Neptune didn't have a lot of expectations when he got off the transport and went with Raven on her 'walk'. She seemed like a very hostile person in general, something that his gaffe the other day didn't help with to his own admission, and every time he tried to start a conversation all he got was a glare in response. Still that hostility had it's good points as long as he wasn't the focus of it.
"This. Will. Teach. You. To. Mug. ME!" Raven shouted while bashing some poor thug's head into a vending machine, the rest of his group already unconscious on the sidewalk surrounding them. After a few more bashes she grabbed his head with both hands and smashed it in as hard as she could, shattering the glass and knocking him out. Raven let him go and watched him crumple to the ground. Raven then reached into the machine and took out a candy bar before looking down at her latest victim.
"Thanks for the free snack asshole," she said and spat on him before looking at Neptune, leaning against a wall nearby and pointed at him with her candy. "And thank you for the help."
"You had it handled, I'd just get in the way," Neptune said holding his hands up and getting off the wall while Raven opened the candy.
"Well you can make up for it by getting their wallets for me. Chop chop." Neptune rolled his eyes and went about the task, quickly digging through all the would-be mugger's pockets for their wallets and handing them to Raven.
"Isn't taking their money… illegal or something?" Neptune asked as she took all the Lien out of them. When she was done, all the cards in one hand and the wallets in the other, she took the candy out and shook her head.
"So is mugging people, I consider this karmic balancing. The weak making the strong stronger," she explained as she threw the empty wallets at a guy slumped unconscious against a wall. "Get fucked."
"Weren't we supposed to be going somewhere?"
"Keep your belt on Ransom, we're almost there." Neptune growled at the nickname, but still followed Raven as she led the way while also putting the money into a pouch on her scabbard. They had entered the entertainment district about half an hour ago and had spent the time since slowly walking through the district. 'Building tension,' as Raven put it, though Neptune was sure she just wanted to start trouble with anyone willing to entertain her.
Not that he was dumb enough to actually say it out loud.
"So… this friend of yours, what's he like?" Neptune asked once Raven had finished her candy and thrown the wrapper into a can they passed by.
"He's not a 'friend', just a guy we happen to know. As for what he's like, if you've seen one small time gang boss you've seen them all. I'll give him this though, he's more pragmatic than most of his contemporaries; if he can get through the day with a few more Lien and no bloodshed then it's a good day for him, or at least that's how I read him."
"Sounds like a… great guy." The pair rounded a corner and approached a particularly large building with a techno beat echoing faintly from it, only barely covering up the occasional engine of vehicles on the nearby street. "Is that the place?"
"Yup, that's his club." Raven stopped and turned to Neptune as he stopped next to her and crossed her arms. "Now listen up Ransom, here's how this is going to work. We're going to go in there, I'm going to do all the talking, and you're not going to open your goddamn mouth. If things go smoothly we'll get our info from Junior and leave with no fuss from anyone."
"And if it doesn't go smoothly?"
"A fight will probably start, we'll hurt or kill a bunch of his men, break Junior's legs, steal the data from his computer, and then set the club on fire leaving him and his men to die." Neptune's wide eye shock contrasted well with Raven's deadpan stare, until she smirked and started laughing and smacked Neptune's arm. "I'm just kidding… mostly. We trashed this place and wrecked Junior's shit pretty well the last time we were here, so if he's smart and recognizes me he won't want to start anything. Like I said, Junior's pragmatic."
"Heh, you really got me there," Neptune said and laughed nervously before swallowing and pointing at the club. "So uh… wanna get started?"
"The sooner the better. And remember, zip it." Neptune gave a thumbs up and started following Raven for about two steps before the loud roar of an engine filled the air and they looked back in time to see a yellow motorcycle round the corner and zoom up to them. It stopped a few feet past them in a stoppie and turned around completely to face them. The rider turned the bike off and leaned forward to get a better look at them, Neptune focusing more on her somewhat classy tan and black outfit while Raven saw her long blonde hair and immediately knew who it was.
"Hey cutie," Yang said with a large grin, "you're looking good tonight."
"Same to you," Neptune said pointing and flashing a smile at Yang.
"I wasn't talking to you."
"They never are," Neptune said without even flinching at the tinge of annoyance in her voice, simply sighing and shaking his head.
"The hell are you doing here?" Raven asked, crossing her arms as Yang got off the bike and took off her helmet and sunglasses, setting both on the bike before leaning against it.
"What, a girl can't go clubbing if she wants to? A friend of mine gave this one rave reviews, so here I am. But enough about the club, you're looking great in that dress Rae-Rae. You should wear yellow more often."
"Shut up. Get out. Don't ever call me that again," Raven said narrowing her eyes and putting a hand on her sheath, her irritation only growing as Yang's grin widened.
"Why should I Rae-Rae? You gonna string someone up? I love doing that too! I'll join you."
"NO!"
"Why not let her come along?" Neptune said leaning between the girls.
"Shut up Ransom, you're not part of this."
"Uh, yes I am!" Neptune shifted to stand up straight and pointed at the club. "We're about to walk into a club that, by your own admission, is filled with gangsters! She can fight too, so why not have her along?"
"Because she pisses me off."
"I'm not leaving either way Rae-Rae." Raven glared at Yang and then at Neptune for a moment before she shook her head and sighed as she turned around.
"Just both of you shut the fuck up and let me do my thing," she said as she walked toward the club. Neptune and Yang shared a look, the latter shrugging, and they both followed after Raven at a slow pace. The techno music grew louder the closer they got to the door and stopped at it when Raven tried to open the door only to find it was locked. "Oh you're joking me," she muttered and pounded on the door, the wood echoing loudly from the force, and a small slit in the door opened slightly.
"The club is closed for renovations, sorry for the inconvenience," a man with a deep voice said on the other side.
"Well good thing I'm not here for the club. I want to talk to Junior," Raven said, crossing her arms.
"And where did you hear that-oh shit!" " The man started to say as he opened the slit more to look outside and stumbled a little when he saw Raven. He looked behind him and back at Raven, who couldn't help but smirk at the horror on his face and absolutely sure his eyes were wide under his red sunglasses. He then said mechanically, "There is no Junior here, you should go away," and shut the slit. Raven chuckled as heavy footsteps echoed behind it and looked back at her companions.
"Ha, that's cute. They remember me and they think a door will stop me." Raven unsheathed her sword and slashed it across the door before giving a kick to the lower half to send it flying inside. She twirled her sword lightly before ducking under the remains of the door to go inside, growling lightly as she did.
"Oh, she's violent," Yang said shifting a little on her feet, "I like that!"
"That's too much for me," Neptune said putting his hands in his pockets, "I don't like crazy girls."
"I do. I love it when they fight back." Yang giggled as she followed Raven into the club with Neptune right behind her. They had to jog to catch up with Raven while a couple of Junior's men ran ahead of them to a thick metal door, the techno music getting louder for the split second it opened.
"Oh shit! She's coming, close the door!" one of them shouted as they did that just as Raven got to the door.
"Dammit!" Raven cursed and punched the door, "the main club is right there! If we take the long way Junior would probably be gone by the time we-"
"Please, allow me," Yang interrupted as she pulled Raven away from the door. "In times like this, you just have to know the universal secret knock," she added with a wink to Raven as she interlocked her fingers and cracked them. Then she unfolded Ember Celica and took a step toward the door and, with a long wind up, punched the seams of the doors with an explosion of flame. Then she stuck her hands into the newly formed hole and pried them open before backing away before bowing slightly to Raven and motioning with her arm. "After you, milady."
"Shut it." Yang only grinned wider as Raven walked through the smoke into the club and followed after her into the smoke and stuttering music. By this point everyone in the club was mobilizing and rushing to the entrance with Junior's twin bodyguards, though they all slowed and stopped when they saw Raven. "Try something, I dare you," Raven said to them, getting glares in return, and looked at the crowd of suits as they trained an array of pistols at her and Yang.
"So… these are your friends?" Neptune asked, leaning around Raven at the many guns.
"Not my friends, remember? And will someone turn off that damn music!" Raven's demand was met quickly by the bear headed DJ, who just as quickly slunk back under his turntable. "Thank you. Junior, get your ass out here now or there will be blood on your dance floor!" Raven then pointed her sword at a man in the crowd, "Starting with you because your mustache pisses me off!"
The man backed up nervously until a gruff voice shouted, "Everyone calm down! Nobody shoot." The owner of the voice, a 6 foot mountain of a man in a business suit missing only the jacket, pushed through the crowd and stopped short when he saw Raven and nervously rubbed his neck. "Ah hell, that's what that was. Why are you here?"
"To ask you some questions," Raven answered and moved to point her sword just under his chin, causing him to gulp, "and for the trouble you put me through getting in here, you can add a free drink to that. Move, Xiong." Junior sighed and waved at his men to lower their guns.
"All of you get back to work, I'll handle this," he said and waited for his men to start walking away to different parts of the club before looking back at Raven. "We'll talk at the bar. And put the music back on! Something quiet!" Junior turned to walk down the steps to the club's dance floor while Raven took a moment to sheathe her sword before following with a giggling Yang right behind her.
"Ok, that was cool. Still really scary and not worth it though," Neptune said to himself before looking at the red and white clad twins near him and waved. "Sup?"
"We don't talk to trash," the one in white said.
"Or ransoms waiting to happen. Let's go Melanie," the red one added before turning to walk down the stairs.
"After you Miltia." Neptune stared at the twins in shock and clenched a fist in momentary anger before shaking his head and following.
'Just stop for tonight Neptune, you're not helping,' he thought and ran a hand through his hair, 'my hair's not that bad!' By now the DJ had gotten some music going again, a soft beat that echoed through the club, and Junior moved behind the bar while Raven sat on one of the bar stools with Yang standing next to her. Melanie and Miltia stood off to the side to keep an eye on the proceedings. Junior leaned against the bar in front of Raven, his face schooled into a controlled, neutral expression.
"So, what are you here for?" Junior asked.
"Mistralian ale, no ice, in a clean glass," Raven said and checked her fingernails, which earned a groan from Junior as he pushed off the bar and walked to a set of bottles behind him.
"And I'll have a-" Yang started to say.
"Don't give her anything that's alcoholic," Raven interrupted.
"WHAT!? Why not? I-" Yang stopped when Raven put a finger on her lips and smirked.
"The best part about being an upperclassman is telling you all what to do. And I just decided the hardest thing you'll be having here is milk." Yang scowled at Raven while the twins laughed behind her.
"Fine, I'll just have water," she said after a moment with a roll of her eyes and a shrug before looking behind her and pointing at the twins, "and one of you can get it for me." The twins stopped laughing and met Yang's gaze for a moment before Melanie rolled her eyes and got up with a small 'Whatever,' before going back behind the bar.
"Here," Junior said as he returned with two glasses. He set one in front of Raven before taking a drink from his own. Raven sloshed her drink around for a moment as Junior finished and gestured at her with his glass. "So why are you really here?"
"I want to know everything you know about Roman Torchwick and what he's been doing lately," Raven answered and took the smallest sip of her drink.
"Ugh, Torchwick."
"Pain in the ass," Miltia commented shaking her head.
"No love lost I take it?" Yang asked as Melanie set her glass of water on the bar in front of her.
"Something like that," Junior said shaking his head, "Business with him was good while it lasted, but… well, let's just say that I'm glad to be rid of him."
"Funny, you seemed pretty buddy buddy the last time I was here," Raven said looking down into her glass, "No honor among thieves, am I right?"
"You rock the boat, you get tossed off," Melanie said crossing her arms, "and Torchwick has been doing a lot of rocking lately."
"I couldn't have put it better myself," Junior agreed and took another drink.
"So you wouldn't mind telling me what he's been up to then?"
"If I knew what he was doing, which I don't."
"Bullshit!" Raven shouted and pounded a fist on the bar, though it didn't have the effect she wanted as Junior finished his drink in one gulp and slammed the glass on the bar while massaging his forehead.
"You can threaten me all you want, it won't change anything. I can't tell you what I don't know!"
"But you're supposed to 'know everything' right?"
"Guess what, even I have limits! I haven't seen or spoken to him in months!"
"Ah, but you have talked to him." Both Raven and Junior ignored Yang's teasing 'ooh' as the latter rubbed his eyes. "So, what did you talk about?"
"Business. He had a job to do and needed some extra muscle. He paid up front, took some of my men, and they never came back."
"So what happened to them?" Neptune asked, finally making his presence known and only got blank looks from everyone.
"…The fuck kind of dumbass question is that?" Miltia asked.
"They never came back," Melanie finished.
"Where did you get this guy?" Junior asked, pointing at him.
"Who knows? 5000 Lien and you can have him for whatever you want," Raven offered.
"No deal. I don't take loss investments."
"Screw you!" Neptune protested with wide arms, "I'm easily worth twice that amount!"
"Barely," Yang said with a smile.
"…You all suck."
"So that was a couple months ago. What about the last time? What was he here for then?" Raven asked, taking another drink.
"Same thing: hired my boys and paid up front for it. That time they actually did come back with some Lien, Lien I never got to see thanks to you guys trashing my club."
"Glad to be an inconvenience to you. What was the job?"
"I didn't ask both times he came here. I still haven't heard from any of my boys that went the second time. Probably arrested or offed by Torchwick for incompetence, WHICH I CAN UNDERSTAND!" The shout somehow managed to echo through the club and Raven shook her head at the shallow attempt of power.
"So you really don't know anything about what Torchwick is doing or planning?"
"I told you everything I know, and to be perfectly honest I don't want or care to know what he's doing. He may be the biggest fish in the Vale pond right now, but getting mixed up in the White Fang is bad for business. That is one lot I want nothing to do with."
"Crazy cultists," Melanie said.
"Moronic terrorists," Miltia added.
'And for once, I agree,' Raven said and downed the rest of her glass in one gulp and slammed it down in front of Junior. "We're done here, but if I get even the slightest hint that you lied to me about this, I'll be back. Let's go Ransom." Raven hopped off the stool and adjusted both her dress and sword as she walked away with Neptune shuffling after her with his hands in his pockets. Yang pushed away from the bar and snapped her fingers at Junior, leaving her untouched glass of water behind as she jogged after Raven.
"So did we get what we needed?" Neptune asked.
"Depends. That second job has to be the robbery that Summer stopped at the beginning of the school year. Whether everything else he said will be useful will depend on what the others find."
"Ooh, conspiracies! Mind letting me in on this?" Yang asked.
"No, and you're heading back to Beacon now."
"Uh huh, we'll see about that. I actually like this club, I think I'll come back sometime." 'Maybe spill some actual blood. Either way it looks like Ruby was on point about this. I wonder what these 'others' are doing?'
"So… is it always like this?" Sun asked as he gestured at Qrow wrapping up a scuffle with another too big for their britches mugger.
"Unfortunately yes," Velvet said with a sigh, "we even had a pool about this last year. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the dock thing was the one time that this didn't happen with any of them."
"Well that got made up for in the end didn't it." Sun and Velvet quietly watched as Qrow dragged the unconscious mugger by his leg to a nearby manhole. "So who won that pool?"
"Still ongoing." Qrow lifted the manhole and dumped the thug into it before letting it fall back into place and rejoining Velvet and Sun. "You done playing with your friend?"
"Yes, and thank you so much for helping," Qrow said dripping with sarcasm.
"You were handling yourself pretty well," Sun said, which got an eye roll from Qrow before Velvet snapped her fingers between the two to get their attention.
"If we can guys, can we get this show on the road?" She asked and started to walk away, "We'll miss the meeting if we dally any longer." The boys shared a look and followed her as she walked down the streets. The meeting place Velvet managed to pick up was in a familiar place for Qrow: the warehouse storage district that Summer and Taiyang had checked out not that long ago. Qrow massaged and rolled a shoulder as a prickly feeling stung at the memory. That went away when Qrow's scroll beeped and he pulled it out to check his messages.
"Ok, Summer and Tai are in town now. Sum is following a lead of her own and Tai is on standby," Qrow said and put his scroll away.
"What lead is she following?" Velvet asked.
"Hell if I know, she didn't say. Just 'a lead'."
"Interesting. Well, if it helps it helps right? With Tai and my team we shouldn't have too much trouble if we need backup right?"
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
"Speaking of, what's the plan again?" Sun asked as the group took a corner to a grouping of warehouses.
"We'll be going into the meeting as 'new recruits' to scope things out there," Velvet answered and glanced at Qrow, "but you can't really do that can you? Um…"
"I'll find my own way in," Qrow responded and waved a hand in the air, "and it's probably for the best that I don't stick too close to you in any case."
"What does that mean?" Sun asked.
"Don't bother," Velvet answered waving a hand in the air, "it's some weird superstition that they have. I've learned to just roll with it by now." Sun noticed the look that Qrow shot Velvet but didn't say anything about it, instead stretching his arms over his head with a yawn.
"Well whatever, this is going to be good!" Sun chuckled and punched his palm, "I can't wait to lay the smack down on those-"
"Shh!" The boys stopped when Velvet shushed them and she pointed at a nearby wall. She took a step closer and ran three fingers along a claw marking made of chalk. She rubbed her fingers together and took a step to look around the corner to see a group of Faunus at the door of a warehouse, one a door guard of some kind, and gave them two masks before letting them in. "Found it. This is where we part ways Qrow."
"I'll see you inside," Qrow said with a nod and took off jogging in the opposite direction, stopping for a second to look back at Velvet lifting her hood over her head and Sun buttoning up his shirt before turning the corner and jumping up to the roof. He carefully walked up to see the warehouse he needed to get into and rubbed his chin in thought as Velvet and Sun made their way to the entrance. "I say that, but what am I going to do? Front door is out, so…" Qrow muttered as his eyes drifted up to the ventilation system on the roof and shrugged, "that'll do."
Qrow moved out of sight, transformed, and took flight. He passed over the opening in the warehouses long enough to see Velvet and Sun get in without a hitch and landed next to one of the vents. He tilted his head at the grate and transformed back to link his fingers through the grate and attempt to pull it off, succeeding with barely any effort. "Gotta love cheap ass architecture," Qrow muttered with a small laugh and set the grate aside. He leaned down to get a better look into the vent, far too small for him to get through at the moment, and transformed so he could walk through it. The soft patter of the metal under his talons along with the chill of the ventilation made Qrow ruffle his feathers a little.
"I don't get it." Qrow looked down at the sound of Sun's voice and saw him and Velvet through a grate, the former holding up a gray mask. "If you think what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"
"It's supposed to be symbolic or something," Velvet answered holding up her own mask, "Something like, 'Humanity labeled us as monsters so we take the guise of monsters' or some other garbage. In truth, they're all cowards who don't want their faces plastered all over the internet. Some of them do have day jobs after all." Velvet said that last bit with a bit more melancholy than needed and rubbed her thumb against the mask.
"I get that, but isn't this a bit twisted? I mean… Grimm masks?"
"From what I understand the guy who started it was the same way. A real psycho." Velvet took off her glasses and put the mask on before stashing the glasses in a pocket and walking down the hallway.
"Why does everyone have to make vague, ominous statements?" Sun wondered aloud before putting on his own mask and following Velvet.
'Tell me about it,' Qrow agreed and continued on his own walk through the vent. He soon came at an intersection with one brance blocked off by a grate and another by a lazily rotating fan. Qrow went down the one free path and soon found himself at another grate overlooking the main warehouse floor. Inside, just as Velvet predicted, was a whole host of White Fang soldiers all dolled up in their uniforms, most on the ground floor while a few were on the catwalks. To the right side was a crowd of Faunus out of uniform that Velvet and Sun were making their way through. At the far back in front of a red tapestry with the White Fang sigil was a muscular White Fang soldier.
"Thank you all for coming, both new and old," he said loud enough for his voice to echo through the room, "while Brother Adam was expected to join us tonight, business elsewhere requires his attention."
"Who's Adam?" Sun whispered to Velvet next to him.
"Probably some big name in the Fang," Velvet responded with a small shake of her head, "but if he's not here, he's not a problem. He's probably nothing to worry about in any case anyway."
"Tonight however, we have another to see you. A comrade of the cause and important business partner," the man continued as he made grandiose gestures. From behind the tapestry came none other than Roman Torchwick, who's presence almost immediately caused an uproar among the crowd that he ate up.
'Well look who it is, the man of the month himself,' Qrow thought as Roman waved his arms and thanked the crowd as if he wasn't one bad word away from getting lynched. Qrow tilted his head to get a look at the grate separating him from the room and grabbed it in his beak before he started to work it out of place.
"Thank you, thank you, quite the lovely audience we have tonight!" Roman finished in a tone that would have made Qrow roll his eyes if he could as the crowd continued to protest.
"What's a human doing here!?" A Faunus woman with deer antlers shouted.
"Glad you asked Deery!" Roman said as the roar of the crowd only grew louder. When it didn't die down after a moment Roman dropped the false cheer and looked at the muscular soldier who rolled his neck.
"SHUT UP!" He yelled and stomped his foot, both loud enough to silence the dissent of the crowd with the closest ones recoiling away from him. Once they were silent he nodded at Roman and crossed his arms.
"Good that you know when to follow orders and quiet down. If you hadn't, I'd have to kill one of you to set an example. You specifically." Roman said and pointed at a soldier with a duck bill, who opened her arms in offense. "And on that note, it really goes to show just how bad Humans can be! But despite that I still feel there's a… 'kinship' I guess with all of you. I'm not the one who put you in this situation you're all in. The organizations responsible for laws are."
"So is he going somewhere with this, or is he just monologuing?" Sun asked in a whisper as Roman continued.
"Raven was right, these people just love the sound of their voices," Velvet said with a shake of her head.
"Tell me about it." Sun and Velvet turned to look at a Faunus next to them idly scratching at some skin in the middle of being shed. He looked at them and flinched under their stares. "What?"
"Butt out of our conversation!" Sun replied, shaking his fist a little at him.
"But I was just-!"
"Butt out!"
"…Fine, whatever."
"The police, the military, even the schools. They are all responsible for the lot in life you've all been forced into!" That bit managed to get some applause from the crowd which Roman let go long enough to rest his cane in the crook of his elbow and light up a cigar. He took a drag as the applause died down enough for him to continue. "Now you're all here for the same reason I am: underdogs like cheering on other underdogs. Having said that, let me do more than just 'cheer you on'."
Roman snapped his fingers and Neo appeared from behind the tapestry and, along with the muscular lieutenant, ripped the tapestry off where it was tied up on the rafters to reveal a blocky, gunmetal gray mech about four meters tall that got a roar out of the crowd. Velvet had to jump a little to get a better look at the mech and barely saw the red insignia on the side.
"That is a big robot," Sun commented.
"I've never seen anything like that! Where did he get it?" Velvet asked, her wide eyes barely visible through the mask.
"This beauty," Roman called over the crowd and tapped the mech's leg with his cane, "is the latest prototype battle mech from the Kingdom of Atlas, and thanks to my connections I was able to snag a few off the assembly line. Now some of you may have heard rumblings of a new operation in the southeast, which is still getting set up and where this baby will be going.
"Now, if you want to stay here in the city and cause whatever havoc you can here, then go right ahead. But if you really want to get back at the people you hate so much, then this one mech is just a taste of what I can give you. The rest… is at our new joint."
'Thanks for blabbing your whole plan like a moron,' Qrow thought as he pushed against the grate and was rewarded with a small tear of metal that was covered up by the crowd cheering and let it go to leave it hanging from a hinge. 'Bingo!' he thought as he flew out of the vent and onto the rafters.
"What was that?" one of the guards on overwatch asked looking up.
"It was just a bird. Relax ok?" another replied shaking her head at him.
"But how did it get in?"
"Are you seriously asking that? Idiot." Qrow once again lamented the fact he couldn't roll his eyes like this as the crowd died down again.
"Will all new recruits please step forward!" the lieutenant called out and the crowd of recruits started to move forward, save for Sun and Velvet.
"This is bad, we have to leave," Velvet said as Faunus pushed past her.
"But wouldn't leaving the way we came in be a little suspicious?" Sun asked and took a step back regardless.
"Well yeah, but what else can we do?" Velvet looked around a bit more before looking at Roman, who had moved over to Neo and started scanning the crowd before landing on Velvet with wide eyes.
"He sees us, and I think he remembers us," Sun said nervously as Roman scowled and threw his cigar away.
"Yup."
'Ah hell. Guess I better bail them out,' Qrow thought as he looked around until he saw a power box on the wall and then at a soldier casually leaning against a railing and took off toward him. 'You'll do.'
"Hey, you two!" Roman yelled out only to be immediately drowned out by another yell.
"What the fu- AAAAAH!" Roman looked up in time to see a soldier flying toward him. They both crashed to the ground and caused a small panic to spread through the crowd.
"Sorry boys," Qrow shouted as he hopped onto the railing and aimed Harbinger at the power box, "it's lights out!" He fired and the lights went out and chaos exploded in the dark.
"What's going on!?"
"How'd a Human get in?"
"Go for the windows!"
"Stop them!"
A window was shattered by Qrow who tumbled outside followed by Velvet and Sun. The two Faunus threw their masks away as they took off running away from the warehouse. "Well that could have gone better!" Qrow shouted and sheathed his weapon behind him.
"No kidding! Just run!" Velvet shouted back.
"Well at least we got away scot-free right?" Sun asked in time for the wall of the warehouse to break apart as the mech ran out and after them. "Oh fuck off!"
"Of course that happens!" Qrow shouted and drew his weapon again, "you two go ahead and call backup, I'll hold him off."
"Are you sure?" Sun asked.
"Just run!" Velvet shouted and dodged Qrow as he turned around and dashed toward the mech. She leapt onto a nearby rooftop with Sun and looked back long enough to see Qrow's attack get blocked easily by the mech and get slapped away down an alley. "Saw that coming," Velvet said with a roll of her eyes as the mech continued chasing them. They saw a chance to jump onto the rooftops with the mech chasing from the streets. Velvet shook her head at that and pulled out her Scroll and shouted, "Call Summer's team, I'll call mine!"
"R-right, on it!" Sun returned as he took out his own scroll.
In a not so nearby arcade, the rest of Team CFVY were crowded around a crane game with Fox tapping a finger on his arm as he stood in front of it.
"I was nowhere close was I?" Fox asked telepathically.
"Eh, you were close," Coco said gently.
"It slipped out of the claw," Yatsuhashi added.
"Damn. Alright, I got a good feeling this time. I can get it." Fox rolled a shoulder and started feeling for the coin slot of the crane game again.
"As fun as this is, I'm starting to get worried about Velvet."
"Don't worry Yats, I'm sure she'll call-" Coco's sentence was cut off by her Scroll's ringtone. She took it out, flicked it open, and quirked an eyebrow at the picture of Velvet. "And look who it is. Good timing." She answered the call and turned the speaker on. "You're on speaker Vel."
"That's great, but I'm kind of in a situation right now. I need some-"
"HEEEEEEEEEEELP!" Coco and Yatsuhashi flinched at Sun's sudden scream, though Fox only sighed from where he was crouched.
"I was so close too."
"We got made at that rally and now we're being chased by a robot or something! It's really big! Qrow tried to fight it and got slapped! I think he's ok though."
"Of course you did," Taiyang answered through the scroll, "Well, no helping that now I guess. I'll wait on your mark Rae."
"Goddammit, I can't even have a smoke without shit going down," Summer complained as she turned on an app to track Sun's scroll and took one last drag of her cigarette before stubbing it out in the ashtray. She breathed out a stream of smoke and rushed out of the smoking room to follow Sun's signal. 'Nice while it lasted though. Back to work.'
"That Torchwick guy is in it I think! But… not like it ate him or anything. It's like he's controlling it or something!"
Raven rolled her eyes at that and said, "Yeah jackass, that's what piloting a mech is." She looked over at Neptune and Yang, the former worried and the latter sat on her motorcycle smirking as she put her scroll away. "Where are you guys going?"
"We're going to try and get on the highway, but this dude is right on our tail! We're at exit 72 going… East?"
"WEST!" Velvet's voice screamed from the scroll.
"West, right, I meant that!"
"That's all I need. Don't die before I get there." Raven snapped her scroll shut and put it away in a pouch on her scabbard.
Yang put away her scroll and asked, "So what's the plan now?" and got a finger in her face for her trouble.
"You go back to Beacon!" Raven said and pointed at Neptune, "and you do whatever. Just stay out of my way!" Raven then ran past them across the street and into an alley where she disappeared behind a building.
"What?" Neptune asked aloud holding his arms out, "Sun's in trouble and she wants me to just leave? Screw that!"
"Agreed," Yang said as she strapped her helmet on and tapped the seat behind her, "hop on and buckle up!"
"But it's… oh whatever!" Neptune lowered his goggles and got on the motorcycle. He barely got his grip on the seat when Yang gunned the motorcycle and took off down the street in a brief wheelie. They were long gone by the time a raven flew over the buildings and toward the highway. It wasn't far enough to be a lengthy flight and she was over the highway without too much effort. Soon she picked out the distant caws of a crow and angled her flight over to fly alongside it.
"Hello brother," Raven said once she settled next to Qrow, her voice filled with amusement, "slapped by a mech huh?"
"Not. A. Word," Qrow growled out.
"I'll tease you later then. You see where the idiots went?"
"They were still on the streets when I lost them. They should show up again soon." The pair dove down and spotted Velvet and Sun as they jumped onto a pair of cars as they drove down the highway. Not long after the Paladin jumped up as well and gave chase, forcing the birds to ascend to stay out of sight of both of them.
"Shit, I was expecting one of those stupid AKs! Did you get a good read on it when you got slapped?"
"Ha ha, and no I didn't. It's Atlas made though, so it's probably both tough and heavily armed. We'll need to force it off the highway before taking it down!"
"Good luck with that."
Down on the highway Sun and Velvet were hopping from car to car to stay ahead of the Paladin, not that it cared for those cars as it either knocked them out of the way or just plowed into them like a bunch of toys. They settled on a box truck and Velvet took out her camera and started scrolling through her pictures while Sun scowled at the mech.
"Oh come on, what did we do to piss him off so much!?" Sun shouted.
"I don't know, why don't you go ask him and stall for time?" Velvet asked sarcastically before settling on a picture and putting her camera away.
"Yeah, not gonna happen. I have a fear of becoming roadkill."
Not far behind them was Yang and Neptune quickly gaining on the chase, dodging between cars that had both escaped the mech's wrath and the ones that hadn't. Once they had settled more or less in a straight line Neptune patted Yang's back. "If you can hold it steady I can get some shots off," he yelled over the wind.
"Sure, go ahead," Yang shouted back and added as Neptune started reaching for his weapon, "but don't singe my hair. You do, and your face will meet the pavement." Neptune swallowed nervously and drew his rifle, the weapon unfolding and humming as it charged up, and fired a shot at the Paladin. It hit squarely in the back and a couple bolts of electricity jumped across the surface, though other than that it seemed to do little other than make it jerk forward. The Paladin picked up speed and slammed a fist into the back end of a car, causing it to spin out and into the bike's path.
"Get ready to jump!" Yang said and ignored Neptune's scared 'What!?' as she gunned it for the car and popped a wheelie just before hitting it, launching off the hood of the car into the air. With barely any time to think, Neptune unfolded his rifle into its full form and jumped off the bike toward the Paladin. Yang landed and watched as Neptune stabbed his glaive into the Paladin, electricity arcing off the tip and onto the metal of the mech. Though attempting to overload the systems of the mech did little more than make the HUD inside the cockpit flicker, it was enough to distract Roman from Velvet and Sun while Neptune held on for dear life.
"Eh, no better time than now to try this," Velvet muttered and made a hand motion to materialize a set of hard-light swords hanging behind her. When they were finished forming she looked back at Sun. "Cover me! If we can get him out of that we can end this quickly!"
"Right," Sun nodded before shouting, "Hold on buddy, we're coming for you!"
"Take your time!" Neptune called back while trying his best not to get thrown off the mech. Sun took a breath and clasped his hands together as he let off a yellow glow, followed by two yellow clones running away from him and past Velvet. She waited for the first one to jump off the truck before taking her own running jump. The clones kicked the Paladin and disappeared in yellow flashes before Velvet landed and stabbed the replica swords into the mech, one going a little too close to Neptune for his liking. "Hey watch it!"
"Quit whining!" Velvet shouted and made a gesture to withdraw the swords. She grabbed one of them out of the air and stabbed it into the body of the Paladin, the very tip of which actually made it into the cockpit.
"Ok, too close for comfort," Roman muttered to himself and pressed a few buttons, "let's take care of that." When he hit the last button the top of the Paladin started spinning around quickly just as Sun leapt toward it. The rotation caused Neptune to crash into Sun and dislodge from the mech. In the few moments they were in the air Sun flailed his hand and grabbed Velvet's hood, who felt the tug just a moment before she was flying along with them through the air screaming. The swords disappeared as they went sailing off the highway and Yang let out a soft sigh along with the two birds above the highway.
"Dumbasses. I hope the girls are in place," Yang muttered and focused on the Paladin.
"Figures. Well, they tried their best I guess." Qrow said.
"Too bad it wasn't good enough," Raven added, shaking her head, "but whatever, we'll finish the job. At the very least Yang is keeping him moving, so we just need to-"
"Wait, what's that?"
"He's coming your way. Hope you girls are ready."
"Ready!"
"Ready. On your go Weiss."
Weiss took a deep breath, tightened her grip on her rapier, and once again cursed Ruby in her mind. It had been a little jarring when she was suddenly told to get changed and armed before heading to Vale. Only now is she realizing why. Nevertheless, when she was done with her breathing, she flipped off the overpass she was on onto the highway and drew her weapon. Cars sped past her as she stared down the… surprisingly big mech charging at her. Much bigger than she thought.
'Calm down Weiss, you can do this. Get your Dust ready.' The last car sped past her as her weapon's Dust cylinder clicked into place. 'Wait for the right moment.' The only thing in front of her now was the mech. 'And strike!' Weiss did a spin and stabbed into the ground and a sheet of ice spread across the surface of the road the moment the mech reached her. It slipped on the ice and went sliding past her down the road and off the highway. Weiss switched to Fire Dust and melted the ice before it could cause an unwanted accident. Once the ice was gone she stood up and saw Yang coming at her with her arm held out and instinctively held out her own that was caught by Yang and swung onto the bike.
"Nice work Ice Queen, handled like a pro!" Yang shouted as they followed after the mech as it crashed off the highway.
"Don't call me that!" Weiss yelled back just as they came to a stop next to the break in the highway. Weiss hopped off while Yang turned off the bike and ran after her, the two of them jumping off a second after the two shadowy blurs of their teammates and landing at the bottom in front of the mech as it started getting back up.
"Now that wasn't very nice!" Roman's voice echoed out through the speaker and turned to look at the girls, his eyes narrowing when he saw Ruby and Yang. "Them again? Why are…?" he muttered to himself and shook his head, "No, it doesn't matter. 'Don't break cover' and all that." Roman barely took a step toward them when he lurched down suddenly and heard metal tearing into metal. Qrow flipped down in front of him and fired a few shots as Roman checked the top camera in time to see Raven fall and stab the camera out. She dragged the sword across the top to leave gouge in the robot before jumping off to join Qrow.
She had barely landed when she quickly slashed her sword on either side of her, which each opened a portal. Summer and Taiyang leapt out and stumbled a little on seeing the Paladin, though they quickly regained their footing. "A Paladin? What is that doing here?"
"That was so cool!" Ruby shouted and pointed at Summer, even when she turned to look at them and narrowed her eyes at them.
"And what the fuck are you doing here!?"
"Focus!" Qrow shouted and snapped Harbinger shut and held it in front of him. Summer growled and shook her head before pointing at RWBY.
"I'll kick all your asses later," she said, drew York and Soleil, and lowered into a combat stance with everyone else doing the same.
"Well hello there Squirt!" Roman said jovially, which got an eye roll from Summer, "We really have got to stop meeting like this."
"I couldn't agree more," Summer muttered as she glanced at RWBY and gestured at them, "Can you do your fog thing?"
"Fog… thing?" Weiss asked tilting her head.
"Oh," Yang perked up and pointed a finger between her and Weiss, "our thing."
"Oh. Yeah, we can do that," Weiss answered with a nod only to be met with a blank stare from Summer.
"THEN DO IT!" she finally shouted after a few seconds.
"Oh! You were- ok."
"Alright, I've waited enough. Now it's time to-" Roman stopped when Yang jumped into the air and Weiss created a large sheet of ice while the others quickly scattered around the field. "Wha..?" Then Yang shot down and punched the ice, almost instantly filling the area with a thick fog. "Of course. Well, no big deal, that's what infrared is for." Roman flipped a switch to activate an array of sensors along the outside of the Paladin as he started slowly walking through the fog.
"We have to take out its sensors and reduce its mobility."
"We can do that."
Roman looked carefully around the fog, the sensors sometimes picking up someone in the fog before they disappeared.
"Any weapons it has would be a huge problem."
"Leave that to us!"
"Stop touching me."
Roman stopped and looked around carefully, taking the time to arm some of the weapons before the fight started proper.
"What about the asshole in the mech?"
"Let's worry about immediate threats first. Roman will fall easily enough. Now get to it."
"Got it boss."
On a whim, Roman charged the Paladin's laser cannons and fired it along the ground in front of him. The blasts split the fog in front of him in time for a flash of red to shoot toward him. With a shout Ruby smashed into the Paladin scythe first and landed two follow-up slashes that did little more than scratch the armor. She brought her scythe up in time to block a punch from the mech that sent her flying back before landing and skidding on her feet.
"Checkmate!" Ruby shouted and moved slightly so Weiss and Blake could easily dart past her before running to the side. Blake reached it first and started slashing at one of the legs while Weiss focused on the other, the two's sustained attack managing to push the mech back enough for Weiss to leap and stab out one of the camera's on the mech. Weiss then created a glyph and jumped off it away from the mech while Blake dashed backwards and started backflipping as the Paladin tried to shoot after her.
The mech lurched suddenly to the side, causing one of the cannons to go askew enough to land a lucky hit on Weiss that sent her flying, and Roman checked a camera in time to see Qrow take his sword out of a leg's hydraulics and Taiyang to punch the camera out. Roman rolled his eyes and flicked a switch that dropped a bomb at the mech's feet, forcing the boys into a quick retreat that was assisted by Ruby grabbing the both of them in a storm of rose petals before the bomb blew up.
With that taken care of Roman turned his attention back to Blake, who had just settled back on her feet, and pressed a button to fire every missile he had at her. He barely saw Weiss fire a beam at Blake before she hit the ground that formed a glyph at her feet and activated. In a flash of light the world slowed for Blake and she glanced around to see everything was moving much slower, especially the missiles coming at her.
'Time Dilation? Interesting.' She readjusted her grip on Gambol Shroud and leapt to the missiles, cleanly cutting through one before kicking off a second to gain some air. She repeated the process several times, slicing through and jumping on missiles as she went until there was only one left. She sheathed Gambol Shroud, grabbed the missile, and threw it down at the Paladin before she continued flipping over it and landed as the dilation glyph wore off.
All the missiles detonated right after, most in the air while others spun out of control into the ground, and the last one hit the Paladin dead on causing the armor to buckle a little and Roman to shout in anger from inside.
"Black Rose: Plant edition!" Summer shouted from somewhere.
"Blake, springboard!" Ruby called right after. Blake looked up in time to see Raven running at her, her posture low, her eyes focused, and her hand on her sheathed sword. Blake rolled onto her back and braced her feet for Raven to jump on and kicked her into the air. Raven drew her sword and slashed the air to open a portal and held her arm out for Summer to grab as she Blinked through it with York ablaze. They span in the air once and Summer threw Raven down at the Paladin, making sure to scrape York against the Plant blade to ignite it. Raven screamed as she flipped and landed on the Paladin, stabbing her sword into the joints of the left arm and disconnected the blade before flipping away.
Once Raven was clear Summer took aim at the blade and fired, breaking the blade and causing vines to shoot out from any crack it could. Summer charged a Blink and focused on the plants, glancing just enough to see Ruby charging as well, and Blinked downward as Ruby jumped. Sword and scythe met at the same time and cleanly sliced the arm off and Ruby landed and continued running as Summer landed and got knocked away by a stomp from the Paladin as it stumbled from the impact.
Roman managed to settle in time to see Taiyang jump up and land a Semblance enhanced kick to the body and flip out of the way of Yang as she latched onto the cockpit. She grinned madly at one of the cameras before punching it into pieces and continuing the assault at whatever she could, the echoes of Ember Celica's shots filling the air as he could. "I've had enough of ants crawling on me!" Roman shouted and changed his remaining arm into 'grab mode' and grabbed Yang off of him. The blonde started punching the fingers that held her as Roman spun the top of the mech around and open-palm slammed her into a nearby concrete pillar that crumbled under the force and buried Yang.
"Oh shit, she's fucking dead isn't she!?" Qrow shouted, panicking and dreading the shitstorm that awaited them when this news got back to Ozpin.
"No, she's alright." Qrow looked over at Ruby as she settled next to him with a knowing smirk. She gestured at the pile with her scythe as Yang miraculously dug herself out of the rubble, her arms shaking from how tightly she was clenching her fists. "That's her Semblance: if she can take a hit, it makes her stronger. And the stronger the hit…" Ruby paused as the Paladin reared its fist back and threw it at Yang, who held a hand up to catch it and barely moved under the force. Her hair caught fire and Yang looked up at the mech, her red eyes boring into the metal, and reared her free fist back to demolish the arm up to the elbow with one blow.
"The stronger she gets," Ruby finished and looked back at Qrow, taking secret glee at his baffled expression.
"…Neat," was his only response.
"That's what I thought."
"Corvidae!" Qrow perked up at Summer's voice and looked at her as she pointed at the Paladin, "The left leg!" Qrow nodded and unfolded Harbinger into its scythe form before charging at the Paladin, building speed into a sprint before jumping and firing behind him to launch into a spin. He reached the leg at the same time as his sister and they both cut into the leg at the same time, flying out of the way as the mech stumbled backward and tore the leg apart. Yang took the opportunity to launch forward and kick the remaining leg out from under it, sending the front crashing down in front of her. She yelled loudly as she grabbed the mech and hit it with a hard uppercut that shattered the entire front of the cockpit and sent its pilot screaming out of it surrounded by shrapnel.
Roman landed hard on the ground, but quickly got to his feet and started brushing off his coat. "I just got this cleaned too," he muttered and stuck a finger through a new hole, "and I need to get it mended too." Leaving that aside he looked up at the group moving to surround him and locked eyes with Yang on top of the remains of the Paladin as she reared an arm back and fired a shot at him. He didn't bother to block it as Neo dropped down in front of him and blocked it with her parasol. As the heat washed over them Neo moved to rest her parasol on her shoulders and Roman continued brushing himself off.
"I was wondering when you'd drop in Neo. Well kids, this has been a fun evening, but it's time to call it a night. Neo?" Roman barely finished the sentence before Summer aimed and fired at them, their images shattering like glass the instant the bullet hit them. Summer growled and lowered her weapon, shaking her head in irritation.
"I really hate that fucking Ice Cream chick," Summer muttered as she spun Soleil to turn it back into a dagger and sheathed it.
"Tell me about it," Qrow agreed, "Goddamn illusions."
"That could have been worse to be honest. At least the mech is taken care of," Taiyang said brushing his hands off.
"Could have been better too," Raven countered and sheathed her sword before looking at Team RWBY. "So what do we do about them?"
"That was so awesome!" Ruby cheered happily as she bounced between her teammates with her scythe kept away from them. "He never knew what hit him! Score one for Team RWBY!"
"Hell yeah! Screw that guy!" Yang cheered and held her fists over her head, "We can handle anything thrown at us!"
"It certainly was an experience," Weiss agreed and looked over Blake, "Are you ok Blake? That… may have been the first time I used Time Dilation after all."
"…I could have lived without knowing that, but I'm fine," Blake responded and sheathed Gambol Shroud and smiled at Weiss. She returned the smile and they both looked at STRQ as they approached and sheathed their weapons. Ruby looked at Summer and smiled as she bounded over to her.
"We work well together! Bet you're glad we showed up huh?" Ruby said and held a hand up for a high five. Summer looked at it and then back at Ruby, her face blank to a calculated degree, and started raising a hand. Ruby kept the smile up until she saw Summer ball her hand up into a fist, after which it changed into panic as the older girl brought the fist down on top of her head. "OW!" Ruby cried and dropped Crescent Rose as she stumbled back and crouched as she started massaging her head, "What was that for!?"
"WHAT DID I SAY!?" Summer shouted and looked at Weiss, Yang, and Blake in order as they flinched away from her, "What did I tell you all earlier about doing something stupid?"
"Well," Blake started and pressed her index fingers together, "if you'll remember, you were talking about us not eavesdropping on you. So technically-"
"Don't fucking bullshit me, you know exactly what I'm talking about!"
"Hey, what's the attitude for!?" Yang shouted and stomped a foot down, "You guys would have gotten mulched by that robot if it weren't for us!"
"We've handled worse," Raven said and crossed her arms, "and you're not off the hook with how you ended up at the club right when I got there."
"You what!?" Summer added and glared at Yang.
"Hey, that was coincidence," Yang defended while holding up a finger, "and had nothing to do with what happened here!"
"I've heard enough! You four think you're such hot shit and can 'handle' anything," Summer said, gesturing her air quotes, "well if that's true, then you can 'handle' getting your asses shipped back to Haven!"
"Wait," Ruby said and looked up at Summer with a look of panic that matched her teammates, "for real?"
"For. Real. This shit is not a game, no matter what you all may think! I'm talking to Ozpin about this the second I get back to Beacon. Speaking of, we need to go home."
"Wait, no," Weiss said and took a step back as she shook her head, "No, you can't do that!"
"Um, yes I can," Summer returned and pointed at herself and then Weiss, "Second year trumps first year. That's how the world works, deal with it." Summer started to walk away until she stopped when Weiss moved in front of her with her rapier drawn and pointed at Summer's face. Taiyang immediately lowered into a fighting stance while Qrow and Raven grabbed the handles of their weapons.
"I am not going back to that place because of you!" She screamed, her blue eyes boring into Summer's silver as she grit her teeth, "This is my ONE CHANCE and I won't have you ruin it!" Unimpressed, Summer simply grabbed the blade of the rapier and leaned just a little closer to Weiss, her Aura flickering at where the rapier would hit her neck.
"Try it Princess, I dare you."
"Stop it!" Blake shouted and moved in between the girls, pushing Weiss away from Summer, the latter letting go of the sword, before holding her hands up. "Can we all just calm down a little?" Weiss stared at her partner before she nodded and started taking deep breaths while Blake looked at Summer. "Look, I get where you're coming from, but what's done is done! I can't stop what happened but… oh, I'm so bad at this." Blake felt some small relief when Summer motioned at her teammates to stand down, which gave her some time to think. After a moment Blake put her hands together and took a breath.
"Being here… means so much more to us than you could possibly imagine. You're right that I can't stop you from reporting us, but still… I'm begging you not to! We'll do anything, we'll be good students, we won't get into trouble again, just please give us another chance!"
Summer crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and sighed as she thought it over. While she was thinking Qrow walked up to her, put his hand to her ear, and whispered, "Why don't you cut them some slack? I don't need to remind you about the trouble we get into on a regular basis, so we're not ones to talk about being model students." With that done Qrow backed away and Summer sighed and rubbed her eyes before looking at each member of RWBY in turn. After a moment she sighed again and pointed at each of them.
"You owe us big time for doing this. From now until the end of the Vytal Tournament, your asses are ours. You do what we say, when we say, no matter what. Got it?"
"Very reasonable," Blake said nodding at Summer's ultimatum and looked back at Weiss. The heiress nodded and sheathed her weapon while Yang nodded and grinned widely while giving double thumbs up. Ruby simply nodded as well from where she was crouched.
"Good. In any case, we all still need to get back to Beacon." Summer started walking again with her team falling into position behind her as she pulled out her scroll. "I better call Coco and let her know what happened."
"Well, that was close," Ruby said as she picked up Crescent Rose and folded it up to put away.
"Too close," Yang agreed as Blake and Weiss walked to inspect the Paladin. Once they were far enough away Yang moved closer to Ruby and whispered, "I almost forgot who we were dealing with. If they're as close to Ozpin as we think, they may have a bit more sway than normal students."
"That's true," Ruby whispered back and crossed her arms, "and they'll be keeping a closer eye on us more than ever. This may be a blessing in disguise though."
"Either way, it would probably be better to keep our heads down for now. Let Cinder and her chumps do some leg work for a change." Ruby nodded and Yang started walking away while Ruby turned to wave at Weiss and Blake.
"Hey, we're going back now! Hurry up or you'll be left behind!"
"Right, be there in a moment!" Weiss called back and moved to stand next to a very still Blake who was staring at the Paladin. "Blake? Are you ok?" she asked and started reaching to her before she looked at the mech and froze when she saw the telltale red insignia of the White Fang. "The White Fang? What is this doing with their insignia on it?"
"I don't know," Blake answered, her voice far more terrified than Weiss had heard. She looked at her partner to find her wide eyed and gripping one of her bandaged arms tightly, the free hand twitching a little. "I don't know." Weiss blinked at Blake's tone and finished putting her hand on Blake's shoulder.
"It's probably nothing," Weiss said as Blake looked at her, "that man was clearly not a Faunus... I think. This is probably just him trying to pin his crimes on them." Blake blinked a couple of times before slowly nodding in agreement.
"Yeah, you're right… you're right."
"I am." Weiss squeezed Blake a little tighter before taking her hand off and started turning to follow Ruby and Yang. "Come on Blake, we need to go back now. Let's let the police handle this." Blake nodded again and took a couple of steps before stopping.
"Hey… about the White Fang…" Blake started to say.
"Blake, I have a lot of problems in my life," Weiss interrupted and looked back at Blake. "The White Fang doesn't even make the top ten. Let's go home." With that said Weiss continued walking, leaving Blake just a few steps behind. Blake squeezed her arm again and glanced at the wolf head one last time before jogging after Weiss.
'It's nothing. It has to be…' Despite that, her hand didn't stop trembling that night.
"Yeah…yeah…ok…" Coco said and tapped her fingers against her arm as she listened to Summer on her scroll. Coco quirked an eyebrow and asked, "Really, are you alright? That's good. No, they're alright and… eating now. Ok, I'll let them know. See you tomorrow."
"What's up?" Sun asked with his mouth full of noodles.
"Summer took care of that robot," Coco answered and put away her scroll, "So everything is pretty much wrapped up now. I'm annoyed I didn't get to do anything, but whatever."
"Oh that's good," Velvet said with a nod and slammed her empty bowl on the counter, "hey Shopkeep, another bowl here!"
"I'm really glad you guys are paying for her food," Neptune said as he stared in horror at Velvet as she got a fresh bowl of noodles and started to devour it like a Beowolf.
"You guys are on your own though," Yatsuhashi said with a smirk.
"Eh that's fine," Sun answered waving a hand in the air and turned back to the stand. "I love hanging out with you guys."