Chapter 10

Despite having never taken the proper training course, Ruby rushed towards the tank. Opening the canopy, she struggled to climb inside due to her height, but eventually managed to get in. Once the canopy closed, a small computer screen lit up, followed by a chipper feminine voice. "Hello! And thank you for activating the M808V Main Battle Tank! My name is Sheila!"

"Oh, hello, Sheila." Ruby smiled. "Uh, can you help me drive this tank so I can help my friends?"

"Are you saying you wish to activate the tutorial program?"

"Oh, yes please!" Ruby clapped and grabbed the controls. "That would be very helpful, Sheila!"

"Activating tutorial program." Sheila began. "This program is designed to train non-certified drivers on proper maintenance and handling of the M808V Main Battle Tank. Let's begin with some driving."

"Okay, uh…" Ruby instinctively pressed her foot down on the first pedal she felt and the tank lurched forward. But to her shock, the poor girl looked down to see something most confusing.

"Now that you've mastered driving," Sheila went on. "Let's move on to some of the more advanced features."

"No!" Ruby cried. "No! No! Wait! Go back! Why are there six pedals if there are only four directions?!"

"Tell me where she is, or I start hunting down your daughter instead," Ciel heard a mysterious female voice declare as she entered her home.

"I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to: while I'll admit to getting letters from her from time to time, she never reveals her exact location. Unless of course it's for an official get-together, and that's only because she comes to us," her father remarked, sounding to be in considerable pain.

The mysterious female could practically be heard nodding. "Fair enough. I suppose I'll just have to retrace those letters you mentioned back to the source...and just in case you were thinking about warning her of my plans…"

Ciel, hearing her father start to cry out in pain, decided that she had heard just about enough, grabbing a soldering iron from a nearby desk that was glowing red from being left on for too long and burst through the door, managing to stab her father's would-be assassin in the arm with the improvised knife. "Who the hell do you think you are, threatening my dad like that?!" she all but shouted.

The woman, revealed to have been wearing a mask and still clutching her injured arm, growled, using what Ciel assumed to be her semblance to cause the ground beneath her to explode, throwing her back towards her father. "My name is Cinder Fall, and you can take that and the mystery of what I'll do with the information your father has given me to your grave!" she declared, wasting no time in temporarily letting go of her bleeding limb to aim a blast at a chandelier above their heads, leaving as the light fixture landed with a miniature explosion.

Ciel could only gap as she looked upon her father, having pushed her out of the way at the last second and now crushed beneath the ruined ceiling decoration. "Dad!" she shouted out in fear and panic. If she had only had a little more time, maybe she could've...

"Don't worry about me," her father demanded, bringing her out of her thoughts. "Contact Ozpin at Beacon Academy. Tell him that Autumn is in danger: he'll know what it means."

"Dad, I...there's got to be a way to…"

"Sweetie, even if you contacted the hospital right now, they'd never make it in time," her father declared, Ciel somehow knowing this was true. "It'll be alright, Ciel. In time, I'm sure...that you'll...accomplish wonders," he said with a proud smile, before breathing his last.

"Dad?" Ciel couldn't stop the tears that leaked from her eyes even if she tried. "DAD!"

"Cela fait deux ans depuis cette nuit, et je n'ai toujours pas trouvé la personne que je cherchais (It's been two years since that night, and I still haven't found the person I've been looking for)," Ciel declared even as she punched a nearby wall in frustration.

Ozpin could only give a mournful sigh, before turning and giving the daughter of his old friend a respectful nod. "I promise you, Ciel; you'll be one of the first to know if we find anything about Cinder's whereabouts."

"Merci, monsieur Ozpin. (Thank you, Mister Ozpin.)" Ciel sighed. "Maintenant, à propos de cette chirurgie qui est censée réparer mon discours? (Now, about that surgery that's supposed to fix my speech?)"

"Ah, my apologies. Yes, we'll find someone soon enough."

Meanwhile, Penny Polendina was in a state of pure bliss. After hiding her true feelings for so long, she and Ruby Rose were finally girlfriends - the ultimate form of friendship! Their first date had gone off without a hitch, and later tonight, they'd be going on a second date. But this date would be different, hence why the android applied the dark green lipstick to her soft synthetic lips. "Thank you again for letting me borrow your lipstick, Rachael." She smiled.

"No problem." Racheal rubbed her chin. "But I just wanna say it out loud, so I know I understand it right… you, Penny Polendina, are actually a robot. And Ruby Rose is your girlfriend. So that makes you… a gay robot."

Penny pondered her friend's statement. "Yes. I suppose I am a gay robot."

Suddenly, a loud explosion rocked the building, startling the two girls. "What the hell was that?!" Racheal screamed.

Back at Beacon, the Paulette-possessed Jean Purple was enjoying herself, immensely. It was only a matter of time before she got her revenge...but first, she mused to herself, she needed to get the attention of a certain someone. After all, she seemed to recall that Team RWBY's leader did say that she had wanted to help her. "Ruuuubyyyy: come out and plaaayyyy," was what Jean Purple broadcasted onto an open channel.

Speaking of Ruby, her teammates - Blake and Yang - could only give each other a nervous glance regarding the young girl upon hearing said broadcast. "This has to be a trap," the latter declared.

Blake gave a bitter nod upon hearing this. "I know, but something tells me we couldn't stop Ruby from going even if we tried. That said, we might have another problem: Ilia recently informed me that Tyrian's on his way to Beacon."

Yang blinked upon hearing this. "Wait, who's Ilia, or Tyrian for that matter?"

Blake nodded, "Ilia is an old friend of mine within the White Fang. She stuck around after I had left, but don't worry: even when compared to the majority of Sienna's faction, Ilia has a bit of a code of honor and apparently even Sienna herself was upset to learn that Adam took part in the attack on Beacon. As for Tyrian, short answer, he's Atlas' infamous 'Mad Scorpion.'"

"The Mad Scorpion?!" Yang practically shouted. "Wasn't he the guy who took out over a dozen guards during a White Fang raid?"

"That's the one..." Blake declared with a disgusted look on her face "...and that's just one instance of his legendary bloodlust. Eventually, it was a bit more than Sienna could take and he was publically ousted from the group shortly before I myself left to carve out my own path. Unfortunately, he narrowly managed to escape being imprisoned by Atlas Academy itself soon afterwards. We've tried to keep an eye out for him ever since, because while the White Fang and Jacques Schnee might not agree on a lot of things, one thing we can agree on is that Tyrian Callows does not deserve to breathe free air."

Yang gulped. "They're sure that he's on his way here? And now that I think about it, how would this Ilia girl even get a message to you in the first place?"

Blake shrugged. "Your latter question? The two of us kept contact with each other through secret channels and the like even after I broke ties with Adam and by extension the White Fang: wouldn't say much, but she, and by extension Sienna Khan herself, seemed to understand why I didn't want to associate with the group after my last mission with my ex-boyfriend. As for the former question, apparently a murdered Shade Academy student was found whose scar pattern on the autopsy report matches Tyrian's usual MO, and apparently, Tyrian never realized that someone had called this student while he interrogating him for information, so he never knew that his teammates were made aware of a client wanting to see him in Beacon."

Yang nodded. "Fair enough. Not sure I want to know how the White Fang got a hold of this information, and no offence to one of your old friends, but I'm not sure how much I trust a single word that comes out of 'Ilia's' mouth, but I do trust you, and if there's even a chance that my sister is in danger, I'm going to do everything in my power to keep her safe."

Blake simply gave a light smile and a nod at this. "Fair enough. Now, let's go help Ruby. Should we take the teleporter again?"

Yang's eyes widened. "Hell, no! I am not going through that thing again! Ever since I used it the first time, I still feel this weird tingle in the back of my…" She motioned her hands over her breasts before rapidly shaking her head. "Look, I'm just not going through it again, okay?"

"Well, we can't let Paulette hurt our friends." Blake reasoned.

"Yeah? Well, I bet Paulette didn't think of this!" Yang snatched a Dust-grenade from her belt, pulled the pin, and threw it through the portal. "Now, c'mon! Let's go!" She exclaimed before dragging her girlfriend by the arm.

At the same time, Ruby was still struggling to control the tank. "Sheila! Please, help! I don't know what I'm doing!" At last, the poor girl slammed her foot on the correct pedal and engaged the brakes. "Phew…" She sighed, gratefully. As she looked out past the tank's canopy, she saw Paulette continuing to terrorize Team CFVY and her aunt. Thinking quickly, she managed to locate the weapons system and gripped the cannon's control stick.

"Now, to fire the main cannon, please locate the M808V's auto-target lock!" Sheila instructed.

"Okay… auto-target lock. Auto-target lock…" She skimmed her free hand over the control panel, hoping to find the right button.

While Ruby fiddled with the controls, Rachael and Penny had met up with Ciel and the three friends were rushing to to help their medic. Weiss, Yang, and Blake soon joined them, but before anything could be said, a purple blur snatched up Ciel. "MWAHAHAHAHA! I have plans for you, blue French girl!"

"Jean! Arrêtez! Lâchez-moi! (Jean! Stop! Let me go!)" Ciel struggled to break free, but to no avail.

"Hang on, Ciel! I'll help you!" Rachael shouted as she pulled out her gun and ran after them.

"No, wait, you idiot!" Weiss scolded and followed close behind.

Finally, Ruby found the correct button to activate the tank's cannon. Carefully moving the control stick, she aimed the auto-target lock onto the strange vehicle. Then, with a pull of the trigger, an artillery shell was fired from the main cannon, destroyed the vehicle, and sent Paulette and Ciel flying through the air.

"Son of a bitch!" Rachael yelped.

"Son of a bitch!" Yang instinctively tackled Blake and Weiss to the ground for protection.

"Fils de pute!" Ciel screamed in pain as she landed on her bum.

"MWAHAHAHAHA! Is that the best you can do?!" Paulette goaded before another artillery shell landed dangerously close to her. "Uh, oh." Thinking it would be best to retreat, Paulette grabbed Ciel and ran off to the caves.

"All targets eliminated." Sheila declared, proudly.

"Phew." Ruby wiped the sweat from her forehead and leaned back in her seat.

"What just happened?" Yang asked no one in particular.

"It's Ruby!" Weiss smiled, standing up. "She brought the tank and scared Paulette away! Hey, good job, Ruby! Why didn't you tell us you could drive the tank?!"

"New target acquired." Sheila stated.

"Huh? That's not a target. That's Weiss." Ruby corrected as she looked at the targeting computer.

"Target locked."

"What?! No! Target unlock! Unlock!" Ruby frantically started pushing buttons in an attempt to stop Sheila, but it was too late. "Uh, oh…"

"Uh, oh…" Yang - having caught on to what was happening - dragged Blake away from the Schnee heiress.

"What…?" Weiss' eyes widened as she saw the cannon's barrel aimed directly at her. "Oh, son of a bitch-"

But just as the shell was fired, Penny jumped in front of Weiss. Using her swords as a shield, the android took most of the blow. But the blast still burned Weiss. Weakly, she looked up at her savior. "Y-you… saved me?"

"As I told Ms. Rose; a friend of Ruby's is a friend of mine." Penny smiled and carried Weiss over to her teammates. Yang took the white-haired girl into her own arms and laid her down to inspect her injuries.

"Y-Yang…? Yang…?" Weiss' aura was slowly healing her, but she was still in immense pain.

"Don't worry, Weiss. We're gonna fix you up!" Yang promised as she held Weiss' hand. "Just keep talking to me."

"Y-Yang… if I don't make it… I want you to know… I always disliked you. I always disliked you the most."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I know you did."

"WEISS!" Ruby shouted as she ran up the hill, having since gotten out of the tank. "I didn't...the auto-target...you weren't...I'm sorry that...please be okay...I..." ...and that was as far as Ruby's panicked rambling went before she felt Weiss place a finger on her lips with a gentle smile on her face.

"It's okay, you dolt," Weiss declared. "I know you didn't mean for this to happen, and besides, after what happened with the Dust vial incident from when we first met, I should be expecting for events to to get… explosive with you around."

Ruby gave a sigh of relief, even as Yang shook her head and the phantom of a memory bounced around her skull, causing her to give a sheepish grin. "Eheh: did I ever apologize for sneezing that crater under us? ...er, wait, did that actually happen?" She couldn't help but ask.

Blake patted her teammate on the back in a comforting fashion. "Yes, that did happen. And yes, you both apologized after that incident; you for the clumsiness and sneeze, and Weiss for her short-sightedness and losing her temper. Don't worry, I'm sure your memories will sort themselves out in time." She declared before turning towards the cliff where Paulette previously stood. "Speaking of memories and/or knowledge, looks like I was right that Paulette might still have some plans for you, Ruby. But for now, I think we should focus on why she took Ciel with her in the confusion."

"While I'm sure it's not the only reason, but there is the issue of shared interests." Penny declared. "After all, during my brief possession of her, I accidentally stumbled upon a few of her memories."

"Hey, lots of girls slept with teddy bears!" Rachael shouted.

"Uh, no. I was referring to how Cinder had apparently murdered her father." Penny remarked with a deadpan expression.

To this, Ruby could only give a low whistle even as Rachael gave a sheepish grin by way of reply. "No wonder she wanted to help bring her to justice." The young scythe-wielder declared.

Yang shook her head. "Regardless, after what happened with you, Ruby, I doubt Ciel would ever willingly assist Paulette in changing a lightbulb. Let alone destroy the economy of her home."

Blake blinked. "Wait, what did you say?"

"That Ciel would never willingly help Paulette destroy Atlas?"

"Willingly. That's the key word." The Cat Faunus declared with a frightened look on her face.

"... you think that Paulette could force Ciel to help her?" Ruby asked, joining others in gaining a shocked and frightened look on their faces.

"Your mother already confirmed that there are a few Control Chips left over from the Great War, and there are still some means - legally and morally questionable as they are - of obtaining them." Was the only answer Blake could give. "The only question I have is; if that is indeed how she intends to force Ciel's hand, and if so, how she would get her hands on one."

Before anyone could reply, something came out of the teleporter and landed in the center of the group. "Uh, what the hell is that?" Coco asked, tipping her sunglasses down.

"Oh, shit! RUN!" Yang shouted just as the grenade went off. After the dust cleared, Yang saw her girlfriend glaring at her. "Yeah, yeah, I know." She sighed.

Meanwhile, Paulette had just finished attaching the Control Chip to Ciel's personal tracking chip. "Remind me to thank Tyrian for stealing this for me, won't you?" She chuckled to her captive.

In spite of the literal pain in her neck, Ciel looked up to see the crude surgical equipment Jean's device used to perform the surgery. "Ugh. Je jure devant Dieux, Jean, si je contracté le tétanos à cause de toi, je te botterai le cul. (Ugh. I swear to gods, Jean, if I get tetanus because of you, I will kick your ass.)"

"I don't know what you said, but I don't care for your tone." Paulette sneered. The possessed medic took out a handheld device, cut the blue-clad watchmaker free of her restraints, and spoke into the device's microphone. "Stand up." She ordered.

Much to her dismay, Ciel found her body acting against her own will. She stood on her feet and stepped closer to Paulette. Next, she bowed before her new master. "Qu'est-ce... que c'est? Qu'est-ce que tu m'as fait? (What… what is this? What have you done to me?)"

"MWAHAHAHAHA! Confusing, isn't it?" Paulette cackled. "I'm sure I'd want to know just what the hell is going on if I were you. Let's just say, I've made you a bit more willing to obey my commands. I have big plans for this world, my friend. And like it or not, you're going to help me."

To Be Continued.