I've been looking forward to this. I welcome you all back to Team KOLD's adventures, and now I get to introduce some new OCs of mine, I hope you grow to like them like you have with Team KOLD.
RWBY has, is, and will always be the creation of Monty Oum and Roosterteeth. I only own my OCs.
Chapter 14: An Assignment For Us?
Title Song: Deliverance (Vindsvept)
A week quickly passed after Jaune freed himself from Cardin's oppression. It wasn't hard to see that JNPR was doing better as a whole since the young knight grew a spine.
Friday had come, and the last class of the day, which made everyone happy, was combat class. At the moment, it was Koa against Ren.
Ren fired a burst from Storm Flower, which were his twin auto-pistols. Koa blocked by quickly raising a barrier. A boomerang then spun around, almost hitting Ren, but the green garbed student was quick to react, ducking.
Koa sprang up, kicking the boomerang back away, the metal object bouncing off his soles. As this happened, he sprinted at Ren, his other boomerang catching several quick slashes from his opponent's blades.
Ren then caught him off guard while in a lock of their blades, firing the guns within his own and knocking the boomerang to the ground with the sudden kick. At that moment, the first boomerang came back around, hitting Ren in the leg, toppling the man and sending him falling forwards.
Koa was quick to react to the development, leaping up and kicking Ren in the gut, knocking him to the floor.
Catching the boomerang that knocked Ren off balance, Koa grabbed it and one of Ren's Stormflowers, holding it aimed at his face, which the boomerang sparking with electricity raised to strike.
"Do you yield?" He asked.
"I admit defeat," Ren nodded. Koa holstered his boomerang, then helped his opponent up.
"And that's another on Koa's win streak," Lilo muttered to Yang, the two brawlers sat next to each other in the stands.
"I know, he's got so much luck," Yang nodded. "And it's not even a semblance."
The bell rang, signalling the end of the lessons for the week. Goodwitch turned back from when she was giving her observations to Koa and Ren. "Team KOLD, if you could remain for a moment of your time?"
"I swear, if this is about hanging Team CRDL on the statue in the courtyard in their underwear…" Lilo sighed.
"No, it's not that, in fact, your forms of disciplinary are better than anything I could give them, but please, try to restrain yourself Miss Fuchsia," Goodwitch said.
"Eh, no promises. That depends on their development, not mine," Lilo shrugged.
All four members of the team were sat on the benches, when the door opened, Professor Ozpin and four students walking in.
The first was a dark blonde-haired girl with hazel eyes. She wore a black poncho with gold lines over a dark yellow corset with black lace that hugged her fair skinned, voluptuous form. Below the waist was a pair of black shorts held up by a brown belt with a holster. Black cowboy boots were on her feet, complete with the spurs on the back, and a dark yellow cowgirl hat saw strung to hang behind her head.
The second was another girl, but was a cat Faunus, judging by the cat ears above her dark blue hair that was in a pair of long, shoulder length ponytails. Her eyes were a piercing bright orange and her skin was a darker shade than the first girl. She wore a blue sleeveless shirt with black lines at the trims and down the middle, a white skirt was beneath the waist, and a pair of dark brown leggings went down to a pair of black high boots.
The third was the only boy of the team, with dark, burgundy hair, and dark red eyes. On his forehead, right in the middle, was a small purple diamond shape. His outfit consisted of a dark grey tank-top under a burgundy sleeveless jacket that he had open. Below his waist was a pair of grey cargo pants, which were held up by a brown tool belt with lots of pouches and pockets and black light shoes.
The forth was another girl, with fiery red hair, brighter than Pyrrha's, and she had red eyes as well. Her outfit was that of a black jacket with a red interior over a black corset with red lace, red tight pants and black sneakers. Around her neck were grimm teeth strung into a necklace, some pilot's goggles were above her forehead, and her hair was kept up in a ponytail with a pair of hairsticks with blue bobbles on the ends.
"First year Team KOLD, meet the second year Team MPRL (Imperial)," Ozpin said, then let the team introduce themselves.
"G'day mates, I'm Mari Gold, the leader," the blonde said.
"I'm her partner. My name is Persia Midnight," The blunette smiled.
"Call me Reggie Regalia, I'm the engineer of Team MPRL," The boy said.
"And I'm Leva Flannery, self-appointed pilot of this team," The redhead said.
"It's a pleasure, I'm Koa Maru, leader of Team KOLD," The boomerang slinger waved. He turned to his mute partner. "This is my partner, Jasmine Diali," Jasmine gave a warm smile.
"I'm Lilo Fuchsia, these are the pups Snowfall and Shadow," Lilo grinned, with her two wolves barking in the order of their names being said.
"And I'm Onyx Stone," the last member of KOLD said.
Both teams sat down, while Ozpin and Goodwitch took to standing on the stage. "Team KOLD, we've held you back this afternoon because of the promise you have shown since starting here this year," Goodwitch said.
"If you could direct your attention to the overhead screen, we have a mission we'd like you to undertake," Ozpin said.
Koa raised his hand, "Question: why send us? A first-year team?" He asked.
"You did defeat a Nuckelavee, that is no small task," Reggie pointed out to him. "Out of all our time at this school, the most threatening thing we've faced is a Deathstalker."
"Good point," Koa shrugged.
"A few days ago, one of our huntsmen stumbled across a facility deep within the Wailing Woods. He sent this message, as well as an image," Ozpin said. He tapped on his scroll, and the screen lit up.
Everyone looked up, and four pairs of eyes narrowed. Koa quickly put a hand on the shaking form of Jasmine, who's eyes had sharpened considerably. "Since I set up camp, I've seen six patrols and four vehicles come and leave, it's extremely active." The image was of a flag over some kind of facility.
The flag was blue, with a red beowolf head that had three slash marks going diagonally from the top right to bottom left. The facility below looked pretty similar to those Koa raided when he had been looking for Jasmine during his breaks from Signal.
"That's a White Fang facility," Persia noted.
"Indeed, and it's one of the biggest we've seen to date," Ozpin nodded. "Shortly after his contact, we lost the signal with our huntsman. Now, I know you are thinking we could dispatch fully trained huntsmen, but we are stretched rather thinly at the moment with other incidents involving the White Fang as well as Grimm hotspots."
He then gave the tiniest glance at Jasmine, "I also think that there is at least one person in this room who would like to have a go at the White Fang's numbers," He smiled.
"Excuse me, but that looks like an Atlesian Facility that has been occupied by the White Fang, is it possible to ask Atlas for the schematics for one of these structures?" Onyx asked.
"Not a bad plan. With access to those, we could assess the best point of entry," Mari agreed.
"I have connections with someone who could help get such a document. Of course, you won't be going alone either. May I present qualified huntress and Professor of Signal Academy, Professor Sapphire Maru."
Koa's eyes widened, "Mom?!" He gaped as a woman in her late thirties walked in. She had midnight blue hair held in a single ponytail that dropped to her waist, and had soft cerulean eyes. She wore a white breastplate with blue trimmings and had thin plates going up around her neck. A pair of similarly adorned pauldrons were on her shoulders and gauntlets on her wrists held the same theme, as did her greaves which went up to her knees. Under the breastplate was a light blue decorated cloth that hung down around her waist.
"Your mom is a huntress?" Asked Lilo.
"She's pretty," Persia muttered.
'Hey Mrs Maru!' Jasmine had written, waving down to the woman.
"Hey honey, hey Jasmine," Sapphire smiled. "You heard Professor Ozpin, I'm your qualified huntress on this mission, so try not to get killed out there."
"Professor Maru, I have a question," Onyx rose his hand. "If you're here, who's teaching your classes?"
"I left Professor Xiao Long in charge, the perfect payback for an incident during our Beacon days," Sapphire smirked.
"Mom? When do we leave?" Koa asked. He then gave a subtle nod in Jasmine's direction, then at the screen.
"Tomorrow morning, nine AM sharp," Mrs Maru said.
That evening, Koa found Jasmine on the landing pads outside. "Having trouble sleeping?" He asked.
Jasmine turned, nodding as Koa approached, sitting down next to her. "I won't pretend that I know what you went through during captivity, but mark my words. We will stop the White Fang." He pulled her in to his side for a one-sided hug.
"Oh don't worry," Both turned, seeing Sapphire stood there. "Hopefully, answers will be acquired while we are away." She said, a stern look on her face. "Now, come on inside, you'll need a good night sleep for tomorrow."
Both students nodded, and followed the huntress inside.
The next day, both teams as well as their assigned huntress were headed down a corridor, and entered a huge room. Reggie walked over to a console, and input a code.
From the floor rose a Mistralian Sky Skiff, resting on a pad. "Everyone on board!" Mari called out. It was evident that Reggie and Leva had modified the craft, as there were bunks on board for Team MPRL, and extra storage. Also, the sail on top was a little more streamlined, and higher up, with a ladder on the inside that went up to the top level, there were three auto-cannons as well, two on the sides, and one at the rear.
"She's our pride and joy," Persia said, spotting Team KOLD's gaping expressions. "Come on, we have to go." Everyone pilled aboard, and Leva sat down in the cockpit.
"Beacon Tower, this is Imperial Voyage, requesting permission to take off," She said into a communicator.
"Confirmed Imperial Voyage, Have a safe journey," A voice from the other end replied.
"Will do Beacon Tower, see you when we get back," Leva grinned, and closed the channel. She glanced back at the passenger bay behind her. "Hold on back there!"
Every other member of the force gripped either a railing above them, the walls or sat down on the ledges outside. Sapphire took the seat immediately behind Leva, in the co-pilot seat. "Been a while, but I recognise most of the controls for a ship like this. Miss Flannery, I'm uploading the coordinates for the facility." Leva then pushed on the controls, the ship lifting slightly, it's landing gear retracting. It then sailed into the morning Vale air.
"Yep, I got them," Leva had lowered the goggles on her forehead, a wire connecting them to the console. "You guys in the back should use the time to catch up on some extra hours of sleep, Wailing Woods is pretty far out there."
"You guys can use our bunks if you want," Persia pointed to the sleeping racks. As if on cue, Jasmine gave a faint yawn.
"Kid, come on, you head back to bed for now," Reggie said, pulling out a wrench and tossing it around between his hands.
"He's right, you are the most inexperienced with early mornings like this," Koa added, as Lilo directed the fox faunus to the bunks.
Koa turned and sat down sitting off the side of the ship, this is it… this is the place that tormented Jasmine for so many years… he clenched his fists. This… Adam Taurus… he will pay for making Jasmine go through all that…
He was soon joined by leader of MPRL, "Lien for your thoughts?" She asked.
"Just thinking. The White Fang has caused a lot of problems for my life, and more for hers…" He directed that as he glanced in the direction his friend had gone.
"I won't ask about her. Believe me, we've had our own fair share of hardships and trials," Mari sighed, sitting down next to the First-Year leader. She patted the floor of the airship. "We went to help a Mistral Team with keeping a village safe from Grimm attacks. Remember when I mentioned that Deathstalker kill we had?" She paused, and Koa nodded. "It was after the Deathstalker dropped from the ceiling in a cave and killed all of the Mistral Team. We saved the village, but when we reported the KIA of the other team, Professor Lionheart allowed us to keep the ship those guys had."
"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that, this team…" Koa asked.
"Yeah… three boys and one girl, and we all hit it off pretty well during that coalition mission, but it was my fault, I let them go without us," Mari sighed. "Get some rest, there's no telling whether you'll get another chance before we hit this facility."
"Got it boss," Koa nodded, and headed back inside and clambered into the bunk owned by Reggie, right beneath Jasmine. Her hand then dropped over the side, and Koa held it tightly.
"We'll get through it together," He muttered.
Soon enough, Leva's voice came through the interior comm. "All hands, we're just approaching the Wailing Woods," She announced. "You might want to be ready for the planning that we're about to carry out."
Koa and Jasmine came down from the upper deck, having been watching the rear, and Onyx put his book down. Everyone was in the main hold, bar from their pilot.
"Alright, Reg, kill the lights, it's time to plan this mission," Mari said, and Reggie flipped a switch, the doors closing. A holographic display of the facility came up.
"Listen up," Mari spoke out, "Our huntsman in the field sent his last communication from this ridge, with a perfect view of the base. We're first going to set down near there. It works as a nice overwatch for the mission, and also allows us to hide the Imperial Voyage.
"Using the blueprints provided by Professor Ozpin's contact in Atlas, we have planned the best entry plan, as well as the following steps. First, our smallest members, which are myself, Jasmine and Koa, we're going to enter the base through the vents and make our way towards this hangar," Mari paused, showing the route, which highlighted red. "We've judged it to be enough to hold a Bullhead, so, as long as there's nothing in there already, we can bring the Voyage in and park."
"Following the entry to the hangar, we're going to open the door, allowing the others in, clear the place out and then begin phase 2." Mari said, and turned to Sapphire
"Ozpin, as well as Headmaster Ironwood of Atlas Academy, want us to bring back as much information as we can. KOLD, you're going to assign one man to stay with the ship, and the rest are going to head to the west wing, which we believe is some kind of science wing."
"MPRL, we're doing the same, Leva stays with the ship while Reggie and Persia, we're going to the command center to the north," Mari said. "If any trouble comes up, remember to contact the other team on the team uplink," She reminded all members of the team.
"Professor Maru, what will you be doing throughout this mission?" Asked Lilo.
"I'm going to set up the comms on the Voyage and see if we can request some backup from Beacon. I know you students are very talented, but eight of you against possibly a full base of White Fang soldiers is not good odds, so I'm going to see who we can get to come out here," Sapphire said.
"Professor Maru will also function as command and control for the mission, if you find something you're not sure of, send it back to the Voyage and we can pass it back to Beacon or see if she can solve the problem here," Mari said.
"Is everyone ready?" Leva asked, "We're coming up on the landing zone."
She wasn't wrong either, as moments later, everyone heard the sound of the ship landing gear settling on the ground.
"Alright, stealth team, let's go," Mari said, and with a flap of her poncho, the three man team set out.
Sapphire watched them all go, "Be careful you guys!" She called out. "Koa, Jas, watch each other's backs in there." She didn't need to see the thumbs up both sent her way, but it gave her faith they would figure it out.
It wasn't long until the stealth team reached the base, Mari then pointed to Koa, who nodded, making a ramp for the three to climb, which put them on the roof. Ducking behind some stacks, they saw three White Fang soldiers at different places on the roof.
Mari then spotted a vent, and directed Jasmine and Koa to it. Together, she and Koa removed the grate. Jasmine leapt in first, Mari went next, and Koa went third, putting the grate back with the help of his semblance once again.
"Stealth team to Voyager, we're in," Mari said into her scroll commlink on her ear.
"Well done," Sapphire's voice came in to all three's ears, "You're doing great so far, we're monitoring your progress here, keep heading along that vent system, it'll end above the main door for the hangar," She reported.
"Roger. We'll get heading in that direction, let us know if things change outside," Mari said, the comlink going dark.
All three pushed through the vents on their hands and knees, and it wasn't long until Jasmine stopped, and kicked out the vent. She, Mari and Koa then leapt out of the vent, coming face to face with several White Fang soldiers in a wide open environment.
"Well… it was bound to happen sooner or later…" Koa muttered, even as one Faunus yelled out in surprise.
"What the… Intruders!" She called out, pulling out a rifle.
"Get them!" Another ordered.
"Alright, how about a little contest, first one to reach the console to open the door gets a free round when we get back to Beacon," Mari chuckled, her poncho being pushed to the side, revealing a menacing looking revolver.
"I can accept that bet," Koa smiled back. Even in the face of mortal danger, he found himself cracking jokes. That smile instantly faded though when he saw that Jasmine was rushing towards the White Fang, her speed matching that of Ruby's Semblance, with gold shavings being left in her wake as she slammed her lance down on the first grunt.
"Jas!" Koa called out, sprinting after her, tossing his left Return to Sender out while the other's blade extended.
Mari would have chased after them, but a squad of White Fang was already charging her. Drawing the revolver at her hip, she fanned the hammer, seven powerful shots hitting the Fang soldiers, downing them instantly. She then twirled around a sword that tried to slash at her, then blocked it with the barrel of her gun.
Mari's revolver was called Sunshot. It looked like a mixture between a beefy hand cannon and a sleek revolver, which had a long barrel which was black with flecks of gold all along it. A blade was under the barrel at the tip.
Lashing out with a kick, she knocked her attacker off balance, firing at his face with a quick shot, then whirled around, Sunshot changing form into a dagger, the revolving chamber moving to become a small guard while the barrel took on a more serrated bladed appearance.
She blocked several swings from a man's sword, then cut back, the blade disabling what aura he had, she then pulled the trigger that was still near the handle, hitting the two soldiers taking aim at her from behind with heavy shots that slipped free from the flat sides of the blade.
"Die human!" She was then charged by a larger white fang man with a sledgehammer, to which she ducked under his swing, feeling the wind around the weapon sing as it barely brushed past her face. She then leapt up, kicking him twice with both legs, then kicked him into another two who were charging with swords.
She then turned, reverting her dagger to the revolver, firing twice with scary accuracy, two dust shots slamming into a pair of grunts attempting to strike at Koa, who nodded back.
Mari refocused on her own foes, noticing that they had surrounded her. All were armed with swords or guns and were poised to attack. Mari then took a deep breath and faded from view.
"What the?!" A soldier asked, before his head jerked sideways, Mari reappearing next to him with her fist extended. As they turned to face her new position, she vanished again, and reappeared, dagger in hand, stabbing at a pair of grunts, then, as the rest turned again, she leapt up over them, firing a full chamber of dust rounds down at her group of foes.
She then landed in a small crouch, before standing up and holstering Sunshot with a flourish and adjusting her hat, which had been knocked askew.
She glanced over to see that Jasmine and Koa were fine, Jasmine hitting a lieutenant with the tip of her lance, and Koa's boomerang clouting another LT in the back of the head before bouncing off, spinning around to return to Koa's awaiting hand.
"Do you ever miss?" She couldn't help but ask, as she approached them.
"Oh yeah, I just have good luck, that's all," Koa shrugged, holstering both of Return to Sender while Jasmine's lance retracted in on itself, and she put the handle and the base of Kitsune's Kickback on her back.
"I'll look for the door controls," Mari offered, letting Koa pull Jasmine aside.
"Jas, I know you want to make them pay, but you need to stop rushing in like that, you'll only get yourself killed!" Koa sighed. Jasmine pulled out her scroll and tapped away.
'I don't see why it's a problem, I have your semblance and Ruby's speed, so they can't touch me, and those monsters need to pay. I won't rest until they're all behind bars!' The scroll said, while she glared with defiance at him.
"Jasmine Diali." He frowned, causing her to flinch slightly. He never used her full name unless he was extremely disappointed with her. "As both your friend and team leader, I am asking that you reign it in, you need to start remembering that you really wanted to become a huntress to save lives and have adventures, but right now, you are behaving just like them!" He told her.
Jasmine gave a sigh, and tried to get a vocal sound to come from her mouth, but she couldn't make a peep. "I know, I will make the one who commanded these experiments on you pay, this 'Adam' that you remember hearing about." He pulled her into a warm hug, "But this isn't the way to get revenge."
Jasmine started sobbing silently in Koa's arms.
Mari smiled from where she had watched them at the controls, "Strike Team to Imperial Voyage, we're in the hangar," She reported. "Door is opening now. See it Leva?" She asked.
"I see it, we're on approach," Leva's voice came back, before Mari could hear the rumble of the engine closing.
She looked back over to Koa and Jasmine, "Oi, lovebirds! You might want to move before you get squished!" She called over.
Both broke from their embrace with indignant frowns at Mari, "We're not like that!" Koa barked back, but moved aside with Jasmine as the airship crawled into the hangar and settled down.
All hands disembarked, and pats on the back to Koa and Jasmine came from Reggie and Persia respectively, "You two didn't do half bad!" Reggie gave a smirk.
"Right, but now it's our turn," Persia nodded.
"Correct, but now the search and sweep begins. Team KOLD, your mission will be to investigate the science wing, take note of everything you can, when you find an operational terminal, upload a drive and take every document from their systems. Team MPRL, you're doing the same, but in the command wing. Meanwhile, Mr Stone, Miss Midnight, we shall defend the ship," Sapphire said.
"Understood, also, I shall leave Snowfall with you guys, she can relay messages directly to Lilo, which will be easier than scroll comms, we can then send stuff back through the scrolls," Koa said.
"Nice idea, you hear that Snowy? You're playing defence this time. Shadow, you'll be our forward scout," Lilo gave a thumbs up. Both wolves barked with reply.
"Wish we had a cool canine companion like that, Reggie will work just fine though," Mari said.
"Well, I'm sorry for not being a wolf," Reggie replied.
"Alright guys, good luck," Sapphire reminded them. Both teams took off into the hallways at speed.
Things were just getting started.
Koa: So far so good.
Lilo: Not bad, I see you followed the rule of season 1, whenever a new character was introduced, they always got some extended screen time to show what they could do.
Onyx: Which means that the rest of Team MPRL will get their turns soon also, and so will your mother.
Koa: Yeah, she's gonna impress, mom trained me in most of my hand to hand skills, she's a great teacher and an even better fighter.
Marcus: I pity whoever she faces then.
Koa: Whoa, what the?! Who are you?
Marcus: The author, who else? But believe me, everyone will get their chance to shine before the mission is over.
All: Next time: Hands On Experience!