Hand in The Cookie Jar
A/N: Before you think I'm trying to self-advertise, just hear me out. Further on in the story, some references will be made to my other story, RWBY: The DAWN, as until Rooster Teeth proves me otherwise, I'm going to consider Canon (aside from a few minor plot-conflictions). What I'm trying to say is both stories tie in together, and one won't make as much sense unless you read the other. For those of you carrying over from RWBY: The DAWN, I will get back to writing the story once I reach a certain point in MSTT. Until then, enjoy the show.
Also, this story is open to OC submissions. Just give us the OC's name, physical features, age, weapon, Semblance and outfit so that we can kill-I mean implement him/her into the story.
Three Nights Later…
Hazel-bronze eyes glimmering ever so slightly in the bright lights of the city, SK waited for his signal to move forward with Cinder's plans.
Sitting atop one of the rooftops of the dormitories of the Atlas Huntsmen Academy, facing the CCT Tower. He couldn't help but feel that it was actually even larger than he thought it was. Maybe they got some measurements and scaling wrong…maybe the understated how big it was in the articles about-I'm rambling again, aren't I? SK shook his head clear of the thoughts, adamant in getting the doubts out of his mind.
He had a job to do; and he was going to have to focus his mind on it in order to ensure he didn't make any mistakes.
It obviously didn't help that the weather in Atlas was so damn cold! Having grown up in a place like Vacuo, he had his own fair share of cold nights in the desert, but nothing could compare to the constant, frigid temperature of this Northern Kingdom.
It was times like this that he thought fondly of that hot, sandy Kingdom he called his home. When he had too much time to himself and nothing to do, he thought of the sweet memories of the home he could never go back to, and the bitter memories of what led him to this situation. Unfortunately, his father had made it very clear the day he left that he was never welcomed back, ever.
Submitting to this unforgiving fate, he had lost the will to try to redeem himself days ago.
He had his cowl drawn over his head to keep his ears warm and to keep the snow out of his hair. They never mentioned any snowfall in the weather article…and the thermometer in my glasses is obviously broken. Only twelve below…it's like forty below or something! It did help that he had opted to buy a hunter-green poncho the night before he had left Mistral, but it still didn't do much to help keep the cold out.
He quickly glanced to the top-right corner of his glasses to check the time. 2345 hours…gee, thanks a lot for the precise information on when we'd be carrying out this Op, Cinder. He thought, sarcastically. I could be sitting inside a warm coffee shop, sipping hot chocolate. But instead, I'm sitting up here and freezing my-
His train of thought was interrupted by a preset ringtone in his earpiece. Quickly tapping the side of his glasses – which were touch-sensitive, the ringing stopped as he accepted the call.
"Everything is in position. Be ready to move out in exactly two minutes." He heard Emerald speak, which confused him as he thought that Cinder would be the one to make the call.
"Alright. Where's Cinder? I thought that she'd be the one calling?" SK asked as he stood up from his sitting position, slightly stiff from how still he had been sitting in the cold.
"She's helping Mercury on his side of the distraction. He screwed up with setting the charges to free the prisoners, so yeah." She finished, and SK couldn't help but chuckle somewhat.
Shaking his head while tapping the other side of his glasses, he closed the top-down map of the Atlas Academy which he had been studying for the past few minutes. "How do you mess up with setting a few charges?"
Emerald chuckled in turn. "I don't know, but apparently he placed them on the wrong prison block. Cinder's worried that he might kill more prisoners than free them."
The black-haired rogue huffed out a frosty breath before rubbing his upper arms. "Hey, question; how are you wearing that sad excuse for a bikini and not freezing?"
Just as he thought the mint-green girl was about to reply, another stern voice cut her off. "Cut the talk you two. Aren't you supposed to be moving out now?"
"Right." SK simply said as he took one step off the edge of the roof and fell feet-first to the ground as he tapped the sides of his glasses again, tinting the lenses dark enough to conceal his eyes.
"Sorry." Emerald said at the same time. Breaking his fall with a roll, SK tried to make as little noise as he could while allowing his Aura to absorb the impact of the sick-ass fall. When the rogue stood up from his roll, he was nowhere to be seen, having activated his Semblance – Vanish.
With his Semblance activated, he could not be seen with the naked eye and several sensors, but he himself could see everything clearly. Truthfully, he saw clearer in his Vanished state than he did normally, as even though the world he saw was like looking through a foggy window, people would appear as bright white silhouettes in the darkness, himself included. It made fighting the creatures of Grimm easier as well, as they appeared as pitch-black forms in the light.
He had to work quickly and quietly, as even though it was past curfew for many of the people attending the school, there was very little cover to work with, a little too much lighting, and several guards patrolling the walkways of the campus.
Weaving in between the identical and side-by-side dormitory buildings and a few guards – both human and synthetic, SK eventually made it to the Cross-Continental Transmit Tower without many incidences. Now came the challenging part.
Next to the Academy and the archives in it, the CCTT was the second most heavily guarded building on the campus, which was saying a lot because the Atlas Academy itself is one of the most well-kept places in Atlas.
In front of the entrance to the Tower stood a squad of four guards, two on either side of the doorway. One pair of them were Androids while the other pair were Humans. Standing just three meters directly in front of them, SK waited for the distraction that would draw them away from their posts so that he could sneak in.
Of course, he could have just snuck right by them, but Cinder didn't want to take the chance that they'd find him out because they took notice of the glass doors opening by themselves.
Tapping twice on the right side of the glasses, several nametags appeared in the rogue's vision. From the number of nametags in his vision, he could tell how many other guards were waiting inside. It was one of the few tricks that he had learned and implemented while he was still in Vacuo, as most soldiers in the armies of the Kingdoms were given 'Friend or Foe' tags identify them in the heat of battle. One of his mentors had taught him how to interface with the FoF system, while remaining invisible to them.
Taking a deep breath to still his shaking nerves, Cinder's voice rang out over the intercom system once more. "Detonating primary charges." Not three seconds later, a loud explosion could be heard and seen in the distance. It was far away enough that it would draw the guards a nice distance away, but not far enough that the guards would simply let a closer unit handle it by themselves.
The explosion had the intended effect as the startled guards began shouting orders and calling out different call-signs as they ran towards the explosion, weapons drawn. Several of the guards inside of the CCTT even took interest and began following their comrades to help stop the rampaging prisoners, leaving only two to defend the vital means of communication.
Once they were a sufficient distance away, SK made his move, running through the automatic glass doors and into the building. He was immediately met with the – only slightly – warmer temperature of the controlled environment of the tower, which was a relief to him as he wouldn't have to worry about his limbs going numb. Aside from the two guards standing by the elevator access, the rest of the building was empty and devoid of people.
This made his job all the more easy as he ran past the glowing central server unit that looked like it held the whole building together. And, unlike the CCT Tower in Vacuo, the interior of the 'Iron Column' was a gunmetal-grey and most of the lights glowed white or blue. Other than that, the ground floor of the tower looked just like any other…except bigger.
Quickly dashing behind the central server and out of the guards' field of vision, he dropped his invisibility and caught his breath, quietly. Even though it wouldn't sound like it was exhausting, using his Semblance to turn invisible actually took a lot out of the rogue. While his breathing was still heavy, he tapped on his earpiece.
"I'm inside…still two more guards, I'll need to deal with them first." He said in between breaths.
"Very well." He heard Cinder reply. "Neo, detonate secondary charges." Only a few moments after the order had been given, SK heard another explosion like thunder. He chanced a look around the server, only to find that the guards hadn't moved. In fact, they seemed to be on higher alert than usual.
Ok…Distraction 101…I can do this… He thought as he tried to control his breathing, the excitement and adrenaline threatening to get the better of him. Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out a small glass marble that he was able to snitch from a stall in a market place a while back. He had thought that he could use it for such an occasion, but couldn't imagine that it would be on this scale.
Feeling the small weight of the marble in his hand, he chucked it across the room so that it made a loud clatter against the metal walls and floor.
Focusing on activating his Semblance, he peered around the server as the two guards started at the sudden sound.
"What was that?" asked one of them, as he pointed his rifle in the direction of the noise.
"Dunno, I'm going to go check it out; stay here." The other ordered as he began his slow approach to the opposite end of the room.
SK took the chance and rounded the server, on the opposite side of the approaching guard and made a silent dash for the second one. At least I only have to deal with one. He thought as he silently drew Yakmak.
Ok, it wasn't as silent as he would've liked, but it didn't startle the guard too much.
Warm metal blade glowing bright-bronze in the unseen Vanished world, SK brought it back…
And hit the guard over the head with the pommel of the scimitar.
The Atlesian guard collapsed to the ground as the rogue followed up the attack with an uppercut from his free left-hand, though the guard's face was harder than he thought at first and he had to rub the pain out of the reddened knuckles.
After the pain quickly subsided, SK hailed the elevator and grabbed the guard by his body armor, dragging him to the doors of the elevator as it arrived before shoving the unconscious man inside.
Pulling out his Scroll, he placed it to the console inside the elevator as it closed, causing the mechanisms within it to begin pulling it upwards as he deactivated his Semblance once more, having to lean against the walls of the elevator for support.
"Ok, I'm in the elevator and am on the way to the Communications Floor." He spoke into the earpiece as he bent over to search the unconscious body of the guard for any supplies he could use. He took the helmet and the spare ammunition that the guard kept on him as Cinder spoke into the Comms. Link.
"Good. You have three minutes to complete your task." She said as the black-haired teen shoved the clips of Dust in between the sash that ran across his chest.
"Alright. Just one question: isn't there supposed to be an artificial intelligence working at the Tower at all times?" SK asked, only now remembering this piece of information.
"Yes, but we created a bunch of false alarms that have him running about and spreading his processing capabilities. In short; he's too busy to be bothered with you for now." Emerald replied instead, in charge of the interface and surveillance for this mission.
"Ok…That's good, I guess." SK replied before cutting communications, feeling uncertain about himself. He always got this feeling when anything went sideways, like a last-minute warning telling him that he missed something important.
The elevator eventually stopped at the Communications Floor, the doors sliding apart to reveal the empty and dark room. Still, the rogue had unsheathed Yakmak and was holding it like a rifle just in-case.
No doubt the guard downstairs is going to notice his missing partner…better work quickly… he thought as he dragged the unconscious guard out of the elevator, resting him at the base of one of the communication consoles. After that was done and he relieved the guard of his weapons, he walked backwards slowly, keeping an eye on the guard in case he woke up, only to trip over an exposed cable.
Falling backwards with a loud thump, SK dropped the guard's weapons. Who the hell leaves a thick cable like this exposed? He thought as he stared at the offender. Kicking out at it once, he got back up and quickly scrambled around to the main control console.
After having found the power button and turning on the device, he quickly slotted the Scroll that Cinder had given him into the available port. Immediately several lines of code appeared on the screen as information seemed to begin transferring from the Scroll to the mainframe.
"I've plugged the Scroll in, shouldn't be more than a minute now." SK reported into his earpiece, which crackled as Cinder spoke over the other line.
"Wonderful, I expect you to be done in less than that." She replied as the rogue watched the blue bar on the screen reach further and further.
"Easier said than done, I-" whatever he had to say stopped right that instant when red warning symbols began flashing on the screen. "Something's wrong!"
"What do you mean?" Cinder asked, actually sounding concerned for once.
"I don't know. I'll see if I can find the problem but…" the sentence trailed off as the black symbol of an eye with a crosshair for a pupil flickered on the screen. "I don't get it, it's like somebody-"
"-knows you're in the system." Emerald finished, a deep chill and hollow quality akin to fear in her voice.
"Yeah, how did you…? Cinder what's going on?" he waited a few seconds for a reply, but none came. "Hello?" he asked again, but no response came as all the lights in the Communications Floor flickered off. At this point, the teen was beyond scared as his breathing became more erratic.
Staring into the blank screen, SK knew that something had gone horribly wrong, and that this spelled out another failure to chalk up on the Board of Failures.
No! This can't end like this. He thought as his mind searched for something to go forward on, a lead, a sense of direction…anything. Eventually, his eyes landed on the folded up Scroll, blinking red in the darkness. He yanked the Scroll out of the port, which caused all the lights to flicker on in the room as well as a few words written out in pixels to form on the screen.
'You Should Not Be Here.'
"Please get out of my chair." SK started at the sound of the voice, falling out of the chair on his back. He was facing a man who looked to be about in his thirties and wore the typical white overalls of an Atlas man. However, he glowed a radiant white.
"The Tower's AI system." The black-haired teen muttered as he scrambled away on his hands while the holographic projection took his seat at the main console.
"That was a clever trick you pulled; distracting me to divert my attention." He continued in his calm, monotonous tone. "But now your tricks and sabotage have come to an end. Thank you for your cooperation, and have a nice day."
He got to his feet to see the three sets of lights above the elevator doors that ran up and down the tower begin to tick down to the Communications Floor. The elevators were coming, and they were likely full of guards.
This is not how this ends. SK thought as he pocketed the extra Scroll and drew his scimitar out of its sheath on his back. Nobody double-crosses me. I'm going to find Cinder and whoever blew my cover, and I'm going to make them pay. He thought, getting into his battle-ready stance as all three elevators arrived at roughly the same time.
Present Day…
"Admittedly, there were a lot more well-armed guards than I thought at first, so in the end I avoided a physical confrontation and snuck out." SK finished his tale, slouching back into the soft chair.
Qrow scratched his beard as he seemed to process the information SK had just divulged. "I'm still curious as to how you didn't think about the ramifications your actions could have caused."
SK let out a defeated sigh. "Like I said; I was just interested in the money that Cinder promised, I was too…enraptured by the offer to see what could've happened."
"That still doesn't sound like a good reason." Tanner muttered, which SK picked up on.
"Hey, I was on the streets, starving. I didn't want to lose the job opportunity. Plus, who's to say she wouldn't have just killed me if I walked away?" SK countered, causing the argument to pick up pace.
"You've used that excuse for like the hundredth fucking time and I still don't buy it!" Tanner shot back, struggling against his bindings.
"I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand! If you think you're doing the right thing taking on your family's mafia all by yourself, without the authorities, you're just as bad as them."
"Fight, fight, fight!" Mason began chanting, and Tanner was about to continue the argument if it weren't for the blonde boy in his black trench coat slammed his hand on the table.
"Enough!" his powerful voice made Tanner shrink back slightly, the boy having not raised his voice before this. After a moment, he resigned to cooperating with the authorities like they had agreed. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, Jay continued. "So you were able to evade all the guards around the tower, the surveillance and defense system in the tower itself, and then fled to hide in the city." Jay recapped the story, causing SK to nod his head solemnly.
"I had a few close calls with the guards, but I was able to make it out." The rogue finished. Tanner could see out of the corner of his peripheral vision that the black-haired boy seemed to be trying to scratch an itch under the heavy cuffs they wore around their wrists. It was probably the wound on his arm. "Atlas security is good, but there are some things even their cameras can't see."
"You are referring to your Semblance, Vanish?" Glynda questioned in a calm yet curious tone, earning a nod from the teen.
"Hides me even from their best cameras. I've heard it's the talk amongst most scientists studying Aura." SK seemed to be trying to steer the conversation to more casual territory. Glynda seemed like she was about to respond and say something intelligent, but Qrow cut her off.
"We're off topic. So, did you ever find out who intercepted your hack?"
Leaning to the side slightly, SK gave a gentle shrug of his shoulders. "You're looking at him." He said in a deadpanned voice, as the three sets of eyes turned to T.
"How did he know you were in their system?" Jay asked this time.
"He likes to keep track of whatever Cinder and her cunts do." Tanner replied this time. "Plus, this was after he bugged the system himself."
"Can you tell us more about the virus, Black Queen, right?" Glynda continued the stream of questions, though the ones related to the virus needed to be put on hold.
"He explains it best," Tanner said as he tilted his head to T's unconscious form. "-so it'd be best if we wait for him to wake up."
Receiving a nod from Qrow and Glynda, the room fell silent for a moment, only to be broken by Mason. "Well, this is awkward." The brunette groaned in unison with the Vacuo-born rogue, but his attention was quickly grabbed by the black-haired scythe-wielder.
"One thing doesn't add up." Qrow continued suddenly. "If Mason over there massacred and destroyed one of the White Fang's most important encampments, how did Cinder still convince them to join her?"
"Out of fear." Said the brunette, taking it upon himself to explain how it happened, seeing as he knew the tactic the beauty used. "Mason inadvertently pressured Adam into joining Cinder even more by cutting his supplies and men down by a large fraction. My guess is that Cinder picked up on the idea and continued pressuring Adam until he cracked." He finished with a satisfied smirk. "It would explain why they aren't exactly on equal grounds with each other."
"So ideally, this is all Mason's fault." SK concluded.
"Bite me." Replied the redhead Faunus.
"Come on, guys." Tanner coaxed, trying to be the middle man here. "Let's just all agree that T did the most damage."
A few seconds passed before he received words of agreement from the other two, before the interrogation resumed with a question from the blonde. "So Tanner, what's your story?"
The brunette in question shrugged. "Not much to tell; I stole Dust from the 'Four Corners' Mafia and sold it to Cinder, who paid me."
"Except you never actually met with this Miss Fall?" Glynda asked, holding her Scroll close to her.
Tanner shook his head. "No, it was mostly Roman, but sometimes I would run into that asshole, Adam."
That seemed to catch Jay's interest as he bolted out of his seat. "You've met with Adam Taurus?" he said as he stared at the brunette with an intense gaze.
"Yeah…we are talking about the same Adam, right? Extremist Faunus with too much hair gel?" Tanner asked for confirmation.
The blonde nodded intently. "Yeah, same Adam. What can you tell me about him? Any particular weaknesses?"
Letting out another sigh as he felt that this interrogation was going to run in circles, Tanner shrugged his shoulders. "Probably nothing you already don't know. Look, the only interactions I've ever had with him was trading him the Dust and fighting him, that's not a lot to work from."
Jay scoffed as he continued to press on the matter with a passion. "There has to be something more you can tell us that we don't know."
"No." Tanner said in a stern voice, causing the blonde teen to send him a glare. "Dammit, why don't you just let us go?" he would've slammed his hands on the smooth, obsidian-black glass table if his hands were free. "You're only going to do more harm than good if you keep us here, might as well kill us while you're at it."
"Because you've got valuable information that we can use against Cinder." Qrow countered quickly.
"That's what I'm trying to tell you; let us go now so that we can put the information to good use, we can locate Cinder within the week if you take these fucking things off of us." He replied in a louder tone of voice as he struggled against his restraints.
"You'll only do more harm than good, from what it looks like." Glynda joined the argument, tapping something on her Scroll that caused the holo-screen to change to footage from a surveillance camera of the four of them rampaging through the streets of Vale barely a week ago.
Not one of my proudest moments, I'll admit. Tanner thought as he watched himself get thrown into a car, before Mason shot a rocket at it.
"Dayum, I look good." Mason thought out loud as he watched himself rampage through the streets.
"See, it's this kind of reckless, arrogant action that contradicts what you say and how seriously you claim to take this situation." Qrow ranted as he paused the recording.
"It's this kind of reckless, arrogant action that makes us look awesome!" Mason yelled back.
"In our defense," SK started as he wriggled in his place, trying to find a comfortable sitting position. "-it's only him."
"Fuck you, mate." Mason countered, marking the start of another argument, which Tanner felt that he couldn't endure.
"Qrow, just let us out. The more time we waste, the more time Cinder has with executing the next step of her plan." The brunette rarely pleaded or begged, but he had come to terms with the fact that this wasn't a situation that he could just shout his way out of.
"And what is the next step of Cinder's plan, huh?" Qrow asked in return, standing up from his chair and resting his weight on the table by his hands.
Tanner sputtered, completely at a loss for words at the absurdity of the question. "How the fuck should I know? She never tells us anything! That's what we're trying to tell you, you bloody cunt!" he practically shouted. Whether it was the shouting or not, Tanner noticed that the table began flickering with different colored lights at random intervals, along with the holo-screen, which began to glitch with static now and again.
"This is precisely why we can't let you go!" Qrow shouted in return. "You won't tell us what your plan is, you won't tell us what Cinder's plan is,-"
"That's because we don't know what her plan is!" SK shouted in Tanner's defense. All the while, the amount of static on the screen and random flickering patterns seemed to increase, and they were only noticed by one other person.
"Uh, Qrow." Jay began in a meek voice, but the black-haired scythe wielder didn't seem to notice.
"Bullshit, you worked with her, you must have some idea of what she could be planning!" he continued.
"You're just going to have to trust us!" the orange-eyed boy continued in a less angry tone. He honestly didn't want to be enemies with the man, but if it meant protecting the rest of the world, protecting Team RWBY, then he wouldn't hesitate to destroy him where he stood.
"I can't trust you!" he yelled as he slammed his fist on the table.
"You have to! If you don't, thousands more will die!" the static and glitches were so strong now that he could hear the static in the air. They even seemed to be forming a symbol that looked an awful lot like…wait.
"Then give me a reason to trust you!" Qrow shouted, but it was partially drowned out by the sound of the static.
"Glynda, what's happening?" Jay asked right as a pulse of blue energy surged through the room. All the lights in the room suddenly flickered and died, and the sound of metal hitting the floor could be heard.
It took Tanner a couple of seconds to realize that the sound of metal came from the restraints and cuffs falling to the floor.
Reaching his hands around the table, he stared at them in awe as he turned to see that everyone had an equally stunned face. It was like a heavy silence had draped across the room, a silence broken by a thick, gravelly voice.
"If you will not trust us," all eyes were immediately on T, the man having not moved an inch. However, his head slowly rose to face Qrow as the holo-screen flickered back to life. This time, however, the screen was white except for the black symbol of an eye with a crosshair for an iris, T's symbol.
Opening his eyes for the first time since they had entered the building, the one on T's left glowed a vibrant blue, while the other was a dull brown.
"-then you'll fear us." T said as he placed his right arm on the table, causing lights to flicker to life in a straight line that led to the holo-screen. "Now, let me show you why."