Here we are at Chapter 133. Khazhak and his friends reunite with Voshkie'ahk and Penny, but not in the best of ways, and things are about to get worse. I do not own RWBY. They belong to roosterteeth. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 133. Enjoy.
Chapter 133: What goes Bump in the Night
The war for Atlas rages on outside the city. Inside the Schnee manor, Klein hooks a sleeping Nora up to an I.V. with Azula aiding him. As he's working, Klein hears some light moaning an looks to see Nora slowly opening her eyes.
"Miss Skyfall, she's coming to!" Klein calls him over as Nora turns to him. "Don't worry miss, you and you're friend are going to be just fine,"
Azula walks over, "Nora, thank goodness you're okay. It's alright, we're hiding out at the Schnee Manor. You're safe here,"
Nora moans again, "What's... going on?"
However, before her questions gets answered, the door opens, with Weiss, Edom, and Ruby carrying an injured Penny, and Khazhak carrying his injured sister into the room. Onyx follows right behind them.
"They've lost consciousness. Voshkie'ahk's got some injuries, but nothing seems to be too severe, but Penny is... leaking," Blake explains.
"Set them down over there," Klein points to two mattresses set on the floor behind him, where they place the two girls.
Weiss, Edom, and Ruby take note of Penny's... blood... on their clothes.
"Tiamat, are you alright?" Bahamut asks.
"Do not worry about me, brother. My only concern is Voshkie'ahk," Tiamat replies.
As he's setting her down, Khazhak notices his sister awaken, "Voshkie'ahk take it easy. You're alright...Can you tell me what happened?"
Voshkie'ahk takes a breath, "...Cinder... Attacked Amity... Fended her off... But she damaged Amity. Penny went outside... keep it in place for the message... Then something happened... and she fell..." her words make the others worry with the mentioning of Cinder.
"And then you jumped down through the atmosphere to go and rescue her. And I thought I was the crazy sibling," Khazhak figures out the rest.
"Khazhak, I-," Voshkie'ahk is about to say, but Khazhak stops her with a hand on her forehead.
"Hey, it's alright. Just rest now. We'll handle things from here," Khazhak tells her, and Voshkie'ahk passes out again.
"Will she be alright?" Blake asks.
"She'll be fine. Luckily, her injuries don't appear to be too severe. With some time, and some medical aid, she'll recover," Klein says as he checks her over with his scroll.
"What about Penny? Can you help her?" Ruby looks to her friend.
Klein scans Penny with his scroll, "Even with what you told me about her, I'm not even sure what SHE is,"
"I can help with that," Onyx offers. "I helped Pietro with her development. I'm pretty familiar with her anatomy. It's similar to humans. What we definitely need to do first is stitch up that wound,"
Just then, they look outside as more explosions happen. A moment later, the power goes out in the building.
"Oh, great, just what we need," Whitley complains.
Ruby then gets a call on her scroll, "Everyone okay back there? Just saw another bombing run light up the city," May comes in from the other end.
"We lost power here, along with part of the city, but we're okay," Ruby replies.
As it turns out, May had already left; flying her airship through the chaos of the war as she makes her way to the crater.
"Sorry I couldn't stay to help, but time is running out for everyone at the crater," May replies.
"We're sorry we couldn't come with you, May. Once Penny and Voshkie'ahk are better, we'll figure something out," Edom says.
May looks back as she sees an Atlas battleship get destroyed by a large flying Grimm, "Don't worry about it, Edom. At this point, even I don't really know what to do next,"
"May," Khazhak calls out. "...Good luck to you. And be careful,"
"...You too..." May then ends the call.
Ruby sighs, "It's all just... too much," tears form in her eyes, prompting Khazhak to wrap an arm around her shoulders. "The Grimm, the crater, Penny, Voshkie'ahk, Nora, everything else. How do we fix all of it?"
"We start with here. With Penny and Voshkie'ahk," Edom gets their attention. "We can't be everywhere at once, so don't even try. Let's focus on what we can do here for now, then move onto the rest later,"
"Edom's right. Sometimes, you have to take baby-steps before you can start running. For now, how about getting the power back on for us? We could work faster on your friends that way," Onyx says.
"How do we do that?" Khazhak asks.
"There's a generator we keep at the edge of the estate. You can start there," they hear and look at the doorway to find Willow standing there.
Whitley sighs and crosses his arms, "I was wondering when you'd join us, Mother,"
"And without another wine bottle, no less," Edom notes begrudgingly.
"Well, I'm sure that if I did show up with one, you'd just smash it on the floor like the last one," Willow enters the room, and then notices Klein and Azula. "Oh, hello Klein... So, you really are working for Azula now,"
Klein nods to her in greeting while Azula has a hand on her hip, "Well, not like your husband gave him much choice in the matter. I'm sure you're well aware of how insufferable your husband can be," Azula notes, though Willow doesn't argue.
The mentioning of the generator and her father gives Weiss an idea, "SDC executives have their own auxiliary power supplies... in case of a city-wide power outage. It's... extremely unfair, but... in this case, having a few company perks is actually a blessing this time,"
The mentioning of the company gives Whitley an idea, "Perks aren't the only thing we have," he gains their attention. "We have the company. The people you mentioned in the crater; they need a way out, right? We have scores of company airships that are just sitting in the hangars because of the Dust embargo. We also have our own automated drones,"
"Like the ones at Snow Shoe Shipping," Weiss realizes.
"We can order as many ships as we need to fly down to the crater with the ships and get those people to safety. The Grimm won't notice while they're occupied with the battle against General Ironwood's forces," Whitley explains.
Khazhak grunts, "That's actually a smart idea... especially coming from you,"
Whitley smirks, "I wasn't trying to impress you. But, I will gladly accept an apology for that punch earlier,"
"Don't get your hopes up kid. I'm not sorry about that," Khazhak crosses his arms.
"Okay, but how will we get the order out?" Blake asks.
"I can do it if I can get into Father's computer. Luckily, he told me the password after he changed it," Whitley glances at Edom.
"Then I guess we know what we need to do next. Edom, you stay here with the others. Ruby, Blake, and I will hit that generator," Khazhak says.
The three leave the manor, racing across the courtyard while dark clouds are seen overhead, thunder booming behind them. They reach a locked gate, but Khazhak easily kicks it open and they race into the generator room. Blake flips the switch and the generator comes on, showing that it's powering up.
Of course, Ruby isn't so patient, "Come on, please work,"
"Don't worry. It'll work," Blake says.
Ruby sighs, "Nothing else has,"
Khazhak holds her shoulder, "Ruby, we must never lose hope. As long as we can still do something. As long as we can still fight, then this war against Salem is NOT over. You've never been one to give up. Even after the Fall of Beacon. Even at Argus, and in Mantle, and here in Atlas. You never give up. When we first met, I thought you were naïve... But then, you proved me wrong. You kept the light that I once lost, and you even helped me regain my own. That is why I will always follow you. Why I will always love you,"
Ruby tears up a bit, "Thanks, Khazhak,"
"Well, he's not the only one, aside from the romantic part. I've always looked up to you, Ruby, ever since we met. And I am happy to say that I still do," Blake adds, making Ruby smile more.
Just then, the generator comes online and power returns to the manor. As soon as it does, Whitley and Weiss get to work in their father's office.
Khazhak smiles until Bahamut chimes in, "Behind you," making his eyes widen as something appears behind the window behind them.
Inside the manor, Edom and Azula tend to their wounded friends while Onyx works on Penny and Willow and Klein sit nearby. Just then, they hear some crashing sounds outside.
"What was that?" Klein asks.
"Hopefully nothing that's going to be a problem," Onyx mutters.
Meanwhile, Weiss gets a call from Blake, "Blake, is everything okay?"
"Weiss! There's a Grimm that-Look out!" Blake yells before the call goes off.
"Weiss, what's going on?" Edom calls out.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out. You stay and watch over the others!" Weiss then turns to Whitley. "I'll leave this to you," and then she leaves while her brother nods as he works on the computer.
Outside, Ruby crashes through a wall. From the smoke, the Hound walks forth from the building, its focus locked on Ruby. However, Khazhak jumps out from behind and swings his sword, sending out several lightning bolts at the Grimm. The Grimm jumps around to evade the attack and then swings its elongated arms around to knock a charging Blake away from it. Khazhak lands in front of the Grimm and fires off a few spark shots, but the Grimm just brushes them off its oozing body. Khazhak sheathes his sword and charges at it. He goes to make a swing, but the Hound manages to grab Khazhak by his face and throws him through a wall. Meanwhile, Blake regroups with Ruby.
"What is this thing?!" Ruby shouts.
Khazhak bursts forth from the building, "Obviously, some new type of Grimm. Ruby, just focus while Blake and I distract it!" Khazhak sends out a Lightning Slash technique at the Grimm to knock it back.
Blake runs across the side of the building, firing off her pistol, but the Grimm just absorbs the bullets. She jumps off the building to swing her sword at the Hound along with Khazhak. However, the Grimm catches both of their blades in its claws. Meanwhile, Ruby closes her eyes and focuses on her power. Khazhak grabs the Grimm's arm and tries to shock it with his semblance, and it has some effect. However, the Grimm throws the pair away and then charges at Ruby. Ruby can't react in time before she gets tackled to the ground.
"Ruby!" Blake yells.
"Take... the girl..." the Hound speaks, shocking them.
"What the Hell?" Khazhak is stunned.
"Since when can a Grimm speak?!" Bahamut exclaims.
The Hound sprouts wings from its back and tries to fly away. However, Blake throws her chain-scythe and keeps it from escaping. This gives Khazhak the chance to jump up and tackle the Hound back to the ground, causing it to drop Ruby to the ground. The Hound tries to get up, only for Khazhak to slice off its wings with his sword, causing it to roar in pain.
"Blake, check on Ruby!" Khazhak yells before jumping back as the Hound swings its arms at him.
Just then, Weiss joins the fray, "Edom, there's a Grimm here. There might be more. Keep everyone together and safe,"
"Roger that," Edom responds from the manor.
At the table, Klein notices Willow's trembling hands, trying to grasp a wine bottle that is not there. When another crashing sound is heard, she gets spooked.
"Madam Willow, please, try to calm down," Klein says.
Willow is stricken with fear, "I'm sorry, I... I can't. I can't do this!" and then she runs out of the room.
"Wait! Ah, damn it! Klein, go and get her back here. I'll watch over the others," Edom says, and Klein nods before leaving the room.
However, after watching Klein leave, Penny suddenly opens her eyes... but instead of their normal look, they're now red.
Edom looks back, "Penny? Hey, take it easy. You're still-," he suddenly gets punched into a wall by Penny.
"Edom!" Azula exclaims and turns to Penny. "Hey, what's the matter with you?! You need to calm down," she gets in Penny's way.
However, before she hurts Azula, Penny's eyes return to normal, "No... Not again," she freaks out as her power flares up.
Outside, Weiss gets ready to summon, only for several Centinels to pop out from the ground and stop her. Khazhak jumps back when one tries to bite him, and he slashes its head off with his sword. Weiss conjures up a few glyphs to fire off ice shards at the Hound, but it evades her attack and climbs onto the side of the building. All of their attention turns when they notice a green light coming from the manor. From Weiss' room.
Khazhak widens his eyes, "No. It's here for Penny!" he realizes just as more Centinels pop out.
The Hound jumps over the cage and runs to the manor while the others fight off the Centinels.
"Khazhak, Weiss, go! We'll handle things here!" Blake says as she slices through a Centinel.
Khazhak crushes the head of a Centinel with his dragon claws before he nods and chases after the Hound along with Weiss. Ruby twirls her scythe around to kill another Centinel, but just then, another hole pops up in the ground and out crawls a Cenitaur Grimm, a large insect-like Grimm with a large green sac full of acidic venom, and a pair of long scythe blades on its arms.
"That's new," Ruby mutters.
Back in Weiss, room, Penny continues to freak out as she tries to fight off whatever's aflicting her.
Edom gets back up, "Penny, you need to calm down. You're among friends here!"
Onyx stands with him, "Penny, tell us what's wrong!"
Penny's eyes continue to change frantically, "I... I don't want to-,"
Just then, a hand grabs hers and she regains control and looks down at Voshkie'ahk, "You decide... what you want to do Penny. It's your life... and no one else's,"
"Voshkie'ahk, but I... There's a part of me... It wants me to-," Penny struggles until Nora takes her other hand.
"Remember, it's only a part of you. Don't forget about the rest," Nora says.
At this point, Penny regains control and her power calms down. She kneels before Nora while Voshkie'ahk manages to crawl over and sit up against the bed to join them, their hands intertwined.
Edom sighs before he gets a call, "Edom, the Grimm is heading inside the manor. Stay quiet and keep the others safe," Weiss calls out.
"Yeah, we might have a problem about that. Willow freaked out and ran off, and Klein went to get her. Whitley should still be in your father's office, but none of them have come back yet," Edom replies.
"Oh, that's just great. Where'd the Hell did she go?!" Khazhak exclaims.
Khazhak and Weiss race to the front doors of the manor, having seen the Hound break through the windows above it to get inside. They bust through the doors, only to find the main floor empty. They look around and cautiously move in until...
"Above you!" they hear Willow's voice and look up, just in time to see the Hound falling down on them.
The Hound swings its arms around at them, knocking them both back. Khazhak stabs his claws into the floor to stop his motion, but Weiss gets knocked into a nearby piano. The Hound growls at them, but Khazhak fires off some spark shots. The Hound jumps back and dodges them. Weiss creates a black glyph as it jumps onto the side of a wall, keeping it in place. This allows Khazhak to swing his sword and send out another Lightning Slash technique that nails the Grimm. The Hound falls back to the floor and Khazhak jumps into the air to stab his blade into it. However, the Grimm grabs his face and throws him at Weiss, who conjures another glyph to stop him from crashing into her. The Hound roars before climbing up the walls and making its way down a hallway.
Khazhak gets back up, "That thing's smart. I've never faced a Grimm like this before. What the Hell is it?"
"Even I am perplexed by this creature. It's too intelligent, even by Grimm standards," Bahamut notes.
"Are you alright?" Willow's voice calls out over their scrolls.
"Mom?" Weiss replies.
Inside her room, Willow and Klein are using her scroll to view through her security cameras to track the Hound as it moves through the house.
"I can see it. It's outside Winter's old room. You and your friends can kill it, right?" Willow asks.
"What's it doing?" Weiss asks.
"I... I don't know. It's acting strange!" Willow replies.
Klein takes a closer look, "Actually, it looks like... it's hunting. Searching for something,"
Khazhak's eyes widen, "It's searching for Penny," he then calls Edom. "Edom, do you read me?"
"I do. What's going on Khazhak?" Edom responds.
"That Grimm. It's searching for Penny. Her... blood. It's all over your clothes. He might be tracking her scent," Khazhak explains as Edom looks down at his stained clothes and then at his uncle and the four girls in the room, three of whom are still injured. "I know it's not ideal, but you've got to lure that thing away from them and bring it to us so we can kill it. We're on our way,"
"Understood," Edom ends the call. "Listen, I need you to stay as quiet as possible. And don't let anything through that door. I'll be back. Uncle Onyx, you handle things here," he says and heads out the door, shutting it behind him.
"Mother, can you track it for us?" Weiss calls her mom.
"Yes, I can... I..." Willow starts to freak out again.
Klein takes her hand to calm her down, "Madam Willow, your children need you now. Please... help them. I know you can do it," he encourages her.
Willow takes a breath and calms down, "You're right. Okay, it's heading towards... Oh dear, no..."
Edom runs through the building, trying to put distance between himself and the girls and find the Hound. He comes around a corner and keeps running. However, he soon halts when the Hound comes around another corner, sniffing the floor.
"Oh crap..." Edom mutters as he readies his twin-scythe.
The Hound looks up and roars before charging at Edom. Edom fires off one of his knives at the Grimm, the blade imbedding into its body, and then jumps over the Grimm. He lands behind it and tries to pull it off its feet, but the Grimm grabs the wire and pulls Edom instead, bringing him close enough to smack him into a wall with its arms. Edom sends out two of his skull phantoms and then collide with the Grimm, pinning its arms. However, a third arm sprouts froth from its back and grabs one skull, forcing open its mouth and freeing itself before breaking through both skull phantoms. Just then, Whitley comes out of a room behind the duo.
"Hey, I got it. The airships are-," Whitley stops when he sees the Hound, who turns to him.
"Run!" Edom yells and sends out two more Skull phantoms to pin the Hound again.
Edom then grabs Whitley and they make a break for it. As they're running, they run into Willow and Klein.
"What are you doing?! Go get-," Edom is about to say when the Hound comes around the corner again and closes in on them.
He gets ready to fight again, only for a blast of lightning to break through one wall and crash into the Hound, nearly causing it to break through a second wall. Edom looks to see Weiss and Khazhak join them. Weiss conjures up an ice wall to separate them from the Hound.
"I didn't forget you," Weiss smiles at her family, but then they notice the Hound trying to break through the ice. "Go!"
Willow, Whitley, and Klein make a break for it while the other three stay behind and prepare to fight the Hound again.
Meanwhile, back outside, Blake and Ruby fight the Cenitaur on their own. The Grimm swings its blades at them repeatedly, while Blake blocks the strikes with her swords. Ruby uses her semblance to come around and attack from the side, but the Cenitaur spits out a green liquid at her, forcing Ruby to fly back to evade it. The goo hits the ground and starts melting it like an acid.
"Why'd it get more disgusting?!" Blake notes.
The Cenitaur attacks with its blades again, forcing Blake to jump back. It turns its attention to Ruby as she fires a few shots from behind, and spits at her again. Ruby jumps out of the way, while Blake attacks its flank. However, the Cenintaur swings its blades around, knocking her into the wall. Ruby flies around with her semblance at the Grimm. The Cenitaur spits at her again, but she separates into three bursts of petals around the acid before reforming behind it and swings her scythe at its neck, slicing the head off. With the fight over, Ruby checks on Blake.
Ruby kneels before her, "Blake, are you okay?"
Blake slowly gets up, "I'm fine. Let's go help the others," and the pair race to the manor.
Inside, the Hound begins to break through the ice, but when the others get ready to fight, they hear a loud scream.
"It's Penny!" Khazhak realizes. The Hound stops and then runs in the opposite direction. "It's going after Penny!" he smashes his dragon fist through the ice to break it and they take of after the Grimm.
Inside Weiss' room, Penny freaks out again, "I'm... I'm sorry!" she holds her head before her eyes go red again.
"Penny... What's wrong?" Voshkie'ahk graps her legs, but Penny kicks her away and walks out of the room.
Azula and Onyx try to stop her, but Penny pushes them into a wall and then leaves. In the main hall, Willow, Klein, and Whitley arrive, out of breath. They take a moment to catch their breath and watch as Penny walks right by them.
"Wait, what are you doing?!" Whitley asks.
"I must open the vault... And then self-terminate," Penny emotionlessly states.
Just then, the Hound attacks her from behind, but she holds off its attack. However, the Hound grows a third arm behind its back again and grabs Penny's head.
"Take! The! Girl!" The Hound roars as it smashes Penny on the floor and then picks her up by her head.
Just then, the rest of the gang show up, "Penny!" Ruby yells.
The Hound holds Penny up with a claw at her throat, using her as a hostage.
"It's using Penny as a hostage? But... how? Why?" Edom mutters.
"...That's enough," they look at Ruby, who's eyes shine with her power and blast the Hound out the glass wall behind it while dropping Penny.
Penny falls down the stairs, still out cold, and the others rush to her aide. They check on Penny, but soon enough, the Hound starts to climb back up the glass wall.
"Take... the girl," only this time, instead of its regular head, it degraded to reveal the head of a Faunus man beneath the Grimm. Though the face is grossly distorted, scared, and hideous, there's no making what he really is. A Faunus with Silver Eyes. "Take... the girl," the Hound starts walking down the stair, its body undulating as its bone crack. "Take the girl!" The mere sight of him is enough to freak out the non-combatants, scare the girls and disturb Khazhak and Edom. He walks down the stairs ad Blake and Weiss move Penny while Khazhak, Edom, and Ruby protect them. "Take the girl! Take the girl!" Take the girl!" The Hound repeats like some mantra. As its normal head reforms around the Faunus' head. Up top, the others notice that the Hound is stopping in front of one of the Armas Gigas statues and begin to push it. "Take... The... GIRL!" the Hound gets ready to pounce, only for the giant statue to fall right on top of it and crush it.
When the dust settles, everyone calms down as the threat seems to be gone. However, the Hound Grimm, with the Faunus head back out, sticks out from under the armor, one arm desperately trying to reach for Penny.
"By the god," Edom mutters in horror.
"Take... the... girl..." the Faunus mutters weakly.
Khazhak stands in front of it, staring at his eyes, "I'm sorry. May this finally grant you peace," he offers a small prayer and then stabs his blade through the Faunus' head, ending his life.
The Grimm dissipates, but this time, it leaves the bones behind, something Grimm don't usually do when they die. Though the threat is gone, most of the group are still horror-stricken by what they saw.
"What... was that?" Weiss asks.
Ruby kneels on the ground, "That was... a person,"
Khazhak sheathes his sword, "Not just any person, Ruby. I know you saw it. That person," he turns to her. "...He had Silver Eyes."
And that's the chapter. The group managed to save Penny, though she may not be out of the woods yet. They also managed to defeat the Hound, but unlock a frightening revelation because of it. What does this new horror mean for the heroes, and even more so, for Ruby? What other dangers are lurking out there in this war for Atlas? Until then, please Read and Review.