Chapter 21

"What do you mean that Uncle Tukson's alive and that Paulette is controlling him?!" Blake demanded.

"Uh, exactly what you think it means?" Penny couldn't help but agree with Yatsuhashi: the cat Faunus could be pretty scary sometimes.

"Easy, Blake, we're just as upset about this as you are." Rachael declared.

Penny cleared her throat before looking to everyone that had gathered. "Okay, between this and how neither Team JNPR nor Raven and Fox have returned yet, I think it's obvious to everyone that Paulette and her allies - willing or otherwise - have set a trap for us in the caves...but seeing how some of our friends are likely trapped down there, it seems we have no choice but to spring it."

Yang just sighed. "I'm guessing that calling for backup is out of the question…"

Summer could only give a sheepish grin. "Sorry, sweetie. I somehow doubt that'd make it in time… and even if they did we'd still be going in mostly blind, since we don't know what sort of surprises we'll find down there."

Amarilla cleared her throat. "I know I'm new to this, but any particular reason that Penny is the one coordinating this? It's my understanding that she wasn't the leader."

Penny shook her head. "...it's not that Summer, Ruby, or Coco couldn't plan this out; it's that Paulette expects them to plan this out and likely is fully prepared for anything they would throw at her."

The android cleared her throat. "Anyways, the plan is for us to divide our forces. Summer, Yang, Weiss, Rachael, and I will be taking the back way in, dealing with any forces we come across along the way and hopefully finding our missing friends. If it turns out they've been taken hostage, we'll free them."

Yang blinked. "Wait, what about my kid? Paulette seems pretty set on getting her digital hands on her, so I can't just leave her out in the open."

Penny sighed. "Actually, that's exactly what you're going to do. Like you said, Paulette is set on getting a hold of Holly, so that makes her the perfect diversion for the majority of her forces… but don't worry; I'm going to have Blake, Taiyang, Jean, and Amarilla watching over her the whole time."

Ruby smirked. "Me too!"

Penny shook her head. "Sorry Ruby, but no. You, Ciel, and what's left of Team CFVY will need to watch Sheila."

Summer nodded. "She's right: if she gets taken out now, we might lose her and any information she might have for good."

Penny gave a stoic look. "Plus you're our backup in case anything goes wrong on either end: any of us start panicking and you're to come in ready to break some legs."

Yatsuhasi snorted. "Nora would love this plan."

Yang sighed before taking a knee in front of Holly. "Well, darling, looks like it's time for your first day in the field. I know it hasn't been that long since you've shown up, but you're going to need to be brave, okay?"

Blake looked to Weiss. "I'm conflicted. On one hand, it's still a bit weird that she's being so affectionate with something that's half-Grimm. On the other, it's nice to know that my step-daughter's got a supportive mother."

Weiss nodded. "Yang can be dense at times, but even I'll admit that her physical strength is only exceeded by her big heart." She then gave a deadpan expression. "Also, as admittedly romantic and sweet as it is that you're already referring to her kid as your step-daughter, I'd like to point out that the two of you aren't married yet."

Summer gave a cheeky grin. "Keyword being 'yet'...and to be honest, I wouldn't mind them tying the knot and gaining a few more grandkids at some point, even if they're adopted." She smirked. "Which reminds me; how has Weiss been treating you, Ruby? What about you, Penny? Any other romantic interests I should know about?"

Yang, Ruby, and Penny could only groan in shared embarrassment. "MOOOM!"

"Summer, stop teasing them." Taiyang gained an impish grin. "We'll have plenty of time to do that after we've found everyone and regrouped to discuss our next move."

Yang groaned. "Yeah, not looking forward to that." She then sighed and looked at Holly. "Oh, well. Sweetie, looks like this is it… but don't worry. We'll have plenty of time to do some family bonding when this is over." The blonde brawler gave a smirk. "...but for now, it's time for you to show the world what I've taught you so far, so let's get out there and kick some butt."

Holly grinned. "I can Holly wait!"

Jean shared a groan with everyone else. "I'm starting to worry about what else you've been teaching her…"

Yang quirked an eyebrow. "Teach? What are you talking about?" She smirked. "You can't teach that. That all comes naturally."

Before the group split up, however, Rachael grabbed her French friend by the arm to get her attention. "Ciel… before we go, I wish to ask you for a favor."

Ciel sighed. "Peu importe que je dise non. Tu vas juste me le dire, de toute façon. (It doesn't even matter if I say no. You'll just tell me anyway.)"

Rachael took out a heart-shaped locket from underneath her shirt. She opened it up to show Ciel a picture of herself and a boy with dark red hair. "I haven't been entirely honest with you all." She began. "My real name is Svetlana Crimsonov. I was born in a small colony in Sanus called Rushland. I was in love with a boy named Mikhail Kashtanovyy. But the White Fang invaded our homeland while we were still young, and we were separated in the confusion."

Ciel frowned as she spotted the tear falling from her friend's cheek. "C'est ... c'est terrible. Je suis désolé, Rachael. (That's… that's terrible. I'm so sorry, Rachael.)"

"I lost both of my parents that day." Rachael went on. "But over the years, I have found evidence that Mikhail is still alive; this locket I gave him being a prime example. So, in an effort to find him, I changed my name, joined the Atlas huntress academy, and signed on to this team to find him. But I fear that I may die today if we fail. So, I ask - as a friend - please find him. He's my home."

Ciel had always been the most emotionally distant member of Team CPPR, but her friend's touching story made her heart ache. "Je te le promets, Rachael. (I promise, Rachael.)" She replied, at last.

Rachael couldn't understand what Ciel had said, but the comforting hug she received was more than enough to let her know that the French girl would try to find her lost love. "Thank you, my friend."

Meanwhile, deep within the caves, Jaune and Nora had run into Fox and Raven and were now searching for Pyrrha and Ren. Luckily, Fox's equipment picked up a steady heartbeat nearby. Sure enough, he came upon a limp body laying on the ground. "Hey, guys! I think I found Pyrrha or Ren!" He called out before feeling two soft mounds of flesh on the semi-conscious person in question. "Yeah, it's Pyrrha! I think she's sleeping!"

"Ugh… Fox? Is that you?" Pyrrha asked, groggily. "I'm not sleeping, I was drugged."

"Oh, sorry." Fox suddenly sounded disappointed. "Nevermind, guys! She's doing drugs!"

"No, I mean that I was hit with some sort of tranquilizer." The "Invincible Girl" explained.

"Pyrrha, I know that things have been stressful lately, but that's no reason to start hitting the needles."

"That's not what I…" Pyrrha just groaned. "Ren, could you help me explain...Ren?" As she looked around, Pyrrha suddenly realized that Ren was no longer in the cage she had found him in. "Wait, where's Ren?"

"Maybe he's out scoring you some more drugs."

"They must have taken him!" Pyrrha remarked.

"Who would want to kidnap Ren? He's so lovable!" Nora declared, having caught up with everyone else in tow.

"Well, we have made quite a few enemies lately." Jaune remarked with a shrug.

"Maybe Pyrrha's dealer was trying to send her a message." Fox suggested. "So he kidnapped Ren as insurance if she didn't pay up for her drugs!"

"Oh, my gods, Fox! Stop!" Pyrrha shouted, angrily. "All of your anti-drug preaching is making me want to actually start doing drugs!"

"Choose life, Pyrrha." Fox replied, evenly. "Choose, life."

"Yeah, that sounds great." Pyrrha rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Anyway, it's pretty clear that the Doppelgangers must have been the ones to take Ren. Fox, can you use your equipment to spot Ren's heartbeat?"

"It'll take a while, but yeah; it shouldn't be a problem."

"We might have a problem." Taiyang declared with a groan as he and everyone else sat around bored out of their minds out of sight of Ruby and the others. "We forgot to plan on how to draw Paulette's attention."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure we just hoped that Tyrian or one of those Doppelgangers you told me about would just show up if we stood out here looking like idiots." Amarilla deadpanned.

"Sounds about right." Jean remarked. "We should have known that we wouldn't have that kind of luck: we haven't so far."

"Sowwy." Holly apologized..

"It's not your fault, Geliebte." Blake said with a loving smile. "We just forgot one of the basic rules of combat: no plan survives contact with the enemy."

"But we haven't had contact with the enemy." Taiyang said with a teasing grin.

Blake just groaned, which quickly turned into a chuckle upon seeing/hearing Holly give a raspberry in response to her Grandfather's bad joke. "The point is, no matter what happens, we'll do everything in our power to make sure that neither Paulette nor Barmak gets their hands on you."

Holly simply smiled. "Love you, Papa."

Blake could only give a smile of her own as she laid a kiss on the half-Grimm's forehead. "I love you too, Kitten."

"So, are we just going to ignore that Holly's calling Blake her Dad, or…?" Jean couldn't help but ask.

"Shh, let them have their moment." Amarilla said with a grin. "Now, about that physical you mentioned."

"Oh, yeah. Well, I guess since it doesn't appear that we'll be seeing any action for a while, I guess now's as good a time as any." Jean led her new teacher into the academy. "Let's go into a room where you'd feel more comfortable taking your clothes off."

"Alright!" Amarilla nodded. "Although, there're plenty of places I feel comfortable taking my clothes off."

"Heh, yeah. Wait, what?"

Back in the caves, Team JNPR and Raven followed Fox as he used his equipment to track Ren's heartbeat. "How's it going?" Raven couldn't help but ask.

"Pretty good, though I could locate Ren a bit faster if I didn't have to tune out the approach of Summer, Yang, Weiss, Rachael, and Penny." Fox remarked.

"Wait, what?!" The Branwen chieftess declared. "What are they doing here?!"

"Looking for you," was Yang's immediate reply, having apparently overheard the exchange. "While you and Summer might have failed to look for your family for the longest time, I'll always look after it."

"Well, aren't you stubborn?" Raven couldn't help but remark with a smile.

Yang just snorted. "I get it from my Mom: both of them."

"Not to interrupt the family bonding, but where's Ren?" Rachael couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, he got captured by Pyrrha's drug dealers." was Fox's immediate reply.

"Wait, what?"

"Just ignore him." Jaune replied with a roll of her eyes. "Anyways, I somehow doubt it'll take this many people to look for one person, so maybe we should send some people back to let everyone know what we're up to."

"Right." Summer said with a nod. "Rachael, you stay with them: something tells me that your Semblance might come in handy here while the rest of us head back to rendezvous with Ruby and company."

"Fair enough." Rachael remarked, before snapping her fingers, "Oh, but before we forget..." Raven's eyes widened as the Rushland native held up a very familiar looking blade. "Taiyang said that you might need this."

Raven could only give a bliss-filled smile as she held Omen in her hands. "It's no wonder I fell in love with him." She then stiffened, giving Summer a sheepish smile. "Hehe sorry."

"It's fine." Summer said with a wave of her hand, before gaining an impish smile. "I don't mind sharing."

"Okay, maybe we should put that conversation on hold." Penny declared, looking like that her face would be turning tomato red if she were flesh and blood.

"I second that." Weiss remarked, having actually turned tomato red.

Pamela, currently "standing" between a barely conscious Ren and some of the rogue Doppelgangers, couldn't help but let out a frustrated sigh. "Ren, just tell them where Yang and this 'Holly' is, and you can go."

Ren groaned groggily. "Wha? P...Pamela, is that you? Why are you helping monster people?"

Pamela moved as if to shrug. "Believe it or not, I'm just as much a prisoner as you are; I'd have to do this even if I didn't want to - which I don't." She then paused as one of the Doppelgangers started making some seemingly unintelligible grunts. "Looks like someone's coming. Guess we'll have to cut this short." Looks to Ren as one of the Doppelganger's made their exit. "See you later Ren! By the way, you look like shit! Zing!"

Ren sighed as his drowsiness started to catch up with him again. "Uoh, okay, bye. I'm gonna sleep again…"

"...and that's when I passed out again. Sorry I couldn't be of more help…" Ren declared, wrapping up his story.

Jaune shook his head. "No, it tells us plenty: sounds like not all of the Doppelgangers are capable of speech and as such, Pamela is acting as a translator - unwillingly, from the sound of things. We find her, we find out what Barmak and company are really planning.

Raven nodded. "Sounds like we have the start of a plan, but in the meantime, we should head back to everyone else to let them know what's been going on." They all nodded and began to make their way out of the cave.

"Hey, guys! Come check this out!" Nora called. The group made their way over to the pink-clad girl, surprised at what she had discovered. A multitude of surveillance cameras and monitors were capturing images of the entire academy of Beacon. "I think I found out how the Doppelgangers know so much!" Nora declared.

"Holy cow… hey, isn't that our room?" Ren pointed out. "And what's that on the floor? It looks like… Amarilla's clothes?"

"Oh, no!" Nora gasped. "Maybe the Doppelgangers got to her! Jean did say that they have a taste for blood! Maybe they ate her!"

"Oh, my gods!" Pyrrha gasped. "How're we gonna tell Jaune?!"

"Tell me what?" Jaune asked, having finally caught up.

"That your sister's been killed by the Doppelgangers." Raven replied.

"WHAT?!"

"Raven!" Pyrrha scolded. "How could you just say that?!"

"Oh, it's like ripping off a bandaid." Raven waved the girl off. "Quick and painless."

"What?!" Jaune repeated, still in shock.

"Well, maybe not quite painless."

"What…?" Jaune's voice cracked, just his heart broke.

"I… I'm sorry, Jaune." Pyrrha offered, softly. "She's gone."

"How could this have happened?" Jaune cried. "That was my sister! I mean, I know we didn't always get along but, I still loved her!"

The rest of Team JNPR huddled around their leader, drawing him into a comforting group hug. "I… I don't know what to say, Jaune." Ren spoke up. "But we're all here for you."

"I just… I had no idea that the last time I spoke to her was gonna be the last time ever." Jaune wiped his eyes, starting to calm down. "If I had, I would've said something more meaningful to her. Or try to make amends for how I treated her. And now I'm never gonna get that chance. It's the most empty feeling in the whole world."

"Oh, wait, look!" Nora shouted, pointing back to the monitors. "She's not dead! She's just naked!"

"WHAT?!" Jaune shouted, angrily, breaking the hug apart. "That fucking slut! I'm gonna kill her!"

"Take a screenshot! Take a screenshot!" Pyrrha demanded, rushing over to the monitors.

Jaune pushed her aside to see for himself. Needless to say, he was understandably furious at the sight of his older sister stretching in the nude. On a live TV monitor, no less. "PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK ON!' He shouted as if she could hear him. "What's the one thing I told you?! Don't embarrass me anymore!"

"I don't think she's embarrassing anyone - oh, whoa! Why is she doing splits?!" Pyrrha replied, blushing brighter than her hair.

"Ren/Nora, don't look!" Ren and Nora said in unison, covering each other's eyes.

"Wow." Raven cocked her head to the side. "Is this part of that whole 'online dating' thing I've heard about?"

"Does this thing take lien bills?" Pyrrha asked, drooling.

"Oh, come on, Pyrrha!" Jaune snapped. "That's my sister! And you're looking at her naked!"

"So? She's not my sister."

"Stop looking at her!"

"How come Fox gets to look?!"

"He's blind! That's why Fox gets to look!"

"I don't get it;what's the big deal?" Fox shrugged. "Coco, Velvet, and Yats walk around our dorm naked all the time. You get used to it."

"Aw, man. She's putting her clothes back on." Pyrrha pouted before feeling the glare coming from her leader. "Uh, I mean, oh, look! She is putting her clothes back on! Good going, Amarilla!"

"Don't patronize me!" Jaune scoffed.

Meanwhile, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Holly, Taiyang, and Summer were still waiting for the enemy to make their move. "Ugh, this is so boring!" Yang whined. "How come we couldn't have gone into the caves with JNPR? At least then we would've seen some action."

"Oh, will you quit whining?" Weiss snapped. "It's bad enough dealing with the anticipation without having to listen to you bitch about how bored you are! We have a plan, and we need to see it through. Soon, enough, Tyrian and Barmak will make their move and -"

"Hello, Ms. Shcnee." Tyrian smirked.

"Hello, Tyrian - and when they do, we'll-" Weiss whipped around to see the "Mad Scorpion" standing behind her, with a possessed Tukson backing him up. The heiress threw her sword to the ground and proceeded to stomp on it out of frustration. "Son of a - BLEEP -! BLEEP - you, Yang! Why'd you have to - BLEEP - go and distract me?! Now, these - BLEEP - and their - BLEEP - are gonna - BLEEP - our entire plan! BLEEP - my life! Every - BLEEP - day since I first got to this school has been a long - BLEEP - fest of -BLEEP - who all just wanna bend me over and - BLEEP - me in - BLEEP-! Like I'm some kinda - BLEEP - receptacle! BLEEP - you all!"

Yang and Blake had instinctively covered all four of Holly's ears before Weiss' long stream of profanities started. Not that they really had to, considering an obnoxious noise had drowned most of it out. "Paulette! Do you mind?!" Tyrian snapped.

"Sorry, the control chip in this - BLEEP - faunus is acting up." Paulette explained through the voice of said possessed faunus. "Now, why don't we all take a deep breath and consider a surrender?" However, neither Tyrian nor Weiss' friends had noticed her reaching for her scroll while she was busy swearing her lips off.

Back at the ship, Ruby was keeping herself preoccupied by making small talk with Sheila. "And that's why I never eat broccoli."

"That is fascinating, Ruby!" Sheila replied. "I can see why so many people like you."

"Aw, shucks. You're not so bad yourself, Sheila." Ruby blushed at the compliment. Yang was right; she is a chick magnet. "By the way, Weiss wanted me to tell you that she's sorry for being so angry at you for shooting her by accident."

"That is great to hear. Please tell her that I am sorry for enjoying it so much."

Just then, Ruby felt her scroll vibrating in her pocket. "Oh, speaking of Weiss…" She put the scroll on speaker and set it down on one of the control panels. "Hi, Weiss! What's up?"

"So, you've caught us off-guard, eh, Tyrian?" Weiss' voice echoed from the communication device.

"What?" Ruby arched an eyebrow. "No, this is Ruby."

"Now that you're here, Tyrian, I suppose you're going to kidnap Holly."

"What? No, I'm not gonna kidnap Holly. And I told you, I'm Ruby."

"If only there was someone who could help us! With a tank!"

"Ugh, and she calls me a dolt." Ruby couldn't help but groan. "It's like we're not even having an actual conversation." She then froze. "Because we're not. She must have been cornered by Paulette and company! I have to help her!"

"Like I said, it's no wonder you are so beloved." Sheila declared. "And I'm more than willing to help if you so desire. In fact, I've already come up with a plan that has a 32.333% - repeating of course - chance of success, but with your help I'm sure we can…"

"Alright, let's do this," the hooded huntress remarked as she ran off. "RUBY ROOOSE!"

"...oh, gods: she just ran in," Sheila deadpanned. "Goddamnit Ruby."

Back at Beacon, Tyrian was growing annoyed with Weiss' shouting. "Will you stop! I am fully aware of the situation without you pointing out everything!"

"Yeah, what are you; the narrator?" Yang added, equally annoyed.

"I just want to make sure everyone is on the same page!" Weiss shouted again. Luckily, the tank soon rolled up behind Tyrian and Paulette, much to Weiss' delight. "HA-HA! I can't believe it actually worked! Ruby brought the tank! How do you like that, Tyrian?!"

"Oh-ho-ho-ho-no!" Tyrian chuckled, sardonically. "What ever shall I do?"

"Knock-knock, Weiss." A familiar monotone voice sounded from the tank.

"Oh, crap." Weiss muttered.

To be continued