I'll probably introduce some of the Trials of Osiris weapons sometimes, considering half of them aren't very special. Still looking for that QD Astral Horizon though.
And about Bumblebee. It's a ship that I'm pretty sure people don't like due to the fact that it's just there and doesn't really advance much other than some cutesy scenes and some cool synergy between Yang and Blake (so far at least). It might happen in this story and if it does it would probably be a bit more subtle (some small lines here and there, minor details, etc.) and impactful (e.g one would take an irrational/selfish/boneheaded decision for the other). Still on the fence because I think it's a pairing that could do very well if used properly.
Also a note on Lisbon-13: He will obviously not be a perfect character and I intend to take him through a darker route.
A flash of white, and a whoosh of air. Lisbon's feet land against metal scaffolding.
"G-G…Guh…" He looks down to his chest and hits it a few times with the side of his fist. "G-G..."
"I'll get working on that," Ghost says sheepishly. "Sorry, still struggle with the voice box sometimes." He starts blasting Lisbon with beams of Light.
"Appreciate it. Is Blake going to the waterfall?" Lisbon dusts his shoulders and pats his lower half, making sure it was still there. "That should be the only place in reasonable distance that fits in the descriptor of 'open area' right?"
"I'm tracking your Scroll's position. She's almost there. You better get moving, I asked Sagira for Osiris' Sparrow. She said to keep it in one piece." Lisbon hops over the railing, facing the direction of the new waypoint in the form of a white diamond on his HUD. He uses his double-jump to break his fall and meets the ground without so much as an impact.
"Psh, that'll be easy. I was good at SRL." Lisbon rolls his shoulders and looks down at the bog-standard dark-grey Sparrow.
"You won your first race. You didn't play anymore to eh-hem, 'keep the one-hundred percent win rate.'" Ghost can't contain the unimpressed tone.
"Whatever, the race I did win was great, though," Lisbon says as he climbs on the Sparrow. His hands grip the handlebars in front and his feet insert themselves into the slots where the accelerators sit. "Now…time to find out if I was decent at clearing a forested area."
"This isn't your Sparrow, might I remind. This is Osiris' if I wasn't clear enough."
"Oh, I am aware." Lisbon revs the engine and puts the Sparrow into turbo boost, blasting down the spruce forest. He speeds past branches, bushes and general small forestry without any trouble, the floating vehicle crushing or breaking through without a hitch.
"Good grief, you are impossible sometimes."
Lisbon ignores the declaration and focuses his attention on not wrecking his only mode of transportation to potentially save Blake from that Adam creep. The Hunter isn't sure if she would win a fight alone against the blindfolded swordsman, which makes him somewhat anxious that he left her alone.
He off-handedly wonders of how she would react when he would eventually show himself again.
The dull yet powerful whirring of the Sparrow's engine, untuned and most likely still fresh out of the factory, soothes Lisbon. He plans his approach. Ghost puts up a map of the waterfall area, with a flashing dot indicating Blake's position, which is rapidly approaching. There is a natural archway bridge in front of the waterfall, about the size of an open field and with the same amount of barriers at one. If someone wasn't careful enough, they would fall into the rapids below. Lisbon suspects that area would be where Blake would go to, and maps a route to the vantage point above the waterfall. It would buy him a few shots of Omniscient Eye that could help weaken Adam, but that's about it. He knows he would have to go back down there to fight the man one-on-one, again.
This time, Lisbon won't lose. Adam is obviously the superior close quarters combatant, so Lisbon would try to avoid such an encounter. He'll rely on his Golden Gun but if things get too intimate to his liking, he'll use his Arc staff to push back and create distance.
It won't be the stronger fighter that'll win this round. Lisbon has full intentions to use whatever is necessary to incapacitate before a fight even starts, even if it would be cruel or dirty. He'll make sure that Adam is crawling and begging for mercy before even having a chance to draw his sword.
Lisbon deviates to a path that goes up a steep hill, making him force the accelerator to push out as much power as it can, while at the same time keeping an eye on Blake's Aura meter. Omniscient Eye materializes on his back and he leans his body to the side, parking the Sparrow in the same direction that the stream before the waterfall flows.
"Patch me in," Lisbon says as he disembarks and unshoulders his sniper rifle. He crouches on top of a bit of rock that splits the water stream in two.
He scopes in, and lines up his first shot.
/
Blake heard the high-pitched whine in the background. She changed her fighting style to be a lot more reactive, giving Adam tons of space to do his work, in the hopes that either Saint-14 or Yang would come on down from above.
She was hopeful for one of the two but at this point she would take just about anyone that could help her fend off this lovesick madman.
Blake sheathes her enemy's sword into her own, holding it in her other hand while she pushes off of her other foot to flip and then kicking off on Adam's back, sending him stumbling in the opposite direction. She jumps up, twisting and twirling her body while using her shadows to dodge a few shells of Blush.
Whoever this person was, they were taking a lot of time to make their move. Blake hesitates to rush back in, worrying about the potential of being caught in an area of effect attack. It would take her and Adam out at the same time. She shakes the thought from her mind as she flies towards him, slashing Gambol Shroud against his shotgun before conjuring one of her shadows for him to shoot while she attacks him from ground-level. Adam takes a few steps back, firing Blush twice while she pushes forward, repelling his attack with two well-timed parries, one with her sword and the other with his. Blake lunges at him and her face meets a boot, which she answers by flipping backwards, creating another shadow suspended mid-air and upside down, which he attacks. The temporary distraction allows her to regain her footing a few feet away from him.
She pushes off her right leg to gain airtime and twirls to try for a dropkick which Adam reacts to by blocking with Blush. Using it as a platform, Blake twists her body, conjures another shadow and tries to flip over behind him but Adam cuts her off with a hit to her leg, making her stumble to the floor. Barely having time to recover, Blake raises Gambol Shroud horizontally with one hand, blocking Adam's rifle that's held perpendicular against it, while her other hand is held in place.
"I wouldn't have to be doing this if you'd just behave!" Adam yells, leaning into her and closing an uncomfortable amount of distance between their faces. Blake struggles to hold against his strength and her arms are pushed outwards. In a second, Wilt is suddenly free and Gambol Shroud's scabbard is discarded to the waters below.
In the moment Blake registers what happened, a hilt crashes into the side of her head, sending her tumbling to the ground. A high-pitched ringing takes over her hearing. She quickly scrambles to her feet just in time to protect herself from getting cut in two. His hard swing sends her down again.
"But you're selfish!" Adam steps to her body and swings again.
She weakly raises Gambol Shroud and barely blocks again.
"You're a coward!"
Panting and worn out, Blake holds herself on all fours.
"You're delusional," she snaps.
Adam steps closer again. Blake turns onto her back, looking up at the sociopathic blindfolded stalker that is Adam Taurus.
He points Wilt at a scar on the lower left side of her stomach, just above her hip. He exhales and lets out a vicious snarl as he charges up another strike. It goes for her sword, breaking it in half and sending the two pieces to the edge of the area.
There is a moment of tense silence, save for the dull rushing of the waterfall to their left.
The possibility of someone helping her out is quickly fading from her mind, and she's beginning to accept her own demise.
At least she will die doing something for others.
Adam slips off the black piece of cloth covering his eyes, revealing an SDC brandmark on his left eye that seems to have melted it shut. The right one looks at Blake angrily. The vitriolic hate that she had once seen as justice is still present, and it makes her spine freeze staring into it.
Funny how things have changed so much. Would she have thought the same of him if he hadn't chased her across Anima? Hadn't been involved at Beacon? Maybe.
"People hurt me long before we met." Adam chuckles, a sad smile forming on him. "All sorts of people, in all sorts of way."
"But no one hurt me quite like you-"
Several high-pitched pews from what sounds like a laser gun come from above the waterfall. Blake snaps her head in that direction to see a red glare firing on Adam. She counts six impacts before a whoosh of air and someone landing next to her.
A hooded figure stands beside her, wearing saggy and loose fitting pants that have a tacky purple-to-violet gradient color scheme.
The relief that washed over her turns into confusion as she somehow recognizes this person, despite their face being completely obscured in shadow. They glance over to her, regarding her with two glowing pink irises that allows her to make the connection in her head.
Something isn't right.
It couldn't be him, could it? She just saw him get sliced in half!
"Lisbon?" Blake mutters as the hooded figure summons a flaming six-shooter revolver in its hand. "How?"
"You again?" Adam nearly spits as he blocks a golden bullet with Wilt, his feet grinding against the floor as the sheer power of it knocks him back a few inches.
Lisbon sighs, a small smirk forming on his metal face. He snorts, and takes off his hood, revealing his nearly scratch-free face. "Adam, I want to thank you. You settled a few things in my mind. A few uncertainties about my past."
"I'll cut it short, what you're doing is teaching me what would happen if I don't let go." Lisbon snorts. "You're batshit insane, is what I'm trying to say."
"Wha-" Adam is cut off as he's fired upon by several more molten rounds of that flaming revolver.
"So let's dance, we need to get even. Blake, stand back, catch your breath. Whenever you're ready, you can get involved." Lisbon tosses the broken Gambol Shroud to her before throwing himself into the fight.
/
Lisbon rolls, sending out a pulse wave that should disorient Adam for a few seconds, thanks to the Gemini Jester pants he had Ghost dig out of the dusty parts of his mind.
It works and Adam shakes his head to presumably clear himself of the blinding and nauseating effect the pulse sends out to its victims. Lisbon moves in from behind. He dashes behind the branded Faunus, letting loose three Golden Gun shots that make the three points of a triangle into Adam's back. Adam stumbles forward.
"Adam, the more I learn about your obsession with Blake, the more it makes me think about myself," Lisbon says, letting Adam regain his footing. "You're obviously angry, and disillusioned. You're trying to right her wrongs, huh? You think she's the problem, right?"
"You don't even know the start of it…" Adam mumbles before jumping into the air, slightly unsheathing his sword from its scabbard. The Hunter side steps, sending out another pulse wave that disorients the Faunus. He throws down an exploding throwing knife around where Adam would land, blowing it up as he does and kicking up dust that obscures him for a second.
"Partners in crime, huh? I used to have someone like that," Lisbon muses, twirling the Golden Gun in his hand as he waits.
"How do you even…?" Adam bats at the air to disperse the dust cloud covering his body, emerging from the dirt-colored mass angrier than before.
"Don't worry, I was in that position too. My friends went down a path I didn't like, and just like you, I chased them down to stop them." Lisbon pauses, and he observes Adam letting up a bit, his weapon faltering. "The difference between our stories is that I succeeded, while here, you won't, no matter how you take my little speech. I thought it was cathartic, but in the end, I felt nothing. I had achieved my goal, did I not?"
"I chased down my two closest friends, one of them my lover. Their names were Rekkana and Yardarm. They stuck through with me thick and thin, I would do anything just to have another chance to make things right. I'm sure that somewhere deep inside you, maybe it's your heart, or your brain, that you want to maybe work things out with Blake."
The story isn't entirely true, but the real one wouldn't have fit the situation. The alteration is necessary for this gambit to work out.
Even if it burns a hole in his own self.
"I'm telling you right now, what you're doing, you won't find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or whatever it is you're trying to find." Lisbon lowers his own gun, making it disappear and showing his palms to Adam. "I want to help you, because I hate having to see someone else experience the same thing I did. Either that, or I blow your brains out right here and you die with pointless anger and go down in history as an obsessed psycho who abandoned his cause to chase down an ex-girlfriend."
Another technical lie, but whatever it takes.
Adam remains silent, looking at him with suspicion in his one eye. His sword stays somewhat at the ready, but the hand grabbing it is slightly shaking.
"Put down the sword, and let's talk. Think about something else than Blake, right?" Lisbon tries to sound as soft as possible, making sure his words can't be interpreted any other way than friendly. He watches his pronunciation, deliberately slowing down his speech and keeping him clear.
"That would…"
"Be good, right? I'm gonna take a few steps closer, okay?" With his hands raised, Lisbon walks towards Adam, his steps deliberate and slow. His eyes flicker to Blake, who seems to understand his unsaid message.
She slowly stands up, holding the hilt of her sword with both hands. Her feet as light as the air around them, she makes her way to behind Adam.
Adam, on the other hand, seems to be stuck at a crossroads in his mind.
Lisbon is still wary in his approach. Ghost transmats his knife—a longer version of an old gut knife that is standard with all Hunters—into his sleeve, ready to slide down into his hand.
Now maybe a couple feet away from Adam, Lisbon reaches out one hand, intent on grabbing Adam's own. Like his steps, he's slow, making sure to keep all his actions visible.
"Be foolish." Adam chuckles before drawing his sword and driving it through Lisbon's stomach.
Lisbon winces and grumbles. "Blake...!"
A jagged edge is driven through Adam's chest, soaked in the dark red substance as it pops through.
Adam sucks in a breath. His hands tense and start shaking uncontrollably. He looks down to the broken sword poking through his chest, his eye wide and his body still.
Blake pulls back her blade and drives it through again, making Adam wheeze in agony.
Lisbon pulls himself back, a red sword still in his abdomen. The weapon pulses red.
Flesh squelches again as Blake continues to repeatedly impale Adam. His body collapses, and she doesn't stop. Blood splatters, little dots of red covering Blake's body as she keeps going.
Ghost gets started on fixing Lisbon's wound while he looks on the carnage that Blake is doing to Adam's torso.
"B-bl…" His voice box fizzes out. Ghost peppers him with scans and transmats the sword away before beginning repairs on Lisbon.
He watches on in stunned silence as Blake cries into Adam's mangled corpse.
"It's finally over…" she sobs, dropping Gambol Shroud. It clinks against the floor before resting.
"Blake…" Lisbon reaches his hand out to her shoulder, in an attempt to console her.
"Don't. Don't touch me." She snaps her head up, the fury of a hundred Cabal flaring through her eyes.
Lisbon backs off, and takes another step to emphasize. "Okay," he says, his voice barely audible. He turns.
A pause.
"I'll…er, be back with the Sparrow."
. . .
Lisbon takes his time to ferry the Sparrow down to Blake, wanting to give her time to think about things. He's glad this entire Adam thing is done with now. One less obstruction to the general cause.
He leans on the side of the Sparrow, looking at Blake who's standing atop Adam's body, her slightly sunken face still bloodied.
"I hope you rot..." She mumbles, barely audible to even Lisbon.
"You ready?" Lisbon asks, crossing his arms and taking his spot on the driver's seat. Blake quietly nods and sits behind him. "Let's go." He breathes in, exhales, and speeds off into the forest, back towards the marked pick-up point on his HUD.
A few minutes of driving pass, the sound of the Sparrow's engine being the only thing accompanying him as Blake seems to be elsewhere.
"What you said to Adam, was it true?" She asks, breaking the silence.
Lisbon bites his tongue, to delay himself from answering. His mind goes over his answer, and he exhales. "Not all of it," he says.
"Rekkana, and Yardarm, were they real?" She asks, her voice hesitant. She knows she's treading on thin ice right now.
"Yes, those two were real." A lump forms in Lisbon's throat. "I'm glad you took Adam out before I could continue."
"I…I guess we all have sore spots, huh?" Blake says, her voice low. "Did you think you could actually convince him?"
Lisbon pauses. "Yes," he lies. "I thought I could."
"About the communications tower…" Blake's voice drops off. "Actually, never mind. I'll ask you later."
"No, no, it's fine, go ahead." Lisbon braces himself for the question. She knows he died. "I know you're confused about it."
"I…I saw you get…cut in half, how are you…you know, here?"
"Funny thing, I got cut in half, heh…" Lisbon goes silent. Is this the time to be truthful? "I…can rebuild myself. It's a feature, you could say. As long as half my heart is intact, my buddy can put me back together."
"I…see." She doesn't sound too convinced. Does she think he died?
He doesn't check to see if she buys the explanation. It'll hold for now.
/
"Lisbon here, Blake and I are safe. We're on our way back, ETA a couple of minutes. Please hold." Lisbon's voice is a relief to Osiris, who lets out a pent-up breath.
"Understood, do make your way back quickly Lisbon," Osiris says.
"The pilot will hold for a few minutes, if they aren't back by then, we are leaving without them," Saint says, stepping out from the cargo hold of the ship he's using to help them.
The pilot, a disheveled and scratchily bearded man pokes his head out. "Da 'ell 'ave you guys done to the place, bloody pilots are scramblin' everywhere!"
Qrow pipes in. "To buy you your time, we've had to…er, throw the military off."
"Er…alright," the pilot says, unconvinced. "Causin' quite the stir, though. Ya sure we won't run into any…"
The ground shakes.
"Spoke to soon 'aven't I."
"Guys…" Jaune says, his voice trembling. "Big Grimm…" The blonde boy points to a monster similar to ones seen in Golden Age movies advancing upon Argus. It's a long-snouted Grimm, it's head looking like a dolphin's. Typical with any Grimm, it has an entirely black body with osseous armor strung along strategically, protecting its claws, torso and face. It has gills down its back with several spikes that protrude down its arched spine. A shockwave pulsates through the airs as it screeches into the bright blue sky.
"Holy…we have to do something!" Ruby exclaims. "How long until we can get in the air?"
"Ruby slow down. This is our chance to escape to Atlas, we have to use the chaos this creates in order to make our escape," Osiris says. "Its opposition seems to be ready for it."
"Besides," Sagira buts in. "Argus' defense system has dealt with this Grimm before. Just wait a few minutes."
The boot island quite literally splits into two, like a shell that is cut down the center and split apart as a two-armed and two-legged mech steps out. It sports one massive cannon on one arm while the other seems to be a giant, mechanical hand. It is thin towards the midsection, only having an armored metal spine that supports a thick head and heavily armored legs. There is a tinted-glass window shaped like a sideways bracket on the front, obscuring anyone from looking inside.
"All airborne units, converge on my position, maintain holding pattern echo-echo-two." Cordovin's voice pierces through the radio. "All current non-military airborne vehicles, please make an emergency landing at the nearest pad, you will be treated as hostile if you are still in our airspace."
The Atlas ships make a full turn, speeding towards the piloted mech that seems to be operated by Caroline Cordovin herself.
"'Oly shit mates. We cross that thing and we're good as dead," the pilot says. "We gotta go, while it's distracted by da giant fookin' Grimm."
"No, I think we can do something about this!" Ruby says. "It's still far from the giant robot, we can get in there before it gets close to Argus!"
"What? Ruby, are you crazy!?" Qrow says. "This is our chance to get to Atlas!"
"The Atlas ships are getting shredded by the Grimm, we're not sure if Cordovin can hold against that giant thing, we have to do something! I have a plan, you have to trust me!"
Osiris taps his foot, shuts his eyes and hums in thought, before shaking his head. "Now is not the time for heroics, Ruby. This is only a realistic take, we won't-"
"Nonsense, Osiris." Saint steps in. "Hear her out. I want to see what our little ball of Light can do."
Osiris exhales in annoyance. "Saint, we briefed her about this very recently. I'm not sure if it would be prudent to-"
"I understand the risks, but you have to trust me, friend," Saint says, turning to the giant Grimm that's currently decimating the blue translucent barriers that are setup in perimeters out in the ocean. "Ruby is an excellent strategist. If the monster fights the robot, there is bound to be damage to Argus. It will put innocents in harm's way." He nods approvingly to Ruby, who blushes slightly and starts mumbling brush-offs.
"This isn't our fight-"
"Every fight that puts innocents in danger is my fight, and I am sure that it is for a good amount of us!" Saint turns towards Ruby, who nods to him, then towards her friends.
Osiris scoffs. "Fine, we only have one try at this. If it doesn't work, we are leaving, understood?"
"I can accept that," Saint rumbles. "Tell Lisbon to hurry up, we have to be in the airs soon."
The dull whine of a Sparrow engine hums in the distance. "Lisbon here, we're close. ETA a couple of seconds."
"Did you wreck the Sparrow?" Sagira quips.
"No. It's safe."
I'm drafting up concepts of RWBY weapons enhanced with Destiny weapons, and giving exotics to certain characters. So far, I have:
Gambol Shroud + Devil's Ruin
Crescent Rose + Revoker and maybe give her Kill Clip
Yang + Dunemarchers
Magnhild + The Colony
Harriet + Synthoceps
Open to suggestions. These should prepare the RWBY characters for a vexing enemy.
Edit: Whew! Went through the last 12 chapters! Now onto actually writing! Also, I'm beginning the drafting of a more traditional crossover starring Felwinter only, starting around end of Season 2, mid-Season 3. If you want to help or suggest any ideas, don't be afraid to send a message (except for any pairing requests, that's up to me).