Author's Note: *twirls the Threaded Cane over his head* THIS IS THE GREATEST THING EVER!
Brain: Don't know what's so great about it; it's not like we haven't seen things like that before. There's Ivy's snake sword from Soul Calibur.
But that's a sword! This is a cane! That has, like, a hundred times more bonus swagger points right there! See? *starts transforming from whip to cane form over and over again* Whip. Swag. Whip. Swag. Whip. Sw- *SLICE* …
Brain: ….
*looks at his hand and sees that he's missing three fingers* …AAAAAAHAHAHAOOOWWW! *rolls around on the ground in pain, clutching his hand and flinging blood everywhere*
Brain: And with that, we should be returning to our somewhat-scheduled broadcast.
Fun Fact: Originally, the episode was to be titled Techs Mechs but Painting the Town won out. Apparently it was decided that Techs Mechs sounded too much like a Red vs Blue episode.
Movement drew Sun's gaze across the table but he didn't hold much hope for anything new. With his teacup hanging from his tail, he swirled it languidly while he watched the golden-eyed, bow-wearing girl take a slow sip from her own tea before staring down into the cup, a weary sigh leaving her lips but nothing else.
Funnily enough, today could be considered as the most progress he's made with Blake Belladonna since officially meeting and introducing himself to her Friday night when he found her alone in Beacon's courtyard, a sad expression like the one he was looking at now on her face with lowered cat ears in plain sight. After following her into Vale, he had camped out near the hotel that she had chosen as her residence for the two days afterwards, making it a habit to periodically approach her room, knock on her door, and try to get her to come out. Each visit rewarded him with just a little more; from an immovable door to the small cracks that Blake would use to give him an annoyed look with her demand to leave her alone evolving to questions as to why he was bothering her.
The answer he had given her remained the same: she was interesting. Having left Haven and his team to make an early journey to Vale, the main obstacle that Sun would have to overcome was finding something interesting to distract himself with and keep him entertained until the arrival of his fellow students. A good chase by the police was one way to do it but what immediately caught Sun's interest was when he ran past a colorful group of girls who were all armed. That, he quickly understood, was something that Vale and Mistral shared: groups of teen students that liked to wander through the city when they weren't studying on how to fight and kill monsters.
Blake had been one of them and he had instantly recognized her for what she was. Those eyes, that bow - she looked like a cat. Being a faunus himself, he recognized the signs immediately. But the real interesting part was that she was trying to hide those signs.
And Blake just kept getting more and more interesting afterwards. Other than confirming that she was actually a faunus Huntress-in-training, before he even got the chance to learn anything else she was speeding her way to the last public airship ride to Vale for the night with him being quick to follow and shacking up in that hotel room alone. She had been particularly insistent on the alone part so Sun took it to mean the opposite.
It was more than his curiosity getting the best of him. He was also concerned. An aura of gloom had followed Blake out of Beacon that was practically tangible to Sun and during a couple of his visits to the hotel when she would deign to look at him, he had noted the signs of her having been crying. Sure, she was a faunus, but even if she wasn't Sun wouldn't have been able to find it in him to leave behind a girl who was that upset. He did want to help for the sake of helping.
But even after leaving the hotel room this morning and leading him to this teashop, she hadn't spoken a word. Although she glanced up at him, how she returned to silently staring into her cup told Sun that he shouldn't be expecting a change so he brought his cup over to take his own sip.
It was after obtaining a generous mouthful that Blake set her teacup down and said, "So, you want to learn more about me."
How she stared so fixated on him was enough for Sun to realize that he was about to make a huge jump in terms of progress. Gulping down his tea, he shot his hands up in victory. "Finally, she speaks!" He motioned with tail and cup towards her. "Nearly two days and you've been giving me nothing but small talk and weird looks."
Blake had appeared surprised at his enthusiasm but the mentioning of the last had her frowning at him in disapproval.
"Yeah, like that," he pointed out, unfazed by it or how Blake then rolled her eyes at him thanks to the prospect of actually learning more about this interesting cat girl.
He needn't have to wait. Looking at him seriously now, Blake asked, "Sun, are you familiar with the White Fang?"
Sun practically pounced on the question in his enthusiasm. "Of course! I don't think there's a faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them. Stupid, holier than thou creeps that use force to get whatever they want. Bunch of freaks if you ask me."
Sun hadn't heard anything about them when he lived in Vacuo and wondered if they even existed during that time or he was just too young to remember. In any case, it was only sometime after he moved to Mistral did the name and their actions circulated around the globe. They lacked a significant presence in Mistral but he heard the stories: faunus terrorists that stole, murdered, and sabotaged whatever they could as long as it involved humans getting the brunt of it. It was said that the main goal of the White Fang was to wipe out all humans from the face of Remnant.
Murdering psychopaths, Sun summed up.
Blake didn't react, instead taking another sip of her tea with Sun following suit. Then, in a completely calm and even voice, she revealed, "I was once a member of the White Fang."
Sun hadn't finished and choked on his tea upon hearing that. His tail quickly slamming his cup back down before he could drop and break it, he held up his hands to his mouth, trying not to drench Blake's face as he coughed and sputtered. Once he recovered and wiped the excess from his chin, he stared at Blake with shock. "Wait a minute. You were a member of the White Fang?"
He couldn't believe it. Her? Sure, it's only been two days, but it was enough for him to be positive that she wasn't any kind of insanity-driven terrorist. He couldn't picture this calm, reserved face having the maniacal, blood-stained grin that always came to mind whenever he heard of the White Fang.
Blake had closed her eyes in what must've been anticipation, expecting Sun's outburst and having braced for it. No matter how impossible he thought it was, it was Blake who quietly confirmed it. "That's right."
There came a mixed reaction in response to the human who stepped onto the stage and became the center of what was otherwise an all-faunus rally. The veterans weren't surprised or disgusted. Instead, many actually waved their fists in the air but not to damn him. They were cheering for him with a few even clapping.
Roman took it all in stride, smiling and waving towards the side of the warehouse where the experienced members were situated. "Thank you, thank you!" He took to the center of the stage that the lieutenant left to him, putting him right in the middle of them all. "Please, hold your applause."
Over at the other side where the new recruits were, a stunned silence had fallen over them, all of them unsure as to how to react. A human was before them but no one was taking any action against him. Quite the opposite and the cheers of their brethren had to be leaving them incredulous.
One faunus with short deer antlers eventually spoke up to demand the answers they wanted, pointing to Roman while shouting, "What's a human doing here!?"
Roman immediately swiveled to her, smile stretching wider as he said, "I'm glad you asked that, deery." He gave the rest of the crowd a long, visual sweep. "Now, I'll be the first to admit: humans..." He held up his cane, shaking the end in time with his next few words. "Are. The. Worst. Especially to each other. Case in point." He touched the brim of his hat for emphasis.
"And you can take it from this human at how willing we are to sell our own kind out. Why, we can hardly go through a couple decades never mind a century without finding some excuse to kill each other in order to get what we want. But I don't think there's any need for a history lesson. After all, for all that we're capable of doing to each other, it's not even close to how we treat you, is it? They call this era we're in a time of peace but the funny thing about human peace is that it doesn't include any of you, does it? It's why you're here, is it not?"
The criminal paused in his speech and was satisfied at how quiet the crowd was, cheers and jeers no longer being issued he reeled them in. "For as many breaks that us humans give each other, when have we ever given you lot the same? We've enslaved you, beaten you, rejected you, and made it quite clear that what's ours isn't yours - or what's yours isn't yours. We take what we want - your homes, your friends, your families - and when you try to fight back, when you defend yourselves, we have the nerve to make you out as the savage animals that need to be tamed or exterminated if you refuse. Anything to keep you beneath us, am I right?"
Much like before, he got the intended reaction. The soldiers were visibly and loudly agreeing with one in particular shouting, "That's right!" Over by the recruits, controversial murmurs rippled through them as they looked at one another. Their masks hid what they thought but the hesitant nods said it all.
"You've tried to be civilized," Roman went on, taking ground. "You have your little get-togethers, stand outside with your signs, and what has that accomplished? More of you being sent off to jail, a little time in hard labor, all so that humans can remain blissfully happy with their lives that cost you your blood, sweat, and freedom." He started throwing up fingers one-by-one. "Government, military, even the schools - they're all to blame for your lot in life with their laws, their education, and their forces that had been made to keep you in servitude.
"As you've finally become aware, a system as corrupt as that cannot be changed unless you utterly destroy it. Now, this is where I come in." Roman had been steadily drifting off to the side of the stage where he then snapped his fingers.
With him out of the way, there was nothing to obstruct what had been hidden behind the hanging curtain when it fell away. It was a bipedal machine of massive proportions, the arms that were bent and pointed forward armed with cannons while sensor pods and other armaments bristled all along the rest of its body. Its appearance brought a round of silence to the crowd as every single faunus in attendance had to gaze up at it in amazement.
Roman rapped his knuckles against one of the legs that supported the mech's large body, the size and the amount of armor making the limb taller and thicker than he was. "This, as some of you may've heard, is the Atlesian Paladin: Atlas's newest line of defense against all the scary things in the world." How he made sure to stare pointedly at his audience suggested at what some of those 'scary things' may be. "And thanks to my employer, we've managed to snag a few before they hit the shelves. This and more is the kind of arsenal I can provide for you.
What may be going through your minds at this moment is why would a human such as myself want to help you? I'm sure that as soon as you saw me you wanted me locked up or, better yet, killed. The answer is rather simple: we have a common enemy. As you can guess, I hold no love for the government either and would enjoy seeing it brought down. My contributions are to help level the playing field."
He returned to the front of the stage and he could see the changing opinions that had occurred. Once divided, both halves of the warehouse were united in the confidence and the actual hope that was incited by the criminal merchant and his promises of death-dealing wares. Taking his time to bask in the moment, Roman slipped a hand within his suit.
"Many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation to the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city...that's fine." How he said that suggested otherwise. Finding one of his cherished cigars, he pointed the end of it towards them. "But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, I think we can all agree that I can offer you the best chance for your long-awaited and well-deserved victory."
He stuck the cigar between his teeth, waiting, and then, with a smirk, he asked, "Any questions?"
Once Roman's speech was done, it was unanimous as to the standing of the crowd. Again it was the soldiers who reacted first, a cheer being started and then gaining in volume as rank upon rank joined in, supplementing them with fists waving high above their heads. And this time the recruits weren't as skeptical thanks to the battlesuit that was marked by the White Fang's insignia on the side to prove the authenticity of who possessed such firepower and, thus, a true measure of power that could stand up to their human adversaries.
For Sun, this was pretty much how he imagined the White Fang as. Looking to his left where the soldiers were, he got a clear view of their uniforms and their fanged masks. Between the hoods and the rest of their coverings, all that Sun could see other than the occasional faunus appendage were their excited grins at the idea of being able to cause the carnage that Torchwick was promising.
He'd gotten a good look at them back at the docks when he had been their target at the time and he found little difference between then and now. He had been surrounded by them once, at the center of their attention, and he experienced all too well their intentions to kill him. For wanting to obtain faunus supremacy and preaching about the evils of humans, they didn't seem to hold any compunctions about killing him - all at the order of a human like Torchwick no less.
Psychopaths and hypocrites, Sun decided.
Once again there was Roman at the center of attention - actually, no; he had someone else with him. With a now lit cigar in his mouth, Roman had his hands raised like a conductor and his orchestra was following his signals to the letter. Taking obvious pleasure in it, the criminal made his way off to the side so that the White Fang lieutenant from before could take over.
In doing so, he came next to another individual who was nothing like the other White Fang personnel. More like a midget ice cream girl. With Roman there to be a comparison, the top of her head hardly reached up to his chest and it was covered in a bright mix of pink and brown with white streaks going through the pink half. Other than not having any sort of animal characteristics that would've marked her as a faunus, her style of dress was vaguely similar to Roman's with her white jacket and gloved hands.
Whereas Roman was more professional in appearance though, she seemed more carefree with her jacket only covering her chest at the front and even then the collar was open to show the pink interior and disorganized mess of necklaces. The back reached down to her thighs which were sheathed in brown pants and supplemented with white knee-high boots. A black corset hugged her diminutive form but how it curved inwards at the bottom left her pale hips exposed.
It was pretty clear that whoever that girl was, she was in league with Roman. While the man puffed on his cigar, she stood with arms crossed over her chest and staring at the scene before her with an expression that spoke of boredom.
And it was beneath the presences of these two that the faunus went on with their celebrations with the lieutenant choosing to let them do so for a while longer. While Sun expected as much from the more brainwashed members, he was actually surprised by how the recruits - the ones who were showing up to see what this was all about - had been swept up as well, showing just as much vigor if not more.
"I can't believe they're actually buying into this crap," Sun whispered to Blake, conscious of the possibility of faunus with exceptional hearing possibly overhearing him.
Blake had said little during the presentation, only voicing a question of how Roman had possibly gotten the Paladin but nothing else. She was examining the others as well, possibly as disbelieving as he was that there were so many who were actually stupid enough to fall for this. He couldn't read her expression or even know where she was looking thanks to the mask but eventually her head came back forward and he guessed she was staring ahead towards the stage.
"How can they not?"
Sun was only able to stare at Blake incredulously, needing time to actually register what she said and even more to realize that they were the exact opposite of what he expected. "What?"
Blake made a discreet sweeping motion to everyone around them. "How can they not go for this? The discipline, the weapons, the numbers that they see here - all within the middle of a human-centric kingdom . These meetings are perfectly tailored to be irresistible to any recruits that come here. What they end up seeing of the White Fang here is something far more than what the news and the governments paint them as. Instead of radicals and terrorists, what they see here are an organized group of revolutionaries that possess the resources and the drive to make the changes that any faunus who comes here is looking for. Just coming to one of these meetings means that they're already interested so the White Fang just needs to show that they can be everything that a new recruit hopes them to be."
"But they're following orders from a human," Sun countered. "How can they be okay with that? Especially someone like Torchwick?"
Blake lifted her chin and Sun didn't need to see her eyes to know that she was staring at the smoker in question. "A human in exchange for what? The guns? The Bullheads? That mech right there with the promise for more? If I..." Her lips froze, and then, "If I was still part of the White Fang and had seen all this, how would I refuse? Our group had never been this well-equipped before, always fighting with what scraps we could get our hands on."
As if to prove her point, she shrugged her one shoulder to bring his attention to Gambol Shroud. "Roman can get these things. He can turn them into the army that we're seeing here. He's a criminal, yes, and well-known, but with that infamy comes a measure of trust that, while he may only be doing this for his own benefit, the White Fang can rest assure that he won't double-cross them to the same authorities that want him nearly just as much. In that small way they're the same. And, as you saw, whatever misgivings that anyone new may have becomes irrelevant when you see so many of their comrades that are completely fine with this arrangement that benefits them this much."
"They have to know what they're going to be doing though," Sun tried again, still needing to find more sense in this. He waited a second, letting the chanting of the crowd fill the gap he left. "It's not about equality anymore. They aren't doing this so that all faunus and humans can be buddy-buddy. They're chanting for blood, Blake. Even I know that. They like that giant robot with the big guns because of how it's going to be used to kill people. Humans just like all our friends."
"I know, Sun. Believe me, I know just what kind of monsters many of them have become." When she turned to the one half of the warehouse, Sun wondered if she was trying to make out any of her former comrades within the uniformed ranks. A frown weighed heavily on her features. "But I also know why they became this way.
They - we tried, Sun. I was out there with them, spending years of our lives trying. Never had we struck back. Never had we answered any violence that humans threw at us with violence of our own. We wanted to show them that we weren't the animals that they may think of us as before and after the Faunus War. We wanted to show that we were just as much human as they were and that we wanted to live the peaceful lives with them together. We tried so hard and in the end..."
She drifted off, both her voice and her gaze which went to the new recruits. "I thought I was over it. I thought I put this behind me. Being here, seeing these faunus who came here, seeing all the hate...I can remember when it all happened. I remember why we fell when we decided that enough was enough. It wasn't just the humans who would throw the stones; there were also the ones who wouldn't do anything to stop them.
For some of those, they just didn't care whether because it didn't concern them or they truly didn't believe the issue was as serious as it was. That was what made them worse to me. The curses, the beatings, the unlawful arrests - as horrible as they were, that was typical. The continued ignorance, the unwillingness to help or do anything to support us and make changes...that just told us that nothing was going to happen. We made all that effort, spent all that time with the belief that they would see that we were just like them, only for nothing to happen..."
A change came over Blake and it was one that Sun didn't like. As she was speaking, he saw her lip begin to curl. At her side, fingers closed to form a tight fist. At her head, those cat ears lowered threateningly.
"No," she said severely. "Not just nothing. The ones who wouldn't do anything and who saw nothing wrong because it didn't directly affect them...even then, they saw us as troublemakers. We lived in their cities, had jobs, and they thought that was enough and we were just being selfish and just trying to get more. That was all they saw. They may not beat us, but they would think we deserved it when another did."
That fist shook at her side. "It got to that point where, when everyone already thought that we were monsters, we finally crossed that line so that we could go right up to them and say, 'No, this is how monstrous we can be, and it's your fault for pushing us this far.'"
With that mask, with that disdain...right now, Sun saw little difference between Blake and the other faunus around them. It shocked him with how, once, when the girl who calmly sipped at her tea had unveiled her previous affiliation and history with the White Fang with him, he didn't believe it. To see her like this...
Sun looked at Blake, then to the rest, and tried - really tried - to understand.
He had a good life. Going over his history, Sun could say that growing up in Vacuo and then Mistral had been fun. There was the occasional bully, a few humans that called him names and made fun of him because he had a tail, but it was nothing like the life that Blake shared with him. He got even with those humans that slighted him, usually with pranks or making off with something of theirs, but he always thought that both the antagonism and a little payback was normal. He had friends in Vacuo and when he moved to Mistral he had been fortunate with becoming best friends with Neptune and then Sage and Scarlet. He was the only faunus on their team but they would do anything for him and he knew without a doubt that he would do the same for them.
Despite being a faunus, did that make him guilty of the same ignorance that angered Blake? He hadn't known about the White Fang when he had been younger and had been surprised when Blake told him about the history of the group and just what their original purpose was. Before and even after she told him, he had seen the White Fang as the criminals they were made out to be because they were using violence for no reason. Had that just been because he had been so fortunate?
If I hadn't been, would I have turned out like them? he dared to wonder for the first time.
He asked himself that question again and again. Each repetition was joined with each and every difficulty that Blake had mentioned and he tried to put himself in her shoes in those early days of the Fang.
Yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do it. If he was supposed to be feeling any sympathy or any kind of connection to these faunus here, he wasn't feeling it. Whatever kinship there might've been that came with sharing the same race, it wasn't there. The only people he cared about were his teammates of team SSSN and the White Fang was just another enemy on par with the Grimm in terms of wanting to kill them. For that, Sun would fight them with all he had.
"It doesn't make any of this right," he stated. "I may not have gone through any of what you or anyone else here had been forced to go through to understand but I don't regret that. I mean yeah, it sucks that things have come to this and they tried, but that doesn't make what they're doing right and anyone else who's joining now are just doing it because they want to kill humans and the White Fang are giving them a chance to do that. They gave up hope and that's why there's no hope for them."
He touched Blake's arm. "You're not like them. You left because you saw and knew what they were doing was wrong. Even after going through the same things they did, you were able to realize that while they chose to keep going. There's still hope for people to change even if it'll take longer than you might've wanted but I'll damn well fight for it."
Blake was already relaxing before he was done. That angry scowl vanished while the tension he felt in her arm gave out and those fingers uncurled from that fist. She breathed in and out slowly, calming herself until she was ready to speak. "Hearing you say that and having met other faunus who feel the same way does give me hope. I thought that what they were doing was wrong and I did leave instead of staying and joining them, but I lost all hope in the world changing. With you, with Yang and our friends, and everyone else at Beacon...I'll fight the White Fang to protect them and the hope that we'll all be able to make things better in the future."
Her furred ears had similarly eased and they twitched up to return to listening to their surroundings. Blake frowned once more as she was brought back to the present. "But humanity as a whole still needs to make larger strides. Even if we stop the White Fang, it'll all just happen again if everyone looks back and sees this as a few faunus extremists who needed to be taken down. If they don't learn just as they didn't after the Faunus War, another White Fang that'll be even more terrible than this one will take its place."
"Well we won't know that unless we give them the chance, right?" Sun questioned good-naturedly with a grin.
Unfortunately, his efforts were futile in this instance as Blake didn't attempt to mirror him. Instead, she lifted a hand, her fingertips touching the side of her mask. She said something and Sun had to lean close to hear it.
"This could've been me, Sun."
What had to be a frozen chunk of Mantle dropped into the pit of his stomach. Reminding himself of his promise to Yang, Sun gave Blake a shake. "Let's get out of here. We got all that we came here for and I think it's more than enough. It's about time we got back to Yang and the rest of our friends and figure out how we're going to stop these guys."
Blake's hand fell away from her mask and she nodded. Reassured, Sun began looking around to locate an exit they could use - and froze.
Torchwick was standing still, holding his cigar in front of his mouth with smoke curling at the end, and he was staring right at them. Sun's immediate hope was that something else caught the man's attention but the sensation of how Roman was looking right through his mask dissolved it.
Okay, just play it cool. Creating a friendly smile, Sun waved in what he thought was a completely convincing and in no way suspicious manner.
Roman threw his cigar to the stage floor, practically snarling before going to the lieutenant to inform him about the intruders.
"Uh, Blake? He sees us."
Blake must've noticed and was already doing her own search. For what he didn't know but when she turned to him she produced a smirk. "He can't see in the dark."
By examining where she had been looking at, Sun found the breaker panel at the back wall of the warehouse. In the short few seconds it took him to connect the dots, Blake had already unsheathed Gambol Shroud, aimed with the barrel of the integrated pistol, and fired.
There came a shower of sparks from the panel as Blake's shot tore through it and the circuitry it had meant to protect. All the lights in the warehouse instantly shut off, pitching the interior in total darkness. Between that and the loud gunshot, chaos immediately took hold of the crowd with faunus screaming in surprise and fear.
"Let's go!"
Sun didn't know where they were going but chose to follow Blake when she began pushing through struggling bodies. They weren't running in the direction of the entrance that they came in through but he didn't say anything, choosing to trust her as they fought their way to one side of the warehouse. He happened to glance back at the stage to see what was going on and, true to Blake's word, Roman was squinting and rapidly turning his head to try and spot them in all the ruckus.
"Don't let them get away!" he shouted but the command was pretty useless.
"Sun, the window!" Blake directed, already leaping to one of the overhead catwalks. A gunman happened to be posted there and was too confused to put up a fight when Blake kicked him over the side.
Sun jumped up to join her, the catwalk putting them up to the same level as the line of windows along the side of the warehouse. Before they went through, a loud humming and how it managed to break through the chaos drew their attention back to the stage to find that the cockpit to the Paladin was open with Roman seated inside of it. The humming was the mech powering up, coinciding with whatever buttons and switches Roman was hitting. The two faunus glanced at one another, already knowing what was going on, and without any further delay the jumped off the catwalk and dove through the window.
Sun ignored the shards that fell with them, his only concern to get as far away from the warehouse as much as possible. He hit the pavement hard, his stumbling steps nearly tripping him up but he recovered and ran as fast as he could. A quick look over his shoulder showed Blake having dropped behind but keeping up.
And behind her, the entire side of the warehouse exploded outwards with the hulking form of the Paladin smashing through before pursuing the faunus.
I figured that there had to be more, but this much? While waiting for the elevator to drop down and deliver her to the skyport's terminal, Weiss had brought out her scroll to get a head start on the information that she collected.
It didn't take long before she found what she needed. She had been given everything she asked for, her position in the Schnee dynasty having paid off as she expected it to as she was looking at records for every licensed distributor in every kingdom that the SDC supplied and had experienced a robbery or some form of criminal activity. She tried to keep her search criteria limited, narrowing it down from the beginning of this year to now and having the kingdoms ranked from highest to lowest in terms of the number of robberies.
It came as no surprise that Vale would be at the top, but what did surprise Weiss was by how much. According to the documents, Dust that amounted to millions of Lien had been stolen in the wake of the sudden spike that's occurred over the last few months. Hijacked cargo from trains and those offloaded from freighters to break-ins of smaller shops.
Even before the military took over and security had been increased, it had never been like this in Atlas. Not in such a short amount of time either. What could they possibly be doing with all that Dust?
The elevator settled to the ground floor with the doors parting a moment later. As soon as she stepped out into the terminal, Weiss suddenly jerked when the wall of text was replaced by a notification of an emergency call with Blake coming in loud over the line.
"Everyone! If you can hear me we need-"
"Heeelllp!" a second voice cut in and Weiss immediately recognized it as Sun's.
Nothing can ever go off without a hitch, can it? Weiss silently bemoaned. Gripping her scroll tightly, she sped out of Vale's skyport, summoning a glyph in mid-air as soon as she rushed out the door and hopping onto it. She summoned another, this one higher, and used the first to jump onto the second and repeating the process, creating a trail of glyphs that she began traversing to come to the rescue of her friends.
"They got a robot and it's big! Really big!"
Yang had finished clipping on her helmet when her scroll buzzed. With her and Neptune seated on Bumblebee, Yang brought it out and she felt her passenger shift closer to peer over her shoulder while Sun desperately informed them about the situation.
"That Torchwick guy's in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something!"
"Where are you guys?" Yang asked.
The next shout didn't come from her scroll but behind them. "WE'RE OVER HERE!"
Yang and Neptune spun around, catching sight of Blake and Sun running down another street with a two-story tall robot stomping right behind them. They were there for a second and gone the next, leaving Yang and Neptune to stare disbelievingly.
Neptune was the first to say something. "...I think that was them."
"Yeah," Yang returned sharply, slotting her scroll into the dash of her motorcycle. "I got it."
Bumblebee's engine clicked on and roared when Yang twisted the throttle hard and swung the back wheel around, Neptune's surprised yelp joining the screeching tires as Yang performed her one-eighty turn and went full speed after their partners.
Ruby had been hard at work using the wooden planks she scavenged to weigh down the lid of the dumpster, making sure that the vermin trapped inside wouldn't get out and terrorize any more helpless citizens of Vale. When the call came in, she immediately dumped the rest in favor of giving her undivided attention to the situation. She really only had one thing to say about it. "Oh I am not missing this!"
She was already navigating out of the alley when she began tapping on her scroll, activating the tactical map that was a feature for every device that was issued to Hunters. A miniaturized map of Vale appeared on her screen and her scroll began establishing a link to the scrolls of the other members of her team. "Blake, where are you?"
Blake didn't answer and Ruby wondered if she was too busy trying to get rid of her pursuit to answer. "Sun and I are on the highway."
"The highway!?" That and Blake's hesitant tone let Ruby know that it wasn't that the faunus couldn't answer; it was that she didn't want to.
"I thought we could lose him on the highway or he would give up rather than be seen in public with his machine," Blake tried to explain. "I was wrong. I'm sorry."
"He wants you and Sun dead," Yang cut in and Ruby could hear the telltale sound of the engine of her sister's motorcycle. "I'm guessing you found the meeting and learned something."
"Yeah, we-" There came a grunt from Blake and Ruby could make out the blaring of a car horn. "We'll talk about it later!"
By then Ruby had established her link with the others. On the tactical map, the letters B and Y appeared, steadily moving north on what she knew was the twisting expanse of the various highways with Blake in front and Yang trailing behind her. Somewhere in the middle had to be Torchwick and his mech.
First things first: they had to get Torchwick off the highway where they could fight him without innocent people getting involved. Ruby searched and found the W that was approaching the highway from the northwest. Weiss must've just flown in when the call came and was already on her way. "Weiss, are you listening?"
"I heard everything," she replied. "I'm going as fast as I can."
"We need to knock him off and get him below the highway. We can fight him there."
"Away from the people and on open ground." If they weren't in the middle of a serious situation, Ruby would've taken pride in the approval she heard from Weiss. "That's the best choice. Leave it to me."
Ruby grinned. "Think you can do it?"
She knew that Weiss had to be doing the same with how she teased, "Can I?"
Leaving it at that, Ruby went over the map. Based on how fast they were moving and how far away she and Weiss was, the best place would be... "Here." She tapped on a point ahead of Blake and Yang and a waypoint appeared where an overpass was located. That would be where they would strike. "We're coming, Blake."
After receiving confirmations from her team, Ruby stepped up her pace, activating her Semblance and taking off in a flurry of rose petals. On her map and on the maps of her teammates, the letters R, W, B, and Y were closing in on each other.
Team RWBY was about to come together and Ruby didn't feel the least bit sorry for what that was going to mean for Roman Torchwick.
Yang risked a glance at her scroll and nearly paid for it by nearly smashing into the car that was spinning out of control due to a missing front wheel. This was a real bad idea.
As soon as she took the first ramp up onto the highway, total anarchy had been ready to greet her with the car she narrowly avoided being only one of the several that she had to swerve out of the way of. It didn't take her long to find the cause: the giant mech that bulldozed through anything that happened to be in its path. What should've been an orderly line of evening traffic had become scattered and confused with panicking drivers doing what they could to quickly get out of the way of the rampaging Paladin - even if it meant bumping into others. Any who were too slow were struck by a swinging arm or had an armored foot kicking into their rear fenders, the force more than enough to send them out of control and turning them into deadly obstacles for not only Yang but anyone else on the highway.
It was all so that Roman could reach his intended targets. Staying just out of reach of the Paladin, Blake and Sun were jumping from vehicle to vehicle in order to keep their distance.
On Yang's scroll, a countdown that was steadily ticking next to the designated waypoint told her that they had about a minute until they reached it where Ruby and Weiss would intervene if they maintained their current speed. A minute that Blake and Sun may not have as the Paladin was closing in on them. It was also a minute where people would remain in danger.
"We've gotta slow it down!" Yang shouted back to her passenger.
"Got it!" Neptune replied, already grabbing his weapon from his back. He shouldered it over Yang's head, the blonde able to hear and feel the energy charge up within the rifle as he aimed and prepared to shoot.
As if perceiving the threat, the Paladin reacted almost instantly. Having been content to just knock aside any vehicles that happened to be in its way, the machine was suddenly darting side-to-side. The first car it found it grabbed before tossing it back over its head but after that it began blindly flailing at any vehicle within its reach.
Oh, God, came the horrified thought but Yang couldn't let it distract her. "Hold on!"
She heard a quick 'Uh oh' from Neptune before he was bending back in his seat, the car that had been tossed sailing over both their heads. Yang juked left and right, tuning out Neptune's cries as she desperately avoided the cars that she drove around and even under. Despite her focus on the maneuvers that were keeping them alive, a part of her nonetheless registered the gut-wrenching sights and sounds of cars twisting and folding up on each other with their collisions whether against the highway, the safety barriers, or other vehicles.
This was exactly what Yang wanted to prevent, having meant for Neptune to distract and slow Roman from not only getting to Blake and Sun but keeping other innocent people out of his reach. She couldn't spare the time now but it'll come to her later as to just how many people had just gotten hurt, most likely seriously. And with how Roman had went for them just as Neptune was about to fire...it had to have been done deliberately in order to try and take them out.
"Has to have a - woah - warning system!" Neptune chose to explain as if to confirm Yang's suspicions while twisting to the side and pulling his arm and his weapon close, nearly losing both to another car that bounced past them. "Must've came on as soon as I locked on!"
"Then just shoot the damn thing!" Yang barked, desperate to stop Roman.
There was a break as soon as she said it and they took advantage of it, Yang steadying her bike to give Neptune the chance he needed to quickly aim and fire, the stereotypical pew pew of an energy weapon being followed by blue-colored bolts. Two smashed into the Paladin's back and a third flew over its shoulder when it staggered but the fourth was back on target. The damage wasn't significant, not what Yang could see, but it did slow it down which was what she wanted.
She didn't need to say anything to Neptune as he was already acting on their closer proximity to the battlesuit. He flipped his rifle in his hands, the stock lengthening and thinning into a long handle while the main body also transformed, the barrel of the rifle being replaced with a single-edged blade nearly two feet in length. The same blue glow that once encased the barrel now did so for the blade.
Neptune hopped into a crouch, carefully balancing himself on Bumblebee with the glaive pointed towards its intended target, and then sprung towards the Paladin. At the apex of his jump the blade transformed, separating into three smaller ones reminiscent of prongs on a trident, and the change must've been so that he could hold on better when he hurled him and his weapon down to stab deep into the Paladin's back.
Nice! Yang congratulated.
Roman quickly became aware of this latest threat. Before Neptune could do anything else, the Paladin started thrashing beneath him, shaking and spinning its torso in order to throw him off with the boy holding on tightly to his embedded weapon. Roman was distracted now, and in front of him Blake and Sun came to a halt atop of a pair of their latest vehicles to watch the struggle.
"Neptune, hang on!" Yang managed to hear Sun call out, the monkey faunus standing upon the trailer of a semi. He slapped his hands together palm-to-palm and a bright flash of light briefly hid him from sight. When it passed, it revealed two copies of him having come into being.
Yang knew the products of a Semblance when she saw them, especially when she compared this display to Blake's. Unlike her partner's though, the two clones that stood in front of Sun were like spectral images: bright yellow, translucent outlines that possessed notable characteristics of the original such as his hair, tail, and clothing. One was even armed with a bo staff. And unlike Blake's, where her shadows would remain in existence for a second or two, these not only remained but charged towards the Paladin while Sun stayed where he was, leading Yang to believe that he was mentally controlling them in some way.
The two clones threw themselves at the mech, exploding on contact. Other than getting the Paladin to pause in its efforts to throw Neptune off, they didn't seem effective.
Back on the trailer, Sun broke his stance once his clones were dispensed. Unfolding Ruyi and Jingu in their combined staff form, he went for the Paladin himself, his weapon raised in preparation. By then, Roman had returned to trying to get Neptune off and a particularly vicious shake happened to not only dislodge his trident but send him flying into his partner. Together, the two went over the turquoise wall of energy of the highway's safety barrier and fell from view.
With them gone, Yang freed one hand and prepped her gauntlet with the idea of driving and firing one-handed.
"Ruby, I'm in position!"
Suddenly hearing Weiss's voice made Yang become aware of the overpass that was coming up; the same one that Ruby had marked as their interception point. A white figure flipped and fell from it in order to land on the same highway where the chase was taking place.
With Blake being driven past her, there was nothing between Weiss and the approaching Paladin and Yang was convinced that it actually sped up once Roman understood who it was and intending to crush her underneath the feet of the mech. Weiss was unfazed, the tiny heiress remaining in place with Myrtenaster in hand. Once it was close enough, she stabbed her blade down and a thick sheet of ice instantly spread across the highway.
The Paladin didn't even slow whether because Roman didn't see how a large patch of the road had just been frozen over or he did and assumed that his machine would remain unaffected. Whatever the case, it ran straight onto the ice and immediately slipped and fell, leading it to slide and tumble past Weiss and into the safety barrier. Though designed to keep any vehicles from falling off the highway, a military-grade battlesuit weighing several tons of armor and weaponry colliding full force proved to be too much, a section of the barrier overloading and dispersing on impact and the Paladin, unobstructed, went over the side.
Yang brought her motorcycle to a screeching halt before she could hit the ice and potentially meet a similar fate. Dismounting, she threw off her helmet and shades and ran to where Weiss and, soon, Blake were waiting and peering over the side of the highway.
"Ruby?" Yang was already asking before she reached them.
Weiss motioned with her chin. "Down there."
Over a hundred feet below them, Yang could see the Paladin having landed and, going by its movements, was none the worse for wear. With it was another small figure, this one with a red cape flapping behind them. "Well what are we waiting for?"
Ruby recognized that it was more luck than skill that had the falling battlesuit just happening to land on its enormous feet. With bangs blowing back in the wake of the shock that followed the impact taking place right in front of her, it let Ruby fully take in the size of the mechanical monster that returned to its enormous height.
That's definitely a Paladin, Ruby declared, recognizing the machine. Unlike the hologram that she witnessed at the plaza, however, she was looking at this one in person and there were very obvious differences to be seen here. For one, it was bigger. A lot bigger.
Yang, Weiss, and Blake landed around their leader, all of them with weapons drawn as they took battle-ready positions. The Paladin didn't move to engage just yet, seeming to take its time so that its pilot could register the assembled team of Huntresses before choosing to act. When Roman did, the arms of the mech bent and locked forward, the hands folding back to reveal the barrels of heavy cannons while a second pair of side-mounted guns slid into place.
Those were something else that hadn't been equipped on the holographic presentation. Ruby glanced at her teammates before shouting a command. "Freezer Burn!"
Despite everything that had occurred with RWBY weeks previously that threatened to tear the team apart, there was no changing one important fact: they were Huntresses and, before that night at the docks, they had spent their whole first semester training and learning how to fight together. It gave them a feel of their abilities and how one could complement the other, leading them to form strategies and tactics that would take advantage of their strengths. And, at hearing the order, Weiss and Yang acted to perform with theirs.
Blake and Ruby moved back, leaving their partners behind with Yang leaping straight up into the air while Weiss remained where she was. Myrtenaster's blade once again stabbed into the ground, another ring of ice forming around its mistress, but it wasn't to be used to trip up the Paladin again. Instead, when Yang fell back down, it was to punch right in the center of the ice, the Burn-infused blast of Ember Celica instantly evaporating the ice and creating a layer fog around the surrounding area.
As much as Ruby would like to, she and her team weren't going to fight the Paladin head-on right away. Along with her teammates learning to work together, Ruby's had been pressed to think more tactically. Before Beacon, she would've dove right in, slashing with Crescent Rose with the overconfidence that she could take it down before it could even act. But she was a leader now, meant to not only think of her teammates and how she could use them the most effectively, but to keep them safe and avoid any rash decisions that could put any of them in jeopardy. In this case, it meant creating a window that could be used to know the Paladin's potential strengths and weaknesses better.
She was rewarded for her thinking sooner than she expected. Red lasers pierced through the fog, the source being numerous sensors on the mech that activated and how they swept around the area informed her of their purpose. Within the fog Ruby circled around the Paladin, taking care to avoid the lasers, and knew that her teammates were doing the same as she happened to catch Blake running past her, all of them looking for potential openings. The Paladin moved slowly through the fog, pausing and turning when Roman detected movement, but not firing just yet.
All of a sudden, the torso spun around and the cannons opened fire, blue orbs flying and detonating against the ground and Ruby caught a mix of yellow and white as Yang and Weiss avoided the blasts. While Weiss disappeared, her attire blending perfectly with the fog, Yang wasn't as fortunate and Ruby heart jumped in her throat at seeing a pair of the sensor lasers focusing and following the slowest member of RWBY.
Another pair of blasts fired, exploding close to Yang. Too close. The resulting pressure wave picked Yang off her feet and tossed her roughly to the side. More of the lasers became focused on her, the cannons recorrecting their aim.
Ruby spun on her heel and fired Crescent Rose, launching herself at where she suspected the cockpit was and slashing with her scythe. A noticeable gouge appeared in the armor with the mech taking a step back, its attention diverted from Yang.
"Checkmate!" she called.
Like ghosts, Weiss and Blake materialized from the fog, running past either side of Ruby as they converged on the Paladin. Coming right up to its legs, Myrtenaster and Gambol Shroud cut and sliced, chipping away at the armor. They were too low, Roman unable to bring the cannons down towards them, and attempting to retreat proved how slow the Paladin was as the WB of RWBY followed and stayed within its blind spot where not even the sensor lasers could track them.
Ruby took note of the largest sensor: a bulbous protrusion at the chin of the cockpit. Weiss!
Her white-themed partner jumped and the tip of her rapier speared into the sensor unit. Electricity crackled and sparked and not only did that sensor shut down but so did the rest of them, the lasers disappearing.
Ruby experienced a sense of victory and surprise. Victory for having her suspicion confirmed: that that unit in particular was the main one that held the sensor net together. Destroy it, and the rest deactivated as well. Her surprise was how Weiss had known to strike it as well. Had she also recognized the weakness or...or did something else happen?
As effective as the strike was, it put Weiss out of position and Roman making an attempt to stomp Blake forced the faunus back too. With space having been made, hatches over two pods located on top of the Paladin opened to reveal a honeycomb of holes. With a jolt, Ruby recognized what they were just as the salvo of missiles contained within were fired.
Weiss formed a glyph beneath her and Blake, giving them a boost to begin springing back, missiles exploding all around them. It was exactly what Roman wanted as he used the opportunity to level the cannons towards them and fire. Weiss was caught in mid-air but saw the attack coming in time to bring her Aura and Myrtenaster forward, the shots impacting against both and sending her sailing back...but not without casting a quick spell.
Ruby saw the line of golden light that Weiss unleashed and so did Blake. A roll put her right where it landed. It was not the picture of a glyph that appeared at Blake's feet but a yellow clock, complete with visible gears and hands that spun in circles faster and faster. With her at the center, the power of the spell imbued into Blake, the clock vanishing and a bright aura encompassing the usually darker girl.
The Paladin launched another barrage of missiles, every single one aimed right at the faunus. With her speed multiplied by the haste spell, Blake's first swing was a blur, ending with a violet slash composed entirely of her Aura that shot from the blade of Gambol Shroud and intercepted one of the missiles, cutting it in half. One Aura Slash was followed by another, Blake becoming nothing more than a flurry of motion as she created several of them that sliced through the incoming projectiles, a curtain of fire blossoming overhead to mark their destruction and premature detonations.
My turn! Ruby ran forward. "Ladybug!"
Her order was punctuated with a report from Crescent Rose. Ruby went right between the legs of the Paladin, her scythe slicing against one of them while passing. Stopping and turning, another shot from Crescent Rose sent her on a return trip to perform the same attack again. Blake joined her, her Semblance doing for her what Crescent Rose's recoil did for Ruby. Conscious of the mech's blind spot, its legs became surrounded with rose petals and shadow clones as Ruby and Blake sped past each other, attacking again and again with each pass.
Failing to track them, Roman randomly turned and fired at a point where he expected one of them to be, it happening to be where Ruby was. More than prepared for it, Ruby jumped up, the force of the explosion beneath her adding several feet to her ascent with Blake using her latest clone to join her. With the light of the full moon behind them, they fell upon the Paladin, swinging their weapons together.
They aimed for its left arm. Specifically, they aimed right at the joint; the thinnest and weakest point. Between Crescent Rose and Gambol Shroud, they cut through it cleanly with the Paladin staggering, Roman having to compensate and right it with the sudden loss of so much weight on one side as the heavy cannon fell away. Even with only one left, he was turning it around to seek revenge for the blow.
That was when Yang appeared, latching onto its back. With one hand holding on tight, Yang raised the other and began punching repeatedly into the top of the cockpit, each hit being accompanied with a blast from Ember Celica, the brawler appearing as if she wanted to bust in and drag Torchwick out herself. Whether she would've been successful or not, it didn't matter. Rather than try and shake her off, Roman sent the Paladin in reverse on a collision course to the supporting pillars of the highway.
It smashed through two of them with Yang taking the full force of each one. The third held, crushing her between it and the Paladin. When the mech pulled away, it was to leave Yang stuck to the pillar before her weight freed her, having her fall limply to the ground.
She didn't make it down. By then the Paladin had turned around, the hand of its one arm folding back over so that it can form a fist and catch her in the middle of her journey, punching her through the pillar.
With Blake at Ruby's side, the two of them witnessed Yang hit the ground and roll to a stop, coming to a rest facedown. A look of horror on her face, Blake stepped towards her unmoving partner. "Yang!"
"Don't worry," Ruby assured her. "With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back."
As she was speaking, Yang was slowly getting back up. Though her head was bowed, she had to notice the Paladin that was approaching her, intent on finishing the job. Instead of being worried, Ruby smiled confidently, having a clear view of how her sister's hair began to glow with growing intensity.
"That's what makes her special."
~RWBY Soundtrack - Die~
The ground tremored with each step of the Paladin, its shadow eclipsing Yang. Its approach, she knew, promised death as any weapon of war should and it had done nothing but show off the capabilities that made it a killing machine. Its weapons, its size, its power.
Power that amounted to nothing when compared to the one she felt burgeoning inside of her.
She felt pain. Though she stood on her feet, her body continued to throb painfully: one giant ache all over. But it did not bring her low. She did not submit to it. She savored it.
It rejuvenated her. While that painful throbbing continued what seemed to be deep into her bones, the pacing of her heart exceeded it. The increasing of her pulse coincided with the rush of her blood and adrenaline; an intoxicating mix that ran hotly through her veins. It cut through the agony, soothing it, but didn't erase it. It remained but it was no longer a means of debilitation as it was a means for her to draw energy from it.
It was more than just the reactions of her body. Power coursed through her; energy that had come rushing out through the floodgates. It charged her Aura, the excess radiating outwards as it sought release wherever it could, including out through the follicles and into the long strands of her hair, causing them to shine brightly.
Yang's fingers curled tightly at her sides, the same way that the larger ones of the Paladin's fist did as it was raised and sent towards her.
Yang brought her hands up to meet it, catching it and she felt how the impact shot through her body, from her hands and down to her feet where the pavement cracked and broke beneath her soles. But she remained standing.
It was only then she opened her eyes, her once bright and soft lilacs having become consumed by the red inferno that burned within her soul. Desiring to be released. Desiring to burn.
With jaw clenched, Yang pulled her one fist back. Her Aura was supercharging the Dust within Ember Celica, embers venting through the gaps of the gauntlet.
And then she let it all go.
The roar she unleashed from her lips was inadequate to convey the full might of those internal flames but it would do as did the scream of her gauntlet upon impact. She met the Paladin fist-for-fist and it was the mech that failed to take her blow as resolutely. When the force of her hit traveled through the entirety of the arm, plates crumpled, screws flew free, and the limb shattered as if it were glass, pieces flying everywhere.
But it wasn't out of commission. While Yang glared up at the cockpit, ready to enact the fantasy of ripping through and tearing out the pilot from within, the Paladin kicked her away with one its legs.
"Bumblebee!"
The call came as Yang flew past her teammates and she was already reaching out for Gambol Shroud when Blake threw it to her. Grabbing it by the pistol grip, the attached ribbon grew taut with Yang flipping and straightening herself out. With Blake holding the other end, they worked together, Blake swinging her back towards the Paladin with Yang more than ready to meet it, running across the ground before a blast from her gauntlet rocketed her towards the Paladin.
It stepped back, keeping Yang just out of reach but it didn't deter her, her legs still pumping as she prepared to come around again with Blake pulling her along.
"Ice Flower!"
She caught sight of Ruby and Weiss, her sister kneeling down and looking through the scope of Crescent Rose while Weiss manifested her glyphs, three of them; one in front of the other, each smaller than the last. When Ruby fired, her bullet passed through the glyphs which enhanced it with magic. Upon striking the Paladin, ice blossomed along at one shoulder. More rounds were fired with more ice sprouting on one leg, then the center of its torso, then the other leg.
There came another blast of her gauntlet and Yang completed the circle, letting go of Gambol Shroud so that she could soar right at the disabled Paladin. Her next punch went right for the cockpit, the armor buckling beneath her blow, and then it was the juggernaut that was sent flying. When it crashed into the ground, the entire thing came apart, scattering debris, with the cockpit splitting open and disgorging the pilot.
Roman stood up within the remains of the battlesuit, the rough ride leaving him shaking until he got himself under control. Though he surveyed at what was left of the mech, his concern was focused on his suit, the criminal brushing it down while angrily muttering, "Just got this thing cleaned!"
Yang remained where she was, content to just glower at him until he noticed her. Once he did, with his features paling considerably, she worked the pump-action of Ember Celica. This one's for Ruby, you son of a bitch.
She knew the best thing to do was to capture him and have him answer for his crimes once he gave up everything he knew about the White Fang, but Yang found nothing wrong with making him a bit more manageable for when they brought him in. It was with that in mind she fired, Roman bracing himself against the flare that whistled towards him.
There came a flash of pink, brown, and white with the flare exploding against something just short of its intended target. When the fire and smoke cleared it was to reveal…an umbrella?
The canopy pulled away, revealing the smiling face of a young girl, her hair that was done up in its low ponytail and her clothing made up of the three colors. Neither her or Roman were harmed, what should be an everyday item having somehow protected them against Yang's wrath. While she rested the handle against her shoulder and stood there patiently, Roman seemed to regain his composure as he smirked towards RWBY once the other members rejoined Yang.
"Ladies." He nodded to Weiss. "Ice Queen."
"Hey!"
"Always a pleasure." After giving them a salute full of taunt, he addressed the girl. "Neo, if you would?"
His apparent accomplice bowed towards the Huntresses, that self-assured smile not slackening one bit.
Oh no you don't! Yang sprinted towards them, refusing to let them get away while the remaining power and aggression still left within her had her roaring as she approached. The Neo girl didn't move, remaining bowed and smiling in the face of the red-eyed rage of the blonde. It was only when Yang got close – so close that she could make out that Neo's eyes weren't normal either; mismatched with the right one brown, the left pink – that the pint-sized girl thrust her umbrella ahead as if to drive back Yang who threw an answering punch.
She may as well have hit a mirror. When Yang connected, the umbrella, Neo, Roman - the very air broke into a million pieces. Once they fell away, it was to show the exact same picture except for one very important detail: Neo and Roman were gone.
Yang swung her head around, searching for any signs of them, and the unmistakable sound of running jet engines had her looking up to catch the Bullhead that flew by. The side hatch was open, letting her see that her targets were safe in the hold before it closed and the airship flew off into the night.
"So I guess he got a new henchman," she muttered angrily, staring at where they disappeared. Despite her anger, the recognition of defeat had the rest of the energy bleeding out of her, her muscles relaxing while her hair and eyes dimmed to their normal color.
"Yeah," Weiss intoned. "I guess she really made our plans…" She turned to Yang, sporting a coy grin. "Fall apart?"
Ruby snorted behind her.
Emboldened, Weiss tried to encourage a response from the other two. "Huh?"
"No," Yang rejected while Blake shook her head and walked away. "Just, no."
"What!?" Weiss planted her hands on her hips, clearly insulted. "But you do it!"
"There's a time and a place for jokes."
"Was this not it?"
"No." Yang turned away, following Blake. "It just wasn't very good."
Weiss strutted after them, still miffed. "Well at least I'm trying!"
Ruby remained where she was, watching her team before a thought came to her. "Wait, where are Sun and Neptune?"
"They're probably fine, right?" Neptune asked, the question probably influenced by the nearby sound of sirens.
Sun didn't answer right away, too busy slurping up the noodles from his chopsticks. Just when he thought that Vale was all about explosions and doom and glooming faunus, what did he happen to find after he and Neptune fell of the highway? A perfectly good, street-side noodle bar.
The faunus eventually shrugged nonchalantly, only answering properly once he swallowed. "Probably." I am way too hungry right now anyway.
Neptune continued staring at him for a while longer, waiting for him to perhaps reconsider, but when all Sun did was gather up some more noodles, he swung back around on his stool, soon picking at some fried pork on the side of his rice and curry.
They're completely fine. That was more for himself to shake off any lingering doubts. He's seen what those girls were capable of and he was certain they could handle it. And as for any worries he may have for Blake, well, something told him that, with Yang at her side, she would be fine in that regard too.
Behind the counter, the owner was cleaning up, having gotten ready to close up shop – the banner over Sun's head identified the place as, fittingly enough, A Simple Wok - before two Huntsmen happened to drop in in the literal sense. While slurping his second batch of noodles, Sun quietly regarded him until curiosity begged him to ask, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a brother or some close relative around here, would you?"
The owner - elderly, hunched over with age and having gray, balding hair - answered with a curious, raspy hum that Sun wasn't sure was meant to confirm or deny it. The faunus chose to just let it be but had this odd feeling that he saw this guy from somewhere before. Eh, whatever.
With Roman having made his escape, there was really nothing else left for RWBY to investigate. Well, nothing except a destroyed battlesuit.
"This is so cooolll!" came Ruby's squeal.
"Get your head out of there, dolt!" Weiss reprimanded.
"But Weiss, this is the best piece I could find!" The 'best piece' being the left arm of the Paladin that Ruby and Blake had sliced off. The scythe-wielder was currently staring straight down into the barrel of the cannon. "The others are too small thanks to Yang!"
"Next time I'll try to be a bit gentler," Yang promised.
Blake was standing off to the side with her partner, satisfied with watching Ruby getting her 'exclusive sneak peek' while Weiss fussed over her. She would only watch the scene for a few seconds before she found her gaze drifting to Yang, quietly eyeing her.
Yang soon noticed and quirked a brow in question. "Something wrong?"
Blake shook her head and went back to staring ahead. "No. Nothing's wrong."
But Yang must've gotten an idea. "You never saw me take a hit like that."
Blake hesitated in answering and nodded her head in this instance. "I suppose the fault is mine for not asking for clarification and assuming that I knew enough. I thought anger triggered your Semblance."
"Anger, any intense emotion like that involving passion, those can work. They're painful in their own way if you want to look at it like that but in a subtle, internal way. Subtlety's not my strong suit though."
"Nothing about that was subtle." Course, now that she discovered the true nature of her partner's Semblance, Blake was silently going over the subtleties. Such as why Yang's gauntlets didn't protect her hands, leaving them exposed for when she punched any manner of people, monsters, or – in this case – a giant, bipedal robot and taking what pain that such actions entailed with something even as minor as the heat and pressure of her gauntlets firing. In hindsight, it all made sense.
"Don't beat yourself up about it," Yang said. "It's not like most other people's Semblances. You, Ruby, Weiss – yours are a bit more…is utility the word?"
Blake wasn't able to prevent a corner of her lip from rising. "I think I know what you're going for so yes."
"Right. You guys are able to make more use out of your Semblances. Mine? It's more for special occasions like that. I can't just use it whenever I want so it's why I never brought it up and why Ruby didn't involve it in any of our team planning." Yang patted Blake on the shoulder, looking apologetic. "Sorry I scared you."
"Not really scared, just…surprised."
She was surprised but not in the way that Yang was thinking. While Yang nudged experimentally at a stray piece of wreckage, the faunus stared at her partner for a little longer.
She's not like you, Adam.
It was impossible to not make the comparison and remembering a time when another partner had defeated another such mech in nearly the same manner: taking the power of their attacks and turning it against them.
In that way they were perhaps the same, but they were different in one key factor. With Adam, she experienced too well the kind of emotions and ambitions that drove him. Thanks to their bond, she saw the wickedness that dwelled within his heart. When he had absorbed the energy beam from the spider droid and turned it against it, the power he attained was viewed as a tool for destruction and mass carnage, it and the fall of another of humanity's creations inciting his delusions to do the same to all who wronged him whether they be guilty or innocent.
It wasn't like that with Yang. Their bond was still fresh and new but she felt it keenly when Yang grabbed Gambol Shroud and what Aura that Blake had flowing through it had mixed with Yang's even with that small connection. She felt the full extent of Yang's power then, and it was tainted with anger, but it was…different. It didn't blind or control Yang, and it hadn't been so corrupting to spill over and attempt to influence Blake much like how Adam's had nearly done to her. The aggression, the hostility, it was there, but somehow Yang was able to manage it.
Controlled aggression was perhaps the best way to describe it. It existed but it didn't contaminate Yang's heart and soul with evil intentions, keeping her in control and using the amount of power that she deemed necessary. What power she used, she used in the defense of her friends and loved ones and nothing more.
What Blake knew to be fondness crept into her smile. Would this life ever cease to keep surprising her? Would Yang ever stop? All these things that contradicted everything she once knew and reinstating that hope that, yes, if things were different here, then maybe the world could really shape up to be different.
And the White Fang gave up on that, Blake admitted, Sun's words coming to mind. I won't let them take this away.
Her cat ears stood to attention, catching the sound of sirens. Still at a distance away but how they were coming closer and growing louder told her of what had to be their intended destination. They'd have more than enough time to get clear long before they arrived as none of them wanted to be around to explain what happened. This was supposed to be a secret investigation.
"The police are coming," Blake informed and she saw Yang come to attention. "Ruby, Weiss, let's go."
"Can we take it with us?" Ruby begged, still clutching onto the arm.
Weiss flicked her forehead, causing her partner to cry out and hold her head, dropping her spoils. "No we can't take it with us!"
Suppressing a chuckle, Blake was about to head off, figuring that everyone would start getting up and leaving once she did, but came to a stop when she only took a couple steps, a sudden, distinct sense of alarm hitting her.
Danger? No, nothing like Roman having decided to come back or anything like that. No malicious intent being focused on her by another party. There was something wrong but – stiffening, Blake spun around.
Yang was standing where Blake last saw her but not as straight. The brawler swayed a little, appearing dazed with her gaze out of focus. Seeing it got Blake worried. "Yang?"
Her partner blinked upon hearing her name. "Oh." Shaking her head, a hand came up to rub against the side of it. "Sorry, guess it took a little more out of me than I thought. Happens sometimes if I'm not careful. Nothing to…"
Blake's eyes widened as Yang trailed off and she suddenly dropped, landing on her knees. "Yang!?"
Ruby and Weiss swung around, on alert.
Yang wobbled, staring at the ground with a very far off look on her face. "You know what, Blake? That thing hits really hard."
Then her eyes closed, collapsing fully with her name being torn from Blake's lip in a scream for the third time.
Author's Note: So what did the commentary have to say about the Paladin fight? For those who haven't heard, it was supposed to go a bit differently. Sun and Neptune were supposed to have a bigger role and it would've been Neptune, not Blake, who would've asked the question that would've led to the revelation of Yang's Semblance. However, time constraints had the writers and animators knocking the two out of the fight in the manner we saw. I admit to toying with the idea of including Sun and Neptune but decided against it. One thing that had me worried when first watching these episodes was that we were gonna get a repeat of Blake and White: we have RWBY that's supposed to be together and taking all kind of challenges as a team, but then you have them being divided amongst some new characters who are being thrown in.
Thankfully, it didn't happen and I can't say I was broken up over Sun and Neptune getting thrown out. I don't say that with any malice; I just wanted to see RWBY working together to take on Roman after being so divided the last time they fought him with Yang and Weiss having been nowhere near. Yeah, I guess in this semi-AU and my change of Black and White, the problem wasn't there and I had less justification to not include Sun and Neptune but…eh, still went with it. I don't really expect to get any complaints over it. I'll up the fic time of Sun and Neptune a little in my version of Breach.
I know there was a lot of hubbub about Blake not knowing about her partner's Semblance and, yeah, I guess it is kind of silly, but I went with it and added that little scene at the end to hopefully bring up some points as to why she wouldn't. I totally expect people to still find it silly but…eh *shrugs* And, yes, I didn't change Ice Flower – the most horrible killjoy that RT could've done when you had Freezer Burn, Ladybug, and Checkmate being fired off only to not get White Rose. I have my own reasons for that and, who knows, maybe I'll stick to this novelization thing long enough where if I do get to that moment where I decide to hook up Ruby/Weiss, it will be with a true battle cry of WHITE ROSE! I like to make plans for the future on the off chance I actually get there.
What else, what else…
Brain: Subtitles.
Oh, right. In case there's gonna be THAT GUY somewhere reading this, I know I didn't follow Sun's lines to the letter. I find subtitles to be a Godsend at times, especially in RWBY where it was hard to hear certain lines whether it be Ironwood introducing the Atlesian Knight-200 with the 200 being cut off to Sun's explanation of the situation with Torchwick in the Paladin. In particular, I know instead of him saying "We're over here!" he actually said "Hurrrry!"….according to the subtitles. Problem is is that I really really feel like he said "We're over here". And as useful as the subtitles are, there have been mistakes. For example, when Coco CLEARLY says "Nice hustle, Fox", the subtitles have it as "Nice hustle, boss."
Brain: So either someone goofed or Fox is actually the leader of CFVY, since I don't believe – you can correct me if I'm wrong - the actual leader has truly been stated for CFVY and, who knows, maybe the beginning letter of team names doesn't necessarily say who the leader is even though that's the case with JNPR, CRDL, and RWBY…. In any case, we'll go down to the age-old argument of, "This is a fanfic so deal with it. We own nothing".
Alright, so…I knocked out Yang! Funny thing about Vol. 2 is that it makes me feel bad about nearly killing Ruby with Roman's attack when Yang is getting punched by giant mechs…and then I don't feel so bad a few episodes later when you have Ruby getting knocked out by a couple punches from mooks and Yang not able to handle getting thrown into the ceiling of a train. Yeah, I suppose there's extenuating circumstances and, like I did with Blake not knowing Yang's Semblance, I'll try to throw sense in there when the time comes to make it believable but the point still stands.
Anyway, this is a sign that we're straying from canon for a while. From here on to the dance episodes, things are getting altered. So for those who have gotten tired or bored of me just writing down episodes and my little additional scenes aren't enough to entertain you, worry no more! The next few chapters may as well be original material. Who knows, maybe the quality of my chapters will improve now that I'm no longer constrained too much by canon since this chapter felt like my Badge and the Burden chapter in Soulbound: tough to write and took me a while to get the motivation to complete it combined with IRL things.
Alright, I think I've gone on enough. Hope you're happy that I finally got it this chapter up and I hope you derived a little bit of entertainment from it. Specifically, I hope people approve to my changes in Torchwick's speech and Blake's reaction to it as that will play a part later on. For fanwork that I used as reference material, xekstrin actually made a tumblr post many many months back about what she would do if, funnily enough, she were to rewrite RWBY which included a change to Roman's speech. I liked the version she came up with, thought it felt very much like Torchwick, and though I doubt my speech compares well to it, I hope it's at least still good. Until next chapter!