Here we are at Chapter 128. Saw the latest episode and that was cool with what Ren did and said with his semblance. He saying nothing but the truth! Anyway, let's see how the gang will survive these new challenges. I do not own RWBY. They belong to roosterteeth. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 133. Enjoy. Merry Christmas!


Chapter 128: Strings

Ruby and Khazhak's group head up the tubes to sneak into the Atlas military compound. Of course, the ride up isn't as fun for some as it is for others. Edom is one of those people as he staggers out of the tube, holding his head.

"Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick," Edom holds his mouth as May and Penny stand by in case he falls.

Khazhak is the next to pop up, "Definitely better make sure Lloyd never finds out about this," he swipes some dust off his shoulders.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" they look to see an irritated Weiss pulling on Nora's ear for shooting her up suddenly in the tube. "Oh, come on! That was a once in a lifetime experience!" Nora complains before Weiss finally releases her ear. "Ow..."

Voshkie'ahk and Blake are the last ones to come up, "Good, because you couldn't pay me enough to do that ever again," Voshkie'ahk tries to fix her hair.

"I second that opinion," Blake joins her in composing herself.

"Well, we're all here now. Let's get moving," Khazhak leads the group as they move on through the compound.

"Alright, robo-girl, you're up. Which way to the terminal?" May asks Penny.

Penny looks up as her eyes glow and she scans the building and its blueprints. After finding a route, she turns to the others.

"We'll cross the bridge, then we go left, straight, right, straight, left, up, up, right, straight, right, right, straight, left, left..." Penny points in various directions, making Khazhak and Ruby smirk while the others look in stunned silence. "...And my name is Penny, ma'am,"

Khazhak grunts in amusement, while May just clicks her tongue. Activating her semblance, May creates a filed around the group that essentially turns them invisible as long as they stay within that field. They move through the room and after a few minutes and some turns, they take an elevator up. Nothing much happens most of the way, until it stops on one floor. The group gasp and step back as two Atlas soldiers enter the room. They can't see them, but they stay quiet so they can't hear them either.

"I don't think even the squad captain knows what's going on," one soldier tells the other as they enter the elevator with the group behind them. We've apparently sent scout ships into that storm to get more intel, but they get shot down or taken out by Grimm the second they get close. Who knows what's lurking in there besides that massive Grimm we can see,"

"It's terrifying really. All those Grimm, right there, and yet, they haven't made a single move to attack. Makes you wonder what they're waiting for," the second soldier replies.

"Well, hopefully, the C.O. will have some answers for us soon before something happens. We just have to be patient, ready, and wait for out next orders," the first soldier replies.

The group take this opportunity to sneak by while the doors are still open, but not without Nora having a little fun by hitting all of the floor buttons on the elevator before they leave. One soldier eventually notices this, but can do nothing before the doors close on them. The group move to another door, but this one requires a security clearance. Luckily, Penny simply pops out a plug from her index finger, much to Ruby's astonishment, and using her father's security clearance codes, opens the door for them to move on.

"Alright, we've made it this far. Where do we go from here, Penny?" Edom asks.

Penny points to their right, "We go right through central command,"

The doors open to reveal the central command room... and all the soldiers and military personnel walking all throughout it.

Khazhak rolls his eyes, "Oh, joy,"

May shakes her head, "I can't move us through all of that,"

"She's right. The risk of being caught, even with her semblance is too great. If we get caught, then we'll never make it to the terminal," Bahamut notes.

"Is there some way we can make it past all of them? We can go in smaller groups. It has to be all together," Tiamat adds.

"Tiamat's right. How do we proceed?" Voshkie'ahk asks.

Penny simply smiles, "It is no problem. Ruby can help us with that. She can travel at an extreme velocity from one point to another by breaking her body down to its molecular level. This negates her mass, and she is able to reassemble herself at the destination without any harm to herself or others. Ruby is thus capable of transporting all of us in the same way since mass no longer matters to her," she explains Ruby's semblance.

Edom looks at Khazhak, "Did you follow any of that?"

Khazhak shakes his head, "Nope. Best to just nod and go with it,"

Ruby is the most confused of the group, "Um, can you explain that again?"

"You can use your semblance on all of us," Penny gives a simpler explanation now, though Ruby is still a tad perplexed.

Blake leans close to Ruby, "Did Penny just figure out your semblance before you did?" she jokes.

Ruby looks annoyed, "Blake, she figured out you and Porphyrius were a Faunus and a Half-Faunus before I did,"

This makes Nora and Voshkie'ahk snicker at the scene.

Khazhak gets them back on track, "Alright, we got our mode of transportation down, but there's still a lot og eyes, ears, and bodies between us and the security terminal. We're gonna need a distraction to keep everyone's attention on something else besides us," Khazhak looks ahead.

However, before he can come up with an idea, an announcement comes on over the comms.

"A security threat has been detected in the compound. Status level 3 – red. Lockdown initiated. Authorization granted to handle any threats with lethal force," they hear Ironwood's voice over the comms.

"That guy's really starting to piss me off now. They must know we're here," Khazhak cracks his knuckles.

Penny scans the compound, "The pneumatic tubes have all been closed off,"

"But, that means we're trapped," Blake worries.

"Hold on. I remember that we passed a hangar on the way here. I can hijack a ship and get us off this floating rock," May suggests.

But Penny isn't giving up, "Wait, we still have a chance here. We can't just give up now. We have to keep going,"

Khazhak nods, "Penny's right. We've come too far now just to go back empty handed," he looks around and sees a one employee walking by with a coffee mug as he approaches a console. Khazhak smirks, "And there is our distraction. Get ready,"

Khazhak sends out a small bolt of lightning low to the ground at the worker, shocking him just enough to make him release his mug, which ends up splashing all over another worker and his monitor, causing it to short out, and the co-worker to freak out.

"For Pete sakes, Bill, for once will you just read the sign!" Another co-worker yells as he points at a "No food, no drinks in the work place" poster.

This gets everyone else's attention, and thus gives Ruby the opening she needs to use her semblance on everyone and fly right by to the door to the security terminal. Ruby releases everyone, with Weiss, Nora, and Penny looking amazed, Edom, and Khazhak looking stunned, and Blake and Voshkie'ahk looking like they just had a heart-attack.

"That's another thing I never want to do... ever again," Voshkie'ahk fixes her hair again.

"Again, I second that opinion," Blake agrees on shaky legs.

The group continue down a bridge over a deep fall to the room for the security terminal. They reach the door, seeing an electric forcefield blocking their way.

"Please, leave this to me," Penny uses her finger port again to deactivate the security field and unlock the door.

Everyone else gets ready for a fight, only to find an empty room on the other side with several smaller terminals and the terminal they need on the other end of the room.

Edom looks around, "Well, this wasn't what I was expecting. I thought we were going to have to fight our way in. Shouldn't there be some personnel here?"

The group walk inside, "This is a highly classified area. Only General Ironwood and a few other military officers are allowed in here," Penny takes a seat at the main terminal.

Nora notices the electric door close behind them again, its field back on. Ruby and Edom join up with Penny while the others take a back seat and wait.

Penny takes a deep breath, "Hey, Dad? I'm ready," and suddenly her eyes change in color and appearance.

"What?" Ruby wonders.

"Ahem, this process is a little complicated, so I'm remoting into Penny from the Amity coliseum," Pietro's voice comes from Penny's lips.

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder," Edom looks perplexed.

Meanwhile, the others wait for Penny and Pietro to do their thing, "Hopefully, this won't take long. I don't want to be here any longer than we have to," Khazhak notes, crossing his arms.

"I hope the others are okay... Khazhak, you kept Yang's attention on you to keep her from fighting with Ruby, didn't you?" Blake figures it out.

Khazhak sighs, "I don't want them to be like that. They may have different ideas about what to do, but they're still family. Family must work together... Heh, though, I don't know how much value those words have, coming from me. My older brother wants me dead,"

Voshkie'ahk puts a hand on his shoulder, "That wasn't your fault, Khazzy. You did all you could,"

"I, too, share your opinion. Nidhogg and I used to fight many times when our kind was alive, but we always fought for our kind. Whatever he is now... he is NOT the Nidhogg I once fought alongside as a brother," Bahamut notes.

"Well, don't forget about the rest of you family, Khazhak. You have Voshkie'ahk, Lloyd, Porphyrius, and Edom, and all of us," Blake tries to reassure him.

"Yeah, besides, we all know they'll be fine. Lloyd's practically a one-man army, Porphyrius is almost as strong as you, Jaune's become a great leader, Yang can keep all of them safe, and Oscar is really coming into his own," Nora says, but the others just stare when they notice that she forgot one important person in that group. "Oh, um, uh, and Ren, of course, is... Ren is..." Nora then gets depressed. "...I don't know what he is anymore... Everytime I think we're making progress together, he just... We've been together our whole lives. I was already an orphan when we first met, so before Beacon, he was the only person I could turn to. And yet, now, I feel like I know less of him than before we first met, and I don't know if it's his fault or mine,"

"When you've been at someone's side for so long, they become a part of you. But, that's just it. They're only a part of you. You can't forget about the rest," Blake says.

Nora chuckles bitterly, "Heh-heh, I actually have no idea who I am... without Ren. Sounds pathetic, doesn't it?"

Khazhak places a hand on her shoulder, "Nora, each of us can do things the others can't. There are things Weiss can do that I can't. There are things that Voshkie'ahk can do that Blake can't. You need to focus on only what you can do. What Nora Valkyrie can do,"

However, this doesn't cheer up Nora much, "And what would that be? Be strong and hit stuff?"

Weiss is about to say something to her, but they all stop when they hear some beeping from the terminal and walk over to check on things.

"Hmm, I just have to... ah, there we go," Pietro says as the other stare confusingly at Penny, perplexed at hearing Pietro's voice and not Penny's. "Downloading the cloned imprint now. When Penny gets to Amity, we'll run the launch sequence. Amity's computer will try to connect to General Ironwood's terminal, but get Penny instead," Penny downloads the data, and Pietro gives her back control of her body.

"And after the launch, I'll return to help you with the evacuation," Penny's voice comes out this time.

But her father thinks differently, "About that Penny, when Amity goes up, I think you should be up here with Maria and I," this makes the others look concerned for Penny.

"But, the others need me," Penny turns to them. "...Right?"

Despite her hopes, some aren't as supportive, "Well, if you stay far enough out of Salem's reach, she can't open the vault," Ruby says.

"Maybe... it is for the best," Weiss agrees somewhat.

Sensing the tension, Voshkie'ahk speaks, "It might be best to continue this conversation after we get out of here. As in now,"

They walk to the door, "I guess... we all have to do some things... we would rather not..." Penny goes to open the door.

"Unfortunately, that happens, Penny," Khazhak replies.

However, when they open the door, they find the Ace Ops, minus Clover, on the other side.

"Hello, kids," Harriet 'greets' them with an angry expression, as does Elm, while Vine looks indifferent, and Marrow looks saddened by this situation. "Time to come home now, Penny,"

The group quickly draw their weapons, "Getting your asses kicked the first time didn't set you straight, huh?" Khazhak aims his sword at them.

"We were holding back," Marrow retorts.

Vine tries to deescalate the situation, "We have all said things that we regret, but please hear me out first. I know you were only doing what you thought was right when you left with the Maiden power, but Salem is here. Things have changed,"

"So, you actually regret leaving Mantle to die?" Voshkie'ahk narrows her eyes.

"Listen, this is a war, and our enemy is here now-," Vine begins.

"So what? You were ready and willing to leave hundreds, thousands of innocent people to die just because things got too difficult for you. So, you left them do die, you ran away, and you chose to continue being Ironwood's mindless puppets. Are you THAT incapable of making your own decisions? If Ironwood is still keen on leaving Mantle to die, then nothing has changed," Khazhak stops him.

Vine sighs, "I thought your duty was to protect the people, not hurt them,"

Penny is taken aback, "I would never hurt them,"

"Well, Winter is in critical condition...because of you," Elm spitefully retorts.

"And you repaid her by taking the power that was rightfully hers," Harriet adds.

"That power was never hers to begin with. If Winter had claimed the power of the Winter Maiden, she would've only used it for Ironwood. Maybe she would've used it for Atlas, but ultimately, it would've just been for Ironwood. The relic, the Maiden, the military, and the academy. One man cannot hold so much power to himself. That makes him no better than Salem," Khazhak argues.

"Ironwood is doing what he has to in order to save Remnant. Because of you, people in Atlas and Mantle are going to die," Harriet steps forth.

Marrow tries to calm things down, "Please, Penny, you can still fix this. Just open the vault, hand over the relic, and you can save Atlas,"

"And what about Mantle?" Edom asks, but Marrow doesn't have an answer.

Khazhak clicks his tongue, "You don't get it. Even if you were to get Atlas into the atmosphere, you won't be saving anyone. Salem is immortal. She has nothing but time on her side. If she can't get to you directly, then she'll isolate you by destroying the rest of the world, claim the other relics and the other Maidens, and then you'll be all alone. And that is when Salem will reach out and break you. You're not saving anyone by abandoning Mantle, abandoning Remnant. You're just running because you gave in to your fear, just like your boss,"

"You insult the General one more time, and I'm throwing you in jail right next to your aunt, punk," Harriet threatens him, making both Khazhak and Voshkie'ahk growl at hearing that their aunt is locked up.

Penny steps forth, "Leave them alone,"

Khazhak and Penny step forth, but then Harriet hits a switch, locking the door and separating them from the rest of the group. The pair look back at the door, and then turn to the Ace Ops as Penny activates her powers.

Lightning sparks around Khazhak's dragon arm, "You want to get your asses handed to you again so badly? Fine, I'll be more than glad to oblige you,"

"Dogs on leashes cannot stand against a dragon that can soar as high as he pleases," Bahamut notes.

Khazhak swings his sword wide, a surge of lightning flying out the Ace Ops. The Ace Ops members dodge the lightning, but when Vine looks up, Khazhak is right in front of him and nails him in the face with a super-charged left punch. Vine flies behind his allies, using his semblance to grab onto the railing to stop him from going any further. Penny uses her powers to create a strong gust of wind to push them back, and Khazhak charges up lightning in his blade. He swings his sword, sending out several lightning bolts at the Ace Ops. Elm swings her hammer around to block a few of them, as does Marrow with his boomerang, but Harriet gets hit by a few of them when she tries to run for it. Vine jumps high, using his semblance arms to swing over the pair and land behind them, causing Penny to stop her attack. With the winds gone, Harriet uses her semblance to zip right by the pair. She tries to go for Khazhak's exposed rear and makes a punch... only to get blocked by Khazhak's sword at the last second with his blade. Khazhak roars before he pushes Harriet back with his sword and then attacks her. Elm fires a rocket at Khazhak, but Penny shoots it down with her swords.

Harriet throws a few punches at Khazhak, but Khazhak blocks them with his left arm and his blade, and then spins around for a slash of his sword. Harriet flips over the swings and tries to land another punch on Khazhak, but Khazhak catches the punch in his left hand and throws Harriet towards the electric door. Vine uses his semblance to catch her, and Harriet then uses her semblance and his hand as a spring board to fire herself at Khazhak. Khazhak manages to block the quick attack, but slides back from the impact. Marrow comes in at Penny, who twirls her swords around. Marrow jumps over them and gets a hit in on her back with his boomerang. Penny counters by creating a hail storm that distracts him, and then gets a kick in on his face. Meanwhile, Vine jumps at Khazhak, brandishing a bladed disk-shaped weapon in his left hand. Khazhak blocks the strike with his sword, and then grabs his arm with his claws. He throws him over the railing, but Vine uses his semblance to grab onto the edge and swings under the walkway, coming around to the other side to try and kick Khazhak. Khazhak ducks under the flying kick, but then gets hit in the side by Harriet as she zips by. The pair make a cross strike at Khazhak, but a surge of lightning bursts from him, stopping their advance. Meanwhile, Elm spins her hammer around at Penny when she shoots her swords at her, knocking the swords back. Marrow throws his boomerang at her rear, but Penny jumps over the attack and sends some swords at him. His boomerang returns just in time to block the flying swords. Elm swings her hammer down on Penny, but Penny rolls out of the way, and then blocks another swing with her swords before having a few blast Elm away with one shot.

Inside the other room, the others try to break through with Weiss' Armas Gigas summon and Edom's skulls, but the field destroys them each time they touch it.

"Four against two. Cowards," Weiss notes bitterly.

"Don't worry, Penny is the Winter Maiden and Khazhak has the Dragon Spirit. They can last for a little while at least. But, I can feel that Khazhak hasn't activated the Dragon Spirit yet. He must know that Ironwood is watching the fight. He doesn't want to use it for risk of showing Ironwood what it can do... and its one weakness. We have to find a way out of here, and quickly," Voshkie'ahk looks for a way past the door.

Nora steps up to the door, "We have to get out there," she stares at the door and gets a crazy idea. "...Be strong... and hit stuff," she takes out her hammer.

"Nora, wait!" Weiss tries to stop her, but Nora already hit the door with his hammer.

The electricity moves from the hammer to her, and she uses her semblance to charge up her strength. The power of the field is so strong, that it pushes her beyond her limits. The electricity leaves scars reaching all across her body. On the other side of the door, Khazhak and Penny push the Ace Ops back, but then Khazhak glances back. Nora screams as she swings her supercharged hammer around and smashes the door in a huge explosion.

"Duck!" Khazhak grabs Penny and hits the ground in that same second, and the doors blast forth and collide with the Ace Ops, just barely missing the pair.

Khazhak and Penny look back at Nora.

"That was... pretty awesome..." Nora's aura then gives out and she collapses onto the ground, passed out.

"Nora!" Khazhak and Penny run to her side as the others join them. "She's alive, but she needs help,"

They regroup, with the members of Team RWBY staying back to protect Nora while the others face the Ace Ops.

Just then, Harriet gets a call, "Sir... But, General, we-,"

"We understand, sir," Marrow stops her.

Khazhak, Edom, Voshkie'ahk, and Penny charge at them. Penny flies past them all to fight Harriet. Khazhak smashes his fist down on Elm, while Voshkie'ahk throws her cards at Marrow, and Edom sends out his skull phantoms at Vine. The Ace Ops members block or deflect the attacks. Vine then uses his semblance to swing his arms around to try and nail them off of the walkway, but only gets Edom and Voshkie'ahk, while Khazhak jumps over it. Edom quickly uses one of his skull phantoms to catch them and flies back up. Khazhak sends out his Lightning Oblivion technique to force the Ace Ops back. Meanwhile, Penny twirls her swords around at Harriet, but Harriet uses her semblance to race around Penny and grabs onto one of her swords and its string. She pulls hard and snaps the string off of Penny. Just then, Edom and Voshkie'ahk rejoin the fight.

However, "...Let's go," Elm suddenly says and the Ace Ops retreat by jumping off of the walkway.

However, Marrow hesitates when he glances back at the others.

"Marrow," Voshkie'ahk calls out to him, and he looks back. "Is this what you really want? When will you start making your own choices, and not let someone else make them for you?"

Marrow doesn't answer and leaves like the others. Though confused by this turn of events, the group don't linger on it since they have more pressing issues to attend to.

"Did that seem weird to you guys?" Ruby wonders.

Penny and Edom check on Nora, "We can worry about that later. We need to leave, now,"

With Khazhak carrying Nora and her hammer, they make their way to a hanger, only to find it empty.

A sudden whistle rings out, "You coming or what?" they hear May's voice and move to find her concealing herself and an airship. "Alright, you guys ready to-," she stops when she sees Nora.

"She's in bad shape. We need to find somewhere safe for her," Blake says.

Penny looks ahead and activates her semblance. A moment later, they break through the compound and high-tail it out of the area.

"I'm so, so sorry," Penny helps Khazhak lay Nora down gently. With the mission done, Penny looks sad for what comes next. "It... it is time for me to go now, isn't it?"

Ruby hugs her friend, "Don't worry. We'll see each other really soon. I promise," and she holds her tighter.

Penny looks at her friends, seeing them offer her supportive smiles to Ruby's words. May opens the cockpit door, and Penny gets ready to leave.

"Hold on," Voshkie'ahk steps up. "Feel up to having one along for the ride?" she offers.

The others are surprised by her, but they don't attempt to stop her. Penny looks a little happy to have a friend along for the ride, and picks Voshkie'ahk up in a bridle-carry before they fly away to Amity. The others watch them go before closing the cockpit and take their own route to find safe haven for Nora.


And that's the chapter. Khazhak's group manage to complete their mission, but will everything else go so well? Voshkie'ahk leaves with Penny, but Nora is badly hurt and needs help. Will things get better for our heroes, or will they get worse? Until then, please Read, Review, and have a Merry Christmas!