Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Shadows of the Force. Enjoy the 4600-word chapter. I don't own RWBY and Star Wars. Monty Oum, Lucas Films and Rooster Teeth do.
(Vale, dock areas, Remnant 3:52 PM November 12th.)
Sun looked at the group of clones who held DC-15S and DC-15A blasters. Lerek looked at the address that Blake had given him on Sun's scroll.
"So, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Blake dragged you on these types of missions too, yeah?" Lerek questioned and got a nod. "If it helps? I've only known Blake for a few days. I'm still getting used to her doing things like this." Lerek said as he held up a hand.
Sun watched Lerek start to pull the door open with the force. The clones all took firing positions, Lerek had told the men to keep their blasters on stun until said otherwise. He knew for a fact that things were going to end up pretty insane at the end of the day.
"Keep your blasters ready, they could be waiting for someone to have shown up," Lerek ordered as he reached for his lightsaber. "You have a semblance, right? I'm still adjusting to things around here." Lerek said before he flicked his lightsaber on, igniting the blue blade and lighting up the area.
Lerek almost questioned why the law enforcement hadn't looked into the White Fang… Were they armed? Were they militarized? He knew nothing about the organization at the moment which meant they could be far more dangerous than he believed they were.
"Yeah, Blake didn't explain it?" Lerek heard from Sun as the doors opened as the squad of clones and Lerek slowly walked inside. "Why is she always like this?" Sun muttered with a roll of his eyes as he drew Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang from his back.
Lerek held out his lightsaber defensively. The Clones didn't turn on their flashlights, not wanting to give away their position. He didn't need the light either.
"Hey, you can see in this?" Sun asked to which Lerek nodded.
"I can see infrared," Lerek said as the group passed further inside, slowly advancing. "It's something all Arkanians can do. Blake didn't tell you I'm not from Remnant, did she?" Lerek asked which got a shake of the head from Sun.
He needed to have a talk with Blake when this was done. The sooner he got this over with? The more answers he got.
"Blake has a lot of weird friends," Sun said before Lerek chuckled. "Up there!" Sun yelled while Lerek looked around.
There was a glint of movement as the clones spread out, taking up firing positions and putting their backs into the barrels and crates around this place.
"OPEN FIRE!" Lerek heard only for him to flip backwards as a stream of gunfire greeted him.
Sun spun his staff, deflecting shots as he walked backwards. Lerek could see at least a dozen figures firing as he sighed. They had slugthrower like weapons, meaning deflecting shots was out of the option. There was also WAY too many for him to simply attack head-on.
"RETURN FIRE!" Lerek ordered as a dozen blaster rifles clacked and unleashed a hail of blaster fire in return for this. "Well, this should be interesting," Lerek stated, turning towards the crates.
Lerek held up his hand, lifting 2 crates before hurling them towards the shadows. He could see the heat from their bodies as he thought about how best to think about to best combat these warriors.
(With Blake)
Blake perched atop a building, watching as a Bullhead flew towards the docks. She knew they were busy evacuating the rest of their group at the docks. That meant that Lerek had engaged them well enough for them to be worried. Still? She wondered if Lerek was right about her getting into trouble, this mission would QUICKLY turn into a battle operation.
Plus, Ruby was busy with Penny, Weiss was at the CCTS, and Yang was busy checking out Junior and his club. That meant if Lerek didn't bring up his promise of coming back? She'd be in trouble the second the White Fang noticed her and tried to attack her.
"I wonder if he still has that Scroll Ozpin gave him," Blake said before she brought out the device and started to type in some commands on it a moment later.
There was nothing for a minute, causing Blake to look back over her shoulder as she started to worry. It was answered a few seconds later.
"Someone, get that one up on the scaffolding!" She heard from Lerek before he cleared his throat to speak. "Hey, Blake, busy getting shot at over here. How are things on your end, currently?" Lerek questioned as more gun and blaster fire roared over the radio.
"I'm heading in now, are you and Sun, ok?" Blake asked before there was a screech of pain. "Lerek," Blake asked as the Arkanian hummed, unsure what to say at the moment.
"Sorry, still working out how this thing works, Sun had to show me how to answer you," Lerek responded before he let out a sigh on the other end. "They've got us a bit pinned, one of my men is wounded. Sun is busy trying to help me close in. I can't deflect their attacks back at them considering they're not carrying blasters, currently." Lerek stated as Blake rolled her eyes.
She almost didn't want to ask HOW this would end up, but Blake was not just going to let her friends throw their lives away for her.
"Do you need me to come?" Blake asked, looking at the warehouse and the window she planned to use to spy on the meeting.
"No, go and handle your business," Lerek added before she heard the buzz of his lightsaber cutting through the air. "Sun, help me clear out that upper floor! Keep up the cover fire, blasters on stun unless I say otherwise!" Lerek barked over the comm as it cut out.
Blake sighed and then shook her head. She knew that Lerek would be ok… He'd be in trouble at the end of the day, but she guessed Lerek was no stranger to danger, to begin with.
Blake took a deep breath before leaping down into the city. She knew they would find her sooner or later. Lerek was going to come when she needed him. Lerek was coming, she knew it more than enough.
(With Sun and Lerek)
Lerek cracked his fingers, throwing one of the White Fang soldiers into the wall with the force. One of them ran towards him, a blade raised in his hands as he started to turn to engage him. Lerek dodged the blade before slicing through the sword and then kicking him over the edge and onto the ground a moment later.
Lerek noticed their metallic masks like helmets covering their face and a white shirt that had a wolf-like animal upon it. The crimson wolf with a few claw marks stood out to the Arkanian. It was a marking and a symbol of their group? Lerek filed it away in his mind for later.
"Is this normal for everyone to be this well-armed?" Lerek asked, pausing to take cover from the White Fang.
One of the White Fang raised his gun only for Sun to slam a nunchucks into him, slamming into the railing. He turned only to watch another White Fang soldier collapse, his body conversing as he dropped.
"They're not shooting to kill, right?" Sun asked the Arkanian as Lerek nodded. "Cool, but they're trying to kill us, you know," Sun stated while he spun his chucks to defect any bullets headed towards his face.
"Maybe," Lerek said, rolling under a pair of gunshots to kick a pair of White Fang soldiers to the ground. "But it doesn't mean I'm trying to kill them. I still have answers I need to ask them." Lerek stated while twirling his lightsaber.
Sun looked towards Lerek as the clones slowly started to move up, taking advance of the White Fang's lack of focus on everyone that wasn't the Jedi and Faunus.
"You and Blake have been talking a lot on stuff like this, haven't you?" Sun questioned as Lerek nodded in response.
"Yep, you?" Lerek asked as he sidestepped another strike with an axe before turning.
Sun watched as Lerek threw the insurgent into the wall with the force. He turned as the remaining White Fang soldiers retreated through a door, locking it behind them as they went.
"Do you think that was a big enough direction?" Lerek heard from Sun as one of his clones started to attend to the wounded.
"Maybe, but I don't want their reinforcements to be getting away," Lerek stated as he turned his lightsaber to the door before cutting through it like it was made of paper.
The door collapsed, melting into pieces as the Arkanian pursued the soldiers, leaping faster than they could shoot. Sun joined him as did the 10 clones that weren't busy fighting.
"Do we have a plan?" Lerek heard as he sped ahead, raising his lightsaber towards the remaining 5 soldiers.
He was about to answer when the roar of engines cut him off while bullhead began to drop towards them, a pair of canons fired from the nose, scattering the group of clones and Jedi. Lerek turned and shook his head, throwing a pair of clones the bullets almost hit. He was thrown off his feet by the backwash of the engines.
"Return to base, we need to report to the boss!" One of the soldiers yelled as they boarded the craft, exchanging shots with the clones who turned to blast at it.
Lerek climbed to his feet as the Bullhead fled into the sky as he thought about what the next move was. This fight was going to be interesting. He turned to his clones who looked at their commander, eager for new orders.
"Lock the warehouse down. They had something important here. Tend to the wounded as well." Lerek muttered while he shook his head. "They wanted something here, something worth dying over. I'll check it out when we figure out what Blake is doing." Lerek stated as he started to ponder what this group was doing.
Still? He had managed to get their attention and buy Blake some time. All he needed now? Was some time to figure out what to do next. That would have to wait with Blake at the mercy of this group.
"We need to go find Blake before something happened," Lerek stated as he put his lightsaber on his belt. "I'm going to think of what happens if Blake went after them," Lerek added, pausing to take a breath as he hummed.
He leapt upwards, slowly moving towards Blake. He couldn't sense it at the time, but he followed after the Bullhead. It was moving faster than he was at the second, but there was only so many places it could fly.
The Jedi almost wondered if Blake had intentionally sent both him and Sun further away so she could handle this alone. It would have made her accusations about his arrogance and constant jokes ring a lot hollower.
"I'm starting to think she's got VERY personal history with the White Fang the way she talks about them," Lerek stated, leaping across rooftops like they were steppingstones. "But if it was like that? Why didn't she tell me? What did she think? I'd judge her on her past? I'm from a species of self-centred evolutionists." Lerek stated to himself as he brushed off his Jedi robes.
Sun followed behind, Lerek could only look over his shoulder towards the Faunus. He knew that something was going to happen today. The energy in the air told him that as much as he leapt across the rooftops.
"How bad are the White Fang, exactly?" Lerek questioned Sun as the duo made their way towards Blake. "I was busy fighting, but I noticed they looked heavily well-armed and organized. I know Blake said they're resorting to force now." Lerek stated, perching atop one of the rooftops as the Bullhead descended.
Lerek watched it. They were keeping a low profile, which meant several possibilities to the Jedi knight. A general understood just how much it would hurt to underestimate their enemy.
"They're like a cult of violent Faunus who want respect with war," Sun said, gesturing with his hands.
"So basically, human separatists," Lerek said, bringing a hand to his temples. "Great, now there's that to worry about. Blake just keeps adding things that make my head spin." Lerek said while he rolled his eyes to himself.
"You and she have talked a LOT, haven't you?" Lerek heard from Sun to which the Arkanian nodded. "She's my friend too, I'm starting to think she's kinda obsessed with investigating the White Fang." Sun added as Lerek hummed.
Both were interrupted by gunfire followed by screeching. They turned to a building that the Bullhead had landed at.
"GET HER!" They heard which caused them to look at each other.
"Blake." Both stated as they leapt toward the warehouse. "And we're the cocky reckless ones," Lerek muttered to which Sun chuckled.
(With Blake)
Blake crashed through the window, dozens of angry Faunus following. She cursed one of them noticing her before telling the others. A simple look upwards was all it took to get her noticed.
"Lerek, Sun?" Blake asked over her scroll before the wall behind her exploded into bits of rubble and mortar.
She turned as the massive Atlesian paladin ripped through the wall and rushed after her, guns raised. She ran off, the mech chasing after her as its bulk crushed the stone it trod upon.
(With Sun and Lerek)
"What the…?" Lerek questioned before he dropped onto the shattered warehouse. "What is that thing? A giant battle droid?" Lerek asked as he chased after Blake.
"How did they know she was there?" Sun asked before Blake turned and noticed them.
"THIS WAS THE STEALTHY PLAN!?" Lerek joked as loudly as possible, causing the mech to turn and open fire on him as he rolled to the side.
Lerek leapt over the blasts, drawing his lightsaber as he went in one fluid motion. He shook his head at the Faunus, Lerek was NOT going to stop teasing Blake when this was done.
The mech turned towards him, trying to track the speeding Arkanian who flipped over it, using the force to send him and Blake over the edge and onto the highway. She turned as both landed on a speeding car.
"So, the plan was to have everyone shoot at you? Amazing!" Lerek snarked, earning a sigh from Blake. "What is that thing? I was gone for all of 10 minutes, and you get an army of White Fang chasing you?" Lerek asked before Blake shook her head.
"One of them spotted me, that wasn't part of my plan," Blake stated and watched Lerek shake his head.
"THEN WHAT WAS THE PLAN?!" Lerek shouted before the mech leapt down, sending cars screeching as it advanced on them, firing blasts of plasma at them. "Ok, new plan. We take that thing down and try not to die, does that work?" Lerek added, turning to face the metallic monster.
"I'm not the cocky one," Blake stated as she watched Lerek leap towards the creature. "Where is Sun?" Blake questioned before she lunged forwards, leaping on a different car as both approached the mech.
Lerek leapt forward towards the mech as it knocked a car out of the way towards him. Lerek looked at the occupants in concern as he twisted around it, he almost reached the mech before it pivoted, making Lerek sail onto another car as he turned towards it.
This allowed Blake to reach it, landing a slash that knocked it slightly to the right. It turned towards the Faunus who leapt towards one of the cannons, trying to disable it before the mech swung its head, knocking her backwards. She flipped in midair, landing next to Blake.
"Does it have any weak points?" Lerek questioned, wondering if this machine could be disabled. "If I could just get close? I could probably get one good hit in." Lerek asked as the mech turned, slamming its heels into the pavement and throwing itself back towards them.
Both were forced to leap clear as the car was sent skidding into the wall. Lerek hoped this battle didn't hurt too many people… But he'd make the machine pay before today was done. He'd ensure that at the very least.
"Those beams are connected to its weapons, I think," Blake stated as the machine swiped at their new perch.
"You think?" Lerek asked as he sighed. "You think you can distract it a second? I need to get close without it throwing me halfway across the battlefield." Lerek stated, his lightsaber lighting up the road as he did so.
This thing was smart and big, but Lerek had fought tanks before who had one of those advantages. They always had weaknesses; this machine was no different in the Arkanian's mind. He just needed to close the distance and he'd take it down soon enough.
"Try and aim for its legs," Blake added to which Lerek nodded as Blake lunged forward again, shapeshifting her weapon as she did so.
Blade watched the AK-Paladin aim a punch at her, she closed her and focused her semblance a second. Lerek watched as the mech's arms seemed to pass through her. He watched Blake seem to dart around the machine's arms, wrapping her weapon into its limbs, swinging around it like an overgrown arachnid.
'Shadow clones, of course.' Lerek thought before he leapt from the car towards the machine in question.
"What the hell?" Lerek heard just as he swung his saber downwards, it missed the leg which moved last second.
But it was enough to cut through the left arm, causing the mech to spin as the limb tumbled downwards and under its foot. The machine smashed through the side of the highway, tumbling into the depths of the highway. Blake leapt go before then, swinging herself from the crux of her arc.
The Faunus landed next to Lerek as the Jedi looked over the edge, scanning for any signs the paladin had survived the fall. He turned to Blake a second later, deactivating his lightsaber and returning it to his belt as he did so.
"Would you like to tell me how us causing a distraction led to this?" Lerek questioned, pausing to take a breath. "What was that thing? It looked like an overgrown battle droid and I'm going to guess throwing it off a highway isn't enough." Lerek stated before the sounds of shouting began to grow closer.
"BLAKE!" The duo heard as the rest of RWBY rushed towards them, Yang and a blue-haired man atop a bike, Weiss hopping on platforms of energy, and Ruby speeding towards them.
"We still need to make sure it's down and out before it gets back up," Lerek said, sighing and drawing his lightsaber again. "I'll go first," Lerek said before he leapt over the edge, turning on his comlink as he fell.
"Wow, you and Lerek were busy…" Yang stated, looking at the destruction the duo had caused. "Sun called said you guys were in trouble," Yang added as Blake nodded.
She wondered if Roman had tried to escape after his attack had been foiled upon them.
(With Lerek)
Lerek landed in a crouch, he brought up his comlink to his mouth. He slowly began to walk around, cautiously observing his surroundings with a hum.
"Drifter? I need a unit dispatched to my location, medical as well. We have wounded civilians." Lerek said as he started to turn in a circle slowly. "I think it's an experimental battle droid, didn't get a good look at it. How are things on your end?" Lerek questioned, waiting for the others to appear a moment later.
"General Ironwood and his men are busy talking about that commotion now, general." Lerek heard which caused him to chuckle to himself. "I'll send a unit. I just heard from one of our boys that you captured some insurgents there, shuttle just arrived at our outpost to detain them for now." Drifter added, garnering a click of the tongue from Lerek.
"Make sure the wounded are ok, Drifter," Lerek said before he looked at the massive mech.
The machine had smashed through the pillars of the highway, laying surrounded by 2. Its bisected limb stood next to him as he shook his head, curious as to what came next.
"The White Fang built something like this?" Lerek stated while he started to approach, keeping his lightsaber ready for this machine to attack if it did. "No, I doubt it. if they did? Why didn't they deploy it back at the building?" Lerek asked before the ground shook.
The machine pushed to its feet while he started to think of the effects while he thought of what happened to get these machines.
"Wait, I'm sensing… Something." Lerek stated as the machine whirled towards him, levelling its guns as it did so. "Just what is this thing?" Lerek asked before the machine fired a blast of energy at him.
Unlike the bullets of the others? Lerek was able to bring up his lightsaber with both hands, deflecting the blast to the side as RWBY joined him.
"What is this thing?" Lerek asked as the machine readied its remaining weapons. "It looks like a giant droid, but it's got something inside it. I sense something off about it." Lerek stated, pondering what this signature he sensed within the cybernetic creature at the moment.
"It's an Atlesian Paladin AP-290," Weiss stated, pulling her sword from her belt as she did. "Atlesian battle mech that can be remotely piloted or directly controlled. I remember my father talking about them." Weiss added to which Lerek sighed.
'The White Fang stole from the Atlesians? Great, another topic to discuss at the next meeting. That just brings up about another dozen questions, making me curious about SO dangerous things on this place.' Lerek thought to himself while he shook his head, guessing that it wasn't so simple.
"Well, they didn't design an armour that's lightsaber proof yet," Lerek said before the group split up as blasts of energy started to blast them while he started to deflect what blasts he could.
"Ok, I know for a fact that this is not going to be so hard, but I have so many questions," Lerek muttered, shaking his head as his lightsaber danced a blaze of motion in front of him.
He'd save any questions for when this machine was not an enemy. He needed to know what was that things were going to break. This machine had a weakness, every single thing was done at the end of the day. Even he had the downfalls that could be used against him, but he would be worried about that when he thought about it.
Lerek felt one of the blasts singe the air around him, curious as to what happened when this creature was destroyed.
"Please tell me there's a strategy here?" Lerek questioned as he leapt to the side, looking at the paladin who started to fire at everyone and everything. "This is going to be fun," Lerek stated to which got no real reply from these people.
Blake deployed her semblance as the paladin deployed its guns, firing a group of missiles at her. The missiles smashed into the spot where Blake was as Lerek turned and started to rush towards the mech in question.
"Hmm," Lerek stated while he leapt towards the paladin, lightsaber raised to chop the other limb from the mech.
The paladin leapt backwards as Lerek plunged his lightsaber into the ground. The paladin rose on its metallic legs, looking at Lerek before he twirled his lightsaber to throw the machine off.
It fired a series of blasts at him as Lerek threw himself backwards, flipping into the air as he questioned the weakness of the paladin. He guessed that it wasn't as agile as the group, but it was still designed for war. The AT-TE for example wasn't fast, but it still took heavy artillery to damage those machines.
Lerek guessed the metals were never designed to resist his lightsaber. If it were? Then the blade wouldn't have cleaved through it like paper. This machine was not slow, however, the chase over the highway told him it was fast enough to chase them.
'We need a plan or else this paladin is going to recover and strike one of us down. As long as it has its legs, however? It's too fast for me to hit it head-on.' Lerek started to think as Yang fired a round which caused the paladin to rock on its heels.
Ruby rushed forward, spinning her scythe in a circle towards the machine. The paladin was far stronger than it seemed as it unfurled its metallic arms, smacking Ruby away as Weiss summoned more glyphs, unleashing a series of blasts from the glyphs like they were snowflakes.
"Poor little red." The mech stated which finally convinced that Lerek was this mech had a pilot of its own. "Do you know how much you cost me? And what? You want to play your little hero games again?" The pilot stated to which Lerek blinked.
Ruby zoomed away as the blasts smashed into the paladin, each pushing it back just a little. He watched the paladin turn to blast at Weiss who slid away on a patch of ice.
This paladin turned to address Weiss as Lerek rushed towards the mech. His lightsaber lighted up the darkness as he sprinted towards the paladin, he glared at this hulking battle suit as it lifted a fist to crush him to dust under its weight.
Lerek rolled to the side, bringing his lightsaber up and into the metal. He felt the metal spark and melt as the beam of light dug into the hull. The machine stumbled back, its systems malfunctioned from the damage inflicted upon it.
Blake and the others started to rush towards the paladin as Lerek was tugged along as the mech shot backwards. The Jedi knight tugged his sword from the machine, trying to aim a blow at the glowing centre of the machine. He aimed a cut after the mech finally stabilized, curious as to what this machine truly was and how best to bring it down given the chance.
"Damn Faunus freak!" Roman hissed before firing the canons, Lerek was caught off guard as the rounds detonated in front of him.
"LEREK!" Blake yelled as the Arkanian rolled across the ground, his lightsaber clinking as it deactivated and flew from his hands.
"Go, we're deal with the paladin!" Weiss yelled, knowing Blake wanted to protect Lerek.
The reason came in a cluster of missiles aimed at him.
Author Notes
Phew. Another chapter is done! I want to point out that the next chapter will be in 2-10 months and such. The next chapter will be then and will show both the ending of the battle, along with more of Lerek learning about the White Fang and their war on Atlas and Vale. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!