The Grey Freelancer of Remnant Volume 2
Chapter Three
"Plans in Motion"
To Councilman Julius Aurelius from Headmaster Ozpin
Dear Councilman, while I do understand the thought process behind deploying the Praetorians, perhaps it would be more mutually beneficial for a more neutral party to take the lead on this investigation? Nevertheless, it is the council's decision, and I shall respect heir edict, no matter what it may be. Unfortunately, I do not have any information on this "UNSC." If we pool our resources and work together, I'm sure we can discover the answers to these mysteries.
"Ugh, we never should've let him play!" Yang fumed, throwing open the RWWBY dormitory door.
Team RWWBY had just been destroyed in an all out war by the forces of Vale, under the command of one jaune Arc. As it turned out Remnant too had something of a liking for tabletop strategy games where one attempted to take over the world. Yang and Wash had been the undisputed champions of the game among the group, but even they had fallen prey to wiles and cunning stratagems of Jaune Arc.
"You're just mad that the new guy beat you," said Ruby, much to Yang's annoyance. "If you'd just attacked when I told you, none of this would've happened."
Yang growled in annoyance. "Hey, I beat you!" she reminded her younger sister, pointing at her, as if that would reinforce her poit. "And you!" She turned her attention to Wash, who was quietly chuckling to himself while the two bickered.
"Oh boy," he sighed fearfully, knowing that Yang's wrath was now about to be turned upon him.
"If you had teamed up with me like I said, we could've beaten vomit boy easily!" she told him.
Wash shrugged. "Every man for themselves," he replied calmly, with a massive smirk upon his face.
"Stop," Weiss suddenly demanded harshly.
Everyone looked around in confusion, not knowing who Weiss was calling out as the others were simply having an innocent discussion of the tumultuous tides of war, until their eyes landed on Blake, trying to slink away towards the door. Her hand stopped just inches short of the doorknob as she was called out.
"Lately, you've been quiet, anti-social, and moody," Weiss called her out.
"Uh, isn't that more Wash's thing?" Yang quipped.
Ruby lightly elbowed her sister in the side. "Not the time!" she whispered seriously.
"Which i get is kind of your thing, but you've been doing it more than usual" Weiss continued, paying no mind to her teammates. "Which, quite frankly, is unacceptable. You made a promise to me, to all of us, that you would let us know if something was wrong. So what is wrong?"
Blake took in a deep breath. and closed her eyes. "I just... I don't understand how everyone can be so calm," she explained.
"You're still thinking about Torchwick?" inquired Ruby.
"Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it!" Blake exclaimed in response. "Something big is happening and no one no one is doing anything about it!"
"I'm sure Ozpin is taking action to stop them before they are able to do anything too severe," Wash attempted to reassure his teammate.
"Between the huntsmen and the police, I'm sure they can handle it," added Yang.
"Well I'm not!" exclaimed Blake. "They don't know the White Fang like I do!"
The other members of Team RWWBY all shared a glance.
"Okay," resolved Weiss, "between blowing up night clubs, stopping thieves, and fighting for freedom, I'm sure the four of you think you're all ready to go out and apprehend these ne'er do-wells..."
"Uh, who?" asked Ruby confusedly.
"You guys blew up a night club?" inquired Wash.
"But, let me once again be the voice of reason. We're students. We're not ready to handle these sorts of situations," Weiss reminded them all.
"Well, yeah, but-" Ruby began.
"We're. Not. Ready." Weiss cut her off.
"And we may never be ready!" shouted Blake. "Our enemies aren't just going to sit around and wait for graduation day. They're out there, somewhere, planning their next move, and we don't even know what it is, but it's coming! Whether we're ready or not."
"Okay," called Ruby, "all in favor of becoming the youngest huntresses and huntsman to single-handedly bring down a corrupt organization conspiring against the kingdom of Vale, say I," she said, dramatic hand gestures and all.
"Yes!" came Yang's reply.
"We're not actually going through with this, right?' said Wash.
"I suppose it could be fun," Weiss conceded.
"Oh my God, we actually are doing this," came an awed murmur from Wash.
"None of you said 'I'" said Ruby sadly.
"Alright then," came Blake's voice, a smile on her face, "we're in this together."
"Let's hatch a plan," said Ruby.
"Yeah!" echoed Yang.
Suddenly, Ruby let out a horrified gasp. "I left my board game in the library!" With that, she rushed off to the library, leaving the door swinging open behind her as she sped out of the room.
Wash facepalmed. "We're doomed."
Ash Roux woke up in a pool of his own sweat. Once again the memories had come for him in the night. He had tried to tell himself that things were different here at Beacon, that it wasn't all on him, but, after meeting his new "team," he'd quickly become dissuaded by these notions. He was the leader of Team ASCH, and only he could be great. His team would win and lose based on his strength, and his alone. This was how it had always been.
He sat up on his bed pushed his dark hair out of his eyes. He figured he would use the bathroom, get a drink of water, change his shirt, as his dark russet tank top had been completely sweat through, and then return to bed. He mace, Oribus Ignen was leaned against his night stand, with fire dust canisters sitting on top of the stand.
He saw Cadell asleep in his bead, tossing and turning while muttering incoherent phrases. His sword, Silvershard, was it's, or her, scabbard, with was, in turn, on his sword belt and draped over the corner of his bed frame, right above his head. Benkei, meanwhile, had his naginata in nodachi form, where it was expertly hung above his bed. More of a decorative feature, really.
Suddenly, he became keenly away that South was not in her bed. Her sheets and blankets looked as though they had been thrown off, before whoever had been under them had decided to get up. Oh well, thought Ash, she's probably just getting water, or something.
After using the bathroom, Ash turned on the hot water in the sink. Using a washcloth, he washed his face, letting the warm water run down his face. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. He'd hoped so much that it couldn't be just him having to do all the heavy lifting here at Beacon, but alas, he'd been wrong. With the possible exception of Benkei, his teammates seemed to refuse to carry their own weight. They were flippant, undisciplined, and didn't take their training nearly seriously enough. At least, that was how he saw it.
It was up to him to be strong. Only he could win for his team and only he could honor his distinguished pedigree, and he would do whatever it took to make it so.
Wash pulled on his new black and yellow jacket and a pair of black, fingerless marksman's gloves. The members of Team RWWBY too was dressed up in different outfits for this mission, for they had thought that more discreet, practical clothing might be beneficial, something with which Wash whole-heartledly agreed with. He sheathed his two combat knives at his left side, while holstering his sidearm on the right and slung his BR55 over his shoulder.
"I though that class would never end," said Blake, as they had just come from Professor Port's class. The older huntsman certainly seemed to like... regaling his students with tails of his past.
"Today's the day," said Ruby.
"Is everyone ready?" asked Wash. Everyone nodded.
"Everyone remember their roles?" Ruby asked the team.
"You and I will head to the CCT tower to check SDC records for any other dust robberies or inconsistencies. Seing as I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem," said Weiss.
Wash saw Yang roll her eyes at her teammate's snobbery.
"The White Fang hold faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. if I can get in, I can hopefully hopefully find out what they're planning," Blake recounted her role in the plan.
"I'll check in with some shady friends on the other side of town. They know literally everything going on in Vale," said Yang. "Getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard," she added.
"And I'll be running overwatch. I'll be watching over Yang's dealings from afar to make sure they don't try and pull anything," said Wash
"Oh, trust me, I think they learned their lesson from last time," said Yang.
"Last... time?" inquired Wash.
"Great! We'll meet up here tonight to go over what we found. Let's do this!" she added, pumping her fist for dramatic effect.
"Yeah!" came another voice, a male voice. It was Sun! Hanging upside down from a tree just outside their open window.
Everyone jumped back in surprise.
"Sun!" exclaimed Blake.
"You know, we probably should've closed the window before going over our secret plan," mused Wash.
"How did you get there?" asked a befuddled Yang.
"Oh, it's easy. I do it all the time," Sun dismissed it as though it were nothing.
"You do what?" exclaimed Weiss, aghast.
"I climb trees all the time," answered Sun innocently.
Weiss narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"So, are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy and his white-armored thug?" asked Sun, swinging in through the window.
"We are going to investigate the situation," replied Blake coolly. "As a team."
"Sorry, Sun, we don't want to get friends involved if we don't have too," said Ruby sweetly.
Sun scoffed. "That's dumb," he replied belligerently, "you should always get friends involved, that's why I brought Cadell, and South."
Everyone suddenly bolted to the window, looking only to find Cadell and South standing on a small outcropping on the wall. "Hey," Cadell greeted, his voice cracking ever so slightly. Hi foot slipped slightly on the small outcropping and he pressed his back tightly against the wall, digging his fingers into with all his might. "Oh gods!" he swore, shutting his eyes.
"He really brought half a damn team up here," remarked Wash dryly, not sure whether to be impressed or highly annoyed.
"How did you even get up here?" asked Ruby.
"It wasn't easy," stated South.
"It turns out that climbing up almost completely flat walls is quite difficult," Cadell noted.
"Can, uh, you let us in?" asked South.
And so they let them in.
"How do you know South and Cadell?" Wash asked Sun.
"Oh, Cadell and I go way back," replied Sun dismissively, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Don't know South, but Cadell says he trusts her, and that's good enough for me."
Wash couldn't help but throw a concerned glance Cadell's way. He had the sneaking suspicion that his trust in South would be rewarded the same way she always rewarded those who trusted her.
"So, what's the plan?" asked Cadell.
"Well," began Ruby, "Weiss and I will go to the CCT tower, Cadell, you're with us." Cadell nodded in acknowledgement. "Sun and Blake, you'll be infiltrating the White Fang rally," she continued.
"Makes sense," remarked Sun.
"And Yang, Wash and South will head downtown to visit one of Yang's contacts," she finished. "Now," she added, "what are our team names?"
For a moment, silence hung in the air as everyone in room exchanged confused looks.
"Team names?" replied Wash, confused.
"Yup!" replied Ruby.
"Really?" Wash pressed.
"Yup," Ruby insisted.
Wash sighed. "Okay," he conceded, "team names."
"Alright!" said Sun. He turned to Blake, "weeee're Teeeaaaammm Faunus!"
"Seriously?" responded Blake, less than impressed.
"What? You don't like it?" replied Sun, spreading his arms out wide.
"It's just... it's not very creative, is it?" continued Blake.
Sun shrugged dismissively.
"Weeee're Team Best Friends!" exclaimed Ruby, throwing her arms up in the air excitedly.
"No," Weiss staunchly refused.
"Why not?" asked Ruby, giving her teammate her best puppy eyes.
Weiss scoffed.
"I'm, uh, I'm also tagging along with you guys," Cadell reminded them.
"You know what? Veto. We're Team Best Friends," Ruby used her executive powers as team leader to her advantage.
"And they're the angry blonde trio of Remnant," said Cadell, jutting a finger out t Wash, Yang, and South.
"Hey!" they three blondes protested simultaneously.
"It's decided," stated Ruby. "Now let's head out."
To Be Continued...
(A/N: I'm till alive! Yes, I know it's surprising, but school has been hectic lately, and I've only been able to finish this because of the brief reprieve spring break has offered me. Thank you all for your patience and sorry for the long wait, I'll try to get chapters out more regularly, but I can;t make any promises.)