August 20
It was close to the next morning in Vale as Ironwood was standing outside of Beacon as he glanced out at Vale.
Soon he heard footsteps behind him as a voice said "Trouble sleeping?" to which Ironwood turned around and turned out to be Glynda walking toward him with a cup of coffee in her hands.
Ironwood gripped his shoulder and said "Arm was acting up."
Glynda didn't buy what he was saying as she said"Of course, so logically, you got out of bed, dressed yourself completely and decided to gaze menacingly out into the distance."
She approached him, then looked at him concerned saying "What's wrong?"
Ironwood said in rough voice "I've trusted him for years. We both have. I just... I can't help but feel like he's keeping us in the dark."
Glynda scoffed at his words saying "Don't be ridiculous! You know very well that we are not the ones in the dark."
Ironwood laughed humorously saying "That makes it worse! I refuse to believe that a man that I've trusted for so long would act so... passively."
Glynda put a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder saying "You're a good person, James. You've always done what you think is best for the people, even against strong protest. It's admirable. But it's high time you stopped talking about trust and started showing it. Ozpin has experience that the rest of us lack. And I think that's something worth remembering. But I have a feeling that you're not only thinking just about Ozpin, am I correct?"
Ironwood figured she would ask something like that and knew that he might as well get it off his chest so he said "I just don't get why he said that I have to earn his trust."
Glynda figured as much that he was talking about Rex as she said "You have to remember, he was part of a government agency even before ending up here. And he said that it wasn't the best experience. But you have to remember that as time went on, he began to trust that agency he was a part of, I don't remember the name though" as she scratched her head.
"That may be true but what can I do to earn that trust. He's someone with tremendous powerful and strength. If the threat of Salem is getting nearer as the time passes on, then we need him to help us. But how can I do that when he doesn't trust me completely" said Ironwood in an exaggerated manner, scaring Glynda a bit.
"James, calm down. Yelling is going to help at all" said Glynda as she placed her arm on his shoulder.
Ironwood soon calmed down as he then said "Even if he's been part of a government agency in his world, what makes him think that I'm the bad guy? How can I show him that I'm trustworthy?" as he grew a somber look.
Glynda could tell that this was frustrating him so she decided to say "Yes, that may be hard for you to accept, but you have to think about Rex's predicament. He's far from his home, his real family and friends, and he's just been given top secret info that we don't like to tell anyone random. But we did it because we knew what might happen if he didn't know who Salem was. She might find her way to him and trick him into joining her side. And that wouldn't bode well for us" as she let go of his shoulder.
"So you have to understand that he's going through a lot right now and he's scared that he might get taken away and experimented because his powers aren't anything this world has seen before at all, and people would naturally want to know what those powers are. And since you're a general of an army, he would naturally react to you in a negative way. He's scared because, without his family or friends from his world, he's got to think abut things on his own. And that can be scary for a kid his age. But its part of growing up, so I hope that he get's over it one day" said Glynda with a bit of happiness in her voice.
She then turned to him and said "So even if you think he doesn't like you, think about it like this; he decided to tell you the truth about him because he knew that you might be a big help in the future. So that trust is slowly building between you two, so just try and keep building on it" as she turned around, leaving Ironwood alone with his thoughts.
Meanwhile at Mt. Glenn
The full moon was shining over the ruined buildings of Mountain Glenn, and Ruby was still on patrol as she looked down with her scope and saw a lone Beowolf that was searching through the rubble. It looked up briefly at the young girl who had it in her red crosshair scope, but Ruby just lowered Crescent Rose and sighed in tiredness at she kept lookout over the destruction.
The rest of her team was lying down on their sleeping mats around the fire with weapons nearby, and Oobleck was higher up, slumped down against the wall next to the hole in the ceiling above them.
The 4 members of RRWBY had their eyes closed, but Yang got up, being curious about something.
"Blake, are you awake?" asked Yang as she turned on her side to Blake.
"Yeah" said Blake as she sat up.
"Why do you think he asked us about being a Huntress? Like, what was he trying to say?" questioned Yang as she was curious Blake thought.
Blake thought at what she was saying and remembered what Oobleck said to her. She answers Yang saying "Maybe he was just curious."
Yang began to think on what she said saying "You think?
"No" said Blake in a bit of a sarcastic nature.
Yang thought about asking her other teammates about what they thought Oobleck meant. "Hey Rex. You awake?"
"I was until you woke me up" said Rex sarcastically.
Yang felt bad and said "Sorry. But why do you think he asked about us being huntresses and a huntsman?"
Rex tried to think about what she told him and said "I don't know. But to me, I think he asked because he wants to know where our truths lie."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Yang, not understanding what he said.
"I think he wants to know the reasons we came here. Like when he asked me, I told him because no one else will" said Rex.
"What do you mean by that? There's plenty of people at Beacon" said Blake.
"I mean that no one else is willing to do the things I've done. No one else wanted to stop Cardin from hurting Velvet. No one would risk their lives and fight the White Fang and come out on top. And no one could easily defeat those giant grimm from the beginning of school. And truth be told, that's why I choose to fight. Because no one else is willing to step in. I fight for the right things for the right reasons. And that's been my motto and my goal since I got my powers. That and there's a lot wrong with this world. And I hope to be able to fix that."
The girls were surprised at what he said and they appreciated his motivation. Yang had already heard him saying this before, before the dance but she still felt like it was new to her. Blake then said "Wow. Thats some motivation you got there but not everyone has awesome powers like you, Rex."
Rex chuckled at what she said and said "True but you get what I'm saying."
Blake nodded at what he said and said "Yea, I suppose."
Yang decided to ask Weiss next as she said "Weiss, are you awake?"
"Of course I'm awake!" said Weiss in an annoyed tone.
"You three are talking so loud, I couldn't even sleep even if I tried. And I think he... When I said I wanted to honor my family's name, I meant it. But, it's not what you think. I'm not stupid. I'm fully aware of what my father has done with the Schnee Dust Company. Since he took control, our business has operated in a... moral gray area" said Weiss in a slight sad manner.
Blake lightly scoffed at her words saying "That's putting it lightly."
Weiss answered Blake in a counter acting way as she said "Which is why I feel the need to make things right. If I had taken a job in Atlas, it wouldn't have changed anything. My father was not the start of our name, and I refuse to let him be the end of it."
Blake then thought about why she came to Beacon and said "All my life, I fought for what I thought was right. I had a partner named Adam. More of a mentor, actually. He always assured me that what we were doing would make the world a better place. But of course, his idea of a perfect future turned out to be not perfect for everyone. I joined the Academy because I knew that Huntsmen and Huntresses were regarded as the most noble warriors in the world. Always fighting for good. But I never really thought past that. When I leave the Academy, what will I - how can I undo so many years of hate?"
"I'm sure you'd figure it out. You're not one to back down from a challenge, Blake" said Rex in a reassuring way.
"But I am! I do it all the time! When you learned I was a Faunus, I didn't know what to do, so I ran! When I realized my oldest partner had become a monster, I ran! Even my Semblance! I was born with the ability to leave behind a shadow of myself; an empty copy that takes the hit while I run away!" said Blake in a frustrated/ sad manner.
"Blake, you're not alone in that matter. I know how you feel" said Rex, trying to calm her down.
"What do you mean?" asked Blake.
"Well to some of the kids at Beacon, they think I'm a freak. They cower in fear and feel nervous around me just because of my abilities. They think I'm a bad man and could kill someone instantly" said Rex as he sighed in sadness.
"Even when I stood up to the faunas at the school, I could still feel some people were scared of me and didn't exactly seem to welcome me" said Rex as he stared at he ceiling and ended his speech saying "They judge me before they even know me."
The team began to feel sorry for Rex as they had not considered that before. Yang was about to say something to make him feel better until he said
"But that doesn't stop me from doing what I need to do. Yea, people are going to be afraid of me but I don't care. Just being the hero is good enough for me. Yes Blake, people are scared of the Faunus because of the White Fang. But you shouldn't let that get you down. Things like that shouldn't dictate what you do" said Rex.
Blake thought about his words and understood what he was saying but she was still unsure.
"Guess we all have personal things that drives you" said Yang in a bit of a depressed tone.
"Before I came to Beacon, before I wanted to be a Huntress, I was obsessed with wanting to know the truth of my family" said Yang as she kept staring at the ceiling.
Blake and Rex knew what she was talking about but Weiss didn't as she asked "The truth of what?"
"Where my mom was" said Yang.
"Huh?" said Weiss.
Yang then looked at Blake and Rex as she said "Should I go ahead and tell her?"
"Might as well. We've all heard your story but Weiss hasn't so go ahead" said Blake.
Yang nodded as she laid back down and said "Ruby and I grew up in Patch, an island off the coast of Vale. Our parents were Huntsmen. Our dad taught at Signal, and our mom took on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Sumer Rose, and she was... Super-Mom: Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. And then... one day she left for a mission and never came back. It was tough. Ruby was really torn up, but... I think she was still too young to really get what was going on, y'know? And my dad just kind of... shut down. It wasn't long before I learned why. Summer wasn't the first love he lost; she was the second. The first... was my mom."
Weiss's eyes widen in amazement at this information as Yang kept talking "He wouldn't tell me everything, but I learned that the two of them had been on a together with Summer and Qrow, and that she'd left me with him right after I was born. No one had seen her since."
"Why did she leave you?" asked Weiss.
Yang sighed as she said "That question... Why? I didn't know an answer, but I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about. I would ask anyone I could about what they knew about her."
Yang then began reminiscing about when she was young and she knocked over a photo frame and it smashed to the floor. She then remembered looking at the photo found in the smashed picture frame.
"Then, one day, I found something. What I thought was a clue that could lead me to answers, or maybe even my mother. I waited for Dad to leave the house, put Ruby in a wagon, and headed out. I must've walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises, I was totally exhausted, but I wasn't gonna let anything stop me. When we finally got there, I could barely stand, but I didn't care; I had made it. And then I saw them. Those burning red eyes... I thought it was my mom, but no. It was... a grimm."
"There we were. A toddler sleeping in the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted to even cry for help. We might as well have been served on a silver platter. But, as luck would have it, our uncle showed up just in time."
"My stubbornness should've gotten us killed that night" said Yang as she felt bad about saying the same story again.
"Yang... I'm sorry that happened to you" said Weiss.
"Its fine but I still want to know what happened to my mother and why she left me. But soon after me and Ruby made it back, he scolded me for being so reckless, but stubbornness didn't stop there as I thought that if I was going to get any real answers then I would train yourself to become strong and then set out on my own to find my mom on her own " said Yang.
"When I thought that I was strong enough, I went to a club out in Vale, because there was a man that might have had info on finding my mom, Raven. But instead of finding any leads on where she might be, I ended up trashing the whole club" said Yang.
Hearing this, Weiss flipped on her side as she said "Why would you do something so stupid?! What if you got caught by the cops?"
Hearing this, Yang began to sheepishly scratched her head as she chuckled nervously.
That alone told Weiss everything as she sighed as laid back down on her sheet.
"Well, you're not wrong" said Yang as she kept scratching her head.
She then stopped her scratching and said "After my bar fight, I ended up getting caught by the cops and had my dad not manage to pull some strings, then I would've been in jail and had to do community service to pay for the bar. But dad knew that I might end up doing something else drastic, just so I could get some answers about my mom so he made me a deal" said Yang as Weiss and the other kept listening.
"That if i became a strong huntress at Beacon Academy, stayed here and focused on being a good fighter and not go off and make more bad decisions like this, then he would tell me about Raven. Where she is and all that jazz" said Yang as Weiss was still amazed at what she was just told.
"Wow, Yang. I had no idea that you went through something like that. I'm sorry" said Weiss as she felt bad for her teammate.
"Eh, its fine. I still want the answers but I won't get them until I become strong. So that's my reason for being her. Its for the answers for why my mom just left without saying goodbye" said Yang as she stared at the ceiling.
Weiss was amazed by her words but soon realized that when Blake said "We've all heard the story" that must mean that the others knew the story as well but her.
She then turned on her side, facing Blake and Rex as she asked "Wait, how did you two learn this story?"
"She told me when I wasn't eating or sleeping and how she didn't want me to be obsessed with knowing what the White Fang was doing 24/7 and how bad being obsessed and what it would do to you" said Blake as she faced Weiss.
"What about you?" asked Weiss as she gazed at Rex.
"I kind of heard it more from her dad" said Rex as he kept staring at the ceiling and not at her.
"Why?" asked Weiss.
"Because he knew that I was a part of his daughter's team no matter what, so he told me about what exactly had happened with his family for several years and how he wanted me to protect them from harm" said Rex, grabbing the attention of Weiss, and a bit from Yang.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Weiss.
"He told me about how his life fell apart and how Yang and Ruby are the only family left for him. And when I ended up on the news, he feared for his daughters life, so he made me promise him that I would bring his daughters back. And I plan to keep that promise" said Rex as he raised his fist, aiming it at the ceiling.
Weiss was surprised by his words and his declaration at the moment.
"I'm surprised that you made that promise with him. But I feel like you shouldn't have to worry. Ruby and Yang are strong fighters and know how to fight, even if Ruby is still just a kid" said Weiss.
"She's only two years younger. We're all kids" said Blake as rolled over to face Weiss.
"Well, not anymore. I mean, look where we are! In the middle of a warzone and armed to the teeth!" pointed out Yang.
"Me especially" said Rex in his confident way.
"Well of course you are. You're like a one man army" said Weiss in an annoyed manner.
"Yep and you should be lucky you have someone like me on your team" said Rex in his cheeky way.
"It's the life we chose" said Blake.
"It's a job. We all had this romanticized vision of being a Huntress in our heads! But at the end of the day, it's a job to protect the people! And whatever we want, will have to come second" said Weiss.
Even though they couldn't see him, Oobleck had formed a small smile on his face at their words and was happy to hear their true reasons for being at Beacon. They still needed some improvement but he knew they would be great heros, one day.
Rex and the others the laid their heads down again and decided to go back to sleep and silently thought about what their futures held.
Later in the night
It was later in the night and Yang had taken up watch, allowing for Ruby and Zwei to sleep on the sleeping bag Yang had been lying on. Zwei suddenly woke up and that caused Ruby to wake up.
"Huh? Zwei, it's late. Go back to bed" complained Ruby as she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.
But then she heard little patters of her dog's feet, which told that Zwei was moving as she looked up and saw Zwei was running away.
This surprised Ruby as she said "Zwei! Zwei! Ugh!" but the dog didn't listen to her. She groaned as she got up and ran after him. She kept calling his name but she couldn't find him.
She made her way to the bottom of the building and tried to look for Zwei and was about to call out to him again until she saw him taking a leak nearby.
"Zwei, this is a wasteland! You literally could have done that anywhere!" said Ruby as she chuckled at the dogs effort to come all this way just to leak in a wasteland.
Zwei barked at her and walked back over to Ruby, but then she heard someone say "What was that?"
Having heard the voice, Ruby hid behind some ruins as she tried to stay out of sight.
"What was what?" said a second voice, making Ruby worry even more about how many were by the corner.
Ruby then walked quietly over and peered around the ruins and saw that they were 2 white fang members, holding guns and walking around.
"I thought I heard a Beowolf or something" said one of the guards.
"Hmph. Let's just finish our patrol and get back to base. This place gives me the creeps" said the second guard.
As the guards walked away, Ruby became curious as to what they were up to. But in that brief moment, she remembered Blake saying that the White Fang were doing something in the southeast and they were in the direction so she concluded that this must be their operations base or something.
She then saw that they were on the move and followed them as she saw them going around a corner. And she snuck over to that corner as she pulled Zwei over and poked his head around.
"Did they go in yet? One bark means yes" said Ruby in a hushed tone.
The sound of the door closing echoed out and Zwei barked once and that signaled Ruby that they went in.
"Oh! This is it! This is it!" whispered Ruby as she began to freak out a bit.
She then pulled out her scroll to call her team but there was low signal there.
"Aw man!" complained Ruby as she moved around, trying to get a better signal but to no avail.
She then groaned as she put her scroll away and decided to get them on foot as she said to Zwei "Come on, we gotta get the others!"
Ruby and Zwei then ran down the street as fast as they could to try and get the others. If this was what Ruby thought it was, then they were going to need Rex to keep them safe from the White Fang. But as they got on the street, Ruby heard a crack and a crunch.
She then looked down at her feet as she saw that the asphalt beneath them was cracking and before she could even move, the asphalt soon caved in, creating a giant hole in the earth.
Ruby tried to get away from the cracks by jumping away from them but the ground had already caved in and Ruby ended up hitting the ground, making her lose her scythe on the ground in front of her.
She grabbed onto a ledge and saw Zwei was starting to fall down, so she reached out and caught Zwei before he feel down into the hole. She tossed him up out of the hole and attempted to pull herself up. However, the ledge she was on soon broke off, and she cried out as she fell down into the pit. Zwei barked and whined as Ruby fell down into the deep dark abyss.
In the dark abyss
Ruby still fell from quite a height as she then hit the ground with a thud and groaned in pain. She then she looked up and saw the hole she fell from. But her attention was then drawn to what was down below. In the cave, she saw ruined buildings just like the ones from up above, far below the surface.
Ruby was amazed that there was another city under Mt. Glenn as she then got up and dusted herself off. But as she finished her dusting, a nearby door suddenly bursted open to reveal two other White Fang guards.
"Freeze!" yelled one to the guards as he aimed his gun at Ruby, scaring her.
"Where did she come from?" asked the other one.
As the guards walked forward, Ruby backed away from them, only to end up on the very edge of the platform.
"You're a long way from home, little girl" said the first guard, still aiming his gun at Ruby.
Ruby knew she had no choice but to fight so she reached behind her for her scythe, only to realize that she didn't have it with her. While she was still distracted by the fact she didn't have her weapon, both guards approached her, and one of them managed to grab her arm.
"Hey! Hands off!" yelled Ruby as she tried to jerk her arm out of the guard's hand and started punching him but it had very little effect, and he punched her in the face hard enough to knock her down.
"What do we do with her" asked the guard to the other guard.
The other guard then pulled out his scroll and began searching through some photos and managed to land on the image of Ruby, next to Rex's photo.
"We take her with us. The boss is gonna want to see this one" said the guard as he then kicked Ruby in the head hard enough to knock her out.
Back with the others
Yang kept looking out of the building's opening and then looked at her scroll, and saw that her shift was up. She then walked back in saying "Hey Weiss, it's your..." paused Yang as she saw Ruby and Zwei were gone.
"Ruby? Hey, where's Ruby?" asked Yang in a concerned voice, waking the others up
"What?" yelled Oobleck as he jumped down from his spot in the roof. Then they heard Zwei running into the room, barking loudly.
Yang looked down at him and said "Zwei?"
Blake groaned as she heard the voices "What's going on?"
Oobleck yelled at the team saying "Grab your weapons! Your leader may be in trouble" as this made everyone wide awake and grabbed their things and began chasing after the dog.
Back with Ruby
Ruby awoke to the two White Fang Guards dragging her by both arms through the underground city. All around her, she saw that more White Fang members were at work, doing various things such as piloting a Paladin to carry large shipping containers. There was a loud sound nearby as one of the White Fang members dropped a large device, which was a bomb.
"Hey boss! Found something you might want to see!" yelled one of the members holding Ruby, to a train car ahead of them.
"Is it good or bad, Perry? Because let me tell ya, I have had enough bad days for the past few weeks. Its all thanks to him that I've had to rush this job so whatever you found better make me feel more better" said a familiar voice to Ruby.
"Uh, it's a little girl?" said Perry as he wasn't sure if it would make the person feel better.
Suddenly the voice wasn't talking anymore as a familiar face popped out from the train cart, which turned out to be Roman Torchwick.
He glanced at the girl and threw his cigar away saying "That would be bad. She wasn't followed, right? By say a certain boy in a red coat" as he wanted to make sure that this other plan of his wasn't going to be ruined by "Him" again.
"No it was just her" said the guard.
Roman then grinned as he said "Oh good. That makes things easier" as he walked towards Ruby.
Back with the others
Zwei led Oobleck and Ruby's teammates to the hole that she fell into, and Rex spotted Crescent Rose next to the hole.
"Ruby's scythe!" said Rex as he picked it up.
"Do you think she fell?" said Weiss.
Oobleck looked up as he said "Fell?"
Weiss pointed down as she said "Down there."
Oobleck took a glance down the hole and then grew a shocked look as he began chanting
"Oh my. Of course! Of course, OF COURSE, OF COURSE!" yelled Oobleck as he seemed to have an increase in speed for whatever her was "Of coursing" about.
"What is it?" Asked Rex as he was confused.
"How could I be so stupid?!" said Oobleck as he walked around crazily.
"Mountain Glenn! Yes, an expansion of Vale that was inevitably destroyed by creatures of Grimm! Previously home to thousands of people! Working people commuting to the city, the main city! Developed a subway system to the inner city! Grimm attacks increased! Population in danger, now desperately searching for shelter! City evacuates into the metro tunnels and what do they find? The southeast quadrant of Vale is known for wild forests and deep caves!" said Oobleck spewing out information at 100 mph, making it hard for the gang to understand what he was saying.
"Doc, what are you saying?" asked Rex.
"My dear boy, we're not just looking for an underground crime network, we're looking for an UNDERGROUND crime network!" said Oobleck as he shook Rex's shoulders.
Blake then realized that this might be the area that Roman was talking about when he said that they were working in the southeast area.
"Wait, could the White Fang possibly be here?" asked Blake to her team.
"It could be. They did say southeast area and we are in that area. So you're saying that they've been working in caves?" asked Weiss.
"No, no, Mountain Glenn was Vale's first serious attempt at expansion. It worked for a short period of time, thanks to an aggressive perimeter defense, and unique transportation; the city developed an elaborate subway system to carry citizens safely from the new territory into the main Kingdom!" said Oobleck, giving out information and rapid speeds.
"Sadly, without the many natural barriers Vale had to protect its borders, Mountain Glenn was doomed from the start! As the end drew near, the citizens of the territory made one last attempt at survival: They took up shelter beneath the city! In massive caves that they had cleared out for the subway. And they had cut themselves off from the surface!" said Oobleck as he gazed down the hole.
"An underground village?" asked Yang.
"In a matter of speaking, yes. A safe haven. Until... an explosion opened the mouth of another cavern, filled with subterranean Grimm. After that, the Kingdom officially sealed off the tunnels, creating the world's largest tomb. If Ruby is down there..." said Oobleck as he transformed his coffee cup into a spear looking weapon as he finished saying "We must find her..."
That was all Rex needed to hear as he donned his goggles, clipped Crescent Rose to his pants and said "Then there no time to lose" as he quickly jumped down the hole, after Ruby.
"Rex. Wait up!" yelled Yang as Rex plummeted down, as Yang followed him.
"Hey, wait for us!" said Weiss as she jumped in after them as Blake and Oobleck did the same.
Back to Ruby
Knowing that Rex wasn't around to save her, Roman began kicking Ruby around and laughing at her saying "Wow! You are much more manageable without that oversized gardening tool of yours. Nor that stupid boy that's ruined most of my stuff" in an annoyed voice.
Ruby tried to get up and fight Roman but he kept knocking her down as he laughed and said "Oh man. You know, Perry, I really did need this" as he looked at the guard and just kept laughing.
Roman walked over to Ruby and aimed his cane at her saying "But seriously. How'd you find this place, Red?"
Ruby growled and used her Semblance to escape Roman and start running for an exit.
Roman was startled by this and saw that she was trying to get away, so he aimed his hook at her and launched it. It caught Ruby by the cape and she was dragged back over to him.
"I see you've got some tricks up your sleeve! Let me make this clear. We're not through here yet. There's still something we need to settle with" said Roman as he aimed his cane at her.
"Then why don't you settle a different score with me" said a voice that both of them instantly recognized.
Roman turned around and was immediately met with a big metal hand and was sent flying back. He flew far away from Ruby and hit the ground with a thud as he skidded across the floor but flipped back onto his feet. He looked back at what hit him and saw Rex with his left smack hand out as his other hand was helping Ruby up.
Rex then deactivated his hand as he said "You alright there, Ruby. Did old nasty bowler hat hurt you?" in a slight joking manner but he was mostly being serious.
"Yea, I'm fine. But he did kick me around" said Ruby as she got up and began dusting off herself.
Rex grew a serious face as he reached behind him and grabbed Crescent Rose and handed it to Ruby, to which she gladly accepted.
"Ahh, never depart from me again, my sweet" said Ruby as she caressed her scythe.
"Focus, Red. The others will be here soon" said Rex as he began walking over to Roman as he cracked his knuckles saying "So what do you say, Roman? Round Three? They do say third times the charm, and I'm the only charming thing in this fight" as Rex cracked his knuckles in an intimidating manor.
Roman just groaned in annoyance as he said "Why must this kid always show up when I'm planning something?!" but as he spoke, he suddenly heard a massive explosion behind him.
"Oh, what the... Perry. If you and the boys could take care of that? I'm in the middle of something" said Roman as he pointed behind him, but before the guards could even move, another explosion happened.
"What is happening now?!" yelled Roman in annoyance as he saw more White fang members screaming and running away.
"I'll tell you whats happening, Roman... The calvary's here" said Rex as he smirked at Roman.
Hearing this, Roman turned around and saw Weiss, Blake, Yang, Zwei and Oobleck running around the corner, fighting off some more guards as they then began coming towards them, much to Roman's annoyance.
Ruby and Rex saw them and knew that this was their chance to get away from him, so Rex then carried Ruby in bridal style and formed his wings as he flew over Roman towards the rest of the gang.
Roman grumbled at seeing the team there and yelled at the guards saying "Somebody kill them!"
Hearing this, the White Fang guards fired at Rex and Ruby but Rex just kept on flying as fast as he could and maneuvered away from the hail of bullets.
While the gang was running towards Rex, Roman and the White Fang began running to the train as Roman then said "Attach this cart and spread the word. We're starting the train" as he began heading to one of the cars.
But he was stopped by one of the WF members saying "But we're not finished!"
Roman pinned the member against the car, and, in an intimidating manner, said"Do it or you're finished!" as he let go of the guard and began walking away.
Rex flew in close to the team but was being fired at by some White Fang guards ahead of them. Rex flew as fast as he could and close to the ground as he was coming closer to th group, freaking Ruby out.
"Uh, Rex. What are you doing?!" said Ruby in a scared tone.
Rex smirked as he said "Ruby, here's a life lesson for you. With de-feet..." as he suddenly spun his legs forward and deactivated his wings, as the two began to fly through the air from the speed as Rex then formed his Punk Busters and then said "...You lose your seat" as he then kicked the group of White Fang members, causing them go flying through the air and away from the two.
Rex then landed on the ground as he skidded on the ground and grounded to a halt as Rex then let go of Ruby and deactivated his boots.
"Ruby!" yelled Yang as the sisters hugged.
"Are you okay?" asked Weiss.
"I'm fine, I'm fine! But listen! Torchwick's got all kinds of weapons and robots down there" said Ruby as she informed everyone of what happened.
What?!" said Blake and Rex in complete shock.
"Androids, mechs, they're all loaded up on the train cars" said Ruby as she pointed at the train.
"Ahhhh, that's ridiculous. These tunnels are sealed, the tracks lead to a dead-end" pointed out Oobleck as he recalled the tracks of this old place.
They then heard Roman across a speaker system saying "Get to your places, we are leaving now!" as this and everyone look towards the train as it started moving towards the tunnels.
Seeing this, Rex gained a determined face as he said "We've got to stop that train."
Everyone then grew the same determined face as they all said "Lets do it" as the team quickly ran over and hopped on the back of the train as it left the cave.
Further into the tunnel
As the train went further into the tunnel, Team RRWBY and Oobleck made it to the back of the train as a White Fang member stood on the train and heard them getting on. He then brought out a communication device as was about to call Roman, but Rex gave him as swift punch, knocking him out.
"Sorry, but no ticket, no ride" said Rex as he crushed the device with his foot.
"Come on, we've got to get to the front of the train" said Rex as he found ladder and made his way up as the rest followed him.
Team RRWBY and Oobleck now stood on top of the back of train cart as the train kept moving forward.
"Hurry, children! We must get to the front and stop this train!" said Oobleck as he was about to leave, when Weiss stopped him saying, "Err... Professor?"
Oobleck grew annoyed face as he said "Doctor..."
Weiss then pointed down a hatch into the train as she said "What's that?"
Oobleck knelt down to take a look at it as he then said "That my dear... appears to be a bomb", making everyone step away from it.
Rex then looked forward and said "Hey guys. We've got incoming" as he pointed ahead of them and saw dozens of White Fang members that were climbing onto the top of the train as well as a few mechs charging at them.
"Well, I didn't expect them to go..." said Oobleck but the moment he spoke, the bomb underneath them charged up and started beeping.
"...easy on us. Time to go!" yelled Oobleck as they started to run towards the next cart, but when Oobleck made it, he was about to turn to Rex and say to decouple the train, but he saw Rex was still on the bombed train.
"Rex, my boy. Get on this cart this instant!" yelled Oobleck, making the others look at him like he was crazy.
"If Roman thinks he's going to blow us up, he's got another thing coming" said Rex as he reached down into the cart, and placed his hands on the bomb. He then sent his nanites into the machine and shut it down, stopping the beeping it was doing.
Rex then stood up as he faced the group and said "It's ok. The bombs been deactivated" as he gave them the thumbs up. But the moment he gave them the thumbs up, he had a noise.
Rex then noticed that the group was starting to move away from him, to which he ran forward and saw that the cart had been deactivated. Rex then formed his wings and jumped off the cart. He landed on the cart that everyone else was on.
Rex deactivated his wings as he said "Well that takes care of..."
BOOM
The moment Rex opened his mouth, a giant explosion was heard behind him. Rex's eyes widened as he looked back and saw the cart he was on finishing its explosion.
"But... that's not possible. I shut the bomb down. How did it explode still?!" said Rex as he was still in shock.
"If you somehow how took down the countdown for the bomb or deactivated it, perhaps they must've made another control to it from a distance. So that must mean whoever is in charge of this operation had another plan for blowing up the cart" said Oobleck.
"But my real concern is why would they explode their own cars, it doesn't make sense. And for all we know, it can't be good" finished Oobleck.
"Err, neither is this!" said Ruby as she was standing next to another open hatch as she peered down into it.
"Another bomb?!" exclaimed Blake, making the others worried.
Oobleck was the most worried as he looked around and ran to the next train car as he exclaimed "No. No. No." He then opened the hatch of another cart and looked inside. It too had a bomb inside it.
He then yelled back to Team RRWBY saying "They ALL have bombs!" making everyone gasp with fear.
Meanwhile
Roman was watching the group in the back of the train as he had a controller in his hand.
"Guess it was good to make another way to make them explode" said Roman as he chuckled.
"Uh, why is that" asked a guard that was running the train.
"Call it insurance, or something like that. I know that boys got powers I can't even begin to understand, so I guess I called it a hunch that he might do something to deactivate the bombs so I made extra precaution to make sure this mission went off without a hitch. And I guess it is, Literally" joked Roman as he made a joke towards the decoupled cars.
Back with the others
Everyone was still panicking over the fact the all the train cars that they are on all had bombs in them.
"This doesn't make sense!" exclaimed Yang as she was panicking.
Soon, they all looked ahead of them and saw the White Fang members were running towards the team as one of them shouted "Get the humans!"
Ruby and the girls ran forward to attack the incoming White Fang members as Rex formed his Smack Hands and began swatting away any incoming White Fang. Oobleck turned around and watched the next detached train car explode. Only this time, it created a hole allowing multiple types of Grimm to emerge.
"Oh, dear..." said Oobleck in shock.
The horde of Grimm begin advancing quickly toward the runaway train.
"He's leading Grimm to the city!" yelled Oobleck to the others.
"What?" yelled Rex.
"It's the cars! They detach and explode, creating openings for the Grimm!" said Oobleck as he looked down at the cart he was on.
"That's insane!" said Blake as she knocked a few bad guys back.
Another train car detached itself and began to slow down.
"We have to hurry! You three, go below and try to stop those bombs!" said Oobleck to Weiss, Blake, and Yang.
Rex and Ruby looked at each other as Ruby said "What about us?"
"We're going to stop this train" said Oobleck with confidence.
"Yeah, I know. I said that earlier" said Rex as he then donned his goggles.
The groups moved forward as they then split up.
As the train continued towards it destination, Rex, Ruby, and Oobleck continued running down train cars to get to the front but they then noticed one of the giant mech suits was charging at them.
"Up ahead! We got a problem!" yelled Oobleck as he pointed at the robot.
Rex looked forward and said "Right. I'll stop it."
The mech ran towards the group and then unleashed several missiles at the three. Rex was shocked by this and quickly formed his block party. Rex held his ground as the missiles hit his shields over and over.
Rex grunted as he tried to hold his ground against the missiles as smoke from the explosions began building up around him.
"Hold steady, my boy" said Oobleck as he began to think of a plan.
Rex kept his ground but he was then met by a big heavy force as he looked and saw the Mech was pushing against his shields. He then saw it unleash more blasts and bullets, trying to break down his barrier.
Rex grunted as he then heard more thumping sounds and saw that more of the mechs were charging towards them.
"Crap, there's more coming" mumbled Rex to himself as he then let go of his right block party and formed his smack hand and punched the mech away from them and off the train.
Oobleck saw Rex punch the mech away but heard his mumbles as he said "I'm sorry, what did you say before?"
Rex groaned as he said "I said there's more...more...more" said Rex as he began to mumble to himself and began to see some familiar, circular and circuitry patterns.
Rex then gained a smirk as he stood up straight and then began to form this brand new build of his. Rex felt his nanites move to back and he felt something new begin to form. He looked to his left and out of his back formed two glowing round packs on his back, with 5 long wire ropes sticking out of them all, which had cylinders at the ends of them, and part of the build had formed across his chest.
Credit goes to Crystalmoon101 on deviant art. I just redrew it and added the omega colors. Not mine. It's their artwork.
Rex was surprised at this brand new build of his, but not as shocked as Ruby and Oobleck
"Woah" said Rex as he was surprised by his new build.
Oobleck's eyes widened as he said "I say."
Ruby just kept her gaping mouth open but she then gasped and squealed and said "Is that a new build? Oh it's so cool. I've never seen this one. What are the 5 wires for? Where's..."
"Focus Ruby" shouted Rex as he then looked ahead of them and still saw more mechs coming for them. Rex knew he had to do something so he gained a confident attitude and faced the enemies.
Rex then felt the wires begin to move around and then Rex said "Ok, let's see what you can do."
Suddenly, the wires began to glow blue and went straight up to the cylinders at the end of the ropes. Then blue lines flew out of the ends of them and went straight towards the mechs. The lines then went through one of the mechs and moved up, and that cut the mech in half, causing it to fall apart and off the train.
Oobleck, Ruby and Rex were surprised by what had transpired. Ruby was squealing at how awesome his new build was, Oobleck gained an intrigued look as he was surprised by what seemed to be Rex's new ability. Rex just gained a confident look as he said "Ok. Now that was cool. Talk about Laser Light Show" as the wires moved around as one moved closer to Rex as he traced his finger over it.
Oobleck then regained his thoughts as he said "Quite an interesting build you have there, but we are not done yet" as they looked ahead and saw more White fang and were charging at them. Rex knew he was right as he then made the wires move around as he made two of them glow blue as two lines flew out and cut off parts to the mechs.
"Oh, this is going to be fun" thought Rex as he then ran towards the mechs, moving the wires around and cutting off parts of the mechs.
"Follow me to victory" said Rex as Oobleck and Ruby then shrugged their shoulders as they followed Rex as he began to clear a path for them.
With the others
Down below, Yang, Weiss, and Blake entered the train cars.
"I guess this is what we trained for" said Yang.
Weiss reached into her pouch and gave Blake a magazine filled with Dust vials.
"Here, this should help you" said Weiss as she handed them to Blake, to which Blake accepted.
Blake slid the mag into Gambol Shroud, and then the three of them charge forward. Suddenly, Neopolitan dropped from the ceiling and blocked their path.
"You two go on ahead. This one's mine" yelled Yang as Blake and Weiss nodded as they proceeded forward.
As Neo prepared for their attack, Yang fired a round to distract her, allowing Blake and Weiss to run. Yang stepped forward toward her opponent, staring down as Neo gave a sinister smile towards Yang. The two charged at each other and began their fight.
They dueled for a while but Yang was losing badly and it soon ended when Neo threw her into the ceiling, knocking her unconscious. Neo turned around to approach Yang as she pulled a hidden blade from within her umbrella and approached the unconscious Yang.
She prepared to deal the finishing blow, grinning sadistically while doing so when suddenly, a masked warrior with raven-hair and clad in red and black came out of nowhere and knocked Neo back. It was Raven, but this time she wasn't here for Rex.
Neo's eyes changed from brown and pink to white, mirroring her fearful expression. The mysterious swordswoman, to Neo, slowly drew her sword again which was long and crimson red and held it up, intimidatingly. Neo, realizing the imminent threat before her, wasted no time and disappeared in a flash.
Raven looked down at the still unconscious Yang, and slashed her sword to the side, opening an eerie red portal. She walked away from Yang and into the portal but not before she turned back and said "I'm sorry Yang."
At that moment, Yang regained some consciousness and slowly got back up. As she opened her eyes again, she got a brief glimpse at her rescuer before the woman disappeared. Yang rubbed her head, still reeling after just regaining consciousness, before standing up and leaving the scene.
With Blake and Weiss
During their fight, Blake and Weiss were running, and then looked at each other when they heard the sound of a revving engine up ahead. A tall man is came out of the other side of the car, dragging a chainsaw along the floor.
"You go on ahead!" said Weiss as she prepared for battle.
Blake nodded and said "Got it!" as she prepared to run around him.
The man chuckled menacingly as he held up his chainsaw. The two Huntresses-in-training charged forward, with Blake deflecting an attack as Weiss flipped backwards. Weiss delivered multiple strikes at the Lieutenant, knocking him down.
She then smiled at Blake as she proceeded to the next car. The Lieutenant got back up, and charged at Weiss. Weiss held up Myrtenaster in "en garde" and charged at him.
With Blake
In the next train car, Blake stopped and gritted her teeth as she was greeted by a familiar foe.
"Hello, kitty cat. You miss me? You know, we really gotta stop meeting like this. People are gonna talk..." said Roman until Blake charged forward to attack, starting their brief battle. She soon knocked him down, and when he attempted to get back up, Blake stepped on his chest and pointed her sword at his throat.
Roman chuckled in a nervous tone and asked Blake "Why are we fighting? I saw you at the rally, we're on the same side and you know it..." as Blake moves the blade closer to his neck.
"Oh, still feisty. Soooo, what are we gonna do now? You think a little bow on top is gonna make people forget who you were? What you've done...?" Said Roman as Blake gritted her teeth at his words.
Blake heard the door from the previous train car opened behind her. Weiss was unconscious and is was thrown to the floor, while the Lieutenant emerged from the doorway, holding his chainsaw.
"So what's it gonna be, Blake?" teased Roman
She sheathed Gambol Shroud and kicked Roman in the face, knocking him unconscious. Blake went over to Weiss's aid, and fled immediately before the Lieutenant could reach them.
Rex, Ruby, and Oobleck
Back with Rex, Ruby and Oobleck, the three of them were fighting off the White Fang and were so far winning. Rex had been slicing up the mechs with his brand new build which power seemed to be lasers as he had 5 of them now, as Ruby and Oobleck took care of the members that weren't in the suits. Oobleck kicked one off the train as he yelled "Ruby! Rex! You two go on ahead!
Ruby protested going but Rex grabbed her hand and began running towards the train.
Ruby and Rex hurried to the front of the train. They then climbed into the cab of the train and Ruby said "How are we going to stop this?" since she didn't know how to drive a train.
Rex knew what to do as he ran towards the console and said "Leave it to me" as he put his hands on the console and sent his nanites into the console and searched through it to shut the train down. He soon found the circuits and began to shut them down.
His nanites retreated into him. He then looked ahead of them and saw that they were coming close to the end of the line as he saw a wall at the end of the tunnel and he knew that they were nowhere close to slowing down. He groaned as he knew that there was one way to slow down. He turned his head to Ruby and said
"Hold onto something. It's going it be a bumpy ride" said Rex as he busted the window of the train and began climbing to the front of the train. Ruby then clung to the seat of the train.
Rex struggled to get up as he then jumped out towards the front of the train and quickly formed his Smack Hands and Punk Busters.
He landed on the tracks and held onto the train as planted his feet on the tracks. The train jerked forward a bit and it caused Ruby to fall down. The remaining members of Team RRWBY came running out of the car before them and ran towards Ruby.
"What's going on? Why did that train move around like that?" asked Blake.
Where's Rex?" asked Yang.
"He's stopping the train on his own. Look out the front window" said Ruby as she pointed towards the front.
The team looked out and saw Rex holding on tot he train and slowing it down.
Rex grunted as he used all his force to try and slow down the train.
He looked around his shoulder to see where they were going and saw the wall was getting closer to them.
Rex groaned in frustration saying "Aww great."
The girls noticed this too and Weiss quickly formed an ice bubble around the girls, preparing for impact.
Rex pushed with all his might to stop the train until it finally slowed down before he got squashed. He sighed in relief and his builds fell apart and he fell down. He got back up and walked over to the cab door. He saw the girls in an Ice bubble and formed his smack hands and cracked them out of there. The girls looked up and saw Rex standing there. They jumped at him and hugged each other. Rex grunted in pain but he let it slide. The team stood up and cheered.
"Oh ya. We stopped a moving train from crashing into town. We're awesome" yelled Ruby.
"Technically, I stopped the train. You stood in here and cower in a bubble" said Rex in a cocky mood.
"Oh shut up. We all helped" said Yang as she punched his shoulder.
"Yea I know. I'm just joking. At least it's all done" said Rex.
Then suddenly the team heard rapid beeping form underneath them as Rex groaned saying "Ah, irony. So we meet again."
He quickly grabbed the girls and formed his block party and formed a big blue bubble around them as everything blew up and then everything went to white.
After the explosion
Rex groaned as he woke up from the explosion. He heard the sound of an emergency alarm blaring as his vision came back with buildings in his view now. He turned his head to the lower right and saw Blake and Yang slowly getting back up, then turned to the other side and saw Weiss and Ruby sitting up against a large piece of debris, who gave a thumbs up at her team leader signaling she's okay. Rex sat up and noticed that they had returned to the central part of Vale, and multiple civilians in the area noticed them among the debris.
Rex heard the sound of low rumbles and growls from behind him. Suddenly, a giant King Taijitu emerged from the hole, and multiple Grimm start pouring into Vale.
The civilians scream as they attempted to flee the chaos. The sounds of screams and roars filled the air, and all Team RRWBY could do is watch in horror.
Vale was overrun with grimm and they all knew that had work to do.
