It looked like Blake was taking Yang's advice seriously. She was sleeping a lot more, to the point of being in danger of being late for classes. The rest of the team liked seeing her trying to take it easy.
"Guys?" One day, as they were getting ready for bed, Blake spoke up. "Can I ask you something?"
"Go for it," Yang said.
"I'm still worried. I was wondering… if we could go out there, try to find a little something ourselves?"
"Well, at least you're asking us this time," Weiss said, "Ruby, what do you think?"
"Would it help you sleep at night?" Ruby asked.
"If I knew a little bit more about what the White Fang was planning? Yes, I think it would."
"Then it has my stamp of approval! Just a second. If you want to do some recon…" Ruby walked out of the room. When she came back, JNPR was with her. "Why not have some help?"
"That was a very long pause, Ruby," Yang said.
"You do know that reconnaissance means we have to be sneaky, right? Why did you get more people?" Weiss asked.
"Come on! Don't you think it'll help?" Ruby ushered her guests inside and locked the door behind her. "We can cover more ground, and we don't have to worry about being alone in case something goes wrong!"
"Yeah, I don't really get what's happening," Nora said.
"Ruby just sort of barged in and dragged us over here," Jaune explained.
The girls took a few minutes to sit their friends down and get them caught up on what had been on Blake's mind, and why exactly they had been summoned. After it was all said and done, it was clear that the only one of them that was really enthusiastic was Nora.
"I don't know…" Jaune said. "That sounds dangerous. Really dangerous. Is this really something we could handle?"
"If I'm being honest? I have no idea what'll happen if we get into some sort of fight," Ruby said. "If you guys don't want to join, that's alright, too."
"I am worried about the risks, but it seems like you'll be doing this regardless," Pyrrha said. "I want to help you, personally. Just to be a lifeline. Are you really that against this, Jaune? And what about you, Ren? You've been silent this entire time."
"It would be good training," Ren said, "but it sounds… ill advised, to put it lightly."
"Then think about it this way." Nora turned to face her teammates. "We're huntsmen, right? It's dangerous, sure, but that's sort of in the job description. This is the White Fang we're talking about! Imagine what'll happen if we don't do anything! To our friends! To innocent people!"
"I can't really argue with that…" Ren looked at Jaune.
"Fine," he said, "we'll help out." He definitely had his reservations about things, but if he had to choose between putting himself in harm's way and letting innocent people get hurt, the choice was obvious. If he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Roland Arc, he couldn't let something like this deter him. Especially with his teammates wanting to help already.
"Yes!" Ruby called.
"Thank you, Jaune," Blake said.
"Awesome!"
The third voice came from outside of the room. Everyone turned their heads towards the window. Yang pulled the blinds aside, and Sun was just hanging outside, hanging off of something by his tail. Yang opened the window and he leapt inside.
"Sun?" Blake asked. "What were you… Do you have any idea how weird that was?!"
"Well, I was just swinging around, as you do, and I heard something about a recon mission. So I did a little recon on your plans for this recon mission."
"Still pretty creepy, dude," Yang said. "Well, he heard us. Do we let him in?" Yang pointed her thumbs towards the window. "Or do we get rid of the witness?"
"Please don't kill my friend, Yang."
"Also known as defenestration!" Nora chimed in.
"She just learned the word and she's been using it all day," Pyrrha said.
"Hell, I'm one step ahead of you!" Sun proudly said, "I was in some of the… grimier parts of Vale, and I heard some people talking about a White Fang recruitment rally that's supposed to be going on in a few days."
"That information is actually very useful," Weiss said, "Then I guess that's the day we strike. Sit down, Sun. We have some planning to do."
The next Friday, Ruby and the others counted down the minutes during the last class. This one class was the final thing between them and their mission. A group of nine was rather large, but just like Ruby had planned, they were going to be splitting that group up to make it a lot more manageable and inconspicuous. When the final bell rang, Ruby and her teammates hurried back to their room to change. They were to meet the others there, pair off, and then head out. Sun walked in through the door that day, rather than swinging in through the window. He was the last one of them to arrive.
"Alright, we're all here!" Ruby exclaimed. "Time to get to work! So, one more time! Weiss, Jaune!"
"We're going to the CCT Tower to get SDC records on Dust thefts these last few months," Weiss said.
"Yang, Nora!"
"I have an… acquaintance in the city who might have some useful information for us. I think there's a chance he's met Torchwick before," Yang said.
"Blake, Sun, Ren!"
"We're going to the White Fang Rally to see if we can learn anything about what's been going on this entire time," Blake said.
"Me, Pyrrha!"
"We're going around asking the people of Vale if they might've seen anything suspicious lately," Pyrrha said.
"Then that's it! We're off, folks! Remember to call for help if you need it! We meet back here tonight at midnight!"
The Cross Continental Transit System was one of the cornerstones of civilization. Without these towers, communication beyond the borders of each nation would be impossible. For the more rural areas, they'd be too far from their own country's tower for internal communications, being completely isolated from the rest of the world. Vale's Tower was probably the most important. It acted as a mediator for the other towers. Each of the capitals were just far enough away from each other that they needed Vale's to make up for the towers' range. They were all marvels of Atlesian architecture. Though they added little cultural flairs, here and there. The Beacon Tower was known for the immense, green light that shone from its peak, making it almost like a lighthouse.
"It's still pretty crazy that humans built this thing…" Jaune said.
"No offense, Jaune, but you aren't really the most useful here. Just let me handle it."
"You're the insider here. I'm just here to make sure no one tries to kill you."
The two of them went into the tower and headed right for the elevator. As they rode it up to the communications room towards the top of the tower, Weiss steeled herself for the call she was about to make. There was always a chance someone would try to put her father on the line, assuming he wasn't too busy. Once they arrived, Weiss put in a call request for the Schnee Dust Company Headquarters in Atlas. Jaune just followed after her, standing guard as she waited for someone to pick up. Their small groups were meant to make them stand out less, but him standing like a bodyguard probably drew more eyes to them, even if that was basically his job.
"Good afternoon, and thank you for calling the- oh! Miss Schnee! W-what can I do for you today?"
"I was hoping you'd be able to transfer some documents to me. I have a list right here." She inserted her Scroll into a port on the terminal.
After a moment, the woman who answered her call said, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but there are some pretty sensitive documents here. What do you need these for, exactly?"
"Personal use. I just thought it would be useful to study more about the company if I'm supposed to run it someday. Can't really do that without the documents, can I?"
"Yes, but these seem oddly specific-"
"Well, it's important to study things that would often go overlooked, right? I'd appreciate it if you could hurry up with the transferral."
"O-okay… Well, then… before you go, do you think you'd want to speak to your father? I could patch you through to him!"
"That's quite alright, thank you. I'll… call him later, in the next few days." Weiss removed her Scroll once the files were all downloaded and hung up.
"So we're done here?" Jaune asked.
"Well, with the first part. Now we have until midnight to read through all of these files and figure out what they have to say."
"All of them?"
"All 50 gigabytes of them."
"50? Of spreadsheets and stuff?"
"Yep." After Jaune groaned, Weiss said, "Yeah, I'm not looking forward to it either. Come on, let's go." Weiss started dragging Jaune along. He clearly didn't want to move, and it wasn't like she could blame him for it. They were in for a lot of work, and it was going to be tedious.
Ruby and Pyrrha's leg of the mission seemed simple, but was harder than Ruby gave it credit for. It seemed like it would just be going around talking to people, and that was what it boiled down to, but not everyone had any valuable information. Not everyone wanted to talk to them in the first place. They just walked for hours, stopping people whenever they could, hoping that someone would know something, but no one really knew of anything especially odd going on. At least things that were relevant to their objective.
"I didn't think this would be so hard…" Ruby said, "Maybe we should try to be a bit more specific? 'Have you heard anything about the White Fang lately'?"
"I don't think that would be a good idea. We wouldn't want someone affiliated with them to know we're poking around."
"So we just keep asking, huh. This is going to be a long afternoon."
They didn't learn anything of value in the hours leading up to dinner, as the sun was beginning to set. The two stopped by somewhere for something to eat. Ruby recognized the area of the city they were in. She had come here with the others before summer vacation. They had gone to a book store here. It was across the street. At least, it was supposed to be. Where Tukson's Book Trade should've been, the storefront was deserted, and the lights inside were out. Even the sign above the shop had been removed. She hadn't been there since that first time, but what had happened?
After they were done, Ruby frantically looked around the street. Someone around must know something about what happened. She saw an old woman and hurried over to her. Her logic was a bit flawed, but she thought that the old woman might've been on a regular evening walk, or something. Regular walks probably meant you were up to date on all the things going on.
"Excuse me! What happened to the shop across the street?" Ruby asked.
"Tukson's?" The woman shook her head. "It's only been a few weeks, but… poor Tukson is gone."
"He's gone? Like, he left?"
"Dead, dear. I remember the screams when a poor young woman went in simply to buy some books with friends. The police cars crowding the sidewalk… I don't know what happened. None of us in the city do."
Ruby had only met him one time, but he didn't seem like a bad man. Not at all. Finding out that he was dead - some simple book merchant she had spoken to just a few months ago - caught her off guard. Who would kill a man in his own shop?
"Thank you, ma'am. Sorry for bothering you!"
"That's… peculiar," Pyrrha said, "A man killed in his shop? He must've been more than a simple merchant, then."
"Yeah… you're right. Maybe we can find something about his name. 'Tukson'. He must've done something that someone would want him dead for," Ruby sighed. "We finally hear something and it's so depressing… we should keep going, Pyrrha."
Ruby fished out her Scroll to update the rest of the group. The shock of hearing what had happened to Tukson made her a tad shaky. Ruby fumbled with her Scroll and it fell right out of her hand, tumbling onto the sidewalk. It landed in front of someone's feet and they picked it up.
"I think you dropped this," they said, picking it up.
Ruby recognized the face, but it had been a long time since she'd seen it.
"Penny?" Ruby asked. "It really is you! I haven't seen you since the docks! How've you been?"
"Um… I think you might have the wrong person." She dropped Ruby's Scroll into her hand and started to run off. "Have a good day!"
"Wait, Penny! Pyrrha, keep asking around! I'll meet up with you after this, okay?"
"A-alright, be careful out there, Ruby!" Pyrrha called.
Ruby chased Penny through the crowds, having to weave through people, getting cursed at by a few that she bumped into. Penny turned a corner, and Ruby followed. She had run into an alley. An alley with a dead end. She was frantically looking around for some way out, but there was no way to go but up. She turned to face Ruby, who was just walking towards her slowly.
"Penny, what's wrong? Why did you run off like that?"
"N-no, I…"
"Penny, I don't think I'm crazy. I remember you, even if it has been months. I know you. You know me. Are you saying you really don't remember me?"
"I… I…" Penny shook her head. "It's just… complicated."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Penny just meekly nodded her head. "Then we should probably get out of this alley. It looks pretty suspicious, I think."
"Yeah… okay…"
Ruby led Penny out back onto the street. Just a pair of teenage girls, walking down the street at sunset. There was nothing off about that. Definitely a lot weirder than seeing them in a dank alley.
"So? Why did you run off?"
"I panicked, that's all. I'm not supposed to be here. Just walking around."
"So what happened after the docks?"
"Well, I got… grounded? For sneaking out."
"Which you're doing right now?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you just tell us that? You probably could've found us easily enough."
"I was instructed not to talk to you, or anyone I had met then. My father is awfully protective, you see. He couldn't come to Vale with me, so the friend he entrusted me to is… even more protective."
As the two were walking, a booming voice began to speak. They turned towards the noise, and they noticed a crowd gathered in a plaza. A hologram of a man was the figure speaking, hovering before a series of humanoid mechs and some sort of containers.
"The Atlesian Knight 130 has been the standard in Atlesian security for several years, and we've even gone so far as to share their schematics with the other nations of the world to help them refine them for their own needs. However, technology is ever changing, ever advancing. Even these, which have done their jobs adequately until now, could be refined; improved. Atlas remains a kingdom of technological innovation, striving for ever greater heights. Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to present to you, The Atlesian Knight 200!" At the hologram's prompt, the containers opened and lustrous, more streamlined mechs stepped out, bowling over their more metallic and dull looking counterparts. "These 200 models are smarter, sleeker, and not as intimidating as their predecessors. As guardians of our people, it's important for them to look approachable and friendly, don't you agree?
"Our Knight Series was created with the sole purpose of trying to deemphasize the need to have human soldiers on the battlefield. We created these robots so that your families and friends wouldn't have to risk their lives in order to keep you safe. However, there yet remain instances that require human intervention. To that end, we've endeavored to create a means for those humans who need to face the dangers of combat to be as safe and secure as possible." The hologram was joined by a much larger one of a vaguely humanoid mech. It dwarfed the man's hologram. Was that supposed to be to scale? "This is the Atlesian Paladin! These machines will allow our soldiers to fight with much more power and take much more damage without serious bodily harm, making them ideal for Grimm extermination with fewer numbers of troops committed to the effort. Just like the Knights, the Paladins will first be tested in Atlas, then we will begin to share with the rest of the world, so that you all can sleep soundly at night."
Ruby wasn't sure how to feel about them. General robotics she didn't care about, but the engineering in those Knights and the Paladin were still so interesting to her. They were combat mechs, so they had to have been outfitted with some sort of weaponry. They were autonomous though, weren't they? They were fundamentally different to Crescent Rose, Ember Celica, and all the rest, weren't they?
"Ruby…" At Penny's call, Ruby noticed a number of soldiers heading towards them. "We should go…"
"Penny, wait!"
Before Ruby could object, Penny took her hand and started running. She led them through alleys, trying to stay out of the public eye as much as possible. They ran into an alley bisected by a tall chain link fence. Ruby wanted to question Penny about why she was running, but she clearly didn't want to get caught. If they stopped here, that would be inevitable.
"Just keep moving!" Ruby said.
The two continued running right at the fence, and Ruby Burst. Since she was holding onto Penny, they both went through the fence. When they reassembled, they stumbled and almost fell. The soldiers just gaped at them from the other side of the fence. Then one of them started climbing, shouting for his companion to run around and find another way, in case it was faster. When they started to move, Penny started running again.
"Penny, wait, I said! Just stop for a second!"
As the two ran across a busy street, Ruby tripped over herself, and her hand slid out of Penny's. As Ruby pulled herself up, she heard the blaring of a car's horn, and saw a truck speeding right towards her. She could've Bursted out; she wanted to Burst out, but her body took a second to process everything that was happening and actually make her move. Before she did, though, Penny jumped in front of her, stopping the truck with her bare hands. It stopped so suddenly that parts of the street around it broke. The truck's driver was astonished, and the passersby who had seen it all stopped and began whispering. Penny continued running into the next alley, and Ruby followed after her. She was clearly distressed. Actually working out what had happened could come later. Now, Ruby just wanted to make sure that her friend was alright. Penny found herself in a dead end near the back entrance of a restaurant. The only thing around was a dumpster.
"Penny!" Ruby stopped, breathing heavily. "What was all that about?! Are you okay?! The truck…! What happened?!"
"No, no, no… this wasn't supposed to happen…! This wasn't supposed to happen…"
"Penny…" Ruby took Penny's hands in hers. They felt rougher than she'd have thought. "It's okay. You can tell me. I'm just confused, and worried. I want to be able to help, but if I don't know what's wrong, I don't know what I can do."
"Worried? Like… how a friend worries about a friend?"
"Like how a friend worries about a friend."
"Please, please, keep this a secret, then! Can you promise me that?"
"Of course. If it's something you don't want me talking about, I won't talk about it."
Penny looked down towards their hands, and Ruby did the same. Penny gently pried her hands from Ruby's, showing her palms. Part of her skin had been scraped away. There was no flesh, or blood. Just metal. Ruby's eyes went wide. Then she remembered the robots they had seen right before they ran off.
"Penny, are you-"
"I'm… not a real girl, Ruby."
Ruby was a second away from asking Penny if she was a robot. Strictly speaking, it was obvious she was, but it seemed terribly callous to word it that way. Ruby didn't know much about Penny, with this being just their second meeting, but Penny thought her a friend. She deserved better than Ruby disrespecting her by calling her a robot.
"Not a real girl? You snuck out, got grounded, snuck out again, and then ran away because you knew you were in trouble again. Sounds real enough to me."
"What?"
Ruby gently rubbed the exposed metal of Penny's palm with her thumb.
"I don't think it matters if you're not a 'real girl'. My uncle isn't my 'real uncle'. My sister's mom wasn't her 'real mom'. Their relationships were just what they made of them. I don't see why it can't be the same with you. Even if you don't have all the same squishy parts as me, the important part is that you're real to yourself."
"Real to myself? You know, Ruby… and I'm sorry if this is sharing too much, but sometimes I think about why I was made. I have a synthetic body, and my Aura - my soul - is just a piece of my father's. I was made, not born, but I'm still so grateful to be alive, and have a chance to see the world. To meet people like you. And here you are, telling me I'm as real a girl as you!"
"Listen, I know you're scared about getting in trouble for running away again, but you should just face it, I think. Better to just give up now and be grounded for a month or something than keep running and get two months. It can't last forever, you know? We found each other again today, so we could do it again."
"Yeah, you're right. That's… just how friends work, right?"
"It is. So, whatever your dad, or this guardian of yours does, just be strong, okay? We'll see each other again someday. Heck, Vytal's right around the corner, so it might be sooner than we think!" Ruby pointed at Penny's chest, right where her heart would be. "While you're locked up in your room or whatever, I want you to remember, Penny: you're just as real as me, and as long as you're real to yourself, no one can tell you any different. And while you're at it, you should think about some things you want to do with that life of yours. I don't know if you're… immortal, or anything, but you have to have things you want to see, and do. So think about some of them. We could probably do them together some day." Ruby pulled her friend into a hug. "I'll see you next time. You can always find me at Beacon, if you have to."
Ruby heard voices approaching and the furious sound of footsteps. Ruby Burst up onto a nearby roof and hid herself so that the soldiers wouldn't notice her. When they caught up to Penny, they asked why she ran, and where Ruby had gone. She played dumb, making up some excuse about tag. As they started leading her away, Ruby took out her Scroll. She had to find out where Pyrrha was so she could get back to her.
Yang, Nora, Ren, Blake, and Sun didn't have much to do until sunset, when their parts of the mission would actually begin. They did a bit of scouting around Vale, not unlike what Ruby and Pyrrha were doing. When Weiss called them, though, they headed back to Beacon. She and Jaune had gotten a lot of information, and they were going to need help going through it all. Until sundown, there wasn't any reason why the other groups should help out.
The hours passed slowly. Yang could barely comprehend the things she was looking at in those spreadsheets Weiss had gotten, but with a bit of help, it became a tiny bit more digestible. In everything she read, though, it didn't seem like there was much that would be relevant to them. It sounded like they were important SDC documents too, so now that Yang and the others just knew them, she guessed they'd have to keep quiet about it, lest some SDC hitman come after them.
When Yang noticed that the sun was setting, she closed whatever she was looking at on her Scroll.
"It's showtime. Let's get going, Nora."
"Finally! I thought my brain was going to rot!
"If they're leaving, I guess we should too," Blake said.
"Thanks for the help, guys," Jaune said, "I don't know what we would've done without you."
"Good luck, Weiss, Jauney Boy. We'll see you tonight."
With the only way off campus being the air shuttles, the five of them boarded the next one out. Yang had to wheel Bumblebee on. Once they were in the city, she rode off with Nora.
"So, where are we going anyway?" Nora asked.
"A club in the city. My dad found out I went a few times, so I, uh… haven't been there for a while."
"You know, I don't know why I couldn't imagine you going to a club. Makes sense, now that you mention it."
The further they drove, the fewer and fewer people they ran into, until the streets were all but only real noise came from the highway running overhead. Yang finally pulled up in front of a building. It seemed innocuous enough, at first glance. Colorful lights were flashing through the windows and Nora could hear muffled music from within. There were a pair of men posted at the front of the door.
"Bouncers? How did you get in with them there? Wouldn't they want to see ID, or something?"
"It's… a bit complicated. In this part of the city, money matters more than morals. That's the easy way to put it. Come on, if you're with me, we'll be fine. Probably."
"Probably? Well, if I need to hit them with my hammer or something, just say the word."
The two young women approached the door, and one of the men held out a hand to stop them. He looked them up and down, then glanced at his associate, who shrugged.
"I haven't seen you in a while," he said to Yang.
"School and stuff's been keeping me busy. It's a Friday night, though, so I thought 'why the hell not'? Mind letting me in?"
"And the redhead?"
"She's with me, don't worry." He narrowed his eyes at her. "What, that isn't good enough for you? She's a paying customer, and that's all that matters here, right?"
The bouncer sighed and let them through. When Yang opened the door, the music came blasting out. The soundproofing inside must've been amazing to make this sound as quiet as it did. People were crowded on the dance floor, and the sounds of their voices were so loud that the music was probably just cranked up so it could be heard over them. Yang led Nora over to the bar, where a large man was polishing glasses.
"Junior, buddy, how's it hanging?!"
"Blondie?! I haven't seen you in ages! What happened to you?"
"Dad happened. Listen Junior, I got some questions for you. Up for a chat?"
"You know the rule, Blondie."
"Fine. Want anything to drink, Nora?"
"Surprise me."
"You heard the woman." Yang took a few lien bills out of her wallet and handed them over. "Something soft, though. I don't want to get my friend killed on the drive back, and I don't want her too pissed to see straight if we need to fight."
A few minutes later, their drinks were ready, and the two were sipping away at them.
"So, what's on your mind?"
"My little sister got into Beacon."
"Okay…? Congratulations, I guess."
"It happened after she beat up some guys that were robbing a Dust shop. Guys that look a lot like your boys."
"What?"
"They were with some dandy in a white suit and bowler hat. Think he's called Roman Torchwick. You know the name?"
"What does that matter to you?"
"Well… he's partnered up with the White Fang, and they've been laying low lately. If you two are in cahoots, I thought you might have some information. You can share, right? Unless you want your precious paying customers to get caught up in whatever they're doing."
"My business with Torchwick doesn't concern you."
"And after I bought us drinks, too… Isn't there anything I can do to convince you?"
"I doubt you have that kind of money, Blondie."
Yang glanced over at Nora. She had Magnhild on her back. She took it off and cradled it in her arms. The large metallic object in her arms caught Junior's attention. He looked a bit worried.
"What is that thing?"
"Oh, this is just Magnhild. She's been with me a while. We've made an awful lot of memories together. I'm a bit worried she's been feeling a bit restless lately, since we haven't gone after a Grimm since before summer vacation. It would be a shame if I had to relieve her pent up frustration here in your club, wouldn't it?"
"And what would this… pent up frustration be?"
"A grenade. Maybe two, or three…"
"Are you insane? Threatening to blow up my club?!" He asked in a whisper, to keep anyone else from hearing and panicking.
"Not insane, I don't think," Nora said, "We're minors, but here we are, in your club. If Yang didn't have to drive, it sounds like you'd be just fine serving her alcohol. You probably just bribe the police to turn a blind eye to this place. You look eastern. Am I right?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"It's probably hard to believe, but so am I. I was born in Mistral City. I heard things, growing up. About the triads. They can be ruthless. If the one you're with found out your club went bye bye, and all the money they were making with it, they wouldn't be happy. And with the explosion, the police would come knocking, too, and a little bribe probably wouldn't get you out of it this time. Then operations in Vale go out the door and police in Mistral will probably hear about it too. I really wouldn't want to be you in that case. So, either all of that happens, or you talk. Take your pick, buddy."
"You really are insane… Fine, I'll talk. But no matter what you hear, you're putting that thing away, you hear me?"
"Well, we just wanted you to talk. We never said anything about it needing to be good info." Nora put Magnhild back on her back.
"Then what's up with you and Torchwick?" Yang asked.
"Nothing you'll care about, I can tell you that much. He came to my club a few months ago, hired some of my men, and then they never came back. I haven't seen that bastard since."
"How about before then? When he hired your boys. Was that your first time meeting him?"
"He came around a few times. He was with some women, sometimes. Someone in red, with black hair, and another in a white suit with this crazy brown and pink hair. I didn't get to talk to them myself. They just sat and waited for him."
"Did they look human?" Nora asked.
"As far as I can tell. That's all I know, I swear!"
"Well, Junior." Yang finished her drink and slid the glass towards him. "Thanks for the talk. You were more useful than I thought you'd be. Sorry about my friend threatening to ruin your entire life."
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Nora said as she stood up.
"Yeah, so my dad still doesn't want me coming back, so you probably won't be seeing me for a while."
"That'll probably be good for my health, then…"
The two waltzed outside, not even an hour after they had entered. They walked over to Bumblebee.
"Got more out of him than I thought we would. So if he's working with other people, the Fang must be working with them, too," Yang said.
"It was weird enough seeing them with one human, right? What does it mean now, if they were working with three?"
"I don't know, but what I'm curious about is who the lynchpin is. Is it Torchwick, or one of his little girlfriends? We should probably head back. Jaune and Weiss might still need some help, and we don't have any other reason to be out here."
Sun had heard about the rally that was supposed to be going on, but he never heard anything about where it would be happening. Why he'd never heard that was obvious enough. All he had heard was that people interested should 'follow the Fang's mark'. Blake acted as their guide, and Sun couldn't make any sense of the route she was taking them. Then she stopped by a corner all of a sudden.
"We're here," she whispered.
"How can you tell?" Sun asked.
"The mark." She placed three of her fingers along three red lines that had been drawn onto the wall. "You saw them, right?"
"I thought that was just graffiti."
"The white marks acted as guides, and the red marks the final destination. It seems sensible enough," Ren said.
"Alright, guys, masks on." Blake donned a white enamel mask. She had given the other two matching masks.
"I never got the masks," Sun said, "What's the deal?"
"I know the man who started the mask thing. He always said that it was appropriate, to don the face of monsters, if that's what humanity saw us as. Anonymity was important, and these types of masks could act as a symbol. That's what he told me."
"I'll be sure to keep an eye out," Ren said. "If it looks like someone's on to us, I'll let you know."
The three of them followed the directions of some members of the White Fang, joining with a rather sizable group. Blake was surprised to see just how many of them there were. It was a bit concerning, she thought. They were all led to a large, wide open room. Everyone's attention was directed towards a stage. A man was pacing back and forth, and a massive White Fang flag was behind him. When the man on stage stopped walking, he turned towards the crowd and began to speak.
"Brothers and sisters, I'd like to thank you for coming out here tonight. For all of the good press Vale gets, it still isn't perfect for the faunus. That's the reason that many of you have come out today. For the others, you enjoy your lives here and lament the station our brethren in the rest of Remnant find themselves in, and want to make a difference. We have fought long and hard, but the humans are stubborn. However, today, we have something they could never see coming. I would like to introduce you to a very important new comrade of ours."
At his signal, a man in a white suit walked onto the stage. A man Blake had seen before, and one she should've expected to see, considering their first meeting. She noticed a woman with him, though she stayed firmly in the back. Some people in the crowd started booing once they appeared.
"What're humans doing here?!" One of the spectators cried.
"I'd be glad to answer that question, sweetheart. Now, I know you don't like me because I'm human. I don't blame you, either. I'll be the first to admit that humans are the worst. Guilty as charged, by the way. We're all rotten to the core, at the end of the day, so when I see the White Fang, and their righteous fury, wanting to do terrible, terrible things to us feeble little humans, I get it. I really do. I want you to think about it for a second, though. Are humans really your enemy?"
"Who the hell else would it be?!"
"The establishment! The people in power. The ones with the authority to keep you down. They all just happen to be human. The councils, the military, the police, all of them, keep you down and they're filled to the brim with the same humans that can't stand the sight of you. It doesn't matter what you do to the Joe Blow who called you a - pardon my language - lapdog or a sow, because as long as those humans sit at the top, you're nothing to them but ants. There's no guarantee that a faunus would be any better. Who's to say cousin Vinny on the council isn't going to just turn a blind eye to your struggles to please all the humans who voted him into office in the first place?"
"This feels more like anarchism than racial equality," Ren whispered to Blake.
"I mean, he's a piece of shit, but he sort of has a point," Sun added.
"They're all vermin that need to be dealt with; they're pests, and their prejudice and corruption is nothing more than an infestation. And when you've got an infestation, you call the exterminator. Which is exactly what your leaders here in Vale did. They called the best exterminator around, with the best tools for the job."
He snapped his fingers, and the enormous flag fell to the ground. Blake's breath caught in her throat. Behind the flag was a giant mech. It was definitely some piece of military technology. How had he gotten his hands on one of those things?
"That's one big robot…" Sun breathed.
"This bad boy is Atlas's new toy. A piece of cutting edge military tech to scare off all the things that go bump in the night. Thanks to a few… connections, I was able to get a few before release day. Think of me as a beta tester for one of those video games the kids play all the time these days.
"We're in the southeast, testing these bad boys and getting ready for the big day, when we'll really stick it to those humans and their power structures. You can stay here, going to your fast food job and getting yelled at by disgruntled soccer moms, or that office job where the most exciting thing that happens is hearing some gossip over by the water cooler, or you can come with me. If you're serious about fighting for your rights around the world, you need the firepower to make your mark, and I'm the one who can give it to you. Now, any questions?"
With Torchwick's speech wrapped up, the people around them began cheering. It disturbed Blake, seeing just how many of them had eaten up his words.
"The southeast… well, we learned something, so we should get out of here," Blake said.
"Would all new recruits please come forward?" said the man who began the rally.
"Well, we should just be able to slip out, right?" Sun said, "We should just walk out before- and he sees us."
Up on the stage, Torchwick took a puff of his cigar before tossing it to the ground.
"Faunus can see in the dark, right?" Ren noticed the circuit breaker on the wall opposite them. "If we flip the lights, we can make sure he doesn't see us, at least. It isn't like he's had a chance to tell anyone what you two look like."
"Alright." Blake took Ren's hand and drew Gambol Shroud, shifting it into a pistol. She turned towards the wall Ren pointed out, aimed at the circuit breaker, and fired.
When the room was plunged into darkness, people started screaming around them. Even if many of them they could see in the dark, just how sudden it all happened must've been a surprise.
"Don't let the cat and the monkey get away!" Blake heard Torchwick yell.
"Alright, Ren, brace yourself!"
The three of them burst through the window into the cool night breeze. Right behind them, the mech busted through the wall of the warehouse the rally had been taking place in. They just ran, not thinking about where they were going. When they were hopping across the rooftops, Blake realized how dangerous this all was.
"We need to get that thing away from people!"
"Well, where the hell would we bring it?!" Sun exclaimed.
"The docks, or something! Sun, you go ahead! Warn people to get off the road!"
"On it!" Sun hopped off the roof. In mid air, he turned towards Blake. "And get us some back up!"
"I'm on it!" Ren said.
As Sun hurried off ahead of them, Blake turned towards the mech. It was just barrelling through the streets. They were deserted for now, but that wouldn't last forever. Blake could only hope that people would listen to Sun when he told them to get out of the way. Ren made the call, and Blake jumped off the roof, towards the mech. She loaded Gambol Shroud with a cartridge of Dust Rounds she had brought with her. When she was above it, she pulled the trigger and made a Shadow. She landed on another roof as the Blake-sized stone statue crashed into it. It didn't appear to do much damage, but it looked like it took Torchwick's attention off of Sun, which was good.
Blake saw Ren give her a thumbs up from the other room. Help was on the way, then. Even with all of Teams RWBY and JNPR, though, would the eight of them be able to take down a giant machine like this?