Sorry for this taking so long, I had to get back in the flow of writing.
Chapter cover- Team Demi on the hillside above Mount Glenn
Ch.24- The underside
Currently Ruby is watching a lone Beowolf through the scope of her sniper scythe. The Beowolf looks at her for a moment before it turns and goes on its merry way. Ruby lowers her weapon and sighs. Meanwhile, the rest of Teams RWBY and Demi sleep around the campfire while Dr. Oobleck is sitting against a wall on a floor above them in their building. A moment later, Yang opens her eyes.
"Blake, are you awake?" Yang asks her partner.
"Yeah," she replies without opening her eyes.
"Why do you think he asked us about being a huntress? Like, what was he trying to say?" Yang asks.
"Maybe he was just curious," Blake suggests as Yang rolls to face her.
"You think?" Yang asks again.
"…No," Blake replies, opening her eyes.
"Or maybe because you girls haven't figured it out yet," Medi says as she opens an eye to them.
Yang rolls to him now, "I thought you were asleep, Medi," she says.
"We can handle not sleeping for days," Medi replies as she lifts her head up to them.
"Yeah, but more importantly, I think he asked because you girls haven't truly figured out why you want to become huntresses. Either that or your missing something else," Deandra adds as she wakes up.
Yang sighs as she lays on her back, "Weiss, are you awake?" she asks Weiss.
"Of course I'm awake! You guys are talking" Weiss retorts, making Yang wince and then roll her eyes at her response. "And I think he…When I said I wanted to honor my family's name, I meant it, but it's not what you think. I'm not stupid, I'm fully aware of what my father has done with the Schnee Dust Company. Since he took control, our business has operated in a…moral gray area," Weiss explains.
That's putting it lightly," Blake remarks.
Weiss then sits up, "Which is WHY I feel the need to make things right. If I had taken a job back in Atlas, it wouldn't have changed anything. My father was not the start of our name, and I REFUSE to let him be the end of it," Weiss says before laying back down.
"All my life, I fought for what I thought was right. I had a partner…named Adam. More of a mentor, actually. He always assured me that what we were doing would make the world a better place. But of course, his idea of a perfect future turned out to be…not perfect for everyone," Blake begins as she looks up to the ceiling above them, seeing a faint image of a rose with its stem still attached above them. "I joined the academy because I knew that huntsmen and huntresses were regarded as the noblest warriors in the world. Always fighting for good, but I never really thought past that. When I leave the academy… What will I…How can I induce so many years of hate?" Blake asks herself.
"At least you guys have something that drives you," Yang starts before rolling onto her stomach. "I've just kind of always gone with the flow, you know? And that's fine, I mean that's who I am, but how long can I really do that for? I want to be a huntress, not really because I want to be a hero, but because I want the adventure. I want a life where I won't know what tomorrow will bring, and that will be a good thing. Being a huntress just happens to line up with that," Yang says as she rolls onto her side and rests her head on her hand. "I'm not like Ruby. She's always wanted to be a huntress. It's like she said, ever since she was a kid, she dreamt about being the heroes in the books, helping people and saving the day, and never asking for anything else in return. Even when she couldn't fight, she KNEW that's what she wanted to do. That's why she trained so hard to get to where she is today," Yang says.
Weiss sits up, "Well she's still just a kid," she replies.
Blake then sits up, "She's only two years younger. We're ALL kids," Blake says.
"Well, we're not kids anymore. I mean, look where we are. In the middle of a warzone and armed to the teeth," Yang says.
"It's the life we chose," Blake adds. "It's a JOB. We all had this romanticized vision of being a huntress in our heads. But at the end of the day, it's a job to protect the people. And whatever we want will have to come second," Weiss says as none of them notice Oobleck smiling above them at her words.
A while later, Ruby and Issia return, along with Zwei, as they switch night watch with Yang, and Deandra. Ruby lays on the bag was on and quickly falls asleep while Zwei sleeps next to her and Issia sits up against a wall behind her, staring at the broken moon.
A while later, Zwei's left ear perks up and he wakes up, looking at something in the distance. This wakes up Ruby who looks at him.
"Huh? Zwei, it's late. Go back to bed," Ruby says and yawns as she tries to go back to sleep. However, Zwei then runs off, making her fully awake now. "Zwei! Zwei!" she says, reaching out to him, but fails.
Ruby gets up and looks to make sure she doesn't wake up the others or alert Yang and Deandra. Ruby then groans and picks up her weapon and runs after Zwei, not noticing Issia opening their eyes to see her leaving. Ruby comes around the entrance of the building and looks around.
"Zwei? Zwei, where are you? Zwei?" she quietly calls out to the dog. She then sees Zwei taking a leak at one lamppost across the street in front of her. "Huh? Zwei, this is a wasteland. You literally could've done that anywhere," she says as she walks up to him.
"Ruby, what are you doing?" she hears behind her and turns to see Issia.
"Oh, sorry if I woke you guys up. Zwei just had to go to the bathroom," she replies. Ruby then turns around and picks up Zwei, who barks at her.
"What was that?" they hear a faint voice in the distance.
This immediately puts them on edge as they cautiously walk back and hide around a corner of a building.
"What was what?" they hear a second voice speaks.
They peak around and see two White Fang soldiers, armed with rifles, patrolling the area.
"I thought I heard a Beowolf, or something," the first soldier says.
The second one grunts, "Let's just finish our patrol and get back to base. This place gives me the creeps," the second one replies as they walk away.
The group waits for them to get further away before they decide to follow them. As the two soldiers are walking, Ruby tip-toes across the street with her weapon ready, while Issia calmly walks opposite of her, staying in the shadows. They move from debris in the street to pillars and sides of old buildings as they continue to follow the White Fang soldiers. After the two soldiers walk past one corner, Ruby begins to follow but stops and loses her balance, only for Issia to grab her and pull her back behind the building. Ruby picks up Zwei and puts his head out around the corner to watch the soldiers.
"Did they go in yet? One bark means yes," Ruby whispers to him. Eventually, they hear what sounds like a door closing and Zwei then barks once. Ruby then puts him back on the ground. "Oh, this is it. This is it!" she whispers for joy. Ruby then pulls out her scroll and tries to call her team, but her scroll shows a low signal. "Oh, man! Uh, ugh, come on. We gotta get the others," Ruby says as she picks up her weapon and they all leave to return to camp. However, as they are walking onto the street, the ground under Ruby and Issia begins to break and cave in. "Huh?" they both freak out at the sudden collapse.
Issia summons her wings and slowly floats down, while Ruby plummets to the open cavern filled with ruined buildings.
As Ruby gets up she's approached by two White fang guards, "Freeze!"
"Where did she come from?" The other guard asks.
Ruby backs away only to shortly find the edge of the platform, she reaches back for her scythe, only to realize that she doesn't have it. As one of the guards reaches for her, Issia crashes down onto both of the guards.
"Glad, I came down second." Issia states, "Ruby, you good?"
"Yeah, I dropped my weapon when I fell," Ruby replies.
"I think it would be best if I took us out of here." Issia points to the hole they came from before she gets a shotgun barrel placed against her head.
"Well, looky here." Indigo says with her hat tilted down to hide her face, "The devil and her flower girl have shown up on our doorstep."
"What are you doing here?" Issia asks.
"None of your business! Neo restraint little red." Neo holds down Ruby and puts a device around her neck.
"Night night," The collar turns on and electrocutes Ruby until she faints while also making Issia watch.
"Ruby!" When Issia tries to fight back, she's stuck in the back by Neo and kneed in the jaw. As Issia lays on the ground, Indigo slaps on another collar and turns it on.
Meanwhile, back at camp, Yang and Deandra finish up their watch and walk back to the campsite as Yang stretches her arms.
"Hey Weiss, it's your…" Yang trails off as she sees that Ruby's bag is empty. "Ruby?" she wonders where her sister is.
Medi looks around to see that Issia is gone too.
"Issia is gone as well. That's not good," she says.
"Hey, where's Ruby?" Yang asks her teammates. Blake then gets up along with Weiss as they hear some knocking.
"What?" Oobleck asks from around a corner. Suddenly, Zwei races into the camp, running to Yang.
"Zwei?" Yang asks, kneeling to the dog as he whimpers.
"What's going on?" Blake asks as she stands up.
"Grab your weapons," Oobleck instructs them and they look to him. "Your leader may be in trouble."
Oobleck and the rest of Teams RWBY and Demi follow Zwei as they come to the hole in the street that Issia and Ruby went down in.
"Oh no," Blake says, worried about Ruby.
"Did Ruby and Issia really fall?" Weiss asks as she walks up to the hole.
"Fall?" Oobleck asks as he zooms up by her.
"Down there," Weiss says, gesturing to the hole in front of them.
"Oh my," Oobleck says, looking down the hole before he turns around. "Of course. Of course! Of course! Of course!" Oobleck repeats, getting louder with each repeat.
"What is it?!" Blake asks with concern.
"How could I be so stupid?!" Oobleck says, walking behind them.
"Dr. Oobleck, what's wrong?" Yang asks this time, with worry as well.
Oobleck then quickly appears right in front of her. "Mountain Glenn! Yes, an expansion of Vale that was inevitably by Creatures of Grimm!" He says faster than ever before getting in Blake's face next. "Previously home to thousands of people," he continues, counting his fingers before getting back in Yang's face. "Working people, commuting the city to the main city developed a subway system to the inner city." He quickly continues before getting in Weiss' face this time. "Grimm's attacks increase, population in danger, now desperately searching for shelter," he says before going to Reaper this time. "City evacuates into metro tunnels, and what do they FIND?!" he quickly says, now standing in front of them before getting in Zwei's nose this time. "The southeast quadrant of Vale is known for wild forests and deep caves!" he answers his own question while Zwei licks his hand.
"Doc, care to fill us in here," Ersa asks.
Oobleck grabs her shoulders, "My dear, we're not just looking for an underground crime network. We're looking for an UNDERGROUND crime network!" he screams.
"They've been working in caves?" Blake asks as Oobleck zooms by her.
"No, no! Mountain Glenn was Vale's first serious attempt at expansion. It worked for a short period of time, thanks to an aggressive perimeter defense, and unique transportation. The city developed an elaborate subway system to carry citizens safely from the new territory to the main kingdom. Sadly, without the many natural barriers Vale had to protect its borders, Mountain Glenn was doomed from the start," Oobleck explains and then they all walk closer to the hole while Oobleck turns to it. "And as the end drew near, the citizens of the territory made one last attempt at survival. They took up shelter BENEATH the city, in massive caves that they had cleared out for the subway, and they had cut themselves off from the surface," Oobleck explains.
"You mean, like an underground village?" Deandra asks, confused.
"In a matter of speaking, yes. Uh, uh, a safe haven…until…an explosion opened the mouth of another cavern, filled with subterranean Grimm," Oobleck says, shaking his head. "After that…the kingdom officially sealed off the tunnels…creating the world's largest tomb," Oobleck sadly says as everyone looks down into the hole.
"Huh, sacrifice the few to save the many. Something those in power always loved to do when they wanted to save their own sorry cans," Ersa angrily says.
"Never mind that now. More importantly, if Ruby and Issia are down there…" Oobleck begins as they look at him while he takes out his thermos and extending it into a long staff, revealing it to be his weapon. "…We must find them."
Writer: And that's all for now, once again so sorry for the extended absence was out of mind.