Solar Flare
Chapter 6: Illusionary Victory
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of the characters involved except for team MRTR
The team watched as Torchwick stepped back from the mech suit and turned around to go back to his office when he stopped.
Merc froze, as did the rest of his team behind him. He was the only one suited to this kind of espionage work and the others were just following his lead. They watched as Roman's gaze slowly turned to them, and they all fought the urge to jump in shock as he shouted.
"You there! I can see you you know! Quit lounging about!"
"Yes sir! Sorry, sir!" A voice called from behind the team as a uniformed figure walked out from beside their crate.
"Guy tries to take a smoke," they heard him mutter as he walked past their concealed position.
After he was sure the man was going back to work, Roman ascended the stairs back to his office.
"How did you not see him?" Rylee asked Merc in a fierce whisper.
"He was behind the crates when I came in," Merc answered promptly, "If he became a problem I would've dealt with him, but he stayed back there smoking so I didn't want to cause any unnecessary noise."
"He could've seen you!" Rylee argued back.
"Hey, now's not the time, right?" Tyler asked as he stepped forward and put a hand on each of their shoulders.
Merc nodded agreement while Rylee blew a tuft of hair that had fallen into her face.
"Alright, fine."
The team turned back to the workers who were finishing up unloading the last mech suit.
"What we need to do is figure out how to stop them," Merc said.
"Tyler, why don't you use that thingy you were telling me about, the DMV," Rachel said as she tapped Tyler on the back.
"EMP," Tyler corrected.
"EMP?" Merc asked.
"Electro Magnetic Pulse. By using lightning-aspected Dust you can send out a pulse that shuts off all electrically-powered machines in the affected area. It's temporary and unstable. I've only gotten it to work a few feet from the launch point," Tyler told them.
"How long does it shut them down for?" Merc asked.
"A few minutes. It varies too, I've had it as short as one and up to as long as five. It depends on how much and how pure the dust used is," Tyler answered.
Merc nodded as he considered their next course of action.
"We don't have a way to permanently disable them, but we could put them out of commission while we deal with the workers and Torchwick," Merc said.
"You think all four of us could handle them?" Rylee asked.
"I don't see why not, without those mech suits most of them appear to be average fighters as best, and Torchwick is a criminal, most criminals are used to sneak attacks and intimidating civilians, not trained Huntsman and Huntresses," Merc answered.
"In training Huntsmen and Huntresses," Rylee corrected as she made a circle with her hand to indicate their group.
"A fair point, so we'll have to be more careful," Merc answered.
"You really think we can handle this?" She asked.
Merc looked from her back to Tyler and Rachel behind him. Tyler was already fiddling with some of the dust he kept in pouches on his belt, and Rachel was nervously looking at the workers in the warehouse.
Merc turned back to Rylee and went to answer, but stopped himself. He turned back to Tyler and Rachel.
"What do you two think?" He asked.
"I say we go for it, Captain. I have a decent amount of pure dust here, I can keep the suits powered down for a good fifteen minutes with this,"
"I'm not sure. I think they have too many and don't forget I'm not much of a fighter," Rachel added.
Merc looked back to Rylee.
"Sounds like two for and two against, how do you want to settle this?" He asked her.
Rylee considered for a few seconds, "Coin flip. Heads, we go in. Tails, we fall back and report what we've found."
Merc nodded when a voice interrupted them.
"How about option three, you come along quietly and no one gets hurt," Roman told them as he dropped down from the landing they were hiding under.
Merc went for his katar, but Roman pointed his cane at him. A small crosshair flicked up from the bottom of the cane and Merc realized it was a dust weapon.
"How about we don't little man," Roman said.
Merc slowly lifted his hands, palms open to show he wasn't going for his weapons and didn't have anything.
"The rest of you, hands up," Roman said.
Team MRTR complied as their raised their hands as well.
"Come on out, no one's going to hurt you here," Roman told them as he tipped his cane, indicating to approach.
The team slowly stood up from their crouched position and walked towards Roman. A few of the workers nearby saw them and drew their weapons as they rushed over.
"Calm down, I've found our little rat and have them under control," Roman called over his shoulder as he heard the noise.
"Neo!" Roman called
A young girl wearing a white half-jacket with a black undershirt and gloves, brown pants, and white knee-high boots dropped to the floor beside Roman, her back to team MRTR. They noticed she carried a white-and-pink parasol and her hair was half pink and half brown.
"Take our friends here outside and make sure they get dropped off somewhere safe would you? And make sure they're far enough away that they can't find their way back here before we're done," Roman told her.
She nodded before twirling on the spot, revealing her pink and brown eyes to the team.
She smiled at them before spinning her parasol around herself, instantly the team was outside, Neo facing them with a smile on her face.
"Bad move!" Rylee called as she charged at Neo, her spear and shield expanding as she tried to stab Neo.
She leaped away, dodging the attack, and floating to the ground with her parasol.
"Tyler, can you lock her down?" Merc asked as Rylee continued to charge her.
"I'll do what I can Captain, but it looks like Rylee could use some help," Tyler nodded toward the two girls as Rylee tried unsuccessfully to engage Neo again.
"Yeah…" Merc said distractedly as he drew his katar.
He rushed after Rylee and Neo as Tyler spun his revolvers to prepare a barrage of dust attacks. Rylee was once again trying to stab Neo, but the girl deflected the spear thrust and then skipped back again.
"Quit running!" Rylee shouted after her as she charged again.
Merc came up beside her, "Go for The Classic?" he asked.
"You know it," Rylee said with a smile.
The two continued their charge as Neo took on an exasperated look, preparing to dodge their attacks again, except this time Rylee stopped as she raised her hand and pointed at Neo's forehead.
"Connect!"
A beam shot from Rylee's fingertip toward Neo's head, and the girl realized too late what was going on as it connected and her body went limp. Rylee set her hands to her sides as Neo did the same. Then Rylee lifted her hand holding her spear and dropped it, at the same time, Neo dropped her parasol. Merc meanwhile, had circled wide to avoid any last-minute attacks by Neo. Now, he turned back and was rushing towards her. Merc watched as Rylee dropped her spear and Neo repeated the action with her parasol. The plan had worked, and Merc smiled to himself as he prepared to attack.
Then, suddenly, everything went wrong. He thrust into Neo with his katar, expecting her aura to take the blow and block his attack. He was thrown off balance as Neo shattered into pieces that resembled glass. He managed to lift his blades to avoid stabbing Rylee as he tripped into her.
"What happened?" Rylee asked as she and Merc detangled themselves.
"I don't know, one minute she was there, the next she was gone," Merc told her as he stood up.
Tyler and Rachel were jogging toward them as Merc helped Rylee to her feet.
"Seems we were under the effects of her semblance this entire time," Tyler explained as he and Rachel caught up.
Merc looked past Tyler to see they were on the shore of the warehouse district, the sea behind Tyler lapping waves against the concrete pad they were standing on.
"So that's what Torchwick meant when he said to 'take us outside'," Merc said as he sheathed his katar.
"And they'll be long gone by the time we get back," Rylee added, frustrated.
"It's not all bad though," Rachel replied.
The group looked at her, "How is it not all bad?" Rylee asked.
"We know what they're up to, we can warn Professor Ozpin and the authorities, let them know that they're using illegally obtained Atlas Machinery. If they can help Tyler with his DMP-"
"EMP," Tyler corrected.
Rachel glared at him, "EMP, whatever. The electrical thingy. If he had some support to develop it, it could be used to shut down the Atlas mechs when Torchwick makes his move."
Merc nodded along with her train of thought, "So it's not all bad… like you said," He gave her a small smile.
"Then we'd better report in," Rylee nodded toward Beacon Academy as she said that.
"I'll give Professor Ozpin a call on the way, to let him know we need to speak with him immediately," Merc replied as he pulled out his scroll.
Team MRTR turned towards Beacon Academy, making their way back as Merc pulled up his scroll to make the call.
As they left, Neo watched them go, her body still recovering from the near-miss she had avoided. She turned and made her way back to the rendezvous point, ready to report to Roman about team MRTR and how they could be a problem going forward.