A/N: Welcome back! It's still great to see that everyone is still invested in my work, now the only thing I gotta do is make sure that your patience is rewarded.
I'm taking the moment to call out to anyone who has good artistic skills in helping make some good cover art for this series. The covers I got are good, but it could always be better. And if there are readers out there who can pull it off, then I open the challenge for them to make it a possibility. And I'll be sure to have your pen names posted so you get the credit for your good work.
On a similar note, to SilentType 1997, if you can make a comic for this story series then you have my full support. And I hope to see what you got when it is finished. PM me if you can so we can work out any details.
With that out of the way, let's get back to it!
(I own nothing)
The Paladin-class battle mech was an impressive piece of Atlasian hardware. A literal walking tank with enough firepower to wipe out a small platoon all on its own. It was tough...but not invincible.
Out of all the members of RWBY-A, Adrian knew his way around fighting mechanized suits of armor. Though that didn't mean the girls in his team weren't capable of bringing the machine down.
"Freezerburn!" Ruby called out, she, Blake and Adrian jumped back while Yang leapt into the air. Weiss stabbed the tip of her rapier into the ground and turning it to ice before joining them as the blonde brawler came down and slammed her fist on the frozen surface. The result being a fog bank that blanketed the whole area.
Inside the mech, Roman activated the Paladin's sensor array and started searching for the teenagers. Gritting his teeth in frusteration when he couldn't seem to locate them.
Sudden movement out of the corner of his eye had him turning the mech in that direction only for another to be seen the other way. Having grown tired of the cat and mouse routine, the criminal started firing the robots large cannons whenever he saw something move. The blasts sending chunks of concrete flying as he tried to pin down his targets.
A warning light came on the mech's HUD, Roman turned only to see Ruby come flying out of the fog. Slamming her scythe against where the cockpit was located and knocking it back a step.
"Checkmate!" the young leader called out, Blake and Weiss dropping down on either side of her before launching themselves at the Paladin. Slashing and stabbing at the machine's legs and forcing it back farther.
The heiress leapt up, stabbing the blade of her weapon into the closest sensor and destroying it before using a glyph to leap away. The mech's foot rose, preparing to stomp down on the faunus beneath it, but another glyph that appeared beneath her gave her the extra speed to escape in time.
On the Paladin's back, a missile array opened up and fired a volley straight at them.
"Eclipse!" shouted Ruby. Yang and Adrian landed front and center, the former FEAR operative grabbing the blonde's arm and activating his semblence. The enhanced reflexes encompassing them both as the missiles coming at them slowed down with the rest of the world.
The duo raised their respected weapons and opened fire, quickly destroying the incoming explosives before charging the mech and shooting at it. Explosive blasts from Ember Celica damaging its armor while precise shots from Shade took out the other sensors and leaving the Paladin almost blind.
"Ladybug!" Ruby and Blake sprinted ahead, getting under the mech's feet and corssing back and forth while slashing with their powerful blades. Their swift attacks damaging the joints and making it stumble before they launched themselves in the air.
Roman looked to the sky in time for both girls to come down, Crescent Rose and Gambol Shroud cleaving the Paladin's left arm off and sending it crashing to the ground.
Distracted, Yang leapt up onto the mech's back and started raining powerful blows into its armor. Rattling it and its pilot and forcing him to jump backwards, slamming the machine and the blonde through several pillars until it flattened her against one and knocked her off.
The mech's remaining cannon mechashifted into a normal arm and prepared to strike Yang down even harder, but a sudden flash of light had the limb encased in ice.
"Now!" Weiss shouted, Adrian ran up the closest pillar and jumped in the air above the Paladin, grabbing a handful of remote bombs and throwing them into the joint of the mech's arm and pressing the detonator when he was clear. The following explosion sent chunks of ice and metal in all directions as the mech found itself armless.
"Bumblebee!" Ruby exclaimed to Blake and a now standing Yang. The blonde fired both her gauntlets and shot backwards, her partner throwing her mechashifted weapon attached to its ribbon after her that she grabbed onto while the faunus pulled in a round arc.
At the end of the ribbon, Yang fired her gauntlet as she was swung in a wide circle. Firing her other arm behind her and gaining more momentum with each rotation as he attempted to strike down the mech.
Roman saw this and quickly backed up, the blonde missing him as she continued to spin around.
"We have to slow it down!" said Ruby while thinking of a plan.
"And how do we do that?" asked Weiss.
"Ice Flower!" her partner replied, spinning her scythe around and slamming the blade into the concrete below. Cocking the bolt handle on the built in sniper rifle while Weiss case a series of small ice-glyphs infront of the barrel.
When Crescent Rose was fired multiple times, a barrage of ice rounds split off from the main bullet and hit the Paladin in several areas, effectively freezing it into place and leaving it a sitting duck.
Blake brought Yang around one last time, her partner charging up both her gauntlet and her aura as she came back around like a burning meteor and struck the mech with all her strength. The impact powerful enough to send the machine flying, striking the ground hard enough to shatter the cockpit and send the pilot hurdling out and hitting the ground just as hard several feet away.
"Dammit! I just got this cleaned." Roman groaned as he looked at his now ruined suit. He brought up his cane when he saw the team closing in, but a gunshot rang out sending the weapon flying in another direction.
The master criminal glared at Adrian who had Shade now aimed at his head, daring the man to make a move.
A sudden shift behind him had the former FEAR operative looking over his shoulder, ducking and rolling to the side when something swung at his head.
When he came back up, weapon still aimed, he saw that Roman was joined by a young woman dressed in a small coat similar to his wielding a parisol with neopolitan colored hair. One of her eyes being brown, while the other was pink.
"Ladies," the crimnal said while the small girl handed him back his cane. "Ice Queen," he added about Weiss which got a an indignate 'Hey!' from the heiress, "...asshole." he finished while glaring at Adrian. "It's been a pleasure. Neo, if you would?"
The unknown girl bowed to them just as Adrian and Yang fired. The criminals shattering like glass when the rounds hit them just as a bullhead passed overhead with them on it.
RWBY-A could only watch their quarry fly off into the distance as they stood amongst the wreckage of the Paladin.
"Guess he got a new henchman." said Yang, not sounding pleased about them escaping.
"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans fall apart." said Weiss, making an attempt at a pun which only had everyone either rolling their eyes or shaking their head.
"No...just, no." said Yang as they started making their way back to the city while the heiress tried to defend her attempt at comedy.
Hanging to the back of the group, Ruby looked at Adrian while she folded Crescent Rose onto her back. "How did everything go on your end?" she asked quietly so the others didn't hear.
Her boyfriend looked her way and signed back, [Tell you later.] before taking her hand with his as they caught up.
X
"Cutting it a bit close there, Neo." Roman said as he puffed on his cigar from inside the bullhead's troop compartment.
The multicolored girl tilted her head, smiling but remaining silent. Her gaze turning from her boss to the far end of the bench he was seated on...she blinked, her eyes switching colors as she did so when she saw, to her surprise, a little girl there staring at Roman through a curtain of black hair.
Preparing to tell the man about their stowaway, she found herself frozen when the girl turned her attention to her. The burning ember glow of her eyes piercing Neo to her very soul. The sheer amount of darkness in those eyes rivaled that of every grimm she had ever seen in her life...combined.
The world seemed to bleed away, the only thing Neo could hear was the now rapid beating of her heart as she was struck with the greatest sense of fear she had ever endured. Both of her eyes going from brown/pink to white when she realized that what she was looking at wasn't a little girl, but something else.
So much anger and hatred...all of it aimed directly at her.
"NEO!"
Blinking in shock, Neo shot her attention to Roman who was looking at her with a impatient expression. "I've been talking to you for the last five minutes! What the hell's got you so freaked out?!" he turned to where she had been looking, the girl following his line of sight...
Only to see nothing there.
X
"Someone from your old team is still alive?" Ruby asked in shock the next day as she and Adrian walked side by side through one of the many courtyards around Beacon.
[Jin Sun-Kwon, she was the medic and communications specialist of our unit when we went to Fairport.] the former FEAR operative signed as they enjoyed the warm weather. [I was so sure that she had died on the way to the extraction point, saw her body myself, but as it turns out that it was another one of my mother's hallucinations.]
The cloaked girl smiled brightly, "Well, that's great right? I mean, she's alive and helping us from the sidelines. And after finding out a little of what Torchwick and the White Fang has been up to our mission wasn't a complete wash afterall."
Adrian could agree with that much, but he was still troubled. Armacham operating out of Vale was bad enough, but the White Fang getting their hands on prototype Atlasian hardware like that Paladin? Blake had been right, something was going on, something big, and with so many players gearing up on the opposing side it wasn't looking good.
[I've been thinking about what you said last week, about telling the others about my past.] he signed to his soulmate, [If things are as bad as Jin said with the ATC moving into the kingdom, then they'll need to have all the details. I'll also have to let Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood know what Jin's told me, anything to help put Armacham down will be a benefit.]
Ruby nodded in agreement, "If Vale's in trouble, then it's our job to do what we can to protect it." she reached out and took the soldier's hand, "And you know as well as I do that the others won't see you any different than before."
Adrian smiled at her before pulling her into a hug, getting lost in the smell of roses that seemed to surround her every day.
"I do hope I am not interrupting." The young couple looked up and saw Paxton leaning against a nearby tree with his arms crossed.
"Why are you here, Paxton?" asked the cloaked girl, keeping her outward appearence calm and serious while inside she was unnerved. It was to be expected when being around her boyfriend's, brother's vengeful ghost, who was now more dangerous than he ever was alive.
The psionic leaned off the tree and strolled toward them, "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation...and I agree with your little rose, brother." he said looking at Adrian. "Your old ally may have been their intended target of that ambush yesterday, but Armacham is fully aware of your presence here in the kingdom. And you know how far their methods will go to get what they want..."
Adrian understood where the trailed off statement was leading and unconsciously took a step closer to Ruby. "So you're not against getting our help with Armacham?" she asked curiously.
"Even if it is our vengeance against the ones who tore apart our family, only a fool would not accept help when it is so willingly offered." replied Paxton. "Afterall, we all have something to gain with putting an end to their existence."
His brother gave him a piercing look, wondering what kind of game Paxton was playing given that he didn't do a whole lot unless if benefited him.
The psionic looked back at Adrian and rolled his eyes when he picked up his surface thoughts, "It is not a 'game' I am playing, brother. The only stake I have in anything is ensuring the safety of our family by any means. Even if that involves allying with your 'friends'." he said, the word friends coming out strangely before looking toward Ruby, "And as much as I am loathed to admit it, if you are indeed the other half of my brother's soul, and is accepted by mother, then that makes you family as well."
Ruby blinked in surprise to hear such a thing from the usually sociopathic and deadly phantom. "Uhh...thanks. I think."
Paxton nodded stiffly before turning his attention back to Adrian, "Informing your little group about what is happening is better done sooner than later. Though you best be prepared incase everyone isn't as understanding as others." with the last of his words being spoken, the psionic faded in a burst of ashes.
A few moments ticked by before the cloaked girl turned to her other half, "What do you think?"
[He's not wrong, but I don't trust him.] Adrian signed back, glaring at where his little brother had been. [Even though there's an understanding between us, after everything he's done I don't doubt for a moment that he's got something up his sleeve.]
The couple started walking again back toward the school, "Well, no matter what happenes we'll be ready for it!" Ruby exclaimed with her usual bright optimisim. The former FEAR agent smiled and wrapped an arm around her thin waist. It was hard to worry about what might come when in the presence of all the positive energy around the young rose.
And he was very glad for that.
X
In their dorm room on the other side of Beacon, Emerald and Mercury were sitting around passing the time while they waited for Cinder to return. The green-haired thief casually reading a book while the grey-haired assassin was making adjustments to one of his prosthetic legs that he had on the table.
"Man, this sucks." Mercury moaned as he twisted another screw tighter near his metal leg's ankle. "How much longer are we gonna be here? This place is boring."
"We're here however long Cinder wants us to be." Emerald said tightly, already having enough of her partner's complaining. "If being here in the dorm bother's you so damn much, go bother somebody else."
The assassin rolled his eyes as he finished the final adjustments on his legs. "Fine, could use a bite to eat anyway." he muttered while getting up and heading out the door.
Seeing her partner gone, the green-haired thief sighed in relief for the silence as she went back to her reading.
Seconds ticked by as she turned page after page. Emerald shivered a bit when a cold chill went through the room, the light on her bedside table flickered a bit making her send a glare at it.
"Some combat school, can't even keep the electricity or the heat going." she muttered while flicking the lamp and having the bulb go solid. Returning to her book, the light started to flicker again which had the thief growling in frusteration.
Snapping the book closed, Emerald reached to adjust the light-
The bulb suddenly exploding in a shower of sparks causing her to yelp and jump away to avoid getting burned. "Fuck! What the hell." she said in the now nearly dark room, the setting sun outside casting long shadows and making it hard for her to see the other half of the dorm.
Shaking her head, Emerald reached out and picked up her scroll. Deciding to head out since she wouldn't be getting anymore reading done for the time being when she heard it.
At first she thought it was nothing, but when she heard it a second time she paused. It was soft, like footsteps running on the carpet, and it was coming from the dark side of the room. Straining her ears, the thief tried to listen for the sound, but was greeted with silence.
Shaking off the unease that had begun to settle, Emerald made her way toward the door-
A child-like giggle had her freezing in her tracks. That she heard clear as day.
"Hello?" she asked to the supposedly empty room, but nothing answered back. The unease she had started coming back in force, the sound of her heart pounding in her ears as the feeling of being watched from somewhere in the shadows creeped up her spine.
"Mercury? I swear to god if this is some kind of joke I'm going to kill you." Emerald hissed, doing her best to push down her growing anxiety.
The shadows moved, something within shifting subtly before coming forward. The thief tensed, prepared for whatever it could be...blinking owlishly when a little girl came out into the open. A curtain of black hair covering most of her face while her long red dress reached past her knees.
"What in the..." Emerald said, surprised at seeing just some random kid appearing out of nowhere. "You lost kid? Cause I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be here."
The girl didn't speak, instead she took a couple slow steps toward the theif who remained rooted to her spot. Her red eyes catching something just behind the child and gasped when she saw that she was leaving a trail of dark-red footprints behind her.
"Uh, hey. Are you okay? Do you need-" Emerald reached out to the girl, but was cut off when something slammed into her and threw her across the room and against the wall beside her bed.
Groaning, the thief looked up and felt her heart nearly stop in her chest when the hair covering the girl's face parted just enough to reveal a pair of glowing ember eyes. Similar to Cinder's, but far darker and held a great deal more hate.
Letting her fear take hold, Emerald scrambled to her feet and ran for the door only to be stopped by the same invisible force that had struck her. The thief found herself being lifted off the ground, completely frozen before being brought back over to the girl. The malice and anger in the 'child's' eyes now directly solely at her and filling her with a sense of helpless terror that she hadn't felt since she had been living on the streets as a little girl.
The world around her began to darken, she found it harder to breathe as the darkness closed in on her from all sides, compressing down on her very being with the intent to snuff out her life.
"EMERALD!"
Emerald jumped, right out of her bed and onto the floor where she shot back up with her eyes darting all around the dorm.
Mercury stood at the foot of her bed, hands raised in the air as he stared at her wide eyed. "Shit, sorry." he said, not expecting her reaction after having come back from his walk and found her asleep and thrashing on her bed. "Boss lady wants us to meet at the new hideout to go over some stuff."
His partner took several deep breaths as she calmed her frantic heart. Had it all been a dream? A nightmare? It had felt so real...
Shaking her head, Emerald stood up and dusted herself off. "Alright, let's go then." she said, playing off what had just happened like it was nothing before making her way past the assassin and out of the room.
Watching her leave, Mercury looked around the dorm a moment before shrugging and following after her.
The assassin unaware of the glowing eyes that were watching him intendly from a dark corner of the room...
X
Later that evening, Adrian stood in Ozpin's office with Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood. Having explained what he had experienced duing his outing in Vale, while at the same time keeping what the others in his team had been doing a secret so that they didn't face punishment for doing the good they had.
The General had been surprised to find out that another member of FEAR had survived the mission in Fairport and was now acting as an informant out in the kingdom. But he was also livid when he discovered that Armacham was planning something from behind the scenes.
"Is there any connection to them and what the White Fang had been doing?" he asked.
[Unknown, sir.] Adrian signed, [But they went out of their way to either capture or kill Jin. She's keeping her current location a secret while keeping tabs on their movements.] he reached into his pocket and pulled out a datadrive and held it out for Ironwood to take. [This is a copy of all the information she's given me. If it helps the security of Vale, I figured it would be best to get it into the proper hands.]
Taking the drive, the General nodded. "Thank you, son. This will help greatly. Especially with the Vytal Festival drawing closer."
"We will also be sure to keep security around Beacon on alert incase any of Armacham's agents attempt to infiltrate." said Ozpin, equally serious about the situation at hand. Adjusting his glasses a bit, he observed the young soldier before him and spoke again, "With this recent development out in the open, I believe Mr. Wade has something else on my mind."
Adrian nodded, knowing full well that the man was more perceptive than any sniper he had met in his life. [There is. With the threat of the ATC possibly making their move, and after talking with Ruby, I think it's best to let my team know of what has happened.]
"You want to tell them about your mission in Fairport?" asked Glynda, a bit unsure with the young man's decision.
[I do. I've already told Ruby about what happened back then, including my origins. And that night at the docks we encountered one of Armacham's Phase Commanders. If they could become a target then they need to know how all this started and what they could be facing if the ATC make their move.] the former FEAR agent signed in explination, [That...and if the worst should come to pass, then I'll do whatever I can to keep my past from harming them.]
The three teachers looked to one another in silent deliberation before bringing their attention back to Adrian. "If you believe it is the best course of action, then we will support your decision, Mr. Wade." said Ozpin.
Adrian nodded just as the door to the elevator behind him opened to reveal the rest of his team as the entered the spacious office. "Are we early?" Ruby asked, looking to the professors and her boyfriend briefly.
"Right on time, actually." Ozpin said as he took his cane and stood up.
"Weiss, it is good to see you again." James said with a short bow to the heiress.
"General Ironwood, what's this all about?" asked Weiss, still after Ruby had told them they needed to meet at the headmaster's office and wouldn't tell them why.
Blake and Yang shared the same feelings, wondering if Ozpin was calling them in about the night before and worried that they were facing trouble for what had happened.
[I was the one that wanted you all to be here.] Adrian signed, garnering all of their attention. [Due to everything that has happened in the last few months, I think it's time that I come clean about certain things that I've kept from you.]
"What exactly have you kept from us?" Blake asked suspiciously, still very much on edge after their night on the town last night.
Looking to Ruby who was giving him as much encouragement as she could while he took a deep breath and told his story for the third time...
A/N: Looks like the rest of RWBY are about to get a crash course in what their male team mate is and how he came to be. But what else will come up during this conversation? And with Alma going after her son and his friends' enemies, what will happen when everything reaches a boiling point?
Still banging out the updates, so review when you can and I'll be sure to post again soon!