Ch. 27

"Oh no."

Cinder broke into one of the warehouses via an open window. After knocking out three White Fang soldiers, she found what they were hiding: Atlesian Paladins. Enough for a small army.

"This isn't the only warehouse nearby. No telling how many they have in total." She kept trying to wrap her head around the situation when she heard a loud crash outside.

"Good evening fraulein." Cinder turned her head to see a middle-aged man looking at her from atop one of the unopened supply crates.

Cinder quickly assembled her dust swords. "Who are you?"

"I am Doctor Verruckter. And I've found my first test dummy," he said.

"Excuse me?!" Cinder replied, clearly offended.

"Oh my, I'm sorry. Let me explain. We have yet to test these machines' effectiveness on the field for ourselves. That is until one of our operatives went after two little rats that were spying on the recruitment meeting, hence the loud noise you heard earlier.

Cinder frowned. "He must be referring to Sun and Blake."

"But being the scientist that I am, I decided to create my own version of the Paladin. I call it, the Xanthelus! Now I can test its full capabilities against live huntsman!" The doctor stepped backwards and fell into the crate.

Cinder backed up towards the main entrance of the building, pressing a red button on the wall to open the large metal entrance door. Once the walls of the crate fell and she saw the Xanthelus itself, she quickly closed the entrance back and ran full speed after her companions.

XXXXXXX

Sun and Blake were jumping from rooftop to rooftop as the Paladin continued to chase them. They had been caught by Bantus at the meeting and managed to escape the building, but not him.

"So, you wouldn't happen to have, oh I don't know, some form of backup?!" Sun exclaimed.

"On it," Blake told him.

Weiss and Neptune were the first ones to receive the call.

"Everyone, we need backu-!"

"Heeellllppp!"

Next was Ruby.

"They've got a robot. And its big, really big!"

Ruby smiled. "Oh, I am not missing this!"

Then Yang and Abaddon.

"That Bantus guy is in it, or like its in he and, he's like controlling it or something!"

"Where are you guys?" Yang asked.

Her answer came when Blake and Sun ran by with the Paladin right behind them. "Hurrryyyy!"

"Aww shit, lets go!" Abaddon cheered.

"Got it!" Yang revved up Bumblebee's engine and drove after them.

Meanwhile, Blake and Sun jumped onto a busy highway, leaping from car to car while Bantus merely charged through. Abaddon and Yang caught up on Bumblebee along with Weiss and Neptune who were using one of Weiss' glyphs as a speeding platform.

"Isn't that Atlesian tech?" Weiss asked.

"Sure is. Looks like they stepped up production," Abaddon replied.

"Everyone look out!" Yang screamed. The cars that Bantus had flung in the air from the chase were now tumbling towards them. The four huntsmen managed to evade the chaos without any injury. As soon as they were clear, someone landed on Abaddon's back.

"Cinder! Welcome to the party!" Abaddon said when he looked back.

"Look what's here to crash it!" Cinder looked behind her. The others followed her gaze to see another mech like the Paladin, but much more humanlike in shape. It was slender and taller, had thicker looking armor, and had the same number of guns along with a large chain gun on its back. And it was gaining fast!

"What the hell is that?!" Neptune exclaimed.

"It's a heavily modified Paladin, piloted by a White Fang scientist. He calls it the Xanthelus," Cinder told them. "Abaddon, you think we can take it down?"

"Sure we can. The bigger they, the harder they fall." Abaddon jumped off Yang's bike and began gliding three feet above the ground, three small white wings emanating from his back. "Cinder and I will take this one. You guys get the Paladin."

Cinder jumped onto Abaddon's back again and they turned to face the Xanthelus. As they approached it, the robot tried to grab Cinder but she jumped over its hand and fired three arrows at its chest. They exploded on impact, causing it to lose balance. Abaddon added insult to injury by detonating a ball of twilight energy on the mechs left side, sending it tumbling over the edge of the highway. The Xanthelus landed on the ground below a while before the Paladin landed near it.

Team RWBY faced the Paladin while Abaddon and Cinder faced the Xanthelus.

"Where are Neptune and Sun?" Abaddon asked.

"They got knocked off somewhere else," Yang replied. "Don't worry, they'll be fine."

The Xanthelus armed its chain gun and began revving it up. The Paladin started charging its cannons.

"Ice Flower!"

Ruby and Blake leapt back while Weiss used dust to coat the ground in ice. Yang jumped into the air and came back down, smashing her fist into the ice. The combination created a mist over the battlefield, obscuring the vision of both mechs. The Paladin walked forward with red dot sensors scanning the area around it. The Xanthelus stayed at the Paladin's back, its head looking left and right as it scanned the area as well. The huntsmen dashed around in the fog, ready to strike at a moments notice. As the fog slightly faded, Abaddon chose this time to attack. He hit the Paladin first with a twilight enhanced punch then hit the Xanthelus in the back of the head with a kick of the same nature. The boy leapt back into cover before the mechs could recover and retaliate. Ruby suddenly rushed in and slashed the front of the Paladin. Weiss and Blake followed her lead, assaulting the mech's legs with their blades. Weiss even managed to stab one of the front sensors with her rapier. She jumped back and used a glyph to help Blake before she could get squashed.

The Paladin switched places with the Xanthelus, who began firing its chain gun. Weiss used her glyphs once more increase their speed as they retreated from the rain of bullets coming their way. Unbeknownst to the Xanthelus, Cinder had launched herself into the air and landed on the mech's arm. She stabbed both her blades into the ammo belt of the chain gun, then added fire dust into the chamber. She retreated before the gun exploded from the inside. With its best weapon inoperable, the Xanthelus replaced the ruined gun with its arm cannons and shoulder mounted missile launchers. Both mechs fired missile barrages at the huntsmen. Weiss put a time dilation glyph under Blake's feet, increasing her speed and reaction time. The faunus destroyed the barrage by sending out waves of aura through her blades to cut the missiles in half. Abaddon followed her example, unleashing a barrage of waves of his own.

"Isn't this fun?!" Abaddon cheered as Blake sent two last waves through the missiles and crashing into the Xanthelus shoulders. The mech fell back onto its comrade who lost its balance from the burden laying against it.

"Heeyah!" Yang rushed forward onto the pair and began repeatedly blasting both mechs with her gauntlets, hoping to break them down from her assault. Unfortunately, the Paladin deployed its fists, managed to grab Yang, and dashed forward to smash her through several highway support pillars. The Xanthelus stood up and used jets mounted in its back to quickly charge into Yang as she fell, sending her through the remains of the last pillar.

"Yang!" Blake yelled in worry.

"Don't worry, with each hit she gets stronger," Ruby said, "and she uses that energy to fight back. That's what makes her special."

Yang stood back up with her hair glowing and eyes red as the Paladin walked towards her. It sent its right fist forward, but with her semblance powering her up, Yang destroyed the entire arm in one hit. The Paladin tried again with its left fist, only for it to get destroyed as well. The mech moved to kick Yang, but Abaddon jumped in the way with his mega shield deployed. The attack pushed him into Yang and they both went flying.

"Bumblebee!" At Ruby's queue, Blake threw her sickle to Yang. The blonde caught it and Blake used her ribbon to swing Yang back towards the Paladin. Although, it jumped back before she could do damage. The Xanthelus made a move to grab Yang as she swung back around. Abaddon dashed in once again, shield bashing the Xanthelus away from his friend.

"Cinder, we have to keep the Xanthelus off RWBY, so they can finish off the Paladin!" Abaddon deconstructed his shield. Cinder came right beside him and notched three arrows covered in fire dust. Abaddon put a hand on her bow, applying his light to the arrows. Cinder then fired all three into the ground at the mechs feet. There was a screeching noise before the small area between the arrows exploded. The Xanthelus became consumed in a mass of white fire.

With their opponent hindered, the duo watched as RWBY destroyed the Paladin, the impact from Yang's fist shattering it into pieces. Bantus tumbled out of wreckage with his usual smile adorning his face.

"Well damn, that was great! Let's keep going!" Bantus unsheathed his daggers, ready for more.

Yang reloaded her gauntlets and fired two blasts at the dragon, but he dodged them. He sprinted towards Yang first. With her power increased by her semblance, he was hoping to have even more fun with her. Although, one of Abaddon's shadow arms grabbed him before he could reach the blonde and threw him further away.

"If your fighting anyone, its going to be me and me only. I told you I'd make you good and dead, didn't I?" Abaddon cracked his knuckles and another shadow arm appeared from his back.

"Yeah, I remember that. And like I told you, come and try!" Bantus stood back up without hesitation.

RWBY rushed to aid Abaddon, but before they could even get close a wall of black spikes erupted from the ground before them.

"Stay away!" Abaddon demanded.

"Abaddon, we can take him easily together!" Blake replied.

"No! He's my prey! I need to finish him-." A metal fist hit the boy in the chest, sending him flying through a pillar. The black spikes disappeared. The Xanthelus had escaped from its trap, but not without massive burns covering the surface of its armor. It went over to Bantus and scooped him up in one hand.

"What're you doing?!" Bantus screamed.

"Adam has ordered us to retreat. We've done enough, and I have the data I need," said the doctor through the mech's onboard speaker.

The girls advanced on them, only to be stopped when a blinding light flashed from the Xanthelus' chest causing the girls to shield their eyes. They were blinded for almost a minute until the light finally faded. They looked for the Xanthelus and Bantus, only to spot the mech hanging from an airborne bullhead as it flew out of sight.