Chapter 3
"Mom…?" Ruby Rose could hardly believe her eyes. Standing before her was Summer Rose; one of the most famous and skilled huntresses in all of Remnant. Her own mother thought to be dead.
"Hello, Ruby. Yang."
"Salutations!" Penny immediately jumped forward to shake the woman's hand. "A family member of Ruby's is a friend of mine! I am Penny Polendina! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Penny," Summer said with a grin.
"Hold it!" Yang shouted, having come out of her state of shock. "How do we know you're really Summer Rose? This could just as easily be a trap by the same guys who messed up that Schnee Dust Company warehouse but forgot that she had left this behind in the wreckage!" the blonde brawler growled as she held up the locket from earlier.
"What, what?!" Ruby asked, having already guessed that her sister might have run across this while looking for her biological mother but feeling betrayed about not being informed about this before now.
Yang just shrugged, not taking her eyes off the woman in front of her: "Didn't know how to bring the subject up until now, Rubes. You can yell at me later, but for now…" ...and with that, Yang placed the locket back into her pocket before getting into a fighting stance. "Either give me a reason to trust you, or find out the hard way that I'm more than meets the eye."
Despite the obvious threat, Summer, having already realized that Yang had discovered her true bloodlines since her disappearance, allowed herself a proud smile: "No need. I've always known that, Yang. It's part of why it was so easy for me to see you as my own child. That said, while I'm more than willing to spar with you later, if you're up for it, I think it'd be a good idea to try and avoid doing any permanent damage to my person. That would make it difficult for me to bake you and my Little Rose a batch of my famous chocolate chip and gingerbread cookies, now wouldn't it...Fire Lily?"
Upon hearing those last two words, Yang blinked in shock before lowering her fists, tears of joy in her eyes. "Heh... it's been a long time since I've heard that nickname...Mom." And that was all the warning Summer got before she received a glomp tackle courtesy of Yang Xiao Long, followed soon afterwards by Ruby Rose...though that wasn't to say that she'd left herself completely vulnerable and/or ignorant to her surroundings. Case in point, she couldn't help but notice the black bird perched on a nearby building that seemed to bow its head in shame almost in response to what it was seeing.
She shook her head in spite of it; she could deal with that issue later. "I know that I owe you two an explanation, but for now, how about introducing me to your…?" However, she cut herself off as she spotted one of the gathered girls in particular. "Weiss?"
The heiress in question could only blink. "Do...do I know you?"
Summer couldn't help but snort in amusement. "I should hope so. Klein and I did like to compete over who could spoil you and your siblings the most."
"Wait, the family in Atlas you used to babysit for was the SCHNEE family?!" Yang yelled out.
Summer could only sigh. "To my pleasure and frustration, yes: if they didn't already have a mother, I would've taken them as far away as I could from that horrid father of theirs. In hindsight, Willow really was the perfect bait for that trap he sprung for me so many years ago. How is she doing, by the way?"
"I...I don't want to talk about it," Weiss couldn't help but choke out, overcome with emotions for various reasons; memories she had tried so hard to keep at bay hitting her all at once. Summer just nodded, scooping the girl into her arms: it said a lot about the emotional state of the infamous "Ice Queen" that she gave no resistance and in fact melted into the woman's arms.
As all this was going on, Blake and Penny just watched quietly, respecting their privacy. But a curious noise caught their attention. "Are you...crying, Ciel?" Penny couldn't help but ask.
"N...NO! I had something in my eye!"
Jean cleared her throat. "Not to interrupt the admittedly heartwarming moment, but according to your daughter, you were captured by Jacques Schnee a few years ago. If that's true, not only would we need to ask a few questions to the man, but it raises quite the conundrum with you as well. If you were, in fact, held captive, how did you manage to escape?"
Summer just gave a stern expression: "By the skin of my teeth: one of the guards came in late for his shift so the control chip they had implanted me with ran out of juice sooner than anticipated."
"Control chip?!" Blake practically shouted.
The Guardsman simply nodded: "It just so happened that he had managed to get his hands on a handful of them somehow. As a Faunus, I'm sure your people are intimately familiar with how they were placed upon the most rebellious of prisoners in the labor camps… and how each moment of implantation is a waking nightmare: you're perfectly aware of your surroundings, but are incapable of defying any orders given to you. For instance, I myself had been ordered to stay on site and refrain from contacting any friends or family. That said, while he had taken away my freedom, he didn't take away my free will, not completely anyways: the moment I realized that I had a chance, I capitalized on it and made my escape." She gave Yang a proud nod. "I believe she can tell you what remained of the place by the time I was gone."
Yang frowned. "If that's true, why didn't you come home? Do you know how much Ruby needed you? How much Dad needed you? ...how much I needed you?" She gave an uncharacteristic whimper with this last question, not quite noticing how the bird from earlier seemed to shed a tear upon hearing this.
Summer, however, did notice but chose not to comment on it. Instead, she got down on her knees and took her daughter's head into hands and looked into her eyes. "Oh, sweetie, of course I wanted to come home, but after years of captivity and torture, I needed to get my bearings. Rediscover who I was. So when I was offered a chance to become a Guardsman, how could I say no?" She kissed Yang on the forehead, before bringing Ruby over to her and doing the same to her. "Don't fret, though; no matter what happened, I never forgot about my daughters, nor how much I love you."
Rachael couldn't help but give a sniffle as she wiped a tear from her eye, before gaining a glare. "Okay, who's cutting onions around here?" Needless to say, everyone - even Ciel - let out a chuckle at that remark.
Meanwhile, back at Beacon, a certain "student" patiently waited for her minions to return. Cinder Fall - one of Salem's spies - had ordered Emerald and Mercury to dispose of a White Fang defector to prove their worth to her. She had spent the last half hour brushing her hair when the door creaked open and the deadly duo entered the room to greet her. "So, how'd it go?" She asked, setting the brush and vanity mirror aside. "Did you declaw the bad kitty?"
"See, I told you he was a puma!" Mercury gloated, much to his partner's annoyance.
"Yes, Cinder." Emerald nodded. "Tukson is dead…"
"... you don't sound too happy?" Cinder arched an eyebrow; noticing both of their nervous expressions. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Well, uh…" Emerald looked down at her feet as Mercury whistled to himself. "That team he was teaching… they called a Guardsman."
Cinder's eyes literally flared with rage. "WHAT?!" She shot out of her seat, furiously. "You idiots! You left those brats alive?! And worse yet, you let them call a Guardsman?!"
"Th-they weren't there at the time!" Mercury desperately tried to defend himself. "By the time we left, someone else had already heard the shot and called the cops! We had to get out of there!"
"How can we fix this?" Emerald shivered. "W-what do you want us to do?"
With a heavy sigh, the newest Fall Maiden slumped back into her seat. "Leave." She muttered. But as she looked back at the younger assassins, they only stared back at her in confusion. "The room! Get out!" She growled. "I need to think."
Without another word, the two villains left their master alone, closing the door behind them. Cinder threaded her fingers together, closed her eyes, and concentrated on a deep part of her mind. "Priscilla? Are you there?" She asked the voice only she could hear. To an outsider, it would have sounded as if the woman was growling at a frightened animal she intended to make her prey. But in reality, she was contacting her own secret weapon. At this time, she'd prefer not to reveal all her tricks right away, even to her closest allies - trust but verify, after all.
At last, a figure resembling a young woman engulfed in flames appeared in Cinder's subconscious mind. "You're right…" The woman's voice echoed around her mind. "This could be a has been difficult enough trying to hide my presence from Ozpin, but if a Guardsman discovered us…"
"So? What do we do?" Cinder replied. "We can't abandon our mission! You said it yourself: the other half of the Fall Maiden is here!"
"Indeed." Priscilla continued, evenly. "A few alterations to the plan might be in order."
"So what now?"
"You're the new Fall Maiden. You figure it out. That's why I took a liking to you; I was enamoured by your drive for power. And your willingness to do what needs to be done to obtain it."
"Yes, it's good to have ambition, isn't it?" Cinder nodded with a grin. "Still, this situation is getting out of hand. How do you suggest we-?"
"Listen to me…" Priscilla interrupted one last time. "If you can just wait and keep the Guardsman off your trail until after the Vytal Festival, you will have the power of two Maidens at your fingertips. The Fall Maiden and the Summer Maiden."
Cinder's mouth went dry. "Wait, what?! Another Maiden? The Summer Maiden? Here, in Vale? But how is that-?" Cinder paused as she saw Priscilla's deadpan expression. "No, no. You're right: that doesn't matter."
The sinister young woman rubbed her chin, mischievously. "This is a golden opportunity. One that might grant me the power to rival even her! But still, the Guardsmen are exceptionally powerful." She reasoned. "How am I supposed to-?"
"Use your imagination." Priscilla concluded, and vanished back into the dark corners of Cinder's mind.
Cinder conjured a blade of dust from her palm and threw it directly at the photograph of the little red troublemaker. The new Fall Maiden chortled to herself. "... 'use my imagination,' eh? I can work with that. It's always so nice talking with you, Priscilla." She pulled out her scroll before accessing the backdoor she had inserted into the school's computer systems not so long ago. "...and don't worry; I know exactly what to do."
Meanwhile, Summer was still explaining to Team RWBY how she escaped. "One of the guards had taken pity on me." She said. "His name was 'Jimmy,' I think. Once I freed myself from the control chip's influence, he guided me to the hangar where I was able to hijack one of the airships. Unfortunately, Jacques had spies everywhere. One of his hired thugs grabbed poor Jimmy, ripped out his skull, and beat him to death with it."
Ruby, Weiss, and Blake shared a look of pure horror, but Yang seemed a bit more skeptical. "Hang on… how do you beat someone to death with their own skull?" She asked, scratching her head. "That doesn't sound physically possible."
"That's exactly what Jimmy kept screaming!"
"Have you… have you talked to Dad, yet?" Ruby asked; finally mustering up enough courage. "I think out of all of us, he took it the hardest."
"I was actually thinking about that." Summer smiled as she brushed her daughter's hair. "I was thinking I could go back to Patch this weekend. That way, he and I could both come to see you all fight in the tournament next week."
Ruby had to wipe the tears from her eyes once again. For years she had dreamed of seeing both of her parents cheering her on as she progressed in her dream to become a huntress. "That sounds like fun, mom." She replied. With one last tearful embrace, Ruby and Yang watched their mother depart to continue her investigation.
"And in the meantime…" Weiss interrupted. "You and Yang can help me test more equipment my family's company has developed. Yang? Would you like to be the first person to test the teleporter?"
Yang paled slightly. "Are you kidding? I'm not going through that thing!"
"Why not?" Weiss placed her hands on her hips in annoyance. "We tested it before, and it worked just fine!"
"We threw rocks through it!" Yang countered. "And when they came out the other end, they were all hot and covered in yellow stuff!"
"So that's it? You're afraid of yellow stuff?"
"Yeah. I am afraid of yellow stuff."
"Oh, don't be such a baby." Weiss rolled her eyes. "Look; they'll only be a few yards apart. That shouldn't be too difficult for a living thing to travel through it. And I'll pay you fifty lien."
"No!"
"One hundred?"
"... fine." Yang crossed her arms. "But for the record; rocks aren't people."
"I'll keep that in mind." The heiress retorted. "Come on, let's set it up."
A few hours later, Team RWBY had assembled the teleporters in Beacon's garden. Weiss used her scroll to link the mainframes and make the necessary calibrations for a person of Yang's height and weight. At last, she decided it was ready. With the press of a button, both platforms generated a circle of blue energy. "Alright, Yang. Let's make history!"
The blonde brawler patted her cheeks and took a few deep breaths to prepare herself. "Okay… I can do this. Yang Xiao Long has got this!" She stepped in front of the first teleporter and got into running position, hoping to make it quick. "One… two…" She ran through the first gateway and disappeared without a trace. The others turned their attention to the opposite teleporter platform, but after a few moments…
"Uh… why isn't she coming through the other end?" Ruby turned to Weiss, anxiously. "Where is my sister?!"
"Hang on! Calm down!" Weiss frantically fiddled with her scroll in a desperate attempt to find the problem. "I'm sure it's fine!"
"Can you fix it?!" Blake was equally worried. "Fix it!"
"What's going on?" Fox Alistair had heard the commotion and wanted to see if he could help resolve the problem.
"Oh, good! A smart third-year student to help us!" Ruby ran over to the upperclassman. "Fox, you're good with machine's, right?! Can you help us fix the teleporter?!"
"Uh, you're gonna want to talk to Velvet." Fox shrugged. "Also, Team CFVY is second-year. I guess I could call Velvet for you if you-"
"THREE!" Yang had suddenly appeared out of the other end of the teleporter, startling everyone around her.
"Yang, you're okay!" Ruby immediately hugged her sister in relief before pulling away out of disgust. A strange, viscous material had coated Yang from head to toe. "EW! What's all that yellow stuff?"
"Aw, man! It's in my hair!" Yang groaned. "Weiss, I'm gonna kill you-! Hey, when'd the third-year get here?"
"Will you stop calling me a third-year?!" Fox snapped. "I'm still just a second-year!"
"Team CFVY is still a second-year team?" Yang's eyes suddenly widened in shock. "Oh. My. Gods. The teleporter sent me back in time!"
Ruby rolled her eyes at this, but got distracted from her sister's "message from the future" upon noticing someone leaving one of the nearby buildings. "Hey, was Team CMSN supposed to be back yet?"
Blake blinked. "No, why?"
Ruby narrowed her eyes. "I'll be right back. It's probably nothing - likely is nothing - but I just want to make sure it's nothing." With that, she took off in the direction where she thought she had spotted Emerald Sustrai not too long ago.
Unbeknownst to the red hooded huntress-in-training, however, someone had spotted her while following her, and took out his scroll in response. "Remember how you asked me to keep an eye on those girls you mentioned?" One Adam Taurus inquired of his uneasy ally. "One of them seems to have caught on to your little deception and is following your little lackey as we speak. Seems to me that in accelerating your plans, you only slowed down in delivering your end of our little bargain."
Cinder growled on the other side of the scroll. "I'll send someone to deal with her. And as for our bargain, I'm giving you permission to deal with the rest of them as you see fit… but keep the one in the red cloak alive; I want to deal with her personally."
Adam just snorted. "Easy enough… especially given it's her that's following your little illusionist."
Cinder could be heard chuckling. "Really now? This just keeps getting better and better. In that case, deal with her little teammates as you see fit once the signal has been given. You'll know when that time comes."
Adam nodded. "Indeed." He shut off his scroll before turning towards where Blake was standing, then snarled as he leveled a glare at Weiss and Yang, with extra emphasis on the latter. "You took something precious from me; only fitting I help return the favor."
Meanwhile, Ruby was starting to get worried: today was the day a few of her friends were going to be doing a series of one-on-one practice rounds with each other and the few classmates she had come across didn't even realize that Cinder's teammate had even passed them in the hallways. Her concern grew as Mercury Black moved to block her path. "Aren't you and Emerald supposed to be doing a mission in Vacuo right about now?" she remarked.
"That's funny, I thought that you were supposed to be testing that Schnee company teleporter?" he shot back.
"Wait, we didn't know it was a teleporter that we would be testing until just yesterday, and we never said anything about how we were testing anything until just today due to a confidentiality agreement. How did you…?" Ruby backed up slightly, subtly reaching for her weapon as she did so.
"Our first match is about to go underway," Professor Port's voice ran out over the intercom, "Our first contestant is Penny Polendina from Atlas."
Taking note of how Mercury seemed to gain a malicious grin at that announcement, Ruby gave a glare. She had finally pieced together enough to know that Team CMSN were not who they claimed to be. "What are you doing?"
"And our second contestant will be...Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!"
Ruby just gasped. "No!"
Mercury just laughed. "What are you so worried about? Miss Nikos is supposed to be invincible, after all."
Ruby just glared as she got into her fighting stance. On the one hand, she was relieved that whatever they were planning, it was clear that they hadn't yet figured out about Penny's true nature. On the other, it likely wouldn't have mattered if they had; they were intending for someone to die in the very first match. And judging by how Mercury also took a fighting stance soon afterwards, they weren't going to let her stop said fight without her giving one as well. Too bad for them.
"...you want a fight, Mercury? You've got one!"
To be continued
