Chapter 21
"Penny, I…I don't understand." Ruby said.
"Most girls are born," Penny replied, "but I was made. I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an aura. I'm not real."
Ruby took Penny's clenched hands and looked at the metal again. She then closed them and pushed them back while still holding onto them.
"Of course, you are." Ruby said, "You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me or Theodore?"
"I don't…um…you two are taking this extraordinarily well."
"Penny, you are not like those things back there." Theodore said.
"Theodore's right." Ruby agreed, "You've got a heart and a soul. I can feel it."
Penny had a look of surprise on her face which then morphed into one of joy. She then pulled both Ruby and Theodore into an almost bone crushing hug.
"Ohhhh!" She nearly screamed, "Oh Ruby! You and Theodore are the best friends anyone could have!"
"I can see why your father would want to protect such a delicate flower." Theodore said while trying to breath. Penny finally let go of both students after hearing about her father. Ruby looked fine while Theodore was gasping for air.
"Oh, he is very sweet." Penny said, "My father is the one that built me. I'm sure you would just love him."
"Wow. He built you all by himself?" Ruby asked.
"Well, almost. He had some help from Mr. Ironwood."
"The general? Wait, is that why those soldiers were after you?"
"They like to protect me too."
"Are you serious?" Theodore asked after catching his breath, "I've seen what you can do at the docks. They really don't think you can protect yourself? I pity them."
"They're not sure if I'm ready yet, Theodore." Penny replied, "One day, it will be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world and test myself in the tournament."
Save the world? Theodore thought to himself, Is another war about to start or something, because I doubt Darkseid knows about this place.
"Penny, what are you talking about?" Ruby asked, "Save the world from what? We're in a time of peace."
"That's not what Mr. Ironwood said." Penny replied. Suddenly they heard the voices of the soldiers that were chasing them. Penny then looked back at Ruby. "You have to hide."
Penny then lifted Ruby off the ground, carried her to an open trash bin and dumped her into it.
"Penny! What are you doing?!" Ruby asked, "You don't have to go with them. We can help you."
"It's okay, Ruby." Penny answered, "They're not bad people. I just don't want you or Theodore to get in trouble."
Penny then looked to Theodore. He gestured to her that he would be fine and whispered a spell. Blue light engulfed him and once it faded, he looked like someone else. He was 6'3", had brown eyes, blond hair and was wearing a police uniform.
"Don't worry I'll be fine." He said in a deep voice. Both girls had a look of surprise on their faces. The surprise went away though when they heard the soldier's voices again.
"Promise me that you won't tell anyone about my secret. Okay?" Penny asked both Ruby and Theodore.
"I promise." Ruby replied and ducked into the trach bin. Theodore gave Penny thumbs up and walked up to her. He got behind her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. Just then, the soldiers walked up.
"There she is!" one of them said and ran to her position. They stopped one foot short when they saw the disguised Theodore behind her.
"I found this one roaming around the alleys." Theodore said, "If you are her bodyguards, you need to do better at your job or you'll lose it."
"Sal-u-tations, officers!" Penny said with a smile on her face.
"Why were you running?!" the other one asked, "And what happened to the other girl?! Sir, was there another girl with her?"
"Sorry, I found her alone in the alleys." Theodore replied, "You're lucky I got to her first before someone else did. If that happened I would have a talk with your superiors and you would be in a lot of trouble."
"Well, thank you." The soldier said then looked at Penny, "You shouldn't cause such a scene."
"Are you okay?" the other soldier asked.
"Just a scratch." Penny replied, showing her hands while Theodore looked away, "He pukes at the sight of blood."
"Penny, your father isn't going to be happy about this." The soldier said, "Please, just come with us."
"Yes sir." Penny then walked away with the two soldiers. While walking away, she looked back at Theodore and winked at him. He gave a wink of his own and watched her walk out of sight. He heard a ruckus in the trash bin Ruby was hiding in and dashed to it. Opening it up with his gun cocked and loaded he nearly laughed seeing that Ruby was startled by a mouse.
In downtown Vale, Junior was enjoying the night. His bar had not been disturbed in a while and business was booming. His men were enjoying themselves with drinks and music. One of his costumers, however, was simply sitting at the bar and was on his twentieth glass of water. He was 18 years of age and he was big, as in muscle not fat. He was 6'3" ft. tall, had deep green eyes and silver, unkept hair. His attire consisted of a white t-shirt, black shoulder guards, cameo green pants, and brown boots. There was a weapon on his back that resembled a double-bladed axe. Junior walked up to him.
"You've been here for quite a while." He said, "Are you waiting for someone?"
"Yes, I am." The boy replied, "Am I taking up space?"
"No, it's just that- "
"Hurry, close the door! She's coming!" Someone shouted, interrupting the conversation. Both looked to see two of Junior's men burst through the entrance and then close them. Junior walked to them with an angry look on his face.
"What are you two idiots doing?!" Junior asked, "It's not closing time!"
"Junior!"
"She's back!"
"The girl!"
"The one with the- "
Before they could continue, the door was blasted open with an explosion and smoke entered the room. The boy put his hand on the axe handle, getting ready for a fight. What he saw, however, was a girl a year younger then him with gauntlets on her writs, walking through the smoke, into the room.
"GUESS WHO'S BACK!" she shouted with a smile on her face. He would have laughed if it wasn't for the guns pointed at her face. Her smile disappeared into a threating scowl at seeing the guns.
"Yeah, so could you define friend for me?" a blue haired boy asked, popping from behind the girl.
"STOP! STOP!" Junior shouted while walking up to Yang, "Nobody shoot. Blondie, you're here. Why?"
"You still owe me a drink." The girl, nicknamed Blondie said and dragged Junior to the bar. The boy just kept watching her for a few more seconds before walking to her and stopping her.
"Aren't you a little young to be in this club, let alone drink?" he asked.
"Who's asking?" she said in a threatening tone.
"Someone who doesn't like it when somebody weaker is picked on."
Hearing that, the girl threw her fist at him which he caught with ease. She had a surprised look on her face from the feat. The boy figured that she was not used to someone catching her punches without a problem. He then heard something drop on the ground and looked to see a gold coin with a star on it. He reached into his own pocket and showed to the girl the exact same coin.
"You're one of Theodore's contacts?" She asked with surprise.
"That's right." He replied while putting the coin back in his pocket. He raised his hand to her in a greeting manner. "Argent Silvermane."
"Yang Xiao Long." The girl replied while taking his hand and shaking it.
"Wait, you're one of Theodore Constantine's contacts?" Junior asked with surprise on his face.
"Yes, I am." Argent said with a smirk on his face. He let go of Yang's hand and grabbed Junior by his tie. He then threw him onto a seat and got in front of him.
"Now, you're going to do what the young lady tells you to do, or I'll make your bar look like it was hit by a bomb. Understand?"
"Y-yes sir." Junior replied in a scared voice.
In another part of Vale Blake, along with Sun, had finally located the White Fang's meeting place where they look for new recruits.
"This is it." Blake said looking at Sun.
"You sure?" Sun asked, which earned him a scowl from Blake. "You know, I'm just going to take your word for it."
Both Faunus entered the building to find out what was going on. Blake had taken off her bow to show that she was one of them. Unbeknownst to both, someone was following them. The said person decided to enter through the window instead of the front door.
Once Blake and Sun were insider, they were given masks to wear on their faces.
"New recruits, keep to the right!" a White Fang soldier shouted.
"I don't get it." Sun asked while holding up his mask, "If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"
"The masks are a symbol." Blake replied, "Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters."
"Grimm masks? That's kind of dark."
"So is the guy who started it."
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you."
Both Faunus walked into the meeting room with the masks on their faces. New recruits were on the right while soldiers were on the left. A senior White Fang member who looked about 6'4" walked onto the stage where a curtain was behind him with the White Fang symbol on it.
"Thank you all for coming." He said, "For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours. I can assure you he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for, for so long."
On cue, Roman Torchwick walked onto the stage. A lot of the Faunus in the room were not happy to see a human in the same building as they were.
"Thank you! Thank you!" Roman said, "Please, hold your applause."
"What's a human doing here?!" one of the new recruits asked.
"I'm glad you asked dearie." Roman replied, "Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans are the worst. Case of point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked up, or better yet killed."
"So, is he going somewhere with this or…" Sun whispered to Blake.
"But, before the claws come out, I would like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy. The ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms. Government, military, even the schools. They're all to blame for your lot in life. And they're all pests that need to be dealt with. Fortunately, I'm best exterminator around. No offense to any rodents in the room."
Torchwick then snapped his fingers, the curtains fell to the floor, and revealed an Atlassian Paladin with the White Fang emblem on its left arm.
"Uuuuuugh, that's a big robot." Sun said.
"How did he get that?" Blake asked.
"As some of you may have heard," Roman continued, "this right here is Atlas' newest line of defense against all the scary things in the world, and thanks to my employer we managed to snag a few before they hit the shelfs. Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operations in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city that's fine, but if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?"
"What about Theodore Constantine?" a dog Faunus asked causing everyone to listen, "Do we need to kill him too?"
"That…is actually a good question." Roman replied then looked to the big White Fang member, "What do you think big guy?"
"To be honest, no, I don't think we have to." He replied, "Theodore Constantine is trying to show that the Faunus have the same rights as humans. He even saves them from hate crimes to simple accidents. I believe that if we have a chance, we should capture him and show why we are taking this path."
"You heard him." Torchwick addressed the crowd, "If you happen to run into Theodore Constantine, be sure to bring him in alive and I'm guessing…unharmed."
"Well, at least Theodore got a Let Live card." Sun said, "Unlike most humans."
"We should get out of here." Blake said.
"Would all new recruits please come forward." The big Faunus shouted.
"Well…" Sun said while staying put along with Blake while the rest of the recruits walked to the stage. Unknown to everyone, the same figure that followed Blake and Sun into the building, was carefully concealed on one of the beams, watching everything from above, waiting for the right moment to pounce.
"I don't know." Junior replied after putting his glass down.
"How can you not know?" an annoyed Yang asked.
"I haven't talked to him." He replied while standing up, "I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here. He paid up front, I lent him my men, and none of them ever came back."
"So where did they go?" Neptune asked. Both Junior and Argent looked at him as if he grew a second head.
"What kind of stupid question is that?!" Argent asked, "They never came back! End of story!"
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Junior said to Argent then looked to Yang while pointing at Neptune, "Who is this guy?"
"Don't worry about him." Yang said while pushing Neptune away, "Worry about me and Mr. Silvermane here if I don't find out what I want!"
"I already told you everything! Torchwick hired my boys and I guess he wasn't happy with them. WHICH IS SOMETHING I CAN RELATE TO!"
The last part was addressed to all his men in the bar. They all stopped to look at their boss to see if he needed anything. Seeing that they were getting nowhere, Yang started to walk away.
"Come on Neptune." Yang said. Neptune started to follow her out of the bar. Argent stayed behind a few seconds to pay for the water then caught up with Yang and Neptune.
"Did we get everything we need?" Neptune asked Yang.
"Well, we got everything we can." Yang replied, "Hopefully the rest of the team is having better luck."
Better luck wouldn't be the right word concerning Blake and Sun. Everyone was still cheering, and the new recruits were approaching the stage. Both Faunus knew that their cover would be blown soon if they stayed put any longer.
"What are we gonna do?" Sun asked.
"I'm thinking." Blake replied while looking around. She had to think fast because Roman just noticed the two new recruits weren't moving, just looking around the place.
"He sees us." Sun stated the obvious. Roman threw down his cigar and started walking towards the two. The monkey Faunus just waved nervously while Blake still tried to look for a way out. Just before the thief could walk off the stage, a shot was fired at his feet forcing him to stop. Everyone, even Blake and Sun, looked for where the source of the shot was. A woman Faunus screamed as she pointed to one of the beams in the ceiling. A figure jumped from it and landed on all four on the stage behind Roman.
"Who are you?" Roman asked as he turned to face his would-be assassin. The figure just stood up slowly and looked at Roman in the eyes. It was a boy of 18, 6'2" and golden eyes. He wore what looked like a black ops military suit complete with black gauntlets (except there were no guns attached) and boots. The most stunning features, however, were the ears on top of his head, the stripes on his arms and the tail swerving behind him. The ears were orange on the outside and showed a few inches above his black, neck length hair. His tail was also orange and had black stripes on it. His arms had black stripes as well from his shoulders all the way to where the gauntlets started. All of this showed he was a tiger Faunus.
"You know who I am." He replied with a growl.
"It's the Butcher!" a recruit shouted, and everyone started to run in different directions. Sun was watching as senior White Fang members rushed to the stage to confront the intruder while Blake just stood there motionless, in fear. Before everyone stood the most feared being of the White Fang and Faunus. The Butcher was known to have attacked White Fang strong holds, that could withstand an attack from the Atlas military for seven days and destroy them within an hour. This being took no prisoners from any army that he faced. Any White Fang solider or army that accepted an assignment to hunt him down left and none returned alive.
Blake had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting him while she was on an assignment with Adam. The man she used to followed was known for being the best fighter in any White Fang army. When he went up against the Butcher though, both he and Blake were almost killed. Somehow, they were able to escape the Butcher's attack against them. Adam said that they were able to overpower him, but Blake knew that they just got lucky to get out of there alive.
"ALL NEW RECRUITS, TAKE COVER!" the big Faunus shouted as he and other senior members charged at the Butcher. The tiger Faunus just looked at the White Fang soldiers with an angry but focused gaze. He unclenched his fists and the finger tips of the gauntlets turned into claws. He started to fight them off with a tiger style of Kung Fu, making Yang's hand to hand fighting style look like child's play. Each one of the members were either being tossed or knocked to the ground, but to Blake's surprise not even one of them was getting killed.
The Butcher then stopped mid-fight and looked at both Blake and Sun. Both Faunus took a step back out of both fear and surprise. What surprised them even more was when the Butcher jumped off the stage and towards the fuse box. With all his strength, he cut the box in half, destroying the building's power source and making the room go dark. Knowing that every Faunus would be able to see him, he had to move fast. Dashing towards Blake and Sun, he wrapped an arm around their stomachs and leapt out of the building through one of the top windows in the back of the room.
Once the Butcher had landed, he threw both Faunus out of his grasp. Blake and Sun quickly stood up into fighting stances with weapons at the ready but paused when they noticed something. The Butcher held both of their masks in each hand.
He must have ripped them off while he was throwing us. Blake thought to herself. What surprised her and Sun even more was when he raised both of his hands and in a single effort, crushed the masks into pieces.
"Those didn't suit either of you." The Butcher said while dusting off his hands.
"Okay, I'm glad you helped us out back there," Sun said still in a combat stance, "but how do we know we can trust you?"
The Butcher simply reached behind himself with his left hand, pulled something out of his pocket and showed the object to both Blake and Sun. Both Faunus were surprised to see a gold coin with a star on it. The same one Theodore gave Blake and Yang before leaving Beacon with Ruby and Weiss.
"You're one of the Theodore's contact's?!" Blake said in a disbelieving tone.
"Yes, I am." The Butcher replied while putting the coin away, "Don't call me Butcher. My name is Clair Vermillion."
"Isn't Clair a girl's name?" Sun said while trying to contain his laughter. He stopped however when the Butcher, now known as Clair, got up in his face with his claws poised to strike.
"You want to have scratches all over your face and every girl run from you in terror?" he asked Sun with a growl at the end. The monkey Faunus shook his head in fear after hearing the threat. Clair retracted his claws and was about to tell them to move when he heard a noise from the warehouse. All three Faunus looked in time to see the paladin burst through the wall and start running towards them.
"RUN!" Clair shouted and sprinted the other way.
"You don't have to tell us twice!" Sun said back as he and Blake followed him. All three Faunus leapt over buildings and through streets, but the paladin was still close behind them. Sun looked to both Blake and Clair while jumping across roofs. "So, either of you wouldn't happen to have…aw, I don't know…some form of backup?!"
"On it!" Blake said then grabbed her scroll to make a call.
Weiss and Titian were about to exit the elevator when the heiress' phone rang. She answered to hear Blake's voice on the other end.
"Everyone!" the cat Faunus said, "If you can hear me we need back- "
"HEEEEEEELLLLLLP!" Sun interrupted. Weiss just rolled her eyes and singled for her newly acquainted partner to follow her. Both exited the elevator and building to look for the Faunus' in distress.
"They got a robot, and it's big! Really big!" Sun voiced said through Ruby's scroll as she and Theodore, who looked normal again, listened. The young sorcerer had a concerned look on his face while the huntress in training had one of excitement.
"Oh, I am not missing this!" Ruby said as she sped off to find what Sun had described.
"Hey! Don't count me out of the fun!" Theodore shouted as he chased after her.
Yang had just gotten on her bike, with Neptune behind her when she got the call. Argent was standing right next to them listening in.
"That Torchwick guy is in it!" Sun said, "He's like controlling it or something!"
"Where are you guys?" Yang asked.
"HUUURRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" All three turned to see Blake, Sun and someone else run past them with the paladin right behind them.
"I think that was them." Neptune said.
"You think?" Argent asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, I got it." Yang replied. She then turned on her bike and sped off after them. Argent ran to a parked, silver jeep next to the bar. Reaching into his pockets, he pulled out a set of keys, unlocked the door, got in and started in up. Closing the door and strapping his seat belt he drove off to follow Yang and Neptune.
Blake, Sun and Clair were jumping from car to car on the highway trying to get away from the paladin. Sadly, the machine, with Torchwick inside of it, just bulldozed past every vehicle in its way. Lucky for the three Faunus', Yang and Neptune rode up right behind the paladin with Argent on their tail.
"WE'VE GOT TO SLOW IT DOWN!" Yang shouted to Neptune.
"GOT IT!" he shouted back.
Inside the mech, Torchwick had an alarm, notifying him that someone was behind him. Picking up speed, the paladin made any car that was in front of it fly behind him. This made the driving from Yang a little more difficult.
"Hold on!" Yang said to Neptune. She swerved away from any car that came flying her way, almost making Neptune fall off. Luckily, he didn't fall off the bike. Seeing that he was in the clear, Neptune grabbed the weapon from his back and fired at the paladin. Two out of four shots hit their mark making it slow down. Neptune then stood up on the bike and turned his gun into a glaive. He then leapt from the bike and pierced his weapon into the paladin's back while maintaining his grip.
In front of the machine, Blake, Sun, and Clair had each landed on a separate car and looked back to see what was happening. The monkey Faunus saw the predicament his friend/teammate was in and decided to help.
"NEPTUNE, HANG ON!" Sun shouted. Neptune was being flung around while maintaining his grip on the glaive. It could be seen, though that he wouldn't be able to hold on for long. Putting his hands together and concentrating, Sun activated his semblance and created two shinning clones of himself. Both clones rushed at the paladin and hit it, head on. They then vanished into thin air while Sun took out his bow staff and charged at the machine.
Sadly, he wouldn't get his chance to hit the paladin. Torchwick was able to shake off Neptune, causing him to fly into Sun and knock them both off the highway. Blake and Clair could only watch as they both flew away.
Are you kidding me?! Clair thought to himself.
"Blake, I'm in position!" Blake heard from her scroll. Sure enough, Weiss and her companion, Titian, landed right in front of the paladin's path from the freeway above. Weiss pulled out her rapier while Titian grabbed his rifle and took aim. Torchwick grinned to himself thinking that getting past those two was going to be easy. He was wrong. Titian shot at the paladin's head, temporarily blinding Torchwick. Weiss stabbed downward into the street, covering a small part of it with ice.
The paladin slipped, lost it's footing, and fell off the highway and onto the ground below. Sadly, however, it was able to land on its feet. Torchwick regained his line of sight and looked to see both Ruby and Theodore Constantine standing right in front of him with their scythe and sword at the ready. Blake, Weiss, Yang, Titian and Clair landed right next to the two. They then heard a jeep and looked to see it park right behind them, skidding to a stop. Argent got out with his axe in hand and joined the others in the lineup.
This is going to be fun. Roman thought to himself as the paladin walked towards the huntsman and huntresses in training.
"FREEZER BURN!" Ruby shouted, then she and Blake scattered. Theodore and the other three boys did the same. Weiss then covered a portion of the ground with ice, Yang jumped into the air and shot at it while landing. The result was a fog that clouded the paladin's line of vision. Torchwick activated laser sensors, hoping to find them in the fog. Sensing movement, the paladin shot and missed as Yang and Blake ran across from each other. Ruby dashed forward and slashed the paladin's head. There was a large clang, but it didn't look like it was damaged. Torchwick got another movement and looked up to see Theodore bring his claymore down on the paladin's head. To the thief's shock and surprise, it did some damage. Theodore landed right next to Ruby in a defensive stance, just in case the paladin charged at them.
"CHECKMATE!" Ruby shouted, then Blake and Weiss charged at the paladin. Theodore motioned with his left hand to charge. Clair and Titian joined Weiss and Blake to take on the weapon. Blake and Weiss attacked the paladin's legs, keeping it distracted, while Titian and Clair jumped towards it. During the jump, Titian cocked his rifle in a different way and it turned into a five-foot, double bladed sword. He and Clair then took out the laser target system so that the machine would have trouble getting a decent shot.
One of the paladin's feet was raised to crush Blake. Seeing the danger, Clair jumped down and in one swift motion threw his gauntlets into the air. Both then transformed into pistols and landed into each of Clair's hands. He then started to shoot at the foot, causing it to slow down. Weiss then created a glyph that pulled Blake out of the way, so that the foot only broke cement.
Torchwick was getting mad at this point. The paladin then started to shoot missiles at them. All four were dodging as best as they could, without being to close to the explosion. One jump Weiss did, however, left her open. The paladin fired two shots at her from its arms. Weiss was able to block it with her weapon but was sent further from Blake. While flying though, the young heiress was able to place a glyph right under Blake. Expecting to hit the ground, Weiss was surprised when felt hands on her back and her legs. Looking up, she saw that Titian had caught her, bridal style, before she could hit the ground.
The glyph, that Weiss had placed under Blake, speed up the Faunus so fast that when the next volley of missiles came flying towards her, she was able to cut them down with little effort. Ruby then dashed past her while shouting something else.
"LADYBUG!"
Both Ruby and Blake started to cut at the paladin's legs. Just like the previous attack though, this was also a distraction. Getting a warning, Torchwick looked up to see Theodore and Clair falling towards the paladin with their weapons drawn. The weaponized mech didn't have time to dodge or block as the sword and claws cut through its left arm. The whole arm came off and fell to the ground with a thud.
Torchwick then felt something hit the back of the paladin. From what felt like punches, he guessed it was the blondie, Yang. Theodore saw Yang shooting the paladin and decided she needed help. He looked to Argent who quickly got the message. He rans towards the paladin and jumped in the air to assist Yang. He didn't count on the fact that the machine would come flying backwards, sending him and Yang through multiple concrete beams. Both were then knocked into one and punched through it while they were falling. The also fell onto the jeep, crushing it into a junk heap.
"YANG!" Blake shouted in concern.
"Don't worry." Ruby said, "With each hit, she gets stronger and she uses that energy to fight back. That's what makes her special."
She sounds like a Saiyan. Theodore thought to himself then looked at what was left of the jeep. Argent isn't going to be happy.
Yang stood up facing the paladin, with her head down and fists clenched. Her hair was also glowing a brighter yellow. The mech threw another punch at Yang which she caught without flinching. She then looked up and opened her eyes showing they were red instead of purple. She then pulled her left fist back and in one swift punch shattered the paladin's arm.
Argent had just recovered from the hit and sat up rubbing his back. His face went from groggy to surprised when he saw his jeep wrecked. Turning to the paladin, who had just kicked Yang away, he grabbed his axed, which turned into a bazooka and started firing missiles at the paladin.
"YOU WRECKED MY CAR!" He shouted. While he was doing that Blake and Yang were doing a team up attack called 'Bumblebee'. Blake was holding onto the ribbon end of Gambol Shroud while Yang held the weapon itself and was shooting at the paladin while being spun by the cat Faunus.
"We have to slow it down!" Ruby said.
"And how do you propose we do that?!" Weiss asked. Ruby answered her question by looking back at the paladin and shouting another command.
"ICE FLOWER!"
Weiss created three glyphs from large to small and Ruby positioned her scythe as a sniper would take aim. When she shot a bullet, it passed through the glyphs and hit the paladin making a piece of it get covered with ice. She got four shots on the mech before Yang came flying in, punching it straight in the face. The result caused the paladin to fall apart with Roman Torchwick falling out of it. This display of strength didn't go unnoticed by Argent.
"What a woman." He said with amazement. His attention then focused on the one responsible for wrecking his jeep.
"Just got this thing cleaned." Roman said while dusting himself off. He then looked to see Yang re-cock her weapon when Argent dashed past her with his axe at the ready shouting "HE'S MINE!"
Roman would have been sushi if it wasn't for a new addition that blocked the incoming attack with her umbrella. She then pushed Argent back to when he was standing right next to Yang. She then moved the umbrella over her head to reveal a girl Ruby's age and height. She had hair that was mostly pink on the right and chocolate brown on the left. Her right eye was brown while her left was pink. She looked at the group with a smile which then turned to surprise when she saw Argent.
"Neo?" Argent asked quietly while everyone else caught up.
"Ladies. Gentlemen. Ice Queen. Theodore Constantine." Torchwick said.
"Hey!" Weiss exclaimed.
"Yes! You got my name right!" Theodore stated, "Thank you!"
"Always a pleasure. Neo, if you would?"
The girl, Neo, took a bow towards everyone. Theodore looked to Titian who understood what he was asking he switched his sword back into a sniper rifle and put a special type of bullet into the gun. He then took aim and fired. The bullet was half way there when it exploded, and a net flew straight towards its victims. When it made contact, however, the two figures shattered as if they were never there.
Everyone then heard a bullhead's engines and looked for the source. They all saw Torchwick and Neo on the inside flying away. Argent, however, rushed towards it and leapt with the help of his bazooka giving him a boost. He grabbed onto the floor of the bullhead and started to climb inside when he saw Torchwick and Neo looking at him. The thief had an amused look on his face while his little helper was surprised.
"You sure are persistent, aren't you kid?" Torchwick asked then looked at his little henchman/girl. "Neo, would you be so kind and throw the trash off the plane?"
Neo looked at Roman, nodded her head and walked towards Argent. The contact looked at the girl with a sad look as if asking 'Why?' Neo knelt so that her face was level with his, her face also supporting a sad look. She closed her left hand into a fist, placed it over chest and started making a circle motion. It was sign language which meant 'I'm sorry.' She then reeled her fist back and punched Argent in the face as hard as she could. The boy then fell off the bullhead and onto the ground in front of the others. Torchwick looked at Neo with a questionable looked and walked up to her. Her expression had not changed. She still had the same sad look on her face before she punched Argent.
"From the looks of it, you two seem to have a history." Roman said, "Do you know him?"
Neo pulled out her scroll, typed some words on it, and showed it to Torchwick. What he read caused him to have a look of surprise.
He's my brother. It read.
"Oh." Roman replied, "Well then…just hope you two never cross paths again. It's really hard to fight someone when they're family members."
"Argent! You okay?!" Yang asked as she knelt next to him. The silver haired boy just stood up and dusted himself off.
"I'm okay, Yang." He answered while looking the direction where the bullhead had flown, "I've fallen from higher places."
"We were so CLOSE!" Theodore exclaimed while throwing his weapon down out of anger of losing Torchwick, again.
"So, I guess he got a new henchman." Yang said.
"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans…fall apart?" Weiss said while smiling at the pun she just invented. She only got a few chuckles from Theodore and Ruby while the rest were silent.
"No. Just…no." Titian said.
"Agreed." Clair added.
"Clair. Argent." Theodore addressed two of his contacts, "Where are Sun and Neptune?"
The said students were sitting at a food stand named A Simple Wok Noodle House, eating the food there.
"They're probably fine, right?" Neptune asked.
"Probably." Sun replied and both boys continued to eat.