Volume II: Episode 6: Threads
Yang was a busy girl, she'd be the first to admit it. It was something that came with the territory of being the contact for the Autobots as they waged their battle to stop the evil forces of the Decepticons. Ironically, her life had taken a turn for the surreal when she had been tasked with watching Cinder and her team at Beacon, which meant that she was spending most of her time there and, in the process, making the rest of Team RWBY suspicious of her, because it apparently wasn't friendly to be friendly. She'd even had Nora not so subtly imply that she wasn't welcome when she had some game night planned or something.
Yeesh. If this was what they were like around her, then she was glad she missed out on most of the first semester with them.
Still, she wasn't blind to the goings-on with her team. She was certainly aware enough to easily pick up on certain irregularities in it. Like, for instance, the fact that they had 25% fewer members on Monday than they did on Friday. Honestly, this "not showing up for the first class of the day" stuff was the sort of thing she pulled.
"Hey, where's Blake?" asked Yang aloud.
Ruby and Weiss both slowed at that, but it was the white-haired girl that looked the more morose. And, just like that, it clicked for Yang. Something bad had happened to Blake, and Weiss was involved somehow. Most likely, they got into an argument, possibly about Weiss's new reading material that she was trying to keep secret… which meant, Yang realized, that this was all her fault.
"She's being tutored."
As one, the trio turned to notice their teacher, Professor Ann Greene, approaching the classroom somewhat later than normal.
"She's being tutored?" asked Weiss in hopeful surprise.
"Yes," replied Professor Greene. "Advanced training. I received confirmation of it this morning, and it's been approved by the faculty."
"Mmm, that's good," moaned Ann very quietly to herself as she sipped her beverage.
The day was beginning anew, and through her open window, the sun was beginning to filter in. She wondered then what would happen on this beautiful spring day. What new wonders awaited?
As if in answer, an arrow shot through the window and dug itself into the wall opposite; around it was wrapped a parchment secured with a fine red string.
Ann looked up at the arrow and sighed.
"She will, naturally, be off-campus for some time, but I'm sure she will return once her training is complete," continued Professor Greene.
"When will that be?" asked Weiss with what sounded like hope mixed with worry.
Greene shrugged. "When her training is complete, or at least when her tutor thinks he can let her go without her shooting her own foot off. Come along now; you three need to focus on your own education."
They followed, but it was clear that Weiss was still worried. Yang recognized the expression she had. It was something she had seen on her father's face many times: guilt. She'd need to have a talk with her later… whenever later came.
Vanguard led his team into the cafeteria and scanned the room for a place to sit. They didn't generally sit with any particular group on a regular basis, but they did tend to either sit with fellow second years or other guest Atlesian teams. He looked over at where Team CFVY was sitting, but the death glare he received decided him against it. Perhaps they should steer clear of them until the Beacon team's bruised egos had healed a bit.
Instead, he nodded to another table, and Team RRFL soon joined Team APRC at their table. There were... other reasons for sitting with the first-year Atlesian team, of course, but there was no reason not to be friendly.
"Hey," he said, offering a friendly nod as he took his seat, receiving greetings of various enthusiasm in turn.
"Sal-u-tations!" was the most exuberant, naturally.
"So, anything interesting going on, Shadow?" he asked as he began to eat.
"Not so you'd notice," she said.
Vanguard always wondered if her thick south Animan accent was genuine or not. She had certainly come from that region, but she'd had plenty of time to iron it out... and a distinctive accent was hardly an asset for a ninja.
"We had a bit of an exercise this past weekend," Lightning announced. "We kicked butt, of course."
"Mmm," agreed Thunder, his attention focused on cracking the shell of an almond.
"You seem distracted, Reg," observed Bladerider.
"Little bit," Thunder confirmed as he finally cracked the shell open. "Can be a bit tricky cracking an almond shell without cracking the nut inside."
Bladerider cocked her head to the side curiously. "Are not almonds also sold without the shell?"
Thunder shrugged, popping the almond in his mouth. "Sure, they are."
"So why do you not simply buy them already shelled?"
"It's part of the experience," Thunder declared seriously. "Besides, nuts don't taste the same if you don't first crack the shell yourself."
"I see." Bladerider nodded. "Thank you for explaining. May I try?"
"Sure."
Vanguard watched as Bladerider tried and failed several times to crack almonds without damaging the nuts within. She frowned in frustration.
"Here," Thunder interjected. "Let me show you. It's all about getting the right angle."
After a few minutes of direction, Bladerider successfully cracked an almond while leaving the nut inside intact. "Success!" she cheered. "Thank you, Reg!"
"No problem," Thunder said, waving it off. "Anything for a friend."
Bladerider blinked slowly at that. "'Friend'?" she repeated.
Thunder blinked. Farsight, however, put a hand on Bladerider's shoulder. "Now, Penny, you shouldn't keep obsessing over everyone who uses that word. Not everyone means it the same way. Besides, it's improper."
Bladerider seemed to wilt a little at that, but nodded. "Understood, Ciel."
The octet lapsed into silence as they turned their focus back onto their food. Afterwards, the two teams parted ways, and as they walked, Thunder shook his head. "Odd girl, Penny."
"You know what she is," Vanguard reminded him.
"Yeah," Thunder acknowledged. "But... still."
"Remember our orders, Thunder."
"...right." Thunder nodded. "Right. Gotcha."
Blake had practically been raised in the White Fang, and when Sienna Khan took over five years ago and started endorsing the more violent factions within it, she'd chosen to run away from home to stay with them. They taught her a lot over the years: how to avoid detection, how to break into secured systems, how to lie and infiltrate, how to fight. How to kill, if it was necessary. It was enough for her to test into Beacon despite never attending a combat school.
She wasn't arrogant enough to think she knew everything. When she'd left the White Fang, she'd gone to Beacon because she knew she still had much to learn. But she was only now beginning to understand how much she still had to learn.
The bottom level of the warehouse Storm Shadow had taken her to was cavernously empty, but there was an upper level with offices converted into living quarters. Right now, she was on the main floor, the room devoid of light. Like many faunus, she had better night vision than most humans, but with the windows boarded up so that not even the faintest hint of starlight could leak in, it did her little good.
The cat ears atop her head twitched, searching for any sound, any hint of her new teacher's location. She'd hidden them beneath that bow for so long, it still felt strange to have them out. Exposed. It made her feel vulnerable in a way she knew was irrational. She guessed about thirty minutes had passed since this particular exercise had started, and so far, she had heard nothing, despite her best efforts.
"You rely on your eyes and ears too much," Storm Shadow's voice echoed from the darkness.
"If someone is in a position to take those away from me, I'd say I've already lost," she pointed out, her ears straining for something, anything. A footstep, a brush of wind, anything.
"True."
There!
She lunged forward, her hand outstretched, groping for something, anything. She just needed to touch him at least once to salvage some of her pride tonight.
"But they can also be deceived," Storm Shadow continued, whispering in her ear from behind as he pulled her into a full nelson.
He clicked a remote and let her go as the lights turned on.
She spun and stared at him in disbelief.
"How?!" she demanded. "How did you do that?"
"That, Little Knightshade, is what you are here to learn," he said, "but before you can master the wind, you must first master your own senses. All of them. We are done for the night, as I have other business to attend to."
Blake resisted the urge the press the issue. Instead, she nodded. "Yes, Sensei." She turned and headed for the stairs, climbing up to the room she had claimed for herself.
It was a spartan room, little more than a former office with an old mattress on the floor next to a crate that served as a table, but it was more than she deserved after what she had done.
What had she been thinking? Weiss was supposed to be her friend, but she had destroyed all of that with her words. Worse, she had once more completely destroyed Weiss herself.
Maybe it was karma for her arrogance? She'd started off her time at Beacon thinking that Weiss was evil, haughtily assuming that she was as bad as her father with an attitude to match. She still remembered her first words to the heiress, identifying her for Ruby's sake... and building her up just enough to cut her legs out from under her by calling out her family company's shortcomings. However, as time passed, her views had changed, and she grew to see the white-haired girl in a completely new light. She grew to realize that Weiss wasn't a victimizer, but a victim herself.
Blake's victim.
In her, Blake saw an opportunity to make right at least some of the wrongs she had committed as part of the White Fang. A chance to truly make a difference in the world. A chance to finally fight for a cause actually worth fighting for.
Of course, more than that, she found herself liking Weiss's company. With Yang usually off doing her own thing, JNPR across the hall most of the time, and Ruby wrapped up plotting their next move, they had been given a fair amount of time to themselves. In those moments, Blake had found out just how studious the Atlesian girl was, how driven, and how they both shared a mutual love of the written word. They were at ease with each other and shared things that they hadn't let slip to any others.
Two scions of rival families, destined to fight each other, instead meeting under different circumstances and becoming best friends. It sounded like something out of a story, like in The Canine & the Vulpine or Dandelion. Except… it wasn't. It ended up more like The Girl in the Striped Sleepwear.
With her sister's betrayal, Weiss was in a bad spot mentally and emotionally, and instead of helping her when she was at her most vulnerable and susceptible to the honeyed words of the wicked, Blake had instead revictimized her. That face of hers, those dead eyes, the sense of a spectral sword sticking through her back, would forever haunt her dreams. Blake had totally destroyed their friendship, and if the white-haired girl should ever recover from that she would despise her completely.
Good.
She paused her ruminations and frowned as she slowed her approach to the door. There was something hanging from it. When had-? Her lips curled into a smile. So, that's it...
Storm Shadow must have ducked out to place the new addition during the training session.
She reached up to the nameplate now hanging on her door. "'Knightshade'?" she read out.
"Yes," came Storm Shadow's voice from behind her.
Startled, she turned, her hand reflexively reaching for the absent Gambol Shroud again before she surreptitiously lowered it. "Why the K?" she asked him, the question the only thing she could think of to say.
"Because 'Nightshade' without a K is already taken," a voice - female - answered from her left, "and trust me, you don't want to mess with Mistralian trademark lawyers."
Blake looked to the voice and took in the woman standing there. She looked to be in her late twenties and stood like a Huntress. She had dark eyes and light brown skin, and a mane of vibrant red hair framed her face. She wore grey boots, and her dark brown jumpsuit had no arm sleeves, exposing the tan shirt she wore underneath. She was also wrapped in a compact climbing harness, and a grey pack hung across her back. It all looked high quality, probably very expensive, but her only obvious concessions to vanity appeared to be lipstick, some eyeshadow, and a pair of large, golden, triangular dangle earrings. In her left hand, she held a small briefcase.
"Nightshade," greeted Storm Shadow, drawing Blake's attention, but he wasn't looking at her. Rather, his focus was on the redhead.
"Storm Shadow," the redhead replied.
"Do you have what I require?"
The redhead - Nightshade, presumably - nodded and held up the briefcase, which Storm Shadow accepted. "Now, we're even," she said.
Storm Shadow cracked the briefcase open to inspect the contents, then nodded, looking back up. "A favor for a favor." He turned to look at Blake. "First lesson, Knightshade."
"What?" Blake asked, surprised to be brought into the conversation.
Storm Shadow reached into the briefcase and tossed something at her. Blake reflexively caught the object and was surprised to recognize her own weapon, Gambol Shroud.
"Never be without a weapon," he said simply.
Blake started, trying to parse what had just happened. She'd left Gambol Shroud in her locker back at Beacon! But that meant...
She looked up at Storm Shadow. "Wait. You stole this from Beacon?!"
"I did not," Storm Shadow replied, then nodded to Nightshade. "She did."
Blake looked at the older woman. "How?!"
Nightshade smirked and said simply, "I'm the best."
Blake's gaze whipped back to Storm Shadow. "Why?"
"Do you have an alternative weapon available?" he asked. "A backup?"
"...no," she admitted.
"Then it was necessary," he said. "We will work to make sure it is not necessary in the future."
"A bit slow on the uptake, isn't she?" Nightshade asked, clearly amused.
Storm Shadow snorted. "Actually, she reminds me of you, in some ways. At least she gave up what she had for ideals, rather than excitement."
Nightshade scoffed and shook her head. "Idealism's for suckers, Stormy. I don't regret my choices, and looking at her, I'd say that's more than she can claim."
Storm Shadow inclined his head in acknowledgement. "One more lesson for her to learn then."
"Tsk, sure," the redhead said skeptically. "See ya 'round, old friend."
"Farewell, Nightshade."
I should have been there, Pyrrha thought morosely as she strode into the center of the training room, weapons at the ready.
Across from her stood her old friend, Arslan, who seemed inclined to keep Nemean Claw sheathed. Not surprising. Arslan excelled in barehanded combat. Still, a part of her automatically made a note to watch for dagger-related surprises.
They stared at each other measuringly, but today, Pyrrha had little patience, and after only a moment, she charged, Miló thrust forward in sword form, shielding herself with Akoúo̱. Arslan's eyes widened in surprise, but the Golden Lion of Haven recovered quickly, crouching slightly before launching herself forward to meet her. Pyrrha lowered Akoúo̱ to intercept Arslan's fist as she drew Miló back, transforming it into its javelin form for a downward thrust.
Just before the two titans of power and skill met, however, Arslan threw her torso back, letting her feet slide to overtake her upper body, and skimmed across the ground into a low sliding kick. Pyrrha leaped up, but it was too late. Arslan's hand wrapped around her ankle and slammed her face first into the floor.
Pyrrha sighed as she lay there, not even bothering to roll over onto her back. She'd been looking forward to this sparring match for days. Sparring with Arslan was always a treat, nothing like her training sessions with Jaune or Ruby; with Arslan, she could really let loose. But now...
"Get up."
The redhead rolled over and stared up at Arslan, who held a hand down toward her. She took the platinum blonde's hand and allowed her to pull her to her feet.
"All right, Pyr," Arslan said, "that's twice now I got you with moves you never fell for before. What's the deal?"
Pyrrha chewed her lip as they made their way to the side of the arena and began their cooldown exercises. "Maybe you're right," she said. "Maybe Beacon is letting me get soft."
Arslan snorted derisively. "That's a load of bull, and you know it. Something's bugging you, Pyrrha, and I'm not going to take a win just because you're letting something distract you. What's wrong?"
"Just some... personal stuff."
The Haven student rolled her eyes. "Obviously," she said. After a pause, she asked, "Is it Jaune Boy?"
Pyrrha blinked, her face flushing. "Wh-what?"
"I know you, Pyrrha," Arslan reminded her. "I can almost read you like a book. What'd he do? Ask for your help with another girl or something?"
"No!" Pyrrha denied, then wilted. "At least... not lately."
"You are way too nice, Pyr." Arslan shook her head. "And I mean that in the sense that I don't think most people would even notice you being extra nice to him. Still, if it's not Jaune Boy that's got you down, what is it?"
"I, um, well..."
Just then, the door to the training room opened, and the rest of Team ABRN stepped in.
"Hey!" Nadir greeted with a wave. "How'd it go?"
"Poorly," was Arslan's blunt reply. "Pyr needs a good cheering up."
Reese grinned. "I know just the thing. Follow me!" With that, she tossed her hoverboard - Out A Time - into the air and hopped onto it, kicking off.
Pyrrha blinked dumbly.
"Nadir!" Arslan called, and the two of them grabbed the redhead, snapping her out of her stupor as they picked her up between them.
"H-hey!"
A few minutes later, they found themselves in front of O'Malley's, a bar and lounge on Beacon's campus where students could relax. Pyrrha had been here a few times. The owner, Tex, was a retired Huntress and often talked about her brother who worked in law enforcement over in Mistral.
"Nothing like a good drink as a pick-me-up," Reese declared as she made a beeline for the bar.
"Um, Arslan," Pyrrha said, "you know I don't drink any more than you do."
"I remember," her old friend said. "Doesn't mean we can't relax here."
"Also... does Reese know this place doesn't serve alcohol?" asked Pyrrha.
"Whaddaya mean, 'virgin only'?!" came the shout from the hoverboarder.
"She does now," observed Arslan dryly. "C'mon, let's find a booth."
With a sigh, Pyrrha acquiesced, and soon, they were all seated at a booth. Reese joined them with an armful of drinks, scooting one to each of them before appropriating a chair from a nearby table to sit in at the end of the booth.
Pyrrha blinked at the drink in front of her. "What's this?"
"Looks like Phthian Ambrosia to me," Bolin observed. "Some call it the 'Little Death.'"
"Yep!" Reese confirmed. She then added sourly, "Virgin, of course. Seriously, Beacon's laaame."
Pyrrha found herself eyeing the drink warily.
"Drink up, Pyr," Arslan said. "I've had it before. It's pretty good."
"If you insist," Pyrrha sighed, taking the drink and sipping it. Her eyes widened as the taste registered. It was an interesting clash of sweet and sour, with a touch of salt in the mix as well, and... she felt revitalized. She put it down and stared at it again, wide-eyed. If Arslan hadn't given her own seal of approval - she treated her body like a temple and held to a very strict diet - she would have been questioning if it was drugged or something.
"So," Arslan said, "how about you tell us what's got you so down, Pyr?"
Pyrrha sighed. There was no getting out of it now.
"It's my friend, Blake," she began. Arslan arched an eyebrow, and Pyrrha scowled. "I can have other friends!"
Arslan laughed. "Sorry, Pyr. I guess it's kind of strange to imagine your fame didn't scare everyone away. I guess you're not as well-known in Vale?"
Pyrrha pouted. "Not exactly. Our team...s are pretty unusual. I mean, Ruby's more interested in Miló than my tournament record; Blake, Ren, and Nora spent years on the streets; and Jaune barely recognized me from the front of the Pumpkin Pete's box."
"That awful cereal?" Arslan asked incredulously. Pyrrha nodded. Pumpkin Pete's had actually approached the both of them for a joint deal, but Arslan had turned them down; the ad campaign involved them actually eating it on-camera, and frankly, Pyrrha regretted not making the same choice.
She didn't notice the rest of Team ABRN exchange curious looks. She had, after all, only listed five members of the two teams. Adding herself in, that still left two others unmentioned, and they weren't sure what, if anything, that implied.
"Anyway, Blake got into an argument with her teammate, Weiss, and now, she's... gone, and Weiss blames herself," Pyrrha said. "I don't even know what the argument was about," she added in frustration.
"'Weiss'?" Bolin asked. "You mean that mopey little white-haired girl?"
"Gotta be," Nadir confirmed. "The blonde's name is Yang, I'm pretty sure."
Pyrrha nodded, raising a sculpted eyebrow of her own. Did they not recognize Weiss as the Schnee heiress? Must be nice, she thought enviously.
"So why the hell are you moping around instead of doing something about it?" Arslan demanded.
Pyrrha blinked. "Wh-what?"
"Pyr, you're telling me that that broken little girl with white hair is beating herself up over this," the dark-skinned girl summarized. "So... why are you here moping about it instead of helping her?"
The redhead's eyes widened. Arslan was right. She should be helping Weiss, no matter how much a part of her - a small, evil part that couldn't help but see the heiress as a rival for Jaune's affections - didn't want to.
She slumped under the suddenly crushing guilt for a moment before squaring her shoulders and nodding.
"You're right, Arslan," she agreed. "I'll go talk to her."
Team CMSN had barely entered their dorm room when their N gave a smile and wave, and disappeared with the sound of shattering glass. It was annoying, but the other three had long since gotten used to it. Neo would find her way back when she was needed.
"So, Emerald," purred Cinder, "any news from our... friends?"
The mint-haired girl shook her head. "Not a peep since we picked up the package."
Cinder's golden eyes flicked over to a certain briefcase peeking out from under one of the beds. It looked no different from the others in the room - and they would hardly be the only team who spent the entire semester living out of suitcases - but its contents were distinctly unique and dangerous. Better to let it blend with the crowd of other luggage tucked away in the room.
She wasn't sure yet what she'd use it for, but the kind of power it represented had been far too tantalizing to not seize when she'd learned of it just before leaving Mistral. Smuggling it to Vale through the White Fang had taken a little finesse, but it had paid off. Emerald and Mercury's discreet final pickup of it in town had simply been the easiest way to reclaim it.
"Mercury, how go the observations on our... 'fellow students'?" Cinder asked.
The grey-haired boy snorted, leaning back on his bed. "Not a lot. Folks around here are surprisingly good at keeping secrets."
"Or you just suck at figuring them out," snarked Emerald.
"I'd like to see you do better," Mercury retorted.
"Children," warned Cinder, her eyes flashing dangerously.
Both of them blanched. "Uh, right," Mercury continued. "Let's see... the Atlesian students are just plain weird. And I mean really weird. Do they surgically implant sticks up their butts after initiation or something?"
"Says the self-made orphan assassin," Emerald pointed out.
"Em, have you seen them?" Mercury asked. "They're super-strict on some things, but other than that, they've all got these quirky bits of personality and gear... watching them is like watching a cross between a recruiting ad and a toy commercial." He shook his head. "Anyway, the Vacuans are... Vacuan."
"Ah, yes, of course," Emerald said drolly. "They would be very similar to themselves, I would imagine."
"I don't think we have much to worry about from them," Mercury said. "Their second-year team got spanked hard in an exercise last weekend, and they didn't even have Beechnut's excuse. Moving on, a couple of the first-year Beacon teams are going on super-secret extra credit missions: Teams Ruby and Juniper."
Cinder's eyes narrowed. "What kind of missions?"
"Couldn't find out," Mercury replied with an unapologetic shrug. "They're secret. But if you're worried they've been hitting our operations, they weren't. Timing doesn't work out. Don't expect Team Ruby in the tournament, though."
"Why not?"
"Word is, they took a casualty on one of those missions," Mercury explained. "The Belladonna girl."
"Such a great loss for such a prestigious family," Cinder murmured in mock compassion. "Don't tell our allies; they'd be so broken up over it."
"Yeah, well, the Invincible Girl's certainly taking it pretty hard," he said. "Saw Team Auburn dragging her to O'Malley's and trying to pull her out of a funk. Speaking of our allies, you sure Little Red doesn't recognize you?"
"We've been here long enough that if she did, they would have made a move by now," Cinder assured him.
"Still," Emerald piped up, "with that and the docks, that makes twice she's interfered."
"As any good little Huntress should," was Cinder's reply. "Coincidence, likely."
"And if it happens a third time?" Emerald pressed.
Cinder's face turned hard. "Then three times is enemy action, and we'll have to deal with her. Right now, though, I'm more worried about Adam's erstwhile allies."
"Right." Emerald nodded. "The Autobots. What does our Mistress think of... all this?"
"I have not been in contact with her," Cinder informed her. "Doing so would risk compromising our cover."
Emerald's eyes widened. "You haven't? But... surely, something of this magnitude-"
"Do not question me, Emerald," her leader hissed. "Bringing a Seer into the city with so many Huntsmen would be... unwise."
"Besides, they're robots that turn into cars," Mercury pointed out. "They've got some pretty big limits on how much they can sneak around."
"Agreed." Cinder nodded. "Which is why we should be focused on identifying this... 'Sunfire.'"
"I think I know who Sunfire is!" Ruby declared, turning and leaning back against the door behind her.
That caught RANNWW's attention. They'd been wondering why she'd dragged them into an unused classroom.
"You do?" Weiss asked eagerly.
"Well, sort of," Ruby hedged. "Remember how I foiled Torchwick's robbery way back? The fight that got me into Beacon early?"
"Of course we remember," Weiss confirmed. "You've certainly told us about it enough times."
"Okay, well," Ruby said, "did I ever mention how he escaped?"
"By Bullhead, right?" Jaune asked.
Ruby nodded. "Yeah. Except I... may have neglected to mention that he had help. I didn't get a good look at her, but there was someone - a woman, I think - on the Bullhead, and she was throwing fire all over the place."
"A woman throwing fire around helping Torchwick escape a dust robbery, and a woman called Sunfire ordering him and the White Fang around to steal dust," Nora summarized. "Yeah, sounds pretty obvious to me."
"The question, then," Ren spoke finally, "is what this means for us?"
"Before we left the police station after Blake interrogated Torchwick, I kind of spoke to one of the officers," Ruby said, then pulled out a sheaf of papers with a flourish and laid them on one of the desks. "I got copies of the sketches they made that night based on the descriptions Glynda and I gave."
"That is definitely a woman," Sun confirmed with a nod. The image was incomplete. It was mostly a silhouette, with a clearer image of her arms and legs, but the shape of the silhouette was unmistakably feminine.
"Were her eyes... glowing?" Pyrrha asked curiously.
"It sure looked like they were that night," answered Ruby with a nod. "That much, I remember pretty clearly."
"So... a faunus with bioluminescent eyes, then?" Jaune suggested. He shook his head. "Best not get too attached to the idea, but it's a place to start, and if she's on record somewhere..." he trailed off meaningfully.
Ruby nodded slowly. "Yeah, makes sense. I'm going to bring this up to Glynda, see if we can find Sunfire on record somewhere, figure out who she really is and track down where she's hiding."
"So, what do you think?" asked Ruby after she finished her summary of what they had discussed. As she'd told the rest of the team, she had brought the information to Glynda for her input. After all, the telekinetic combat instructor had a much more experienced eye than all Team RRANNBWW combined.
The blonde teacher quirked a smile as she looked down at Ruby. "I think I should be very glad that you're not only continuing to seize the initiative, but you're also seeing fit to include us in the process."
Ruby blushed a little at that and scratched the back of her head with her left hand. "Yeah, well, I figured you guys would actually be the ones to go and put out a wanted notice for her. I mean, if that's wise? It's entirely possible that she could have a source inside the police force that could alert her to what's going on, so we might not want to tip our hand just yet."
"Perhaps, and the police already ran such an inquiry shortly after the incident. Still, it couldn't hurt and certainly wouldn't raise any eyebrows to have them review in case anything new has turned up since, especially since it's not exactly a small pool of people we'd be looking for that fit these qualities," explained Glynda.
"How many faunus women with highly reflective or bioluminescent eyes are there?" asked Ruby curiously.
"That isn't the only factor we need to consider. A followup interrogation of Torchwick by myself revealed something more." At the shorter girl's boggled expression, Glynda allowed herself a coy smile. "What? You didn't think you kids were the only ones capable of seizing the initiative, did you?"
"Well, uh, no, that is to say…" Ruby stammered, much to her friend's amusement. "I mean… what did Torchwick tell you?"
"Not a whole lot more than he told you, to be honest, which is revealing in and of itself. However, he did admit to something about Sunfire's identity," revealed Glynda with a curious tone. "He described her as constantly changing outfits and using voice modulators, and claimed that he didn't know whether she was a human, faunus... or even some sort of robot."
Ruby felt a curious mix of feelings at that. On the one hand was ice cold water running through her veins at the thought of yet another connection to the Decepticons. On the other was the heated anticipation, like blood on the tongue, of the quarry of the hunt getting ever closer.
"And before you ask, we've already isolated that flash drive you brought back from the Decepticon base," Glynda added. "If Decepticons do come that small, and if the flash drive is one of them, it's already under lockdown. And if they try to get it back… well, again, it's under lockdown."
"That's good to hear," Ruby said in relief.
"James, however, is worried that we'll be unable to access the data due to different programming languages," continued Glynda in mild frustration. "To be fair, it's the basis behind some of his new security measures. He says we might need to capture a cipher to get the data off the drive, even after we finish construction on the port for it and get that to work."
"Don't worry, Glyn. I'm sure everything will work out fine," comforted Ruby.
"Oh, I'm sure it will," the green-eyed woman allowed. "The only issue is what sort of losses we'll take between now and then."
"Torchwick could be lying," said Ruby suddenly. "I mean, he has no reason not to, right? It's possible that he's making things up, or just telling us what he thinks we want to hear in order to mess with our heads. He seems like the sort of person to do that."
"Oh, he undoubtedly is," concurred Glynda. "He's bound to only have revealed partial information at best, phrased in such a way as to lead us to the wrong conclusion. That's another reason why Sunfire and the White Fang aren't jumping to the top of our priority list, despite their possible connection to the Decepticons."
"It wouldn't surprise me if they did team up. That sort of mayhem does sound right up their alley; they even seem to have similar MOs. They claim to be fighting oppression while causing nothing but," expounded Ruby grimly, recalling her conversation with Thundercracker. "I don't see what Weiss sees in them, honestly. I doubt even she knows. It just seems like she's latching onto whatever is the opposite of her family."
"I'll have to talk to her about that. I've spent far too little time with her as it is," admitted Glynda with a hint of shame. "Still, they weren't always the thieves and murderers they are today. They were much better when Ghira and Kali were in charge. Not perfect, but better."
Ruby made to reply, but then something clicked. "Wait a moment. Who's Kali?"
Glynda glanced at her in surprise. "Kali Belladonna. Blake's mother."
That reply made something register in Ruby's mind. "You already knew who she was?!"
"Of course. Her parents are public figures, after all, and while it might have been before your time, it was history that I lived through," explained Glynda in amusement.
"It's just… why didn't you tell me?" Ruby lamented.
"You want more secrets on your mind?" queried Glynda, amused.
Ruby's eyes widened like saucers, and she raised her hands, waving them wardingly at Glynda as what she was asking clicked. "No! No! No! Definitely not. No! ...No."
Glynda laughed at her friend's antics. "Relax, Ruby. It's not like this was actually a secret at all. Just something Blake wanted kept private. She was likely just worried about her dark past and how it would be received. Ironically, she didn't have anything to fear, from what you've told me."
A sigh escaped Ruby's lips in resignation. "No. No, she didn't. It's just… growing up, all I ever heard about the White Fang was how they killed, and stole, and vandalized. It's hard to imagine Blake doing any of that."
Glynda shrugged. "Maybe she did, maybe she didn't, or maybe it shows just how much she's changed for the better that you can't imagine her doing these things. You might be surprised to find out what people can turn their lives around from."
Raven, the thought came and went through Ruby's mind.
"Does that mean we're going to go easy on them then?" asked Ruby. "Because… look, if the rest of the White Fang turn their lives around, that's great, but right now, they're still terrorists."
"Oh, no. If we get the chance, we're going to bring the hammer down hard on them," assured Glynda.
"Good," summed up Ruby. "I don't think I could take anymore revelations about them right now."
Glynda pursed her lips, then smirked. "Did you know they used to allow humans into the White Fang?"
Ruby blinked in shock. "Really? That's… odd."
The blonde nodded. "Not as odd as you might think. It was back when they were a political movement, rather than a terrorist organization. There were several prominent figures across Remnant who supported them on moral grounds, both human and faunus. It's been years since that was the case, though, and I seriously doubt that anyone would catch their eye enough to change that policy."
Yang paused when she was about to go out the door. She had things she needed to do, lots of things, really. Still… it had been a few days, and while Weiss still seemed pretty bad off, she at least seemed to have found some sort of equilibrium. Maybe she was getting too used to this.
"Hey, Weiss?" asked Yang, turning around to face the snowcapped girl. Ruby too perked up, obviously interested in the goings-on.
"Yes, Yang?" replied Weiss evenly.
"A while back, when we went to the bookstore, you said you had something important you wanted to tell me? About what went on in Atlas that made you take a dip?" asked Yang tentatively. "I mean, if it's too much for you, then…"
"No, no, it's fine. I'm not made of glass, remember?" said Weiss, and then she glanced to the side at Ruby before continuing. "It's just that, well… I did some digging. Into the slave factories, I mean. I didn't find anything useful, but I did find out that my sister, Winter, knew about everything and was a party to it."
If a feather had blown into Yang at that moment on a stiff breeze, she was sure that she would have been toppled over. Her sister?! Specialist Winter Schnee, the sister she had spoken so highly of on Patch? Her sister?!
Yang glanced at Ruby, who seemed to have heard this before, and she imagined what she would do if it turned out that her little sister had been working with the Decepticons. She tried, at least, and failed. She couldn't conceive of it, couldn't bear the mere conceptualization. If her sister was involved with the Enemy… she'd be dead. Oh sure, she'd still have a pulse, but where it mattered? What was Yang Xiao Long would be so thoroughly and utterly shattered that there would be no picking up the pieces.
She'd just fall away into a black pit of despair like her father had after the death of her mother.
She looked at Weiss again, and once more, everything came into sharp relief, because it was clear that she had experienced just that and survived. She'd died and kept on kicking; she'd shattered into a million shards and was picking up the pieces; she'd reached the lowest point she could and was still standing. She had a defiant streak in her worthy of an Autobot. Though even with such praise, she was still clearly missing something critical…
Quick as she could, Yang went over to Weiss and wrapped the smaller girl in a big hug.
"What?! Yang? Stop it!" objected Weiss, straining to be heard over the all-enveloping embrace.
"No," replied the blonde simply, continuing the hug before continuing. "You, Weiss, are so strong. You've really come a long way in just a few weeks. And you need this."
"Yeah, well, I've had a lot of help," said the snowcapped girl dismissively, though there was a melancholy note in her voice.
Yang flinched reflexively at that. "Did you and Blake have an argument?"
"Yes," admitted Weiss. "I'm such a fool. I knew Blake had a problem with the White Fang, but I went poking around anyway, and then she... found out, and I said so many stupid things, and…"
"Blake wasn't exactly being reasonable either, Weiss," interjected Ruby, her expression concerned. "The things she said..."
The blonde hugged Weiss just that little bit tighter. "Hey, these things happen. Things get heated, and we say things we don't mean. That's all they are though, things we don't mean. It gets rough for a bit, and then when we meet up again, we apologize and bemoan how silly we ever were."
Yang broke away and smiled. "I'm sure when Blake comes back from her little brood fest - I mean, 'special tutoring' - then you two will just end up laughing about it all."
"Just like that?" queried Weiss with a raised eyebrow.
"Just like that," confirmed Yang, and with that said, she bid them a fond farewell and left them to go about her own errands.
It was a little ironic to Weiss. Back during the first semester, Yang had seemed like such a vagabond, but in truth, she had it more together than any of them. She had found a way to balance her work and leisure in such a way that she had become happy and healthy all on her own. She envied that, she really did. She could not, would not, change the path she had taken, but she now understood all too clearly why the blonde had chosen her path after finding out about the SDC's wickedness.
Weiss smiled and then turned to find Ruby glaring at her with hate and rage in her eyes.
"What did you say to my sister, Weiss?" she demanded.
"I just thought she should know…"
"About the Decepticons?!" accused Ruby. "You were, weren't you? You were going to tell her everything and get her into this nightmare!"
Weiss unconsciously backed up. "I didn't end up doing it!"
"But you were. You're not denying it. You really were," pointed out Ruby with what looked like tears starting to form in her eyes. "Weiss, I thought we talked about this. I thought we agreed to not let her into this. I don't want my sister ending up like... like..."
"Like us?" Weiss finished, her voice soft.
Ruby nodded.
"It was a moment of weakness. I wasn't in my right mind, and… and I think Yang knew that. She told me not to bring it up because she was afraid I was going to have an episode. I don't know if she was right or not, but she told me back then not to talk about it for my own mental health," explained Weiss, finding, despite her fear of the suddenly terrifying crimson Huntress, compassion for Ruby and her own fears.
A grimace smeared across the bloodcrowned girl's lips for a moment before she replied, "No, you weren't in your right mind, but you are now, so don't do it again."
"I won't," Weiss assured her.
Again, Ruby nodded. "Good." She paused, searching for something else to say, if only to prevent the silence from becoming awkward. "Ren went out with Pyrrha to pick up some of those recorders we left near the Decepticon base. I'm going to see what they've gotten."
With that Ruby left, and Weiss slumped down onto her bed. This was… this was all very stressful. She hoped Yang was right about it all blowing over, because… because Blake wasn't just her best friend. Sometimes, it felt like she was her only friend. A false statement, and only a fleeting one besides, but it was something that contributed nonetheless to the feeling of guilt welling up inside her.
Shamefully, she reached beneath her bed and brought out one of the books Yang had bought her the previous weekend. She should stop - she really should - but she couldn't. Curiosity had caused that argument with Yang that started them on their path, and curiosity had led to that argument with her friend that had destroyed the black-haired girl so. It would probably be curiosity that would end up being the cause of her demise.
But she couldn't stop; it was in her nature.
Besides, she thought as she turned the page, this just proves it. If the White Fang can produce someone as good as Blake, then they can't be all bad. There has to be something more to them. They're better than the SDC. They have to be. This can't just be black versus black.
She'd finish the books she had, then search for what she could using the CCT, then… then she'd find out what happened. What the scattered points of information meant. Sienna Khan, the current leader of the White Fang who advocated for violence. Ghira Belladonna, a pillar of virtue like Taiyang Xiao Long, and High Leader of the White Fang until five years ago. Blake Belladonna, the girl who ran away from home to be with a bunch of ne'er-do-wells five years ago, when her father lost his position as high leader. What did it all mean?
She couldn't answer that question; she could only indulge her compulsion to explore, and then, when she finally found an answer, she would hopefully be able to look her friend in the eye and apologize for all she had done.
"So," Vanguard mused aloud as he sat on his bed. "These dust robberies. What do we know?"
Team RRFL was in the guest dormitory they'd been assigned. The exercise with Professor Port had been an entertaining distraction, but hardly a challenge for them. They'd dealt with much more difficult situations before, albeit usually with more support. The dust robberies, though... those were worrisome, especially given dust's more classified applications these days.
"The main suspect's been apprehended," Black Out reported from the computer he was seated at. "A guy named Roman Torchwick, but he claims to have been working with the White Fang on this."
"Which don't make any sense," observed Thunder, leaning against the door and crunching on some pistachios.
"I managed to... acquire the transcripts of some of his interrogations. Hopefully, I won't need to pull something like this again, since the General will almost certainly insist on Vale upgrading their cybersecurity going into the Festival. Frankly, they should do it anyway. It's kind of embarrassing how easy I got in," Black Out continued. "According to the transcripts, there's someone named 'Sunfire' masterminding it all."
"Anything on this 'Sunfire'?" Vanguard asked.
Black Out shook his head. "A propensity for burning people alive, allegedly, though I'm not even sure that's actually Sunfire he was talking about. He was very... precise in his wording and didn't actually say it was Sunfire who was behind it all, just that a very scary woman burned people alive and ordered it, and that Sunfire wasn't someone he wanted to cross."
"Tricky words," Lightning grumbled from where he lay on his bed, bouncing a ball off the wall. "Anything else?"
"Just one," Black Out replied. "There was a follow up interrogation by Professor Goodwitch. Torchwick mentioned he wasn't sure what she was: human, faunus... or something else. And I quote, 'she could be a robot, for all I know.'"
That got the others' attention. Vanguard leaned forward, Thunder straightened up properly, and even Lightning sat up. The four of them exchanged meaningful looks.
"Ya don't think...?" Thunder asked, trailing off.
"It doesn't really fit, but it's a possibility we can't ignore," Vanguard declared. "We need to investigate further, without tipping our hand."
Ruby put her head in her hands, calloused by the repeated early morning training sessions with Pyrrha, as she sat on the couch in the common room of the dorms that RWBY and JNPR's rooms were located in. Ren had, of course, found out much from analyzing the patterns of the Decepticons and SDC airships coming and going from the Decepticon base. He thought he had a lead and wanted to go out with Pyrrha that weekend to scout it out. Ruby, of course, gave them her blessing to do so, provided they brought some backup. Surprisingly, Pyrrha had suggested Weiss.
Had she just sent them off to die? She didn't know. They hadn't run into any trouble when they'd picked up the recordings; this was just a simple recon mission, and one of them was Pyrrha, after all, so they should be fine. Right?
Strangely, she found her thoughts drifting to Raven Branwen once more. She was the leader of her tribe, right? Did she callously throw their lives away, or did she worry and fret over these decisions like Ruby did? No, she had to have cared on some level, just like she had to have cared about… about her little girl.
Why her? Why was Ruby Rose Raven Branwen's little girl? Why not Yang, or some other sibling they didn't know about? Why? Why… why not years ago? Why now?
Summer Rose had been Ruby's mother, and she had been a fantastic mother… she thought. What little she could remember of her was that she was borderline angelic, she made cookies, taught them about the one true god and his children, read her stories, stood behind her when she first fired a gun, and… and she was doing it again. She was remembering Summer, but she was seeing Yang. It was Yang whose face she saw when she tried to think of her mom without a photograph to aid her memory. It was Yang's voice she heard when she tried to think of her mom without having first heard a recording, and it had been so long since she had last done that, she couldn't even remember if she had done it at all.
In a sad sort of way, it made sense. After their mom died, their dad had fallen into a deep depression, barely able to function. It was Yang who stepped up and took care of the family, though she was still so small and young herself. It was Yang who fed her, Yang who bathed her, Yang who taught her, Yang who protected her, Yang who was the closest thing to a mother she could remember.
In a moment of clarity, Ruby suddenly realized that while she was transposing Yang's face to Summer, it was also possible that she was doing the same for the rest of her as well. Maybe not completely, but enough. There were a lot of details that Dad had told her as well, things that weren't filtered through Yang.
Ironically, he had told her a lot more about Raven. She had learned about her personality, her likes, her dislikes, her fighting style, her semblance, and even a few of the funny stories from when she was at Beacon with the rest of Team STRQ. Everything that she had heard stood in stark contrast to the killer who now stalked the wilds of Anima.
What had happened to her? Why did she do the things she did? How did she sleep at night? What made Ruby her little girl?
"Okay, you can't keep thinking in circles like this, Ruby," the bloodcrowned girl bemoaned, the words distorted by her hands. "Come on, think about this from a different angle. What would Raven do in this situation?"
It was a cutting question. If Ruby was so desperate to learn why Raven was doing what she was doing, then why not try thinking like her? Walk a mile in her shoes, and maybe, she would be able to find the path.
Think like Raven… Think like Raven… Think like Raven…
"Hey, Ruby, how are you doing?"
The girl looked up and found Jaune entering the commons to use the kitchen. Sweet, kind, blond Jaune. Jaune, who had paid her all those wonderful compliments. Jaune… who she longed for. What would Raven do?
Ruby got up and walked over to him, her mind on autopilot. He had turned her back towards her to make some coffee. That wouldn't do. Since when did he make coffee? It wasn't like he was a barista in town with a large and quirky customer base.
"Turn around," Ruby found herself ordering.
Jaune obeyed, and before he could say anything, Ruby reached up and hooked a finger into his shirt collar. He let out a note of surprise as he was dragged down to her level. Their faces were close now, very close; they could feel each other's breath on their lips.
"Ruby, what are you doing?!" he squeaked out nervously.
"Monday night, six sharp, we're going on a date," she declared huskily, staring into those deep blue eyes of his. She was so close…
The blond blinked in surprise and horror. "What?! No, Ruby, what's gotten into you? We can't! Yang would kill me!"
"I already discussed it with Yang and received her blessing," she informed him, and then she smirked confidently. "Not that I needed it."
Jaune was sweating now; shock was beginning to set in. "Really?"
"Really," repeated Ruby.
"So, uh, six sharp?" he asked.
Ruby nodded. "Mm-hmm. Monday. We'll probably have a mission this weekend. I'll let you decide the itinerary for the night."
"Um... okay?" Jaune... - agreed? Let's go with agreed - his voice an octave higher than normal.
"Good. Looking forward to it," she said with a sultry smile.
She let go of his collar and sauntered off down the hall, swaying her hips as she walked. It was only when she was out of sight that she let loose her iron control. Quickly sprinting over to a nearby cupboard, she reached in and took an unused paper bag, which she immediately began hyperventilating into.
"Oh my goodness," she moaned weakly. "Being Raven is so stressful!"
Weiss eyed Pyrrha warily from the back of the cockpit of the landed Bullhead. They were out, together with Ren, to track another possible link in the Decepticon supply chain. That was good, that made sense. What didn't make sense was why it was just Pyrrha, Ren… and her. Why had Pyrrha dragged her out for this if she was just going to be guarding the VTOL from Grimm, if that?
For that matter, Pyrrha's attitude the past few days had been downright unsettling. There had been a certain... nearness and concern that went above and beyond even Pyrrha's normal level of kindness and was beginning to approach how Blake had treated her right after she'd returned from Atlas.
Not that Pyrrha had ever been anything but kind and friendly to... anyone, really, except Team CRDL, who had certainly earned her ire. The redhead had been unfailingly polite and courteous to her, but Weiss couldn't shake the feeling that Pyrrha, as nice as she was to everyone... didn't really like her very much. The smile she usually offered Weiss was the well-practiced smile of a celebrity faced with the media; it was one Weiss herself was intimately familiar with. It was a smile that never quite reached her eyes, and in those eyes, Weiss could see a hint of wariness, of distrust.
Not that she hadn't earned that distrust, Weiss supposed. She'd come on far too strong and aggressive when they'd first met before initiation, desperately trying to prove she was worthy of Pyrrha's friendship, and instead, she'd driven off the four-time Mistral champion. All because she had been too blind to realize that Pyrrha had wanted something she herself had wanted: someone to look past her fame.
Weiss had sought that out in someone who would understand, who could empathize from shared experiences. And, okay, she was willing to admit the idea of teaming up with Pyrrha and conquering the school had a bit to do with it as well. Pyrrha, instead, had latched onto Jaune, the naive goofball who was just that ignorant, someone who didn't have to look past their fame because he wasn't aware it existed in the first place... and whose heart was true to the person, rather than the image once he found out. Her heart warmed as she thought about the blond. She'd misjudged him so badly. Just one of many mistakes she regretted.
She wondered what she would do, what she could do, to make things up to Pyrrha. This was clearly a sore that had never really closed, and it needed to. It would only be after addressing grievances and making amends that they would finally be able to move on together; she'd read that in On the Necessity of Racial Reconciliation.
"I'm sorry," Weiss said, putting as much sincerity as she could into her voice and bowing a bit.
Pyrrha twisted around in surprise. "I'm sorry?"
"No, I'm sorry," repeated Weiss.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand," clarified Pyrrha.
"I'm apologizing to you!" declared Weiss.
"I apologize, I'm still not clear what offense has been committed," replied the redhead.
"I'm sorry, I should have been clearer," admitted Weiss. "I have so much to apologize for that it needs specification."
"I'm sorry. Have I given the impression you have caused offense? If so, I apologize," said Pyrrha after getting out of her seat. When finished, she bowed at the waist.
"No, I'm the one at fault. I'm the one who came on far too strong before Initiation," replied Weiss before mimicking Pyrrha's bow, but deeper. "I'm sorry for being so... selfish as to try and take advantage of your skills for my own benefit."
"I'm sorry!" declared Pyrrha with a slight panic, bowing lower. "I wasn't offended at all by your behavior. I apologize for giving that impression!"
"But I must have given you some reason to be offended. I can see it in your eyes. So again, I apologize," reasoned Weiss, bowing further.
"I'm so sorry; it was nothing you'd ever done," Pyrrha assured her while depressing the angle of her bow. "Please forgive my insult."
"I'm sorry for whatever past or future wrongs my family has visited upon you," insisted Weiss, thinking that it was the only remaining possibility as she deepened her bow again.
"I'm sorry! I hold no ill will towards you because of your lineage!" said Pyrrha with notable shame as she bowed ever lower. "It's just… it hurt, seeing you reject Jaune, time after time. I apologize. I know you can't change how you feel."
A flash of confusion flooded through Weiss. Pyrrha was upset about her rejecting Jaune? But that didn't make sense unless… oh, what a fool she had been. Subconsciously, she had assumed that Pyrrha was a romantic rival for Jaune, but that didn't make sense. No woman was so nice as to be upset that another lady did not take to their man romantically. Whatever Pyrrha's feelings were then, it was clear that Weiss had misjudged the kind woman. She needed to apologize.
"I'm sorry," she said, bowing even lower. "I misjudged him so badly, insulted him, insulted your team, and I can't imagine how much it hurt to see someone you care about have their heart trampled on like that. Please forgive me."
Before Pyrrha could formulate a reply, one of the doors to the passenger cabin opened up, and Ren entered, looking at them strangely. "I'm sorry; am I interrupting something? I don't know if I'm flexible enough to join in on a toe-kissing contest."
As one, Weiss and Pyrrha both snapped up, blushes still adorning their faces.
"Welcome back, Ren," said Pyrrha. "Did you get anything?"
"I did, and I think you should see this," said Ren with a note of worry as he brought out his scroll and unfurled it.
The picture that was quickly brought up was of a bunker built into the side of a forested hill, an extremely large steel door obviously standing out. This was clearly a building meant for a transformer. They didn't have to wait long before one emerged bearing the familiar icon of the Decepticons.
Stepping out of the door in a manner not at all dissimilar to a nervous man of human or faunus size, the clearly flight-based bot inched his way out before closing the portal behind him. Once out in the open, he took a look around in what seemed like paranoia. Thankfully, his eyes did not pass over where the camera - and, as a consequence, Ren - were.
The color scheme was identical, and so the possibility was raised in their minds that this could be Starscream himself. Strangely, he stopped when a black bird - which Weiss recognized as a crow due to the size of the body and shape of the tail - landed on his shoulder. He seemed quite enamored by it.
"Oh, hello again," he said in a voice that was quite clearly Starscream's.
The bird cawed, which, again, confirmed it was a crow and not a raven.
"Me?" he asked with his hand to his neck in a false gesture of humility. "Oh, I really shouldn't brag."
The bird turned and began to walk to the other side of Starscream's shoulder, probably looking for food, when the hand went around to block its path.
"But if you really must insist…"
"Is he… talking to a bird?" asked Pyrrha in confusion.
"Yes," stated Ren.
"It appears so," agreed Weiss.
"I have devised a plan to finally overthrow that fool Megatron and have the rest of the Decepticons declare me their new leader," continued Starscream, looking off into the distance pridefully. "It's the one I told you about a few thousand astroseconds ago. You know, the one with the thing?"
There was a pause, and then the bird cawed again.
"Good. I'm glad you remember; it will save time getting you up to speed," Starscream… not necessarily replied, since the bird clearly wasn't speaking to him, but he acted like it was. "I have finally put the finishing touches on the cipher that will allow my Mental Mainframe Manipulator Masternator to connect with the hideous coding of this world's computers. Once it is Power-Linked to the CCT network in the proper time and place, Phase Four Hundred and Thirty-Seven of the plan will be in place. With that done, I can finally reveal the location of the booby-trapped copy of the legendary Star Saber I have created, luring Megatron into the jaws of the trap."
"So... should we stop him, or let them fight amongst themselves?" asked Weiss seriously. "I mean, I'm all for stopping him from taking over the CCT, or whatever his plan is, but them stopping each other would be nice."
The bird cawed once more as it jumped on top of Starscream's head, and the bot's eyes went wide.
"Of course! How could I have been so stupid. The Requiem Blaster would make much more tantalizing bait. After all, according to legend, it belonged to Megatronus, the original Prime that Megatron named himself after, and stories say that it was able to annihilate entire star systems. Who could resist that? HAHAHA! With such a piece in place, I will be sure to become leader of the Decepticons. Then everyone will be sure to call me Lord Starscream. No, King Starscream!" he declared theatrically. "I must get back to the lab and begin work on this immediately! ...At least for a few astroseconds, so I don't miss my own roll call."
With that, the bird flew off, and Starscream slunk back inside the bunker.
"Well, he seems… confident," observed Pyrrha tactfully.
"Pyrrha, he's insane," corrected Ren dryly.
"Maybe, but we should still inform the others as soon as we can," Weiss pointed out.
"Already on it," replied Pyrrha as she began the start up sequence for the Bullhead.
Author's Note 1 (Cyclone):
Wheels within wheels within wheels, and people being people. Also, Maximum Peter Parker Syndrome.
Arslan is such a bro to Pyrrha, and Team RRFL... have their mission.
Somewhere in this chapter is a triple (or more) reference. Can you spot it and figure out everything it's referencing, both intentional and unintentional?
I kind of think Raven and Taiyang's courtship went one of two ways. Either he was attracted to her first and went all dogged nice guy until she finally reciprocated... or she was attracted to him first and followed Faith Lehane's philosophy of "Want. Take. Have." Given what we've written in A Stark Divide, we're obviously leaning toward the latter for this 'verse.
Author's Note 2 (Cody MacArthur Fett):
I don't really like shipping, and romance is something I rarely get into. On top of that, actually writing the kissy-kissy is something that has brought me to despair at points before. So you can imagine my shock when it ended up being me who wrote the Ruby and Jaune scene in this chapter in one sitting completely on autopilot.
While going over the vocal readthrough for this we caught several things that needed to be added, changed, or rearranged. I've said it before, but I'll keep saying it until people clue into this fact: these things save you such a headache later. Get your co-writers, beta-readers, and/or friends together and read your chapters aloud before posting them.
One of the scenes I wanted to add into this chapter was one focusing on the Autobots exclusively, since we haven't checked in on them in a while. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to come up with something that was interesting or moved the story forward for them without interfering in the timeline. Luckily, that very same timeline is also has them slated to appear doing interesting and plot relevant stuff very very soon.