of them.
"Am I okay?" Jaune asked. "Blake, what about you? You just disappeared!"
She ignored him in favour of continuing to look for injuries.
Jaune rolled his eyes. "Yes Blake, I'm fine. I just exhausted myself with my Semblance."
"Good, good," she declared, nodding resolutely, before slipping Jaune's other arm over her shoulders and helping Ruby in moving him towards where she had been sitting.
Jaune groaned as they lowered him down onto the milk crate, watching Blake with concern of his own.
"Seriously Blake, are you okay? We've been looking for you all day, and when we find you, you're fighting for your life."
"We were so worried!" Ruby cried.
"I-I…" Blake bowed, bending nearly a full ninety degrees at the hips. "I'm sorry," she apologised. "I am so, so, so, so, so sorry." Her voice shook as she spoke. She sounded on the verge of tears. "I-I should have explained, but I was so scared and I just ran and that wasn't fair to you and-"
Ruby enveloped her in a hug.
"I'm just glad you're safe," she whispered.
Jaune pushed himself to his feet unsteadily and joined Ruby in hugging their teammate.
Blake sniffed, and they held her as she cried quietly.
"You're gonna be okay, Blake," Jaune told her.
She gave a wet laugh. "Yeah, I think I will be."
The screech of rubber on road interrupted them as a motorcycle skidded to a stop. The rider hopped off with startling haste. Gloved hands rapidly unlatched the helmet and tugged it off, before carelessly dropping it to the floor.
"Blake!" Yang cried with concern, bolting over to the trio.
Ruby and Jaune had the forethought to step away, and Blake winced in resignation a moment before Yang crashed into her in a violent hug. A moment later, Yang placed her hands on Blake's shoulders and pushed her away to look over her.
"Are you okay!?" She was nearly shouting with worry. "Are you hurt? You look okay, but what happened!? I heard the explosions from the other side of the district and Ruby said you were in trouble!"
Blake sighed deeply and pulled Yang back into the hug. "I'm okay," she assured. "I'm sorry."
"I'm just glad you're safe," Yang whispered into her hair.
Blake laughed. "Ruby said the same."
"Yeah well, she learnt from the best."
Blake giggled.
"Blake," Ruby interrupted softly, "I think you should explain what you said today."
Blake's expression became downturned. "Yeah, okay, I can do that."
She then told them of her past in the White Fang, how she wanted the world to change, but couldn't stand the violence the Fang had turned to for results. After the explanation, she detailed what had happened to her over the day. Running from them, finding Sun, explaining her past to him, and him pushing her to tell them, going to the docks and finding the White Fang, along with Roman Torchwick, up until Ruby and Jaune had arrived.
Yang's head flicked to Sun. "You."
Sun sprang to his feet, and stood at attention. "Yes ma'am?" he answered timidly.
"You helped Blake? You told her to come back to us?"
"Yes ma'am," he confirmed.
Sun yelped as Yang pinned his arms to his sides and lifted him into the air in a crushing hug.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," Sun wheezed as she placed him back on his feet.
Yang stepped back and placed her hands on her hips with a huff, before she blinked and offered a hand to the faunus boy.
"I'm Yang, by the way. Sorry, probably should have started with that."
"You're fine." Sun shook her hand. "I'm Sun."
"Hey!" shouted a voice. They turned and found the source to be a police officer jogging towards them. "What are you kids doing out here? Were you a part of this?"
"No sir," Jaune answered as he took a step forward and fished his wallet from his pocket to present his Beacon Student ID. "We're from Beacon. The White Fang tried to rob a shipment of Dust that was just freighted in by the SDC so we stepped in to stop it."
He looked between them sceptically. "All of you are Beacon students?"
"Except him." Jaune pointed at Sun. "He's a transfer from Shade, for the tournament."
The officer looked at Sun. "You got ID on you?"
"Yes sir," Sun said, then he drew his own Student ID to show the man.
He nodded his head in satisfaction after a moment of observing the card. "Alright, I'm gonna need you to stay right here so we can collect you all for statements. Got it?"
"Officer, wait!" Jaune said as the man turned to leave.
"What is it, kid?"
"A bullhead went down in the inlet about three hundred metres that way," Jaune pointed in the direction it had fallen, "Roman Torchwick was onboard."
The policeman's eyes widened in surprise, before he spun and began making his way back to his cruiser with hurried steps, leaning his head down to speak into his shoulder mounted radio.
"Ten-Eighteen, we've got a bird in the water, three hundred metres north-north-west. Roman Torchwick is suspected to be on board. Repeat: Roman Torchwick is suspected to be on board."
"I'm sorry sir, I was told to wait until Professor Ozpin got here," Jaune told the officer.
He sighed. "Any idea when he's getting here?"
"Uh." Jaune looked at the door. "Now?"
The door opened, and indeed, Ozpin stepped through. Shortly behind him followed Qrow and Ms. Goodwitch.
"Students," he addressed, "Are you alright?"
"Just some bumps and bruises, sir," Ruby explained.
"Good. Glynda, please escort them to the bullhead and take them back to Beacon." He paused for a moment in consideration. "And please show Mr. Wukong to the guest dorms."
"Yes sir," Ms. Goodwitch answered. "Students, follow me."
"Ozpin! They haven't-" The police chief went to protest, but Ozpin stopped him with a placating hand.
"Chief, my students have just suffered a terribly stressful ordeal, and being cooped up in the police station surely isn't helping. I assure you that I will have their statements delivered to you before midday tomorrow. Please, let them rest. Besides, we have more… pressing matters to deal with."
The police chief ran a hand through his graying hair. "Fine. Let's get this done now then."
"Of course. Qrow, you're with me."
The police chief led the pair deeper into the station.
"Take care, kid," Qrow whispered as he passed by Ruby.
"You too uncle Qrow," she whispered back.
"Quickly now, students. I'm sure you're eager for rest," Ms. Goodwitch said.
The students trailed out of the facility as Qrow, Ozpin, and the police chief headed towards the interrogation rooms. They stopped at the third room, where armed guards stood on either side of the door.
The guards nodded at the police chief, and one reached forward to open the door.
"Oh wow," the single occupant of the room said mockingly, "am I really so special that I get the Headmaster of Beacon to come say hello to little old me?"
"Mr. Torchwick," Ozpin greeted politely, "Would you be so kind as to explain what you were doing at the docks earlier tonight?"
Hey all!
Hurray, this chapter's actually edited! Unfortunately my main editor, Gotsh0cks was too busy to look at it, so some others on discord gave it a look in his place. Big thanks to all of them!
I've ended up changing the combat quite a lot here from canon, as unfortunately, RWBY's style doesn't translate well to writing, so I've done my best to try make it feel faster, less flashy, and a bit more varied than just standard kicks and swings. This is something I wanted to do with Blake, as in canon, her attacks, while impressive, are relatively simple, so I actually made her use her weapon as a kusarigama, with moves inspired by a mobile game called Shadow Fight 2. You'll never see a real kusarigama fighter use their weapon like Blake does, as they throw around the flail section of the weapon, which Blake doesn't actually have.
Also, turns out that all of my italics in the last 4 chapters didn't get added, but that's fixed now, so (last chapter especially) reads a lot better.
That's all for this week, so thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter H3ctic4328 for updates, teasers, and other stuff! If you want early notice on delays, new chapters, etc. it's the best place to be! Alternatively, come say hi on Discord! I'm active pretty much every day over at discord. gg/thehoard
Yours sincerely, H3ctic.