Black Paladin

Chapter 10: The more they stay the same

So there we sat, playing Risk, and every few seconds, all other members of my team, and JNPR were looking at me. Why? The big poofy white mustache. That requires more explanation.

See, we are playing Risk, which has four countries and supports four players. When Ruby picked this game, this fact escaped her. So it was decided that I would be a bank of sorts. I would rent units out to players, under conditions. Why the mustache? Well it was decided that the Schnee Dust Company was the only group capable of such an open policy, and therefore I grew the giant, poofy white mustache of their chairman, Frost Schnee. And it was a good copy, but an abominable look with all my black clothes, and hair.

I look up from my book to the sound of lightning crashing sky. I look over to see Weiss standing, accompanies her overjoyed psychotic laughter. "Y-yes! Fear the almighty power of my forces! Cower as they pillage your homes and weep as they take your children from your very arms!"

"Ok Weiss, turn down the megalomaniac dictator, it is starting to concern me." I say.

Yang says, "Trap card…" and holds the card.

Weiss asks, "Huh?"

Yang removes the entire group of Weiss's pieces, "Your armies have been destroyed."

Weiss cries, actually tearing up. "I hate this game of emotions we play."

Ruby hops into Weiss' lap, saying, "Stay strong, Weiss! We'll make it through this together!"

Weiss demands, "Shut up!" Weiss holds Ruby close, "Don't touch me!"

Yang kicks back, and says, "Alright Blake, you're up!"

Blake asks, "Oh, um, sorry, what am I doing?"

Yang explains, "You're playing as Vale, trying to conquer the Kingdoms of Remnant!"

"How many moves into this game are we?" I ask.

"Sixteen." Yang says.

Blake says, doubtfully, "Right."

Jaune asks, approaching the table, "Hey! Can I play?"

Ruby says, "Sorry Jaune, we've already got 4 people."

"But what about Obsidian, he is…" Jaune defends.

"Not a player. I am usurping Weiss claim to power." I say.

Weiss remarks, "Besides, this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt you possess."

Yang comments, "Uhh, you attacked your own naval fleet 2 turns ago." Much to Weiss's chagrin.

Jaune demands, "Bring it on, Ice Queen! I'll have you know that I have been told that I am a natural born leader!"

Weiss snarks, "By who? Your mother?"

Jaune defends, "A-and Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha waves from her table, before returning to her book.

Jaune begs, "Come on, let me play your hand for a turn!"

Weiss snarks, "I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo!"

Jaune begins, "Why not? You've trusted me with way more important stuff before. Like Obsi-" Until a book smacks him in the head, and a truly murderous glare comes from me, he silences himself. "Right. That. Ladies, enjoy your battle." bows and walks away.

Sun asks, walking up, "'Sup losers."

Sun walks over, holding his fingers in a peace sign.

Ruby says, "Hey Sun!"

I look over to see Sun brought a friend.

Sun says, "Ruby, Yang, Blake, Feathers... Ice Queen."

"That is not my name." I say, with another death glare. If I keep getting practice like this, one of these days, it might actually kill someone.

Weiss demands, "Why does everyone keep calling me that?"

Sun continues, "I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend."

Neptune asks, "Uhh, aren't libraries for reading?"

I raise my book to him with a smile, and from behind me, I hear Ren yell, "Thank you!"

Nora's head rises, and she says, "Pancakes!"

Sun snarks, "Shut up. Don't be a nerd."

Neptune retorts, "Geh, geh, geh, geh! "Intellectual", okay? Thank you." he waves, "I'm Neptune."

Weiss asks, "So Neptune, where are you from?"

Neptune says, "Haven." as he approaches Weiss. "And I don't believe I've caught your name, snow angel."

"Oh Dust, just as I thought you were ok, you turn out to be Jaune." I say, grumbling and going back to my book.

Weiss stumbles, "Um, I'm Weiss."

Jaune demands, "Are you kidding me!?"

Neptune says, "Pleasure to meet you."

Sun tells Blake, "I never took you as the board game playing type."

Blake gives Sun her cards and leaves, "Right, well, I think I'm done playing actually. I'll see you guys later."

Nora snarks, "Women." drawing all eyes, in confusion.

As we get back to the room, Yang is still complaining, "Ugh, we should have never let him play!"

Ruby responds, "You're just mad cuz' the new guy beat you! See, if you had just attacked when I told you none of this would have happened."

As we enter, Blake approaches the door to leave.

Weiss demands, "Stop." and points at Blake. "Lately you've been quiet, antisocial and moody!"

Yang asks, "Uh, have you met Blake?"

Weiss backpedals, "Which I get is kind of your thing, but you've been doing it more than usual! Which quite frankly, is unacceptable! You made a promise to me, to all of us, that you would let us know if something was wrong!" she flips through the air, and lands in a chair, which has been displaced from the corner desk. "So, Blake Belladonna, what is wrong!?" Pointing at Blake again.

She quickly puts the chair away and returns to stand near Ruby and Yang.

Blake says, "I just, I don't understand how everyone can be so calm."

Ruby asks, "You're still thinking about Torchwick?"

Blake demands, "Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it! Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it!"

Yang explains, "Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the police and the Huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it."

Blake demands, "Well I'm not! They don't know the White Fang like I do!"

Weiss continues, "Okay, between blowing up nightclubs, stopping thieves, and fighting for freedom, I'm sure the three of you think that you're all ready to go out and apprehend these ne'er-do-wells!"

Ruby begins to ask, "Who?" Then realizes, "The bad guys!"

Weiss continues, "But let me once again be the voice of reason. We're students! We're not ready to handle this sort of situation!"

I begin, "And honestly, we are four people, can we really take down an intercontinental crime syndicate? Can we handle that?"

Blake demands, "And we may never be able to! Our enemies aren't just going to sit around and wait for graduation day." She points angrily to the door, "They're out there, somewhere, planning their next move, and none of us know what it is, but it's coming! Whether we're ready or not!"

Ruby becomes spastic, and yells, "Okay, all in favor of becoming the youngest Huntresses to" I very subtly clear my throat. "And Hunter, to single-handedly taking down a corrupt organization conspiring against the Kingdom of Vale... say aye."

Yang enthusiastically replies, "Yes! I love it when you're feisty!"

Weiss responds, "Well, I suppose it could be fun."

Ruby whines, "None of you said aye!"

I sigh, "Aye." Much to Ruby's enjoyment.

Blake says, "Alright then, we're in this together!"

Ruby waves about, "Let's hatch a plan!"

Yang says, Yeah!"

Ruby gasps, "I left my board game at the library!"

Weiss signs, and cradles her head, "We're doomed."

Ruby runs out of the room yelling, "I'll be right back!" as Ruby runs into someone.

I walk to the door to help, and the two standing their give me pause.

The girl with green hair reaches out to Ruby, "I'm fine. Just watch where you're going."

Ruby remains slouched on the ground as she takes Emerald's hand. The silver haired boy behind her.

Ruby begins, "Oh, right, sorry." she asks, as the girl helps her to her feet. "Um, I'm Ruby! Are you new?"

A third and apparently last member steps forward, and I very nearly have a stroke, as she says, "Visiting from Haven, actually."

Ruby stares for a moment and the women stares back.

Ruby gasps, "Ooh! You're here for the festival! But exchange students have their own dormitory."

The boy comments, "I guess we just got turned around."

Ruby responds, "Hey, don't worry, it happens all the time." As they walk past her, "Uh, your building is just east of here."

The women says, "Thanks. Maybe we'll see you around."

Ruby yells down the hall, "Yeah, maybe! Oh, uh, and welcome to Beacon!"

I walk, stumble, back into our room. Those were not someone I want to 'see around.'

After a long week, and an eternity listening to Professor Port ramble about Grimm, the last bell is only minutes away.

If only Jaune wasn't making it go even slower.

For his third attempt today, Jaune rambles, "So, Weiss, y'know, uh, I-I was thinking after this, maybe we could go grab a bite to eat?" pausing to look around, "And, uh um, I-I've got two tickets to that new Spruce Willis movie, if you wanna make the trip to Vale. I hear it's awesome." another pause, "Aaaand maybe after that, we could study together? I mean, you're smart and I'm, uh... Y'know." Ya we know.

Finally, the clock in front of Weiss gives a shrill beep as it changes from 3:59 to 4:00, and she dismisses it with a wave of her hand.

Port pauses as the bell rings, "Timed that one wrong, I guess. Well, the stunning conclusion to this story will have to wait. Until next time!"

Jaune asks, "Weiss? Did you hear me?"

Weiss walks away, "No, no, no, yes."

Upon hearing this, Jaune groans and does a faceplant into his desk.

As we get back to the team room, Blake says, "I thought that class would never end."

Ruby says, "Alright, guys, today's the day! The investigation begins!"

"Can I come out now?" I ask, having been in my corner while they changed.

"Yes." Yang says, and I step out, as Ruby almost lands on Weiss.

Weiss snarks, "I'm glad to see we're taking this so seriously."

Yang retorts, "Hey, we've got a plan! That's... moderately serious."

Ruby says, "Right!" and looks around, "Everyone remember their roles?"

Weiss responds, "You and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies. Seeing as I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem."

Blake responds, "The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If Obsidian and I can get in, we can find out some of their plans."

"I was unclear about how you were…" Weiss begins.

I smirk, grow a short pair of ears, and a Grim mask. Then I turn, and show the coat, with the white fang..

"That's not the white fang logo." Blake says. "The wolf head is lower, and the claw marks are more vertical than that."

I shift a bit, and the driving sharpens, and the marks shift, and a quartet of gasps are heard. "What? Did you really think I went and killed a Beowulf or two every time I needed a new outfit?"

"Well, not exactly, but…" Weiss begins.

Then Ruby interrupts, "We will discuss Obsidian's clothing after the mission." And turns to Yang.

Yang says, "I have an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale. Getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard…"

Ruby yells, "Great! We'll meet up tonight with Yang to go over what we found. Let's do this!"

Sun yells, "Yeah!"We all turn to see a smiling Sun Wukong as he hangs upside-down by his tail in their open window. The whole team is taken aback.

Blake demands, "Sun!"

Yang demands, "How did you get up there?"

Sun scoffs, "Ah, it's easy; I do it all the time."

Weiss demands, "You do what?!" As four of our group drifts toward their weapons.

Sun responds, "I climb trees all the time!" flips into the room, seemingly ignoring the four angry stairs. "So, are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy?"

Blake explains, "We are going to investigate the situation... as a team."

Ruby says, "Sorry, Sun. We don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to."

Sun scoffs, "Psh! That's dumb! We should always get friends involved! That's why I brought Neptune!" waving at the empty window.

We all lean out of the window, and see Neptune standing on a very thin railing, and he asks, "'Sup?"

Ruby asks, "How did you even get up here?"

Neptune responds, "I have my ways. Seriously, though, can I come in? We're like, really high up right now."

We let him inside the dorm room, and we stand in a circle as Ruby lays down the new plan.

Ruby begins, "Alright, I'll go with Weiss; Sun, you can go with Blake. And Neptune, you can go with Yang since she doesn't have a partner. Everyone good?"

Weiss asks, "Actually, Ruby, why don't you go with Yang? After all, she is your sister."

Ruby pushed Neptune, who is stiff as a board, up next to Yang. When she is done pushing him, he rocks back and forth looking nervous. Yang put her hand on his shoulder to stop him from rocking.

Ruby asks, "But, Weiss, who would go with you, then?"

Weiss says, "Well... I guess Neptune could come with me."

Ruby laughs, "Hahaha, nah!"

Weiss is less than amused, yet is powerless to stop Ruby from pulling her by the back out the door.

Weiss calls back, "But! But!"

I turn to my teammates, "So do we have a plan, or just show up."

Blake looks between us, "Neither of you have a clue how to look at a White Fang meeting."

"I figured silent, brooding, and with a glare that curls milk." I say, in my slightly altered voice.

"Who is this?" Sun asks.

I take of my 'mask', and normalise my voice, "Hi. Obsidian. We met briefly before."

"Why do you have ears, you had wings.." Sun asks.

"Long story." I say.

"How do you have that outfit?"

"Stop with the needless questions." I say.

"Let's go." Blake says, annoyed.

After almost an hour of searching, Blake's fingers trace three scratch marks on a wall before peeking around its corner and seeing a pair of horned Faunus as they are ushered into a building by a bearded man. She turns to us.

Blake says, "This is it. And Obsidian, kill the outfit, this is a bigger rally."

Sun asks, "You sure?" Blake's glares makes him stop, and starts moving towards the entrance while unfastening her bow. "Y'know, I'm just gonna take your word for it."

We walk inside the building to a hallway filled with storage crates, seeing another man announcing "New recruits, keep to the right!" at the young pair as we follow.

Sun asks, "I don't get it. If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"

Blake says, "The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters."

Sun says, "Grimm masks... That's kind of dark."

"Stop asking questions." I mutter, as we walk into the crowd.

Blake says, "So was the guy who started it."

Sun sighs, "Always sunshine and rainbows with you…" then follows us.

Sun continues with his aggravating commentary, "Why don't you seem phased by this Obsidian?"

"Years of formal ceremony have left me dulled to any gathering of people." I say.

We follow the new recruits to the White Fang, and are moved into a line to the side of the stage, a few dozen next to the hundreds of white-vested, black-hooded soldiers to our left and up above in the balconies. We look around when they stop, and a fully-masked man with tattoos starts speaking before the large sheet emblazoned with the bloody wolf and claw marks.

The White Fang Lieutenant says, "Thank you all for coming. For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!"

Roman freaking Torchwick walks out on stage, smiling confidently even as the crowd starts protesting.

Roman waving mockingly, "Thank you, thank you!" As he speaks, the strangest colored girl I have ever seen, walks out from behind the sheet. "Please, hold your applause!"

One of the crowd before us demands, " What's a human doing here?!

Roman says, "I'm glad you asked, "Deerie"! Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans... are the worst." as he salutes, as an example. "Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed!"

Sun asks Blake, "So, is he going somewhere with this?"

Roman continues, "But, before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!" the crowd changes their tune and starts agreeing with him. "Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life!" He pauses to let the crowd cheer as Sun and Blake share an interesting look, and the murderous rage from my left… disorientates me, "And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around... No offense to any rodents in the room."

With a snap of the fingers, the curtain falls, and the whole mass of Faunus applaud at the sight of an Atlesian Paladin behind it, the mark of the White Fang painted on its shoulder.

Sun says, "Whoa, that's a big robot…"

Blake demands, "How did he get that?"

Roman says, "As some of you may have heard, this right here…" tapping the giant mech "...is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my "employer", we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, "hit the shelves". Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine... But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?" the roaring applause tells him the answer.

Blake says, "We should get out of here."

The White Fang Lieutenant commands, "Will all new recruits, please come forward!"

Sun says, as the line disappears in front of us, "Welp!"

Sun whispers, "What are we going to do?!"

Blake says, "I'm thinking…"

Sun looks at Roman as he zeroes in on us, frowning, "He sees us…" as he tries to smile and wave.

Blake says, noticing the junction box on the wall. "He can't see in the dark."

With that, Blake unsheathes Gambol Shroud, transforms it into a pistol, and shoots at the box, making the lights go out for the whole building and turning the screen dark.

Roman demands, "Don't let them get away!"

Blake begins, "Sun! The...What? "

Roman demands, "Stop them!"

I had picked up Blake and Sun, had flown through a window, and was trying to get away, as the mechanized sound of running power signals the Atlesian Paladin's activation. It crashes through the wall of the building in pursuit, unleashes some kind of anti air cannon, and takes out one of my wings. As we crash to the roof, Blake helps me up, waving us to run. The Paladin follows beside us on the street as we run, jump, and flip from rooftop to rooftop.

Sun asks, "So you wouldn't happen to have... oh, I don't know... some form of backup?!"

Blake says, "On it!" as she grabs her Scroll and puts it to her ear.

She calls Ruby, Weiss and Yang, as we sprint down the street and I slowly and carefully put away me wings, making sure to not take any hot lead into my spine.

As we get to the highway, we leap from car to car, as we attempt to escape. As the Paladin gets closer to us, we can see Neptune attacking it, Sun calls, "Neptune, hang on!" As he creates light clones, and attacks the Paladin. He follow them, and gets knocked into Neptune, and falls off the highway.

As they fall, I hear Weis call, "I'm in position." I turn to see her create an Ice Slick, throwing the Paladin off the highway.

I leap of the Highway with her, and we regroup.

Ruby calls, "Freezer Burn!"

Ruby, Blake, and I back out of the way as Weiss performs her ice-circle trick, then she backs out of Yang's way when she jumps into the air and hits the epicenter with her Ember Celica, creating a wave of mist that surrounds Roman.

Immediately, the Paladin activates its laser sensors to make up for the lost sight, but it barely sees the afterimage of Blake and narrowly misses the dashing Yang. A gun manages to fire at the area between Blake and Yang, but out from the blast comes Ruby, who slashes the metal with her blade, causing it to falter. I sprint forward, and try to shift, when the lasers lock, and the guns turn simultaneously, and I shift into a defencive shield, and am knocked back.

As we regroup again, I say, "It was built to kill Grimm." As then realize what that means, I bring out Balta. "I can support from a range," Demonstrating by sending Yang a wave of fire, "But if I get to close, it will shred me."

Ruby calls, "Checkmate" Blake and Weiss go in this time, each going for the feet until Weiss jumps up and stabs a sensor before leaping off of a white glyph. Roman lifts the Paladin's foot to crush Blake, but Weiss summons another glyph under her teammate to launch her backwards before the crushing blow can land. Roman growls and fires off the missiles, but Weiss and Blake flip backwards as the explosions merely hit where they were.

Finally, Weiss jumps up too high, and Roman fires a double energy blast at her. Myrtenaster absorbs the damage, but Weiss is thrown back, so she casts a beam of light from her weapon to the ground under Blake, forming her time dilation effect, that's absorbed into Blake and lets her slice through each launched missile with ease in a flurry of slashes.

Ruby calls, "Ladybug"

Ruby shoots herself forward and cuts at the robot's legs, then turns as Blake aims herself at the giant's feet as well. They both dash forward and attack at the same time, circling each other around the Paladin with each strike until they both launch themselves into the air and come down together on the shoulder, cutting off the left arm entirely.

I move to follow up with a lightning bolt, but as I get closer, it's guns turn on me, causing me to have to hunker.

Yang doesn't waste a second, jumping onto the Paladin's back and punching the top with fiery shotgun blasts. Roman is knocked around in the cabin, but seeing as he can't reach her with his remaining mechanical arm, he runs backwards through two columns and leaves her embedded in a third before backing away and turning towards her. Just as she falls down, the remaining arm extends a closed fist, and when it punches her, she flies through the column and doesn't get up.

As Blake calls, Yang!" I run over to get her, and the Paladin locks again, and fires, as Roman seems to hate me.

I am just close enough to hear Ruby tell Blake, "Don't worry! With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special."

I know about her semblance, but I am also aware, there are limits.

I turn, the Paladin having focused its attention on Yang again. It swings, while Yang, literally glowing, catches, and swings, shattering its arm. He responds by kicking her past us, and Ruby calls, "Bumblebee!"

Blake tosses the end of Gambol Shroud, allowing Yang to reverse her momentum, and run toward the bot. It dodges, and Ruby says, "We have to slow it down!"

Weiss asks, "And how do you propose we do that?"

Ruby calls, "Ice Cannon!"

We stagger ourselves, as Weiss and I create a set of enhancing Glyphs, overlapping, creating an enhancement field as delicate as Weiss can manage, with as much power as I can pour into it. Ruby fired, and white balls, almost a foot wide struck out, and turned the Paladin, and it's surroundings into a glacier. That stopped, and Yang swing in to hit it, and it all but imploded, as Roman came flying out of the disintegrating suit, and into a heap, followed by parts of the mech. Yang fires, and the strangely colored girl from before falls from the sky, and blocks it with...her umbrella.

Roman calls, "Ladies, Gentleman… Icequeen"

Weiss's offended protests rings true.

"Always a pleasure. Neo if you would." As she bowes.

Yang charges, and they shatter.

We all turn to see a bulkhead fly away.

Yang says, "So I guess he got a new henchman."

Weiss says, "Yeah, I guess she really made our plans... fall apart!"

I grone, "Yang puns." Before rolling my shoulders, attempting to relieve the pain in my back.

While Weiss smiles, Ruby giggles, and Blake starts walking away, Yang simply states, "No. Just... no."

Weiss demands, "What- But, you do it!"

Yang explains, "There's a time and a place for jokes."

Weiss asks, "Was this not it?"

Yang says, "No, it just wasn't very good." and leaves.

Weiss demands, "Well, at least I'm trying!"

Ruby looks around and turns to me, as I haven't left yet, "Wait... Where are Sun and Neptune?"