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Chapter 19: Extracurricular
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As classes let out the next day, the seven members of Teams RWBY and CNDT hurried back to their rooms to gear up. Team CNDT only needed a few minutes, seeing as they didn't actually have a lot of gear, but they stocked up on extra supplies to give Team RWBY time to prepare. After twenty minutes, Ruby sent them a message saying they were ready.
When they arrived, they heard Blake talking.
"I thought that class would never end," she said.
"Tell me about it," Delsin commented, "How one man can be so boring is beyond me."
"You're here!" Ruby said, bubbling with excitement.
Team CNDT walked into the room, serious looks on their faces. The mood of the room immediately shifted. The only remaining bit of laughter to be found came from Alex's obvious attempts to avoid staring at Yang's new outfit.
"Hey birdbrain," Yang said, "My eyes are up here."
Alex's face turned bright red and he immediately took a keen interest in the floor. Yang, Blake, as well as both of Alex's teammates, chuckled at his reaction. Weiss rolled her eyes, while Ruby was left adorably clueless. Once the moment passed, the serious tone came back.
"Everybody ready?" Delsin asked.
"Yep," Ruby replied.
"Good. Let's go through the plan one more time," Delsin continued.
"Ruby and I will head to the CCT to check the Schnee Company records for any other Dust Robberies or inconsistencies. Seeing as I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem," Weiss said.
"Right. I'm going with you guys in case anything happens," Delsin said.
"Wait, why?" Ruby asked.
"Ozpin only approved the mission if one of us accompanied each team," Eugene said.
"Oh."
"Blake?"
"The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning," she said.
"Good," Delsin said, "Eugene? You're with her."
"Hang on, why isn't Alex going to the Faunus meeting?" Eugene asked.
"Because I wouldn't be able to blend in. I'm one of the only remaining Bird Faunus and the only one in Vale. Add to that the fact that I've already fought the Vale chapter of the White Fang, they would recognize me in no time," Alex explained.
Eugene nodded.
"Yang?" Delsin asked.
"I have an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale. Getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard," Yang said.
"Right. I'll be going with you," Alex said.
"Why am I not surprised," Weiss whispered.
Alex glared at her.
"Then we'll meet up tonight near Yang to go over what we've found," Delsin said.
"Let's do this!" Ruby said.
"Yeah!" they heard a voice say.
The seven of them turned to find the voice hanging just outside the window. Upside down.
"Sun?!" Blake asked as all of them quickly backed away.
"How did you get up there?" Yang asked.
"Ah it's easy, I do it all the time!" Sun replied.
"What," Alex said, power tensing in his hands.
"I climb trees all the time!"
He jumped into the room.
"So are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy?" the monkey Faunus asked.
"We," Blake began, "are going to investigate the situation."
"As in, just us," Alex said, his tone a little harsh.
"Sorry Sun, we don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to," Ruby said apologetically.
"Pfft, that's dumb. You should always get friends involved. That's why I brought Neptune," Sun said, pointing back out the window.
They all rushed to look out the window, only to find a certain blue-haired individual standing on the ledge just outside.
"How did you even get up here?" Ruby asked.
"I have my ways," Neptune replied.
Delsin looked down the wall.
"Not bad man," he commented.
"Thanks. Seriously though, can I come in? We're, like, really high up right now."
They pulled him in and spent a few minutes making sure both of them were up to speed on the plan. Luckily, they had overheard most of it.
"Ok, so," Delsin started, "Sun, you go with Blake and Eugene. Neptune, you go with Yang and Alex."
Alex's expression drooped ever so slightly, though no one was paying attention to him at the moment so he was spared from further ridicule. Weiss started to say something, but Delsin cut her off.
"If that's everything, I think it's time we get this show on the road," he said, "Everybody, grab your shit and let's go."
O00000O00000O
"Wow. That is a biiiiiiiiiig tower," Delsin said, his craning his neck to take it all in.
"I know right?" Ruby asked excitedly, "Isn't it awesome?!"
"You should see the one in Atlas," Weiss commented.
"That was the first one right?" Delsin asked, "I think I read about that."
"Correct," Weiss answered in a very teacher-esque tone, "Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transmit System so the four Kingdoms could communicate."
"After the massive amount of asshattery they pulled in the Great War I am not surprised one bit," Delsin said.
"Hey!"
"What? Did I say something?" Delsin commented, a sly grin on his face.
Ruby giggled and Weiss glared at the both of them, but Delsin just smiled. All in good fun.
"Relax, it was just a joke."
"Don't be a pest," she said, "The only reason we're even here is that Ruby wanted to see the Tower. We could have just as easily made a call from the library."
"Lay off Weiss, she's a little kid, she's allowed to be excited," Delsin said.
"Hey, I'm fifteen!" Ruby said defensively.
"Wait really?" Delsin said, genuinely surprised, "I thought you were like, twelve."
Ruby's face puffed up in pouty anger, which only made Delsin and Weiss smile. Delsin quickly turned back to the tower and looked up at its top.
"Is it weird that I kinda wanna climb it?" Delsin said.
"Are you crazy? It's over 700 feet tall!" Weiss told him.
"Your point?" Delsin asked, his hand going to his wrist.
In a blast of purple light, Delsin was gone.
"And there he goes," Weiss groaned.
The two of them watched as Delsin's light trail raced up the side of the building.
"Weiss?" Ruby asked.
"Hm?" Weiss replied, only half listening.
"You knew I'm fifteen, right?"
Weiss said nothing. A moment later, the light-trail stopped and Ruby's Scroll buzzed.
"Hey, guys!" Delsin's voice said.
"Delsin, would you get down here? We've got work to do!" Weiss called.
"Relax, I'll be down in a second. Ruby, take a picture?" Delsin replied.
"You got it," Ruby said, feeling giddy.
Ruby turned her Scroll's camera on and aimed it up at the top of the tower. She zoomed in and clicked the capture button.
"Got it!" Ruby said.
Without a word, Delsin ended the call.
"Delsin?" Ruby asked.
Weiss sighed.
"Up there," she said, pointing up.
Ruby looked up.
Delsin, in his infinite wisdom, had jumped off the CCT tower. As he fell, Delsin smiled. More and more people caught sight of his crazy stunt and some started recording it. Ruby and Weiss took identical poses that more or less said: 'not this again.' Though Ruby still had her camera trained on him the whole way down.
Inches before he touched the ground, Delsin dropped and set off a Stasis Bubble, with an extra bit of flair thrown in. Light streaked off him in a myriad of ways, as he collided with the ground. The effect gave his impact the appearance of an explosion, and Delsin grinned at his showmanship. The crowd gave him a round of applause but quickly dissipated after that. After he was done basking in the glow of his own awesomeness, Delsin walked back to his friends.
"Really Delsin?" Weiss asked.
"What? Jumping off's the fun part."
"Can we get going now?" Ruby asked.
"Sure Ruby, let's go make that call."
O00000O00000O
The call itself didn't take very long. They were in and out of the tower within five minutes. Once they were done, the sat down in the back corner of a small coffee shop at Weiss's insistence.
"We may be trying to catch a thief, but remember these are internal Schnee Company Documents," Weiss explained, "Be careful with them."
Delsin nodded.
"You got it, Weiss," he said.
The three of them got to work. Over the next three hours, they poured over shipping manifests, delivery receipts, financial statements, everything Weiss had gotten them. So far, there wasn't a lot they didn't already know about. Ruby tapped out after one hour, stepping away to "go polish her hood." By the end of the third hour though, Delsin stopped and placed his head in his hands.
"I should have sent Alex with you guys," he said.
"Why?" Weiss asked, still hard at work.
"Because this kind of … data … sifting … stuff … is more what he's good at," Delsin replied.
"So then why didn't you send him?" Weiss asked.
Delsin sighed.
"I wanted to be nice," he said.
It took her all of three seconds to figure out what he meant. Weiss grinned.
"I wonder how they're doing?" Weiss asked sarcastically.
O00000O00000O
Yang, Neptune, and Alex arrived at Yang's contact's work address a little after dark. Once she'd parked, Alex touched down next to her. He'd followed from the air for two reasons. First, he'd wanted to make sure no one was following them. Second, much to his chagrin, there wasn't enough room on Bumblebee for three people.
"This the place?" Alex asked, eyes on the door.
"Yep. He runs this place," Yang said, "It's how he got the nickname."
"Huh," Alex replied, "I'd have thought the nickname came first."
"Nope."
Neptune groaned as he managed to slide his way off the back of the motorcycle.
"Did you two really have to race each other here?" he asked.
"Yep," the two of them said simultaneously.
Neptune just sighed.
O00000O00000O
Inside the club, two of the bouncers ran inside, looking terrified.
"Hurry, close the doors, she's coming!" one of them said.
From behind the bar, Junior looked up.
"What are you two idiots doing?!" he yelled, his expression deadly.
The two of them started babbling, trying in vain to explain the oncoming danger. Though to be fair, once the doors blew up, Junior found out pretty quick. As Yang walked in, most of his employees ran and hid. The DJ hid under his table, making the needle on his table skip.
"Guess who's back!" she called.
Within two seconds, there were no less than fifteen guns on her. Alex walked forward from behind her.
"Now that's no way to treat a lady," he said chastisingly.
He swept his hand upwards. The gangsters watched in horror as their guns were forcefully pointed towards the ceiling. Neptune creeped out from behind the both of them.
"Yeah, so could you define friend for me?" Neptune asked.
"Stop! Stop!" Junior shouted, "Nobody shoot!"
Pushing through his guards, Junior walked forward.
"Blondie. You're here. Why?" Junior said, genuinely confused.
"You," she began, "still owe me a drink."
She strolled forward. She grabbed Junior by the arm and pulled him along back to the bar. Neptune's mouth was hanging open by this point.
"Woah," he said, "What a woman."
Immediately, Alex flicked his hand and all of the guns in the room pointed at Neptune. The blue-haired playboy snapped to fearful attention and turned to face Alex.
"Not for you," Alex said.
Without another word, Alex dropped his hand. Turning his back on Neptune, Alex walked back to Yang. At the bar, she was engaged in a rather loud argument with the owner.
"How can you not know?" she yelled.
"I haven't talked to him," Junior said, his voice hard, "I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here. He paid up front, I lent him my men and none of them. Ever. Came. Back."
"Hazard a guess then?" Alex offered, standing just behind Yang.
Junior sighed.
"No idea. Literally," he said, "Who are you anyway?"
"I'm not the one you should be worried about right now," Alex said, pointing back to Yang.
"He's right," she said, punching her open hand. Her eyes flared red.
Junior got up and leaned over the bar.
"I already told you everything. Torchwick hired my boys, and I guess he wasn't happy with them."
He turned to face said boys.
"Which is something I can relate to!"
The scattered goons began shuffling about, their heads hung in shame. Yang sighed.
"C'mon you two. We're done here," she said.
"We get everything we need?" Neptune asked.
"Well, we got everything we can," Yang told him, "Hopefully the rest of the team's having better luck."
O00000O00000O
At the same time as Yang and the rest were entering the Junior's, Blake, Sun and Eugene were standing in a dark alley, just around the corner from a secret White Fang meeting.
"This the place?" Eugene asked.
"Yeah," Blake replied.
"Well let's go," Sun said.
The three of them approached the door. As they walked Blake undid her bow. When they got close, the bouncer, a rather gentlemanly wolf Faunus, opened the door to let them through. He was about to close the door behind them when his eyes locked onto Eugene.
"You there. Stop," he said.
The three of them turned around.
"What is it?" Blake asked.
"I'm terribly sorry," he began, his eyes narrowing on Eugene, "but I'm afraid I must ask your friend to lower his hood."
"Why?" Blake asked, only a hair too quickly.
"It's ok Blake," Eugene said, "He's only doing his job."
Eugene turned back to the doorman. As the hood fell back, the doorman quickly gasped. Atop Eugene's head was a pair of dog ears that appeared to have been sliced off, leaving only a tiny bit remaining just at his hairline.
"I'm sorry. I don't like to show them," he said, pulling his hood back up.
"I'm so sorry," the man said, "Some humans are truly despicable."
"Yes," Eugene replied, "Yes they are."
The man nodded respectfully to him and closed turned away. The second the door closed, Blake turned to him.
"I thought you were a human?" she asked.
Eugene smirked and leaned over. The damaged ears on his head vanished in a small flash of blue. Then, quick as they were gone, Eugene flashed again and they were back.
"Cooooooool," Sun said.
"My powers are very versatile," he said.
Blake nodded.
They kept walking. After a while, Sun stopped.
"Hang on. I don't get it. If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?" Sun asked.
"The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters," Blake explained.
"Grimm masks. That's more than a little creepy," Eugene said.
"Tell that to the guy who started it."
Eugene nodded.
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you," Sun commented.
Once again, Blake's use of side-eye was on point.
The three of them made their way into the main storage area of the warehouse, which also doubled as a kind of makeshift auditorium. On all sides of them, Faunus of every stripe walked past. One actually had stripes. As they filed in towards the front, a huge brute of a Faunus in a full face mask walked onto center-stage.
"Thank you all for coming," he said, "For those of you joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours."
As the "special comrade" walked forward, a hail of booing arose from the crowd. The three Huntsmen students looked up, curious. When they saw who the subject of the booing was, the color drained from their faces.
"I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for so long," the MC continued.
"Oh, shit," Eugene whispered.
"Got that right," Sun continued.
On the stage, with his cane and everything, stood the smug form of Roman Torchwick.
O00000O00000O
"Find anything yet?" Delsin asked.
"Nothing spectacular at any rate," Weiss answered.
"So what have you found?"
"Well, whatever plan Torchwick and the White Fang are enacting, it is definitely confined to Vale, at least for the moment. No record of any major string of Dust robberies or thefts outside this Kingdom."
"Well, that's something I guess," Delsin commented, "Anything else?"
"Not really. There's no pattern to the thefts, so there's no way to determine a location, and past that, there's really not a lot to be learned here. Though there is this."
She handed him a piece of paper. Delsin took it and looked it over.
"What exactly am I looking at?" he asked.
"It's a report I made while I was working," Weiss explained, "It details how much Dust has been shipped here versus how much has been received by the various stores carrying Schnee Dust Company products."
Delsin looked it over again. His eyes widened.
"That's it?!" Delsin exclaimed.
"Less than twenty percent," Weiss commented, "And that's not even considering how much has been stolen after it's been received."
"Jeez. That's one hell of a deep hole," Delsin said.
Weiss nodded. Delsin felt his pocket start buzzing and pulled out his Scroll.
"Who is it?" Weiss asked.
"Eugene," he told her, placing his Scroll on the table and turning it on Speaker.
"What'cha got Eugene?" he asked.
"Well, you wanted Torchwick."
Delsin and Weiss's eyes widened.
O00000O00000O
"We found him," Eugene said into his Scroll.
"What?!" Delsin cried.
"Hang on, he's talking. Listen," Blake said.
On the stage, Torchwick was acting just as smug as usual.
"Thank you, thank you!" he began, "Please, hold your applause."
"What's a human doing here?!" a Deer Faunus in the crowd shouted.
"I'm glad you asked, deerie," he said, making a pun out of that particular Faunus's heritage.
Torchwick began pacing along the stage.
"Now I'll be the first to admit, humans are the worst. Case in point," he said, gesturing to himself, "So, I understand why you would love to see us all locked away. Or better yet, killed!"
The jeers of the crowd slowly started to turn to cheers as he continued his tirade.
"Is he going anywhere with this?" Sun asked.
Eugene shrugged.
"You guys getting this?" Blake asked.
"Loud and clear," Delsin answered, "And I looped in the rest of the team too."
"Hey, guys!" Ruby called.
"And they're all pests that need to be dealt with!" Torchwick continued, "Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around. No offense to any rodents in the room."
Torchwick snapped his fingers. The cloth backdrop with the White Fang insignia that was taking up the rear of the stage fell away. When Blake and Sun saw what had been behind it, the color drained from their faces. After all, giant robots tend to have that effect on people.
"Delsin," Eugene said, his voice shaking ever so slightly, "I'm sending you a photo."
Eugene clicked send. He heard Delsin gasp on the other end of the line.
"What the hell is that?!" Delsin asked.
"Wait! I saw that thing earlier! General Ironwood was introducing it in Beacon Square!" Ruby squealed.
"Atlas Tech. Lovely," Alex said.
"It's an Atlesian Paladin," Weiss said, "But how did he get one? They haven't even hit the market yet."
"As some of you may have heard, this right here," Torchwick said, knocking on the giant robot's knee, "is Atlas's newest line of defense against all of the scary things in the world. And thanks to my employer, we've managed to snag a few before they … hit the shelves."
"That answers that question at least," Alex said.
"Looks like you were right. He is working for someone," Weiss said.
"Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city... that's fine. But, if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?" Torchwick said.
The crowd roared. Blake turned to her two compatriots.
"We should get out of here," she told them.
"Would all new recruits please come forward," the MC called.
"Shit!" Eugene said quietly.
"What are we gonna do?!" Sun whispered.
"I'm thinking," Blake hissed back.
Just then, Torchwick craned his head forward. His eyes locked onto the three of them and narrowed.
"Crap. He's spotted us," Eugene said.
Blake grinned.
"Too bad he can't see in the dark," she said slyly.
In one fluid motion, Blake withdrew Gambol Shroud from its sheath and took aim at the electrical panel just behind the stage. She took her shot and managed to knock out the lights in the warehouse. The second the room went black, everyone started shouting, either trying to find out what happened or trying to stop the people who did it.
"Guys, the window!" Blake shouted.
"Stop 'em!" Torchwick yelled.
The Paladin wound up. The glass window broke, and the three of them quickly made their exit. Sun and Blake started running as soon as they hit the ground. Eugene however, stayed in the air, flying just behind them. As soon as they were clear of the wall, Torchwick broke it down, having climbed into the Paladin's piloting chamber.
The three of them went as fast as they could, but Torchwick was right behind them. After several feats of incredible acrobatics and hundreds of thousands of Lien in property damage, Sun spoke up.
"No, no guys, take your time! We're only running for our lives!" Sun cried.
"Don't have to be so rude about it," Alex said jokingly.
"Where are you guys?!" Ruby asked.
"Just south of the highway!" Blake shouted.
"We're right near you! Be right there!" Yang said.
They kept running. Eugene took a moment to open fire on Torchwick with his Bloodthirsty Blades, but they did absolutely nothing. They didn't even slow it down. Inside the cockpit, Torchwick smirked. Eugene dropped altitude.
"Damn," he said, "What the Hell's that thing made of?!"
"It was designed with an electromagnetic barrier to block energy attacks!" Weiss called.
"Now you tell me!" Eugene shouted.
The three of them quickly arrived at the highway. Blake and Sun started jumping off of the rooftops of cars just to stay out of Torchwick's range. Eugene let loose a few more volleys of Bloodthirsty Blades, but they did about as much as the first. Luckily for them though, Yang and her team were in fact right behind him.
"We have to slow it down!" Yang shouted.
"On it!" Alex and Neptune shouted.
Unfortunately, Torchwick's robo-suit had highly advanced sensors. He had seen them coming. He started charging forward, barreling through cars in a way that sent them flying right at the three behind him.
"Shit!" Alex shouted.
As Yang swerved to avoid the flying cars, Alex climbed. With his magnetism powers, he grabbed onto the cars and did his best to guide them back down to the street safely. Evidently, Torchwick had no problem murdering the people in them.
Even so, he quickly ran out of cars to throw. In the short opening he had, Neptune pulled his gun off his back and opened fire. One of his shots missed, but the other three landed and made the robot stumble. When he saw that his shots weren't doing much, he stood up, turned his weapon to its melee form, that of a naginata, and leaped into the air.
He landed on the back of the robot and stabbed it in its mechanical shoulder. Torchwick immediately began trying to throw him off, swinging his robot wildly in every direction he could. As Sun and Blake landed on their next car, they saw it happening.
"Neptune, hang on!" Sun shouted.
"I got him!" Alex shouted.
The bird Faunus dove in and pulled him off. He managed to avoid getting swatted by Torchwick's attacks but carrying someone while flying wasn't an easy feat for him.
"We need to force him off the road!" Alex shouted, "There are too many people here!"
"We got it!" he heard Weiss shout.
Just then, they caught sight of a glowing purple figure dodging between the cars behind them. Those who had seen it before quickly recognized Delsin in his Neon form, and he was gaining fast. Just as managed to catch up to them, Delsin dropped out of his Light Dash and switched to his Concrete power, then quickly picked up a Boulder Dash.
He'd needed to slow down.
"Weiss! You in position?" Delsin shouted.
"Yes!" she replied.
"Go for it!"
Weiss had been standing on one of the highway roads above them. Just as Torchwick was about to pass underneath her, she jumped down. Inside his Mecha, Torchwick grinned, thinking she would be an easy target.
He thought wrong.
As soon as she landed, Weiss twirled and jabbed her Myrtenaster into the road. Directly in front of Torchwick's legs, the road spiked. It wasn't a big spike, in fact, it was only just big enough to get the job done. As Torchwick's Mecha's foot hit the spike, it tripped and its own momentum catapulted it into the air. Delsin smiled and jumped along with him.
"Hey, Torchwick! You may wanna grit your teeth!" Delsin yelled.
With his entire body still surrounded by Concrete, Delsin punched the robot. It didn't take any real damage, but the force was more than enough to send the thing flying off the road. It landed with a heavy thud only a few feet away from where Ruby was ready and waiting. Within seconds, the other eight of them joined her, surrounding him.
"Give it up Torchwick!" Alex shouted, "We have you surrounded."
Torchwick laughed.
"Wrong!" he said through the speakers, "You just given me a target rich environment!"
The missile launchers on his shoulders opened fire. Team RWBY scattered, as did Sun and Neptune, but the members of Team CNDT stood their ground. Delsin summoned a Concrete Wall and blocked the one targeting him. Eugene simply raised a hand and fired a Video Torrent, making the missile detonate prematurely.
Alex took a different route. With his telekinesis, he grabbed hold of the missile and turned it around, making it fly directly at Torchwick. The missile detonated against the Mecha's frame. Inside the cockpit, warning lights were flashing, telling Torchwick that he had finally taken real damage. Then, Alex magnetically grabbed Neptune's weapon, which was still lodged in the thing's shoulder form when Neptune stabbed it earlier, and pulled it through, slicing through the robot's arm.
The three of them looked dead at him, unflinching. Torchwick grimaced, then smiled as his sensors indicated a target-lock. He opened fire on them with his robot's plasma blasters, this time forcing the three of them to scatter.
"Ruby! Blind it!" Delsin shouted.
"On it!" she shouted in reply, "Freezer Burn!"
On cue, Weiss surged forward. She jabbed Myrtenaster into the ground once again, this time covering the area around her in a sheet of ice. Using her Ember Celica, Yang vaulted into the air, then came crashing down and punched the ice. The explosive force of the blow literally vaporized the ice, turning it into a fine mist, obscuring the Paladin's sensors.
"Sun, give him something to shoot at!" Blake called.
Sun smirked. He placed his hands together like he was praying. At his sides, two shining golden phantom duplicates of him appeared. Those clones shot forward and began to circle around the Paladin. In his frustration, Torchwick opened fire again, aiming wildly.
From the safety of the obscuring smoke, Neptune opened fire as well, Alex having returned his weapon. The Paladin started reeling, only to abruptly jerk downward, now stuck with one leg halfway in the ground. Torchwick turned his optic sensors, only to find a smirking Delsin right beneath him. Apparently, he'd gotten creative and drained the Concrete beneath the Paladin's foot.
"You little PEST!" Torchwick screamed.
Before Delsin could react, the Paladin swung and sent him flying. He crashed into and then through one of the concrete support pillars holding up the road. For a relative novice like him, it was too much. His Aura broke, as did several of his ribs and his right arm.
"Delsin!" Ruby screamed.
In a flash of rose petals, she was at his side. He was bleeding heavily, but he was alive. She sighed in relief.
"Delsin! Are you ok?" she asked.
Delsin gave her a weak thumbs up.
"I'll be ok," he said, his voice strained, "But it'll be a minute."
He wasn't lying. His fast-healing, while incredible, had its limits. Healing eight broken bones, as well as all of the other injuries he'd just sustained, was going to take time. With his good arm, he waved Ruby off, telling her to go help the others. Then, he switched to his Water power. Ever since he'd absorbed the Blast Core, he'd found that that power increased his healing abilities when it was active.
Enraged by his partner's injury, Alex roared. From his pocket, he produced a small metal canister and magnetically tore it open, revealing a massive amount of iron dust (Like the kind you use with magnets, not Dust dust). Alex flung the iron dust forward. While the Paladin's electromagnetic barrier kept Alex from manipulating it directly, with this move, he'd turned it into a disadvantage.
The iron dust quickly latched onto the Paladin's joints, locking them in place. Alex ate a Lightning Crystal and slowly walked forward.
"You like fire so much Torchwick," he yelled, "LET'S SEE HOW YOU FRY!"
Alex mercilessly unloaded a massive lightning bolt, using the entire crystal in one blow. The blast overpowered the electromagnetic barrier and struck the Paladin directly. Inside the machine, Torchwick screamed in agony as he was electrocuted with no remorse.
However, in his rage, Alex made a critical mistake. One that, once the lightning attack was over, Torchwick was more than happy to exploit. See, once Alex shorted out the barrier, the iron dust fell away, meaning Torchwick was free to move again. The red-haired criminal quickly opened the hatch on his missile launchers and opened fire. Alex only barely managed to collect enough iron dust to form a shield, but the impact sent him flying as well.
The bird Faunus didn't even get a chance to try and break his fall. The blast had knocked him unconscious. Luckily, Eugene caught him and brought him down safely. But the blast had also managed to get rid of the fog that was hiding them. Neptune kept firing until his gun clicked empty.
"We need to end this now," Weiss said.
"Eugene?" Ruby called.
"On it," he replied.
"No, cover your teammates," she told him, "We'll need all of you if we can't bring him down."
Eugene nodded. He picked up Alex and took him over to Delsin's side. Torchwick groaned and managed to get his Paladin out of the ground.
"Ice flowers!" Ruby shouted.
Ruby stuck the blade of Crescent Rose into the ground and Weiss layered three Glyphs on the end. The two of them opened fire, Ruby's bullets being amplified by Weiss's ice. As the bullets collided, ice sprouted from the joints of the Paladin, stopping its movements once again. Torchwick was getting very frustrated.
"Give him everything you got!" Ruby shouted.
O00000O00000O
Off to the side, Delsin was willing himself to heal faster. His healing factor had only healed his surface wounds and had only just begun to heal the internal damage. He guessed it would take at least two more minutes to be fight ready. To make things worse, his Aura still hadn't recovered, so even if he did, he'd be extra vulnerable.
Eugene was standing by him, making sure that he and Alex were ok. Alex still hadn't woken up, but he was beginning to. Delsin was beginning to regret coming and bringing his friends into this.
But as he thought that, he felt something. His Aura started to rebuild, but he felt something more coming with it. Something he couldn't quite explain. He looked down at his hands, then clenched them. And he smiled.
O00000O00000O
All six of them blasted him. In the cockpit, Torchwick saw that his Paladin was heavily in the red. It couldn't take much more. Growing desperate, he raced forward, easily dodging most of the blasts. He returned fire with his plasma blasters, forcing the six of them to scatter. He loosed one more volley of missiles, targeting them. Most of them weren't able to dodge in time. With one exception.
Yang shot forward, propelling herself with her Ember Celica. Torchwick switched his Paladin to its melee mode and reengaged. The two traded blow after blow, neither managing to land anything decisive. Yang was having a small problem though. She was using he Celica to dodge, and she was about out of ammo. She knew, the second she stopped to reload, she was going to get nailed.
The moment came. She did her best to dodge out of the way, but she mistimed it. She prepped herself to take the blow. Then, to her dismay, it didn't come. She opened her eyes to find that the arm that was about to hit her was no longer attached to the rest of the robot. Fresh water was on the ground.
"Hey!" she heard a voice say behind her.
Team CNDT was standing side by side. Delsin had his good arm raised, pointing right at the Paladin.
"Pick on someone your own size," Eugene said.
"That supposed to be a joke?" Torchwick replied, "You're not even half my size."
Eugene's eyes glowed and in a flash, He Who Dwells took his place.
"YOU WERE SAYING?" the titanic angles said.
"Huh," Torchwick said, "Nevermind."
Alex stepped forward. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a solid black Crystal. He ate it quickly and his white hair turned jet black. Torchwick fired the remainder of his missiles, but it didn't matter. Alex held up one hand and stopped them all. He closed his hand and crushed them, then swept the explosion to the side like it was nothing.
"That all you got?" Alex asked.
Torchwick readied his remaining plasma blaster. Delsin walked forward and followed up with another Pressure Slice, cutting off the robot's other arm.
"Because it won't be enough," Delsin said.
He Who Dwells spread his arms and summoned seven Wingmen. All of them opened fire with blasts of light, destroying the rest of Torchwick's Paladin.
"YOU HURT OUR FRIENDS," he said, "YOU THREATENED OUR HOME."
They stood next to each other, hands outstretched.
"That will be your last mistake!" they shouted, each unloading on him.
With the amount of power the three of them let loose in that moment, no one thought he would still be standing after that. But as the attack faded, they saw that he was fine. Instead, there was a lacy umbrella between them that seemed to have somehow blocked the entire blow.
The umbrella twirled away to reveal a small girl with pink and brown hair and eyes. Delsin would have thought she was cute if it weren't for the murderous look in her eyes. Eugene however, couldn't help himself. He thought she was adorable. She gave them a small bow.
Yang shot at her, more than a little worked up after the fight. Once again, the umbrella blocked the shot. Somehow. Yang burst forward to try and punch her, but the second her fist collided with the little girl's face, the girl and Torchwick shattered like glass. Behind them, they heard a VTOL take off and fly away.
"Dammit!" Yang shouted, "They got away!"
"No," Alex said.
Eugene dropped out of his He Who Dwells form and the three of them stood together again. Delsin switched to his Neon power
"No he hasn't," the bird Faunus repeated.
The three of them took off. Alex and Eugene flew after them with Delsin following along the ground. Alex reached out a hand and used his Gravity control to slow them down. The VTOL slowed to a crawl and the three of them quickly caught up. The rest of the team was following behind, doing their best to keep up with Team CNDT, though only Ruby was having any success.
The pilots tried to shake them, they even fired at them, but it didn't even slow them down. Eugene sliced through one wing with his Digital Longsword and sent the VTOL spiraling downward. Alex turned the thing on its side and ripped open the doors so the passengers fell out. Delsin threw a Stasis Bubble just below them to capture them.
When he could no longer hold it, Alex dropped the VTOL and it exploded, sending shrapnel flying. Delsin ignored it and began restraining all of the criminals. Though as he did, he noticed the girl with the umbrella was gone.
"Hey," he said, looking at Torchwick, "Where's the girl?"
Torchwick just spat in his face.
"Whatever. We still got you."
The three members of Team CNDT looked at each other, allowing themselves to revel in their victory.
It didn't last long.
"Oh my god! RUBY!" Yang screamed.
The three of them turned in a hurry. Ruby was on the ground, her sister standing just over her. They bolted over to see what was wrong. When they arrived, it was not a pretty sight.
Ruby had a piece of shrapnel embedded in her torso, just a few centimeters away from her heart. She was bleeding profusely and she only barely had a pulse. Her breathing was shallow and thready. She was inches from death.
"Please, no! Ruby! Don't leave me!" Yang cried.
She turned to face Delsin.
"Please! You have to do something!"
Delsin nodded and switched to his Water power. He quickly began trying to heal the wound but it was too much. The damage was too extensive and he was too tired. If he tried to move her and get her to a hospital, she would never survive the trip. There was nothing he or anyone else could do for her.
"What's wrong, why isn't it working?!" Yang shouted.
"I don't know," Delsin whispered.
Yang started shouting at him, at her sister, at everyone. Alex tried to calm her down, but she punched him in the gut, then started screaming about how it was his fault. How if he'd only been more careful then none of this would have happened. Alex said nothing. He was already feeling the same way.
"Yang, stop," Weiss said harshly.
Yang glared at her, her eyes red from both her tears and her Semblance.
"There's nothing we can do," Weiss said.
Yang stopped and collapsed into tears. She cried and cried, clinging to her sisters dying body, feeling the life leave her. Delsin hung his head in shame. He stared at the body of the first friend he'd made. Rose petals began to swirl around her, the last vestige of her fading soul. For the first time in a long time, for all his powers, he was helpless once again.
Or was he?
Delsin's head snapped up as he remembered the rising feeling from earlier, the feeling of something new manifesting in his soul. He latched onto that feeling, holding onto it with everything he had. He focused on it so hard it felt like he was going to break his mind in two. Then he opened his eyes to see his hands were glowing even brighter than he had ever seen them, his Aura flaring like a newborn star.
"Maybe there is something," he said quietly.
He knelt back down to Ruby's side and took her hands in his. Once again, he focused on that feeling of power. He willed that light back to his hands. He willed that power to come, just like he did with all of his others. Slowly, he began to feel something else. The more his power rose, the more it fell. The more he called it up, the more he lost it. Yet somehow, he knew where it was going.
It was flowing into Ruby.
"What's going on?" Yang asked, hope returning to her voice, "What are you doing?"
Delsin smiled.
"Call me crazy," he said, "but I think I just found my Semblance."
Yang gasped and her eyes fell back to Ruby. The light from Delsin's hands faded, but color started returning to Ruby's face, and her breathing started to normalize. Her pulse quickened. Alex's eyes widened and he quickly ripped the shrapnel out of her chest. Delsin wasn't even touching her anymore, but the wound began to close before their eyes. It was slow, but she was healing.
Ruby was going to live.
"Yang?" she said weakly.
Yang's eyes brightened and she hugged her sister tight.
"What did you do?" Eugene asked, his eyes wide.
Delsin smiled.
"I loaned her my powers," he said, "At least for a little while."
"How do you know?" Alex asked.
Delsin shrugged.
"I just do."
"You healed her," Yang said, "That's all that matters."
Delsin smiled and nodded. A few minutes later, a transport arrived that took their new prisoners into custody, then took the nine of them back to Beacon. On their way back, they all got a message from Ozpin. They could tell him all about what had happened in the morning. Tonight, they needed rest. And so, that's exactly what they did.
CHAPTER END
Wow, that chapter was long. Seriously, I'm looking at the word document and it is twenty-three pages long. Most of my other chapters barely pass twelve. I just really didn't want to make this two chapters, I felt like that would ruin the flow. Either way, I hope you enjoyed it.
We also found out what Delsin's Semblance is, so there's that. I actually wasn't planning on putting it in this early, but the opportunity just kind of appeared and I went with it. Don't worry, I'll be releasing a full explanation of how it works in the next chapter.
Alright, see you all in two weeks!
