I do not own RWBY or AdventureQuest Worlds.
The girl dreamed.
A library filled with echoes of times past and a face of a friend, answering to a most unexpected master. A powerful chronomancer was a daunting enemy, but mercifully, this one was more interested to teach than to fight.
And he had so much lessons to teach, before his fall to chaos…
]|[
Stevie the Rat's words echoed in Johnny's mind. Their so-called 'glorious revolution' was near he said. That he would have so much confidence in it, to take it so far as to commit suicide and kill his comrades…
He drank deeply into the flask he was carrying. A hand caught his arm before he could finish it all down.
"Hey now." Qrow said, taking back the flask. "You're not the only one thirsty, you know." The huntsman took a swig.
Johnny sighed. He stared at the image of the underground map projected, as if he stared at it enough, the plans of the White Fang would magically come into his mind.
"Johnny. Do you need to talk about it?" Glynda asked, concerned slightly. The silence of the man was unnerving, ever since he came back from the sewers. It was a horrifying sight. Seven charred corpses. And of course, the first suspect would be the one left at the site. Johnny himself.
The others thought it was a bit of self-defense. But a testimony from a certain first year team told otherwise.
"He killed them and himself. I was questioning him about what they were planning, and he slipped out some grenades and incinerated himself and his comrades." He answered when he was asked what happened. Johnny shook his head. "It was my fault. I didn't bring him in immediately. He didn't have to die."
They didn't arrest him. [Evil] He would've escaped if they tried. And he didn't think Ozpin would want to let go of an ally like him in this war of theirs. What stung was that Team RWBY avoided him like he had the plague when he arrived at Beacon. Qrow said he'll talk to them, but it doesn't matter. Only…
"I knew I couldn't save everyone. But I at least wanted to be able to save most that I possibly can." Johnny said, staring blankly at the map. Sensing the stares of the others in the room, he waved them off. "I'm fine. Just shaken a bit. I'll get over it." He reassured.
Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "If you say so." He let the matter pass over. "So. The bombs you found on the White Fang?" The headmaster changed the topic.
Johnny nodded, thankful for the change. "Right. They have duffle bags on them that carried these containers full of refined dust and wires. They had nothing on them otherwise. No scrolls, no nothing." He rubbed the back of his head in frustration. "At least we know they're underground. Could Ironwood flush them all out?"
"He could, but it won't be that easy." Qrow pointed at the map. "That's the entire sewer system of Vale. And that," He pointed to the tiniest blip on the map. "Was were you found the White Fang. That's how massive the system is."
"And considering the fact that it is connected to the old subway system, it gets much more expansive than that." Ozpin said, changing the view of the map to 3D. Another layer of labyrinthine sets of long tunnels was shown above the sewers, with one long tunnel leading outside the city.
"What is that?" He pointed at the tunnel.
"The old subway leading to Mountain Glenn." Ozpin's eyes darkened. "Just as you have failures, so have I. This is one of them. That tunnel now leads to the largest tomb in the world."
Oh yeah… That Mountain Glenn. But wait a minute… Johnny caught on to something.
"You mentioned a few days ago about that Cinder was going to blow the tunnels that lead to Mountain Glenn. Wouldn't this be the same plan?" He pointed out. "It seems too much of a coincidence not to be."
"If that's true, then this will be the exit point of the tunnel." The map returned to 2D, and was overlaid with the map of the city. Ozpin pointed to an area near the commercial district. "In theory, if they blow that up, and panic ensues, Grimm will crawl from the underground of Mountain Glenn, and into a busy, high-traffic area. It will be a tragedy."
"It certainly is in line. Do we tell Ironwood to help guard the area then?" Glynda said. Ozpin nodded.
"Contact him now." He told the blond professor, who nodded back. "We could leave the tracking and of the White Fang to him, so you could just hang about a while, Johnny, Qrow." Said adventurer shrugged. Works for him, but there was another issue in his mind right now…
"The search for the maiden. How's it going?" Johnny asked. "You have one yet?"
"We do." Ozpin said. Johnny's mood brightened at that.
"Great! So, is the transfer done already?"
"We have not told our candidate yet the story." The headmaster said. "We have to understand. This risks not just Amber, but our candidate as well. This has never been tried before, so we do not know if doing this would hurt the recipient."
Johnny's face dropped at that. He understood. He truly did. They just can't ask someone to just randomly give their lives to a cause they might not care that much about. But still…
"Can I go down there for a while again? Just to…" Ozpin nodded, knowing his intention. He led the adventurer to the elevator, and they both disappeared, leaving the others in the office.
]|[
"So why the hesitation in telling your candidate the truth?" Johnny asked Ozpin. They walked through the halls of the Beacon underground, their footsteps echoing around them. The silence bothered Johnny, and he had the nagging question in his mind.
Ozpin remained silent. Johnny continued. "I know you worry for Amber and your candidate, but you were the one that said how urgent it is. Your enemy is at the door. Why stall?"
Ozpin sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I simply hoped, wished, that the children could remain as children for a little more time. So I didn't open the story yet to our candidate." The headmaster looked at Pyrrha, a lonely girl entering Beacon, now just finally enjoying her semi-normal life. It pained him that he was pushing to destroy that happiness for the sake of a plan that may or may not work, in a war that was not hers. "I guess…I guess I just want to let them keep their innocence for longer." He admitted.
"My man, you are running a combat school." Johnny deadpanned. "You literally are teaching these kids to kill. And you know," The adventurer shook his head. "You can't keep your kids in the cradle forever."
"I know. I just miss a more innocent time than this."
"Don't stall anymore." Johnny warned when they reached Amber's chamber. Johnny's prayer bathed the sleeping woman in gentle light, making her stir a bit, but still not waking up. "She exists in pain as long as you continue to dawdle."
They watched Amber in silence, her eyes moving under her eyelids, as if watching something happen.
]|[
On the other side of the underworld…
Roman Torchwick and Neo waited in front of a seemingly innocent looking house in residential area. The door opened, and the duo was let in.
"Fallen from good graces have we, Meester Torchweeck." Said a voice in a wheezy tone. A large man was smoking a cigar near the unlit fireplace in the living room, surrounded by some men in black suits. "I'd have thought you haaad been keeled off in that…dreeeadfull attack by the animals on the VeePeeDee."
"Oh you know me, Smansky." Torchwick said. "I always survive."
"And thees time, not on top." The large man chuckled. He stood up from his chair, and faced Torchwick and Neo. He was dressed in a red suit, with a gaudy, violet fur lined robe. Smansky was a tall, dark skinned man, who loved to adorn himself with large, jewel encrusted golden accessories. His left hand was covered in rings, holding a black cane. "You have always prided yourself as the Valean Crimelord, Meester Torchweeck. Weel you tell us what happened?"
"A thing happened. One involving a man in a black cap. Heard about him?" Torchwick answered.
Smansky let out a wheezy chuckle. Neo eyed the larger man with distaste. She had never liked creepy old Smansky the Closer. He was competition for her, an assassin. He hands out contracts for the little posers trying to be cutthroats like her.
"Yes, actually. You want a heet on heem, Torchwick? Leettle Neo heeere not cut out for the job?" The assassin handler asked. "He actually ees a popular heet right now. We had an order for the man in question to have him captured, or keeled. Or at the very least, get some information on heem."
"As much as I want to get even with him, no. I'm here to cash in a favor, Smansky." Torchwick's tone turned serious. "Need a passage to outside the city. One that won't get us killed."
"And leetle Neo can't just heeelp you sneak outside the city walls?"
"Really?" Torchwick raised an eyebrow. "With Atlas forces practically swarming around the entire border? And with practically borderline psychotic amounts of checking for identities of the squads? And even if we did get outside the border, Neo would have ran out of aura, and we'd be Grimm chow."
"Beecause that ees exactly why I cannot heeelp you, Meester Torchweeck." Smansky shook his head. "Vale has practeecally handed Atlas the control reegardeeng its secureety. Even if we handed you a Bullhead, you would bee shot out of the sky."
Neo clicked her tongue. There goes that idea. It's not like she can just disguise a bullhead into an Atlesian airship. And the moment she drops the disguise if she runs out of aura before they could sneak out on it, they would be easy pickings for the anti-air defenses.
"C'mon man. There has to be something you can give me!" Torchwick said. "Things are getting too hot in the city right now."
"And whooose fault is that, Meester Torchweeck?"
"Whatever you think happened at that explosion, let me just say for the record that it wasn't me. It was the fault of that man in the black cap." Neo snickered at that. People still don't know that she was the one that triggered the detonation.
"Eeeven so. Eet ees you who dealt in the Dust robberies. And the crime fameelies here in Vale know it. You eeven have a contract on your head." Neo's fist clenched at the veiled threat.
Torchwick's eyes narrowed. "So you're going to kill me then? Better make your first shot count."
Smansky laughed his wheezy chuckle again. "Of course not! I have welcomed you een my home, deed I not? No. I weell not keel you."
"So. Is there anything you can give me to get us out of Vale?" Torchwick said. "Anything at all."
"There ees one route out. But eet's eencredibly dangerous." Smansky snapped his fingers, and one of his men fetched a map of Vale's underground system. "See the long tunnel leading out?" He pointed with his cane. "That ees the subway that used to lead to Mountain Glenn."
"Oh fuck." Torchwick swore, realizing the choice. "Killed by Atlas dogs, or killed by the Grimm. Damned if you do, damned if you don't."
"At least you weeell bee able to sneak versus some of the Grimm, if you're careful. As eet ees an old subway system, there might bee old railcars that you could use to speed up your travel." Smansky considered. "That ees, eef you weeell take that route."
Torchwick and Neo looked at each other. "You got some extra gear 'round here, Smansky?" Torchwick asked. Smansky's smile reached his ears. Neo almost choked in disgust at the man.
]|[
Neo took a longsword out from out of its sheath, investigating the weapon. It was not Hush, but it'll do for now. Torchwick himself got a sword as a replacement for his lost Melodic Cudgel. He was still sore about the fucker that got them at Junior's. He went from being at the top of the food chain in Vale to being an on the run scumbag crawling in the sewers.
Neo strapped a gun holster that was the right size for her to hide under her jacket. She got one of the Dust revolvers around the armory and holstered it in.
Torchwick took a sizeable sniper rifle for himself. Neo stared at him with slight confusion. "What? I lost my cane. Plus I can use it to sneak. We can take out Grimm from afar without drawing attention."
'Are we really going to hike to Mountain Glenn? How do we even escape that place when we get there?' Neo signed to her partner.
"I have a contact outside Vale. I'm just gonna have us get to a Bullhead once we exit through the tunnels. We can decide where to go next after that." Torchwick muttered, checking his sniper rifle's sights.
"We can come back to Vale to get back at that man. After the heat dies down, of course." He reassured Neo, who nodded back. "We can just keep tabs on him from afar if need be. At least we're out of Cinder's hair now, that's what's important." He frowned, remembering the black-haired woman that was the start of all their misfortunes.
"All set?" Torchwick asked Neo, who nodded back. "All right. Let's get out of here and find that tunnel." He said.
They left Smansky's place after taking the assassin handler's map of the Valean Underground. Smansky bid the two goodbye with an ear-to-ear smile showing far too much teeth. Neo shuddered by the creepiness the man was radiating.
Watching the two leave, Smansky took out his scroll and contacted someone. "I found theem. I sent theeeem on your way. Neo's weeth heem as well." He laughed. "About that other theeng, I've already contacted heeer…"
Smansky smiled, staring at an open folder containing a picture of a man with a black cap, with spread reptilian wings, fighting some Grimm. "I'm sure she would be a match for our esteeemed dragon…"
]|[
After leaving Amber's chamber from down below, Johnny quickly went back to his bookstore to plan. He couldn't just leave it alone. There was something wrong here. It was far too early to tell if the White Fang and Cinder would attempt the same plan they had from before. If that was so, why didn't they just stay underground in the first place? There must be something else that they're after. He was missing something.
He had no choice, he had to enter the sewers again. He could stealthily enter the undergrounds and stalk the patrol groups that had one of the bombs. He could catch them in the act, and well, he'd go from there.
After gathering all his thoughts, the adventurer left the bookstore for a while and headed alone into the underworld.
]|[
Adam stomped on the last of the robot soldiers Atlas had sent into the sewers. This was a slight miscalculation. He had thought his Blake would certainly be lured back to him with the whispers of the activity of the White Fang still in the city.
As if reading his thoughts, Beatrice turned to Adam. "You're not going to get her if you won't take her by force, Adam." She chuckled. "I told you we should be attacking Beacon by now. We shouldn't be hanging around in these damned tunnels all day!"
"As much as it pains me to say, the revolution is more important than her." Adam said coolly. Beatrice looked at him like he had grown another head. Adam ignored her. "The plans sent to us by our collaborator is…a game changer, so to speak. Vale will be crippled for a long, long time, and it would allow us to control the region, if we do it right."
"And her agenda in all this?" Beatrice questioned. "You know she has something else she wants. I've seen her kind, time and time again. Just like the humans that did this to us." She growled a bit. "She hungers for power, Adam. The fact that she's going to destroy this kingdom should be warning enough."
"Are you saying you're not going to help?"
"I'm saying that we should be wary of her. That she's just using as, as much as we're using her, and that she would try to dispose of us after she takes what she wants." Beatrice said. "And we should be prepared for anything she would try."
"How do you suppose we do that, then?" Adam asked.
"Firstly, let's try to find out first why Cinder was so obsessed with Beacon in the first place…"