It's How You Play the Game
Wow, Volume 8 has been really something… I won't give away spoilers in case some people here aren't caught up, but wow. Anyways, sorry this chapter took so long. I ended up revising my notes for the foreseeable future of this fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
Sun, Blake and Kazi crept through the back alleys of Vale, keeping to the shadows to avoid attention, before coming to a stop as they found what they were looking for.
"This is it," said Blake as she traced three white marks that had been chalked onto the side of a building. Marks that eerily resembled claw marks from some kind of wild animal.
"You sure?" asked Sun, not sure that these marks weren't just some random graffiti.
The glare he received in return from Blake along with the deadpan look from Kazi, caused him to throw up his arms in surrender, "Y'know, I'm just gonna take your word for it."
"Wise," commented Kazi crisply as he tied his hoodie around his waist, revealing that he wore a sleeveless shirt underneath that showed off his pangolin scales.
"Come on," said Blake as she removed her bow, exposing her cat ears, "we need to blend in."
The three of them made their way to a nearby warehouse where several teenage Faunus were being led inside and offered white masks that resembled those of the Creatures of Grimm. Sun looked a bit unsure about accepting one of them, a sharp look from Blake made him keep to himself until they were out of earshot of the guard.
"I don't get it," said Sun as he inspected the mask he had been given, "If you believe what you're doing is right, then why do you have to hide?"
"It's more than that," said Kazi as he placed the mask over his eyes, "these are a symbol, a message to humanity. They call us monsters for what we do, so we're accepting that role by donning the masks of real ones."
"Grimm masks…" muttered Sun, "kinda dark, isn't it?"
"So was the guy who started it," said Blake in response.
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you," the monkey Faunus quipped sarcastically.
"You have no idea," muttered Kazi.
The three of them headed into the main room of the complex where dozens of new recruits were gathered, along with several hundred uniformed White Fang officers, all of them standing in front of a raised area that was set to function as a kind of stage. As the three students moved to blend in with the other recruits as a muscular White Fang member wearing a mask that covered his entire face walked onstage.
"Thank you all for coming," the man called out, "For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have long since fought for!"
A figure walked onto the stage and Kazi and Blake were glad the masks they were wearing concealed the frigid glares they were directing at the newcomer, for walking onstage to address the gathered White Fang, Melodic Cudgel held casually in his hand, was the human criminal, Roman Torchwick.
"Thank you, thank you," said Roman with a mock bow, as though the incredulous stares leveled his way were a thunderous applause, "please, hold your applause."
"The hell?" protested a Faunus with antlers as his animal trait, "What's a human doing here?"
"I'm so glad you asked," smiled Roman, "Now, I'll be the first to admit it: humans are the worst."
Giving a mock salute, he smirked at the crowd, "Case in point. So, it's not unexpected that you want all of us locked up, or even killed."
This was met with an uproar of support, allowing Sun to lean over to Blake and whisper, "Is he going somewhere with this?"
"But," continued Roman, cutting the group off, "before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!"
This caused the gathered Faunus to stop and think, many of them beginning to nod in agreement to the arguments being made.
"Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life!" continued Roman, getting cheers from the audience as they started to warm up to the points he was making, "And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around... No offense to any rodents in the room. And to prove that my words have weight…"
Roman snapped his fingers and a curtain that had been set up behind him fell to the ground to reveal a sight that caused the three undercover students to pale.
"This isn't good," said Blake with a frown.
"You can say that again," nodded Kazi.
"That is one big robot," gulped Sun.
Indeed, standing behind Roman on the stage was a large and heavily armed mecha that bore the symbol of the white fang painted on its shoulder.
"This here is one of Atlas's newest defensive weapons," said Roman as he tapped the mech with his cane, "designed to defend the rich and privileged against all the scary things in the world. Against everything that goes bump in the night. Against you. Luckily, I've managed to snag a few pre-production models with the help of my contacts, and I'm willing to make them available to you lot…if we can do business that is."
As the White Fang began to cheer in support of this new endeavor, Blake nudged Kazi and turned to Sun, "We should leave," she said to the blond Faunus.
But before they could, the White Fang officer from earlier called the recruits forward, forcing the group to move forward with the other Faunus as they headed to enlist.
"What do we do?" whispered Sun to Blake.
"I'm thinking!" the cat Faunus replied back.
"Might want to think faster," said Kazi as he glanced at Roman, "because I think we've just been made."
Indeed, Roman had noticed the three of them and was reaching for his weapon, a frown on his face. They had little time, so Blake quickly glanced around the room before zeroing in on what could be their best chance to get out of there in one piece. Drawing Gambol Shroud, Blake converted the weapon into pistol mode and took aim at a junction box sitting on the wall.
"He can't see in the dark," said Blake, causing Kazi to realize what she intended and pulled out Crimson Draco, switching it to gun mode and taking aim.
"Lights out," quipped Kazi as the two teammates fired bullets into the junction box, causing it to spark violently and kill the power to the building, leaving everyone in darkness.
"Quickly!" said Blake as the three of them hurried to the nearest exit. They had almost made it, when Kazi heard a sound that made him pause and turn around, and what he saw had him scrambling for his Driver and Gashats.
"Crap!" he swore as he quickly attached the GamerDriver to his waist and slammed his Gashats into their ports, "HENSHIN!"
xXsceneXx
Outside the warehouse the White Fang meeting was taking place, the night was quiet and peaceful as the broken moon shone its light over the city's back alleys. This peace was abruptly shattered when the wall of the warehouse exploded outwards as Ex-Aid was thrown through it wearing his Level 3: Robot Action Gamer armor. As he landed in the street, Blake and Sun jumped through the new hole and landed beside him as the hulking form of the stolen Atlas Mech climbed out onto the streets, tracking their movements with its sensors.
"Well kids," said Roman from within the cockpit of the mech, "looks like I'll be giving this a test drive."
"Lucky shot," grunted Ex-Aid as he popped his shoulder and flexed his mechanical gauntlet, "he won't get another."
Ex-Aid shot his rocket propelled gauntlet at the robot, aiming to deliver a powerful punch to the machine, but the mech showed a surprising level of agility as it easily dodged the attack and rushed at them, forcing Blake to tackle the Kamen Ride out of the way so he wouldn't get run over.
"We have to go!" said Blake as she fired several rounds from her weapon into Roman's mech.
"Right," said Ex-Aid as he dispelled his Level 3 armor and pulled out a new Gashat and pressed the activator.
[Bakshou Bike!]
A pixilated portal appeared in the air and deposited a yellow spot motorbike that was themed around Ex-Aid's motif. The Kamen Rider hopped on and gunned the engine, racing off as Sun and Blake took to the rooftops, the stolen Atlas mech hot on their tails.
"Looks like it's time to call in the gang," said Ex-Aid as he brought a hand up to his helmet and activated the Scroll linkup that was installed, "Guys, we could use some backup. We've run into a snag. One that is very large and heavily armored."
"We're on our way!" said Ruby through the comm.
"Don't start the party without us," added Yang before the line cut off.
"If we can survive that long," muttered Ex-Aid as he swerved to the side to dodge a salvo of missiles that the mech had launched their way, "Gonna need a bit more mobility. And maybe a bit more artillery."
Gunning his bike's engine in order to dodge around traffic, the Kamen Rider pulled out a new Gashat, this one colored orange with the image of a cartoon jet emblazoned on it, "I guess now's as good a time as any for a test run."
Swinging his bike around, Ex-Aid pressed the activator on the Gashat before resetting the activation lever on his Driver and slotted the new Gashat in as a digital screen showing the Game's title card appeared behind him, a cartoonish chibi-jet robot emerging from the screen and flying around Roman's mech, dodging his attempts to swat it with its metal limbs.
"The hell?" exclaimed Roman from the cockpit.
[Jet Combat!]
[Gachan! Gashat!]
"Henshin," said the Kamen Rider as he revved his bike's engine and shot at the approaching mech. Using a car as a ramp, Ex-Aid launched himself at the larger mech, flipping backwards off the bike as he pulled the activator lever on his Driver, "Third Shift!"
[Gachan! Level Up! Mighty jump! Mighty kick! Mighty Mighty Action X!]
As Ex-Aid's bike slammed into the mech, the smaller robot flew at the Rider and opened its mouth, chomping down on the rider before forming into armor for him complete with jet wings and miniguns.
[Gacha! Jet! Jet! In the sky! Jet! Jet! Jet Combat!]
Firing the engines on his new armor, Ex-Aid halted his descent and moved to hover in front of Torchwick's stolen mech.
"Ok…" said Torchwick as he raised an eyebrow before flipping several switches in the cockpit, causing the mech to launch a barrage of seeker missiles at the airborne Rider. Not deterred in the least, Ex-Aid used his new mobility to spin out of the way of the missiles and grabbing his guns to begin shooting them down as he dodged around the mech's additional attacks.
Once the missiles were gone, Ex-Aid narrowed his eyes behind his helmet, "My turn."
Gunning his new thrusters, Ex-Aid flew around Roman's mech, peppering it with shots from his miniguns as he dodged energy blasts that ware fired at him.
"You're starting to annoy me kid," growled Roman as he manipulated the controls of the mech, trying to swat the annoying fly that was the airborne Kamen Rider. Suddenly the mech shook as it was impacted by several shots, and when Roman angled the unit's cameras in the direction of the attack, he saw a figure wielding a familiar rifle wearing an equally familiar red hood.
As he aimed the mech's weapons at her though, the mech shook again and alarms went off as an electrical shock coursed through the systems.
"What now?" groaned the thief as he turned the mech and saw Yang and Neptune riding up on a bright yellow motorcycle, the latter teen aiming a rifle at the stolen unit, firing off bolts of electrical energy at it.
"Great!" muttered Roman, "The gang's all here. Well, let's give this thing a real test run."
Flipping some switches, Roman activated the unit's weapons and began to fire missiles and lasers at the students, forcing them to scramble to defend themselves. Neptune tried to shoot them down, but one got through and the blast knocked him and Yang off the latter's bike, while Weiss used her weapon to create a wall of ice to shield her and Ruby. Seeing several missiles homing in on Blake and Sun, the heiress spun the chamber of her weapon, slotting in a vial of lightning Dust as she pointed the blade at Blake, causing a glyph to materialize under the Faunus that depicted several spinning cogs, causing a golden glow to emanate from Blake's form as her body and perception sped up due to the time dilation effect. Blurring into motion, Blake drew Gambol Shroud and began to rapidly slice through the incoming missiles, her speed allowing her to cut them all down mid-flight, the destroyed warheads exploding behind her as the boost wore off.
"Checkmate!" called out Ruby, causing Weiss and Blake to rush forward and deliver a barrage of strikes to the mech from their weapons, managing to take out several of the machine's sensors before being forced to fall back.
"Ladybug!" Ruby yelled next, prompting her to trade places with Blake as the two of them blitzed the mech, delivering blows to its legs before severing one of its arms, rendering the attached gun useless.
"We need to slow it down!" called out Ex-Aid.
"On it!" said Sun as he clapped his hands together, manifesting glowing gold copies of himself that rushed at the mech, attacking it from multiple angles, targeting its various joint servos to limit its mobility. Backing his friend's play, Neptune pulled out his weapon, Tri-Hard and fired bolts of electrical energy that arced across the metal surface, adding to the barrage of energy bullets that were being fired from Ex-Aid's miniguns.
Growling from inside the stolen mech's cockpit, Roman flipped several switches to compensate for the damage being done to his unit and yanked on the controls, swinging the mech's arm outward to knock off Sun's golden copies, before firing a barrage of missiles to force Ex-Aid and Neptune back, with the Rider being blasted out of the air and Neptune being sent flying into Sun, disrupting the Faunus's concentration and dispelling his Semblance created copies as the two boys lay prone on the ground.
Seeing an opportunity, Yang let out a battle cry and jumped at the mech with her gauntleted hand reared back for a punch, but Roman lashed out with the arm of the mech, meeting her fist with the mech's metal one, releasing a shockwave upon impact that sent the blond brawler flying back, crashing through one of the concrete support pillars holding up an overhead highway.
"Yang!" cried out Blake, but Ruby shook her head comfortingly.
"Don't worry," said Ruby, "With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special!"
Rising from the rubble, Yang glared at Roman's stolen mech, her eyes now a harsh red instead of their normal lilac, her hair alight with her Aura, flickering like golden flames. Seeing Roman attempting a follow up punch, Yang simply brought up her hand and caught the mech's metal fist, her eyes blazing with anger.
"Oh shit…" muttered Roman as he realized his predicament.
With a roar, Yang swung her fist forward and shattered the arm of the mech with a punch powered up by the force of her Semblance augmented strength, causing the unit to stagger back as Roman fought to regain control. Yang leapt at the mech, hoping to deliver another critical blow, but Roman was able to knock her back with a blow from its limbs. Seeing her sister get countered, Ruby quickly came up with a plan and turned to Blake.
"BUMBLEBEE!"
Understanding what their Team leader wanted, Blake switched her weapon to kusarigama mode and used the gun recoil to launch it at Yang while she maintained a grip on the weapon's ribbon as Yang caught the other end, relying on the elasticity and her partner's strong grip to snap back at the mech aiming a punch that Roman was just barely able to dodge.
"We have to slow it down!" exclaimed Ruby.
"And just how are we supposed to do that?" asked Weiss.
"I got this," said Ex-Aid as he gunned his engines, the HUD in his helmet highlighting various points on the mech's body.
Revving his miniguns up to full, the Kamen Rider began to fire a spread of energy blasts, targeting joints and servos across the mech's body, causing them to spark and break down, forcing the unit to its knees as Roman began to lose control of his stolen unit's mobility.
"No no no!" cried Roman as he tried to regain control, but it was too late, as Blake swung Yang back around to deliver a powerful blow that blasted the mech apart, with Roman tumbling to the ground amidst the wreckage.
"Damnit," the criminal said as he climbed to his feet and inspected himself, "I just got this suit clean."
Her Semblance still fueling her rage, Yang punched forward and launched a Dust shell at Roman using Ember Celica, but before it could connect, a figure wielding a parasol leapt between them and blocked the shot with said item, the dust clearing to reveal Roman's tri-colored associate standing there with a silent smirk.
"Kids, Ice Queen…" smirked Roman as he tipped his hat to them, getting an indignant protest from Weiss at the nickname.
"Torchdick," Ex-Aid returned, causing Roman's eyebrow to twitch.
"Neo," said Roman to his associate, "if you would?"
The now named Neo smirked and curtsied in front of her partner, prompting Yang to rush forward to attack the two of them, but as she struck home, their images shattered like glass to reveal the them already making their escape under the cover of her illusion.
"Well, that happened," said Kazi as he undid his transformation.
"Looks like he got a new henchman," Yang pointed out.
"I think it's more of a 'henchwoman,'" noted Kazi.
"Same difference," said Yang.
"Yeah," said Weiss, "she really made our plans…fall apart."
Ruby giggled at the lame pun and Kazi let out an amused snort while Blake pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"No," said Yang, "just…no."
"But you do it!" protested Weiss.
"She does it better," said Kazi as they went to collect their friends from Mistral, leaving the heiress indignantly fuming.
Well, that happened. Sorry it took so long to publish. Just watched the new RWBY Chibi shorts with Coco, and I am so happy that the Chocolate Bunny shipping seems to be confirmed.
In any case, read, review, and be respectful of everyone's opinions.
