The Grey Freelancer of Remnant Volume 2
Chapter Four
"A Night on the Town"
To Headmaster Ozpin from Councilman Julius Aurelius
Dear Headmaster, we on the council understand that such serious inquiry can prove to be an arduous change for anyone, especially a man of your stature and autonomy. In this spirit, we have summoned General James Ironwood on the Atlesean military in order to assist us in our inquiry. With his military expertise, we are quite certain that a resolution to the "UNSC" issue will be found soon enough.
It was dark by the time the angry blonde trio of Remnant made it to wherever it was that Yang was taking them. Despite it being night by the time they reached their destination on the outskirts of Vale, Yang had ridden recklessly to get there, so much so that Wash was shocked that Yang hadn't died in some horrible motor accident before making it to Beacon.
As she stepped off of Bumblebee, her yellow motorcycle, and removed her helmet, letting her golden locks flow free, Wash shook his head back and forth, trying to jump start his brain, which he felt had been seriously rattled on their high-speed flight to this seemingly-shady area of Vale. In his time in the UNSC and Project Freelancer, he had been inserted in orbital drop pods and had to contend woth the nightmarish flights of 479er, and yet he felt like this was the worst he'd had to deal with.
At the same time, South pulled in on what looked like a UNSC mongoose. When Wash had questioned her about the presence of the military ATV, she had informed that she'd always had something of an affinity for mechanics, particularly with automobiles, and that she'd built herself a replica of a good-ol' reliable Mongoose.
The purple-clad ex-freelancer snickered when she saw her former colleague's disgruntled look. "Can't handle a little speeding, huh, Wash?" she jested.
Wash dismissed her with a grunt. "Where are we again?" he asked Yang.
Yang did not reply. Instead, she just turned back to face Wash, gave him a knowing smirk, and motioned her head towards the door.
Wash sighed. "I had a feeling it was going to be something like that," he mumbled under his breath.
The other two blondes dismounted their vehicles and followed Yang through the double doors to the mysterious building the were being led into. Before them was a long, dark corridor with another set of sliding double doors at the end, behind which Wash could see flashing red and white lights. He also heard the faint sound of party music playing in the background, the bass drops reverberating through the walls.
Next to the double doors at the end of the hallway were two men who seemed to be guards or bouncers of some sort. They wore all-black suits with a matching fedora and red ties and sunglasses. Yet, despite their sleek, sinister appearance, they became visibly terrified at the first sight of Yang, who was swaggering confidently down the hall.
"Hurry, close the door!" One of them shouted, turned and bolting back behind the doors.
"She's coming!" another man shouted, hot on his comrade's heels.
Yang smirked confidently, while just looked at her confusedly, "What was that all about?" he asked his fiery-tempered teammate.
Instead of verbally responding, Yang leapt forward and blew open the doors with a blast from Ember Celica, removing the doors from their hinges and throwing them across the room, which had just been revealed to be a night club, complete with a dance floor, bar, DJ's booth, and flashing lights. Though Wash noticed there were many more armed guards than one would think necessary for a mere night club.
"Guess who's back!" Called Yang, spreading her arms out wide.
Suddenly, dozens of weapons, ranging from guns to swords, were thrust in their face.
"Oh, great!" remarked South bitterly.
"What exactly is this place?" asked Wash, who was suddenly getting the felling that this establishment was not quite as benign as your average night club. Preparing for the worst, he slowly moved his hand down his pistol, which sat in his holster at his side.
Yang put her arms down, her eyes narrowed. If Wash knew one thing, it was never to make Yang angry and Yang looked angry.
Suddenly, a big, burly man pushed his way through the amassed swarm of guards. "Stop! Stop! Nobody shoot!" he urged the night club guards. "Blondie! You're here!" the man exclaimed. This man was Junior Xiong, night club owner and moderately successful gangster, though, what he was most known for was his proclivity for sharing information, for the right price, of course.
Wash, Yang, and South all exchanged glances. "He means me," Yang informed her two confused, and equally-blonde, companions.
"Why are you here?" asked Junior, who seemed less than happy to see the blonde brawler.
"You still owe me a drink," Yang reminded him, pushing past his guards and grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and dragging him to the bar.
Yang slammed down a strawberry sunrise, despite not being of legal age to drink one. Junior seemed to have learned his lesson from the last tine he tried to prevent underage drinking.
"I don't know," Junior told the blonde brawler frustratedly.
"How can you not know?" demanded Yang, equally as frustrated as Junior.
"I haven't talked to him," answer Junior testily, referring to Roman Torchwick. "I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here. He paid up-front, I lent him my men, and none of them ever came back," he finished pointedly.
Meanwhile, Wash was standing at the ready a few feet away from Yang. He had his hand over his holster in case the situation turned ugly, and, knowing, that was a very real possibility. South chose that moment to come up next to him.
"Ever been in a place like this?" she asked him, trying to be nonchalant.
"No," Wash replied curtly.
"I figured, I mean, uh, North always tried to keep me away, but I always liked the music and the lights," she quickly changed directions. It was clear that she was, at the very least, making an effort, but Wash was having none of it.
"I'm sure he did," he replied pointedly.
South was about to reply when Yang turned away with a huff and stormed away from Junior.
"Did we get everything we need?" asked Wash.
"We got everything we could," replied a less-then satisfied Yang. "Let's hope the others are having better luck than us."
Meanwhile, Blake and Sun made their way to the White Fang rally. Up ahead of them, they saw two faunus be ushered into a nondescript warehouse building, after being handed masks by a White Fang member.
"New recruits to the right," the White Fang member told the two faunus.
After getting in, Sun turned to Blake. "I don't get it," he said, "why hide your face if you believe what you're doing is right?"
Blake sighed. "The masks are a symbol," she explained, "humans wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters."
"Grimm masks? That's kinda dark," noted Sun.
"So was the guy who started it," replied Blake vaguely.
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you," remarked Sun sarcastically, as Blake turned and made her way into the main gathering area. With that, Sun turned and followed Blake and the other potential new recruits into the warehouse.
Inside, scores of White Fang members, all clad in their traditional black hoods and white surcoats waited on the left, while a large amount of faunus in regular clothes stood on the right. Up on stage, a truly massive White Fang member with a half-sleeve tattoo on his left arm greeted the crowd.
"Thank you all for coming," he greeted them. "For those of you just joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours. I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what have for, for so long."
Hearing his que, Roman Torchwick stepped out onto stage. The famous gangster of Vale was greeted with boos and jeers from the assembled crowd of faunus.
"Thank you, thank you, please, hold your applause," he called out to the crowd sarcastically.
"What's a human doing here?" a deer faunus demanded.
"I'm glad you asked, dearie," replied Torchwick. "Now," he continued, "I will be the first to admit that humans are the worst." Several of those in the audience voiced their agreement, or, at least, nodded their heads. "So, I understand why you would love to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed!"
"Where's he going with this?" Sun whispered to Blake.
"... You and I have a common enemy," Roman claimed, "the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty rotten humans that run our kingdoms! Government, military, even the schools! They're all to blame for your lot in life!" Cheers now swept through the assembled faunus. For a human, he certainly seemed to understand their plight.
Roman continued, "And they're all pests that need to be dealt with. Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around! No offense to any rodents in the room," he added hastily.
He motioned to one of the White Fang members, who then pulled back the curtain that obscured the back end of the stage. Revealed to the crowd was a massive, behemoth Atlesian paladin. The reveal was greeted by enthusiastic cheers from the audience.
"But that's not all!" continued Roman, gesturing to his left.
The audience looked where he was gesturing, but saw nothing. Them suddenly, a figure took shape. It was the Meta, and he had an active comoflauge unit.
"That's the guy from the docks!" stated Sun, recognizing the Meta's white armor and distinctive brute shot.
Roman continued working the crowd. "Many of your brothers and sisters have moved to the new operation in the southeast. Now, if you want to stay in the city, that's fine, but if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide. Any question?" he finished pointedly, taking a drag off his cigar.
The only response he got was more cheers.
"We should get out of here," Blake told Sun.
"Will all new recruits please come forward," the burly White Fang member called out to the cheering crowd.
The crowd of faunus began to surge forward. Blake and Sun looked around, trying to find an easy out, but there was none. They not get iut without being compromised.
"Whelp," remarked Sun.
This was a tricky situation indeed.
"What are we gonna do?" Sun asked Blake panickedly.
"I'm thinking," replied Blake curtly.
Meanwhile, up on the stage, something caught Torchwick's eye. He could've sworn he saw the two faunus he'd fought on the docks. Damn annoying they were! He thought to himself.
"He sees us," Sun informed Blake, seeing the criminal mastermind's gaze come over them.
Torchwick tossed away his cigar and reached down for his cane. It was them alright!
Just them Blake spotted the circuit breaker and drew Gambol Shroud. "He can't see in the dark," she reminded Sun, before firing a single round into the electrical box, sending the room into complete darkness.
"Don;t let them get away!" they heard Torchwick call in the darkness, but it was too late.
Blake used the night vision abilities that came with being a cat faunus to lead herself and Sun out of the warehouse. they both leapt through a window, but their reprieve was short, as they heard the sounds of a machine powering up behind them.
As they ran away, the Altesian paladin, now piloted by Torchwick, burst through the back wall of the warehouse and ran after the two run-away faunus. Blake and Sun took to the rooftops, while the giant mech pursued them parallel on the street.
"You wouldn't happen to have, oh I don't know, some form of backup, would you?" Sun frantically called out to Blake.
"On it," replied Blake, taking out her scroll. "Everyone, if you can hear me, we need backup-"
Her call was interrupted by a cry from Sun. "HEEEELLPP!" he yelled. "They have a robot and it's big, like really big! And that orchwick guy's driving it!"
Wash and Yang were mounting up on Bumblebee, while South got her mongoose when they received the call.
"Where are you guys?" asked Yang, pulling on her helmet.
Just then, Blake and Sun, being chased by the Atlesian paladin, came sprinting past Junior's club, accompanying by the heavy sounds of the robot's massive steps and, of course, Sun's screaming.
"That was them," said Wash, drawing his battle rifle from over his shoulder.
"No kidding!" responded Yang, turning Bumblebee around and giving chase.
They followed the rouge robot onto the massive central highway, which was packed with cars.
"Oh no," said Wash, with a gulp, remembering his back luck with cars.
"Hold on!" Yang called back to him, pushing Bumblebee to her maximum speed.
"I don't wanna do thiiiiiisssss!" cried Wash, flailing about behind Yang.
Torchwick in the mech carelessly shoved civilian cars aside, sending them flying back down the highway, or even off the overpass entirely. Despite it's massive size, the Atlesian paladin was deceptively fast.
"We have to slow it down!" yang told Wash, who had just manged to find his bearings on the back of her motorcycle.
Wash began firing bursts from his battle rifle, while Yang gave chase at obscenely-high speeds.
Suddenly, a red blur shot past the two motorcycles.
"What the hell was that?" exclaimed South.
"It's Ruby!" replied Yang excitedly.
Just them the red blob gave the slightest of pauses and a blue mass flew forth from it, directly at South's mongoose. It was Cadell! The young swordsman grabbed the back of South's mongoose as he went flying by and pulled himself up into it.
"I cannot believe that worked!" he remarked, before drawing Silvershard and transforming her into railgun form.
His dust-powered slugs could do much more against Roman's mech than Wash;s bullets, and they did, as Cadell's began firing glowing rounds from his sword with a silver flash. Small bits of debris, mostly armor plating and other nonessentials, flaked off he back of the massive suit.
"Keep it up, boys!" Yang encouraged them.
Roman, getting quite frustrated by the teens on bikes that were laying into him from behind, stepped to the side and sent even more cars flying back at the two bikes, in attempt to either shake them off his tail or flat-out destroy them.
"Is that a..." Wash began, seeing one headed right for him. "CAR!" He finished panickedly, seeing that it would, indeed, be hitting him.
The suburban rammed into him, as Yang ducked under to avoid it, sending him crashing back down the road.
"Wash!" cried yang, seeing her teammate be flung off into the distance.
Just then, a second car rammed directly into South's mongoose, throwing both her and Cadell to the pavement and sending them rolling back down where they came.
"Damnit!" Yang swore, keeping up her pursuit of the mech.
"I'm in position!" Weiss reported through her scroll, from further up the highway.
"Now!" said Ruby, also talking through her scroll.
Weiss dropped down from another overpass and landed right in front of Torchwick's mech. Taking a knee, she drove Myrtenaster's tip into the concrete, blanketing the section of the road in a thick sheet of ice. The big mech suit simply couldn't keep it's balance o the ice and went sliding off the side pf the overpass. The girls of team RWWBY then pursued Torchwick and his mech by leaping off side after it.
Meanwhile, back on the overpass, Wash was trying to clear his head, shaking away the dizziness and nausea. His aura had taken a massive hit from that car, as shown when a grey shimmer came over his body. He picked himself up with a groan and retrieved his battle rife. All around him, he saw people in pain, people trapped in debris and in mortal peril. He quickly got to work, going from car to car and helping whoever needed him in whatever way he could.
At the same time, not far away, South and Cadell both regained their bearings.
"My damn mongoose is gone!" exclaimed South frustratedly.
"Hey, we can always repair it," suggested Cadell, trying to cool his hot-headed friend down.
"I just fixed the damn thing!" continued South, as though Cadell hadn't even spoken.
Just them they saw Wash helping a woman and her young boy away from their destroyed car.
"We should be helping these people," said Cadell, gesturing to the chaos that surrounded them.
South sighed and got up, with a heavy groan, and went to assist a man with a gash torn in his forearm, while Cadell went to rescue a family trapped inside their car.
Suddenly, while Wash was helping the woman and her child, a single shot rang out over the sounds of agony and destruction that permeated the highway. The woman toppled backwards, a bloody hole blown through her chest.
"No!" exclaimed Wash, horrified at the death of an innocent civilian.
The one who'd taken the shot, a White Fang member with a rifle, held up his weapon and whooped in victory. "Human whelp!" he cursed, with a brutal sneer.
Three more White Fang members, these ones armed with swords, leapt over a pile of destroyed cars and set upon the crowd with murderous intent. Wash gritted his teeth and drew Vigilance, his battle rife. With three three round bursts, all the swordsmen were on their back, smoking, red holes in their bodies.
The White Fang member who'd shot the woman seemed distinctly less enthusiastic at that point. Wash raised his rifle and placed one last burst right between his eyes.
Wash sighed, feeling the padded stock of his rifle on his cheek. "We're clear," he told the other huntsmen-in-training.
Suddenly, the car in front of him exploded in a great ball of fire, with the flaming hulk of the ca being thrown in Wash's direction. Reacting fast, the ex-freelancer rolled out of the way and quickly peered down the scope of his battle rifle to see what new threat was approaching. What he saw was the worst case scenario.
It was the Meta.
To be Continued...
(A/N: Wow, I cannot apologize enough for the massive delay in getting this chapter out! School, as usual has been hectic, on top of that, I also had a shortened season of wrestling, so I had very little time to write. However, with school being done and wrestling being done along with it, I can dedicate more time to making excellent chapters for you all. And, honestly, I cannot thank you all enough for your understanding, all of you are why I do this. Just know that I have not abandon this fic and I have no plans on abandoning it in the foreseeable future.)