RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth, of which I am not a part of.
Argument: Save the Bees!
Counter-Argument: Bumblebee is one of the most popular ships in RWBY and you'll easily find pictures of it even when you aren't searching for it.
Conclusion: NOT THE BEES! AAAAAHHH!
(I'm just jesting. Happy Bumblebee Week 2018 folks :P)
No Bumblebee from this story though. Only Monochrome. Volume 2, Chapter 11, 'No Brakes'
Most of the pain didn't come from the cane slamming into Ruby's body.
It came from her collision with the floor.
She tried to rise back to her feet, only to be knocked over again, wincing as Torchwick's laugh scratched at her ears.
"You know, Perry, I really did need this. But seriously…"
He knelt down to bring his head level with the red-cloaked girl, lifting her chin up with his cane.
"How'd you find us, little Red?"
*BANG*
"What the-"
Roman turned around towards the sound as he heard shouting and gunfire. Off in the distance, he could see White Fang troopers yelling orders at each other when something exploded in the middle of the group, knocking them off their feet. There was a familiar flash of gold and white behind the smoke.
Torchwick narrowed his eyes and brought a hand up over his forehead to try and focus the intruders into view, only to find his vision blocked and a massive weight on his shoulders. He quickly through the object forwards, only to realize that said object was, in fact, his prisoner.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Ruby was already sprinting off as he angrily gave his command. "SOMEBODY KILL HER!"
His bodyguards fired off several rounds from their rifles as he himself launched a burst from his cane, but none of the shots landed anywhere near Ruby as her semblance kicked in and she shot off into the distance.
Oobleck wisely took a step to the side, Yang appearing behind him and stretching out her arms.
"RUBY!"
"YANG!"
The smaller girl literally flew into her older sister's embrace, the blonde spinning them around. Both Weiss and Blake joined the hug, relief flooding over them as they hadn't realized they'd also been so anxious to find their leader again. Zwei barked up at his owner happily.
"Hey, Yang?" Ruby asked as her sister put her down, "Remember how I said I didn't want to learn hand-to-hand combat?"
"Hmmm?" The brawler barely registered the words, too busy checking her little sister over to make sure she really was alright.
"I fully retract that statement."
Blake smiled and handed her leader her folded weapon. "Well, maybe I can teach you some moves later. For now, though…" She glared off into the distance, where Roman was already barking off orders at his minions.
The red-haired girl fixed her gaze off into the distance as well. "He seemed to be loading stuff onto a train."
"What? That's ridiculous!" Oobleck pushed his glasses up. "These tunnels are sealed off, the tracks lead to a dead end!"
As if to answer his insistence, a loud train horn pierced the air, the group trying to block the sudden noise as they brought their hands up to their ears.
Despite her feline ears still ringing, the brunette was the first to respond. "Well, it looks like they're going somewhere!"
"Hang on." Ruby took out her scroll and began searching through portraits on it. "Let me call Jaune."
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Oh, terrific. I'm sure he'll come and stop Torchwick all by herself."
Her leader glared back up at her partner. "Well, it's better than nothing! And if you have an issue with it being him, I can tell you that he'll definitely bring the rest of Team JNPR with him!"
The heiress simply turned away and huffed, though their professor spoke up. "Miss Rose, I don't believe Mister Arc will have time to organize a response party before-"
"I know that! Still, we need to let someone know! Come on, come on…" Ruby bit her lip as her phone kept ringing and let out a growl of frustration when the signal died.
"Well, it looks like we really are on our own, then. Looks like we're stopping that… wha-"
As she looked up, her teammates, teacher and pet were already sprinting off back towards the train, leaving her in the dust. Sighing, she shot off after them in a flurry of petals.
As they clambered onto the rooftop of the caboose, most of the group took a second to catch their breath, but it wasn't more than a few seconds before Weiss spoke up, opening the hatch in the roof and catching their attention. "Uh, professor?"
"DOCTOR." Even behind his glasses, Weiss could tell he was glaring.
"What's that?" She pointed at a large, cylindrical metal object sitting on the floor of the boxcar.
Oobleck kneeled down for a second to take in the sight, Zwei sitting next to them. "That, my dear, appears to be a bomb."
The word shook Team RWBY. If they weren't awake before, they definitely were now.
Her silver eyes still wide, Ruby pointed ahead. "We've got baddies!"
The others followed her arm to see dozens of White Fang members approaching slowly from several cars ahead, keeping their balance atop the speeding train.
Oobleck bit his lip. "Well, I didn't expect them to go-"
BEEP BEEP BEEP
The small screen on the bomb below lit up red.
"-easy on us… Time to go!"
The girls needed no further prompting. Whilst most of the team sprinted forwards, their supervisor stopped the Faunus girl. "Blake, detach the caboose! It'll kill us all!"
"On it!"
Admittedly, this wasn't exactly the first time she'd done something like this. I suppose it's reasonable to have that kind of experience. Blake smiled humorously as she jumped down between the cars, drawing back Gambol Shroud in preparation for the severing strike.
…only for the lock to open itself, friction slowing down the freed car.
"Huh?!" Confused, she looked up at her teacher. "It decoupled itself!"
"What?!"
"I guess he really doesn't want us on this train." Yang stretched the back of her head, suddenly feeling they'd severely underestimated their opponent.
Oobleck stood in shock as a huge explosion blew apart the car behind them. "That's not good..."
"Uh, neither is this!"
At the sound of the young leader's voice, the two turned around as Blake hauled herself onto the roof. Ruby and Weiss stood lifting up that car's hatch.
Blake could easily guess what it was, but she was still stunned. "ANOTHER bomb?!"
Oobleck looked back at the wreck behind them before running ahead, jumping to the next car. "No, no, no…"
One look below confirmed his fears.
"THEY ALL HAVE BOMBS!"
Even before his yell finished, the device in Team RWBY's car spooled up, the car already detaching. Wasting no time, Weiss led the group, summoning a large platform glyph in the gap as they leapt off the second trapped car.
As they landed on the next boxcar, they loaded their weapons as the White Fang soldiers finally reached them. One particularly eager grunt pulled out a spear and aimed it at Weiss, sneering at his chance to finally take on a Schnee.
Rolling her eyes and summoning a glyph under her feet, the heiress launched herself at their first challenger, slicing the spearhead off and sending him flying back with a cry of shock.
As more troops charged, her heartbeat picked up quickly, her mind slowly becoming less and less aware of her surroundings as her movements became gracefully automatic. Myrtenaster glanced against weapon after weapon as enemy after enemy was knocked out.
The fight was an organized mess. She struck forward, blocking an incoming sword with a glyph as Yang hiked herself over her shoulder and delivered a kick to the assailant's face. A dance of gleaming steel shone past as Ruby knocked over a couple of troops aiming rifles. At one point, Blake mirrored her leader's movements, the duo fighting side by side.
Years of pain from the strictness and tension of her family life vanished as Weiss plowed ahead, smiling mischievously as she launched another opponent off to the side with a well-placed glyph. As she looked back, she saw only a handful of their adversaries lying unconscious on the boxcar, one of which was frozen in a shard of ice she didn't remember summoning.
She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so alive.
Oobleck soon worked out that the exploding cars were breaking open the tunnel to the surface, meaning that Torchwick was leading Grimm towards Vale with the train. He ordered Weiss, Blake and Yang to go through the cars and try to 'stop this train' (for some reason that Weiss herself couldn't figure out, her partner glared at the doctor after he said this).
The trio hit the floor of the train car with a loud bang. Yang stood at the front of the group and stretched her arms over her head. "Well, I guess this is what we trained for."
Neither of her teammates decided to dignify that pun with a response.
Dusting off her skirt, the heiress felt her hand bump the cartridge of dust she had in her holster. Smiling, she took it and extended it out to Blake, prompting a look of surprise from her crush.
"Here. I made this for you. After what you said before about your semblance, I thought… well…" She felt her shoulders hike up. Unfortunately, she hadn't planned out what she was going to say and now her mind was drawing a blank.
Blake blinked, color flashing on her cheeks. Suddenly, she broke out into a grateful smile, taking the ammunition gladly with a shy nod.
"Hey, once you two lovebirds are done flirting, we should probably move on!"
Two pairs of golden and blue eyes glared at their golden-haired teammate, who flashed a bright smile back at their flushing faces.
They stopped only a few paces ahead, however, as a disturbingly familiar face dropped from the roof.
Neo.
Weiss felt a shiver roll through her. The last time she'd seen the girl, she'd seen something she hoped she would never have to see again. Her brows pinched in rage as she reached for her sword.
"You guys go on ahead, this one's mine."
The white-haired girl threw a glower up at her blonde teammate, one that was shared by the brunette. Technically, Oobleck said they needed to get to the front as soon as possible, but…
"Didn't you guys hear me?! I said GET GOING!"
Red surged through the brawler's eyes as she stole a glance at her shorter teammate, her hair smoking noticeably.
Weiss exchanged a glance with Blake, taking a moment to share a silent acknowledgement before they bolted ahead. They didn't even need to lift their weapons as a shot from Ember Celica flew past them and forced the pink and brown-haired girl to dodge out of their way.
Though thoughts of her developing feelings for her Faunus teammate continued to linger absentmindedly in her head, Weiss forced them away. She carried along through the train alongside the brunette, their eyes only meeting for a second as a motor echoed through the corridor.
Ahead of them appeared an enormous White Fang member, wielding the largest chainsaw she'd ever seen.
"You go on ahead!"
The words left Weiss's mouth before she even realized it. It seemed to even stun Blake, whose pupils constricted at the order. However, seeing the sudden confidence shining back, she nodded. "Got it!"
Picking up her pace, the heiress ran ahead and struck at the bar of the giant tool, deflecting a quick blow off to the side and swiping methodically against every lunge at her. She summoned a glyph for Blake to jump on, launching the other girl over their large opponent. Another glyph at her own feet shot the heiress forwards, smacking away another strike and throwing her adversary's weight back. One final jab knocked him off his feet, sending him crashing to the ground.
As she resettled her stance, the heiress gave a confident smile to her crush, urging the brunette onwards despite the worried look on the other girl's face.
But suddenly Blake stopped, looking back as the concern in her amber eyes pleadingly asked a question, one Weiss simply couldn't decipher.
As time began to slow down around her, the snow-haired girl's mind quickly searched for some way to convey her thoughts to her teammate. In the end, she did the first thing that came to mind.
She winked.
As soon as she did, she felt a soul-crushing amount of regret. Now wasn't the time for that kind of stuff, especially when she couldn't summon that much courage to express affection for the Faunus girl in ANY other situation. Courage that had far more practical uses at the moment.
Thankfully, her fear ebbed away as Blake slowly returned a pleasant smile before turning forwards and slamming through the door to the next car. Though the heiress thought she'd imagined it, she could've swore she saw a shade of pink flash across her teammate's face.
She shook her head and returned to her battle stance as the large White Fang member rose in front of her again, his disturbingly creepy chuckle and the slow chugging of the chainsaw's engine refocusing her mind on the real battle.
Weiss spun Myrtenaster's chamber with her thumb, dully noting how little dust she had without the vials she'd given to Blake. She couldn't afford to allow herself to get distracted now; no relationship issues should be at the front of her mind when she had a foe like this to fight.
Blake forced open yet another door, hoping she would reach the front soon, without any more distractions. With Yang stuck fighting that tiny terror and Weiss facing off again the giant lieutenant (a man she could remember from longer ago than she was willing to admit), her task was now even more time-sensitive.
Her blood boiled as a head of orange hair came into view. Torchwick stood before her, twirling his cane up to his shoulder, a wicked smile on his face.
"Hello, Kitty Cat. Ya miss me? You know, we really oughta stop meeting like this, people are gonna talk."
She didn't respond to his obvious taunting, instead shooting forwards. Roman growled as he reflexively brought up his cane over his head.
Time to see how exactly this works…
As Blake activated her semblance, it felt as though fire was coursing through her veins. As she rolled along the ground, she felt sheer satisfaction as Roman shouted out in pain from the blast behind her.
Jumping up, she delivered several blows directly to his chest, sending him flying back.
Dust, his aura's strong…
Roman hit the ground with little more than a grunt. Blake landed on two feet and took Gambol Shroud's sheath in her left hand, duel wielding and ready for her next opening.
The chance came quick as Torchwick stood back up and launched a shot from the end of his cane at her.
Her skin crawled as she shifted into the air, an earthen clone taking her place and shattering as the blinding blast collided with it.
The cane struck out once again towards her lunging figure, catching a shadow clone as she hit the floor and attacked with both swords, twirling and relentlessly pressing forward with two slashes on each turn. Gritting his teeth, Torchwick just barely managed to knock away each strike in an incredible display of precision.
Then he swing forwards again, only to find his weapon stuck in the abdomen of a clone made of ice. As the Faunus girl flipped backwards, she slammed her blades together. It sent a massive shockwave flying forwards and blew the criminal off his feet, slamming him into the door at the other end of the carriage.
His attempts to get up were halted by a sharp press of Blake's heel into his stomach, Gambol Shroud's katana inches from his face.
Pinned and now clearly outmatched, he quickly changed his approach. His tone became disturbing fearless for his position. "So. This is the point we've arrived at, huh? What are you gonna do? Slice me into pieces? Is that going to make you feel better? Is it going to turn your life into a fairytale where everyone lives happily ever after? After you murder me in cold blood?"
His words were chilling. Blake forced back a wince, holding her face in stone. She knew he had committed worse crimes than just dust robbery; he was working with the White Fang now for crying out loud, and she would be the one who knew exactly what that would entail. Yet, the idea of spilling blood still tugged at her nerves, whether he was a horrible person or not. She KNEW the White Fang would never leave her past. She KNEW that, but…
She cleared her mind, replacing her flaring temper with thoughts of her teammates. Her newfound friends. Friends that CARED about her.
Weiss…
The brunette hadn't realized her breathing had become ragged until she was calming herself down. She looked down at Torchwick, her mind now ready to deal with his taunts and devise a plan to bring him back to Vale and turn him over to the police.
But then, her gaze was pulled from the criminal as a familiar engine revved up.
Her burning blood ran cold as she saw Weiss tumble into the car, crashing face-first to the cold metal floor, with the White Fang lieutenant advancing slowly towards her.
Roman sneered. "So, what's it gonna be, Blake?"
For a second, several possible scenarios flashed through the Faunus girl's mind. A small part of the remaining bloodlust roaring through her suggested just skewering the redheaded maniac; forget her issues.
Just be done with it, end the problems he's causing.
The reasonable side of her quickly took hold and concluded that 'murder' was NOT something she wanted to add to her ongoing list of regrets.
The next option that passed through her mind was to try and carry both Weiss and Torchwick out of there.
Yeah, sure, if I was Yang.
She threw this idea out without a second thought.
Finally, the brunette decided on the most practical of her choices: A quick snap-kick to the face, knocking him out cold and sending his stupid bowler hat flying. She spun around and ran back to her teammate's side, pulling the heiress's chest up onto her own. Weiss was still breathing, but whatever consciousness she still held wasn't enough for her to stand on her own.
She could feel how damaged her friend's aura was.
'Don't say that! I'd trust you with my life!'
Blake only took one look at the advancing lieutenant. Before he was able to lunge forward, the duo had already vanished.
…
…
…
"-eis-"
…
"-iss!"
"Weiss!"
As soon as she recognized her name, renewed energy shot through the heiress's body. Not even bothering to grab for Myrtenaster and ignoring the sound of screeching metal around her, she shot upwards, only to smack against something above, eliciting a cry of shock from… whatever it was.
Groaning and rubbing her forehead, Weiss's icy eyes drew open and found themselves only inches from her crush's face.
The brunette's own amber eyes were screwed shut as she caressed her own bruise. A moan slipped through Blake's lips. "Ow…"
"I… sorry." Weiss apologized, looking down at her lap. She couldn't decide if her cheeks were burning because she'd failed to defeat her opponent and had to be rescued or because Blake's lips had been so close to hers.
The Faunus girl gave a small grin. "Don't be. I'm just glad you're alright."
The heiress screwed her eyes closed, her mind wriggling with frustration.
Calm down! She's only saying that because we're teammates! You should be glad that she's alright too!
Looking around, Weiss noticed they were on top of the train once more. And that the rest of her team and the professor were still unaccounted for.
"You guys!"
And just like that, she spun around and saw her leader/partner approaching, looking somewhat exhausted. Noticing this made her own muscles begin to ache. She had missed a lot of sleep that night after all and it was beginning to catch up with her.
As it always did.
Kneeling down by her two friends, Ruby sighed with relief. Blake smiled, "Ruby. Glad to see you're okay."
There! You see, brain? She cares about us all equally!
But then, Blake looked back at her again, the amber eyes glistening softly, along with… something she couldn't quite identify.
Whatever it was, Weiss only hoped it wasn't making her blush too hard.
With nearly impeccable timing, Yang climbed up through a nearby hatch and saw her team. The heiress, however, noticed that her lilac eyes looked uncharacteristically distant.
Her younger sister seemed to see this coldness as well, running up to the brawler and shaking her arm, her voice laced with concern. "Yang, are you… what happened?"
Despite having noticed them only seconds before, Yang jolted at the contact, her eyes drawn down to the silver ones below. "Huh? Yeah, uh, I'm fine. Sorry."
Realizing everyone was looking at her, the blonde stumbled over her next sentence. "So, uh, w-where's Oobleck? And Zwei?"
As Ruby opened her mouth to explain, a loud blast and what sounded like excited howling from the corgi echoed through the air.
Well, that answers that.
Even as her brain was trying to catch up on what was happening, Weiss looked forward and let out a gasp.
Their train was headed straight towards a dead end. They had only seconds before the collision.
Without hesitation and running purely on adrenaline, she grabbed onto her teammates, one arm wrapping around Blake's shoulder and the other grabbing Yang's jacket. She pulled them all close together, the blonde thankfully dragging Ruby in with her despite not knowing what was going on. Less than a second later, Myrtenaster was out and the last of her ice dust was encasing them in a large crystal shard, all before the others could even sputter in surprise.
The next few seconds was filled with deafening roars, the crutching of metal and the feeling of Blake and Yang's bodies pressing against her.
And then…
…sirens.
Loud, wailing sirens.
As I start planning ahead for future chapters, I'm not sure whether or not I'll have to turn up the rating to 'mature'. Not because of smut (well, not intentionally; the stuff I'll be writing won't go THAT far...) but because of... well, "spoilers". Suffice it to say, it would be very misleading to call this a 'mature' fanfic, especially considering the web animation is considered 13+ and other mature fics here are far more, well, MATURE. I would hope I don't have to increase the rating, as that would limit this fanfic's availability and I personally don't think I should have to do it for something like that but... well, where exactly does one draw the line?
Oh well, it's a bridge I will have to cross eventually. At least, before I reach the end of this fanfic, anyway.
