RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late and great Monty Oum.
Sorry this took so long, but it will be worth it by chapter 7 which is almost complete. Read, review, and tell me how I can improve, what you liked and what you didn't. Your feedback is appreciated, thank you! Seriously tell me if the story is good or not, I want to know what you guys think because I worked really hard on this chapter and it took a LOT out of me.
RWBY: Destiny of Remnant
Chapter 6: A Matter of Family Part I
Weiss entered a room that was Penny's designated living quarters and walked towards what could only be described as an operating table/bed hybrid. On the table was what appeared to be a teenage girl with orange hair, seemingly asleep.
Weiss saw Penny, or Penny 2, as she stepped closer and put her hand on the artificial girl's face, which felt very real to Weiss. "Her skin must be made out of some special material..." the Schnee heiress muttered to herself.
Penny lay on the table, totally unaware of anything around her, looking like a character out of some fairy tale...
'One that's probably real somehow.' Weiss thought to herself, with all that had been happening in the last few months Weiss wouldn't have been surprised if Penny sprung awake, grew machine guns out of her fingers, and started to do a jig, which she thankfully didn't.
Weiss took out her scroll and thought to herself 'Why am I doing this? A year ago the thought wouldn't have even entered my mind... I know I'll get in trouble for this but I have to tell her.'
She brought up Ruby's scroll number and made the connection, but she turned down the volume so Winter and Dr. Polendina would not hear her as they conversed on the other side of the lab and she looked around to make sure there were no security cameras in the room.
It took unusually long for an answer, which made Weiss suspect that the scroll wouldn't function properly down in the lab, but the bubbly voice of Ruby eventually answered the call. "Weiss? Sorry, I'm in a high place right now..." Ruby said as Weiss could see the cheerful silver-eyed girl on her scroll.
"Are you still in Haven?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah, we know that Cinder's here for sure. Oh man Weiss you'll never guess where I am right now!" Ruby said giddily.
"Knowing you, probably on top of the Seras Kalifa." Weiss snarked.
"... Are you psychic now?" Ruby asked innocently as she turned her own scroll around to show the view from atop the skyscraper.
"I was joking! Oh never mind, it's not important right now. Ruby, Winter has brought me to Atlas' Military HQ in Atlas City, and you'll never believe who I found."
"Who?" Ruby asked, sounding curious.
"It's Penny, I..." "WHAT?!" screamed Ruby at the top of her lungs, thankfully not heard by Winter and Polendina thanks to the scroll's low volume but it was enough to make Weiss pull her head away from the scroll.
"Ruby! Be quiet!" Weiss scolded with a whisper, "I'm in a top secret place right now and I don't think General Ironwood will appreciate me calling you from here, which I'm surprised I can even do."
"Let me see her! Please Weiss! I need to know that she made it out..." Weiss saw Jaune in the background asking a question she couldn't hear and Ruby responded to him with "Penny's alive Jaune! Weiss is with her! Weiss please let me see..."
"Don't worry Ruby, I'll show her." Weiss said as she pointed her scroll's camera at the robotic girl that was in stasis.
"It is her..." Ruby's voice said, now bristling with joy, sounding like she was on the verge of crying. Weiss pointed the scroll at herself and saw how utterly happy Ruby was, and now Weiss had to break her heart with the bad news.
"Ruby... I... she doesn't remember us Ruby." Weiss revealed.
"What?" Ruby asked as her face turned from one of happiness to one of shock.
"This isn't the same Penny, Ruby. She sounds like her, acts like her, moves like her, but it isn't her. It's a second version, a Penny 2.0 and they didn't restore her memories." Weiss confessed, her heart aching as she saw the hope and joy in Ruby's eyes vanish.
"W-why didn't they restore her old memories?" Ruby asked.
"Dr. Polendina said he didn't want to risk hurting her. He didn't want her to remember her own death, I'm sure you can understand that." Weiss said, trying to get Ruby to see beyond emotions, which was a difficult task to be sure.
"I... I guess so... can you at least wake her up?" Ruby asked.
"It doesn't work like that Ruby, I don't even know how to! You know I can't even call you; I could be in serious trouble for showing her to you or for even having a scroll in the complex. Once this is all over I'm sure you can get to know her again." Weiss promised, she was about to continue before she heard Winter's voice.
"Weiss? Are you alright?"
"Oh no! Sorry Ruby, I need to go, Winter will be furious if she knows I called you. Talk to you later, bye." Weiss frantically whispered as she cut the call short and hid her scroll back in her combat skirt's pocket.
Winter appeared in the room's doorway, sighing in relief at the sight of her sister.
"I see you've found her. I know you are probably annoyed with me hiding this from you, but General Ironwood demanded her new existence be kept a secret." Winter explained.
"I understand that part and while I am a little annoyed with you for hiding this, I'm just happy you came clean." Weiss said.
"Come on, now that you've seen her we should probably leave. I don't think the General would be too happy to know I showed you this without his permission." Winter said as she gestured her sister to follow her.
Weiss followed her sister back to the entrance of the labs where Dr. Polendina stood. "We must take our leave now doctor, it was good to see you and rest assured I will speak to General Ironwood about the issue." Winter said vaguely, not wanting Weiss to know about what Ironwood had planned for the robot girl.
"Thank you Specialist Schnee, if you'll be able to make him second-guess his plans I will forever be in your debt." Joseph said.
This made Weiss curious, but she decided not to say anything, yet.
They left the lab and the heavy metal door descended back down, sealing off the lab.
As the Schnee sisters walked back to the elevator Weiss spoke to her sister. "I would like to tell Ruby about this as soon as I can."
"You don't even know where she is, and even if you do know how to get in touch with her I don't think it would be wise to tell her, from what little I know of the girl she would not handle the situation very well." Winter said firmly, but the way Weiss asked the question had gained Winter's interest. "Do you know how to contact your former leader?" she asked.
"What? No, no, of course not! If I did I would have told you by now." Weiss lied.
Winter nodded as she stepped into the elevator and remarked "Good."
Weiss got in the lift as well; ready to go over the various reports about Cinder's whereabouts and try to keep her secrets from Winter.
Ruby and Jaune walked around the top of the Seras Kalifa building, leaving the old operator behind in the elevator. Jaune took one look down and instantly felt nauseous, but managed to hold it in.
Ruby giggled at Jaune's goofy sick face before her scroll rang. She took it out and was surprised to see who was calling. "Is it Ashe?" asked Jaune, still not in the mood for a conversation with the man.
"No, it's Weiss. Wonder if she's okay." Ruby said as she answered the scroll. Weiss hadn't called until the other night, and while that did lift Ruby's spirits up a bit it made her sad about the lack of effort from either Blake or Yang. Her father had called several times but Ruby hadn't answered, knowing he would try to stop her. "Weiss? Sorry, I'm in a high place right now..." Ruby said she looked at the girl in white on the scroll.
"Are you still in Haven?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah, we know that Cinder's here for sure. Oh man Weiss you'll never guess where I am right now!" Ruby said giddily as Jaune shook his head.
"Knowing you, probably on top of the Seras Kalifa." Weiss said sarcastically.
Jaune could barely stop himself from laughing as Ruby asked "... Are you psychic now?" and she turned her scroll around to show Weiss the view from atop the skyscraper.
"I was joking! Oh never mind, it's not important right now. Ruby, Winter has brought me to Atlas' Military HQ in Atlas City, and you'll never believe who I found." Weiss said cryptically.
Ruby looked to Jaune, who just shrugged; Ruby looked back to the scroll and asked "Who?"
"It's Penny, I..." "WHAT?!" screamed Ruby so loud that Jaune had to cover his ears, Ruby's scream had distracted him from processing what his former crush had said.
"Ruby! Be quiet!" Weiss snapped quietly, "I'm in a top secret place right now and I don't think General Ironwood will appreciate me calling you from here, which I'm surprised I can even do."
"Let me see her! Please Weiss! I need to know that she made it out..." Ruby began to say before Jaune spoke up.
"Ruby, what's going on? Who did she find?" he asked.
Ruby looked at the blonde with excited eyes and she cried out "Penny's alive Jaune! Weiss is with her!"
"What?! How is that... well she is a robot..." Jaune considered as Ruby went back to talking with her friend. "Weiss please let me see..."
"Don't worry Ruby, I'll show her." Ruby watched, a cheer fit to burst from her lips as Weiss showed her Penny, lying unconscious on a floating table.
"It is her..." Ruby said, with her voice struggling to contain another shout and her eyes on the verge of crying happy tears. Weiss brought the scroll back around at herself and she looked sad, as if she had to say something but she couldn't spit it out.
"Ruby... I... she doesn't remember us Ruby."
"What?" Ruby asked as her smiled dropped in an instant.
"This isn't the same Penny, Ruby. She sounds like her, acts like her, moves like her, but it isn't her. It's a second version, a Penny 2.0 and they didn't restore her memories." Weiss said.
Jaune couldn't believe it; Ruby's friend was back but couldn't remember her? He saw Ruby's eyes darken.
"W-why didn't they restore her old memories?" Ruby asked.
"Dr. Polendina said he didn't want to risk hurting her. He didn't want her to remember her own death, I'm sure you can understand that." Weiss explained, making Ruby wondered who exactly this Dr. Polendina was besides Penny's creator.
Jaune sighed, it made sense but he knew Ruby wouldn't like it as she was much more of an emotional person and didn't really think things through most of the time.
"I... I guess so... can you at least wake her up?" Ruby asked, trying to contain herself.
"It doesn't work like that Ruby, I don't even know how to! You know I can't even call you; I could be in serious trouble for showing her to you or for even having a scroll in the complex. Once this is all over I'm sure you can get to know her again." Weiss vowed before another voice was heard. "Oh no! Sorry Ruby, I need to go. Winter will be furious if she knows I called you, talk to you soon, bye."
Ruby watched as the feed died. She put the scroll back into her pocket and she sat down against a wall, covering her face with her hood and hands.
Jaune didn't really know what to do, he guessed the closest thing to this would be amnesia but he never knew anyone that had suffered it. He watched Ruby, saw that she wasn't even crying, she just sat there not moving or making a sound.
"I'm sorry Ruby, I know she meant a lot to you..."
"It's okay Jaune. I've already cried for her... I... I just want things to go back to normal!" Ruby said as she choked back her tears.
"Oh Ruby... you have no idea how much I want all this to end. I just wake up in Team JNPR's dorm room and find out this has all been a terrible dream and everything is okay... but it won't happen. It's a crappy thing, but that's reality. Reality sucks big time Ruby... but we can't give up. We may not be able to bring Pyrrha or the original Penny back but we can honor them by not letting them die pointless deaths." Jaune said.
Ruby looked up at the blonde boy and smiled "Jaune, I need to be honest with you; you will probably be the best leader out of our generation, despite how dopey you can be." She said.
Jaune decided that it was time to come clean to Ruby about a secret only Pyrrha, Cardin, and Ashe knew.
"Ruby, I faked my way into Beacon."
Ruby was silent, her eyes widening in shock. "W-what?" she asked quietly.
"I wanted to be a hero so bad, I wanted to be like my ancestors! I didn't want to be some helpless kid who has to be saved every time a Grimm attack happens. I made up the transcripts, I got watermarks using connections my dad had, I even stole the Crocea Mors."
Ruby said nothing and her silence was torturing Jaune.
"I'm a fraud Ruby. I didn't deserve to be a student in Beacon, I didn't deserve Pyrrha, or Ren, or Nora, or you or... Ozpin must have known and he let me in anyway, that crazy old man. Maybe if I hadn't gotten in Pyrrha may still be here, maybe some other guy would have been smart enough to notice how she felt and maybe some other guy could have stopped her from fighting Cinder. I'm a failure Ruby." He finished as he looked out to the city before him.
"I don't care if you faked your way in." Ruby said, making Jaune turn around and look at her.
"If you weren't worthy of being with us then you never would have gotten past Ozpin period! Yeah, he may have been using us, but I don't care. All of that is in the past Jaune. And I never, never want to hear you call yourself a failure again." Ruby scolded.
"Why?" Jaune asked.
"Because other people; people like Cardin can call you a failure, but you can never think that you are one. If you say that about yourself then you've already lost and I know for a fact that you are NOT a failure! You cared about Pyrrha so much that you're out here, so far from home, trying to avenge her! You've hit walls like Cardin and how you used to lack a Semblance but you always got over them, you always overcame them! Everyone fails at something Jaune, we can't win at everything, but if you let those failures get to your head. If you don't try again then you really are a failure. You're not a failure Jaune. I know it, your family knows it, Ren and Nora know it, Ashe knows it, and Pyrrha knew it with all her heart. You saw her for her, not some idol or celebrity but for who she was, that's why she loved you Jaune! So please Jaune, don't call yourself a failure." Ruby pleaded.
Jaune smiled and offered her his hand, helping her up. He hugged her and said "You really are the little sister I never had."
"Aw! Ain't this sweet!" said a familiar voice.
Jaune and Ruby both looked to see an airship rising up alongside the building and inside of the ship was Damien Ante and six of his enforcers.
"Hey there kids, remember me? Well of course you do! Hey, how 'bout you do Uncle Damien a favor and get into the ship without a fight, hmm? We got free candy!" Damien joked as he, Little Steve, Fireball, Zhan, and Merrick all aimed their weapons at them.
"Run for it!" Ruby yelled as she grabbed Jaune and used her Semblance to rocket around the building's top.
"They always want to do it the hard way." Little Steve said with a smirk.
"And it's always more fun that way." Damien said as he gestured to Douglas to fly them over.
Ruby and Jaune got back to the elevator, startling the old man with their sudden appearance. "What the?!" he cried out before Ruby pushed him into the elevator.
"Get us down now!" Ruby cried.
The ship flew over them and hovered directly in front of them, now flying like a wasp looking for a place to nest.
"Come on kids, just give up now and we won't have to mess you up that badly!" said Damien as Merrick aimed at Jaune.
"Nothing personal kid." The sniper muttered as he fired a tranquilizer dart from his rifle.
Jaune whipped out Crocea Mors and transformed the sheath into shield form, stopping the dart and knocking it to the ground.
The attendant pushed the button and the door shut and the elevator began to descend down to the lower levels, even if it only took them to the two-hundred and seventy-fifth floor out of the building's total three hundred floors. Naturally the elevators couldn't go all the way up so there were different bottoms and tops of elevator shafts along the tall building.
Ruby took out Crescent Rose and loaded a clip into it. "Think we can fight our way out?" she asked Jaune.
"Let's hope so..." Jaune said before Ruby's scroll rang.
Ruby took it out and said "It's Ashe, we'll need some help."
Jaune nodded and looked to the old attendant and he decided to stop the elevator at the nearest floor. "We'll be okay, get out and call security." He said, to which the old man just nodded, still in shock, as he ran out. Jaune closed the door and the elevator started up again as Ruby answered her scroll.
"Ashe, we..."
"Ruby! Thank Oum, are you two okay? Where are you?" Ashe asked.
"We're near the top of the Seras Kalifa building, Ashe we need some help..." Ruby said before Ashe stopped her.
"Yeah I know, I got jumped by a gang in the slums, I got the boss to talk and he told me that Ante put up a bounty on all of us!"
"Yeah, we noticed." Jaune said.
"Oh Oum, you guys are being chased aren't you?" Ashe guessed.
"Yeah, but we got Ante himself and some bad looking guys, whoever they are they're not street thugs." Jaune said.
"Probably his enforcers. Okay hold on, I'm on my way to the building now. If you guys manage to get out before I get there then head to the nearest slum, when we were out exploring the city the other day I saw a construction site that's supposed to be the start of some big urban renewal project that got put on hold until spring. I think we can regroup there." Ashe said.
"Got it, I know the one you're talking about Ashe. We'll try to get out ourselves, don't want to attract too much attention after all." Ruby reminded him.
"Hey, Jaune?" Ashe said.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry I was being such an asshole to you earlier." Ashe said.
Jaune said nothing, but he let Ashe continue.
"I've been torturing myself over Mila's death for five years, I see something of myself in you kid and I should've realized that your feelings for Pyrrha are more than just motive to get stronger. I'm sorry." Ashe said.
"We'll talk about it later okay? This is the worst possible time for a heart to heart! Right now we gotta..." Jaune said before the door opened and the two teens were greeted by the sight of Lao, Trooper, and Tom-Tom.
"Hey there cutie." Tom-Tom mockingly greeted as he eyed Ruby.
For his troubles he received the shield of Crocea Mors to his face, knocking him across the hall and into the wall.
Jaune forced his way out, his sword slamming into Lao's katana which easily blocked his blow. "Good form." Lao admitted as he relented, drawing his sword away and twirling around out to the hall.
Jaune and Ruby both got out with their weapons ready.
"I'll take on the swordsman, you take on the soldier." Jaune said.
"Got it." Ruby agreed as she spun Crescent Rose, ready to battle.
"What about me?!" cried Tom-Tom as he tried to get up, only to be put back down with a kick to the head courtesy of Ruby. "Ah! Again with the head!" the unlucky enforcer yelled out.
Lao and Jaune swung their swords to one another, the two blades clashed so hard that sparks flew. Lao tried to lunge at Jaune only for the blonde Huntsman-in-training to sidestep him and spin around, trying to slash Lao across the chest with the Crocea Mors but the enforcer managed to parry it. "Not bad. While you could use some improvement I was led to believe you weren't a threat." Lao admitted as he pressed his katana forward while Jaune held his place.
"I've gotten better in the last seven months." Jaune snarled.
Trooper opened fire on Ruby but the girl managed to deflect all the bullets with the spinning blade of Crescent Rose. Ruby used her Semblance to rush forward and use the handle of the sniper-scythe to bash the trained killer in the knees, elbows, and head.
Trooper cried out as he fell against the floor. He looked up at the teenage girl and smirked. "And here I thought this would be a waste of time." He muttered as he saw Tom-Tom sneaking up on Ruby, going unnoticed by Jaune as he was too busy fighting Lao.
"Glad to prove you wrong." Ruby said, before she twirled around in the blink of an eye and smashed Tom-Tom into a wall once again.
Ruby used her Semblance to rocket herself down a hall to a door that led to an emergency exit staircase. Several people were gathered around, watching the fight as it went on but most were taking cover in the rooms that the hall connected to.
Ruby aimed Crescent Rose's gun down the hallway and yelled "Jaune, get down!"
Jaune turned his head as he parried a swing from Lao and he ducked down. Lao was confused until the wall exploding behind him knocked him off his guard and Jaune was able to whack him to the ground with his shield; however Jaune didn't notice Lao slapping him on his back.
Jaune ran towards Ruby, bashing a recovering Tom-Tom in the face with his shield yet again. Trooper took aim for Jaune's legs but a shot from Crescent Rose blasted the wall he was laying next to, forcing him to cover his face from the debris.
Jaune made it to Ruby and kicked the stairway door open. "Come on!" he said to Ruby, who nodded as she fired off three more shots, and then she ran after Jaune.
Lao got up and saw that his two companions were getting back up. "I swear to Oum, if those kids hit me in the face again I don't care what that witch says, I am so gonna hurt 'em back!" Tom-Tom said angrily.
"Just be grateful they didn't hit you in the groin." Trooper said as Lao walked past them.
"Come on, we need to tire them out." Lao said as he took out a small orb.
Ruby and Jaune ran down the winding staircase, going as fast as they could without tripping. It would take a while to get to the bottom of this staircase as it covered another twenty-two floors. "You think Cinder's behind this?" Jaune asked as they rounded a bend.
"I'd bet every lien I have on it." Ruby said as bullets began raining down on them.
"Behind me!" Jaune cried as he used the shield to protect both of them from the gunfire.
Up above Trooper and Tom-Tom blasted away with their weapons, trying to keep the duo pinned down. Lao pushed a button on the orb he carried and tossed it over the edge.
The orb landed behind Jaune and Ruby, but Ruby luckily saw it as it landed and recognized it as a small explosive.
"Go!" she yelled as she jumped on Jaune's back, forcing the two teens to fall over the railing, just as the orb exploded.
Jaune acted quickly and placed the shield underneath them just before they landed at the staircase's base with a mighty crash.
"Ruby?"
"Yeah?"
"Never do that again!" Jaune cried.
Ruby giggled and responded with "Whatever you say."
Jaune held the shield up as gunfire began to rain down on them again.
"Move!" Jaune yelled as they both ran to the door, the shield protecting them from bullets all the way.
The three enforcers quickly ran to the base of the stairs to find the door shut. "They got a head start on us, I'm starting to like these kids." Trooper admitted.
Tom-Tom shook his head as Lao went to open the door, only for said door to explode out of its frame and smash into the three mercenaries.
Jaune and Ruby stood on the other side of the door, feeling somewhat victorious even though they knew their pursuers wouldn't be kept down for long.
Jaune ran down the hallway to an elevator door and used Crocea Mors to pry the doors open, only to find no elevator waiting for them. Jaune looked down and saw that the elevator shaft was much longer than the last one, going down at least fifty stories.
"Ruby, can you..." "Use Crescent Rose to get us down? You bet." She said as she pushed a button and two small stepping plates came out of the side of the pole. Ruby swung the scythe into the elevator, stabbing it into the wall. She got on one of the steps and gestured for Jaune to get on the other.
"When did you add these?" Jaune asked before he jumped over.
"Before we left Patch, didn't want to hang on to just the pole again if I ever fell from something really high up. Always be prepared and all that." Ruby explained.
With their combined weight the scythe began to slide down the shaft, cutting metal apart as it did so.
The three enforcers made their way to the elevator shaft to see the teens about twenty floors below them already. Lao took out two Sais and jumped into the wall, stabbing the small blades into it. "Come on!" he ordered.
Trooper took out a small grappling hook from his belt and fired it into the top of the shaft. "Grab on." He ordered Tom-Tom, who reluctantly wrapped his arms around the older man's waist.
As Ruby and Jaune slid down the shaft, the scraping of metal hurting their ears all the way down, Jaune saw the trio coming down the shaft with Lao jumping from wall to wall.
"Don't those guys ever give up?!" Jaune cried as he held up the shield while Tom-Tom opened fire with a revolver.
Soon enough they came to the elevator which sat idle at the base of the shaft. Jaune kicked the emergency panel open and Ruby jumped down into the elevator. Jaune stepped to the side, protecting himself with the shield as Ruby opened fire on the three enforcers.
One of her shots hit Trooper's grappling line and both he and Tom-Tom fell down. Trooper grabbed the elevator cable but Tom-Tom was forced to grab onto one of the door ledges.
Jaune jumped down and said "Good job, what floor are we on?"
Ruby looked at the panel on the elevator and saw that they were on the one-hundred and eighty-third floor, meaning they had just slid down seventy floors in only a few minutes.
"We're almost halfway down. I think we might have to jump out of the building." She said as they ran out of the elevator.
"No way!" Jaune objected before a voice yelled out "Stop!"
Jaune and Ruby turned to see a group of five security guards all aiming their guns at them.
"Wait a minute; we're not the ones..." Ruby tried to say before the guards yelled at her to shut up.
"Well... we did tear up the place a bit." Jaune admitted.
"It was in self-defense!" cried Ruby as the guards kept their guns aimed at them.
"We got reports of three adult men and two teenagers fighting in the hallways and staircases, what's going on?" demanded the captain.
"Well, it's..." Ruby began to say before a bullet ripped through a guard's shoulder.
"Get down!" yelled the captain. All the guards, Ruby and Jaune all ducked down as Lao, Tom-Tom, and Trooper all fired on the guards.
"Jaune we have to get out of here, the longer we stay the more innocent people will get hurt." Ruby said.
Jaune nodded and said "Okay, we jump. You think you can pull it off again?"
"Of course I can!" she said confidently as she looked up to a window. "First we need to distract those guys, and I know how to do it." She added.
She jumped up and spun Crescent Rose around, once again deflecting all the bullets back at them. Lao took out another orb and threw it at Ruby and the orb landed in front of her.
"Oh no you don't!" Jaune yelled as he kicked the orb, flinging back at Lao.
Lao's eyes widened, he jumped back and yelled "Get down!" before the orb exploded in the narrow hallway.
"Now!" Ruby yelled as she grabbed Jaune. The two ran towards the window with Crescent Rose's blaster pointed at the floor.
The two smashed through the window and fell a few hundred feet before Ruby pulled the trigger and the blast rocketed them up a bit before they fell back down, repeating what she had pulled off at the Battle of Beacon.
Jaune screamed out in exhilaration as they fell down to the streets below, propelled up every now and then by a blast.
Lao, Trooper, and Tom-Tom all ran to the shattered window and watched as the two teens escaped. The guards were either unconscious or dead so no one attempted to stop the three.
"Oh this is just embarrassing." Tom-Tom muttered as Damien's airship flew by the window.
"To be fair we are holding back." Trooper defended.
Damien opened the door and glared at them. "They're just kids! How did they outsmart trained killers like you?! Get in!" Damien commanded and the three jumped back into the ship.
Lao grinned as he sat down "It was not a total loss, before they slipped down a staircase I managed to get a bug on the Arc boy, we can track them and listen to them."
Damien smirked and said "That's why I like you more than the others Lao."
Reese Chloris flew in the air, temporarily separated from her hoverboard. She always liked to do this, jump up in the air high off the ground for a few seconds, giving her the impression that she was flying.
But alas, she couldn't fly, her feet landed back on her hoverboard and she flew down to the ramp on the roof of a building. She flew over to the other side of the roof and went up the old rusty water tower that was placed on the roof. She landed on the top of the tower, stomped on the end of her hoverboard and it flew up into her arms.
Reese had been born and raised in Haven, so she didn't have to go far from the Academy to see her mom and dad. She was one of the people of this city that knew what a mess it was, but loved it regardless. Reese may have been the youngest member of Team ABRN but she was the smartest, even though she didn't show it that often, but intelligence just happens when your mother is one of the highest rated doctors in the city. Reese was worried about her home town, many people were unhappy with the military presence that Atlas had put there and the occupation was constantly being harassed by protests from the locals which often led them to being held up and unable to do anything.
She looked up to the sky, seeing the clouds getting grey and dark. "Looks like rain." She muttered to herself, glad she brought her purple hoodie. It was nearing the last weeks of winter so rain was to be expected and Reese didn't mind it, she was just glad most of the snow had missed the city.
Then the skater noticed something else in the sky. "What the hell?!" she cried as she saw a familiar looking red scythe with two figures holding on to it for dear life falling from the sky.
Reese watched as the scythe got closer, occasionally going up via a blast from the scythe's gun portion and as they got closer Reese recognized them as Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc.
"What are they doing here?" she asked herself as she watched them land of a rooftop a few hundred meters away.
Reese got on her hoverboard and flew over to them, seeing that they both looked worn out and that Jaune was on his knees and currently in the process of vomiting.
"Ruby, we are never doing that again and I mean it this time!" he cried after he finished puking.
"Sorry Jaune but at least we got away from Ante for now." Ruby said.
"Ante?!" Reese cried out as she landed on the rooftop next to them, which was slightly higher up. Now Reese's curiosity was piqued, if these two were running from Damien Ante then something big was going on.
Ruby turned around and saw the skater of Team ABRN. "Oh hey, uh...Reese, right?" Ruby said, recognizing the girl Blake had fought in the first round of the Vytal Tournament.
"Did I hear you right? You said you got away from Ante, as in Damien Ante?" she asked.
"Yeah, he's after us. We gotta get going Ruby, let's go!" Jaune said as he used his Semblance to jump to the next rooftop.
Ruby looked at Reese and said "Nice to see you, we have to go before they come after us again, don't want you to get hurt in the crossfire."
"Wait, I'd like to know what's going..."
Just then a series of gunfire strafed the roof from far above. Reese and Ruby looked up to see the airship coming towards them.
"Gotta go! See you later!" Ruby said as she sped off with her Semblance.
Reese decided it would be better not to take any chances so she used her hoverboard to get into the small alleyway between the two buildings as the ship flew by.
Reese got out her scroll, she may not have known Ruby or Jaune very well but she couldn't let them get hurt. She dialed up her leader who answered after a few rings.. "Arslan? You won't believe what I just saw!"
With the aid of her Semblance Ruby rushed forward and grabbed Jaune by the arm, catching him by surprise as they rocketed away.
"Not again!" Jaune cried as he felt Ruby drag him over rooftops and jump over streets.
They soon came to a stop to let Ruby catch her breath. "Oh man... I'm getting tired." She muttered as she tried to calm down her rapidly beating heart.
"I'll call Ashe and tell him we made it out." Jaune said as he took out his scroll and called his mentor.
"Ashe, we're okay, we're tired as heck but we made it out of the building and we're heading towards the construction site." Jaune said as he kept watch for Damien's ship
"Good, that's closer anyway and I'm not too good on this bike!" Ashe said over the sounds of a motorcycle's engine.
"Bike? Where did you get a bike from?" Jaune asked.
"From one of those thugs that jumped me earlier. Trust me; he won't be using it anymore." Ashe assured Jaune.
Jaune sighed, deciding it was better not to ask what Ashe meant by that. "Call Ren and Nora and have them meet us at the construction site. Maybe together we can defeat these guys and force Ante to tell us where Cinder is." Jaune suggested.
"That sounds like a losing fight kid, what does Ruby think?" Ashe asked.
Jaune looked to Ruby who nodded. "If we get Ante to talk it'll lead us right to Cinder." She said.
Jaune wasn't so convinced his idea was a good one as he saw how tired Ruby was; the chase in the building and Weiss' revelation about Penny as well as Jaune admitting the truth about his transcripts left the girl in red pretty drained.
"You sure? You look..."
"I'm fine Jaune! We can do this!" Ruby said, trying to hide how exhausted she really was.
"Okay I'll call 'em, you know where it is right?" Ashe asked.
"Yeah we're only four blocks from it; I can see it from here. We'll be able to hold out until you get there, just hurry!" Jaune said.
"I'll get there as fast as I can, just don't get yourselves killed. I've got enough guilt to live with, I don't need your deaths on my conscience." Ashe said.
"You said they want us alive, I don't think they can afford to kill us." Jaune pointed out.
"If Cinder wants you alive then whatever she's got planned will probably be worse than death!" Ashe said.
"Fair point." Jaune admitted.
"Jaune, remember yesterday when you hit me so hard you sent me flying?" Ashe asked. "Yeah." Jaune said with a nod.
"Jaune, I've been hit a lot of times in my life, I mean a lot of times. The point is that I know when someone is holding back. Don't hold back anymore Jaune, if you do these people will kill you!" Ashe said.
"I'll do my best." Jaune said as he hung up. He watched as Ruby got ready to go.
"Let's get to the site, if Damien wants us he'll be in for the fight of his life." She said with a smirk. Jaune nodded and the two ran off towards the construction site, unaware that the bug Lao had placed on Jaune had heard everything.
On the airship Damien laughed as he listened in, "Oh I don't doubt it kid! Douglas, call up the gang, send forty-five guys in all to that site over there! If they're gonna try to fight us we'll teach 'em the meaning of a 'last stand!'" he said as he began laughing manically.
As Ruby and Jaune jumped across the roofs Ruby saw Jaune was typing something on his scroll. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"A backup plan is case this fails." Jaune said as he began to type in some four letter words.
Ren sat in one of the reclining chairs at the warehouse, trying his best to relax and just hope that Ashe, Jaune, and Ruby could handle the situation by themselves, no matter how much he knew they couldn't.
He looked over to see Nora going through Ashe's bag.
"Nora! I don't think Ashe would like you going through his belongings." Ren scolded.
Nora looked up and pouted. "Aw, come on Ren! He was a total jerk-wad to Jaune! This guy is so weird Ren; I mean why does he have an old train conductor's cap?" Nora asked as she took out the hat.
"He mentioned he worked on a train, maybe it's a memento." Ren speculated.
"And this case, there's no lock on it." Nora said as she took out the small steel case that Ren had spotted on the morning Ashe had decided to join them. Ren couldn't explain why, but when Nora lifted up the case he felt uneasy.
"I think that thing is very important to Ashe." Ren said as he got up and approached his friend. "It has a lock, but not a normal one. It's a print-lock, it will only open for his finger or thumb prints." He explained.
"What could be in here that's so dang important?" Nora wondered out loud.
"I don't think we should be messing with this case, I think it will only bring Ashe's foul mood upon us." Ren said as he took the case from Nora. As he grabbed it he could feel something from within the case; a strong aura, but not one of a human or a Faunus...
Suddenly Ren's scroll rang out. Ren quickly placed the case back in Ashe's backpack and answered his scroll.
"Ashe, are you..."
"Ren, we need backup! You know that construction site near the Seras Kalifa building, the one on the borders of a slum we passed through yesterday?" Ashe asked.
"Yes, I recall it. Why?"
"Ruby and Jaune are on the run with Ante and his enforcers on their tails. They're going to try and make it to the site and with our help we may be able to defeat Ante and force some answers out of him. I know it's risky, but both Ruby and Jaune think we can pull it off. I'm on my way there now, so you two better be getting here soon if we have a chance of pulling this off!" Ashe said.
Ren sighed and said "We're coming, try to keep them alive until we get there."
"I will, see you soon." Ashe said as he hung up.
Ren saw Nora lift Magnhild over her shoulder. "Let's get to work." She said with a cheerful and confident grin.
"I know this won't end well, but we must try." Ren said as he grabbed the StormFlowers, before he went to the door he took one last look at Ashe's bag, wondering what it was he had sensed.
The partners opened and closed the door and jumped onto the rooftops, rushing into the city to save their friends, the only family they had had in years.
Ashe pulled on the gas lever as hard as he could. The bike swerved through cars and pedestrians, managing to avoid hitting anyone and thankfully not hitting any objects too badly. His skills on a motorcycle had gotten very rusty in the last nine years.
"Watch it asshole!" yelled a man in his car.
"This is getting me nowhere!" Ashe groaned as he drove the motorcycle through the heavy and very aggravating traffic of Haven. He knew that it would take way too long to get to the slums like this so he decided he needed to leave the bike.
He saw an alleyway and grinned. "Roof jumping here I come." He muttered and he drove into the alley and propped the bike against the brick wall.
"Free bike." He called out to anyone who'd listen before he jumped up to the roof. He looked out and he could see the towering skeleton of an unfinished building in the distance, about two miles away, statues constantly marking the way.
"Man what I'd give for Ruby's Semblance right now." He muttered as he turned around to see an angel statue on top of the building he was on, about four times his size. 'Statues...' Ashe thought as an idea hatched in his head. He grabbed on to the statue's leg and began to climb up.
He got on top of the statue's head and he jumped across the street to the next building. "City of Angels, never thought I'd love those eyesores so much." Ashe muttered as he jumped on to another one, slowly but surely making his way to the unfinished tower.
West grabbed hold of a railing on the airship's ceiling as the ship swerved to miss a building.
"What is wrong with your pilot?! Is he aiming for those buildings?!" West cried.
"Of course not! But it would make a nice crash..." Damien joked.
"Boss I got the gang moving out, they'll be there quick as they can." Douglas called from the cockpit.
"Good, now keep your eyes on those brats! If they get away Cinder will do all kinds of nasty shit to us, and check your ammo! Remember, she'll do even worse if they get killed so make sure your guns are packing tranquilizers only!" Damien said to his enforcers as Merrick, Trooper, and Little Steve all loaded up their guns with tranquilizer darts.
"I'm going to call Lady Cinder, we overheard them talking to that Ashe man and he'll be bringing backup." West said as he took out a scroll.
"No way, we can pull this off. We'll capture those two brats and you'll keep 'em alive with your Semblance, I'll take care of Ashe and the other two don't matter. We don't need Cinder making a scene." Ante said.
West glared at Ante. "I think Lady Cinder should be the judge of that." He said.
Damien sighed and said "Okay doc, I'll call her and tell her to get there with the transport ship, we don't got enough room in this ship to hold 'em anyway."
Inside the factory Cinder stood on a catwalk watching as more Grimm Knights walked towards Sherizawa and his assistants for inspection. She had to admit that they were a magnificent sight and she looked forward to leading them into battle.
She felt her scroll vibrate and she removed it from her pocket and saw who the caller was. "Ugh." She muttered as she answered it. "Damien, have you spotted them?" she asked.
"Better than that, my Maiden, we're on their tails as we speak! We got a bug on 'em right now and we know they're heading towards a construction site at the edge of one of the slums. I'm sending you the coordinates so get ready to get here as quick as you can, our ship can't hold 'em and I know you got a ship that can. Your doc here thinks we'll damage the kids too much but I think we can hold back." Damien said.
Cinder considered West's logic and knew it was sound. She wouldn't trust Ante to return a library book, let alone capture Rose and Arc and bring them back alive. While she would find the sight of her master destroying Ante wonderful she knew Salem would be very disappointed and unsatisfied if the two were killed. Cinder knew better than to tempt her master's wrath.
She spoke into her scroll "And what of the police?"
"Oh please! I've got them wrapped around my finger; I've already told 'em to stay clear of this." Damien clarified.
"Very good Damien, we'll be there. Is the rest of their team with them?"
"Not yet but they're comin'! I look forward to taking that Ashe asshole down myself." Ante said, seeming all too excited at the prospect.
"Understood Damien, we will be there." Cinder said. She hung up and dialed up Emerald. Her prized student answered after the first ring. "Yes Cinder?" Emerald asked.
"Emerald, do you know where Mercury and Neo are?"
"Yeah, they're in the gym. Mercury's trying to get a better look at Fotia and Neo's being Neo." Emerald said.
"Collect them and get them to the hangar," Cinder ordered, "Damien will need our help once he captures Rose and Arc, and I intend to collect. Their friends will interfere and I think we might need to give them support."
"Understood, I'll get them." Emerald said.
Cinder put away her scroll and looked back down to Sherizawa. "Doctor, can you lend me a squad of Grimm Knights? I'll make this their first official field test." she called.
Sherizawa nodded, "I'll be happy to oblige Lady Cinder." he said, he then directed four of the new Grimm Knights to follow Cinder.
As Cinder led the robots away her thoughts drifted to the man who was apparently helping her enemies. Ashe. 'No, it couldn't be him.' Cinder thought to herself but she shook that thought away and she walked out of the main foundry. She had put her past behind her, she hadn't even thought about him in years.
Yang and her father sat across from one another at the dinner table. The two ate in silence but Taiyang was beaming with happiness that his daughter had finally decided not to stay locked up in her room all day anymore.
"Any word about Ruby?" Yang asked as she took a bite out of her meal.
"No, I keep asking Qrow but that's like asking a Grimm what happiness is." Taiyang answered, feeling terrible that he still didn't know where his youngest daughter was.
"Uncle Qrow is a good Huntsman and uncle but you have to admit dad, he's a bit of a dick." Yang said, trying not to laugh.
"Don't I know it! I remember the first time your mom and I... oh, sorry I..." he said, he always hated when his memories brought up his first love up out of nowhere.
"It's okay dad. You don't have to try to forget mom for my sake. What were you about to say?" Yang asked.
"The first date your mother and I ever went on was during our third year at Beacon. I remember before we left for the restaurant Qrow pulled me aside and said" Taiyang began doing his best, and very accurate, Qrow impression, "If you ever hurt her not even Ozpin will be able to find your body."
The father and daughter began laughing at the idea of Taiyang being able to hurt Raven, seeing as how she was possibly the best fighter on Team STRQ. Something that even when Yang was young and didn't understand why her birth-mother had left Taiyang and Summer had never bothered to hide during the bedtime stories.
Yang saw her father stop laughing as he shook his head and gave her a sad smile. "After all these years Yang I still feel like I'm the world's worst dad." He said.
"Don't say that! You were always there for us! You gave up your career to raise us until Ruby went to Signal!" Yang objected.
"Yeah and it took you two nearly being killed by Beowolves and saved by Qrow to get me to do that. Summer's death hit me so hard I forgot how my little girls' were going to be affected by it too. Under my watch Ruby ran off with her friends to do Oum knows what and I didn't even notice until she was gone. My little girl is out there trying to save the world, and if Qrow knows where she is he's not talking." He said sadly, feeling so helpless and useless.
Yang hated seeing her father like this, he had been beating himself up ever since the aftermath of Beacon's fall. Yang knew where her sister was and she knew her dad would freak out if she told him she knew all along but she had to say something to her dad.
"Dad, I think Ruby and the others went to Haven." Yang said.
Her father's head snapped up from his dinner and looked at her. "What?" he asked, his voice hushed and shocked.
"Back when we were in Beacon and we thought that Cinder was just another student, she told us she was from Haven in Mistral. Ruby told me that's where she was going and she asked me not to tell you." Yang confessed.
Taiyang shot up out of his chair, his hands gripping the edge of the table. It was the angriest Yang had ever seen him.
"You knew this entire time?! Why didn't you..."
"Because I was feeling so sorry for myself I didn't even care, but I do now. I'm only telling you dad because I don't want you to blame yourself. It's her choice dad and I didn't tell you because I'm her big sister, I'm supposed to keep secrets for her!" Yang said.
Taiyang sighed and said "You certainly are my daughter. Do you think Qrow knows as well?"
"It's Uncle Qrow dad, I love him to death but I won't deny that he's a jerk. If he thinks Ruby going out to stop Cinder is the best course of action then he won't stop her." Yang explained.
"Too true." Taiyang muttered.
Just then there was a knock at the door.
"If that's Uncle Qrow then I'm pretty sure this is all written out or something." Yang said as her father made his way to the front door.
"And if it is him he better have some answers for..." Taiyang began to say as he opened the door, only to come face to face with his ex-wife, Raven Branwen, standing in front on the door with her mask drawn up and a metal case in her hand.
"R-raven?!" he said in shock.
"Hello Taiyang." She greeted.
As soon as Yang heard her father speak she jumped out of her seat and ran to the front hall and saw a woman whose face looked almost exactly like her own, albeit older, with jet black hair and crimson eyes.
"Hello Yang." Her mother said as her eyes moved to her daughter's stump.
"What do you want?" Yang asked coldly, trying to keep herself from snapping and punching her birth-mother right in the face.
"Qrow sent me; he told me you were stuck in a pit of depression and self-pity. As the new leader of Ozpin's forces he ordered me to come here and snap you out of it and give you something." Raven explained.
"Where is Qrow?" Taiyang asked.
"Not far, he's coming on an airship with a doctor that owes him." Raven said.
"What's the doctor for?" Yang asked.
"To attach this to you." Raven said as she opened the case, revealing the bright yellow robotic prosthetic lower arm with the hand inserted into the right Ember Ceilia.
"W-h-w-how?! What?!" Yang stuttered out.
"Qrow's new position gives him a lot of power and the ability to pull many strings. He told me the clean up crews found your gauntlet in the rubble and he had an arm built to replace the one that was taken from you." Raven elaborated.
"Why didn't he bring it here sooner? Why did he make you bring it?" Taiyang asked.
"I never understood my brother Taiyang, so you shouldn't bother to try." Raven told him as she gave Yang the case.
It was heavier than she expected it to be. Yang looked at the robotic arm and admired it; it was a thing of beauty. Black metal made up the hand and the fingers, as if her fingerless gloves were now complete, and yellow covered the rest of it. She felt like she could just slip it on and everything would go back to normal. It was perfect.
Yang looked at her mother with a mixture of confusion, spite, love, regret, and just a little bit of forgiveness.
"Raven, I don't know how I can ever thank you for this." Taiyang said in amazement. After all these years she could still leave him speechless with her actions.
"You don't have to thank me, love." Raven said sadly.
Taiyang sighed and said "You lost the right to call me that when you left."
"I know, but I want you to know that no matter what I never stopped loving you." Raven said, her eyes betraying her sadness.
Yang now felt incredibly awkward standing between the two former lovers as they all stood in silence before the sound of an airship made them all look up.
A small airship landed down in front of the house. The door slid open to reveal Qrow Branwen and a bearded man who held several medical bags, along with two women and a Faunus man who were the attending nurses.
"Well, one big happy family I see." Qrow said sarcastically as he approached them.
Taiyang walked up to Qrow and greeted him with a fist to the cheek.
"Ow! Okay, some thank you." Qrow said in disbelief.
"Why didn't you give it to her sooner?! What was the point of making Raven bring it?" Taiyang demanded.
"To get Yang out of her depression. I figured maybe a confrontation with her mother would snap her out of it, a fight would get her back into the fight." Qrow said.
"And did you know Ruby is in Haven?" Taiyang asked.
"Well that cat's out of the bag." Qrow muttered as he chuckled.
"Yes, well if the unconfined joy of this happy family reunion is over, I'd like to get started on Miss Xiao Long's surgery." Said the doctor.
"Who are you?" Taiyang asked the older man.
"Dr. Gerard Kimball of Atlas, nice to meet you Mr. Xiao Long." The doctor said as he offered his hand out to shake which Taiyang accepted.
"Are you taking me to a hospital?" Yang asked.
"No, we can do it here if that is alright, if you'll allow it my staff can set up an operating room." Kimball said.
"Yang, is it okay with you?" Taiyang asked.
"Of course, they can do it in my room." She said, eager to get her replacement arm on.
"Very well, take my nurses to it and they'll begin and I'll prep you for surgery afterwards. Miss Xiao Long, you'll need to be asleep for this as the biofusion process it quite painful and it will require advanced circuitry to be fused to your nervous system as well as your bone and muscle structure. I'd also recommend at least a few days of rest." Kimball said.
"Uhh are we sure this is safe?" Yang asked, no longer sure about this decision.
"Trust me Miss, I've performed this kind of surgery in swamps and deserts, I think I can pull it off in a nice house." The doctor said with an assuring smile.
Yang nodded and led the medical team into the house, leaving her parents, uncle, and doctor outside in the chilly air.
"So how do you know this man Qrow?" Taiyang asked.
"Qrow saved my life about eight years ago. I was assigned to perform surgery on a leading figure in the White Fang, long before they were the racial terrorists they are now. One of the old anti-Faunus organizations tried to assassinate him and after they failed to end his life they tried to take me out before I could perform the surgery, but Qrow saved me. I have been in his debt ever since." The doctor explained.
"Be honest with me doctor; can you give my daughter this arm?" Taiyang asked hopefully.
"Of course I can Mr. Xiao Long, I do things like this at least twice a week." The doctor promised.
The medical team came back down and went to the airship to get the rest of the equipment as Yang reappeared in the doorway. "Come on doc, let's go." She said.
"Very well. Nurse Gila, please get the anesthesia." He called to one of his nurses.
Taiyang looked at his daughter and said "Honey, are you sure you want to do this?" he asked her.
Yang smiled and she looked at her father with soft eyes and she said "I want my arm back dad. I want to go out there and help my friends. I want this dad, I'll be fine." She used her remaining hand to grasp one of his. The doctor nodded to Taiyang and he followed Yang inside.
The nurses soon followed inside, leaving the three old teammates alone, with the exception of the airship's pilot who was content to stay in his cockpit.
"So Taiyang, how have you been?" Raven asked.
Taiyang looked at his first wife, speechless.
"I haven't seen you in nearly sixteen years, you left me and our daughter alone, you never came back, you never gave an explanation, not even a damn note. And somehow, thanks to Summer and my daughters I've been good. I lost so much and yet won even more. Life gives and takes what it wants. You left me, Summer was taken from me, but I through it all I had my daughters. I would have given up on life if it wasn't for them." He said.
Raven sighed and said "I attended your wedding."
Taiyang looked at her. He remembered the day he married Summer Rose, as it was one of the happiest days of his life. He and Summer stood at a cliff-side on Patch Island that Summer loved so much, where she was now buried. He was dressed in a simple tuxedo and Summer in a beautiful white and red bridal gown, wed by a local holy man, and the wedding attended by Qrow, a toddler Yang, and several of their old friends.
Qrow could sense this conversation would get very personal so he decided to retreat into the house.
"How did you..." Taiyang began to ask.
"I watched from afar." She said, not lying as she had been in her avian form during the ceremony, a form she had never told her husband about.
"You didn't have to stay hidden." Taiyang said before Raven stopped him.
"Yes I did, not only would you have been furious but Summer would have been as well. Despite her kind personality Taiyang you know as well as I do she could make the most hardened warlord run screaming with minimal effort." Raven pointed out.
"She really could." Taiyang agreed as he thought about his second love.
"What led to you two getting together?" Raven asked.
"It was after you left. Summer decided to take up a home on the island, she felt bad for me. She was one of the kindest people alive so naturally she wanted to look after her old teammate and his little girl. Months went by, one thing led to another and I asked her to marry me and she accepted." Taiyang said, remembering those months he spent with Summer and little Yang.
Taiyang looked at his first love and the curiosity was too much. He had to ask "Did you attend her funeral too?"
"Of course I did. She was my friend, at times my best friend. I shed my tears for her just as you, Qrow, our daughter, and Ruby did. I remember the day you buried her on that cliff side, I saw how utterly broken you were by her death. I wanted to go to you and comfort you so badly... it hurt me to see you and our daughter in such pain." Raven confessed.
There was silence between the two again.
"Why did you leave?" Taiyang asked.
"Taiyang, you would have been happy with a peaceful life, I would not. I need to run, to fight, to be a hero in the shadows. Had I stayed I would have taken mission after mission, leaving you to raise Yang and I knew that one night you'd get the news of my demise. I didn't want you or Yang to suffer that heartache, or the repeated heartache of me being gone for months at a time. I decided it would be better to break your heart and get it over with than to prolong your suffering." She said.
Taiyang laughed bitterly and said "I had my heart broken alright, but I've had constant heartache for years. You left us, I lost Summer, nearly lost Yang and Ruby several times... Yang's in surgery as we speak and Ruby's out trying to save the world from that insane bitch Cinder. I'm all too used to the feeling of heartache."
The two former lovers didn't continue their conversation. They just stood there in the cold.
Weiss sat in Winter's office going over reports of possible Cinder Fall sightings. She sighed as she was getting very annoyed by how often it was simply just a woman with black hair or one with yellow eyes. Sightings ranged everywhere from Mistral swamps to Atlas mountain villages to populated cities in Vale to obscure towns deep in the Vacuo countryside.
"This is getting us nowhere. Sifting through all these rumors and blurry photos is just a waste of our time." She complained to her sister who sat at her desk, looking over reports about the Grimm attack that happened before her day off; the photos of the dead Hunters, ruined buildings, and bodies torn apart by Grimm were sadly not the most disturbing images Winter had seen in her military career.
Weiss' complaint had torn Winter's attention away from the gruesome pictures and to her sister. "Our spies have yet to come up with anything. Most of those that managed to infiltrate the White Fang are often killed after only a few weeks on their mission and those who enter all the major cities haven't found anything and some have simply disappeared. These terrorists have gotten very good at spotting our agents, unfortunately." Winter explained. Weiss nodded understandingly, it made sense that any spies that tried to infiltrate Cinder's organization would be eliminated without any chance to leak out information.
Winter's attention was stolen by a flashing light on her desk. Winter pushed a button and a holographic screen with General Ironwood on it was projected into the air. "Specialist Schnee, I would like to see you and your sister in my office right away." He said.
"Is something wrong?" Winter asked.
"Just get up here, we need to talk." Ironwood said simply.
Winter got up and beckoned her sister to follow, but Weiss was now afraid that her call to Ruby had been discovered.
In a few minutes they entered General Ironwood's office where the half-robotic man sat in his chair waiting for them, but he wasn't alone as the holographic screen in front of his desk showed Glynda Goodwitch.
"Ah, hello Specialist Schnee and Consultant Schnee, I have something you would like to see." Ironwood greeted.
"Hello Weiss, it's good to see you." Glynda said to her student.
"Same to you Professor." Weiss said, happy to see her former teacher, "How goes your efforts in Vale?" she asked.
"Slowly, but we are making progress." Glynda said. Ironwood nodded and looked at the sisters.
"There are two reasons I called you both down here; first of all, there is the matter of your unapproved visit to the vault." Ironwood said, eyeing Winter with a disapproving look.
"I'm sorry sir, but given the circumstances and my sister's past relationship with the subject down there, I felt she deserved to know the truth. Also the subject got out again and Weiss saw her, so she understandably wanted some answers." Winter explained.
Ironwood nodded, "Understandable. I see no harm in it overall; just notify me before any future visits. Now, this was spotted on the news mere minutes ago, take a seat." He said.
The Schnee siblings sat down in front of the General's desk as he brought up another hologram of what seemed to be a news report. The General pushed a button and the video began to play.
"This is Lisa Lavender with a special report. There have been reports of a battle in Haven's Seras Kalifa Building. Twenty minutes ago fighting was reported in the upper halls of the iconic tower, including gunshots, explosives, and swordplay." Said the newswoman as grainy footage popped up. "Security cameras have captured footage of what appears to be three men battling two young Hunters, one male and one female, in the halls and elevator shafts of the Sera Kalifa Building. Our counterpart in Haven has sent us this amateur footage captured via scroll, so please excuse the quality." She said as a thin video popped up.
Weiss, Winter, and Glynda couldn't believe their eyes. There was the familiar sight of Crescent Rose, falling through the air with two teenagers hanging on to it for dear life.
"The two people on the weapon, seen here, have not been identified but rumors speculate that they could be Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc, both of whom were reported missing a month ago." Lisa Lavender said.
Weiss face-palmed, outwardly she was annoyed but inside she was furious. 'How?! How did they manage to get in trouble this badly and this quickly?! I just got off the scroll with them!' she thought angrily.
"Glynda, Weiss, I think you both know who that weapon belongs to." Ironwood said.
"Indeed I do." Glynda confirmed.
"Can you find out what's going on?" Winter asked.
"I wish I could, we have very few agents in Haven because of the heavy protests against our presence and the few we do have are facing opposition every step of the way." Ironwood explained.
Weiss groaned and said "If I ever see her again I am going to make her pay for making me worry so much."
A train ran across the Mistral countryside, its wheels sailing across the rails gracefully.
In one of the passenger coaches Team SSSN sat in their compartment, trying to entertain themselves until they arrived at their destination.
"So how do you like being on a real train Scarlet?" Sage asked, as the redhead had never been on a proper train before.
"It's alright. I like how fast it goes, but I prefer boats I guess." Scarlet said.
Sun was looking out the window, trying to plan out their next move. The train would take them to Arnia, a town near Mistral's Circle Sea and there they would begin their hunt for the White Fang. Sun watched as the countryside, occasionally marred by small villages or swamps zoomed by. His thoughts wandered to Blake, about what he would say when they next met.
Neptune was simply looking up things on his scroll to keep himself busy, but something made his eyes widen.
"Uh, guys... you might want to see this." He said as he held up his scroll, showing the news footage of Ruby and Jaune on the Crescent Rose.
His three teammates all looked at the footage, all of them in a shocked silence that was soon broken by Sun who simply said "Oh you got to be freaking kidding me."
Back in Cadia, a city in Vale, Jaune's oldest sister Bianca reclined on her couch, relaxing after a long meeting of negotiating an illustration deal with an author who wanted some art to go with his book. Bianca's rest was interrupted by her scroll ringing.
She took out her scroll and saw the caller I.D. was that that of her younger sister Shani. She answered the scroll and said "Hi Shani..." "Bianca! I'm texting you a link to a news video, you have to watch it!" her sister said.
"Whoa, calm down! What's wrong?" Bianca asked.
"It's Jaune; at least I'm pretty sure it's Jaune." Shani said frantically.
Bianca knew this couldn't be good, she had been the only one of Jaune's seven sisters who he had told about his mission to Haven so if he was on the news it couldn't be good.
She saw Shani's text and pressed on the link. She watched the video and her heart was in her throat as she saw the blurry figure of her beloved little brother hanging on to his friend's gun-scythe.
"Jaune, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?" she muttered to herself.
To Be Continued...
Next time: Things get real. The big finale to the first act, all action, don't miss it
The scene with Taiyang and Raven was hard to get right because we don't know much about either of them persona wise, so I hope you liked it.
Dr. Gerard Kimball is a reference to the great Harrison Ford movie 'The Fugitive', which features a 'one-armed man' in an evil role. The name is a combination of the movie's two main characters.
Why did I make Reese the daughter of a doctor? I thought it would be a nice bit of character. Also Team ABRN will enter the fight, I used Reese to to introduce them because I think we can all agree she's the one that caught our eyes the most.