Vol: 7 Chapter 11: The Deceiver Gets Tricked
(Play: Red Fraction from "Black Lagoon" Eng cover by AmaLee)
I have a big gun
I took it from my lord
Sick with justice
I just wanna blame you
(A somewhat dirtied image of a Lien card flashes momentarily before it swaps to a blood stained wall of the Schnee manor a cigarette being smoked and an image of either Weiss or Winter from behind holding their weapons which seem bloodied. This then switches to a panning shot of Wolf's Pack going down its barrel.)
I am your angel
Only a call away
You make wanna break you
No matter who you are
(A bullet casing goes flying, showing Weiss' reflection before it cuts to a newspaper article mentioning a shooting in the Forgotten Shore with Weiss being shown holding a side arm, which she fires a few times)
It's all up to you
No one lives forever
Been burned in Hell
By all the pigs out there
It's always been Hell
Ever since I was born
They make we wanna break them
No matter who they are
(The next shot shows the same side arms barrel as Weiss points it at the area in front of her and a cigarette that she had in her mouth falls out as she pulls the trigger and then drops the magazine.)
Get down on your knees
Got a good head on your shoulders
If for you, I'd
Go to the end of the earth
Do what you want
Do it with dedication
I'll put out your misery
(The next shot shows a blood splatter that stains a flurry of feathers that had been blown away by the force of either a gust of wind or gunshot. Another shot shows that an empty bullet casing is rolling on the ground of the streets of Mantle in a pool of blood before it's blown away by the same wind that carried away feathers)
You made a mess
For Christ sake, this rotten world
Shit out of luck
Go with my vision
Light up the fire
Right on the power
A weapon … I have it all
(Weiss is seen sitting in the middle of the streets of Mantle for reasons unknown as the feathers drift through the air around her as the sunset flashes a few times. Then images of Jaune, Sky and Wolfgang are shown before 'Rise of the Iron Wolves: Forgotten' appears on the screen… And is shot at a few times and filled with bullet holes.)
-Forgotten Shore-
"Find anything yet?" Sky called as he and Jaune were looking for signs of the next Captain on their list: Mink Weaselton, the Deceiver. Right now they were following a lead on one of her schemes that she was planning around Sorik's Cut.
"Nothing yet!" Jaune called back. Suddenly, Joan appeared and scanned a pile of Dust crystals.
"Got something! These Dust crystals have the Deceiver's signature all over it." She reported. "Maybe we can find an informant somewhere around here." She wondered.
The two boys nodded as they started searching the outlaw breeding ground, coming across bandits and the like the whole way, before they saw a shield carrying Mauler and a Raider. The latter carried a large loot package.
"Let's have a look in that box, shall we?" Gurren suggested. Sky ran towards the Raider to strike it down, but the mauler jumped in the way and blocked him, allowing its partner to try and escape.
"Oh no you don't!" Jaune barked as brought his bow out and shot an arrow into the zombie's leg, causing it to fall to the ground and drop the package. Stabbing it in the head, he picked up the package as Sky returned. Then the box began to blink red.
"It's rigged to blow!" Gurren yelled.
"Chuck that motherfucker!" Sky yelped. Jaune immediately threw the box away just in time for it to explode.
"If a shipment of these rigged boxes got back to any of the kingdoms… We can't let that happen." Joan said seriously.
"Let's try and find where they're making these things!" Jaune said as he and Sky summoned their sparrows. Racing to a nearby abandoned Dust refinery, they saw more couriers and piles of rigged and fabricated supplies crates.
"Let's trash this joint." Sky said as he brought Dark Eater out. The two then started shooting and hacking their way through the Corrupted and couriers before grabbing two of the crates and hurling them at two machines on the wall of the refinery, destroying them.
"Fabricators are down guys." Joan told them.
"[laughs] Oh no! They found our factory of delights! If only we had planned for this! [laughing]." Mink's voice cackled over the radio.
"Mink?! Why are you doing all this?!" Sun yelled at his upperclassman from a separate line.
"The humans brought this on themselves, Sun! This is the only way to make them pay!" The weasel girl barked.
"By killing other Faunus and turning them into zombies?! How is that helping us?!" The monkey Faunus yelled.
"The Faunus had their chance to bring the humans to their knees, and made peace instead. So now we're going to rebuild our race from the ground up, and create a world of a people that is truly eternal!" The Trickster said before cutting the line.
"Not to sound like a jerk, Sun, but your upperclassmen is a bitch." Sky commented.
"Yeah… I noticed. Just try and make it quick." The blond faunus sighed.
"Good news is that I've tracked her frequency." Gurren told them.
"Bad news is, it was way too easy to do for someone called: The Deceiver." Joan added.
"It's a trap!" Jaune exclaimed, causing Sky to facepalm.
"Bruh, Space Wars… Really?" He questioned.
"Those movies are awesome and you know it!" The blond boy retorted.
"I never said they weren't. Why do you think the Immortal Rage's theater has those in circulation?" The King asked rhetorically.
"True…" He nodded. "Anyway, let's go."
(Elsewhere)
Sienna was tapping her fingers on the shell of a dead AED in her hands as she looked at who was standing in front of her. It was Blake, Foxxianna and Marrow. "What is it? Can't you see I'm busy trying to run an empire?" She questioned. Ever since she was ousted as the leader of the White Fang, she'd been quite bitter towards the Belladonna family and friendly with Foxxianna's family, since they helped her get out of prison early.
"We were hoping that you could spare us a soldier or two for us." Blake explained.
"Our efforts to add a base of operations for the White Fang in Mantle have been met with some… Understandable opposition, so we could really use the extra hands." Foxxianna added.
"And what would I get out of this? It seems a little one sided in your favor." The tiger faunus noted.
"General Ironwood has agreed to let you expand your… "Operations" to Mantle and Atlas if you do." Marrow told her. "Provided that the arrangement is mutually beneficial and that your representatives stay on their best behavior. Those were the terms the council set up."
"Hm…" Sienna hummed in thought. After a moment, she nodded. "Deal. When do you need them?" She asked.
"As soon as possible would be best." Blake told her.
"Alright." The tiger faunus nodded. "Almond! Come here, I have a task for you." She called. Moments later, a petite and short Chipmunk Faunus came into the room. She was very short, probably only as tall as Ruby was back at Beacon, had large hazel eyes, milk chocolate brown skin, almond brown hair that was in dread braids with almond shaped beads, and a round face. Lastly she had a chipmunk tail.
She also seemed to be very clumsy, tripping, falling and crashing into everything on her way into the room before falling flat on her face in front of her boss. This caused everyone in the room to facepalm.
"*pant pant* Yes, Miss Sienna? *pant pant*" She squeaked nervously.
"Go with miss Belladonna and her friends to Atlas to tell General Ironwood of my terms for our deal." Sienna told her, pointing at the group before pulling out an envelope from inside the chest and her top. "And make sure he gets this letter." She added, handing the girl the envelope.
"Of course." She replied with a squeak.
"She does not look like she's good at this whole frontier gig." Foxxianna whispered.
"I know, if she were actually in a fight, the Grimm would eat her alive." Blake said in concern as the little girl left with them. Sienna sighed as she leaned back in her chair.
"Hmmm, I wonder if the general knows any good restaurants we could talk deals over dinner." She wondered to herself.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile in Atlas Academy, Emerald was sitting with Autumn while Penny was coming into the school after visiting Freya. The two girls were busy trying to decide on baby names, since they had just found out that they were going to be having twins! One boy and one girl.
"So what do you think we name the boy?" The Fall Maiden asked her lover.
"I think Blaze would be a good name." The mintette replied thoughtfully. "And what do you think we should name the girl?" She asked.
"I think… Mint, short for Spearmint." Autumn replied. "What do you think?" She asked, rubbing her wife's belly softly, feeling the babies move around in her womb.
"I think that sounds wonderful." Emerald nodded.
"I think so too." Penny nodded. Autumn looked at her and her face soon became apologetic.
"Sorry Penny, I didn't realize you were there." Autumn told her. "Come on Emerald, let's let her be." She added before Penny stopped her.
"No, please. I'd prefer if you stayed." The robot girl said.
"You're not still mad at us? We thought you were given our… History." Emerald said. Penny was silent for a minute or two, before she took a deep breath and then looked at them again.
"I was initially. But as time went on, I decided that I had other things to do, and that being mad over it isn't really going to get me anywhere." The gingerette explained.
"Oh…" The girls nodded, right before Emerald suddenly felt an excruciating pain in her stomach area.
"Emerald! Are you okay?!" Autumn asked in worry as her lover groaned.
"It's the babies, they want out!" She tried to say through grit teeth.
"What?! But they'd be a month early!" The maiden gasped.
"I'll get the doctors!" Penny exclaimed as she ran out of the room.
"Hurry!" The amber eyed girl called. "Hang on, Emerald, we'll get through this."
(Elsewhere)
Back with Jaune and Sky, the two boys had chased more of Mink's goons to the Captain's hideout. As they looked around, a dark cloud suddenly leapt over them and materialized as Mink. Her Corrupted Crossbow that seemed larger than the Raider's in hand.
Mink was a rather thin and slender girl with dark skin like Ilia, but without the spots. Her hair was a light hazelnut color and her eyes were a sly yellow. She wore the same Captain garb, but she had a hood over her head, and her Faunus trait was a weasel tail.
"Welcome, minions of Wolfang." She cackled. Jaune quickly took one of the rigged crates and hurled it at the exit, causing it to collapse. Mink smirked as she ran away from them, dropping ammo cartridges the whole way.
"After that bitch!" Sky barked as he ran after her. When he moved to pick up a cartridge, it blew up in his face… Literally. The Grimm Knight's eye twitched under his helmet as his anger spiked. "I am going to fucking kill that liar…!" He seethed.
"Well, Sienna did say to trust nothing she touches." Jaune said as he shot a cartridge with Grimm Dagger, making it explode around some maulers and kill them.
"It slipped my mind, okay?" The King retorted as he shot two relic iron deposits that looked off. This caused them to explode and take out three Marauders. As the two chased Mink, they soon reached the blocked exit, and the weasel Faunus did something that shocked and disgusted them.
The woman suddenly made her body loosen and then she squeezed and contorted herself to fit inside a small hole in between the rubble and squeezed through with ease! As she left, the two boys could only stare at where she left with their minds blown.
"... What. The. Absolute. Hell?!" Sky asked, his mind short circuiting.
"What is she? Triple jointed?" Jaune questioned.
"That's her semblance, Ragdoll. It allows her to contort her already flexible body into inhuman ways to escape even the tightest spaces." Sun said. "She even managed to squeeze between the gears of the Beacon clock tower once and came out fine."
"That is the most disturbing thing I've ever heard a person do." Jaune confessed.
"I second that." Sky added. With that they continued to chase her, dodging anything that looked even slightly off. It was then that they reached an abandoned railroad tunnel.
"Oh! Are you mad that we killed Wolfang? Well then why don't you come and kill me then? Go on, come and brand yourself a cold blooded killer! [Laughs]." Mink cackled.
"Says the bitch that has no problems killing her own race and defiling their bodies by turning them into bloodthirsty puppets!" Jaune rebuked.
"Pot, meet kettle. Weren't you going to kill your friend's sister without a second thought?" Mink retorted before cutting the line.
"Don't listen to that bitch. I know you've moved on from that." Sky told his friend in an assuring tone.
"Doesn't mean I don't still think about it." Jaune sighed. The boys ran over to the exit while killing couriers who were near a pile of rigged crates, and found that it was locked.
"It's locked, we'll need to blast our way in." Joan said.
"And I know just how to do that. Go grab one of those rigged crates." Gurren instructed.
"Cover me!" He requested.
"Got it!" Sky nodded. As Jaune ran over to the crates, Sky shot all the Corrupted that popped up near him. Then the blonde grabbed a crate and shield charged forward, bashing everything out of the way before hurling the crate at the door. It had the desired effect of blasting it open.
"We're through! Let's go!" The Law of Pacifism called to his king. As they did they soon came to an abandoned mine and soon found themselves in a place covered in unmined dust, particularly of the Solar, Arc and Void varieties.
"Hello, jackpot quarry." Jaune said with a grin as he looked around.
"We should tell Atlas about this. The Iron Wolves too." Sky nodded before up above something was squeezing through a hole in the rocks before Mink popped out of it.
"Pop goes the weasel!" She said before jumping down and smirking at the two. "Aw, they want revenge! Go on, we deserve it. Here's some ammo, take it." She added as she tossed them a cartridge. Jaune didn't hesitate to shoot it mid flight.
"Like we're falling for that shit." He stated as he twirled his gun before shooting it at her. The Captain grunted as the shots made her aura flicker, but she soon disappeared and caused more Corrupted to rise up.
"Kill them and get the crazy woman!" Sky barked as he charged in, hacking at anything in his way.
"Wouldn't it be easier to try and Enthrall them?" The Knight asked as he stabbed a Hulk in the face with an exploding arrow and let the explosion take out six other zombies.
"Let me see if it even works on these guys!" The other Knight replied as he tried to Enthrall the Corrupted. Shockingly, it failed. "... Well shit." Was all Sky could say at this discovery.
"Hang on, I thought you said Enthralling worked on both Grimm and any being you wish to enforce your will over?!" The blonde questioned as switched swords and started using Dire Wolf's Fang and his shield.
"I think it's due to them being already dead! I can't Enthrall what's essentially corpses!" Sky explained as he stabbed Dark Eater into the ground, forcing the Corrupted to kneel from the gravity increasing.
"Keep that up, I'll handle Mink." Jaune said as he charged after her. As he did, the weasel girl started shooting her saw blades at him, which he blocked with his shield before using the gravity push function to make her slam into the wall of the cave and drop her weapon.
"Ahh!" She yelped before she was stabbed in the shoulder by the blonde's blade, pinning her to the wall. As her Aura flickered, Jaune then used Corsica Mors to stab her other shoulder, pinning her other arm.
"Any last words?" He asked as he pulled out No Turning Back and pulled the bowstring back.
"Yeah, I ain't dying yet!" She yelled before she dislocated her shoulders using her semblance and then used all her remaining strength, ripped off both her arms and lunged at Jaune. Her aura broke as she continued by kicking his bow away and pinning him down so that she could rip out his throat with her teeth.
Though as she did, the boy struggled to hold her back while he reached for his gun and then shoved it into her mouth.
"See ya!" He crowed before pulling the trigger, ending her life. Shoving now dead Faunus off himself, he soon took notice of the fact that his body was covered in blood. "... Yeah, I'm definitely taking a shower when we head back." He sighed.
"Good idea. Four down, four to go." Sky nodded before Gurren came out. "Gurren, mark this quarry for the Iron Wolves." He ordered his black and white AED.
"On it." The drone nodded before he received a call. "Incoming call from Autumn." He added.
"Patch her through." The King told his drone. In a moment, his sister was on the line.
"Sky, I need you to get back to Atlas. Now!" The Fall Maiden yelled in a panic.
"Whoa, calm down! What's happening?" Sky asked his sister.
"It's Emerald! She's going into labor!" She replied, shocking the two boys.
"WHAT?! Already?! Shit! Jaune, triple time!" Sky barked.
"Right!" The boy nodded. The two then bolted out of the base as fast as their legs would carry them and high-tailed it to Atlas.
(Later)
In the same hospital Weiss had been in, Emerald was currently in a bed, painkillers and numbing medicine going through her system to dull the pain of labor, and Autumn was holding her hand as she breathed heavily and rapidly. Sweat soaked the girl's body and she looked like an absolute wreck, reason why? It was because she had been in labor for over five hours, and the contractions were getting closer.
The door to the room opened, revealing a heavily breathing Sky without his armor. "I got here as fast as I could! How can I help?" He asked as he tried to get his breath back. Emerald meanwhile let out another pained yell as another contraction hit, squeezing her mistress's human hand hard enough to make her aura flicker. "... That bad huh?" He asked his sister in law.
"Yes…! It hurts so much!" She replied in a pained tone. It was then that the doctors entered.
"We came as soon as we were told. Sorry for the delay." One of them said. "How far are the contractions, Mrs. Obsidian?"
"First they were thirty minutes, then twenty five, then twenty, then fifteen, then ten, and now—AGH HA!" Autumn said before yelling as her hand was gripped again. "They're five minutes minutes apart, possibly less." She finished.
"Then she's getting ready to give birth. Everyone, positions!" The head doctor ordered. The doctors did so as she experienced more frequent contractions. "Alright miss Emerald, this time I'm going to need you to push as hard as you can. Can you do that?"
"Y-yes…!" The girl replied, her teeth grit together.
"Alright. Push when I tell you to." The doctor instructed. "3… 2… 1… PUSH!" He told her before she screamed in pain and squeezed Autumn's hand, causing her aura to dissipate. Sky quickly took his sister in law's other hand to provide extra support.
"Come on, Emerald! You can do this!" He said encouragingly. Emerald yelled as she kept pushing and pushing for several minutes, until small cries could be heard.
"The first twin is out, and it's a beautiful baby boy." The doctor told them as the baby was handed to the nurse to get cleaned. Though not even thirty seconds later, the next baby started coming. "And apparently his sister isn't one for wasting time."
"Just like… Her mother!" Emerald yelled in agony. A few minutes of pushing later, and crying was heard as the girl came out and was handed off to a nurse. With the babies out, Emerald finally let go of Autumn and Sky's hands as the two tried not to yell in pain. Then she fell back on the bed as the pain started to be numbed away, and gave way to exhaustion.
"How'd...I… do…?" The new mother asked tiredly.
"You did good, Emerald. You did good." Autumn told her pet softly as she cradled her injured hand.
"Yeah… You did amazing." Sky nodded, also cradling his wounded hand as his aura healed it. Emerald smiled before she slowly went to sleep, it had been a long day.
(Later)
A few days later and the new parents were back on the Immortal Rage with their new babies, with everyone coming to see them as the twins slept in a shared crib.
"Have you two decided on names yet?" Yang asked both her in-laws.
"Yeah. The boy is Blaze and the girl is Spearmint, or Mint for short." Emerald nodded. And they were fitting names. Blaze inherited Autumn's raven black hair, Emerald's ebony skin, and the illusionist's red eyes. He was dressed in a set of red baby pajamas with his name on his left chest. He had the Obsidian family birthmark on the back of his neck.
His sister meanwhile had slightly lighter skin, resembling the same shade as Ilia's, and had Emerald's green hair with Autumn's amber colored eyes, as well as the Obsidian family birthmark in the center of her collarbone. She was also wearing mint green pajamas with her name on it.
"They look so precious!" Ruby whispered happily as she looked at the little bundles of joy.
"They really do." Oscar nodded with a smile.
"Hard to think that just a few hours ago we were hunting someone down." Jaune noted, Pyrrha hugging his arm.
"Yeah. But I have to admit, it's nice to have a high note to end the day on." Sky nodded as well, his arms draped over Yang and Blake while Sun did the same with him.
Yes, beginning with a death and ending with a birth certainly did make things a bit better.
Dragon Emperor0: Half of the Captains are dead, and I gotta say, Mink did not go down easily by any means. Ripping off her own arms to get in close? That was hard core!
ThermalsniperN7: No kidding. She really went out like a boss. And Sky learned that he can't Enthrall the Corrupted since they're already dead… That's actually a good thing since those faunus were already defiled. No reason to up the ante on that.
Dragon Emperor0: Yeah… On the bright side though, it looks like we got two new babies in the world this chapter too.
ThermalsniperN7: And Sky is now an uncle. He's not gonna hesitate to give them a good childhood.
Dragon Emperor0: Yeah. Hey, when should Yang tell the gang what she learned during her first night with Sky, Sun and Blake? Because that happened before this around the last chapter if I remember correctly. (To readers: You'll understand the context when the bonus chapter drops).
ThermalsniperN7: Hm… I'm not sure. Perhaps after the Manipulator dies?
Dragon Emperor0: Okay so the chapter after next. Gotcha. Well, anyway guys, see you next time. Next chapter will be where Sky, Jaune and RWBY will face off against Hawkeye Talon: the Sharpshooter.