WEEEEEEEEELLLL HELLLOOOOOOOOOOO!
How is this wonderful place we call fanfiction? Good? Awesome. Some of you may notice I'm back earlier than I had said I would be, since I said I'd have to take a two year leave. Well it's been ten months, and here I am. What happened? Surgery... surgery happened. Cut my service time a little short. I'll be back out there eventually, probably in two or three months, but until then, I will be writing chapters as quickly and as best I can. Hopefully you all enjoy them and they can satisfy your little hearts. As you'll notice, I replaced chapter Eleven with a different chapter. That's because I hated that last chapter. Too cheesy. Too easy. So, I fixed. The issues between Team RWBY and Bryce are not yet resolved, and neither is quite willing to back down just yet. Or so it seems. Anyways, before we jump into chapter, shout outs to the new peeps who've joined the crew!
Hammersamatom, rosariorwbyfan, and Omega97 (thanks for the PM so quickly by the way. I really appreciate feedback)
To all those who are reading, please leave a review, and favorite and follow if you like the story. Tell me what you think, what you'd like to see be fixed if, or maybe a request to pay me to do this ! :D. Yeah, don't feel inclined to do that last one, I'd feel bad. So without further ado, ONTO THE CHAPTER!
Chapter Twelve: Paradigm Shift
The arenas were a popular place for students to practice. They were free from the interruption of others, designed to allow all sorts of scenarios and set ups, and a great place to fight and train without running the risk of damaging something important. And, if you really knew what you were doing, you could keep out anyone you didn't want coming in to watch. Bryce knew what he was doing, to say the least. Which lead him to being able to arrange a private practice in the arena for Jaune so both he and Pyrrha could help him grow.
"C'mon, Jaune, don't stop." Bryce said as watched Pyrrha parry Jaune's strikes. "Let the energy run through your body. Don't limit it to your arm."
"I'm, *grunt*, trying!" Jaune yelled as he blocked Pyrrha's attacks. "It's not *grunt* easy."
"It's just like using your aura. You should be good at this."
"Didn't we talk about this before?" Jaune yelled back.
"Focus, Jaune," Pyrrha said as she spun, before kicking Jaune's shield from his hands. Before he could recover, Pyrrha finished the spin by whacking his sword out of his hands with her spear. With the tip of her weapon at his throat, Jaune raised his hands in surrender.
"Alright, that's enough. We'll stop there for a second." Bryce said as he walked down from the stands. "Jaune, come here."
Jaune slowly put his hands down, and slowly walked over to where Bryce stood at the edge of the arena. "I'm trying to get this, but I just can't. I'm sorry. You're just wasting your time trying to teach me." Jaune looked down at his hands "I'm a waste of a huntsman."
"You're right Jaune, you're not a huntsman." Jaune felt his heart plummet and Pyrrha stepped forward, ready to defend Jaune before Bryce continued. "You're a huntsman in training. If you were as good as I was or as Pyrrha was, we'd be a little bit jealous. We had to work for our skill, and so do you. We don't get good overnight. It takes time and serious dedication. And I know you have both. Plus," Bryce smiled as he put a hand on Jaune's shoulder, "You are growing way faster than some others might. You already have the basic practices down to a science. Now you just need to mix it with the power you've been given before you can really take off."
"You really think so?"
"Absolutely," Bryce smiled, "Ask Pyrrha if you don't believe me." Jaune looked to Pyrrha. Rather than answer immediately, she walked over to him and hugged him.
"Jaune, you're an amazing leader. Your intelligent, your devoted, and you're really trying to better yourself. The fact that you don't want to be a hindrance to your team speaks volumes of you as a person." Stepping back, Pyrrha put a hand on her hip, "However, if you keep thinking your not getting better or are slowing us down, I may have to hurt you."
"Heh, I, uh, won't do that anymore. Promise. Scouts honor." Satisfied, Pyrrha smiled and went to retrieve Crocea Mors with her semblance, only to have Bryce stop her.
"Let's wait on more combat training." He said. "Jaune, I want you to start your Aura Eyes." Nodding, Jaune closed his eyes and began to focus.
"Aura Eyes," Pyrrha asked. "I don't remember that."
"It's something I've asked Jaune to develop privately. It allows him to see aura and other energies and follow the flow of it," Bryce explained as a small wave of power pulsed around Jaune. As he opened his eyes, they were glowing, with traces of gold flowing around his eyes.
"Okay, I'm ready."
"Good. Now, I want you to look at my soul and follow the flow of energy to the source. Can you do that?"
"I think so." Jaune said. "It may take me a bit." Focusing in on Bryce's soul, Jaune looked around the blue and black soul and tried to find where Bryce's power flowed from. It took five minutes of silent searching before he found it.
"Okay, I got it. What now?"
"I want you to follow the energy. See what it does." Bryce said. Once Jaune nodded, Bryce sent the energy flowing throughout his entire body. Jaune watched as the energy flowed to his heart before it broke into several pieces and flowed into each of Bryce's body parts. As the energy continued to flow into Bryce's heart, it repeatedly broke into pieces before heading to the rest of the body.
"Woah." Jaune watched in silent awe at the level of control Bryce had over his power. He felt so weak compared to him. As Bryce stopped the flow of energy, he took a deep breath.
"Jaune, what are you thinking right now?" Jaune realized he'd been thinking of himself negatively and that was bad. Seeing him tense up and his eyes fade, Pyrrha pulled Jaune's shield over before hitting him on the head with it.
"Ow! Pyrrha, why? That hurt."
"I should hope so. I just told you not to think badly about yourself. Bryce has had years of practice with his power. You shouldn't compare yourself to him, compare yourself to how you were before." Pyrrha huffed in frustration. Jaune could see the wisdom in the idea. He also had a small piece of him notice how cute Pyrrha was when she was frustrated.
"Okay. I get it. I won't do it anymore. Probably." Pyrrha lifted the shield again. "Definitely won't do it again, I swear!" Pyrrha lowered the shield, smiling as she did so. Jaune turned back to Bryce.
"So why'd you have me see that? Not that it wasn't cool, but what's the point?"
"What did I do with my energy?"
"You sent it to your heart."
"Okay, what happened after that?"
"It broke apart and spread through the rest of your body."
"Exactly. Why would I do that?"
"I…" Jaune paused as he tried to think of an answer. "I honestly don't know."
"To properly imbue yourself with power and strength, the energy needs to be equally spread all throughout your body. And that's what you're struggling with right now. Spreading it throughout your entire body. You generally only send it to one or two limbs, as if it were a track all your energy has to follow. It doesn't need to work like that, in fact it won't successfully work like that. You have to spread it out."
"So what does my heart have to do with this?"
"Well, what does your heart do?"
Jaune thought for a second before answering. "It pumps blood throughout… the… body. I see, now."
"Good. It's easiest to manipulate your energy if you use your body to help you out. On top of that, the image of sending it to your heart and it distributing it all equally is a good way to start practicing instinctively using creation energy to enhance yourself. Clear?"
"Crystal."
"Alright, let's work on that for now. Middle of the arena." Jaune nodded, before he went and stood out in the middle of the arena. As Jaune stood, focusing, Pyrrha walked closer to talk to Bryce.
"So… team RWBY talked to us about your conversation with them." Pyrrha said. Bryce let out a sigh, before looking down at the ground. He leaned against the railing leading into the arena before he spoke.
"What'd they tell you?"
"Weiss informed me of how the entire conversation went after Blake and Yang ranted rather passionately."
"Huh… well, you wouldn't have brought it up if you didn't have something to add. So let's hear it."
"Actually," Pyrrha smiled, "I don't have much to add. I only mention it because I want you to know team JNPR still stands by your side. Jaune pulled us all aside and made sure we wouldn't distance ourselves from you." Pyrrha smiled as she looked at Jaune. "He really does think the best of you. You've helped him so much, and I want to thank you for that."
"No need to thank me. I was just doing what others did for me." Bryce smiled, looking from Pyrrha to Jaune. "I'm the one that should be thanking you for telling me that. I needed that."
"Well, I also wanted to thank you for your help with Jaune during Cardin's bullying. As well as whatever you said to him recently. He came up to Jaune and apologized for not being a good huntsman and for fighting the wrong people. It honestly was very relieving to see."
"Aha!" Jaune suddenly cried out in joy. Looking over, Bryce and Pyrrha watched as a white mist swirled around Jaune as he dashed across the arena faster than he ever could've before.
"I got it!" Jaune yelled as he jumped up in the air, flying up thirty feet before tumbling to the ground.
"Good job, Jaune. Now." Bryce grinned as he pulled out Alpha. "Think you can maintain that?"
"Wait, what? Are you serious?" Jaune said, horror gripping his heart for a brief moment.
"One hundred percent. Now," Bryce grinned as his own energy flowed through his body, "Start running."
…
"Yang, please tell me you and Blake are joking." Weiss said as she stared at her two teammates in shock.
"No, Weiss, we're serious." Yang said, putting her hands on her hips.
"And how exactly did you come to this decision? Because, forgive me, but this is insane!"
"I don't see a problem with it."
"Ruby!"
"What? It'd be a good chance to help Blake. And take our minds off the… other thing that Blake and Yang are still mad about." Ruby looked to Yang and Blake briefly judging their levels of anger.
"Bryce. The 'other thing's' name is Bryce." Weiss said, before rubbing her forehead with one hand. "I still don't see how finding out what the White Fang are doing is a good idea."
"Weiss," Blake said, "You don't know the White Fang like I do. This can't be the only reason they're in the city. And there's no way they would normally be working for Roman Torchwick. Something is wrong and we need to find out what."
"I hate to break this to you Blake, but your track record for fighting the White Fang is not helping your case." Weiss crossed her arms.
"I don't care. The police aren't doing anything about it, and this isn't something we can just let continue. We're supposed to be huntresses. We can do this the right way. How can we sit around and not do anything?"
"Oh, I can think of multiple reasons why we shouldn't." Weiss argued. Seeing that none of her team was going to move on this issue, Weiss sighed in frustration.
"Fine. I can go to the CCT and check if my father has any files that could help us."
"Yeah! Team RWBY's first mission!" Ruby jumped up and down in excitement. "We gotta plan this out. Let me grab my…" Ruby turned to her desk only to see that the notebook she had planned on grabbing was no longer there. "I forgot it in the library."
"We're doomed." Weiss groaned.
"Hold on, I'll be right back." Ruby charged out the door. Yang and Weiss silently watched her go. Blake looked at the ground.
"How's she holding up?" Blake asked Weiss. "She hasn't really talked with us much after the argument."
"Not well, honestly." Weiss said. "She's not sure what to think or do about the situation with Bryce."
"Avoid him. That's what she should do." Yang huffed. "He's a jerk."
"That's exactly the problem. She doesn't want to stay away from him. She wants to help him. But she also doesn't know how to help him. She doesn't even have her own stance on the situation. She's conflicted." Weiss sighed. "I wish I could help her, but I'm not sure what to say. She sees Bryce as a hero, yet this… this goes against her ideals."
"She needs to make a decision." Both Weiss and Yang nodded.
"Agreed. I just hope it's soon."
…
Ruby was frantically running through the library. She could've sworn she left her notebook by they gametables, but it wasn't there. Maybe by the documentaries? Hopefully not, she always fell asleep just reading the long titles.
As she was wildly searching, she stopped suddenly when a familiar flash of red and black appeared in the corner of her eye. Looking over, she saw Cardin sitting at one of the more secluded tables near the back of the library. On the table was her notebook.
"Hey, that's my notebook!" Ruby yelled, before realizing what a terrible idea it was to let him know she was there. Cardin looked over to her and smiled. However, it wasn't like how he normally smiled, vicious and cruel. No, it was sad and… something else Ruby couldn't exactly place.
"Oh, sup Red. Figured you'd come looking for this and I, uh, didn't know how to get you away from the rest of your team." When Ruby leaned back, ready to fight, Cardin quickly raised his hands in surrender. "To talk, to talk. I swear it was just to talk." Ruby lowered her stance but didn't relax.
"About what exactly? I'm still not very happy with you because of how you treated Jaune and Velvet."
"I know," Cardin said. "And I've told them I'm sorry and I'm working on make resti- restu-"
"Restitution."
"Thanks. I have trouble saying larger words ever since… never mind, it doesn't matter. Anyway, I heard about the fight you guys had with Bryce."
"How'd you hear about that?" Ruby asked cautiously.
"Well," Cardin said, as he reaches into his pocket. "I, uh, honestly was going to try and get back at him. So I followed him with an audio recorder, hoping to find something he'd say against him. Instead, I… heard something I shouldn't have. And I think it'd be good if your team heard it as well. I think it'll change your pers- perspec-."
"Perspective?"
"Yeah, that word." Cardin handed Ruby the audio recorder. "Audio file four. I think it'd be worth your time." Cardin got up and started walking out.
"Is that it?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah," Cardin said. "I've got to go play pack-mule for team CFVY. Part of my making resti-... making up for what I did wrong."
"Oh... kay? See ya then, Cardin." Ruby shook her head. "That was a weird." Ruby grabbed her notebook and started to walk out. Only to stop and look at the audio recorder in her hand. She looked around briefly, checking to see if she was alone. Than, she turned on the device, and found audio file four.
"I hope you're right Cardin. 'Cause if this isn't worth it, a million cookies couldn't save you," she muttered as she pressed the play button.
…
"She's taking her sweet time to find that notebook," Yang said as she hung upside down from her bed.
"You would think with a speed semblance this wouldn't take as long as it is." Weiss groaned from where she was leaning against her desk, looking at her nails.
"Maybe she can't find it?" Blake suggested as she flipped the page in her book.
"I doubt that that is the issue." Weiss snorted.
"I bet she found a weapons magazine and couldn't help but look through it." Yang added as she blew a hair out of her eye, "she did that all the time at home."
"Did she always take this long?" Weiss asked.
"Sometimes."
It was then the door swung open as Ruby charged into the room, raising the notebook high into the air. "Mission Accomplished!"
"Where were you?" Ruby shrunk at the glaring eyes of Weiss.
"Oh, heh, I, uh may have ran into a.. few people." Ruby scratched the back of her head.
"A few people?" Yang said as she sat up. "How many people is a few people?"
"Oh, you know. Three… or four..."
"That's not that ba-"
"...teen." Yang's eyes bulged when she realized what the number of people Ruby had ran into actually was.
"What!?"
"I told them I was sorry? It was just one after another. First it was those kids from Haven, than it was team SLVR, than it was the weird guy from Grimmology class, and-"
"Ruby!"
"Ah!" Ruby jumped at the sudden voice from beside her. Turning, Ruby looked at the glaring figure of Weiss. "Yes Weiss?"
"You need to be more careful. As the leader and representative of this team, your conduct should always be appropriate and represent the actions and feelings of your team. Therefore, you must-"
"Okay, I get it," Ruby said, covering her ears. "I'll be more careful. Promise."
"On your cookies?" Ruby froze in horror, staring aghast at Weiss.
"Weiss, don't make me say it, please. I can't. You know I can't."
"Say it, Ruby Rose."
Ruby whimpered, grabbing her hood and pulling it over her head before she finally said, "I promise on… on my c-c-cookies I'll be more careful."
"Good." Weiss said. "Now that we have the notebook we can plan this crazy mission."
"Yeah!" Ruby shouted, her mood lifting in an instant. "Let's get started then."
…
Jaune didn't want to move. His body was in too much pain and too tired to do so. For the past few hours, Bryce and Pyrrha had worked Jaune to the bone, pushing his newly learned ability to its limits. Jaune was not only out of creation energy, but his massive aura for once was rather low. As such, he didn't have the energy to move from where he lay in the middle of the arena.
"I hate you both," Jaune said in between breaths as he tiredly glared at the grinning figure of Bryce and the peaceful image of Pyrrha on the side of the stadium.
"Hey, training isn't easy." Bryce said as he sat on the railing to the edge of the arena. Pyrrha didn't say a word, and instead giggled at the tired Jaune.
"There's a difference between difficult and monstrously impossible, and your teetering on that line."
"Really? I guess we're not pushing you hard enough if you only think we're teetering that line." Bryce shook his head. "What do you think?"
"I think if he has enough energy to make comments about training, he has enough energy to train." Pyrrha smiled wryly.
"Shutting up."
"Wise choice, Jaune." Bryce felt a buzz in his pocket. Pulling out his scroll, he saw it was a text from Ruby. Raising an eyebrow, Bryce opened up his scroll and read it before groaning in frustration.
"Did she not learn the first time?" Bryce muttered underneath his breath. Noticing the rapid change in mood, Pyrrha drew closer, and Jaune got to his feet and stumbled over to where Bryce sat.
"What's *pant* what's up?" Jaune asked. Bryce just let out a long, irritated sigh.
"Ruby just texted me. Apparently Blake convinced her team to go and figure out what the White Fang is doing. Seems like she's on a warpath to prove they can be dealt with peaceably without killing them and dealing with them herself."
"Why would she do something so dangerous just to prove a point?" Pyrrha asked. "That seems a bit extreme."
"They're under the impression they're obligated to be huntresses right now. They seem to be forgetting the "in-training" part, kind of like you did earlier today." Jaune nodded, understanding what Bryce was saying.
"So why would Ruby text you about it?" Pyrrha asked. "She normally wouldn't tell what her team is doing like this."
"It seems for once, Ruby is being the sensible one and is calling for backup. She's asking me to follow behind quietly and just make sure everyone stays safe."
"That's a good idea." Pyrrha agreed. "But couldn't we stop them before they get into trouble."
"It is too late for that, I'm afraid," Alpha said. "This text we received was from the bathroom of a bullhead carrier currently headed for downtown Vale from the academy."
"So… what, you're just gonna search the city till you find them? Didn't you try doing this before, and it take forever?"
"Why yes, it did, Jaune. However, this time we have an advantage we didn't last time." Bryce lifted up his scroll. "They all have their scrolls on them. Which means they can all can be located as long as they have service. And Downton Vale has one-hundred percent service, last I checked." Bryce hopped down and started to head towards the door. Before he exited, he turned to the two teenagers. "You wanna come help?"
…
Ruby and Weiss both stayed silent as they walked to the CCT tower. Since Sun had gone with Blake, and Yang decided to go to her contact alone, Ruby and Weiss went together. Neither knew what to say to the other, yet both of them had something they wanted to say.
Ruby looked around aimlessly as she tried to think of a way to tell Weiss what she'd learned. Weiss was probably the only one who'd listen to what was going through her head. Probably the only one she could talk to about her decision.
"So…" Weiss looked at Ruby with determined expression, "I feel like the awkward air needs to be addressed."
"What awkward air?" Ruby tried to play innocent. Weiss wasn't having it.
"Ruby, you know exactly what I mean."
"I have the right to remain silent."
"Ruby."
Ruby sighed. "It's nothing Weiss, really. Just, uh, didn't know what to talk about. Yeah, that."
"Ruby, you're a terrible liar." Weiss said, withal deadpan expression. "What's wrong. Normally you'd be ranting about the different weapons that just came out, or classes, or anything of that sort. Yet now you're as quiet as Blake, maybe even Ren."
"Woah, Weiss. No need to get dramatic."
"Fair. But even still, you've been unusually quiet. What's wrong, Ruby? As your partner, I need to know."
Ruby didn't say anything at first. It took a long moment for her to say anything. "So… I may have texted someone about our mission tonight for help."
Weiss's eyes widened in shock. "You what!"
"It wasn't a teacher, I promise." Weiss didn't answer, instead choosing to stare at Ruby, now frozen stiff.
"Weiss? Your scaring me."
"Let me… make sure I understand this correctly. You," Weiss pointed at Ruby, "realizing what we were doing was dangerous, were responsible and called for backup."
"Well… yes?"
Weiss facepalmed. "Why on Remnant did I not think of that?"
"Uh…"
"Who did you text?"
Ruby looked away and muttered a name.
"I couldn't hear that Ruby, and you know that."
Ruby looked at Weiss and started. "Jaune..."
"That's a good idea. Having team JNPR to back us up will be a-"
"And Bryce." Weiss looked at Ruby like she'd just gone crazy.
"You what?!"
"It's not a bad idea. He's got more experience than all of us combined and with his awesome weapons, there's no way we can't beat the White Fang."
"Darn tootin'." Nora agreed. Weiss responded to Ruby, barely even registering that Nora was there.
"Do you not remember why Blake wanted to do this in the first place? It's because of him she's so dead set on dealing with the White Fang in the first place."
"It's fine. It's better she learn this way that she can't do it alone with back up than doing it alone." Nora waved a hand as if were no big deal. It was about that time that Ruby and Weiss' minds caught up with reality and they nearly jumped out of their skin.
"Nora?!"
"In the flesh!" She grinned, flashing a peace sign with one hand and her hammer in the other.
"How and when did you get here?" Weiss said as she held a hand to her chest trying to calm her terrified heart.
"One minute and three seconds ago to the when. And how is simple. Bryce sent me here." Nora slammed the top of her hammer into the ground before leaning on it.
"Seriously?" Ruby asked, wide eyed. "That's so cool."
"Well, where's the rest of your team?" Weiss asked.
"Well, Pyrrha and Jaune are near Yang and Bryce and Renny are tailing Blake and that Monkey guy."
"Wow… Bryce got that organized rather quickly."
"If he could do this before, why didn't he do this when we were looking for Blake?" Weiss huffed in annoyance.
"He said something about using your scrolls to find you. I didn't pay attention, really." Nora shrugged, before kicking up her hammer so it rested on her shoulder. "So where are we going?"
"To the CCT tower. I need to get some information from my father." Weiss said.
"Cool! So why did you come with her Ruby?" Nora asked.
"Well, uh," Ruby hesitated to answer.
"She just wanted to see the tower." Weiss said.
"Hey! I'm not that childish."
"Really? Than why did you come with me." Weiss challenged. Ruby opened her mouth to answer, but couldn't think of another reason. Slowly she just glared at the ground and pouted. "I thought so."
"Alright, than to the CCT!" Nora shouted as she pointed Manglhid towards the tall building right in front of them. "Oh, hey. We're here!"
"What? How?" Weiss looked back from where she was sure they'd been to the CCT tower now in front of her and back. She knew it should've taken longer to get to the CCT tower. So how did they get here so quickly. As her mind whirled, trying to figure out how, she felt someone slip a note into her pocket. Turning to see who it was, Weiss couldn't see anyone close to her besides a very oblivious Nora and a dazed Ruby. Weiss reached into her pocket and pulled out the note before she began to read it.
You all really need to learn to move quickly. You have a mission to complete. Get to it. You're welcome for the jump by the way.
Bryce
If anyone had seen the agitated look Weiss gave the paper before crumpling it up and smashing it underneath her foot, they would've thought a demon had been let loose in her soul. Ruby didn't say a word as Weiss huffed before charging into the CCT, instead following quietly behind her with a humming Nora. She was still debating in her mind whether she should talk to Weiss about the audio file… and her decision.
"Oh," Nora stopped, before reaching into her pocket. "I almost forgot. Bryce said you might need this." Nora handed Ruby a red magazine, with an image of a black bullet that was hollow on the side. Ruby felt fear grip her heart for a moment as she looked at the ammo loaded into a magazine, before taking a deep breath and nodded, sliding the clip into her belt where she normally kept her ammo.
"Thanks, Nora."
"Nooooo problem."
"So… Weiss already went in…"
"Sure did."
"We don't need to go in there."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I mean, there's one right next to the weapons shop."
"Sign me up, let's go!"
…
"So, Yang's in here, huh?" Jaune sighed and he looked at the sign above The Club.
"It would seem so. I wonder who Yang would know that is here." Pyrrha said.
"Only one way to find out." Jaune replied, walking towards the door with purpose. As they entered into the building, they could see the hallway that actually led down to the club, which was blocked by two nervous looking guards. One of them perked up as they saw Jaune and Pyrrha approaching. Especially when he recognized who Pyrrha was.
"Hey," he said, stopping the two of them before they could enter into the club, "I'm sorry but you can't go in there."
"Why not?" Pyrrha asked innocently. Jaune could see where this was going rather quickly. And he wasn't happy about it.
"We're just here to see some friends and get a drink, dude."
"Sorry, but that's not gonna cut it," the second one joined in, catching on to what his friend was doing. "You can't go in without a pass."
"Oh, really?" Pyrrha tried to smile kindly, but she could recognize the guards intention rather easily. "And how would I get that?"
"Well, it'd take some really good hook ups or being really high up in the… less than legal world, if you know what I mean. Or," The first guy leaned towards her, "We can let you and your friend in under the table if you hang out with me and my friend her for a couple hours. Nothing crazy." He grinned as he looked at her over his sunglasses. "What do you say?"
"I can't believe I'm already breaking my promise so quickly," Jaune muttered underneath his breath.
"What was that, pretty boy?" The second sneered.
"I said back off, gentlemen." Jaune said loudly, rolling back his sleeves to reveal a tattoo on his bicep. "This is Arc official business." On his arm, just above a tattoo of a moon, was a scar left by a branding iron. On it, was a crown, next to the crescent symbols of the Arc Crest. Both men froze before immediately stepping back in terror.
"We're sorry Sir," They both replied. "We didn't mean-"
"I don't care what you meant. As long as you don't speak a word of who I am, I may let you live a day longer. Got It?" Jaune's words were venomous, a tone Pyrrha wasn't used to hearing from Jaune. She didn't like it. Yet part of her enjoyed seeing Jaune take a stand not only for himself, but for her.
"Yes Sir. We're sorry Sir."
"Good. Now let us in, and this won't reach the ears of the Tribunal." Both of them nodded, and Pyrrha and Jaune towards the doors to The Club unbothered. Pyrrha turned to Jaune before they walked in.
"What was that?" Pyrrha asked.
"Something I'd hoped I'd never have to use ever again." Jaune sighed, before giving a normal awkward Jaune smile. "I'll, uh, tell ya about it later. Promise. For now let's just say not all Arcs are Huntsmen." Pyrrha nodded.
"Okay. I expect a full explanation on that 'later' talk."
"I didn't expect otherwise." Opening the doors to The Club, the two walked in to the lively scene. People were dancing, drinks were being passed around, conversations left and right. Jaune looked at the excess amounts of alcohol and frowned.
"This just makes me sick."
"Why?" Pyrrha asked.
"You should never be willing to give up your agency to a drink." Jaune said, before pulling Pyrrha's arm. "C'mon, let's find Yang."
…
Bryce and Ren sat quietly and observed from their positions in the rafters of the White Fang rally. They'd teleported to where Blake and Sun were and found they were trying to get into a White Fang rally, using their Faunus heritage and the masks that had been distributed to hide themselves in plain sight. Knowing they wouldn't be able to do the same, Bryce and Ren found a secondary entrance through a window and stayed away from any light, to stay hidden.
Ren watched quietly as Bryce created and attached a small device to his ear, before handing one that looked exactly like it to him, pointing to Ren's own ear. Ren attached it slowly, making sure to watch carefully as the Faunus and White Fang members conversed before the meeting started. Once he did, he heard Bryce's voice, yet his mouth never moved.
'Can you hear this. Nod if you can.' Ren nodded. 'Good. This is a mental communicator. If you mentally speak into the device, or think with the intent of it being broadcast, it'll come through this device so I can hear it. Clear?'
'Yes. It is a simple concept.'
'Good. It needs to be right now,' Bryce turned from Ren to look at the figures of Blake and Sun amongst the new recruits.
'Indeed.' Ren watched quietly as a dignified looking White Fang member walked out onto the stage.
"Brothers and Sisters of the White Fang. I am glad you could join us for this meeting. Today, we have a special partner who will be talking to us. And I suggest you really listen to his words. His assistance can bring us much closer to achieving our goals. So, without further ado, I turn this meeting over to our dear partner, Roman Torchwick."
The crowd began to whisper when they heard who the new partner was. As Roman Torchwick walked onto the stage, Bryce narrowed his eyes. 'It seems he really is working with the White Fang. The only question is, why?'
'I feel we may get that answer soon.' Ren said. They both watched silently as Roman, in his normal cockshire attitude walked out onto the stage twirling his cane in one hand while the other stayed in his pocket. One of the newer members, a female deer faunus, shouted out the thoughts of many that were in the crowd.
"What's a human doing here?"
"I'm glad you asked, Deerie." Roman grinned before leaning on his cane with both hands. "Now I will be the first to admit Humans are the worst. Case in point." Roman turned to walk around the stage. "But who is it that's really causing your problems. Most of us bottom feeders have to fight to survive? No, our issue is the ones at the top. The government, the politicians, the ones calling the shots. They make all our lives miserable."
Much of the crowd began to nod in agreement, and some small shouts rose from some of the more vocal people.
'He's actually getting them to listen.' Bryce said. 'Well I'll be.'
'Can't we teleport down there and deal with him? It seems like the most logical solution.'
'The only problem is I have no idea where that bodyguard of his is. And with her ability to teleport as well, I can't risk getting seen yet.'
"These people are like the worst kind of rats. Luckily for you," Roman grinned, "I'm the best exterminator there is." Roman coughed before saying, "no offense to any rodents in the audience."
"Now the only issue that stands in our way and dealing with those nasty people at the top, is their guard dogs. The Huntsmen."
'Uh oh.'
"All these young kids, being trained to fight and kill Grimm. Most of us have no quarrel with that. I have no love for the Grimm. However, that's not the only thing their taught to fight." Roman said, pointing to a giant screen behind them. As he did, a video of the attack at the docks appeared on the screen.
'Crap. They got video of that?'
'That is rather worrisome.'
'You got that right.'
As the video showed Bryce killing the members of the White Fang, Roman said, "They're also taught to fight and kill us. The 'problems and menaces' of society. And they're good at it." Many of the members began to gasp and whisper in horror as they watched their brethren be burned to death in a horrible fashion.
'Oh no. This is bad.'
'I believe you're right on that.'
"So as you can see, there's a problem that needs to be dealt with. Luckily for you, my extermination tools work on guard dogs rather well… yet again, no offense to any dogs in the room."
"Now, what tools would that be?" Roman threw his hands out to the side, "Well, thanks to a loving donation unknowingly made by Atlas, it would be these." A curtain behind Roman dropped, revealing a large mechanized robot. The White fang members slowly began to clap as they got over their shock. Roman smiled, bowing slightly. "Yes, it's rather nice isn't it? But that's not all." Roman grinned as he began to turn his head to where Bryce and Ren were sitting. Bryce stiffened when he saw the movement.
'Time for you to go,' Bryce said as he slapped his hand on Ren's back. Before he could react, Ren suddenly disappeared from where he'd been once before. As soon as Ren was gone, a bright spotlight lit up the area where Bryce sat. When pain began to wrack his body, Bryce knew something was not right.
"We now have ways to deal with even the best of guard dogs." Roman said as he watched Bryce grimace, standing slowly from where he sat in the rafters. As Bryce struggled to stand up, he felt something prick his neck, looking, he saw a dart in his neck. And he could feel the deadly poison developed to use his species powerful energy against them invade his system.
"Well, I'm surprised you'd be so bold and stupid to come to this." Roman said. "But I guess that's good for me," Roman nodded to a now visible Neo, who was standing behind the spotlight. "You can be my first example of dealing with the guard dogs."
'Bryce, this anti-creati is going to keep causing problems unless we get rid of your creation energy.'
'I know, Alpha' Bryce thought through grit teeth. 'I'm just still trying to figure out how he got his hands on this kind of tech.'
'Worry about that later. Right now, Aura is your best chance for survival.' Bryce nodded and surged his power. The pulse that emanated from him knocked most of the scrambling and shocked White Fang to the floor. Blake and Sun both stood stock still as Bryce slowly let out a deep breath, his blue and black aura clearly surrounding his form.
"I'll admit, I'm surprised." Bryce said. "I wasn't expecting you to realize I was here."
"It's amazing what you can do with technology these days." Roman said, twirling his cane. "Especially when the new tech is attached to the new arm you have to get after someone so graciously destroyed your last one." Roman pulled back his sleeves, revealing the black and silver sheen of metal. On that arm, there was a small screen at the base of the wrist.
"Neat." Bryce said. He was still hurting from the anti-creati still in his system, and from the amount of destruction energy he was having to pour into it to purge it from his system. It was a slow process. "So, are you going to make an example of me?"
"Maybe not you, actually." Roman gestured over to where Blake and Sun still stood among the shocked crowd. "But they might do just the trick." In a flash of color, the empty space next to Blake and Sun shattered and Neo was right there, weapon already drawn.
Before anyone else could do anything, Bryce pulled his gun and yelled "Lights out! Move!"
*Boom*
The world suddenly went dark for Roman and Neo as Blake and Sun tried to rush outside. "Stop them, don't let them out!" Roman yelled as he jumped blindly into the mech. Bryce moved quickly, running to the exit he'd come in in. Blake and Sun ran out through the windows, crashing to the ground moments before the mech Roman was piloting charged right after them, through the wall.
"Call the rest of the team!" Blake yelled to Sun as she ran along the street, pumping her aura into her legs to help her run faster. "We need back up!"
"Where's Bryce," Sun yelled back as he used his tail to pull his scroll out of his pocket as he ran. Blake's expression became angry.
"I could care less where he is," She said as she ran along the street in between cars. "Just get the rest team RWBY here to help."
...
"Look, Blondie, I don't know anything." Junior said exasperatedly, "All I know is Roman came in here, borrowed some of my guys, and they never came back. I guess he wasn't happy with their performance," Junior turned to look at some of the lazier men he'd hired. "Which is something I can relate to!" Many of the grunts grumbled at the jab, but didn't say much more.
"Are you sure you don't have anything that could help?" Yang asked in frustration. She was getting nowhere quickly.
"Nothing else I can offer you besides a drink," He said, shaking his head. Yang slammed her first into the table before letting out a long sigh.
"Strawberry sunrise. No ice." Junior nodded, before heading off to get the drink. Yang sat there, trying to figure out where else she could go to find out more about Roman's recent dealings. She couldn't think of anything.
"Yang." The blond brawler looked up to see Jaune and Pyrrha approaching her. She raised an eyebrow.
"Jaune? Pyrrha? How'd you get in?"
"I have my ways," Jaune said. "The more important thing is we came to help you out."
"Well, I'm afraid you showed up a little late. There's not much we can do."
"Why do you say that?" Jaune asked.
"Because Junior here has no information about what's going on."
"She's not wrong." Junior said as he placed the drink in front of Yang, "As much as I'd love to throw Roman under a bus for all he's done to me, I've got nothing on him as of right now. He's just disappeared off the face of the underworld."
"That's rather troublesome." Pyrrha said, as she sat down next to Yang.
"Hph. You have no idea, Sparta." Yang chugged the her drink with one swift movement. Jaune stared at the drink with distaste as Yang handed it back to Junior for a second one.
"So what about the White Fang?" Junior paused in the middle of mixing Yang's drink.
"Pardon?"
"What about the White Fang? I'm sure you know something them."
"And why would you want to know about them? Cause from what I can see kid, you are not a faunus."
"It's not for that reason, Junior Marquiez." Junior froze when he heard his last name. Looking at Jaune, Junior was surprised to see a cold look present on kid face. Yang herself was also shocked to hear the sharp tone come from Jaune, one she'd never imagined he could have. "We know Roman is working with the White Fang. So what do you know about their recent actions."
Junior didn't answer at first. Instead he walked closer to where Jaune stood across the bar and stared him down. "How do you know my last name?"
Jaune didn't respond verbally, instead choosing to lift up his sleeve to reveal the tattoo he had once again. Pyrrha studied it closer this time, while Junior visibly appeared shaken. He looked from Jaune, to the tattoo, back to Jaune. After a moment, the shakiness was replaced with a wide smile.
"So you The Heir. And you're training to be a huntsman. Well isn't irony just sweet."
"Answer the question Junior."
"Calm down, kid. I'm getting there. As far as I can tell, the White Fang are preparing for war with the amount of dust their stealing. I haven't gotten much on their exact whereabouts, but I know that they've shaken every dust ring from here to Atlas."
Jaune looked down, taking a couple seconds to think, before looking back up at Junior. "Where are they operating out off?"
"My best guess? Somewhere in the docks or the nearby warehouses. They aren't keeping all that dust inside the city, that's for sure."
"See, useful information." Jaune smiled, his eyes losing the icey emotion that overtaken them for his normally bright look. Yang just sat quietly, still staring at Jaune in utter bewilderment. "Thank you, Junior. We'll take our leave, now." Jaune turned to Pyrrha and Yang. "Let's go. We don't need to be here any longer." Yang sat stiffly for a second before getting up slowly from the bar stool she sat on, following Jaune and Pyrrha as they headed for the exit of The Club.
"What the heck was that Jaune?" Yang said as she grabbed Jaune's shoulder. Jaune let out a long sigh, before continuing towards the door.
"Something I will talk about later. We've got to help the rest of your team."
"The rest of my te- no, you explain right now Jaune, or-"
"Yang." Pyrrha interrupted Yang before she could go further. "Jaune said he'd talk about it later. You're not the only one who wants to know what's going on, Yang, but we have to help your team."
Yang didn't say anything, instead choosing to let out a frustrated groan, before following Jaune and Pyrrha walk out of The Club. As they pushed open the doors leading to the outside, Yang felt her scroll begin to vibrate. She'd barely pulled it out and answered it when she heard Sun screaming on the other end of the line.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!"
"Sun? What's going on?"
"We were at the White Fang meeting and Torchwick showed up and Bryce was there, and then Torchwick attacked Bryce and that weird pink chick tried to stab us and now Roman Torchwick is inside a giant robot chasing us trying to kill us. Well, not inside it like it ate him, more like he's driving it from inside it and-"
Yang cut Sun off before he could ramble on more. "Where are you?" In that moment, the universe decided to make a hilarious visual joke as Blake and Sun ran by the exact street Jaune, Pyrrha, and Yang were by, yelling, "HELP!"
"Did he say Bryce was attacked?" Jaune asked Pyrrha. Yang let out a frustrated breath at the mention of Bryce, and hoped on her bike.
"That doesn't matter right now. Blake and Sun need our help. Bryce can worry about himself." Yang looked to Pyrrha, and motioned to the back of her bike. "Do you want to hop on? I could use the extra firepower while I'm driving."
"Gladly." Pyrrha nodded. Jaune was about to protest when Pyrrha leaned over and whispered into his ear. "Remember Bryce said he might need your help if things got out of hand. You're powers are better suited to help him than mine." Jaune nodded, before drawing his shield and running down the street, sword still inside the sheath. Yang looked to Pyrrha with a questioning gaze.
"What is going on, Pyrrha?" Yang said as Pyrrha sat down behind her.
"We can talk about it later. Right now, we need to help your team."
…
Weiss was beyond annoyed. As soon as she'd gotten into the CCT she'd been put on hold for ten minutes as some military calls were made and some random people in tags and ties called home. The call itself wasn't that noteworthy, as she'd been able to avoid a confrontation with her father. However, what was noteworthy and rather irksome was that when she'd exited the CCT, neither Nora or Ruby were anywhere to be seen. Since locating Ruby was almost always impossible thanks to the distance she could travel in a short period of time due to her semblance, she'd tried calling her. Nothing. No answer. So she was having to do exactly what Nora had said Bryce did to find them. Track Ruby's scroll so she could find her.
Weiss turned the corner that led to a rather familiar street. She'd been this way many a time on the weekends when Ruby was bored. Or whenever Ruby wanted to buy some new modification for Crescent Rose.
"Ruby Rose, if you are where I think you are I will burn your cookie stash." Weiss said through grit teeth. How dare she go and play at a time when they were supposed to be serious.
Inside the arcade, a large shiver ran down Ruby's spine, and her head shot up from the game she was playing.
"Oh no."
Nora looked at Ruby with a questioning gaze. "What's up Rubles?"
"I've made a mistake that has affected the cosmos and will bring darkness and despair to all it passes Judgement on."
"Uh… What do you mean?" Nora asked, confusion and now some nervousness included in her voice.
"I've made an error of epic proportions. And it has caused the person I have offended to threaten the very balance of my soul."
Nora was not used to the profound language coming from Ruby and it was honestly beginning to worry her. "And that would be?"
Ruby turned slowly to Nora, her face pale, before saying. "My stash of cookies had been threatened with major violence. And I fear this is an enemy I cannot defeat."
Before either one could say anything else, Ruby's phone began to ring.
Weiss pushed open the doors rather angrily. She should've known Ruby wouldn't have the patience to wait for her, but to go without saying a word? It was beyond aggravating. She'd been hoping Ruby had learned to be more responsible, and while she had in some respects, this was obviously not one of them.
As soon as she stepped into The Arcade, the front manager recognized her and recognized the frustrated expression she wore. Smiling mischievously, he pointed towards the back of the arcade.
"She's over there by the Time Crisis series."
"Thank you." Weiss tossed him her credits to enter into the arcade, even though she wasn't playing, and went straight towards the back. Multiple ideas of how she could teach Ruby her lesson popped into her mind. That is till she got to the back and saw Ruby staring at her phone, with the sounds of Sun screaming for help coming from the phone.
"Ruby?" Weiss said, her previous anger disappearing as she saw the worried expressions on their face. "What's going on?"
Ruby didn't answer the question. Instead, she extended her scroll to its larger size, and pulled up a map of Vale. Seeing the lack of a reaction from her partner, Weiss turned to Nora. "Nora, what happened."
"Sun and Blake got caught, and are being chased by Torchwick. They also said something about Bryce getting attacked." Nora stopped talking, looking at the docks where Bryce had said they'd be. "Ren was with him."
Weiss' heart began to pound for a brief second as she recognized the danger that meant Ren could be in, before she calmed down, and put her hand on Nora's shoulder.
"He'll be fine, Nora. He's a smart guy and Bryce wouldn't let him get hurt. But right now, we need to focus on how to help Blake and Sun." Weiss turned to Ruby. "Where does it say their headed?"
"Towards the center of town, closer to the highway bowl." Ruby said, pointing to two fast traveling dots on her map of Vale.
"Where can we head them off?"
"As far as I can see, near the end of the west highway is probably which road they'll take. If we head them off there, we can bring them to the empty concrete pit that hasn't been used for anything yet. It's the best place to fight ideally, especially to avoid casualties and civilian damage."
"Alright, what do you need me to do?"
"Ice Dust, right of the bridge. After that, we can get the rest of the team for team maneuvers to finish the job and… take Roman in."
In the rush of the moment, Weiss missed Ruby's slight hesitation. "Well, that sounds like a plan. Nora?" Nora saluted semi-enthusiastically, still slightly worried about Ren. "Make sure the civilians on our end of the highway stay safe and out of harm's way."
"Roger."
"Let's go. We can't let Roman escape this time." Ruby said, collapsing her scroll before putting it inside her pocket. All three girls charged outside the arcade, taking no time to say goodbye to the manager as they rushed towards the VR 55.
"Call Bryce," Ruby told Weiss as they ran. "Let him know what we're planning so he can give us back up."
Weiss nodded than started dialing the numbers for Bryce's Scroll before hitting the call button.
…
Bryce was pushing himself to the limit right now. The pain of the anti-creati poison was still lingering, and hadn't been entirely purged from his system yet. Add on to that, he was pumping himself full of the tiny amount of omni-energy he'd regained to significantly boost his abilities, it was safe to say he was pushing hard right now. Why? To make sure all the people Roman was kicking to the side in his chase after Blake and Sun didn't die.
Bryce jumped off a nearby wall to push himself high enough to grab a minivan full of kids nearly tossed over the tall buildings in downtown Vale. Once he'd grabbed the vehicle, he quickly, and as carefully as he could, set the vehicle down before moving just as quickly to destroy some large pieces of rubble from crushing a family running along the sidewalk. Back and forth, Bryce moved at a speed almost impossible for any huntsman to move at, except maybe Ruby, doing all he could to keep the civilians from getting hurt.
Further behind him, Jaune was doing exactly what Bryce had planned on. Jaune would run by those Bryce had saved, also at speeds unbeknownst to most huntsmen, and checked on them. For those that needed it, he healed them the best he could, as quickly as he could, before moving on. Between the two of them, they kept as many civilians as they could from being severely hurt or even killed during the chase.
As Bryce caught a little girl sent flying by an explosion, he felt his scroll buzz.
"Alpha, I can't get that right now. Tell whoever's calling to call back later."
"It's Ruby."
"Okay, maybe not. Can you connect the call to my chip?"
"I can. You should feel a piercing sensation once that happens."
Bryce grunted loudly as he took the hit from a Semi that had been sent flying towards a nearby building. "Just do it."
Bryce didn't hear Alpha respond, instead he just felt a sharp piercing sensation. "Sup Ruby."
"Bryce, where are you right now?"
"On Highway 220, headed for VR 55." Bryce pulled out his pistol and shot a runaway vehicle's tire to keep it from rolling of a cliff. "Why?"
"We have a plan to get Roman away from the main city so we can fight him safely."
"Alright." Bryce said as he passed off an injured man to Jaune to heal. "What do you need me to do exactly?"
"We need someone to hit him from the side to make him go over the edge. Weiss is going to cover the highway in ice so we can get his mech to lose traction. Can you do that?"
"While norm- Look out!" yelled at Jaune as a cable snapped and nearly took of Jaune's head. "While normally I would say yes, I have to ask how you plan on making sure the bridge doesn't collapse if things go south. The VR 55 isn't exactly known for being a solid bridge."
"We aren't sure. We just know the best place to head Roman off is the bridge, and we're almost positive it won't break when we do this. It's the only plan we have right now."
Bryce sighed, before punching a piece of shrapnel from a car that exploded into the ground, before motioning to Jaune to go check and see if anyone was still alive. "Alright. I'll see what I can do if things go wrong."
"Thanks, Bryce."
"Bryce!" Nora's voice now joined the call. "Where's Ren? He was with you and then Sun said something about you getting attacked."
"He's fine, Nora." Bryce assured her as he used Alpha's grappling hook to grab a falling mother and child, before pulling them back to safety. "I teleported him out of there the moment things went haywire. He's currently bringing Ozpin and Vale authorities up to speed on what's going on."
Nora let out a big sigh of relief. "Okay. That's good then."
"That should be all we need. We're ready to act as soon as Roman reaches the end of the bridge."
"Alright then." Bryce looked to where Roman was chasing after Blake and Sun, with Pyrrha and Yang following close behind, Pyrrha sending shot after shot into the armor for the Mech suit. "On your mark."
Bryce watched carefully as Weiss appeared from around a corner, using her glyphs to set up walls and protections for the surrounding vehicles. As Blake and Sun began to move to the sides of the VR 55, Weiss slammed Myrstenar into the ground, before Ice spread all across the road. As Roman' mech hit the ice, Ruby shouted "Now!"
Bryce focused the remaining part of his omni energy to fire a powerful blast from right next to Roman that sent him careening over the edge of the bridge to the ground below. However, on his way down, Roman threw one of the mech's arms into one of the supporting cables, shattering the tension and the pillar holding the cable to the bridge. The sudden force caused the ice covered part of the bridge to burst into pieces. As team RWBY and Pyrrha chased after Roman, Bryce felt panic overcome him. What could he do? There had to be something.
Jaune saw the situation before them and started grabbing civilians and moving them away from the part of the bridge that was falling apart. Nora, who was on the opposite side, began to do the same, as both sides of the shattered bridge began to break closer and closer to the next supporting pillars on either end.
"Alpha, is there anything I can do."
"..."
"Alpha I know you have something, just say it."
"You may die."
"Is that anything new? Just tell me!"
"Stop fighting the poison and use your creation energy to stabilize the collapse of the bridge. It's the only way we have right now to still maintain our identity as a huntsman in training and not draw the attention of the deities again."
"That's… that's fine by me. Just tell me what I need to do to do that." Bryce said as he reformed his falsely created Aura back into creation energy. He could feel the pain begin to rush through his system once again as the poison now found something to feed off of.
"Use the cables to pull the bridge up. It's collapsing because it doesn't have support. Until Jaune and Nora can evacuate everyone to safety, you need to become that support. It'll take all your creation energy and most of your aura to do so, but you should be able to maintain it long enough for everyone to be safe."
"Alright. Let's try it then." Bryce moved quickly, grabbing every cable he could. "Tell Nora to grab the ones on the other side and throw them to me."
"I did. She should be done 4.3 seconds after you." Once Bryce had grabbed all the cables to his side of the bridge, he called out to Jaune.
"Jaune!" Jaune looked over at Bryce.
"Yes?"
"Make sure all civilians and cars are safely behind the next pillar. I'm going to stabilize the bridge as best I can to give you guys time."
"What?! Are you sure that'll work?"
"Just trust me and do it!" Jaune simply nodded, before continuing to use his creation energy and aura to help speed him around the collapsing bridge.
"Bryce!" Bryce looked to see Nora holding the cables to the other side of the bridge. "I got the cables."
"Alright. I need you to throw them to me when I jump, got it?" Nora nodded, and prepared to throw the mass of cables to Bryce, trying to find solid balance near the collapsing edge. After a moment to compose himself, Bryce jumped off the side as Nora threw her ends to him, grabbing them all. The moment he did, he began to exert all his strength to pull all the cables tight. As he did, the bridge visible began to fall apart less quickly. Jaune and Nora got to work immediately, grabbing people as fast as they could.
Minutes felt like hours as Bryce continued to hold the bridge together. VPD and emergency personnel began to show up, and they each began to help in the effort to save people from falling of the collapsing bridge, attempting to evacuate it entirely. Many of them tried to find ways to assist Bryce, but without heavy, specialized equipment, they could do nothing. He could feel the poison eating away at his system. And while his destruction energy had almost entirely purged it, the little that was left was quite effective in reducing the amount of strength he could output because of how weak it was effectively making him.
Suddenly, Bryce heard the sound of concrete breaking below him, and the bridge shook. He could see from his limited view that Yang had been punched through on of the concrete pillars below. Looking back up, he watched as a young girl, no older than ten, was knocked off the bridge from the tremor. Losing all focus on his current task, Bryce dove after her. He tried to teleport, but the poison flowing in his blood stream had eaten too much energy to do a second jump or even fly. He had to reach her normally before he could bring her back to safety.
She was screaming. He recognized that. He really took in the details about her as he got closer. Fifty feet. She had red hair and bright brown eyes. Forty feet. She wore a pair of blue joggers and a shirt with a band name on it. Owl City as far as he could tell. Thirty feet. She had a small marks on her forearm in some form of a pattern. He wasn't sure what it meant. Twenty feet. She had a set of small bat ears poking out of her hair. Ten feet. He wasn't close enough to save her. He teleported.
…
Ruby was floundering for anything right now. They'd been able to destroy the robot Roman had been piloting rather easily due to Pyrrha's assistance, but now they were at a standoff. Roman's partner, the neapolitan girl, had followed them and had just been waiting for an opportune moment, and decided to knock out an unaware Pyrrha and take Weiss captive. With Pyrrha knocked out, no one could do anything. Both Roman and… Neo maybe, had shown they were good enough fighters to defend from their ranged attacks, and getting close would only doom Weiss.
"Well, Red, Blondie, Kitty. It's been a pleasure as always," Roman smiled, bowing slightly as he jumped onto the bullhead, with Neo among behind him, Weiss squirming in her grip. "But we 'schneed' to get going." Roman laughed as the bullhead roared to life. Ruby's mind went into overdrive. What could she do?
Ruby felt the clips in her bag shift and a weight enter her hands. Looking down she realized she had unconsciously grabbed the clip Bryce had given her. She felt her hand shake as she stared at the unforgiving black color. That is till she looked at the terrified look on Weiss' face as the bullhead began to lift on the ground. The fear that Weiss obviously felt wiped any doubt in her heart. In a practiced movement, she unloaded her regular ammo from her clip, before sliding the new clip into place and loading a shell into the chamber. Neither Blake or Yang noticed, their own worry distracting them as Ruby lifted the barrel of Crescent Rose up to the retreating bullhead, before aiming it directly at Roman. What they did notice, however, was the loud bark of her rifle as she fired a single round, aimed for Roman Torchwick's chest.
From where Neo stood, she could only watch in complete shock and horror as Roman fell to the ground of the bullhead, a gaping hole in his chest, blood covering his suit. In her shock, Neo's grip loosened enough for Weiss to slip out and jump to her team. Instead of turning after her, the pilot hit the engines and zoomed off, recognizing the danger it was to stay, especially with Roman bleeding out in the back.
As the reality of what just happened hit everyone full force, they all turned to stare at Ruby, who was having trouble keeping her breathing calm.
"Ruby." Yang tried to keep the… well, the fear and worry out of her voice as best she could. She failed miserably. "Ruby, what did you just do."
"I… I shot him. Oh Oum I shot him. But I had to. He had Weiss andIcouldn'tthinkofanythingelsetodoand-"
"Ruby." Ruby didn't look at Blake. She kept staring at the ground as her breath got faster and faster. "Ruby, breathe please, you're going to hyperventilate."
Ruby didn't listen. She kept breathing faster and faster, her face getting whiter and whiter. As her team tried to calm her down, Pyrrha began to regain consciousness.
"Ow." as Pyrrha looked up, she saw Yang and Blake talking to a panicking Ruby. "What's going on?" Pyrrha asked
"She shot Roman when he tried to kidnap me and now she's panicking." Weiss explained, "I think she's going into shock."
Pyrrha nodded, understanding the situation, before walking over to the "Here, let me try something."
Weiss motioned for Pyrrha to go ahead as she walked up to Ruby. Yang didn't move from Ruby's side as Pyrrha walked up to the red reaper. Ruby didn't seem to acknowledge Pyrrha, instead staring off into the distance, her face getting paler and her eyes more dilated as she fell deeper and deeper into her own thoughts. Pyrrha gently grabbed Ruby's head and put it to hers.
"Ruby. I need you to look at me." The sudden movement and close proximity broke Ruby's train of thought and she looked directly into green eyes. "On three, we're both going to take a deep breath in. Than, your going to hold it for three seconds, before letting it out. Okay?" Ruby nodded slowly, breathing still heavy.
"One, two, three." Both Ruby and Pyrrha took a deep breath in, waited, then let it out. "Okay, again." Both took a deep breath once again, held it, then let it all out. For two minutes Pyrrha repeated the process with Ruby till she was a normal color and her eyes weren't dilated.
"Are you feeling better now?"
Ruby nodded slowly, still taking deep breaths.
"Alright. Now the best way to calm down is talk about how you feel. Let it all out."
Ruby nodded again, before letting out one final deep breath. "I… I think… I feel… so… off. What I did… it-"
"Didn't feel right?" Blake finished. "That's what I was talking about, Ruby. It isn't right to kill someone."
"No, Blake. That's not what I'm trying to say. I feel… sad. I know what I did… and I'm terrified over it. But I… I feel like… almost like it was necessary. And I don't want it to be. But I had to. I was scared. Scared of losing Weiss. Scared of letting Roman get away. I…"
Ruby went quiet, unsure of what else to say, trying to gather her own thoughts. Blake still shook her head, showing her disappointment.
"Ruby, it wasn't okay. We can't stop every bad guy we come across by killing them. We're just stopping to their level."
"I'm not sure about that Blake." Ruby said.
Yang was eerily silent as she stared at Crescent Rose in Ruby's hands. As Blake tried to explain why it wasn't right, Yang finally asked, "Ruby, where'd you get that clip."
"What?" the question surprised Ruby. She'd been so absorbed in her own thoughts she hadn't noticed where Yang's attention had been. Feeling the shift in focus, Blake and Weiss both turned to look towards Crescent Rose and noticed the same thing Yang had.
"Where did you get that clip Ruby?" Yang repeated, folding her arms as she stared down her little sister. "I know for a fact that that isn't a clip you have. You don't carry hollow point rounds."
"Wait, how do you-"
"I did some research on bullets a while back. After that first conversation we had with Bryce about bullet calibers, I wanted to know everything I could so I could help you sis. I learned a lot about bullets, including some more idea for my own shells. What I still don't understand is how you got your hands on hollow point rounds. The armory doesn't make them and I know for sure you never made them."
Ruby didn't know what to say. She didn't want to throw Bryce under a bus that already wanted any reason in the world to drive over him. But she also didn't want to lie to Yang. Especially about something so serious. Ruby knew Yang wasn't happy with what she'd done. Neither was Blake for that matter. And she wasn't sure yet how she felt about it. Her own mind was still milling over what she'd done and there was a heaviness in her heart that felt uncomfortable.
"Uh… I found them?"
"Now is not the time, Ruby!" Ruby flinched as Yang's anger flared. "You just killed someone. Using that ammunition. Who. Gave. It. To. You."
"Um…" Ruby faltered, desperately trying to find a way out of answering the question.
"Yang, stop pestering her. She's been through enough tonight." Weiss intervened. Ruby let out a internal sigh of relief. "Besides, we all know exactly who gave it to her." And good feelings gone.
"Uhhhhh…" Ruby stuttered, trying to find a retort that could save Bryce from the anger he was about to receive. She couldn't find one. Yang didn't say anything at first. She just kept clenching and clenching her fist. Her eyes turned a deep red color, deeper than Ruby could remember them ever going.
It was at that time that Jaune came falling down from the highway, shattering the ground as he did so. All of them jumped, and Yang turned to punch him only to stop when she realized who it was Jaune.
"Jaune!" Ruby appeared in front of the bond as he pulled himself unhurt from the crater he'd formed. "Are you okay?"
Jaune spoke quickly, obviously in a rush. "I'm fine. The last of my creation energy protected me. Right now though, we need to find Bryce." At that name, Yang was reminded of her anger.
"Yeah. We should. I've got some choice words for him."
Jaune apparently recognized the anger in Yang's voice because his response killed any and all tension aimed the Septonian's direction. "Worry about that later. We need to see if he and the little girl he dove off the bridge after are even alive."
In an instant, Jaune had all the girls full attention. "WHAT!?"
"I'll explain later. C'mon, he should be on the other end of the bridge." Jaune yelled as he ran full sprint towards where he'd seen Bryce and the little girl falling. All the girls ran after him, their own quarrels and questions put on hold over the safety of a little girl. As they got closer to where Jaune had seen them falling, they saw Bryce, laying on the ground, holding the little girl to his chest. He was covered in blood, crying, holding the child tightly. The little girl wasn't moving at all. A strong sense of sorrow swept over their hearts as they saw the scene laid out before them.
"Bryce?" Bryce didn't move at first. He just lay there, clutching the lifeless body tighter. "Bryce?" Bryce heard his name the second time around and looked to everyone standing there. As tears ran down his cheeks, he looked back at the little girl. He slowly sat up, setting her carefully down on the ground, before standing up. He wiped the tears from his face before walking over to the group. No one moved as he walked right past a no longer angry Yang and a bawling Ruby. It was only when he stopped in front of Blake that they all turned their attention from the little girl's body to him. Blake started to speak.
"Bryce, wha-" Bryce slapped Blake right across the cheek. Everyone stared at the seething anger rising from Bryce, matching Yang's previous anger.
"I hope you're happy Blake." Bryce spat venomously. "'Cause this is on you."
And leaving on a cliffhanger. Hate me yet? No? Good, cause I've got much more in store. If you can't tell, I don't exactly let my characters have an easy time of it. And I hope you now realize, I'm not afraid to kill characters. So be wary. Roman may not be the only one to get an early cut. Get your anger sticks ready, cause it's gonna get ugly. Anyways, Favorite, Follow, Leave a Review, Bash me for killing off Roman, Give me your hate, yada yada, you get the drift. I will see you later, my good friends. Ciao!