Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me!
Chapter 4:Painting the Town…
After revealing of what she was, Ruby said "Penny, I-I don't understand..."
"Most girls are born, but I was made," Penny started. "I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura! I'm not real..."
Ruby took Penny's hands, held them with her own. "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?"
Penny, now confused, said "I don't... um... You're... taking this extraordinarily well."
"You're not like those things we saw back there. You've got a heart, and a soul; I can feel it!"
"Ooohh... oh Ruby!" The robot girl grabbed Ruby for a hug, started to shake her back and forth, as she said "You're the best friend anyone could have!"
"I can see why your father would want to protect such a delicate flower," Ruby said.
After letting her go, Penny happily said "Oh, he's very sweet! My father's the one who built me! I'm sure you would love him!"
"Wow. He built you all by himself?"
"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!"
The red-haired girl scoffed and said "They don't think you can protect yourself?"
"They're not sure if I'm ready yet," Penny said, losing her happy mood. "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.
Ruby, now looking at her friend with a confused look and asked "Penny, what are you talking about? Save the world from what? We're in a time of peace!"
Now Penny was confused, as she said "That's not what Mr. Ironwood said..."
Before Ruby could say anything else, they both heard a voice. "Check down here!"
They both knew that it was one of the soldiers, as Penny grabbed Ruby, and lifted her above her head saying "You have to hide!"
As Penny walked toward a nearby dumpster, Ruby screamed "Penny, wait! What are you doing? You don't have to go with them! I can help you!"
After throwing her into the dumpster, she said "It's okay, Ruby. They're not bad people; I just don't want to get you in trouble. Just promise me you won't tell anyone else my secret. Okay?"
"I promise."
As Ruby lowered the lid to the dumpster, the two soldiers spotted Penny. "There she is," one of them yelled.
Penny then put on her 'innocent girl' act, looked towards the two men, and said "Sal-u-tations, officers!"
"Why were you running? And what happened to the other girl," one soldier said.
"What girl? I was by myself all day!" She then hiccupped loudly, and smiled to hide the lie.
"You shouldn't cause such a scene."
"Are you okay," the other asked.
Penny showed them her hands and said "Just a scratch."
Then, one of them sighed and said "Penny, your father isn't going to be happy about this."
"Please, just come with us."
"Yes sir!"
As Ruby watched the three go, she heard a rat screech, and fell back into the dumpster.
In the ruin parts of Vale, Yang drives on her motorcycle, Bumblebee, until she stopped by a building. She took off her, and then told her passenger "Come on, my friend's right in here!"
Neptune, who had a petrified expression of terror on his face, and messed up hair, just said "Cool."
As Neptune sat there, unmoving, Yang looked around, and said "Hey…where's Legion?"
"Right here."
She looked up to see Legion standing on a lamppost. He then leaped off of it, and landed between Yang and her motorcycle.
After Neptune shook his head, making his hair go back to normal, he said "And where exactly is... here?"
Inside was a club reopening after and…incident. The owner, Junior Xiong, was happy to reopen. As he adjusted his cuffs, he noticed two of his henchmen quickly came in, and shut the doors. "What are you idiots doing," Junior yelled.
All that heard were 'She's coming,' when an explosion forced the doors to open and force them to the ground. As the smoke cleared, a familiar girl emerged.
"Guess who's back," Yang yelled, with a smile on her face. As she kept smiling, all the henchmen pointed their guns at her. She then glared at the recording studio where the track, playing 'I Burn,' was messing up. A bear-headed DJ got up, took the needle off the record, and retreated back under the table.
As they kept pointing their guns, they jumped as Neptune came behind her and said "Yeah, so could you define 'friend' for me?"
They jumped again as they saw a robot behind her, saying "I knew I was going to regret this."
"Stop, stop! Nobody shoot." They all lowered their guns as Junior moved through the crowd, walk up to Yang and said "Blondie, you're here! ...Why?"
"You still owe me a drink," she said, as she grabbed him and dragged him to the bar.
"Whoa-ho-ho-ho, what a woman," Neptune said, feeling love-strucked.
"Yeah, she is," Legion replied, crossing his arms.
"So, what about that Weiss girl?"
Legion's left arm went inward, and came back as a short blade. He put it near Neptune's neck and said "Touch her, and I'll end you!"
As the robot lowered his hand, Neptune noticed two other girls, twins in fact. "'Sup?"
The two girls, Melanie and Miltiades Malachite, together say "Whatever," and walk away, with their noses in the air.
In another side of town, Blake and Sun had found the location of the White Fang meeting. She had found a wall with three scratch marks. She peeked around the corner to see a pair of horned Faunus talk to a bearded man. "This is it," Blake said to Sun.
"You sure," Sun asked. He was only met with a glare. "Y'know, I'm just gonna take your word for it." After Blake unfasten her bow, and Sun buttoning up his shirt, the two went into the building.
As the they walked in, they heard a man yell "New recruits, keep to the right!"
"I don't get it," Sun said, holding onto a White Fang mask. "If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"
"The masks are a symbol," Blake started. "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 was the guy who started it."
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you..."
They put on their masks, and follow the crowd. As they walk into a more open area, they see guards on the cat-walks, on some type of stage with a giant cloth covering somthing, and a whole lot of members at the bottom of the stage. As they stopped, they saw a fully-masked man with tattoos on his left arm. As they stood there, the pair started to hear two WF members talking.
"What do you think they're going to announce," one of them asked.
"Shush. The Lieutenant is about to talk," the other said.
As she said this, the man, called the Lieutenant, began to speak. "Thank you all for coming. 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 so long!"
As he said that, a man with orange hair, wearing a bowler hat, came onto the stage. "Thank you, thank you! Please, hold your applause," Roman shouted. What the other Faunus failed to notice were the two others behind him. One of them was a small girl with long hair that was half pink and half brown, and had an umbrella. The other was a man, or at least that's what the pair thought. He wore power armor that was grey and green, with a helmet with a big 'X' in the middle.
"What's a human doing here," an antlered Faunus shouted.
"I'm glad you asked, "Deerie"," Roman said, grinning. "Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans... are the worst. Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed!"
As he kept talking, Sun leaned over to Blake and said "So, is he going somewhere with this?"
Roman continued. "But, before the claws come out, I'd 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!" The crowd then start to agree with him. "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 the best exterminator around... No offense to any rodents in the room."
He then snapped his fingers, which made the 'X' man go to the other side of the cloth, and pulled it down. As the cloth fell, it reveal a Paladin-290, with the logo of the White Fang painted on its shoulder.
"Whoa, that's a big robot," Sun said.
Blake then said in confusion "How did he get that?"
Roman went up to the giant mech and said "As some of you might have heard, this right here..." He tapped on the mech and continued. "…is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my "employer," we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, "hit the shelves." Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation 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?"
As the members of the White Fang roar in agreement, Blake then said "We should get out of here."
But before they could move, the Lieutenant shouted "Will all new recruits, please come forward!"
As the line surged forward, Sun shouted "Welp!"
"I don't know," Junior shouted, slamming his glass on the bar counter.
"How can you not know," Yang angrily asked.
"I haven't talked to him! 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."
Neptune then came up to the counter and asked "So where did they go?"
After a long pause, Junior said "What kind of stupid question is that? They never came back!"
"Yeah, gotta agree with this guy," Legion replied.
Junior turned to Yang and asked "Who is this guy?"
Yang pushed Neptune out of the way, saying "Don't worry about him; worry about me 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." He then looked behind them and shouted "Which is something I can relate to!"
After hearing a couple of grumbles from Junior's henchman, Yang turns to Legion and Neptune and said "Come on, guys. Let's go."
As they were leaving, Neptune asked "We get everything we need?"
"Well, we got everything we can. Hopefully the rest of the team is having better luck."
"What now," Legion asked.
"Let's just wait for them."
As the White Fang soldiers and recruits were cheering, Blake and Sun were trying to figure out what to do.
"What are we going to do," Sun quietly asked.
"I'm thinking."
Above their heads, in the catwalks, a smaller member of the White Fang was watching the meeting unfold, until she noticed a familiar monkey-tailed Faunus. 'What's he doing here," she thought.
On the stage, the 'X' man was getting a radio message. "We have an intruder," the person transmitting said. He then started to notice Sun and Blake. He went up to Roma, who was joyfully laughing of his success.
"Sir, we have a problem," 'X' man said.
"What problem, Locus," Roman said, still grinning. The armored man then pointed to the spies, which made Roman frown.
"He sees us," Sun said, as he tried to smile and wave.
As Roman threw his cigar, Blake noticed the warehouse's junction box. "He can't see in the dark," Blake said, as she used Gambol Shroud to shoot the box, causing the building to go dark.
"Locus, don't let them get away," Roman shouted.
Blake, using her Faunus vision, turned to Sun and yelled "Sun! The window!"
As they went towards their target, Roman yelled "Stop them!" Then, the two hear the sound of something powering on, and ran faster. As they went out the window, the Altesian Paladin, consisting of one wanted criminal, crashed through the wall, and ran after them.
As the two Faunus sprinted from rooftop to rooftop, Sun shouted "So you wouldn't happen to have... oh, I don't know... some form of backup?!
"On it," she screams, getting out her scroll to contact her team.
Weiss and Bill were in the CTC's elevator, ready to meet up with the rest of their team.
"So, what now," Weiss asked.
"I guess we meet up with the others," Bill said.
"Or…" Weiss then grabbed Bill's hand, made sure his face was close to her, and said "We could do some…activities and be fashionably late."
"I've never seen this side of you, Weiss…" The boy then grinned and said "I like it." Before they could do anything else, their scrolls started beeping, indicating that someone was contacting them. Weiss got out her scroll, after letting go of Bill's hand, and saw that it was Blake. She then was me with her Faunus teammate screaming.
"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-"
"HEEEELLLLP!"
They both rolled their eyes, with little smiles on their faces, and quickly exited the CTC.
"How are we going to get there," Weiss asked.
"I got it."
She then looked at Bill, who made both of his hands into a gun gesture. He pointed them in front of them, and a green and red motorcycle appeared.
As he got on, Weiss stood there in amazement. "How did you…"
"Just get on," Bill said, as he got on the vehicle. The heiress sighed, got on, and wrapped her arms around Bill's stomach. As she got comfortable, Bill gassed up the motorcycle, and started to drive towards Vale.
Back in Vale, Ruby, still by the dumpster, was also contacted by Blake.
"Big robot! And it's big! Really big," Sun yelled.
"Oh, I am not missing this," Ruby excitedly said, as she sprinted to join the fight.
Yang, Legion, and Neptune where back on Bumblebee, where they were listening to Blake and Sun.
"That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something," Sun shouted.
"Where are you guys," Yang asked.
Her question was answered, as they three saw the Faunus pair running away from the mech.
"HURRYYYY!"
As they left, Neptune said "I think that was them."
Yang put away her scroll, saying "Yeah, I got it." She quickly activated Bumblebee, and drove towards the battle, with their robot friend following.
Blake and Sun had somehow made it to the highway, pausing for a second on the roof of cars.
"Whoa," Sun said, looking behind them to see the mech.
As Roman kept following them, he failed to notice a yellow and black motorcycle following in.
"We've gotta slow it down," Yang yelled to Neptune.
"Got it!"
As Neptune reached for his gun, a gray-bluish weapon, Roman noticed them on his sensors, and crashed into multiple cars.
"Hold on," Yang shouted, as she swerved, avoiding the flying cars. As they regained balance, Neptune turned his weapon into a gun that produced electricity. As he fired, several bolts hit the Paladin, causing it to grimace from the force of the attacks. Switching strategies, Neptune flipped his gun and it grows a shaft and an energy blade at the end. He then jumped from Yang's bike as the spear's head splits in three and drives it into the top of the Paladin.
Sun and Blake looked to see Neptune trying to stay on the Paladin by grabbing onto his weapon's handle.
"Neptune, hang on," Sun screamed. Closing his eyes, Sun smashed his palms together, and from the golden Aura around him, his Semblance created two glowing outlines that copied their creator, leaping off and going back over the tops of vehicles to collide into the Paladin's front. They explode into blinding light upon contact to let Sun leap forward with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang held high, but Roman finally turned enough to send Neptune flying off and knocking into his leader, sending both of them off the highway.
As they fell, Blake heard Weiss's voice from her scroll.
"Blake! We're almost in position!"
Weiss and Bill were driving on the highway, when they saw the mechanized terror. Weiss knew she had to let go, but she really didn't want to. She liked what she was feeling.
"Ok, Weiss!"
She snapped back into reality when Bill shouted.
"We're almost there," he screamed. "You know what to do, right?!"
"Of course," she screamed back.
"Ok! 3!"
She let go of his stomach.
"2!"
She readied Myrtenaster.
"1!"
She then leaped off the vehicle, and landed on the highway, as Bill drove off the edge, landing on the ground below. She then turned to the Paladin, which was running at her. She brought out Myrtenaster and spins and plunged into the ground, turning the road into ice. The ice goes under the mech, making it slip and fall of the edge. It landed hard on the ground below, which was occupied by Ruby, Bill, and Legion. As the rest of the team grouped up, the Paladin got up, ready to fight.
Ruby then got out Crescent Rose, and shouted "Freezerburn!"
Ruby and Blake jumped back, to avoid Weiss's and Yang's combo. Weiss preformed her same ice-circle trick, but backed out of Yang's way when she jumped into the air and hit the epicenter with her Ember Celica, creating a wave of mist that surrounded Roman. He immediately activated the mech's laser sensors to make up lost sight. But, it failed to notice Blake run through the fog, and missed a shot when Yang was spotted. He then spotted both Yang and Blake. He fired, but the blast went between them, and out from the blast came Ruby, who slashed the metal with her blade, causing it to falter.
"Checkmate," Ruby shouted.
Blake and Weiss go in this time, each girl going for the feet until Weiss jumped up and stabbed a sensor before leaping off of a white glyph. Roman lifted the Paladin's foot to crush Blake, but Weiss summoned another glyph under her teammate to launch her backwards before the crushing blow can land. Roman growled and fires off the missiles, but Weiss and Blake flipped backwards as the explosions merely hit where they were.
Finally, Weiss jumped up too high and Roman fired a double energy blast at her. Myrtenaster absorbs the damage, but Weiss is thrown back, so she casted a beam of light from her weapon to the ground under Blake, forming a yellow clockwork circle that's absorbed into the Faunus girl and lets her slice through each launched missile with ease in a flurry of super-fast slashes.
Ruby came running in, shouting "Ladybug!"
Ruby shoots herself forward and cut at the robot's legs, then turns as Blake aims herself at the giant's feet as well. They both dash forward and attack at the same time, circling each other around the Paladin with each strike until they both launch themselves into the air and come down together on the shoulder, cutting off the left arm entirely.
"Double Trouble," Ruby shouted.
As she said this, Bill and Legion start to fire at the mech, distracting Roman from the real attack. Yang doesn't waste a second, jumping onto the Paladin's back and punching the top with fiery shotgun blasts. Roman is knocked around in the cabin, but seeing as he can't reach her with his remaining mechanical arm, he runs backwards through two columns and leaves her embedded in a third before backing away and turning towards her. Just as she is falling down, the remaining arm extends a closed fist, and when it punches her, she flies through the column and doesn't get up.
"Yang," Blake shouted, worried for her teammate.
Ruby then went up to her and said "Don't worry! With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special."
(RWBY Volume 2 ST 'Die')
Yang slowly got back on her feet, hair burning a brilliant white as she clenches her fists. Sensing victory, Roman throws a punch, but Yang catches it in her own hand, despite the ground cracking beneath her, and, eyes red with rage, smashes her knuckles into the second arm, obliterating it under her force. Getting desperate with his armless robot, Roman immediately kicks Yang to the side, but as she passes her sister and teammates...
"Bumblebee," Ruby shouted.
Blake throws Gambol Shroud out for Yang to catch while flying, and the Faunus uses the momentum to swing the glowing girl around for a final hit to the robot. Roman, however, steps out of the way just in time to avoid complete destruction.
"We have to slow it down," Ruby said to Weiss.
"And how do you propose we do that," Weiss shouted back.
Ruby then looked at Bill and Legion and shouted "Bill, Legion! Double-!"
Before they could do anything, Roman shot at Bill, which made him fly back.
"Son of a bitch!"
"Bill," Weiss screamed, watching him fly into a column, then to the ground.
Legion stood there, saying "Well, at least I was spared." Then, he was shot at. "Son of a bitch!"
Then, Ruby shouted to Weiss "Iceflower!"
Twirling their weapons so they both point at Roman, Weiss creates a series of glyphs in front of the scythe's sniper barrel, and a single shot through the circles creates a dazzling spiral of energy that creates large icicles upon impact with the Paladin. Ruby continued to shoot as Weiss freezes the fire, and as the ice completely envelops the robot's body, Blake swinged her partner around in a circle one more time, but with Roman unable to move, the Paladin is hit by the speed and power of Yang's fists, flying into the air before crashing down in a hundred pieces and a defeated criminal.
As he got up, he brushed himself off, while saying "Just got this thing cleaned..."
He looked up just in time to see Yang, still burning with her absorbed power, fire a single shot at the defenseless thief, but he's saved at the last instant when the two-toned girl seen before drops in front of him and merely opens her pink umbrella, deflecting the blast entirely. The new arrival hangs the weapon over her shoulder as Roman addresses the victors.
"Ladies, robot, boy, Ice Queen..."
"Hey," said Weiss.
"Always a pleasure! Neo, if you would..."
The short girl, Neo, curtsies her enemies with a bow, but Yang would have none of it, charging forth with fists raised to strike the outlaws... only to break their image as if made out of a mirror and turn just in time to see them escape in a Bullhead. The rest of team RWBY runs up to Yang's side, now cooled down with the end of the fight.
"So I guess he got a new henchman," she said, still sounding angry.
Then Weiss said "Yeah, I guess she really made our plans... fall apart!"
"You did not just," Bill tried to say, as Ruby giggled, and Blake walking away.
Yang simply said "No. Just... no."
"What- But, you do it!"
"There's a time and a place for jokes."
"Was this not it?"
"No, it just wasn't very good," Yang said, following her teammate.
"Well, at least I'm trying," Weiss said, following them.
Bill went up to her and said "And that's a good thing." This made her smile.
But, Ruby looked around and said "Wait... Where are Sun and Neptune?"
Sun and Neptune were eating at a small kiosk called 'A Simple Wok Noodle House,' as Neptune said "They're probably fine, right?"
"Probably," Sun said, still eating his noodles.
"Hey, you think I can get with Weiss?"
"Dude, you can do better."
On the Bullhead, Roman went up to the cockpit to see his other bodyguard, Locus.
"Well, I must say, I am so glad I hired you two," he happily said.
Neo just rolled her eyes, and sat at the co-pilot seat.
"You have to talk one day, Neo," Roman said, lighting a cigarette.
"Sir," Locus started. "You know Cinder is not going to like that the mech is useless."
"She's too busy doing her undercover work, Locus. She probably won't even notice. Now, take me to the base."
"Yes sir," Locus said, paying attention to the controls.
Well, that's it for this chapter. This was very hard to write this…mostly because everyone wasn't cooperating. Here are the bloopers of this chapter. See what I had to work with.
Ruby: Freezerburn! Guys, that's not what I meant.
Weiss and Yang are making out.
Blake:Why are they doing this?
Bill:Damn that's hot.
Roman:Okay…what is happening?
Tucker:Bow chicka bow wow!
Assassin of RWBY:What the-Tucker, you're not in this chapter!
Weiss(now not making out with Yang):Come on, Bill. Let's have a threesome.
Tucker:How about a foursome?
Weiss:…No
Bill:I love my life right now.
The three leave
Assassin of RWBY:No, wait, you're not supposed to lose your virginity yet. Whoops, spoilers.
Short WF member:Can I be introduced yet?
Assassin of RWBY:No!
Ruby:Happy Birthday, Assassin of RWBY!
See you guys next time.