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.
CHAPTER 12
Gunfire woke Clayton from his dazed state. His friends were all around him, most already up, weapons at the ready. Getting to his feet and taking Kingslayer in his hands Clayton racked a shell into the chamber and gave his girlfriend a smirk. The horde of grimm had remained concentrated to the square on the edge of Vale they'd found themselves in, and Siniy, as it seemed, was the biggest thing stopping them from being swarmed, at least for a time, until Two Theater's had spent it's current ammo belt, then it was a free for all.
Ruby jumped into the fray, executing a spin with Crescent Rose that took the heads of a fair number of beowulfs. Yang and Blake had teamed up to kill an ursa major, and Halcyone was chopping creeps to bits with Weiss. Pale, being more suited to long range encounters, did his best to shoot his way out of the square with Guerrilla Warfare. His aim was to post up in a corner store opposite the breach so he'd have overwatch of the area. As it was, there were simply too many of the monsters to deal with… That was until from the sky above, Team JNPR descended on a bullhead.
Pale smirked and ran over to the aircraft, jumping on as Team JNPR jumped off. He whistled to the pilot, and shook his rifle. The pilot gave a nod, and began an elliptical rotation around the square giving Pale a perfect platform to shoot from. Clayton on the other hand was left very much on the ground. A stunned King Tijitu in front of him, courtesy of Nora. It was probably the biggest threat there aside from the Deathstalker that had come through and wandered off. Getting a run up on it, Clayton jumped onto the side of it's head, and sunk his hand and the head of his axe into it's jaws, then started pulling. The snake, still stunned, realized that it's mouth, usually able to unhinge, was being opened against it's will. Applying more pressure, Clayton felt a satisfying snap, as flesh tore at the joint. Ripping the lower jaw from the upper, Clayton now had a makeshift bludgeon with 4 giant spikes protruding out of it. Swinging the meaty weapon into what was left of the grimm's head, the beast was impaled through it's brain with it's own teeth, and died a swift death.
That was about when one of the Atlesian air fleet's battleships decided to intervene… For what reason was completely unknown, because using military grade heavy weaponry like missiles and autocannon chain guns in a small border burrow of east Vale was absolutely trash optics. Ruby was caught completely unaware of a strafe that the airship unleashed and, very nearly had a heart attack as Clayton tackled her to the nearest bit of cover and used his body to shield her from the incoming rain of bullets. While yes a number of grimm had been killed, Clayton was pelted with more than enough 20mm rounds to have killed any normal huntress in training. If it weren't for his semblance, both of them would have had a few more holes. Siniy recognized how dangerously close the friendly fire was and made it a point to wave his arms at the craft to ward them off from, say, potentially killing civilians.
Up in the battleship, an ensign on the gun controls was being braided by the Lieutenant Commander, as the Captain pinched the bridge of his nose at the fact the Lieutenant that gave the go ahead didn't check for friendlies in the area. "Send in the new AK's." The captain said with a groan.
On the ground things were looking better. The AK-200's had started dropping in from the much smaller carrier landing crafts, and from the air another team of hunters in training showed up to assist in the containment. Team CFVY had arrived. Every one of them jumped out of the vehicle and engaged the grimm, Fox and Velvet killing an ursa major, and Yatzuhashi a small number of beowolves on the landing. Coco swaggered forward, sizing up the alpha beowolf in front of her, and lowered her shades. "You destroyed one of my favorite clothing stores… Prepare to die." And die it did. With her handbag Coco had completely crushed it's skull. Looking up she noticed four more wolves and a Deathstalker coming towards her. She swatted at three of the wolves but had to back up as the giant scorpion impaled it's stinger into the concrete where she stood. This left the fourth beowolf enough of an opening to attack her… Or so it thought… Siniy grabbed the top of it's head with his giant hand, and lifted the smaller creature off it's feet. Without so much as a word, he pulled it over his head in an arc, slamming it back first into the ground, then raised his boot, and caved it's entire chest cavity in.
Siniy looked down at the fashionista, then jerked his head at the deathstalker. "If you have to kill, kill, do not waste time talking." He said while reloading Two Theaters, then going off to assist Weiss with an ursa. Velvet shrugged, and Coco just huffed as she deployed Gianduja. "Stupid giant, using a machine gun like a rifle." Coco muttered to herself, before she let her minigun do the talking. Shredding through the grimm in front of her with a smirk, then pointing her weapon up, Coco cut through three nevermores that had decided to join in from the forest.
Within the next 5 minutes, Dr. Oobleck, Antonio, and Zwei pulled themselves out of the rubble the train had created, as Glynda Goodwitch arrived, cleaning up her student's mess as usual. Straining herself by using her telekinesis, she forced the destroyed masonry and asphalt back into it's position, and nearly giving herself a bloody nose, fused the stonework back together, sealing the breach. The many teams of Beacon and a few visitors from Haven gathered around and swapped compliments and cheers of victory, all of them ready to go home. "Anyone else compleatly out of ammo?" Pale asked, taking out a cigarillo to smoke after the stressful street shootout, earning a scolding and a detention from Glynda, which he rolled his eyes at.
"Damn near outta shells." Clayton added.
"How close were we to failing that?" Ruby asked, falling flat on her butt in exhaustion.
"Before Atlas showed up, I don't think we'd have had more than 20 minutes." Blake said half slumping over, as she checked her own ammo capacity, finding herself to be empty.
This was Team CFVY's first time seeing their underclassmen in the field, and far from an ordinary mission, the newbies seemed to have dealt with it fairly well, earning a small smile from the fashionista of the team. Within the hour, the bullheads that had escorted the teams out into Vale, returned them to the accadamy just before the sun had left the horizon.
Overlooking the lake between Beacon and Vale, two teams sat gazing into the mid morning skyline, Clayton embracing Ruby, and Halcyone hugging Yang… Weiss and Siniy definitely didn't try to sneak in some public hand holding, don't be lewd. "Well we did it." Yang said, as Blake nodded.
"We did." Blake said, before Weiss spoke up.
"If we don't get extra credit for stopping a terror plot, I'm going to be extremely disappointed." The heiress said.
Siniy chuckled along with Halcyone. "I'd be more worried about the potential lawsuits." Siniy said, as Halcyone dug in the spot where her missing molar used to be.
"Or the dentist bill." The scrapper said, earning a snicker from Yang.
"Plus, between our two missions we didn't figure out how the White Fang got Atlas's new gear." Ruby pointed out.
Pale shrugged. "Well, whatever was going to happen, didn't happen. Breach avoided, very few civilians died, lots of Fang probably got eaten down in the tunnel, and Torchwick was walked away in irons. I'd say we did pretty good." Pale said.
A sudden wave of nausea overcame Blake. "We… We killed a lot of people today." She said. Pale shrugged, Siniy snorted, and Yang waved the comment off.
"Ah come on Blake we're huntsmen and huntresses in training. We kill monsters, and sometimes that means people too." Ruby said.
"It's a violent life." Clayton added.
Halcyone hocked a bloody loogie over the edge of the cliff. "Sucks the Caltrop got destroyed." She muttered, with a frown.
Yang grinned up at her fellow blond. "Tell you what, before the tournament begins, we'll go to the junkyard and find you a project car." Yang said, causing a smile to spread on her… (Ah, who was anyone kidding, they were dating…) Girlfriend's face.
"So… What now?" Blake asked the group.
Weiss sighed. "After today, sleep." She said, earning a chorus of agreements from her friends.
On the Atlesian flagship above Vale, Roman Torchwick sat in his cell after having talked to the General. He wasn't going to give anything up, but at the same time, there was a voice in the back of his head that said he should cut his losses. What Cinder had planned for him in the event he was captured was tantamount to suicide, and that might have been her intent. The green haired brat slipped him a note with hastily written instructions that the plan had changed, and he would play a part in it. Of course he ate the note when nobody was looking, but it did little to comfort him. The crazy bitch wanted to bring down a kingdom, let her, but keep him out of it. She was on her own after that literal train wreck, and given the opposition he kept running into, it was starting to not be worth the monetary profit. Roman shuttered at the thought of meeting the giant in that train car instead of the cat.
"Look at you, sulking around in the dark." Roman looked up, recognizing Black's voice.
"Come to bust me out?" Roman asked the disembodied voice of his associate.
"On the contrary. I've come to say goodbye… I've been met with the realization that my services are no longer needed. Cinder no longer needs dust, and given what I've seen it was being used for, I'm unwilling to provide it for her. An ufortunate end to our arrangement." Black said, before Roman whispered to his friend.
"Wait." Black's presence was still felt. "Could you… Keep an eye on Neo for me… She's a little clingy and might try to kill somebody when she finds out I've been arrested." Roman said.
Blacks response was swift. "Of course."
"And one more thing…" Roman interjected before Black could vanish. "Little Red, she's got silver eyes… I figured you should know." Roman said. And like that, the feeling that Black was there was lost. Roman sighed. "It's going to be a long few months."
In downtown Vale, four conspirators stood in an ally discussing the events that had transpired. "I'd call today a success." Cinder said smoothly, only for Emerald to shake her head.
"Those stupid kids made a mess of everything though." The mint haired girl said.
"You think the faunus are going to keep listening to us after how many died down there today?" Mercury asked.
A grunt came from the shadows where the fourth member stepped forward. "They'll listen to me."
"Oh stow it Adam." Twirling around to face the spot he'd just been in, Adam Taurus looked down at a man only a few inches shorter than he was, covered in a duster and a skull mask.
"Black, so nice of you to join us." Cinder said, a slight bite to her words. Nobody could tell if Black had rolled his eyes at that.
"What do you want?" Emerald asked bluntly.
"Simply to ensure Neo is kept safe, and in check. Roman's tasked me to keep an eye on her… Rest assured I hold no allegiances to any of you after what I've seen happen today." Black said, causing Mercury to sneer at him.
"Then how can we trust you?" Cinder asked, narrowing her eyes at the teleporter.
"You can't, then again you shouldn't have to ask that question. My controle over Vacuo's exportation of tax free dust is a business I don't have the luxury of loosing should I be caught in this little war of yours, and by extention, whatever it is you're planning beyond taking over a kingdome. *chough* Adam... Is not my priority, so long as you don't make it one. We could just as easily destroy each other, as we could remain neutral towards each other for a mutual benefit. I keep Neo on a leash since you got her man arrested, and you don't upset my position as Vacuo's chief warlord... Sound fair?" Black asked, presenting his ultimatum.
Cinder gave a smile to Black that was betrayed by her intent. "Your terms are agreable."
Later that night, Yang was tormented with a dream… One of someone she never expected to meet… Down the hall, another of our young hunters was plagued by her nightmares…
Jagged shrapnel bounced off of the top of Halcyone's family heirloom helmet… It was her great grandfather's from the Faunus rights revolution. The last thing that she'd wanted was for her family to be caught in the middle of a gang war between The Cobras and The Warboys. Halcyone peeked out the windowsill of her family's home and fired off a few rounds, before ducking back into cover. Having to reload her gun, and with her aura dangerously low from taking more than enough hits already, Halcyone was not confident her and her fellow gang members would be able to outlast them, especially not with her mother cowering behind the couch, hands clamped over her ears. "Mom, get out the back, go!" Halcyone yelled before an explosion rocked the building sending chunks off the wall to the floor. Now with her ears temporarily ringing, Halcyone looked around to see if her mother was alright. Her hearing took a second to return, and in that second, she heard the last thing any Cobra member wanted to hear. "WITNESS ME!"
The particular Warboy that had yelled, ran through a hail of gunfire past the few other Cobras outside, charging into the half destroyed house with several bullet wounds and an unpinned grenade in his hand. Halcyone acted quickly and planted one last round in the brain of the Warboy, killing him instantly… Causing him to release the grenade he was clutching. The now spoon-less frag rolled along the floor, right to the feet of Halcyone's mother. Without thinking, she took the loosely hanging helmet off her head, plopped it over the grenade, and hugged it as hard as she could.
The next thing Halcyone knew, she was waking up in the best hospital in Atlas, with her boss, Black, sitting beside her bed… Shrapnel wounds covered over 50% of her body. Facial reconstruction had to be done as a result of having her jaw almost ripped off. She was fighting a systemic infection. Most of her sense of smell was gone… And her mother was dying beside her…
Halcyone shot up from her nightmare, and slammed her head into the wooden slats on the underside of Pale's bed. She didn't even register the pain. Rather, the second she was lucid, Halcyone rolled onto her side facing the wall, and cried as quietly as she could until she fell back to sleep.
Authors note.
Bam V2 done. We're seeing a lot more changes now. SPGL went out on there own mission. The man we know as Black makes more appearances, and as it seems has become invested with the main villains. Halcyone got a little bit of back story, and we get to see her in combat with other people finally. Sticking with the whole freak of nature hyena faunus thing, I needed her to be significantly more intelligent and dangerous than she would appear. Being the tech junkie of the team was something I settled on early, though not clean and proper like say Tech from The Bad Batch, and more like a literal gremlin, squeezing into tight or hard to reach places and just ripping apart machines until they work.
A very basic weapon and a semi auto only carbine while lackluster compared to some of the weapons in RWBY is brutally effective in the hands of someone who knows how to use it, or is just batshit crazy. Halcyone happens to be both, and this shows in the fight with Neo. Where Yang is a relatively slow heavy hitter, and Neo is a zippy little counter player, Halcyone much like the entire world of Mad Max, is fast, and relentless, and savage. Sure she takes some decent hits, looses a tooth in the process, but she's able to keep up with Neo because of it and the fact she was tag teaming with Yang. Losing is not an option for Halcyone, because in the brutal streets of Vacuo failure means death and dismemberment.
Didn't bring this up until now, but the decision for Jaune to actually go to the dance with Pyrrha was not mine. It was his own. In RWBY he turns to catch her attention only for Neptune to block his shot, but with Jaune being slightly less clueless as I'm not using him as the reader's surrogate, (or as a self insert,) and with Neptune content to just hang out with Sun and Blake, Jaune actually does ask Pyrrha to spend the rest of the dance with him. As to how this affects the future, keep reading.
Cheers for V3.