Chapter 22
Tyrian gave a mad cackle. "You know, I really can't thank you enough for leaving your tank completely unattended. It was very kind of you, old chap. Makes your defeat and humiliation so much easier."
Weiss just scoffed. "Yeah? Well, great. I'm glad we could help. I'm sure if you give us enough time we'll just kill ourselves. Save you some ammo."
Tyrian gave a smug grin. "If it makes you feel any better your death is for a very noble cause."
Taiyang could only growl. "What do you want with Holly and the rest of my family anyway?"
Yang suddenly blinked. "Wait, what? How did we get here?"
Weiss just sighed. "Yang, I've asked this question a lot, and I'm going to keep asking it: what is wrong with you?"
Yang frowned. "With me? What's happening?"
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Um... we're being held prisoner? Where the hell have you been?"
Yang just looked around, looking like she had just been dropped into the conversation. "Wait, what? How? I'm so confused."
Weiss growled. "What do you mean how?! Are you retarded?!"
Yang just shook her head. "But Summer! She..."
Taiyang nodded. "Don't worry, Sweetie. Summer will take him out."
Tyrian just cackled. "Oh right, dear Summer. You mean, her?" As soon as Tyrian said "her", he lunged forward and delivered a punch to Summer's gut - having somehow caught onto the fact that she had been cloaked - knocking her down and out.
Tyrian just scoffed. "Poor Summer. Never could figure out when she'd been beaten."
Weiss just gasped. "What? How did you know where she was?"
Yang growled. "What do you mean? That's where she was before!"
Weiss shook her head. "Before what? Yang, have you gone insane?"
Tryian tilted his head. "Wait a minute, what's going on?!"
Luna/Pamela very nearly gave a sigh of relief. "I think she knows."
Paulette - currently in the cockpit of the tank the monotone A.I. was possessing - gave a nod. "I think you're right."
"CHAAAARGE!" Cried out Ruby as she came over the next hill.
Tyrian scoffed. "It's the idiot. Take care of her. Quickly."
Luna/Pamela sighed. "Sorry, Ruby: I'll try to make this as painless as possible."
Yang sucked in a breath. "Ruby, no, stay back! Don't get near the tank!"
Unfortunately, the warning came too late, as the tank let off a shot that seemingly killed her sister.
"Ruby, NOOOO!" Weiss, Taiyang, and a newly arrived Penny called out.
"Crap; looks like a member of Team RWBY just got shot by the tank." Rachael declared as she exited the cave with everyone else and met up with Team CFVY.
Ren tilted his head. "A Team RWBY member getting shot by a tank? Man, I just had the weirdest sense of déjà vu."
"Heh, speaking of tanks, why don't we have some fun later?" Coco suggested, directing bedroom eyes at Velvet and Yatsuhashi.
Velvet frowned. "Coco, you promised that you'd wait until after the danger has passed, remember?"
"Right, sorry."
"Go, move!" Weiss declared as she, Yang, and Penny ran side-by-side, before suddenly pushing Yang to the ground. "Look out!"
Penny quickly scanned Ruby before giving a sigh. "Good, Ruby's still breathing."
"Right, she's not dead; just unconscious. Just like last time." Yang said with a frustrated nod.
"Yang, I know I'm not your team leader, but you are gonna start making sense right now. That's an order!" Penny demanded with a scowl.
Yang just shook her head. "This already happened. Luna shot Ruby - albeit reluctantly - and then Summer jumped Tyrian. She knocked his gun away and then-"
"Hold that thought." Penny said before using one of her sword lasers to take out the Mad Scorpion. "Ha! That's for Ruby, you freak!"
Yang just growled. "This is just like last time! Once Tyrian lost, everything seemed to…"
Yang could only blink as she suddenly found herself back beside Weiss and her father being held hostage by the Mad Scorpion. "...reset."
Tyrian gave a mad cackle. "You know, I really can't thank you enough for leaving your tank completely unattended. It was very kind of you, old chap. Makes your defeat and humiliation so much easier."
Weiss just scoffed. "Yeah? Well, great. I'm glad we could help. I'm sure if you give us enough time we'll just kill ourselves. Save you some ammo."
Tyrian gave a smug grin. "If it makes you feel any better your death is for a very noble cause."
Taiyang could only growl. "What do you want with Holly and the rest of my family anyway?"
Suddenly, Yang gained a look of clarity. "Weiss, just for reference, do you know what's going on?"
Weiss just rolled her eyes. "Um... we're being held prisoner? Where the hell have you been?"
The blonde brawler turned to her father. "Dad, do you remember any of this?"
Taiyang blinked. "Yang, sweetie, what the fuck are you talkin' about?"
Luna/Pamela was practically giggling with glee. "She knows."
Tyrian gave a scowl. "How the devil is she keeping up with us?"
Paulette growled. "Irrelevant. Eliminate her." With that, she aimed a tank shell at Yang, which she just barely dodged.
"Go, move!" Yang yelled out. "Summer, look out, he knows where you are!"
"What?" Summer couldn't help but ask as Yang and company ran off.
"CHAAAARGE!" Cried out Ruby as she came over the next hill.
"Oh, shit I forgot about Ruby!" Yang moaned just as a sniper shot managed to knock her sister out.
"OW! I AM DEAD!" Ruby cried in pain as she fell.
"Ruby! NOOOO!" Weiss, Taiyang, and a newly arrived Panny yelled out.
"Yowza! Looks like Ruby just got sniped!" Rachael announced from near the caves.
"Hey, speaking of getting sniped, Velvet, Yatsuhashi, feel like having some... fun later?" Coco's seductive look quickly turned to one of confusion.
"What the hell does that mean?" Raven asked, confused by the student's choice of words.
"I'm… not sure." Coco pondered. "It sounded funnier in my head.".
"It doesn't matter; you promised that we'd wait until after the danger had passed, remember?" Velvet remarked.
"Man, I just had the weirdest sense of déjà vu." Ren couldn't help but declare.
"Aw nuts." Yang remarked.
"How can you be so calm?! Ruby just got killed!" Penny growled.
"No, she's just unconscious." Yang corrected. "See, somehow Tyrian keeps looping us through the same events over and over again. And no one but me seems to remember. I don't know how, but every time he gets hurt things just start…"
Weiss just scoffed. "Yeah? Well, great. I'm glad we could help. I'm sure if you give us enough time we'll just kill ourselves. Save you some ammo."
Yang, recognizing what was happening, pretended to be ignorant to the whole situation. "Yeah, what do you want with my kid anyway?"
Tryian blinked. "You don't remember?"
Yang shrugged. "Remember? You never told me anything."
Luna/Pamela had to hold back a cheer, realizing that Yang was lying. "I think it worked that time." She lied, deciding to play along.
Paulette/Tukson gave a shrug. "Apparently. We'll have to keep your eye on her, though."
Taiyang blinked. "The fuck are you guys talking about? Oh, you know what, never mind. Keep talking. Waste time until Summer kills you."
Tyrian just scoffed. "Oh right, dear Summer. You mean, her?" As soon as Tyrian said "her", he lunged forward and delivered a punch to Summer's gut - having somehow caught onto the fact that she had been cloaked - knocking her down and out.
Tyrian just scoffed. "Poor Summer. Never could figure out when she'd…"
Yang took this opportunity to step in behind Tyrian and stab him through the chest with her sword. "...been beaten!?" Yang mockingly finished the statement.
"Oh dear!" Tyrian quipped before falling over, dead, as Yang removed her sword.
"Great job Yang!" Luna/Pamela couldn't help but cheer.
"You know me: I look after my friends and family." The blonde brawler said with a wink.
"CHAAAARGE!" cried out Ruby as she came over the next hill.
"I got this one." Luna/Pamela declared, using Paulette's confusion to her advantage to shoot a shell right in front of the hooded huntress without harming her before the angry A.I. could stop her.
"Wait, did I seriously try to 'Leeroy Jenkins' things?" Ruby remarked as she quickly made her retreat to come up with an actual plan. "What was I thinking?!"
"Good news everyone," Rachael said with a smile. "Looks like Yang just stabbed Tyrian in the gut."
Coco gained a flirty look. "Hey, speaking of getting stabbed…"
"Coco, stop." Velvet interrupted. "Remember your promise?" She gained a set of bedroom eyes of her own. "We can do that after we're sure our friends are safe."
Ren just groaned. "Man I just had the weirdest sense of... meh what's that thing called? When you think you've done something, but you don't know if you did it?"
"How the fuck should I know?" Nora declared.
"Yang, how did you know that was gonna happen?" Weiss couldn't help but ask even as Penny joined up with their group.
Yang, feeling a sense of relief now that the time loop is over, couldn't help but smile. "Because of Tyrian. You know how Summer said that everyone who had an association with Project Huntsman had an A.I. and a special ability? I think that he could loop us through little segments of time, and he just kept doing it over and over until he won."
Penny looked like she would have paled if she were flesh and blood. "Wait, what? How many times did we loop?"
Yang shrugged. "Not sure, but why does it matter? He's dead now."
Penny shook her head. "Yes, but don't you remember our trip through time? I got stuck in a loop for a while, and every time I went back, I left a bunch of…" They both froze as they came face to face with multiple duplicates of Tyrian/Agent Black as they rounded a corner. All Penny could do was gulp. "...copies."
Tyrian/Agent Black - all of them - soon gave a malicious smile. "Hello." They all chuckled before proceeding to give a maniacal laugh.
"Whoa!" Rachael exclaimed. "Penny, Weiss, and Yang are under attack by a bunch of crazy scorpion people!"
"What?!" Raven snatched the binoculars away from the Rushland native. "Oh, fuck no! I am not losing my daughter again! We have to go help them!"
"Uh, Raven, I'm not sure that's a good idea." Ren countered. "We don't have any resources to take on a tank. All we have is the Warthog and a few Dust cartridges."
"Hmmm…." Raven rubbed her chin in thought as she looked at the vehicle with interest.
Ren let out a heavy sigh. "Y'know… one of these days - and I don't know when - I'm gonna learn to shut my fucking mouth."
Meanwhile, Yang continued to guide Penny and Weiss out of harm's way while Taiyang went to distract a group of duplicates on his own to give them more time to escape. "Penny, duck!" She shouted.
On instinct, the android did as she was told and just barely dodged an incoming sniper shot. "Wait, are your parents going to be okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, they'll be fine." Yang promised. "Eventually, they meet up with Blake to check on Holly, kill the Tyrian's, and meet up with us at the rocks on our left. Weiss, duck!"
Weiss knelt down, dodging another sniper shot. "You know, I'm starting to like this new all-knowing Yang. But I still don't understand how you know what's going to happen before it does. Why weren't you affected by Tyrian's looping?"
Yang dodged another bullet before answering. "I'm not quite sure, either! Pamela said it probably had something to do with the sword! But for now, let's just get to the rocks!"
"Okay!" Weiss shouted before running to the wrong rocks.
"No, wait!"
"Knock, knock, Weiss!" Pamela's voice boomed.
"Oh, shit!" The heiress rushed away from the tank back to her friends.
"Sorry!" Yang yelled as a shell exploded behind them. "I meant the other rocks!"
"I take it back! You still suck!"
Eventually, Penny, Weiss, and Yang hid behind the proper rocks with Summer as they were being assaulted by hundreds of Tyrian's temporal duplicates. "Okay, I'll take the ones on the left, you take the ones on the right."
Summer gave a startled gasp. "Penny, there's twice as many on the left!"
Penny nodded. "I know. I can count." She sighed. "Look, Ruby and Yang already lost you once: I'm not about to let that happen again anytime soon."
Yang smirked. "...and you won't: just keep backing them up!"
Penny quirked an eyebrow. "Why? What are we waiting...?" She paused "Wait a sec; the fudge is that music?!"
Taiyang let out a laugh as he, Raven, and Team CFVY came in on the Warthog shooting the Tyrian duplicates in the head(s). "How's that for riding shotgun?!"
Velvet groaned. "I'm going to make sure Summer punishes you for that one later…"
Taiyang smirked. "Oh, I hope she does…"
Rachael cringed. "Quick, Coco: go on a murderous rampage to help me get that image out of my head!"
"Ma'am, yes, ma'm!" Coco declared with an excited chuckle before starting to tear the Tyrian duplicates apart. "Yeah, go Team CFVY! And you too, RWBY! Suck it, you insects!"
Fox blinked. "Uh, actually scorpions are arachnids…"
"Shut up and keep shooting them!" Coco yelled out before continuing to decimate the Tryian army alongside the others. "Yeah, get some! Suck it, you pale reflections! You want some? How about this? You like that? I got plenty more, you psychos!"
Meanwhile, Ruby quickly ran up to them, sternly yelling out, "Hey, jerks: who told you that you were allowed to pick on Penny!?" Unfortunately, she soon found herself freezing with a blink upon noticing the carnage, and groaned. "Oh, don't tell me I missed it…"
Yang gave a sheepish laugh. "Yeeah: sorry, Ruby…"
"Congratulations on defeating Tyrian," Luna/Pamela declared as she approached them in the tank, sounding just a tad bit nervous. "Unfortunately, it turns out that you can affect a tank, or the A.I. controlling it, with Control Chips. Three guesses what Paulette had placed on me as a contingency and what she ordered me to do, and the first two don't count."
"No worries, Luna," Yang said with a light grin even as Luna/Pamela aimed the tank's barrel at the group. "Blake and I figured that this might happen, which is why we had a contingency plan of our own in place. Dad, NOW!"
"Tanks for playing," Taiyang declared - having managed to sneak up on Luna/Pamela - as he clamped a hardline onto the tank the monotone A.I. was possessing.
"Wait, what?" Luna/Pamela declared as she soon found her consciousness being transferred from the tank into the same Manta that Sheila was inhabiting.
"Hope you aren't too uncomfortable in there, Luna," Blake said with a smile, before frowning. "Actually, that reminds me: it's not too cramped in there now, is it, Sheila?"
"I'm just fine, Blake." Sheila declared. "You're safe now, my friend."
"Thank you," Luna/Pamela whispered, briefly losing her monotone, a few tears of joy/relief appearing on her digital face.
Meanwhile, one remaining Tyrian was being interrogated by Summer, Raven, and Taiyang. "Now, I believe I asked you a question earlier." Taiyang cracked his knuckles, threateningly.
"Why do I want your grandchild?" Tyrian smirked, in spite of his situation. "Well, it's simple, really… my employers want to have Paulette possess the little tot so that she can lead the Doppelgangers into obeying humans!"
"That's insane!" Raven spluttered.
"No! That's our job!" Tyrian retorted. "To protect humans against the Grimm at all cost! It's why we were selected for Guardsman; because we can do what huntsmen can't to keep our families safe!"
"Okay, no offense, dude, but you're insane." Taiyang snorted. "I guess you'll have to tell your boss that you failed."
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! On the contrary, now that Summer knows about our plan, she's not just going to let us do it… she's going to help us!"
"What the hell are you talking about? Summer would never… Summer?"
"He's right." Summer sighed, and shot the faunus in the forehead.
"Summer! What're you doing?!"
"This is Guardsman Agent Rose broadcasting on an open channel! You want me, Paulette?" Summer goaded. "Come and get me!"
To Be Continued
