Team CYAN: Raging Storm

Chapter 2: Riddle Me This

(Note: I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum)

Scroll: "One new message."

Aidan: "Hey. Silent alarm at an auction house just tripped. What worries me about it is that one of the items for sale is Malachites only legitimately bought piece of artwork. An antique statue of the God of Darkness. What's concerning about it is that the base was found out to be modified into a drawer for concealing evidence. It was lost in the chaos of arresting as many Spiders as we could. Could you check it out? Quietly? I don't wanna make a scene if it's nothing..." I think I've heard of this statue before. There's a possibility that it may still hold some evidence against her. Better check it out. I get a call from Grandma as I traverse through town.

Marie: "Celena, I lost track of you at the party."

Celena: "Yeah, I got called in for more Huntress work. Sorry."

Marie: "Don't apologize... I just wanted to tell you how much what you said meant to me. I always wonder if any of us in the family are doing right by you..."

Celena: "Well, stop wondering. After everything that's happened to me ever since I started at Shade... there are so many times I would've fallen apart if not for any of you or my teammates."

Marie: "Well, that works both ways, Celena. I just wanted to make sure you knew that."

Celena: "Grandma, I... I don't know what to say-"

Marie: "Oh, I think Mr. Mondai needs my help. I should go. See you soon, dear. I love you."

Celena: "Love you too." I make it to the auction house addressed in dads message and sneak through the vents just in case. I look down through the vent of the front hall and see a woman on the floor in fear of the bald men in green suits, green pants, purple dress shirts, purple gloves, black shoes, and green masks with white eye holes covering their eyes. Their all armed with guns, but they all look like the same guns that the Spiders used... Did they steal them from Malachite?

Lead Criminal: "I am losing patience. Where is the file?"

Woman: "There's someone else here-they must have taken it!"

Celena: "Those masks... who are these guys?"

Lead Criminal: "There's no one here but us." He forces the woman off the floor. "We will find the file. Or you will die." As he points the gun at her face. He then turns her around, gun still pointed at her, and they get moving.

Celena: "This is bad. They'll kill her if I alarm them. Need to pick them off silently." I decide to call Dad. "Dad, the silent alarm was legit. Masked gunmen and a single hostage. Looks like a heist-in-progress."

Aidan: "Copy that. Sending police units your way. Keep the situation from getting worse in the meantime."

Celena: "Can do." Hang up. Luckily I made stealth drones in occasions like this where I can't fight. They find their targets and zap them with enough voltage to knock them unconscious. I do so for two rooms now as I continue through the vents. I see the woman and criminal from earlier in one of the halls.

Lead Criminal: "My patience wears thin."

Woman: "Someone else is hear, I swear. She must have the file!" Three gunshots are fired, follows by a scream. At least he shot the wall.

Lead Criminal: "If they're here, WHERE ARE THEY?"

Woman: "I don't know. I don't know, I just don't know..." I reach the end of this vent in a store room where I find a pair of green katanas. Definitely wind Dust.

Celena: "These definitely belong to-"

Criminal: "Don't move!" I turn around with my hands up but not worried to see one of them pointing a gun at me.

Celena: "Buddy, if I had a Lien for every 'Don't Move'..." That's when he gets in the head from behind by... my old teammate, Alice Storm. I knew it, these are her Zephyrus swords.

Alice: "Hey Celena."

Celena: "Alice... what are you doing here?" As I hand her back her swords.

Alice: "Same as you, working."

Celena: "If your here, I'm guessing Nya isn't far behind from this break in?"

Alice: "Kind of... Nya is back at the house sorting the evidence on Malachite. She saw the records on the God of Darkness statue and sent me to investigate it after finding out it ended up here. And it wasn't a break in until a few minutes ago."

Celena: "Huh?"

Alice: "Let me explain..." Enter flashback. Alice enters the auction house very casually, as usual, and approaches the woman in charge.

Woman: "Uh, excuse me."

Alice: "Hi, Alice Storm, local Huntress." As she shows her license. "I'm here regarding an item that was submitted earlier today. I'm afraid there's been a bit of a mix up. It belonged to the woman who was arrested today, Lil' Miss Malachite, and it was lost in the chaos of arresting her forces."

Woman: "Was the item a stolen good?"

Alice: "No, but it was modified to be of use to her. Something about being able to conceal evidence."

Woman: "I see. What was the item, Ms. Storm?"

Alice: "A statue of the God of Darkness. The younger brother of the two gods that created Remnant."

Woman: "Ah, yes. It's back there in my office. Investigate all you wish. I still have work to do, so I'll leave you to it."

Alice: "Thank you." She enters the room the woman pointed at and sees it there. The black statue of the god Project Guardian banished a few years back, immortalized in a pose of standing up straight holding his hand up grasping flames. "According to Nya, this statue was modified to hold a mechanism that opens a drawer in the base it stands on. Gotta find the trigger..." She takes a closer look at it and find that the left horn turns and so she turns and the plaque pops off, revealing a drawer. The only thing inside is a file labeled 'Grimms Blood' signed by... councilman Jack Storm. "This is Dads signature... What is this? 'Grimms Blood'? What's Grimms-" A noise can be heard outside. She peeks through the door to find tons of armed men in masks entering the building. "What the?"

Woman: "Excuse me! Sir! You... you can't be-" One of them bitch slaps her across the face and onto the floor.

Alice: "Not good..."

Lead Criminal: "Where's the statue?"

Woman: "In... in there..." As she points towards her office. Luckily the office has another door leading to the halls, so Alice quietly leaves before a few of them proceed to kick the font door open.

Criminal: "Fairu o mitsukemasu."(Find the file.) Speaking in some other language. That's when Alice starts getting a move on. Back to the present with me.

Alice: "I was on my way to the exit when I saw you..."

Celena: "Wait. Were you seriously just gonna leave that woman to these psychos?"

Alice: "Of course not. But I can't exactly engage them without them killing her. I was gonna come back with help. But that's besides the point. Listen, whoever these guys are, they're after this file. But I'll never get it out of here while the place is swarming with them."

Celena: "Right. Okay. Umm, you take cover back there, I take out the bad guys, you save that woman and make a break when it's clear."

Alice: "Sounds like a plan." She heads for a door in the back of the room. "Good to see you, Celena."

Celena: "Yeah, you too." I zip towards another vent that leads straight to the auditorium where they hold auctions behind the front hall.

Lead Criminal: "Idō!"(Move!)

Woman: "Yes. Alright. Of course." This language they're speaking... It sounds like that Japanese thing I heard about back at the Osore, Zaka split man from Grimm with his Salem sword and his human half Ly found out about it, naming Zaka's Grimm tree after the translation for fear and naming Zaka's Grimm half Kibishi, the translation for grim. It's been a while, but the contacts between Team CYAN members still work as Alice calls through the comm as I'm stealthing these guys.

Alice: "OK. I'm hidden near the front. Give the word and I'll make a break for it."

Celena: "Will do. But what about that file? What's in it that these guys want so bad?"

Alice: "Notes on something out that apparently my Dad is developing called 'Grimms Blood'."

Celena: "Wasn't that what Croft was experimenting with on Zaka?"

Alice: "No, if I recall right Croft was working with real Grimm blood to make people part Grimm. This seems to be some kind of man made substance, but it doesn't say what it is. It's mostly just invoices for the development labs construction. But there are notes in here by Malachites hand."

Celena: "What was she doing with that file anyway?"

Alice: "For some reason, Dad didn't want the rest of the council finding out about this so when the Spiders came to Vacuo he handed this file to them under the table. It still doesn't say, but she does seem to imply that Dad told her what Grimms Blood really is. Because whatever it is, it seemed to have really scared her. She compares it to the powers of the Apathy."

Celena: "Not much shook Malachite... Why is councilman Storm making something so dangerous?"

Alice: "No clue. Doesn't seem like he gave her his reasons for doing so."

Celena: "Regardless, we need to get you and that file out of here. Hang tight." After finishing the remaining intruders in this room I hear Alice scream from the front hall. I barge in to see her being dragged out of the office. She tries to resist but ends up dropping the file and another guy grabs it and escapes with it. After I get the one guy off of Alice, even more of them come out and surround us. I ready my blades as she draws her swords. "Just like old times, huh?"

Alice: "You said it!" And the fight is on. These guys are a bit tougher than Malachites goons. They seem a bit more coordinated. Some are fighting with their bare fists. Some carry firearms. And some are carrying electric rods. But they still can't keep up with my speed and Alice's wind power. Afterwards, I take one of their masks and examine it.

Celena: "Hm... Looks like it was made by a professional, but I can't make heads or tails of this symbol in it." There's a Japanese looking symbol inside the mask in between the eye holes. "But I think I know someone who can." That's when I notice the woman coming from the office.

Woman: "Are they down?"

Celena: "Yeah..." That's when police sirens can be heard outside. "And the calvary has just arrived." The cops come in and start investigating. Taking statements from Alice and the woman, and taking the statue as evidence. I meet Alice outside for a quick chat... with some fresh brewed coffee I picked up from across the street while she was busy with the cops.

Alice: "So. Mystery mask guys. What's your take?"

Celena: "Definitely a villainous conspiracy. What's your take?"

Alice: "Same, but if you ask Nya, she'd probably say there's a bigger story here."

Celena: "And there most likely is. But we can't know for sure until we get more info."

Alice: "Ugh, if only I hadn't lost that file! I could've had Nya analyze it and we'd been able to get somewhere."

Celena: "Well, you can still go tell her what you know and see what she can pick up from there."

Alice: "I guess..." That's when a second batch of cops start flying down the street towards the east. "What the hell was that!?"

Celena: "It could be those guys again! I'll check it out!" I take a big gulp before throwing it away and zipping after them.