Chapter-29
Ruby
A few hours before the Siege:
"Here we are." Weiss spoke with a sigh as Team RWBY and Sun and Neptune stood at the foothills of Mount Glenn. They'd snuck out of Beacon as it hit midnight. After that, a person Blake knew, Tukson, drove them to Mount Glenn in his car.
Ruby forced them to wear different clothes, so Yang was wearing a black and yellow punk jacket and black trousers, Blake just draped a black cloak over her outfit, Weiss wore a very dull grey coat while Ruby wore her stealth outfit.
"Come on, Weiss. Now's not the time to be grumpy." Ruby spoke.
"Yeah, totally not the time!" Sun exclaimed before an awkward silence.
"They're right." Neptune spoke up before Weiss nodded. "Exactly."
Sun looked at Neptune before sighing.
"But anyways, first we head to the upper city and look for entrances. We'll split up into three groups to cover more ground. Me and Blake, Weiss and Yang, Sun and Neptune. Let's go." She spoke as the 6 teens began the hike.
They scaled the mountain for hours, walking before taking a short break and walking again. Soon, they began noticing grimm and white fang patrols and grew more cautious. Thankfully, Blake knew how those patrols moved so they were able to sneak past them.
Then, they heard a loud squawk and noticed a large bird with blue and burning red feathers sitting on a branch.
"Woah…" Ruby spoke. That bird looked really cool.
"Ruby…" Weiss spoke. "We should go."
"Wait. We'll get seen if we go." Blake spoke
"What? By birdbrain? It doesn't look bad, even if its got fiery feathers?" Sun spoke before they noticed some beowolves growling at the bird. The bird squawked back and spread its wings. However, the beowolves didn't back down and began scratching the tree, barking at the bird.
The bird finally lost its patience and flew off the branch, flapping its wings very vigorously as some of its feathers shot at the beowolves, exploding on impact.
RWBY and SN watched in shock as the flames cleared to reveal nothing.
"O-Ok, those birds have exploding feathers…" Sun spoke gulping. Ruby raised Crescent Rose and shot, hitting the bird in the head and it dropped dead.
"Let's…get out of here." She spoke as they quickly left the scene. Soon, the white fang patrols disappeared and they found themselves in a relatively isolated part of the mountain.
"Let's set up camp." Ruby spoke as they sat down and lit a fire. "So, while we take a breather, anyone for spooky ghost stories?" Neptune asked.
"I'm not really familiar with Vale's history. What happened in Mount Glenn?" Sun asked.
"Well, Mount Glenn's earliest historical records date back to 500 BGW, where it was the site of a prosperous kingdom back when Vale was a bunch of feudal kingdoms. But I won't delve into those because they blend too much fiction with reality. I'll talk about it from the great war. Mount Glenn was said to be a cursed place during the great war, and many people who travelled across Vale were cautioned against going to it because of an old legend about a monster that lived there."
"Which is the wyvern!" Ruby exclaimed in a soft voice. She could recognize what the monster could have been.
"Exactly, most likely the grimm wyvern was the source of that legend. It was said that King Osmond sent a bunch of aura-users, since the institution of huntsmen didn't exist at that time, to investigate a bunch of insurgents who were reportedly dabbling in grimm experimentation. That was the only time of activity Mt. Glenn experienced before Thane killed the wyvern. For some reason, he wasn't able to dispose off its corpse, yet the grimm count reduced soon after its death. At this point, the Vale Council wanted to expand and create a new settlement. Mount Glenn for choosing because it used to be the site of a prosperous kingdom." Weiss continued.
Ruby, Yang and Blake frowned, already familiar with what's to come.
"All was going well until an attempt was made to build a railway tunnel connecting mount Glenn to Vale. During that, someone unleashed a horde of grimm. The city was defended by a skeleton force and no one was prepared. The grimm slaughtered everyone and the site became a ghost town. The massacre at Mount Glenn reminded people of the mysterious disappearance of the Regalian dynasty that ruled Mount Glenn, and now most people believe Mount Glenn's curse is true. You'll find nothing but ruins and grimm when you reach there."
Sun and Neptune shuddered. "That's very similar to the Trail of blood."
"Ah right. A massive attack on a chain of villages across Mistral that were meant to make travelling easier. Again, very few survived."
"But that's enough of ghost stories." Ruby spoke. "Let's get going."
Soon, the group reached the city. They could see that the White fang grunts were moving around setting up the defenses through barricades and positions to fire upon attackers.
"Any tips, Blake?" Yang asked. "You're our white fang expert."
"If the attack is today, then the White fang will be heavily focused on the outer defenses. When up against an enemy too strong for them to defeat, they'll always stall so that their men can escape. So, our first hurdle will be getting past the tight security on the city outskirts. After that, there shouldn't be too many guards. We'll split up inside the city."
"Right, and how do we do that?" Neptune asked.
"They should be setting up the defenses right now. Dawn is coming. So, we should go in right now. But we can't stay for too long…"
"…Or else we'll be caught by their enhanced eyesight and hearing." Sun spoke. "Cool."
Ruby pulled out a hard-light projector she managed to procure a few days back. "Ok, I see some of those fire bird thingies flying over. We'll move when they get close."
With that, Ruby switched on the projector and the group went invisible. As soon as the birds flew over, the group moved with the cries of the birds. The White fang grunts were unable to hear or see them.
We're lucky those birds came by…otherwise It would have been really difficult… Ruby thought as the group headed into the city. The white fang grunts gave them no attention as they quietly walked by. Again, Yang got onto her antics, taunting the white fang grunts within their bubble.
Meanwhile, Ruby took note of the defenses. She noted several Atlesian 490 machine guns set up in a redoubt, multiple sentries carrying assault rifles walking inside the buildings.
They've got a lot of weapons…Ruby thought in concern. From their expressions, her teammates had the same thing in mind.
Soon, walking along the street, they noticed the number of grunts was decreasing.
Almost there…Ruby thought before hearing outraged squawks and noticed some of those birds squawking, looking directly at them.
"They didn't see us, did they?" Sun asked.
"Uh oh…" Yang spoke as the birds spread their flaming wings.
"GET COVER!" Ruby yelled as the group made a dash for the nearest house, the street they were on suddenly exploding as the White Fang grunts exclaimed in surprise.
"What the shit?!"
"Why're they attacking?!"
"Call in Rider!"
"What do we do?!" Sun yelled as the explosions suddenly stopped.
"It stopped?" Weiss spoke before the group heard a familiar fluttering of wings. Their eyes widened as Perseus landed on the street.
"Oh no…this guy…" Sun spoke groaning.
"Uh…who is he?"
"That's Perseus. Be careful." Ruby spoke as a white fang soldier came up.
"Sir!" He spoke as Perseus grunted. "What happened? Why did the Stymphalian birds attack?"
"W-We don't know. They were just passing over when they suddenly stopped and started squawking, T-Then they just opened fire."
"Tch. The chips are malfunctioning now?" Perseus spoke before pulling out a scroll.
"Milord, the Stymphalian birds are probably experiencing a malfunction in their chips. We should take them off the skies for check-up." He spoke in an unfamiliar language.
"…"
"Understood. I'll be right there." He spoke.
"Ugh, even here the fates find ways of making things difficult." He spoke with a sigh before flying away.
"Uh…did anyone get what he said?" Yang asked.
"No…I can detect a little North Animan in his language, but its just a few words, I could make out 'birds' and 'sky'. So, yeah, I don't know." Neptune spoke.
"Well, alright. The birds are going away." Ruby spoke noticing the clear skies. "But before we move on, you saw their defenses, right?"
"They've got a lot of weapons. Atlesian grade, from what I can tell." Neptune spoke. "We need to do something about that. Or else the huntsman force will be sitting ducks for the machine guns."
"Yeah…this is where we split up. One group has to disable the machine guns." Ruby spoke. "So, uh, who wants to go?"
"Me and Neptune got it. It fits our abilities." Sun spoke as Ruby gave a thumbs up. "Then we'll part ways here." She spoke placing another hardlight projector with Sun and Neptune.
"Stay safe, Neptune." Weiss spoke as Neptune smiled and nodded back. "You too, Weiss."
Weiss looked at Yang staring at her. "…Yang…"
"Don't worry, we'll talk about that later. We still have the prom coming up."
Ruby licked her lips. For the past few days, Velvet's team and a bunch of second-year teams were busy preparing for the prom, which she did not like because 1) It meant having to sit around and not be able to tinker with something or the other and 2) She was hopeless when it came to walking on heels.
But enough of that. "let's go." She spoke as the group left the house. Moving on, they soon reached their destination.
"Mount Glenn central." Blake spoke looking at the desolate building in front of them. Once, it was a grand place inaugurated to celebrate the first expansion project taken in Vale beyond the mountains that guarded it. Now, it remained as a reminder of the tragedy that occurred.
Ruby suddenly felt her head hurt as she noticed several people walking into the building.
"Huh…?" Ruby spoke walking up to one person, only to see that her hand passed through them.
Ruby's eyes went downcast as she realized what was going on.
It's my stupid condition again… She thought. Yet why was she seeing those ghosts right now? What she noticed in all those years that whenever she saw those ghosts, they would always be people performing some heroic deed or the other. Yet here, they were just regular people who were going about as if it was a normal working day for them.
"Ruby?" Her sister's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Is there something you want to say?"
Ruby blinked before shaking her head. "No…" She spoke before the four girls entered.
Inside, there were a lot more enemies than there were outside. Again, white fang grunts walked about carrying assault rifles, and once the girls went deeper, they noticed a familiar face talking to a grunt.
Torchwick… Ruby thought. It had been some time since she actually confronted the criminal. All this time, she'd been caught up in all the craziness regarding these strange monsters, Shadow Servants, Perseus, etcetra etcetra. So seeing Torchwick again felt weird.
"You're saying those chickens attacked our defenses for no reason?" Torchwick asked in a bored tone.
"That's what the sentries are saying." The grunt replied.
"Well, okay then, that does not reassure me. Go to Mr. Purple Smartass and ask him if there's something wrong with the chips."
"Are you sure? Lord Perseus is in a meeting and doesn't want to be…"
"Do you want that big black thing with the three horns to start getting a bit too excited like a kid on high sugar? Well I don't, because the end result would be yours truly taking a trip down the anatomy of a really dangerous monster? I don't care, just go and check if there's a problem." Torchwick spoke as the grunt nodded slowly. "Very well."
"Again with the subservience." Ruby heard Blake mutter under her breath.
"In the meantime, I'll keep this close." Torchwick spoke picking up a flat circular object. "It's the only thing that can save my bacon if one of those freaky monsters get loose." Torchwick spoke before heading towards a staircase.
Ruby took her group away from the spot and to a more remote spot in the corner. "You saw it?"
"Yep. I'm guessing these chips control the monsters. So all we got to do is disable them, right?" Yang asked.
"I think so. In that case, Torchwick needs to be taken down."
"Then I'll go." Blake spoke.
"No. After this, we're going to be heading into a section which has people like Perseus and that knight over there. We're going to need all the quiet people we can get. So, Weiss and Yang…"
Weiss nodded. "We'll take care of Torchwick. Go and secure the dust." She spoke before the splitting off.
Ruby and blake headed to the staircase in the middle leading underground and entered. At that moment, Ruby noticed the hard-light projector had almost used up its hard-light dust.
"Ok, Blake. You know what to do about the dust, right?"
Blake raised Gambol Shroud. "We'll blow them up. But not before we also gather information or clues about the enemy."
"Gotcha." Ruby spoke as the girls continued to head down.
Finally, they came to the underground section, which was a large cavern having the railway platform. On both sides, there were small buildings where Ruby could see a lot of White Fang grunts moving around. Among them, she also noticed Perseus, Semiramis, The knight, two people who looked very similar in white robes and gold jewellery and a man in armor with them. There was also someone else, a tall man in a black suit, white shirt and red tie with brown hair and a beard with fiery orange eyes.
"Hide." Ruby spoke as the two girls quickly went to some crates nearby and hid behind them.
"The Stymphalian birds have spotted a fleet of bullheads heading here." The tall man spoke. "So be ready and do not forget your goals."
"We won't, Milord." Perseus spoke as Ruby and Blake exchanged a look.
So this guy is Perseus' boss… They thought. But they did not move, in case they were spotted.
"Excellent. Go to the cave openings you've been assigned to and wait. If your target is elsewhere then do not hesitate to inform me." The tall man spoke before the group nodded and walked off.
The two girls remained crouched in silence
"Dust first." Ruby spoke. "Do you see them?"
Blake narrowed her eyes.
"No, I can't. But they must be in the building." She spoke as Ruby nodded. "Got it. Okay, this is going to be risky. They might see us if this doesn't work." Ruby spoke before she began whistling.
"Hm?" They heard some grunts speak before hearing footsteps.
"Alright, Blake. Here goes nothing" Ruby spoke before firing up her semblance and dashing as fast as she could. They heard several exclamations of surprise before reaching the spot and hiding behind a wall of one of the buildings.
"What was…?"
"Go check."
The two girls then jumped into a small room. Two white fang grunts chuckled.
"So, anyways…huh?" One of them spoke before Ruby's boot hit his face. He flew back into a wall. Blake snagged the other one with gambol shroud and yanked him in before kicking him in the face.
Ruby smiled and high-fived Blake before they went out of the room. Again, the two split up, quietly sneaking past or knocking out the guards as they went through the building. Soon, Ruby heard Blake on her scroll.
"Found them."
"Coming over."
Ruby quickly came to Blake's location in a room with all the crates. Ruby raised an eyebrow.
"This is still a lot for 20%." She spoke in surprise. She honestly was not expecting this much dust even after Operation nigh raid.
"Goes to show how much the SDC sells. I've placed the firebombs, set to when I press the trigger."
The two girls walked out of the room and began heading to the exit.
Ruby wanted to contact the others, but right now, while they were still in enemy lines, that was not a good option.
"Now how do we get out of Mount Glenn? They must have barricaded it." Blake spoke.
"I'll get us by with my semblance." Ruby spoke with a smile. "So, Blake? What are we going to do after this?"
Blake looked at her before sighing. "Honestly, I'm going to go eat some Tuna sushi. You?"
"Cookies!" Ruby replied. "I'll eat them with some milk, then I'll take a nap." She spoke rubbing her eyes. "Because we have not slept this entire night."
"Agreed." Blake spoke with slight exhaustion taking over before the two girls giggled passing by the main door.
"Ok, lets…" A storm of bullets flew through the walls, catching the two by surprise as some bullets hit their aura.
Ruby and Blake quickly hid behind cover as the shots kept firing before stopping.
"Welcome to Mount Glenn, Huntresses. I hope our defenses are admirable." The same voice of Perseus' boss spoke as Ruby gulped.
Oh no, oh no, oh no! How did they find us? Ruby thought. She'd checked that no one ever found the bodies of their handiwork. She'd made sure that no one would come over to check the building.
"…So how did they know?" Ruby muttered in confusion,
"Last warning, Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna…"
The girl's eyes widened.
"You wouldn't want to see the result of this little standoff."
A/N: Well, my damn exams are finally over. Now I can write without the worry of an exam pressing down on my mind. But anyways, Chapter-29, AKA the 'Team RWBY does not let the professionals do their job and get into serious trouble' chapter. Well, Ruby and Blake, to be specific. I've noticed that Blake does share some qualities with Ruby. So, I thought 'Why not give the both of them the shitty luck of the most difficult mission here?' This chapter anyways is building up to the main fight scenes, where the setup for Volume-3 will begin.
Cover image for the new story is done. I drew it in school today. I was actually trying to make something else at first, but because it was way above my skill level in pencil sketching, I left it and decided to draw a scene I constructed in my original work. It's basically called 'The God of the Modern Age', which is basically showing the birth of the supreme god of the Modern age, the 'Zeus' of the modern world. But here, I made some tweaks to it to fit RWBY.
Moving on, because I want to get this out, just what the heck is wrong with Genshin Impact's pacing? Like jeez, I finished the Liyue portion today, and I feel like I got slapped in the face by someone moving at 100 km/h. Mondstadt's pacing is sort of understandable because its the prologue as well as the beginning, where most don't have a lot of things planned out. But Liyue...one moment we're helping Zhongli to prepare for the Rite of Parting, the next, I'm kicking Childe's ass (Whom I soloed with Kaeya because I'm a Kaeya main and surprisingly, Childe's foul legacy form was the easiest) and fighting Osial already. I haven't reached Inazuma, but I just hope it doesn't try to cram so many things into a small number of chapters like Liyue.
Lastly, going through LB5 has been a pain not because of gameplay gimmicks but the simple fact that the Olympians are robots. I've said this many times before, and I'll say it again. I just wish Nasu didn't write the Olympians as robots. All the other parts about 'travellers from other universes' and 'ruled a prehistoric supercivilisation called Atlantis' is fine, but I still feel annoyed whenever I look at Artemis as a robot.
Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated!
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