A/N I know chronologically speaking they didn't actually pep talk Blake out of the sleep deprivation until after the events of painting the town but plot wise to this fic, these events are minor and I didn't want to spend a lot of time on it. Plus I really...hated... writing about these events and I'm not sure why.
Shout out to the people that are insane enough to actually follow this story and possibly enjoy it, y'all are the best, especially putting up with the occasional inconsistency.
Gonna make this a long chapter so buckle up.
Chapter 6: It should be illegal to have this much fun
"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" A talk gray-haired teen asked, following behind a green-haired dark-skinned girl. The boy wore a gray and black jacket type shirt and black jeans, his hair slicked back, while the girl wore a top exposing her midriff and white combat style pants.
"Absolutely positive, that being said," the girl passed and purposely bumped into an old man standing on a ladder. She politely helped him up after apologizing, her sleight of hand working to steal his wallet, hr movements were quick and trained, perhaps a result of years of practice. Once he was up she asked, "Excuse me sir can you point me in the direction of this address?". The old man didn't say simply made a somewhat happy noise and gave her a direction.
"I knew you were lost," the boy said smugly. "Mercury I will seriously pay you to shut up," the girl threatened. "That's not your money," he said as a matter of factly. "No but it could be yours for 5 minutes of silence," she said waving the old man's cash in Mercury's face. "Hmmmm no,". She relented with a grunt and they moved on.
"So how far away?" Mercury asked. "A couple blocks," came the reply from the girl.
"Uhh this place is so dull," Mercury commented.
"Ehh, I kinda like it, tall buildings, diverse culture…"
"And nice dopey people who are easy to pickpocket," Mercury finished for her.
"That's every city," came her reply.
"Ooo Emerald! Master Thief, please don't take my money, I barely have enough to get by," Mercury feigned distress. Emerald, as the girl was called, simply shrugged him off with a grunt. "Ugh you're no fun today," he relented.
The duo entered into a bookstore, the owner came in from the back carrying a load of books, "Tukson's book trade, home of every book under the su-," he faltered when he saw Emerald. "Home to every book under the sun, how may I help you?" He recovered wit ha smile. "Just browsin," came Mercury. Emerald leaned over the counter, "Actually I was wondering if you had any copies of the Thief and the Butcher?". "Ah yes we do, would you…like a copy?" the owner asked. "No just wondering," she said with a fake smile.
"What was this place called again?" Emerald asked.
"Tukson's book trade," the owner responded. "And you're Tukson?" she continued.
"That's right," he responded.
"So then you're the one who came up with the catchphrase?"
"Yes."
"And what was that again?" this time it was Mercury. "Home to every book under the sun," Tukson said heavily.
"Except for the Third Crusade." Mercury looked angry. "It's just a catchphrase…"
"It's false advertising!" Mercury exclaimed.
"You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep," Emerald said ominously. Mercury began dimming the store lights. "I hear you're planning on leaving, moving all the way to Vacuuo, your brothers in the White Fang won't be happy to hear that, and neither are we, you know who we are?" her eyes darkening.
"Yes," came Tukson now quite nervous.
"Are you gonna fight back?"
"Yes!" Tukson launched himself at her but was easily evaded. His face then came crashing into Mercury's foot.
-Meanwhile at Beacon Academy, weeks after the incident with Blake-
Semester two was beginning soon, and after all the events of the break, with Blake going off with Sun on her moody soul searching adventure, meeting Penny and overall shenanigans, team ASHN were eager for the respite of classes.
"You know, they really have great chef's here, the food just keeps getting better," Nitro said stuffing his face with breakfast, a rather common occurrence these days, as the red-haired boy spent most of his time that wasn't in the gym, in the cafeteria scarfing down copious amounts of food. Team RWBY, ASHN and JNPR sat together eating food, Nora using a fork as a catapult to occasionally launch food at Yang who was, impressively catching it in her mouth... much to the amusement of Hex.
"The staff here probably know you personally by now..." Alex said droning, feeling a little queasy with the sheer volume that was being inhaled.
Yang just shot Hex a quizzical glance to which the purple-haired girl facepalmed, "No Yang, this isn't normal, I'm not sure what's gotten into him..."
"HMM mmmMM Mhmm!" He answered to appease their curiosity.
"New training regimen? Ugh of course..." Sapphire rubbed her temples.
Everyone in team RWBY, minus the R, felt their sweat drop at the young girl's ability to decipher Nitro's incoherent murmuring.
"Where's Ruby?" Alex asked noticing the absence of the red leader.
"Of course you would be the first to ask that," Hex snickered earning a few giggles out of Sapphire and Yang.
"W-what? It's just a question..." he said bashfully, his question was quickly answered when a rather unrealistically large, white book was dropped onto the table with a loud thud, startling everyone.
Carrying said the large book was none other than the Rose herself.
"Friends, Sisters, Weiss," She began, a rather miffed "HEY!" coming out of Weiss, hidden behind the huge book.
"Four score and seven minutes ago... I had a dream..." she continued, Alex could swear he heard heroic inspirational music playing but he couldn't tell from where.
"This atta be good..." Yang said to her team as she caught another bit of food flung at her.
"A dream that one day, the four of us... err... twelve of us would come together as a team and as friends and have the most fun, anyone has ever had... EVER!" Ruby continued triumphantly, waving around her arms.
Weiss was not impressed, "Did you steal my binder?"
"I am not a crook," she said holding up peace signs. Alex eyed the girl curiously before leaning over to his friends, "Has someone been teaching her to be a cat burglar? No offense Blake." They all just shook their head except for Hex who looked rather guilty.
"Ugh... she's just so... RUBY... I couldn't deny her..." Hex confessed with exasperation. They all nodded in understanding.
"What are you talking about?" Blake asked turning to Ruby. The leader smugly continued, "I'm talking about kicking off the semester with a bang!"
Yang smirked and everyone in the room felt the wind change, "I always start my semesters off with..." everyone's eyes widened in the split-second realization
"OH god please don't..." came Jaune.
"... A YANG!" the female blonde finished and everyone just fell on the floor clutching their hearts for fear of their life leaving them. The pun was too...awful. Yang burst into laughing and Hex just weakly clutched her friend, "Why... why would you kill me... I trusted you..." she said fake dying.
"Booo!" An apple came flying at Yang bonking her on the head from a rather annoyed Nora.
"Look guys it's been a good two weeks and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great!"
"Classes start back up tomorrow! So I've prepared a schedule a series of wonderful events for us today!" the leader finished.
"I don't know whether to be proud... or scared for what you have in store..." Weiss said earning a vigorous series of nods from ASHNJNPR. "Red... scheduling... these words do not go hand in hand..." Nitro commented with a rather surprised look on his face.
"It could be fun, give her a chance guys," Pyrrha said trying to be the mature voice of reason, meanwhile Yang had gotten up and thrown a green apple, breaking something and a rather annoyed cry of protest was heard from across the room.
"I... think I'll sit this one out..." Blake said rather downcast... she was still worried about Torchwick despite the convincing from both ASHN and RWBY. Sapphire glanced worriedly at her, they needed something to pull her mind away from it.
"Sit out or not, I think however we spend this last day we should do it as a team..." Weiss began.
"I got it!" Nora yelled out in the distance and all the members of team JNPR watched in horror as Nora missed the catch on what appeared to be a pie, as it came soaring through the air...
"...I think we sh-" Weiss was instantly cut off when the projectile pie smashed directly, into the face of the heiress.
ASHN JNPR watched in absolute horror as the baked food slowly slid off the once clean face of Weiss Schnee. Pyrrha and Jaune both had their hands over there mouths in shock while Ren had his face down in his hands, Nora pointing accusingly at her partner.
"This... means... war..." The heiress said stomping her foot on the table.
"Anyway so we were fighting side by side, and she was super fast and I threw a banana at a guy which sounds gross but it was awesome!" Sun explained enthusiastically to his partner Neptune. as they strolled just outside the mess hall. They were on their way to meet RWBY, Sun rather hyped for his partner to meet Blake and the rest of team RWBY.
Neptune was a rather handsome looking man, sporting light blue hair, goggles resting atop it. He was wearing a red sweater vest and tie, accompanied by black pants, the collar on the vest was rather large.
Neptune just humored his friend's rant with a "Nicee!"
"Right!" Sun continued, "And the best part is she's a Faunus." At the mention of her secret, he instantly held his hands to his mouth. "That parts a secret! So don't tell anyone!"
Neptune just laughed, "Yeah I gotcha."
"Nono, not the, I'm going to blab to Scarlet as soon as Sun turns his back kinda secret. I mean secret secret!" the monkey Faunus emphasized.
"Woahh, chill out man, I got it.. I got it." He affirmed.
"You better!" Sun threatened lightly. "I just don't wanna screw this up you know? The people here are the coolest! No offence to you guys..."
"None taken." They were completely oblivious to food smashing against the windows and students flying across the room.
"They're just in here, I'm really excited for you to meet them, so... be cool okay?" The blonde said stopping. "You're gonna be cool right?"
Neptune just went heh, "Dude..." he said striking a pose, folding his arms.
"Good point..."
The two opened the door and were greeted with the screaming terror of multiple students screaming "FOOD FIGHT!"
They just stood there marveling at the scene before them. The tables were stacked upon each other, Nora standing at the very peak while the other members of JNPR stood guard. Team RWBY stood on the opposing side of the area looking up at them. A traditional stand-off, while team ASHN sat back attempting not to be roped into all of this.
"MWAHAHAHAHA! I'm Queen of the castle~" Nora said in a sing-song voice.
"Oh god, they've given her power..." Alex said looking mortified.
Ruby stood atop the table drinking a carton of milk, "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful... AND DELICIOUS!"
"YEAHHH!" Came the resounding sound of the rest of RWBY as they stormed JNPR's fortress.
ASHN felt their sweat drop... this wasn't going to end well.
Sun and Neptune narrowly dodged a few watermelons as they made their way over to ASHN, Yang was soaring overhead, using turkeys as gauntlets. "That's her," Sun said pointing at Blake who was engaged in sword? baguette? Duel with Pyrrha.
"Not bad dude! Who're these guys?" Neptune said pointing to team ASHN who were mesmerized by the spectacle before them. How did a food fight blow out of proportion like this.
"YO! Alex! Mini-blue!" Sun called waving at ASHN.
The team turned around surprised to see the monkey Faunus and friend.
"Mini blue?" Sapphire asked questioningly.
"Yeah 'cuz you wear blue, and you're short so..." Sun rationalized. The younger dragon rubbed her chin, unsure if to take it as an insult.
" 'Sup Sun, what brings you and..." Alex began searching for a name.
"Neptune, pleasure to meet you and your lovely team." the blue boy responded winking at Hex and Sapphire who shuddered, Nitro faintly blushed.
"Not into guys... and Sapphire is off-limits unless you want your head torn off by our leader for hitting on his sister." Hex said instantly sending his attention away. Neptune glanced nervously at Alex who shot him a rather dangerous looking smile that sent varying levels of fear through him.
"I'm Alexandrite, this is my sister Sapphire and my mates Nitro and Hex, nice to meet you," Alex said trying to be polite.
Before Neptune could respond a rather long sausage came flying through the air and hit Hex in the chest. Everyone's eyes grew wide...
"NO! CIVILIAN BLOOD HAS BEEN SPILLED, WAR CRIMES HAVE BEEN COMMITTED!" Alex got up with enthusiasm, shaking his fist to the air. Sapphire just watched, her sweat dropping at his act.
Yang instantly dropped onto her knees after shooting her turkeys at Pyrrha.
"OH THE TRAGEDY, Such are the horrors of war..." the blonde cried running over and clutching the fallen Hex.
" You must *cough* avenge me *cough cough* the assailant was..." Hex's words died in her throat as she fell unconscious, her finger pointing to Nora. Yang got up with fury in her eyes, "You. Will. Pay."
The following series of events were loud and involved lots of crashing, and a cat screeching... and a flurry of soda cans spiraling out from behind Pyrrha as if she was a soda bender.
"Is it always like this?" Neptune asked fearing for his life only to be blasted with purple soda. He was not impressed.
"Oh yeah, it's great!" Sun chirped happily.
Alex and Sapphire's ears perked up under their hoods, they could hear the very distinct clopping sound of heels stomping rather angrily toward their direction. "Oh no..." they said simultaneously.
"Oh no? Why Oh No?" Neptune asked positively confused. The two just pointed wordlessly to the doors which burst open momentarily to reveal a rather fuming Glynda.
The furious teacher used her semblance to reset the entire dining hall, including damages in a graceful display of power.
"Children... Do not. Play. With. Your. Food." she glowered, ready to exact punishment.
"Oh let it go," Ozpin said moving into the scene and placing a hand onto Goodwitch's shoulder. The professor just sighed heavily, "But they're supposed to be the defenders of the world."
"And they will be, but right now they're children, let them play the part." the headmaster appeased.
Glynda just sighed again and let them off.
-In a Warehouse somewhere in Vale City-
White Fang members were busily working, off-loading and loading cargo, crates of varying sizes. Roman Torchwick stood at a table, sheets of papers, blueprints, and plans lay strewn about the desk, a single steel briefcase rested atop them. He was deep in concentration, looking over his schemes, assessing his assets and determining the next courses of action. Honestly, he hated this job, this isn't what he liked doing, everything about it felt wrong... but the pay was good. Large scale operation, weapons of mass destruction, guerilla warfare, full-blown terrorism, these things just weren't his style. He preferred working jobs with much more class to them, like complex cat burglary, and heists, not terrorism and committing war crimes for a war that hasn't exactly started yet... but a job was a job.
His concentration was interrupted by the sound of unfamiliar tapping of shoes into his quarters, he turned to see Emerald and Mercury arriving onto the scene. "Oh look, she sent the kids again..." he said monotonously walking up and roping the two in a hug that was more meant to kill than embrace. "... This is turning out just like the divorce..." he said releasing them.
"Ugh, spare us the thought of you procreating," Emerald said shoving him off.
"That was a joke... And this..." he said waving a piece of paper he lynched off of the green-haired girl, "Might tell me where you two have been all day."
Emerald gasped in shock searching her person, "How.."
"I'm a professional sweetheart, pay attention maybe you'll learn something..." he held up the paper to his eyes to read it, "Where did you get this address..."
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Emerald shot back
"Yes I would, so where have you two been all day?"
"Cleaning up your problems... One of them at least," Mercury said finally speaking up.
"I had that under control." Roman seethed.
"Two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale said otherwise."
"Listen you little punk, if it were up to me, I'd take you and your little street-rat friend here an-"
"And do what Roman," A mature looking girl in a red dress that went just above her knees, said sauntering up from atop a platform. She had black hair and amber eyes, her bangs covering the left eye. She was, in every essence of the word, beautiful, in dark and dangerous sort of way, like a black widow.
"I'd uhh... Not kill them?" Torchwick offered in amends, clearly scared of his benefactor.
"Cinder!" Emerald instantly perked up, looking rather... overly happy.
"I thought I made it clear to eliminate the would-be runaway?" Cinder asked dangerously.
"I... was going to..."
"He was going to escape to Vacuo. Mercury and I decided to take it upon ourselves to kill the rat." Emerald said proudly, gesturing to Mercury.
"I think he was some sort of cat actually..." Mercury said in amusement.
"What like a puma?"
"There you go."
"Quiet... I thought I specifically instructed you two to keep your hands clean while in Vale?" Cinder asked angrily, Roman all the while pointing and laughing.
"I just thought..." came Emerald. "Don't think. Obey." Cinder countered while Roman made a decapitation gesture behind her back.
"Yes ma'am. It won't happen again..." Emerald said dejectedly.
"And you... why wasn't this job done sooner..." Cinder narrowed her eyes at Roman. He just looked around and began gesturing to all the various crates of dust. "Sorry if I've been a little busy robbing every single spec of dust in the kingdom."
"You're an inspiration to every man with a gun and a ski-mask," Mercury said sarcastically.
"I've got this town running scared... police at every corner, dust prices through the roof and we're here sitting in a pretty warehouse with more dust, vials, crystals and rounds than we know what to do with. Speaking of which if you would fill me in on your grand-master plan, it'd make my next string of robberies go even smoother!" He vented out, gesturing wildly to everything he'd done.
"Oh have a little faith Roman, you'll need to know when you need to know." She placed her hand on Roman's chin, her eyes glowing causing Roman to look in fear. "Besides, we're done with dust."
"Uh... so what now?" he asked confused.
"We're moving. Have the White Fang clear up this warehouse. I'll send you details and coordinates tonight." she continued.
"Coordinates?"
She looked back and smiled, "We're proceeding to phase two. Onyx has been making... arrangements..."
"Onyx? The White Fang high commander? What does that giant bear have to do with this? I thought he fucked off high and happy when he killed the dragon family nine years ago," Roman looked bewildered.
Cinder practically groaned, "How do you think we enlisted all these soldiers hm? They aren't hired guns, the esteemed commander is our precious 'business' partner. You'll be taking these shipments up to one of their most important outposts for phase two of the operation."
"Can you be more specific?" Roman asked hopeful.
Cinder felt just about ready to punch something, "Ugh... fine... you've done a good job so I guess I can give you a bit more detail. You'll be heading to Mt. Glenn, the White Fang has a genetics research lab up there. They're moving a... specialist of sorts... up there to further work on Onyx's pet project. That specialist is going to help us with phase two..."
"Project? Specialist? What in the hell is this plan all about?" He countered, his brain working to decipher the deep web he'd gotten himself trapped in... a web spun by that black widow, Cinder. Though... the hairs in the back of his neck told him there was an even bigger spider behind all this.
"That information I can't disclose. You'll know it when it becomes necessary." She was about to move on her way when Torchwick spoke up again.
He'd tried to play dumb but, she wasn't the only one with information. "You mentioned a genetics lab right? Didn't they have one right here in Vale? What happened to that?"
Cinder's eyes went wide, "So... you know about that? Tell me... what else do you know..." her eyes began glowing, heat radiating off of her.
Roman chuckled, realising he know had a foothold in the stakes, "Just that a year ago, an underground White Fang research complex that had been constructed under the nose of the kingdom, just at the edge of its borders to Atlas sea, had gone completely dark. Frozen over by an unknown phenomenon, the kingdom of Vale chalked it up to climate change, that the freezing cold of Atlas had begun to affect their outer borders, my sources say otherwise."
Cinder narrowed her eyes, "And what do your sources say?"
"They say that there was a freak accident, emergency evacuations. Huge loss for the White Fang."
"Is that all?"
"Maybe... maybe not... Information for information, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."
"Listen here you miserable excuse for a human. The only reason you're here is that you're good at what you do. However, your 'usefulness' is running thin, so if you dare step out of line, you won't just get a pay cut... you'll get your life cut. Understand?" She roared her arms enveloping in fire.
Roman backed off scared, "Easy, easy. I understand completely, your wish is my command." he lightly bowed.
She calmed down and walked off leaving Roman to groan and pull out a cigar, he searched his pocket for his lighter but came up empty, his head whipped around when he heard the distinct click of the object, in apparently the possession of Emerald.
She just stuck her tongue out in triumph of pickpocketing him.
"So run me through the plan again?" Alexandrite asked leaning back against team RWBY's dorm wall.
"Yang, Nitro, and Neptune will be going downtown to look for clues, she's got some connections or something. Weiss, me and Hex will be heading to the CCT Tower, Blake and Sun will be going undercover at a White Fang gathering at the docks while you, Sapphire will be scoping out the slums for any extra clues, " Ruby said laying everything out in a summary.
"This is going to go downhill fast…" Weiss sighed. "Maybe you and Yang should go together 'cuz you're sisters," Weiss said nervously.
"What? And then who would go with you?" Ruby questioned.
"I was thinking maybe Neptune could come with me?" she returned. Ruby just stared at her for a long two seconds before bursting out into laughter, "Pfft No."
"But but..." her cries of protest faded as she was dragged off by Ruby and Hex.
Alexandrite shook his head, "This is a plan has more holes than rat bitten swiss cheese...but it's the best we got." He clasped his hands together around his mouth.
-Vale City-
"Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transmit system as a way for the four kingdoms to communicate with one another, it was their gift to the world after the great war." Weiss said proudly as the trio strut just outside the CCT tower.
"Ooo look at me, my name is Weiss, I know facts, I'm rich~" Ruby tried mimicking but it turned to complete laughter when Hex couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Don't be a pest, besides, the only reason we're here is because you like the tower so much." she stated matter of factly. "We could have just as easily made a call from the library."
"She has a point there little red, but this does give me an excuse to... pry... into their system..." Hex rubbed her chin, thinking of the possibilities. Weiss just recoiled in slight horror at the potential that information had in the purplette's hands.
"I know, but it's so cool! I'm gonna take a picture!" Ruby squealed in excitement, but fumbling with her scroll and dropping it. It bounced a bit before stopping at someone's foot. The person was none other than Penny.
"You dropped this," she said with a slight smile, though no emotion was in her voice.
Ruby recoiled, "Penny?!"
"Uhhh..."
"Where have you been! We haven't seen you since the night at the docks!" Ruby said remembering how she helped them fight off the White Fang the day Blake went missing (A/N: I know I lazily left it out, but it held no relevancy to my plot and I'd just be rewriting what the show already had... not something I enjoy doing. Besides, it's not like you don't know what happened anyway)
"S-Sorry I think you might be confused *hiccup* I... I need to go." Penny responded quite awkwardly, her hiccup launching the phone into Ruby's hands.
"Well, that was weird... any idea what's going on?" Weiss asked confused.
"I don't know... but I'm going to find out," Ruby said leaving Weiss and Hex.
"Who was that?" Hex asked concerned for the red leader.
"A girl named Penny, she helped us out a while ago, Ruby's friend." the heiress explained.
"Friend? She acted all stiff and pretended she didn't know you." the tech master folder her arms.
"She's weird like that. Come on let's head inside, we'll catch up with Ruby later.
The tower was massive for lack of a better term. The now duo took the elevator up, lines of desks with computers, occupied by students of Beacon, all talking to either their parents or friends elsewhere in the world. The dark floors and green accented decor gave a rather futuristic feel, Hex just marveled at it all, like a child in a candy store.
The duo sat at one of the unoccupied desks. "Alright, I'll do my thing... you can plug your device into the server room back there, just be careful not to get spotted." Weiss instructed. Hex nodded and quietly slipped away while Weiss booted up the machine. A woman with caramel-colored hair and blue eyes answered she was wearing a dark grey Atlesian uniform.
"Thank you for calling the... Oh! Miss Schnee! Would you like me to patch you into your father? I think your sister Winter might be here as well..." she asked the heiress.
"Ah no, I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me, I've compiled a short list." Weiss responded plugging her scroll into the terminal.
"I see... if you don't mind, what may I ask is this for?" the woman asked.
"They're... for a school project." Weiss lied.
"Okay... there are some very sensitive files on this list..." She said looking worried.
"Then I'll be sure to handle them with care." the Schnee responded.
"Very well... the data is being transferred to your scroll now... Are you sure you don't want to see your father before you go?" the woman returned looking a little nervous.
"Absolutely. Thank you."
"Have a nice day!" The woman concluded with a smile just as Weiss turned off the monitor. Her face solemn.
It was then Hex came out of the back room, "Got anything?" the heiress asked her friend.
Hex bit her lip, "Not exactly... There are a few records of Faunus, all different names, contacting one direct line, the records do show them on different occasions too far apart to be linked but... the funny thing is when I tried to trace the location of the receiver... it was encoded. I can't crack it right now but... in time maybe..."
"We don't really have time..." The Schnee returned.
"Then I'll just have to work faster. On the plus side, I got the information I needed to build a portable cross continental communicator." Hex chirped merrily. "We should hightail it out of here before they figure out what I just did to their systems..."
Weiss thought for a moment, she wanted to meet up with the others but she needed to find Ruby. "You can go on without me, I'll get Ruby and catch up."
Hex quired her eyebrow, "Alright then. I'll be off."
Downtown Vale was... dirty, grimey dark. Most of the street lamps were either lynched or defective, the majority of the buildings were either condemned or under construction... and this was the good part of town... the place Alex and Sapphire were scoping out was even worse. Nitro and Neptune shuddered as they passed a few places on the way. Yang was riding her motorcycle and Nitro in the sidecar while Neptune rode backseat, both looking rather disoriented, Neptune because of the speed and Nitro because of the small cart he was being dragged in. Their tortuous ride was brought to an abrupt end when Yang pulled up to a rather, crummy looking club.
"Come on, my friend's in here." She said getting off. The other two followed suit, "And where exactly is... here?" Neptune glanced around nervously. His question went unanswered as they entered the club. It was a mix of black and white flooring, neon and strobe lighting. "Stand back boys." Yang said as she waltzed up to the bouncer. The man instantly recognized her and rushed inside in fear. Nitro and Neptune just shot each other curious glances.
"Quickly, shut the doors, she's coming!" They heard one of the henchmen yell. The men were all dressed the same, in suits with orange shades.
Yang just smirked as the great iron doors closed infront of them only to be blasted open by Ember Celia.
"Hey guys, I'm back!" Yang said as she strode in, a warm welcome of pointed guns and armed men awaited the trio inside.
"WAIT STOP! Don't shoot!" A short man in a bartender outfit said making his way through the crowd. "Blondie! You're back... why?"
"You still owe me a drink!" Yang said as she sauntered in past the armed men with no fear.
"What a woman..." Neptune gushed and Nitro just made a gagging noise.
The trio sat at the bar while the man, who was apparently the owner, poured them all drinks... non-alcoholic of course, wouldn't want to be drinking on the job.
"So... you can't be here for just a couple drinks," he said leaning on the tabletop.
Yang took a long sip, "Yeah, I need information Junior."
"Junior?" Nitro asked raising his eyebrow.
"Junior Xiong, information broker, and club owner. What'd you need to know?" he asked eyeing her.
"I want to know what Roman Torchwick is planning." the blonde returned. Junior's eyes went wide, of course, it wouldn't be simple.
"That kind of information is costly... and it ain't worth what I owe you... so no dice," he said looking her in the eye... bad idea on his part. Yang instantly grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him close, "Listen up shorty, you got five seconds to cough up the information or me and my boys here are going to tear this place limb from limb and rip the secrets out of you. So... you either spill, or you and your club here get reported for illegal operations."
The man was terrified. Nitro flexed his arms, which were incredibly muscular, for emphasis, "I'm just as strong as she is... so if you want to live with three Yangs running around your place... I'd suggest you comply." he said.
"Okay, okay. I'll talk." he relented, Yang just smiled and released her hold on him.
"Good... now tell me."
"So you know I also loan my men as mercs. I haven't seen him since the last night you came in here, I rented a few of my guys for jobs. He doesn't tell me the job, I don't ask, he pays me. None of my men ever came back, but what I can tell you is that they've been robbing tons of dust. But you already knew that. They got a warehouse dock on the other side. You'll find what you need there. Now hurry up and get outta my hair." Junior explained everything. Yang just patted his shoulder, "Good man."
"Warehouse? Think it's the same place Sun and Blake are at?" Nitro asked as they left.
"Oh most definitely."
"Chance of this blowing out of proportion and turning out horribly?"
"Absolute certainty."
-Vale City Slums-
On the adjacent side of downtown Vale, a place where only the criminally insane and otherwise black-hearted, tended to reside.
"Like a blemish upon the shining face of the pristine city, this particular part of town was so bad, most regular low-lives tended to avoid it. It was the type of place where lawlessness went off the deep end, so far that it was organized. Yes, Vale City had a mafia, or rather, the mafia worked globally, they just had a division in Vale. The people here answered to only one man, a man so feared than he made people like Roman Torchwick quiver like puppies at the very mention of his name. That is to say if anyone actually knew his real name, most people just knew him as the Mortus Noir, the underground lord, King of the Rats or so they say."
"Would you quit narrating? We're in the worst part of town and you're seriously narrating?" Sapphire said viscously, in a hushed tone. Alex just rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Sorry, been reading too many detective novels... Blake got me hooked." the younger dragon just shook her head.
"How the hell do you even know all that anyway?" she asked as they strode down the dimly lit pavement. "Wait how do you even know where we're going?"
Alex looked nervous, "I uh... saw the graffiti and composed an exposition?" He offered gesturing to the numerous walls they had passed by with writing, 'Mortus Noir the Rat King' on it. It was sprayed practically everywhere on the garbage littered streets. (If you need reference, think of a grittier version of The Bronx)
Sapphire seemed to have bought the lie. In truth he had been here before, during their break, on the day he went shopping for Sapphire, he accidentally wandered into this part of town. Being the curious idiot he was, he ignored his instincts to leave and had a bit of exploration, that's when he met... him.
"Alexandrite Lucius, what brings you back here hm? Come for another round with my boys? If so I'd rather not, we're still recovering from your last visit..." A male voice came from the shadows, it sounded like if a rat had been given human speech. Alex and Sapphire whipped around to see a figure emerge from a dark alleyway to their right. Sandwiched in the space between two condemned buildings, was a man standing at around six feet, four inches tall, his back hunched over with a large black trench coat draped around his incredibly thin figure, his poise was hungry and a wild look in his eyes said he was dangerous. His face hidden behind a plague doctor mask and a large top hat on head, which drooped as if it was melting ice-cream, he walked around with a cane, pure white and clean in contrast to his dirty, black look.
"Mortus... glad you saved me the trouble of finding you." Alex greeted, his face holding every inch of seriousness. Sapphire glanced between the two nervously, "You know this guy?" she asked concerned.
"Ah you must be his little sister, I'd like to say I see the resemblance but those disguises make it hard." the man said narrowing his eyes in the dim yellow street light. Sapphire felt a shock reverberate through her body, how had this man seen through her disguise so easily?
"Surprised? I'm an underground crime lord dearie, it takes a lot more than some thrown together wigs and hoods to make me believe a disguise," he said leaning onto his cane.
"We're not here for tea Mortus. We're here for information." Alex said taking hold of Sapphire and placing her behind him protectively.
The man leaned in and his eyes were smiling wickedly, "And why should I provide this... information?"
"Because you owe me."
Mortus seemed to think for a moment, "Yes, that does seem to be the case... would you like to come back to my lair? so we can discuss this properly?" he asked, his voice dripping with ulterior motives.
"No... I don't have time for that. This will be quick. What's Roman Torchwick's plan, what's his next move?" Alex stood firm and stared down the man.
"And what makes you think I know anything about that brat?" he returned, implying there was a significant age gap between them, the word brat was said with such vile contempt, it was the only thing that contrasted to his words, it was the only thing he said with real emotion.
"Don't play dumb with me Noir, we both know nothing happens in this town without you hearing about it. So 'fess up."
Sapphire who had been quiet this whole time, eyeing the man and his non-verbal communication. He was good at negotiating and stalling out conversation, there were about seven armed men lurking in the shadows, ready to strike at his command. She had no idea what type of debt her brother held over the crime lord but this situation wasn't exactly optimal.
"Roman Torchwick was... your student? a son perhaps?" she said garnering courage. This surprised both males, "Impressive deduction young lady. Tell me... what gave it away?"
"You called him a brat, you said it with such fury that it implied you once knew him personally, and that cane you have... unless you're a copy-cat I'd say he took his weapon as inspiration from yours." She said gesturing to the ornate white object in the older man's hands.
Mortus laughed, a deep throaty chuckle, "Yes he was indeed my student, I raised him, taught him everything he knows. Then the brat backstabs me, burns down one of my prized warehouses and steals half of my funds. It was quite impressive actually..." he mused.
"Then you must know what he's up to... an esteemed crime lord such as yourself would surely keep tabs on his ex-protege... you might want to call for more guys to... seven might not be enough..." Alex said smirking through his mask.
Mortus just burst out into a louder laugh and began clapping, "As expected of the one who saved my life, your senses are impeccable. You are mistaken in that these men are here for you, they simply follow me around as bodyguards, my constitution is rather frail as you know."
"Saved his life?" Sapphire asked turning to her brother.
"I... accidentally wandered in here a few weeks ago, saw someone about to get the jump on a sickly old man, so on instinct I tackled the guy and took him out. His boys then jumped me and took me to his hideout where we became 'pals'... after I beat the ever-loving shit out of about forty of them." Alex explained.
Sapphire just facepalmed, "Of course that happened, what else would I expect."
"Torchwick's been dealing with some broad much younger than him. She seems to be his benefactor, don't know her name, all I know is she's been comin' round his place with her goons, bringin' a bunch of White Fang with her. They got an airship and some Atlas tech stockpiled in a warehouse down at the docks, more Dust crates than you'd know what to do with. I don't know what they're planning but I can give you a location..." he said and Alex heard his scroll ping, he pulled it up and there was a GPS marker pinging red on his map. "How did you..." he began to question but Mortus pressed on.
"The woman he's working with has black hair and amber eyes, she looks dressed like a fashion model and struts around like some sort of succubus. I don't know her name... they've somehow managed to keep that information from getting out... any of my men that seemed to have discovered something all get taken out... so I've stopped prying. One thing I do know is... that anyone who needs that amount of dust... is raising an army..." He finished.
Alex nodded, "Thank you... you can consider your debt..."
"No... the debt can never be repaid. You saved my life, I intend to honor our debt as long as I live, I may be a criminal mastermind, but I am before all else, an honorable thief." he said holding up his hand.
"Honorable thief? If you intended to give us the information anyway... then why drag this out?" Sapphire asked curiously.
Mortus turned his head back just as he was about to disappear into the shadows again, "Can't an old man enjoy some company?"
Once he was gone Alex and Sapphire shuddered, "He's really creepy... you need to find better friends..." she said.
Alex couldn't help but agree.
Team ASHN, minus the N, stood in the middle of the street sharing information. After raiding the CCT tower Hex left Weiss and Ruby to recon information, she wasn't fully confident in her own tech to mask wireless messages from the communication monitoring hub of Vale.
"Where's the rest of the guys? I got some information on what
As if on queue a large crash came in through the side of a building leaving an awestruck and confused team ASHN, heading the chase were Blake and Sun practically running for their lives, followed closely behind by Yang, Neptune and Nitro, Ruby and Weiss on their tails... and a hoard of White Fang soldiers on bikes.
"Is that.." Alexandrite started with his finger raised, the team too dumbfounded to react while the rest of the street's occupants were panicking and screaming. "I think it is…" Hex answered.
Team RWBY, with a Nitro in tow, were barreling down the streets of Vale with the hoard of White Fang members on motorcycles behind them. Giving each other shocked glances, they instantly took off behind them, Hex hooked two of the bikers with Loki and tore them off, allowing for the trio to occupy the spots, with Sapphire riding backseat to her brother. As they neared the robot, the could see it was an Atlesian Paladin, Yang and Nitro long abandoned the bike and were now practically riding the robot while Neptune was atop a car with Sun.
"Yang! What have I told you about riding giant robots?" Sapphire yelled over the commotion as if this was a regular occurrence.
"Sorry Mom I didn't realize it was a rule of thumb to avoid 'em," Yang laughed as she pointed to the robot's hand while being thrashed around.
Alex and Sapphire groaned loudly at her puns.
Just them Ruby came swinging around with her scythe grabbing Yang, Weiss skating on ice around the thing trying to get it to stay put. Blake stood on top hacking away.
"Yang seriously this is no time to be- Oh hi Alexandrite, fancy meeting you here!" Ruby said in a sweet voice.
"Um Ruby? What's going on?" Alexandrite was confused. "Oh, you know the usual, White Fang, Torchwick in the giant robot, trying to wreck Vale, etcetera." She said as she spin and crescent rose and tried to slice the robot.
"Oh ok, need a hand?" Hex asked as a literal robot hand slammed the ground. Yang started laughing hysterically, "NICE!". Hex just did a slight bow. "YEAH, THAT WOULD BE GREAT THANKS!" Weiss screamed as she was whisked away by the robot.
Alexandrite drew Asura in its scythe form and launched himself full throttle at the bot. However, the team assault was cut short by a large mechanical arm impacting them all at once careening them forward.
"Okay direct assault isn't working we gotta get this thing away from the civilian area," Alexandrite beckoned the two teams as Nitro fell in behind him.
"Right, HEY ROMAN, YOU AND YOUR SHITTY HAT COULDN'T EVEN KEEP UP WITH US KIDS EVEN IF YOU TRIED" Yang yelled gaining the attention of the criminal.
"Why you little…" he chased after her. The teams took turns leading him away eventually careening him onto the highway.
"Uhh guys we got company!" came Blake pointing to another wave of bikers.
"Don't worry we got this!" Nitro and Hex said as they intercepted an incoming gang of White Fang members on motorcycles. Nitro pushed a button on his wrist bands as they unfurled into Atomizer, then he gripped his left arm then flexed his left index finger, the left and right sides of the arms opened outwards like a rocket booster. Using this he launched himself at a high speed knocking one of the bikers of and taking the bike. Hex saw this as her queue and drew on Loki and Eres, switching them into dua pistols, she shot rounds at the oncoming hoard. The bikes whizzed past her, as Nitro approached, he extended an arm to which she caught and swung onto the back of the bike. Together with Nitro as the driver Hex took down half of the bikers with little effort before joining her team the rest were hard-pressed on their heels. If they needed to fight the mech they couldn't waste time on these bikers.
"Can I trust you two to handle them?" Nitro yelled to Sun and Neptune as they whizzed by the two who were frantically trying to catch up to the mech.
"Sure… *pant* that would be *wheeze* fine," Neptune said completely out of breath. The two stopped and turned to fight the hoard of bikers.
"Ughh you insufferable brats didn't your parents ever teach you not to get involved with the affairs of adults!" Torchwick yelled as he shot at the teens.
"Weren't you ever taught it's wrong to steal! And bully kids?!" Weiss responded as she tried to ice around the frame of the machine only for it to be broken easily. They needed to shut this thing down fast before it caused any more property damage.
"Nitro, Hex, Earth Shocker!" Alexandrite, yelled as his team sprang into action. Nitro and Hex got off the bike and drew their weapons. Nitro opened the rocket booster on his left arm and began charging it, Hex shot a strange gel-like substance onto his fist which then began to glow with green electricity. "I need him to stand still for like two seconds!" Nitro yelled.
"We got yah!" Alexandrite yelled as he and Sapphire began their own combo move. Alexandrite drew Asura Zero over his head, Sapphire then jumped high into the air and raised Galaxia in its axe form, she landed on the flat of Asura's scythe and Alexandrite launched her at the mech like a baseball. Sapphire zoomed through the air spinning her axe in a pinwheel fashion smashing into its optical system stunning it, the only reason the components weren't destroyed was due to the powerful shield.
"What the hell is going on?!" Roman Torchwick screamed while inside the robot.
"Come on…come on!" he began fiddling with the controls desperate to move. Team RWBY saw this as an opportunity and began a rain of hell onto the stationery robot. The armor proved to be too strong, as did the shields.
"We can't scratch this thing!" Ruby yelled.
"Leave that to us!" Nitro came in, his attack done charging, he aimed his fist at the robot and let loose. Instantly he shot off with an incredible acceleration. Collapsing the distance of nearly 40 meters in just under a second the fist collided with the machine. Instantly it was flung backward with a reverberating shockwave, asphalt of the street beneath them cracking from the force of the impact. The robot pivoted off the rails of the highway onto the floor below. Team RWBY and ASHN jumped down to meet their foe.
"What just happened?" Yang asked incredulously.
"High impact electromagnetic charge, Nitro's weapon can go up to Mach 3 speeds, when combined with my special gel it penetrates strong shields and causes impact onto the machine under it, the combo releases an electromagnetic charge that transmits and shorts out any electrical devices it comes into contact with," Hex explained.
"Oh, that's pretty efficient," Weiss commented.
"Not really, long charge time," Nitro said a little exhausted, "plus the human body isn't meant to travel at such speeds without some level of protection so it kinda gives me," he stopped short to throw up on the floor.
"Motion sickness," finished Sapphire as she and Alexandrite joined up with the team.
"Ugh what the…. Who the hell are you? It's like Red and her friends keep multiplying..." Torchwick finally got the robot to move, apparently, the E.M.P only worked as far as the robots shields, the main circuits were still intact.
"Oh he's still kicking," commented Blake.
"Ok guys we got this!" Ruby drew Crescent Rose.
The eight of them launched a barrage of attacks onto the machine. Alexandrite rushed in with Asura still in its scythe form slamming an attack onto the machine's head. The young huntsman didn't expect the material to be so dense as his blade got caught in the material, he struggled desperately to pry it loose but he wasn't strong enough.
"Gotcha!" Torchwick swung the robot's arm around to hit Alexandrite. The members of team RWBY got ready to save him when they were stopped by Nitro. "It's fine, he's more than okay". Confused the girls looked on to see Alexandrite release the blade and catch the robot's arm with his own, stopping it. "What?!" Torchwick was surprised at the boy's enormous strength. Alexandrite had adapted his body strength with his semblance to overcome the stuck blade and in turn the mech itself.
Suddenly the blade he couldn't pull out before slipped out as if it were embedded in butter. He jumped back into formation and the team continued their assault onto the mech. The strength adaptation quickly ran out when it was no longer necessary and Alex was back to fighting as he normally was. It was now RWBY's turn to take control of the fight.
They launched their series of combination attacks, freezerburn, where Weiss froze the floor and Yang exploded it creating mist, then checkmate which was a combo attack by Weiss and Blake and Ladybug which involved lots of dashing between Ruby and Blake. Yang stormed the mech herself in the confusion only to be caught and shoulder rammed through three concrete pillars.
"YANG!" Blake and Hex yelled simultaneously.
"Don't worry, with every hit she gets stronger," Ruby explained as the blonde got up glowing, her eyes red with rage having taken enough damage to dish back.
"Yang, Blake, Bumblebee, Weiss, Ice Flower!" Ruby yelled. "Are we still using those ridiculous names?!" Weiss screamed as she pulled off her signature combo move with Ruby. The mech was knocked backward and slowed when Yang sucker-punched it and Ruby, with Weiss' help, shot several rounds of ice at it.
Sapphire rushed forward and dashed under it drawing her weapon, instead of unfurling the blade, had it as a staff with glowing ends she impaled the robot from behind at a point where the armor was weakest, narrowly missing a certain criminal inside.
"Hey Ruby?" Alex said signalling the fellow leader.
"Yeah?" She responded, panting heavily. The fight wasn't over, they had a few seconds before Sapphire wouldn't be able to hold it back.
"Improvise with me?"
Ruby was confused, glancing up with quirked eyebrows, "What do you... ohhhh." it dawned on her when she realized she wasn't the only scythe wielder. "Gotcha"
Alex took Ruby's hand and together they launched at the mech in a flurry of rose petals, and like a deadly helicopter blade, they spun together, scythes rotating like a blender, they cut right through the cockpit of the machine, again, just barely missing Torchwick. They landed gracefully, Alex helping Ruby to her feet, holding onto her hand as they watched Roman ease himself out of the cockpit.
"So, there are two reapers now, do you kids ever think that those oversized gardening tools are a bit... much?" he asked pulling out a cigar and lighting it.
"It's over Roman, give up." Ruby announced as she and Alex pointed their scythes at him.
Roman stepped off the robot only for it to spark and then combust, he winced, "Yeesh, and I just had that thing cleaned. Sorry Red and Red's boyfriend, not today."
"I don't think you're in a position for non-compliance here." Yang said gesturing around them.
"Aand that's where you're wrong."
Yang in her rage shot a burst of Ember Celia at them only for it to be blocked when a pink parasol and its owner came swooping in and blocked it. A short girl with an ice-cream themed look about her and heterochromatic eyes stood smiling smugly next to Torchwick. Her mismatched pink and brown eyes and similarly coloured hair, with a single white streak, accentuated her outfit. "Ladies, Ice Queen, friends of red, it's been a pleasure as always."
"Hey!" Weiss complained at the nickname, even Roman knew it.
"Neo if you will," he gestured to the short girl, she lightly bowed and Yang in her rage dashed toward them and threw a punch only for their image to be shattered into shards leaving everyone confused.
"So mind explaining to me why we just fought like a 20ft tall robot that looked like Atlas Military tech?" Alexandrite said a little exhausted as he joined the team.
"You know how Blake and Sun were doing the undercover operation?" Ruby began to explain. Team ASHN nodded simultaneously. "At the white fang meet up, Torcwick revealed stolen robot and one thing led to another and yeah," she finished.
Alexandrite nodded getting the gist of it.
"Any clue how we're going to explain this when we get back?" He asked.
Everyone just nodded negatively.
"Right... but I am assuming everything we learned from our separate missions was useful?"
They all just nodded affirmatively.
"Hey where are Sun and Neptune?" Blake questioned only for her to be met by the shrugging shoulders of her team.
Team ASHN and RWBY snuck back into Beacon under the cover of the night. Blake teaching her team a little thing or two on stealth didn't hurt either, they made it into the academy undetected, at least until Nitro got carried away dashing from a bush to the nearest pillar for cover and smacked face-first into it. Almost instantly they saw a light coming down one of the hallways. The two teams shared a panicked look each mirroring the either they made a desperate dash for their dorms. They dispersed in different directions to avoid making too much noise, each returning to their dorm after the other.
Alexandrite opened the door to his room quietly, looking up and down the hall ensuring he wasn't seen. He quietly closed the door behind him and began walking inside he almost turned on the lights when he stepped on something on the floor, a cold metal object. Looking down in horror he realized it was Nora's hammer. He wasn't in his dorm he was in team JNPR's. Turning around slowly he opted for the door again only to trip over the hammer he just came into contact with. He crashed to the floor in a light thud, softened by him altering his bodyweight, ninja skills did come in handy. He cringed slightly knowing the soft thud was deafening in the quiet of the night, especially to the trained ears of a huntsman. Almost nearing the door he breathed a sigh of relief until the sound of ruffling sheets was heard behind him.
"Alexandrite? What are you doing here?" it was Pyrrha. "Um, wrong room, got lost, gotta go now BYE!" he almost whisper-yelled.
"Why would he possibly be out of his room at 3 am in the morning?" Pyyrha hazily thought as she laid back down, sleep taking over her mind again.
Boom, it took a while but it's finally done. This chapter was originally around 4k words and now its about 10k... yeah... that happened. That's primarily of why it took so look, like three days to make, usually I just have to do minor editing to the chapters I already have but... I didn't want a short chapter, and short chapter became longest chapter yet...yet.
Like it? hate it? Reviews, suggestions, criticisms, you know the drill.
