AN: Hey guys. So I have some bad news. On Christmas Eve, my dad tested positive for COVID-19. The rest of my family is quarantined while we wait for test results, but it basically meant that Christmas is basically postponed. The rest of us don't feel sick, so hopefully we'll be fine.
Anyway, I was still able to get this chapter done, so I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 32
Mercury couldn't get out of that dorm room fast enough. Cinder and Emerald had always made it clear where he stood with them, and that was that he was nothing but a hired gun. That was fine, as he always considered himself more of a loner, but now that he had to stay in the same dorm as them, he couldn't actually get any real time alone.
The worst part for him was that his "team" contained three attractive women that he had no chance with.
Emerald was hot, but she was too busy fawning over Cinder, and honestly, she was super annoying even when Cinder wasn't around.
Neo was cute, but there was something too childlike about her to even consider her as an option. Even if she wasn't batshit insane.
And Cinder…Well, he liked keeping his skin, thank you very much.
He walked out to the school's courtyard to get his morning exercise in, taking in all of the campus. He found it excessive. As much as Mercury had hated his father, some of his lessons stuck, and one of them was that the Huntsmen Academies coddled their students. How could they be expected to survive out in the wilds if they're living in the lap of luxury here? All the kingdoms were doing was making sure their next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses were weaker than they ever had been.
Oh well. It would make their plans easier to pull off, so Mercury didn't really mind all that much. He sighed, thinking about what Cinder had told them the night before.
He had to socialize. With these brats. He couldn't even look at these wannabe Huntsmen without his stomach turning, how the hell did Cinder expect him to be able to "make friends"? And how in the hell did anyone here actually know her? This all wouldn't have been necessary if those girls hadn't spotted them. Then he could just stay by himself like he had originally planned. This was so annoying.
As he turned a corner, he noticed a pretty big group of students, eight of them, to be exact. They were all in workout clothes, holding their weapons, and clearly doing katas.
He had to admit, he didn't expect that much discipline from these losers. He took a closer look at the first four he saw, two boys and two girls. He really couldn't care less what the boys were doing, but the girls he very much cared about.
The first one was a smoking hot redhead in a tight tank top, helping some scraggily blond dude with his sword form. Her could swear her eyes were sparkling when she looked at him, which meant she probably had a thing for the noodle.
Damn it.
The other one was a shapely ginger, but he could tell right away that was a no-go. Too hyper.
Which brought him to the remaining four girls. He recognized them as the ones they ran into the night before. Cinder's friends and their team.
He spotted one girl with white hair, and immediately realized she was a Schnee. No thank you.
The one that first hugged Cinder was there, but she was clearly young, so he moved along.
The black-haired one didn't talk much to the others from what he observed, and he really didn't need another loner type from a girl he was with. If he was going to be stuck at Beacon for a few months, he wanted some fun.
Luckily for him, it looked like Blondie would be a lot of fun.
Her figure was perfect. Large chest, tight stomach, wide hips, firm rear, long legs. And she was only wearing a sports bra and shorts, so he could see pretty much everything she had going on.
He smirked.
Maybe making friends wouldn't be such a drag after all.
Yang kept doing her usual exercise routine when she heard a voice call out to their group.
"Yo," a boy's voice said, and she turned to see the grey-haired boy from last night approaching them. "I see you're all hard at work."
"Oh, hey," Ruby said, waving at him. "You're one of Cinder's teammates, right?"
"Yeah, Mercury Black," he said. "Nice to meet you. With how hectic everything was last night, I didn't really get the chance to properly introduce myself."
"I wonder whose fault that was," Weiss commented, sending a pointed glare at Ruby and Yang.
A glare the sisters chose to ignore.
"Hi, Mercury!" Ruby said happily. She gestured towards the other team with them. "These are our friends, Team JNPR. Introduce yourselves, guys!"
"Hi, I'm Jaune," the blond introduced. "Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you.
"Pyrrha Nikos. A pleasure."
"Lie Ren. It is a pleasure to meet you.
"And I'M Nora Valkyrie!" Nora said excitedly.
"You guys, remember how I was telling you earlier about Cinder?" Ruby asked. "Well, Mercury here is one of her teammates."
"Oh, how wonderful!" Pyrrha said. "Would you like to join us? We were just getting in our morning exercise."
"Why not?" Mercury responded, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. "We all gotta stay in shape somehow."
"Awesome!" Ruby cheered, before everyone went back to their routines.
But then Yang was interrupted by Mercury.
"Oh, you're a martial artist, too?" he asked.
"Yup," Yang responded, popping the "p". "I got these babies." She showed off Ember Celica. "You fight bare-handed, too?"
"It got these," he said, and showed her that he had gauntlets built into his boots. "More of a kickboxer myself." Yang whistled appreciatively.
"Nice. Wanna train together then? It's been a while since I got to train with another martial artist."
"It would be my pleasure."
Aqua looked out over her first class of the semester, both old and new faces filling the seats in equal measure. Team CVFY had taken their first extended mission as second-years, so they were absent from the class and likely would be for a while. So, it was just Teams RWBY and JNPR from last semester, along with the two new teams. They both happened to be from Haven, one of them being the team Ozpin had told her about, Team SSSN, and the other one being Cinder's team, Team FMBS (Famous).
"Welcome back, everyone," she greeted the class. "And for those of you first joining us, welcome to Beacon. My name is Professor Aqua Branwen, and this is Advanced Combat and Team Tactics. Since we have some new faces, why don't we start with introductions so everyone gets to know each other? We'll start with Team RWBY." The four girls stood up and introduced themselves, as did Team JNPR. Then, the four boys from Haven stood up. Their leader, the blond Faunus boy, went first.
"Hey, guys," he said. "I'm Sun Wukong, leader of Team SSSN."
"I'm Neptune Vasilias," the blue-haired boy introduced himself. "I'm Sun's partner."
"I am Scarlet David," the red-haired boy said with a hint of an accent that Aqua couldn't quite place. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
"I'm Sage Ayana," the green-haired boy said, and nothing else.
"Nice to meet you boys," Aqua said pleasantly. "Next up we have Team FMBS." Cinder stood up first, wearing her combat outfit.
It consisted of a brown vest worn open, with only bandages wrapped around her chest underneath it, black pants, and black heeled boots.
"Cinder Fall," she said. "Leader of Team FMBS." The next two introduce themselves, and Aqua learned that their names were Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. The fourth team member, though, didn't say anything.
She was a short girl, with jet-black haired done into long twintails, and striking green eyes. She wore a black blouse that stopped just above her belly-button, a black skirt with white frills, and white legwarmers. The girl just shrugged.
"This is Mynt Noir," Cinder explained. "She's mute."
"I see," Aqua said. "Nice to meet all of you. Now, the two new teams have a lot of catching-up to do, so I sent you all a packet containing the information you missed, particularly about a new kind of enemy I've been teaching the others about. You'll learn about it in the booklets, and feel free to meet up with each other outside of class to discuss things. Now, we'll start off class today with a discussion on fighting large groups in areas with combustible materials around…"
"…And that should do it for today's class," Mom said as the bell rung. "Remember to look over the information packets I sent you all, and next class will be a practical exam, so we'll be meeting at the Emerald Forest. Make sure to wear your combat gear and bring your weapons. Class dismissed." Yang got up with the rest of her team, moving towards the classroom's exit, when someone called out to her.
"Hey, Yang," Mercury said. She told her team to go on without her, and turned towards the grey-haired boy.
"Hey, Merc," she said. "What's up?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to meet up to go over whatever that packet was that the professor assigned with me."
"Sure," she said. "Have our teams meet up?"
"Actually," he said. "I was hoping it could be just the two of us."
Oh, now she saw what this was. She had been hit on one too many times to not see what he was doing. He was trying to get her alone for a study date. She was going to immediately reject the offer, but then remembered that this guy was Cindy's teammate. It might be better to humor him for now instead of outright rejecting him, if only to avoid making things awkward with Cindy. Besides, he didn't seem like a bad guy.
He was Cindy's teammate, so he couldn't be that bad.
"Why not?" she answered. "When did you want to meet?"
"Would tonight work?"
"…I have something with my team tonight," she said. Namely, going out to investigate the White Fang. "But I'm free tomorrow."
"That works," he said. "Thanks."
Weiss looked impatiently at the clock on her desk in Professor Port's class, waiting for the last minute of class to pass. She heard something slide next to her, and an irritating voice start talking to her.
"So, Weiss," That insufferable Arc fool said, "Y'know, uh, I-I was thinking after this, maybe we could go grab a bite to eat? And, uh, um, I-I've got two tickets to that new Spruce Willis movie, if you wanna make the trip to Vale. I hear it's awesome." Weiss didn't answer or look at him. "And maybe after that, we could study together? I mean, you're smart and I'm, uh, you know…"
She was saved when the bell finally rang, interrupting Professor Port in the middle of his story, making him dismiss class. Weiss stood up without looking at Jaune.
"Weiss?" he asked. "Did you hear me?"
"No, no, no, yes," she said, answering every question in that order before walking out of the room. When was he finally going to get the hint?
Ruby finished lacing up her boots, completing her new outfit for the mission. She was wearing a grey blouse under a black corset, a deep red skirt, black tights, and her trademark hood, but with a red scarf around her neck, too, with her Wayfinder hanging down under it.
"I thought that class would never end," Blake said, tightening the ribbons around her wrist. She was wearing a white long-sleeved crop top with black pants and boots, keeping her bow on her head. Ruby jumped up happily.
"Alright guys, today's the day!" she said excitedly. "The investigation begins!"
"I'm glad to see we're taking this so seriously," Weiss said sarcastically. She was wearing a white jacket with a puffy, white skirt with black tulle, and white thigh-high, high-heeled boots.
"Hey, we've got a plan," Yang said, laying on her side on her bunk. "That's…moderately serious." She was wearing a tan biker jacket with a neckline so low the top edge of her bra was showing, with an incredible short black skirt, black boots, and black knee-high stockings held up by a garter belt under the skirt. Like Ruby, she wore her Wayfinder around her neck.
"Right!" Ruby said. "Everyone remember their roles?"
"You and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies," Weiss said. "Seeing as I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem."
"The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members," Blake said. "If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning."
"I have a friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale," Yang said, and Ruby knew exactly who she was referring to. Honestly, he was more Uncle Qrow's friend than Yang's, but he should have what they needed. "I can ask him about Torchwick."
"Great!" Ruby cheered, happy that their first attempt to organize a mission themselves was going so well. "We'll meet up tonight near Yang to go over what we found. Let's do this!"
"Yeah!" a new voice cheered with them, and the girls turned around to see Sun hanging upside down by his tail in their window, which they had left open. They jumped in alarm.
"Sun?!" Blake yelled.
"How did you get up there?" Yang asked.
"Ah, it's easy. I do it all the time," he said.
"You do what?!" Weiss asked angrily.
"I climb trees all the time," he said, ignoring Weiss's anger and flipping into the dorm room. "So, are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy?"
"We are going to investigate the situation," Blake said. "…As a team."
"Sorry, Sun," Ruby chimed in. "We don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to."
"Psh! That's dumb!" Sun scoffed. "We should always get friends involved. That's why I brought Neptune." He gestured towards the open window, and Team RWBY curiously poked their heads out, only to see Neptune standing on the ledge circling the building.
"'Sup?" he asked when he saw the girls.
"How'd you even get up here?" Ruby asked.
"I have my ways," he said, trying to be cool but then he immediately took on a nervous tone. "Seriously, though, can I come in? We're like, really high up right now."
"Alright, I'll go with Weiss," Ruby said after they pulled Neptune into the room. "Sun, you can go with Blake. And Neptune, you can go with Yang since she doesn't have a partner. Everyone good?"
"Actually, Ruby," Weiss said, "Why don't you go with Yang? After all, she is your sister."
"But, Weiss, who would go with you, then?"
"Well, I guess Neptune could come with me," she said. Ruby looked at Neptune, who winked at Weiss, making the heiress blush.
How dumb did she think Ruby was?
"Nah," Ruby said, grabbing the back of Weiss's jacket and dragging her out the door.
"But! But!" Weiss pleaded.
Ruby and Weiss approached the Giant Tower that housed Beacon's CCT, the red-clad girl having her crane her neck to try and look at the top.
"Wow!" she said in awe. "I forgot how big the Transmit tower looks up close!"
"You should see the one in Atlas," Weiss said.
"That was the first one, right?"
"Correct," Weiss said. "Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transmit System to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with one another. It was their gift to the world after the Great War."
"Oh, look at me!" Ruby said in a snooty voice. "Me name's Weiss! I know facts! I'm rich!" She laughed when Weiss glared at her.
"Don't be a pest!" Weiss said. "Besides, the only reason we're here is because you like the tower so much! We could just as easily have made a call from the library!"
"I know, but its so cool!" Ruby said. "Oh, I'm going to take a picture!" She pulled out her scroll, but fumbled and dropped it. A girl in front of her bent down and picked it up.
"Oh!" the girl said, holding the scroll out to Ruby. "You dropped this." Ruby finally got a good look at the girl, only to realize that it was Penny.
"Penny?!" Ruby asked. Penny's eyes widened. "Where have you been?! We haven't seen you since that night at the docks!"
"S-Sorry," Penny said. "I think you're confused." She suddenly hiccupped, and threw the scroll to Ruby. "Uh, I've got to go!" And with that, she practically ran away from Ruby and Weiss.
"What was that about?" Weiss asked.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Ruby said, starting to follow after Penny. "You go make your call! I'll meet up with you later!" She ignored Weiss's protests and chased after Penny, finally catching up to the Redhead.
"Penny! Where have you been?! It's been weeks!"
"There seems to be a…misunderstanding," Penny said, continuing to walk, clearly eager to get away from Ruby.
"What?!" Ruby asked. "Penny, is everything okay?" Penny kept walking, so Ruby grabbed her arm to make her stop. "Penny, please! Look, I don't know what's wrong, but you have to listen to me! Those guys we fought at the docks, we think they're up to something big, something bad! I need you to tell me what happened to you that night! Please…As a friend." Penny looked around suspiciously, before leaning in close to Ruby.
"It isn't safe to talk here."
Weiss stormed into the lobby of the CCT, walking straight towards the elevator.
How dare that dolt leave her alone like this?! She didn't want to do this by herself! What if Father answered the call?!
When she stepped into the elevator, she was greeted by the voice of an A.I. receptionist.
"Hello," it said. "Welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?"
"I'd like to go to the communication room, please," Weiss said.
"Absolutely. Could you please place your scroll on the terminal to verify your identity?" Weiss took her scroll out and placed it in the terminal as instructed. "Perfect! Thank you, Miss Schnee." The elevator ascended, letting Weiss out in the call center. She walked up to a receptionist's desk, where the A.I. assistant talked to her again, only with a holographic body this time.
"Welcome to the Beacon Cross Continental Transmit center," it said. "How may I help you?"
"I need to make a call to Schnee Company World Headquarters in Atlas," Weiss said.
"Absolutely. If you could head over to Terminal 3, I'll patch you through."
"Thank you," Weiss said, sitting down in a cubicle-like area with a computer screen in front of her. She took a few seconds to practice her smile, making sure nothing looked off in case her father happened to be the one who answered. Finally, a brown-haired woman answered the call, looking down slightly/
"Thank you for calling the Atlas—" She looked up, and realized who she was talking to. "Oh! Miss Schnee! Good afternoon! Would you like me to put you through to your father? I think your sister Winter might be here as well."
"No, thank you," Weiss said, though she wanted to scream it. While she would have liked to talk to Winter, she absolutely did not have time for her father's questions. "I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me. I've compiled a short list."
"She held her scroll up to the computer's scanner, sending the documents instantly.
"I see," the secretary said. "If you don't mind, may I ask what this is for?"
"School project," Weiss answered evenly.
"Um…there are some sensitive documents on this list, ma'am," the secretary said nervously.
"Well, then, I'll be sure to treat them with care."
"Right…Very well. The data is being transferred to your scroll now."
"Wonderful! That will be all, then."
"Are you sure you wouldn't like me to patch you through to your father before you go?" Weiss's smile faltered.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Well, then…have a nice day!" The screen went black, reflecting Weiss's scowl.
"I wish I could help you, Ruby," Penny said as they walked around in Vale. "But I don't know anything about those men."
"Well, what happened to you that night?" Ruby asked. "We were all together, and then you just disappeared! Were you kidnapped?"
"Oh, no! Nothing like that!" Penny insisted.
"Then where did you go?"
"I've never been to another kingdom before," Penny explained. "My father asked me not to venture out too far, but… You have to understand, my father loves me very much. He just worries a lot."
"Believe me, I know the feeling," Ruby said, thinking of Mom and Uncle Qrow. "But why not let us know you were okay?"
"I…was asked not to talk to you. Or Weiss. Or Blake. Or Yang. Anybody, really."
"Was your dad that upset?" Ruby asked.
"No, it wasn't my father…" Penny said, but trailed off when the duo entered a plaza with a holographic display of General Ironwood. The hologram was surrounded by six robots holding rifles. They were standing in front of large storage crates. The hologram appeared to be giving some kind of a presentation.
"The AK-130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for several years, and they have done a fine job," the hologram said. "Wouldn't you agree?" The audience gathered around gave a light applause, making the robots bow. "But, the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation, and 'fine'…Well, that's just not good enough, is it? Presenting, the Atlesian Knight-200!" The cases open, and larger, bulkier robots stepped out and knocked the older bots to the ground. "Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary," the robots flexed for the crowd to demonstrate his point. "These models will become active later this year, but they won't be alone! Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battlefield. However, there are still many situations that will undoubtedly require…a human touch." Ruby looked curiously at the display, wondering where the general was going with this.
"Ruby?" Penny asked nervously.
"So, our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company, are proud to introduce… The Atlesian Paladin!"
A large hologram appeared in front of him. It showed a giant robot, with guns for hands, and it was clearly intended to be piloted.
"Now, we couldn't have them here for you today, but these mechanized battle suits will be seen defending the borders of our kingdom within the year!"
"Whoa…" Ruby said in awe.
"Ruby?" Penny asked, still nervous. "Maybe we should go somewhere else." The ginger girl took off running, snapping Ruby out of her awe. She saw that there were two soldiers heading their way, and followed after her, realizing that Penny had been trying to hide from them.
"Penny, wait! Where are you going?"
"Down here!" One of the soldiers shouted. "She went this way!"
The girls bolted across the street, heading for an alleyway. Penny was still a ways ahead of her, and Ruby spotted a stack of crates on a wooden scaffold. She summoned her Keyblade and sliced through it, sending the boxes to the ground and blocking the way for the soldiers.
Ruby used her Semblance to catch up with her friends, and grabbed the ginger girl by the waist.
"This way!" Ruby said, before using her Semblance to send them both down alleyway.
Holy crap, she was heavy!
She couldn't hold it anymore, and dropped Penny, her Semblance petering out and sending Ruby tumbling into the street. She tried to stand up, but was too dazed to see the truck coming until it was too late.
Before the truck could hit her, though, Penny pushed her out of the way and held her arms in front of her, stopping the truck and crumpling its hood.
Ruby initially looked on in horror, before realizing that Penny was fine. In fact, she didn't even look injured.
"Penny?" Ruby asked. Penny stayed to make sure that the truck driver before looking around nervously at the bystanders gawking at her. She looked genuinely afraid of them, and then ran away into another alley. "Penny! Come back!" she called out, chasing after her friend. Penny stopped briefly, looking around in fear while holding her hands under her armpits. "Penny! Please! What is going on?! Why are you running? How did you do that?"
"I-I can't!" Penny said in a panic. "Everything's fine!" she hiccupped. "I-I don't want to talk about it!"
"Penny, if you can just tell me what's wrong, I can help you!" Ruby pleaded.
"No!" Penny insisted. "No, no! You wouldn't understand!"
"Let me try!" Ruby stressed. "You can trust me!"
"You're my friend, right?" Penny asked desperately. "You promise you're my friend?!"
"I promise."
"Ruby…" Penny said, showing her hands to Ruby. She could see that the skin on her hands had peeled back, but instead of the gore she had expected, it revealed metal plating. "I'm not a real girl.
"…Oh."
AN: Volume 2 is well underway, and it seems like Mercury is trying to worm his way close Yang.
I decided to combine a few name suggestions in the comments for Neo's alias, and came up with Mynt Noir. We got a little bit of Aqua's class, and we'll have them do another practical exam, but it won't be capture the flag again.
Honestly, I've always been kind of annoyed by Blake in this volume. I meant to say it last time, but I always hated that she was so convinced that she alone could stop the White Fang.
So, next time, we'll have the mission finishing.
As always, thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you all next time!