Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. RWBY is owned by RT, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone. Rest in peace Monty, your vision lives on in us all.
Shitpost level secret reveal incoming! Read the note at the end for the reasoning.
CHAPTER 8
"They were here." General James Ironwood said, making a point of his upset by pressing a finger to Headmaster Ozpin's desk. "Ozpin they were here." Glynda rolled her eyes as her boss massaged his temples.
"Yes I'm aware of that." The elder headmaster said.
"Oh, you're aware of that. Now are we going to do something about it, or are we going to stay the course, and continue to ignore what's right in front of us?" Ironwood asked, before the elevator dinged, signaling the conversation to come to an end.
"Come in." Professor Ozpin said, as the door opened.
Ruby Rose, and Clayton Sanguis stepped out of the elevator. "Sorry we're late. Somebody pressed all the buttons on the way up here… It wasn't me." Ruby said, before Clayton shook his head, knowing she'd backed into the buttons.
"Thank you two for coming. How are you both feeling?" Ozpin asked.
"I'd be feeling a lot better if my bad guy catching record wasn't 0 for 3…" Ruby said. "And if last night's activities were not interrupted by said bad guy." Ruby thought. Seriously, how hard was it to spend some quality time with her boyfriend outside of killing monsters and kicking butt?
Clayton just cleared his throat when the trio of adults looked at them both. "Right, serious conversation." He muttered. Ironwood stepped over to them, and put a hand on one of their shoulders each.
"I want you two to know that what you did last night was exactly what being huntsmen and huntresses is all about. You recognized a threat, you took action, and you did the very best you could." General Ironwood said, only for Clayton and Ruby to nod. Realistically, they did not do the best they could. They had no idea of the situation, and no clue who their opponent was, and toned back the fight by a lot. Prior to the elevator distracting them, Clayton was about ready to pummel the woman into the floor, and Ruby was a little more than defensive about someone shooting her boyfriend with explosives. She'd have ripped the woman to pieces if he'd gotten hurt.
"The General has already informed us of the events that transpired last night, but now that you've rested, we were wondering if you had anything to add?" Professor Ozpin asked.
"Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?" Professor Goodwitch asked. Clayton shook his head.
"Detail recognition is more of Pale's thing. If he was up there he'd have remembered everything down to her measurements and maybe even what she smelled like if he was close enough." Clayton said, scratching his head.
"She wore a mask, big, oval shaped, covering her entire face." Ruby said.
"Black hair, but that could have been dyed." Clayton added.
"Glass weapons, she used dust or a semblance or something to turn sand into weapons. Her clothing lit up whenever she did it." Ruby pointed out. Glynda nodded in thought.
"Save for the glass, that sounds like the woman who I fought the night we met."
Ironwood shook his head. "Embedding dust into clothing, though expensive, is an age old technique, it could have been anyone." The general said, only for Clayton to speak up. Naturally he did not want to reveal the fact that he was involved in a multi million dollar property damage mech fight, (which thank god nobody died as a result of) or lie for that matter, but there was just no other way to tip off the general without making up some bullshit on the spot.
"Well… There was a little bit of mid battle banter." Clayton said with a shrug.
"Banter? What did she say?" Professor Goodwitch asked.
"The usual evil villain gloating. Something about Clayton being better than the rest of the animals in the south east." Ruby said, coming up with a better story than he had.
"Animals? Could she be talking about the White Fang?" General Ironwood said.
"This might very well be the link we've been looking for." Glynda said, as Professor Ozpin stepped out from behind his desk.
"Thank you for your cooperation, but you both have a big day ahead of you, and you two should be with your teams. Have a good day Miss. Rose, and Mr. Sanguis." Professor Ozpin said, allowing the Crimson Couple to turn and leave.
"Any time Professor." Ruby said with a smile, as she turned.
"And one more thing. Please try to be discreet about this matter." Professor Ozpin said.
With the two students going down the elevator, General Ironwood turned to Ozpin. "Well there you have it. We send as many troops to the south east as we can, find out what's going on and eradicate any forces that stand in our way." Glynda shook her head at that statement. She wasn't a military strategist nor would she pretend to be one, but that statement was just dumb.
"That may not be the wisest of moves General… This conflict with the White Fang may go beyond Vale. We are facing an enemy who's end move we do not know, and it would do us no good to potentially start an open war… You've read your military history I assume. When the Faunus invaded Northern Anima, did they simply rush the beaches with numbers, or did they survey the area with airships first?" Ozpin asked rhetorically, as he turned around in his seat.
In the dorm common room, teams RWBY and SPGL had gathered around the coffee table. "Telling the General was a risky move." Weiss said. Clayton shrugged.
Pale put a pinch of dip between his gum and lip. "Way I see it, either the General looks into it, or he doesn't." He said, before spitting over into the sink.
"Either way, we'll be going out on our missions today, that gives us a chance to scout the area before he can order his army to do it." Clayton said.
"You think he'll cock it up?" Halcyone asked.
"I think he'll cock it up." Siniy said with a smile.
"Enough of the doom and gloom guys, we had a great night, and no terrorist infiltrator could have put a damper on that." Ruby said.
Yang chuckled at that. "So… I saw you two together most of the night." She said, looking over at Siniy and Weiss who'd turned a shade of red. "So are you two like, a thing now? Oh, you gotta tell us everything." Yang went on, wiggiling her eyebrows. Weiss pouted, as Siniy smirked.
"It was just one night. Contain yourself Xiao Long, I wouldn't… Er… put out on the first date." Weiss said, still blushing.
"So you admit you're dating then?" Yang asked with a grin.
"Don't pretend like you and Halcyone did not disappear after the dance was over." Siniy said. Now it was Yang's turn to blush. Halcyone snickered before speaking.
"Oh Halc you animal!" The short haired blond said, mocking Yang's words in a faux moan. Yang turned an even darker red, and started slapping Halcyone on the shoulder. That drew laughter from most of the room, but none louder than Halcyone herself, as she continued her impression, revalling in the chaos and madness she was causing. "Yes baby, give me that dick!" Suddenly the room grew quiet, save for Halcyone's own cackles, which began to die down.
"Too much?" Halcyone asked, ever the one to press the envelope for her own amusment, only for Pale to nearly swallow his lip full of dip.
"Dick?" Blake asked, both confused and possibly intrigued. "I'm sickend but curious."
Yang looked at Halcyone who shrugged. "What are secrets if a few people don't know about 'em." She said, with a stretch.
"Halcyone, are you a guy?" Clayton asked. Halcyone shook her head.
"Would being trans not count as being a guy?" Ruby asked. Halcyone shook her head again.
"Not a guy, not a trans guy. One more guess." She said. Blake's ears perked up.
"Holy shit, you're a faunus aren't you?" Blake asked. Everyone looked at Blake then back at Halcyone.
"What?" Pale asked.
Halcyone chuckled. "Took you long enough." She said.
"But, she… Doesn't have any… Wait a minute." Siniy said in Cyrillic, now realizing that Halcyone's weird smell wasn't simply because she was almost always dirty.
"I'm a spotted hyena faunus, and yes, my trait is the clitoral-penis." Halcyone said.
Weiss being the least educated on zoology and faunus extra trait anatomy and biology, had to let her brain reboot to even comprehend that sentence. "That's a thing?" She asked, with a half eyed twitch. Halcyone nodded.
"Wait, how does that even work?" Pale asked, spitting into the sink again.
"The faunus hunter doesn't know everything about his prey?" Clayton snarked.
Pale rolled his eyes. "Forgive me for not checking the genitals of every White Fang member I shot." He returned.
Halcyone shrugged. "I'mma leave that to you're imagination." Again Weiss was the most confused, and raised a finger. "No I do not have a set of ballocks tucked away somewhere, that's not how that works. I'm still a female, I've two X chromosomes and all the other shit, and I do in fact like both of the sexes. If anyone's got a problem with it we can have words." Halcyone said.
"Whatever floats the boat." Clayton said, waving off his teammates preferences.
"That just sounds like being gay with extra steps." Pale said.
"Holy shit a real life futa!" Blake thought, feeling her cheeks redden, as silence permeated the room
"Right…" Yang said, clapping her hands together to try alleviating the awkwardness that had settled in.
"Outside of making my ears want to cut themselves off and run away, what else are we doing today?" Pale asked.
"Well, dad sent us something in the mail." Ruby said, holding up a tube. Popping the lid off, a black roll was dumped out onto the couch, and after it shook for a second, it turned into a dog. Once all eyes were on the little fuzzball, Ruby jumped up and grabbed it. "ZWEI!" She shouted. Yang, Clayton, and Halcyone instantly huddled around the canine in her arms.
"He sent a dog?" Blake asked, backing away from the creature.
"In the mail no less?" Weiss asked.
"He does stuff like this all the time." Yang said.
"It's not illegal to ship living things through the postal service." Clayton pointed out.
"Yeah, I've seen people smuggled into Vale the same way." Halcyone said, rubbing Zwei's stomach.
"Are you telling me that this mangy, drooling, mutt…" Weiss started, before the dog looked at her, and her heart melted. "Is going to live with us forever, and ever?" Weiss said, as Zwei tried to get out of Ruby's arms to play with the heiress.
"Watch out Siniy, you've got competition." Pale said with a snicker before the bear gently smacked the back of his head and stifled a laugh.
"Please keep it away from my belongings." Blake said, having moved to crouch on the counter top, hiding behind Pale and Siniy.
"Aww, Weiss, he likes you." Ruby said, as the heiress cuddled the dog.
"I… I wasn't allowed to have a dog when I was growing up… He's adorable. Can we take him with us on our mission?" Weiss asked. Ruby and Yang shrugged.
"Dad unlocked his aura when he was a puppy, so it's not like he'll be in any danger." Ruby said.
"It's a common practice for Atlas bomb sniffing dogs to have an aura unlocked. Your dad must be paranoid." Siniy said.
"Eh." Yang shrugged, before the School's PA system blared through the building.
"Would all first year students please report to the auditorium." Came Professor Goodwitch's voice over the intercom.
Ruby smiled as their missions were drawing closer. "Let's get going." She said, marching off.
Team RWBY managed to snag themselves a search and destroy mission in the south east. All team SPGL had to do was find something similar, and per premeditated plans if either of them found White Fang activity, they would call, or otherwise signal with green rifle grenade star cluster flares, which Halcyone had packed for the two teams. Pale pulled out his maps and started creating sketches of potential hideouts in the region and linked them to the locations presented on the mission board.
"Missing supplies?" Clayton asked when Pale presented them with the mission.
"Not just supplies, people too. The village has had several missing persons in the past month, and an uptick of grimm activity. Every supply convoy never returns, and no one's been able to reach them over CCT calls for a week and a half. Best part, it's only 10 miles out from the location RWBY will be canvassing which means our signal flares will be easy to spot if needed, and it's between Vale and them. Effectively we can scan twice as large a region if the two teams are on line sweeping the countryside." Pale said.
"I like it. Might be able to convince the huntsman we're shadowing to let us take the Caltrop with us, should make the mission easier." Halcyone said.
"It settled then. We're going to Roanoke." Clayton said.
Author's note:... Some real shit.
The decision to give Halcyone a penis...
It was a funny after thought more than anything. When making Halcyone I needed a fourth character to round off team SPGL, and originally I wanted to have a human play the role, then I changed my mind just to have Pale be outnumbered on his team and not even know it, the issue was how would Halc being a faunus affect the story, and that's when I came to the conclusion that it shouldn't have to if nobody really knew she was one. She's in hiding, but only because she can't help hiding her primary animal trait, that being a pseudo-penis, and yes that is a real thing. Going with the evolutionary theories, female hyenas have a penis to appear more masculine in their early years which apparently helps prevent them from being selected for hunts by predators and the like. Halcyone is literally doing the same thing but with perceived race instead of gender, and comments on how it changes nothing growing up in the hell hole that Vacuo is supposed to be. And no, she's not trying to be a guy, and is not in denial about it, Halcyone is just Halcyone, the individual first and foremost... A total weirdo, but still a young woman regardless of the dick... That and I thought it would be hilarious when the team eventually found out about it after constantly having Neptune sweat every time he saw her.
She's not being used as a diversity character, we've got plenty of that already in RWBY canon with the likes of May Merigold, Scarlet, and (maybe but RT will never pull the trigger on this one), Blake and Yang being bi, and ethnically speeking there's no tokenism as far as I can find. So I'd rather have Halc's character be "the psychotic, macheete swinging, petrol head, with a knack for laughing at stuff she shouldn't" and not "the trans character of mildly more importance." Looks in GenLock Season 2's direction.
And again, this isn't a smut fic, I mention that things like this happen, but it's no worse than the "Friends" TV show, so the revelation that Halc is walking around with a third leg can be ignored if needed... That said, at the time of this edit, GenLock, which is still made by RT to my knowledge, has what is bassically porn now, and I fear that RWBY season 9 might just jump the shark on the ratings, and smack us in the face with Yang and Blake going from hair brushing after not seeing each other, to sex, and given the failure to build that relationship first, I'd be odd.
Granted I'm one to talk, I had Yang and Halc together after the first date, but at least I've been hint dropping this was going to happen as far back as the arival to Beacon, made clear that this was going to be a more adult version of RWBY, set Halc up as one for casual sex and Yang as a lonly social outcast, which sort of makes Halc look like a predator, but eh.
For those of you with good recognition for uniforms and weapons, I've also set the characters costumes up to be semi period pieces. Clayton is a redcoat from the revolution, who's labeled a "race traitor", much like General Washington was called a rebel by the brits when he abandoned the British army for the Revolution. Pale is a Confederate States of America Soldier, which should have been obvious, as he's not only in rebel grey, but sings Dixie, and is an amputees, much like many wounded vets of the Civil war were. Siniy simply exudes the second world war, from being a hardy Russian of the eastern front, to wearing American Infantry gear from Europe, and toting around a machinegun based off of the Stinger used at Iwo Jima. Halcyone alludes to the semi-modern era, as the urban hellhole that Vacuo is supposed to be is much like the warzones of the late 80's and early 90's, her shrapnel wounds being something seen more and more in the present day compared to actual bullet wounds, along with a lot of Mad Max references, because the cold war very nearly went hot in the 80's on a few occasions and the wasteland could have been a reality. It's all layered.
As we move on through the volumes and people get updated outfits so too will Team SPGL. The question becomes who will look like what? Place your bets now.