Alright!
So yeah, I know I update this around every week or two, but now I'm getting more hours at work and applying for college so updates may not be as frequent. I will NOT abandon this story, I promise you that. I just returned to the site after five years or so from a hiatus and I will not disappear again unless I can't help it. With that, onwards!
Thanks to the guest Anonymous Fanz. I know that Shade seems too happy-go-lucky for someone who lost his friends and family. Good guess on his training and that he's good at hiding things. It's pretty close.
It has to do with his training and the fact that he spent five years in the Dead Zone, a place where if he gave into the sorrow it would attract Grimm. Iron Lords are trained to put their job before themselves, so Shade pushed everything aside in order to do his job, survive. He also considers training RWBY as a job, so he's pushing everything aside to do that. I purposely made him Happy-go-lucky because even when his fellow Iron Lords are brought up he doesn't think on the topic too much, and doesn't talk about them for too long.
Bottling one's emotions is how some people cope with loss, it's how I cope with things. It's a rather self-harming process of self-denial and guilt, and puts a strain on the psyche, Shade will break soon, I promise.
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Destiny, if I did, well let's just say I'd be out of a job pretty soon.
The first thing RWBY, Sun, and Shade did that Saturday morning was meet up and go straight to Ozpin, Weiss and Ruby branching off to go to the CCT tower. Shade had fond memories of the CCT system, Luna and him had entertained the idea of possibly allowing it to transmat physical objects from tower to tower. Those ideas, however, never got really far. Shade remembers Luna didn't quite trust the CCTS because the whole system relied on all four towers being active, posing a massive flaw to the system. Shade had pondered ideas of fixing that flaw in the system while he was trapped in the Dead Zone, he only came up with the idea to make the entire system modular. Instead of the system containing four primary towers, each tower contains a smaller system that allows the kingdoms to communicate with each other but not have the whole system down if a kingdom should fall.
The elevator doors opening up snaps Shade out of his thoughts. He leads Sun, Blake, and Yang out of the elevator and into the headmaster's office, the large clock system ticking away.
"Mr. Kurogane, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Ozpin asks.
"Bravo Delta six niner seven." Shade says, and the room grows dark as the windows shade. Ozpin's face grows serious.
"What's the issue Vanguard?" The headmaster says, as Ironwoods face pops up on a screen on the wall.
"I received intelligence about a potential White Fang heist." The Iron Lord says. "I've heard there's a rather large Schnee dust shipment arriving tomorrow, and that's just practically inviting the White Fang."
"Yes. It was a possibility we considered." Ironwood says, narrowing his eyes at the four teens. "I don't see the point of having the other three here though."
"Mr. Wukong here." Shade says, as Sun steps forwards. "Was my informant, since he was a stowaway on a ship until he arrived yesterday ahead of the rest of the students from Haven, Blake and Yang were present when I received the information. Ruby and Weiss are at the CCT tower informing the SDC." Shade looks to both headmasters. "However, I have reason to believe that this isn't just so the White Fang can deal a blow to the SDC."
"Explain." Ironwood says.
"There's been seven dust shop robberies this week, many of which have had Faunus workers, yet the White Fang still robs them, Roman Torchwick also hasn't been caught, but even he and the White Fang never needed that much dust. I suspect that there may be a possibility of Torchwick working with the Fang."
"The White Fang would never work with a human like Torchwick." Blake says, drawing attention from everyone.
"Ironwood, this is Blake Belladonna." Shade says.
"Why do you say that Belladonna?" Ironwood says, while Blake removes her bow.
"Because I used to work with those terrorists." She says, her ears twitching. "My dad was the old leader before they went violent." Ironwood nods.
"Perhaps..." Shade thinks. "Perhaps they're not working together voluntarily." All eyes turn to him.
"What do you mean?" Ozpin asks, Ironwood and him sharing a quick glance.
"I mean, what if there's a bigger picture being painted that we don't know about." Shade mutters, pacing back and forth. "What if the Fang and Torchwick both work for the same person, and are being forced to work together by their boss. That much dust can build a bomb capable enough of taking out a CCT tower, or supply an army long after international communication is cut off." His eyes glow as he looks to Ironwood. "General, what would you do if, say, the Kingdom of Vale collapsed?"
"I would assess the situation and close the borders." The General responds. "Which would... Cut off the other Kingdom's supply from the primary dust supplier of the world."
"Exactly." Shade says. "Ironwood. I think it's time to upgrade the CCT systems. Make the entire system able to operate off of two towers, but able to connect to four. That way the system cannot be taken down at once. Then you should make a separate system for domestic use only." Ironwood thinks for a second.
"That would take some time." The General says. "And some money."
"Better to lose some money than to have the world fall into chaos." Shade says. "In the meantime, increase security on the towers. Make sure they can't be hacked, from the inside." Ironwood raises an eyebrow. "The problem with having the public access in the actual tower is that everything plugged in is able to bypass your firewalls. I would increase a firewall on it, working 24/7 so that no one can hack in. I don't care if it would cause files to be transferred slower, as long as the towers are secure." Shade thinks for a second. "Because if someone can hack into a tower, they gain access to everything connected to it, and as a military leader you can guess how bad that would be." Ironwood nods.
"We'll get right on that." Ironwood says.
"Keep it under wraps." Shade warns. "If Roman's boss wants to hack into the CCTS then we don't want them knowing about it so they can change their plan. Make them think everything is going as planned, and then we'll watch as their plan falls apart."
"Understood, we'll disguise it as system maintenance." Ironwood says. "About that dust shipment."
"Leave it to RWBY, Sun, and I." the Scout says, "It shouldn't be more than I can handle, if you'd keep CFVY and JNPR on standby just in case it would be appreciated." Ozpin nods.
"Clear." The aged headmaster says.
"Clear." Ironwood echoes. The General's face disappears as the room lightens up again. Ruby and Weiss enter the room soon after.
"Alright." Ozpin says. "This is an official mission given to Iron Lord Shade Kurogane, with assistance from team RWBY and Sun Wukong. Stop the White Fang from stealing the dust shipment. Shade, your team is yours."
"Alright. We meet near the docks tomorrow at noon. The White Fang won't risk a heist in broad daylight, so we stake out the area." Shade says. "Take the rest of the day to get your equipment ready, and relax." RWBY and Sun nod, and the six exit Ozpin's office. Shade quickly moves to the edges of the cliffs, staring over the city. His scroll vibrates, and he sees that Ozpin had sent him something. Opening the file he finds an address, with orders to visit them after the mission.
(Linebreak)
Shade had quickly gotten some lunch before returning to his dorm. He spent the rest of the day maintaining Forgotten Night, his pistol, and But Not Forgotten. It was a half-hour before dinner when a knock on the door catches his attention.
"It's open." He calls out, quickly unlocking the door from his scroll. Blake quickly enters the room, her bow off and ears standing tall. "What can I do for you Blake?" The Faunus raises an eyebrow at the scene she walks into. Shade was sitting crosslegged on the floor, his rifle and pistol in parts around him while he was sharpening Forgotten Night with a wetstone.
"You've been busy." She comments. Shade chuckles as he motions for her to take a seat.
"I don't like mechasift weapons." The Scout says. "It's too complex to maintain while on a long mission if something broke." Blake nods in understanding as she takes a seat next to him, her back leaning against his. "However, the concept of a mechashift weapon interests me if I would carry spare parts for it, but since a Scout needs to pack light I can't afford to carry spare parts." Blake hums in agreement while she takes out Gambol Shroud and does some quick maintenance.
"I like your fighting style actually." She says, throwing a smirk over her shoulder. "It's unique to you, it's something that I may hope to learn." Shade chuckles, shaking his head.
"No, I think it's time for the Iron Lords to move into the modern era." He says, nudging her slightly when he grabs the barrel for But Not Forgotten. "I think that RWBY's Iron Blades should be the first Iron Lord mechashift weapons." Blake smiles slightly.
"Would you make one yourself?" She asks. Shade shakes his head.
"No, I don't think I would. Even when I was younger I didn't have a mechashift weapon. I left the range to Vivian." He says.
"Vivian, your friend that was training to be a Support, right?" Blake asks. "What was she like?"
"Vi, Vi was the best." He says, leaning back into her. "She was like, really smart. I was raised in an orphanage until Vivian's family put me in their foster care. She was, basically, my best friend." The Scout trails off, and unknown to his Faunus friend, his eyes dull and become conflicted. Blake lightly bumps her head against his head. "Sorry, just, not now. After the mission perhaps." Blake grins sadly.
"It's okay." She says. The two continue in a companionable silence until Shade's watch rings out just as he assembles the rest of his weapons.
"Dinner time." He says, standing and placing his weapons in the rack. "I didn't ask, but why did you come here?" He asks while helping her up.
"Yang was being loud, Ruby was blasting music, and Weiss was humming rather loudly." She says. "I wanted to read in silence so I left and just went here, since you generally stay quiet. I wasn't expecting to do this but it was actually kinda calming." Shade grins as they walk down the hall, meeting up with the rest of RWBY.
"Heya you two!" Yang says, a cheeky smile on her face. "Out on a date or somethin'?" Blake blushes slightly while Shade raises an eyebrow.
"And if we were?" He asks, here Blake's face turns as red as Ruby's cloak. Weiss chokes on her own spit while Yang sputters. Ruby giggles manically.
"Wha-" Yang says, and Shade bursts out chuckles.
"Just kidding." He says, and Blake punches him in the arm, hard enough to leave a decent dent in his aura. "Ow! What was that for!?"
"Don't make jokes like that." She says, her amber eyes holding a cross between amusement and annoyance. Ruby falls to the ground giggling while holding her stomach. Weiss catches her breath with a grin on her face while Yang smirks. The five make their way to get dinner. JNPR and CFVY look on in confusion as Shade avoids Blake as much as possible while the rest of RWBY look on in amusement.
"Okay, what did we miss?" Coco asks. Shade rubs his arm.
"Blake's punches hurt." He mutters, before looking at his friends. "You guys get your standby orders?" Coco and Jaune nod. "Good, just standby unless I give the word. You'll know who's the enemy by the weird masks they'll probably be wearing." Coco nods while Jaune gives a thumbs up. The group finishes their meal and turns in for the night.
As Shade stares at his two pictures before going to bed, RWBY was going through their nightly rituals. Blake was reading, Yang was climbing into bed. Ruby was practically passed out already while Weiss was on the verge of falling asleep herself. Blake was thinking about the day, as she absent mindedly flips the page. She grins, closing her book and turning off the light.
"Goooooodddd Nigghhhhttt Tttttteeeaaam RWBY!" Ruby sleepily says. The team falls asleep to chuckles and Weiss's half-groan, half-chuckle.
(-Linebreak-)
Shade had awoke in a cold sweat.
"Damn nightmares." He mutters. The Scout stands and slips off his bed, dressing in scrubs and heading to the gym, quickly noting the early hour of four in the morning. He quickly throws down his bag and takes a Kickboxing stance against a sandbag. Lightning covers his fists as he instantly starts off with a right straight, the sandbag flying up and nearly snapping the chain it hung on in the process. Spinning around, the Scout follows up with a powerful elbow to the bag. This process continues for a few hours, the lightning had disappeared long ago, but as Shade continued well past breakfast his friends knew something was going on. Yang instantly found him, opting to go to the gym herself before their mission. She arrived to find Shade elbowing the sandbag one last time, his aura flickering before the bag bursts at the seams, exploding in sand. Yang whistles.
"You must be pretty strong." Yang chuckles. Shade grunts.
"Been wailing on the thing since four." The Scout mutters, taking a seat as he removes his shirt.
"You've been here for four hours? Why'd you wake up that early?" The blonde asks. Shade shrugs.
"Nightmares, don't wanna talk about it." He says, "Wait... I MISSED BREAKFAST!" The Iron Lord sprints out the door, forgetting his shirt and bag. Yang struggles to hold in her laugh as shrieks fill the air outside the door. Shade stumbles back through it a few moments later. "Forgot my shirt..."
"Yea, I heard." She chuckles, hanging up a new sandbag. Shade grumbles as he puts on his shirt and grabs his bag.
"You ready?" He asks, the brawler nods. "Okay, I'll see you at twelve." Yang waves half-heartedly as he leaves the gym, getting breakfast and then taking a nap.
(-LB-)
Shade had arrived to the docks early, and instantly met the hired thugs that the Schnee Dust company quickly hired.
"Beat it." The Iron Lord says. The mercenaries growl.
"Make us." The leader says. Shade sighs as he shows his ID.
"I'm an active duty Huntsman assigned to the defense of this shipment, my students and I will handle this, and as a Huntsman currently in the field, I'm higher in chain of command than you. So, beat It." The Scout says, "I have a plan and your presence will only get in my way." The mercs grit their teeth before walking away. Shade enters the Dock Manager's office.
"You that Huntsman Ozpin called me about?" The Manager asks. Shade nods. "What do you need?"
"I need a standard issue security workers outfit, I'm going to be undercover while my team is concealed elsewhere." The Scout says, the Manager nods and runs through some things.
"I have an outfit and the standard issue rifle, you'll have to ditch your current rifle and blade to blend in." The manager says, Shade nods.
"I'll leave them with my team. Could you notify security to stay clear of the area?" He asks, the Manager nods again. "Good, let me get changed and I'll be on my way." Shade quickly gets changed and meets RWBY and Sun outside.
"What's with the gettup?" Sun asks.
"I'll be undercover as a security guard doing a patrol, they'll think of me as an easy target and try to take me out." The male ravenette replies. "Weiss, could you hold onto But Not Forgotten and Forgotten Night for me?" The Heiress nods, taking the two weapons. "Alright, everyone coordinate with Ruby on finding a good stakeout position. She may not look it, but she's a sniper. Half of the job of a sniper is just finding a good nest to camp in." The five nods. "Good, sundown is in six hours, I'm assuming the Fang will arrive in seven. Shipment is arriving in two hours and will take two to fully unload. You'll have two hours beforehand to get used to the area, Blake." The female Faunus's eyes snap to the Iron Lord. "Find any choke points and try to guess on how they'll arrive, take Sun with you. Afterwards you two will post on the roof."
"Hello friends!" A familiar voice exclaims, the group jumps to find Penny suddenly in the middle. "Salutations!"
"Penny! What are you doing here?!" Ruby says. Shade groans.
"General Ironwood told me to be here!" She says. Weiss was slamming her head on a nearby streetlight.
"Fine." Shade mutters. "Weiss, you're with Yang, find a good area overlooking the center on the ground so Weiss can freeze them and the Yang can punch them, Ruby, you're with Penny, I don't care where you plant yourself as long as the enemy won't see you. Report in once you've found a spot. Blake, Sun, and Ruby, as well as Penny I guess, once they do so try to find them, if any one of those four can see you, you're too exposed, clear?" The group nods, and Penny salutes.
"I'm combat ready!" She says. Ruby grins slightly.
"What will you be doing?" Blake asks.
"I'll be speaking with the guard captain and figuring out the patrol routes and times. The Fang most likely will strike between patrols." He says. "Alright, break." The seven break off, everyone moving to do their tasks, all preparing for the fight ahead.
(Linebreak)
"I don't think they're coming." Blake sighs.
"Still, we have a job to do." Shae mutters into his mic. Blake's bow twitches.
"I hear something." The female Faunus says. Shade nods slightly, starting a patrol. A Bullhead flies in, and Shade finds himself surrounded by White Fang members. The Bullhead lands and a redhaired man exits.
"These aren't leashes boys, get to work!" The human male says. Shade narrows his eyes. "Ah, so sorry, but I jobs are jobs. I'm sure you understand."
"I do," Shade mutters, a Faunus walking behind him to restrain the Scout. "Now!" Instantly, Roman Torchwick finds the blade of Gambol Shroud at his neck while her bow flies off into the wind.
"Brothers of the White Fang, why do you aid this scum!" The female Ravenette shouts. Roman chuckles.
"Oh, my dear, didn't you get the memo? The White Fang and I are going on a joint business venture."
"Well call it off before I put an end to your little operation." Blake growls. Shade's attention is caught as three more Bullheads fly up.
"Well I wouldn't call it little." Roman says, flipping up the sight on his cane. Shade suddenly draws his pistol, smashing the Fang member behind him with the hilt and shooting the cane out of Roman's hands. The rest of the team quickly jumps into action as more Fang members jump from the Bullheads. A large male jumps out, a chainsaw sword in his and.
"Yang, Weiss. Take care of chainsaw." Shade orders, as Weiss launches his glaive to him. Grabbing the weapon, Shade twirls it around his neck before attacking Roman. "Blake and Sun, take care of the grunts. Ruby back up Yang and Weiss. Penny, do whatever you do."
"Kids these days." Roman mutters, grabbing his cane. Shade leaps towards his enemy. "Who are you kid?!" The thief jumps back, narrowly avoiding the flaming weapon as Shade doesn't give Roman the time to recover.
"I'm sure you can guess." Shade mutters, brandishing his weapon so that the Scout emblem that was engraved in the side could be seen. Roman's eyes widen as Shade charges forwards, his glaive catching fire. Roman blocks the strike with his cane, pulling the trigger as he spins it around. Both the cane and the glaive become a blur of fire and bullets as the two fight at a stalemate. Shade quickly gains the upperhand, smashing his weapon into the side of Roman and sending the thief flying into a shipping container. Shade moves off to help Weiss and Yang with chainsaw dude, diving under the large blade and delivering a few quick stabs.
Roman shakes off a few cobwebs, and looks up. Seeing the Blake was isolated away from Sun, the thief launches the hook of his cane at the girl. Shade runs forwards, pushing the girl out of the way as the hook catches him around the neck. Roman pulls, swinging Shade into an open container. Roman fires his weapon into the container and laughs manically at the resulting explosion.
"Shade!" Blake shouts, launching at Roman. The Faunus warps around the thief, landing strike after strike until Roman gets a lucky strike in, knocking the girl off balance. Roman keeps on striking Blake, knocking the girl down. Quickly glancing up to see a container hanging from a crane, Roman shoots it, knocking it off the hook and causing it to fall on Blake, or it would have if a blur hadn't grabbed Blake and rolled her out of the way. Shade pops up from his position on the ground, his pistol drawn as he unloads the revolver into Roman's chest. Drawing his Iron Blade, Shade surrounds it with lightning as he throws it at Torchwick, the spear like weapon sailing through the air and slamming into the thief. The resulting impact sends him flying back into the Bullhead he arrived in.
"Let's go!" Roman shouts. "These kids just keep getting weirder." Penny destroys the last few Bullheads as Shade retrieves his weapon, the lightning disappearing. Shade's knees buckle, and Blake suddenly appears at his side, keeping him up.
"Thanks Blake." Shade says, grinning up at her.
"How'd you survive?" The girl asks, leaning him against a container.
"My armor is blast resistant, so I let it do the job while focusing my aura on my head." He explains, catching his breath. Blake shakes her head as everyone surrounds the two. "Good job everyone. Sorry about that container Weiss." The heiress waves a head.
"It's fine, I'm just glad you're okay." She says. Shade nods.
"Alright, report back to Ozpin for me, I have to do something." The Scout says, standing. "Ozpin sent me an address to visit." Blake raises an eyebrow.
"I'll go with you." The female ravenette says. "You look like you're gonna pass out, I'm going with you." Shade sighs and nods, Blake helping him up as he pulls out his scroll.
(Linebreak)
Shade and Blake were walking down the residential district, checking mailboxes for the numbers.
"This is it." Blake says. Shade nods, walking up to the front door.
"Why would Ozpin send me here?" He mutters, knocking. A blue haired woman answers the door.
"Hello, how can I-" The woman says, freezing when she takes a look at Shade's face. "Shade?!"
"Mrs. Aquarius?" Shade whispers, his eyes widening at her face.
(Meanwhile)
A minor tremor rumbles through the Dead Zone, and in a collapsed cave on the edge of a burnt battlefield a few rocks tumble away from the entrance, revealing purple hair surrounded by a white glow.
A/N: Done, I know there's a ton of linebreaks and skips, but I got tired and whatnot. Everything was stated in the beginning, so bye!