Queen's Gambit

A/N: And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. No, not Volume 4 of RWBY. The next two chapters will focus around Team MSTT coming together and trying their hardest to not kill each other. After that, things will be set in motion for one of the greatest adventures I will ever write about!

One Week Later…

With a constant uncertain – yet determined – feeling in his gut, Mason continued onwards to the rendezvous point he had been designated. The redhead wasn't sure exactly who contacted him or how they got their hands on his Scroll ID, but they said some very nice things about him in the message and he felt rather generous because of it.

The details on the message were sketchy at best, as all that had been clearly stated was that they required his presence and skills and would be willing to reward him generously for it. So, naturally, Mason took the opportunity, walking down the deserted streets of Mistral with his weapons slung over his shoulders.

Despite having memorised the rendezvous point on the map of Mistral, Mason took out his Scroll every now and then to make sure that he was on the right path. Too many times had he accidentally wandered into a marsh filled with tar pits and quicksand for his own good, along with accidentally kicking down the wrong door to the wrong house full of cultists.

Mason shuddered at the memory of the crazy purple-haired men and women in that building that kept trying to convert him to their strange deity, even after he had the courtesy to leave some pizza coupons on their doorstep in payment for the door he broke.

Yeah, that had been an awkward night. Especially since I was also late for the Cult Gathering!

Pulling out his Scroll for what had to be the twelfth time, he found that he had arrived right outside of his destination, and a just in time – not that he cared too much.

What he did care about was the fact that he hadn't really noticed that he had walked right up to the front of an old, battered military stronghold, likely built during the Great War if he had to bet his favourite sack of tongues. The cylindrical stone tower that stuck out of the ground was surrounded on all sides by four concrete walls. Though it seemed quiet and abandoned, with his enhanced hearing, he could clearly make out some noise and commotion from within the building.

I wonder if they're going at it, hard.

Checking his surroundings, he found that he wasn't alone on the moonlit outskirts of Mistral this night. A man wearing a brown panama hat and a burnt-umber traveller's tunic with leather straps with metal buckles across the waist and shoulder of the tunic was clinging to the shadows of one of the few trees that grew out of the marshlands that surrounded them. Realising that he had been spotted, he stepped out of the shadows to reveal that he was also wearing a pair of dark-green cargo pants, elbow-length gloves and worn out shoes. He had what looked like a pair of folded up machetes on his back, carefully kept in slings that hung on his sides like a pair of holsters.

Tipping his hat with one hand and waving with the other, he greeted Mason first. "G'day, mate. Odd time for anyone to be wandering 'round these parts."

"I know right. Really makes you question my sanity." Mason replied, eyeing up the guy for the eventual moment when he took him by surprise and ripped his heart out.

Still would tap dat.

Nodding towards the war-worn stone and concrete stronghold behind Mason, the man spoke again as he scratched the scruff of his beard. "I'll assume you're headed that way as well?"

Mason looked back and forth between the battered building and the man with red-tinged hair sticking out from under the hat before responding. "Oh, you mean that way. Yeah, headed that way."

The man approached with his hand outstretched for a handshake. "Cool. Name's Kane Carnage, finest Grimm tracker this side of Remnant." He introduced.

"Mason Mars," he replied, dropping Bas to return the handshake. "-murderer extraordinaire."

Kane visibly paused in his handshake for less than half a second before acting like nothing had happened between the two as he gestured towards the front entrance of the stone stronghold. "Shall we?"

Mason was the first to walk up to the solid steel doors. He put his weight on one of them, but it didn't budge. "What gives?" he asked out loud as he drew Fuil and bashed it against the door. "Hello! Anyone want to get rekt?"

"Uh, I think there's someone home, mate." Kane said with an uncertain tone in his voice as he tapped the redhead Faunus on the shoulder. Mason turned around to ask why, when he found that they were surrounded by at least seven White Fang guards with their weapons drawn at the ready. "Relax boys, friendlies." None of the guards lowered their weapons in the slightest. "Wanna see my invitation?"

A second after he said this, the sound of the steel doors creaking apart was heard, and both he and Mason turned around to see a bat Faunus wearing the attire of a White Fang lieutenant standing right in front of the entrance, with more guards flanking either side of him.

"Lower your weapons, men." He spoke in a gruff voice through the Grimm mask that only covered the left-half of his face, revealing one turquoise-coloured eye and several scars across his jaw. Along with that, he had an unusually large, bat-like ear in place of where a Human ear should be. "These people are our guests of honour. Please, come in." with a gesture of welcoming, he stepped out of the way of the entrance while the guards around them lowered their weapons.

Mason didn't hesitate to walk right by the guards, holding out his hand for a high-five every now and then even though none of them returned it. The tracker in the panama seemed a bit more hesitant, however, and only took his first few steps into the facility when the guards behind them began walking towards the entrance.

Meanwhile...

Tanner lowered the binoculars he held over his face with a sigh. "Two more just headed in." he reported to T, who was typing away at his Scroll as he hacked into the servers and androids being held in the stronghold. It didn't look like much from the outside, but the White Fang had taken several precautions to both conceal the activity of the facility, as well as fortify their position.

Underneath the stronghold, where rations and weapons used to be stored for a war of attrition, the White Fang now stored several dozen Atlesian androids to use in case the people in there were going to be more persistent about not dying.

The White Fang had also specially modified this stronghold with turrets on the inside of the facility, aimed specifically at the courtyard. T had informed Tanner that for some reason, Cinder – or whoever was in charge of executing the Gambit Protocol – had decided to gather several of the people who had outlived their usefulness and were going to quickly dispose of all of them at once. On top of that, the stronghold was surrounded by several dormant landmines that have the capacity to destroy an Atlesian Spider Droid, just in case any of the men and women about to be executed today were able to make a run for it.

"This is fucking insane." Tanner groaned as he leaned back on the tree they were hiding behind. The brunette was almost tempted to slump to the floor, but seeing as it was covered in mud and dirt, he restrained himself. "How do we know that the chumps in there will listen to us at all?" he directed the question at T.

"We don't." T responded as he put away his Scroll and squatted next to Tanner, facing the stronghold. "Just focus on taking down White Fang once they start the slaughter."

To pass the time, Tanner began checking the ammunition in the pistols at his sides while he spoke to the cyborg. "Why don't you just use your bloody airship and blast our way in? Why the elaborate break-in plan?"

"I don't want to run the risk that the bombing run might force the 'potentials' in there to ally with the Fang against us." T said as he flexed his metal arm in front of his face, clearly seeing something that Tanner didn't "It's the same reason we have to wait until the Fang start killing them before we make our move."

Nodding his head, Tanner silently gave T a little bit of credit for how thorough he was with this plan. He himself didn't think too hard about how he went about his own missions. All he ever really needed to know was the layout of the building or area he was concerned with.

Then again, the swordsman's missions never really required him to make friends with half of the people that might shoot him. Not that he felt morally wrong about letting some of the people in the building die, he just felt…awkward about it – for lack of a better word.

"Hey T." Tanner received a hum in acknowledgement. "Say we do get more people on board the hate train, then what? What exactly is the plan to go after the rest of the White Fang and Cinder?"

T paused in his movements for a moment, blinking only twice and very slowly before responding. "It's not about going after the White Fang or Cinder; it's about knocking them down over and over again until they destroy themselves."

Tanner gave a grunt in reply before raising the binoculars back to his face. "Sounds like a fucking waste of time to me."

This isn't at all what the swordsman expected he would be doing with his life at the moment. Sure, he didn't really know what to expect when he signed up for the long-term deal with Roman, but he certainly didn't expect to be hiding in a swamp with a vigilante, spying on a White Fang stronghold.

"It's time." T suddenly announced as he rose to his feet before taking off at a sprint towards the stronghold. It took Tanner a moment to realise what T had said and for his legs to cooperate with him and carry him forward.

Having carefully dodged around the hidden landmines and pressed up right against the wall, the swordsman could now hear the clash of steel and gunfire from within the compound – likely coming from its large courtyard.

T gave him a hand signal to commence with the breaching process and he nodded in reply before he reached into the small satchel he slung over himself to pull out several jackets of explosives. Sticking the explosives on the wall, T fired a grappling hook aimed at the top of the same wall to help him make the climb.

Once T was in position and two guards fell over the edge of the wall screaming, Tanner took a few steps back before channelling his Aura forward, focussing it on the explosives.

Just as SK drove Yakmak through the throat of another Beowulf, a loud explosion rang out in the darkness of the swamp.

The rogue turned his head towards the sound of the explosion and just saw a flash of light before a cloud of debris, dust and smoke took its place. The Grimm around SK began acting up and advanced towards the source of the explosion, likely having sensed negative energy emanating from it. They weren't clueless enough to forget about him though, but SK had enough sense to duck under the swing of an Ursa before vanishing, staying very still in his crouched position to hopefully avoid being detected by the creatures.

He held his breath as the Ursa looked around for any sign of him, and only let it out very slowly once the creature walked by him. While hiding from the monster, he swiped the frame of his glasses to magnify where the explosion came from in his vision. Peering through the treeline, he zoomed in to see part of the wall of an old stronghold had been blasted apart from the outside.

Staying low, he also pulled out his Scroll and opened up the map while slowly crawling under the cover of a large root. With the momentary cover, he deactivated his Semblance, allowing himself to catch his breath. Looking at the map, the source of the counter-virus had moved to the stronghold. It didn't surprise SK in the least, as the point on the map had been on the move since yesterday. It was this little detail that made SK think that he was being led on.

However, with nothing else to go on, he continued to follow the marker, the only thing on his mind being the answers at the end. He knew that it was a trap, but it seemed illogical to him to not go for it, considering that he hadn't sprung any other traps up to this point and he was still alive.

Keeping his grip around the hilt of his scimitar firm, he vanished again and tried his best not to sink his boots too deep into the mud around him as he sprinted towards his target.

A few moments ago…

Mason gave a low whistle at the size and scale of the inside of the stronghold. Mate, this place would make a great man-cave. He thought to himself as he watched members of the White Fang run about, performing their various tasks. The giant steel doors shut behind him as a few men hefted a heavy iron bar in place to bar the door.

Looking around, he saw that there was a group of people wearing various outfits and garbs gathered off to one side of the stronghold, lounging about in what looked like a mess hall pushed up against one of the four walls that surrounded the stronghold within.

Another thing Mason noticed that peaked his interest was how most of the wall-mounted turrets and machine guns were faced towards the inside of the stronghold, however he shrugged it off as them trying to hide their outside appearance to anyone who could pass by the facility, while remaining armed at all times.

"I do apologize for the lack of hospitality." The White Fang lieutenant continued, clasping his hands together. "We're just very on-edge recently as Mistral has been cracking down hard on our operations as of late."

"I'm going to keep my political views to myself." Kane muttered with an offhand wave. "But where can I find Roman Torchwick? He told me to meet him here, see." He asked the lieutenant.

"Unfortunately, Mr Torchwick was unable to make it today and he asked that I speak and distribute your prizes in his stead." The lieutenant explained as he gestured for one of the White Fang goons to approach him. He whispered to in a low voice that Kane didn't seem to hear, but the redhead Faunus did. "Tell the others to gather in the courtyard. It's time."

It's time? Mason thought to himself. Da fuck does that mean? Wait, was the invitation just an elaborate ruse to get us all in one place to kill us all off at once? Just as he was about to ask what was obviously meant to be a secret conversation, his felt a rumbling in his stomach and was reminded that he skipped dinner because food was promised in the message he was sent. Ah, fuck it. "Um, excuse me generic White Fang leader, but I was promised food in the invitation I got." He said as he tapped of the Faunus' armoured shoulder.

"You should have arrived sooner then!" the lieutenant snapped. "Food was being served then, but now you must…uh, gather with the others in the courtyard."

The redhead groaned in irritation, but shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to where several people were gathering, promising to slip away into the night with one of the guards as recompense when this was over.

When he had joined with the crowd, he could hear several of them whispering and murmuring amongst themselves about what was going on, but frankly Mason didn't give a shit so long as he got them Lien Lien bills y'all.

It was also then did Mason notice that the courtyard had become devoid of any White Fang soldiers, which sent an odd feeling down his back. Looking over to Kane, he noticed the man also seemed on edge for some reason.

Eventually, the White Fang lieutenant stepped out of the second level of the tower structure in the centre of the stronghold and onto a balcony that overlooked the courtyard. Clearing his voice over a microphone, the crowd suddenly grew quiet as they all looked up at the Faunus.

"Good evening everyone, and welcome to Fort Lazuli. I hope my men have been treating you well and with graciousness." He opened up his speech. During his pause, several of the men and women around Mason starting shouting at him and demanding to know why he was speaking in place of Roman Torchwick. The Faunus immediately addressed them. "I can assure you; my good friend Roman is on a very important venture at the moment, and would have liked nothing more than to be here today. I'm afraid, however, that he will not be joining us tonight." A few members of the gathered crowd started to shout and boo at the lieutenant, but he raised his voice so that he could be heard over their shouting. "I am also afraid you have been misled! I was told that many of you were to expect a reward or a prize for your excellent service to our cause, unfortunately, the work we do is of ground-breaking importance and we cannot afford loose ends." As he ended the sentence, White Fang goons began popping up along the walls, mounting the turrets aimed straight at them while the others propped rifles and rocket launchers along the wall.

It took Mason the whole of a second before it finally clicked in his mind.

"Open fire!"

"It's a trap!" Mason shouted in a deep voice as he drew his weapons. The rain of bullets and blasts of pure Dust energy quickly mowed down some of the less prepared men and women around him, while others raised shields and ducked for cover. The roar of the weapons and guns were deafening, but through it all Mason could still hear the delicious sound of slaughter. He just wished he wasn't the one being slaughtered.

"Berry, drop some smoke!" he heard one woman shout before a large cloud of smoke blanketed the survivors.

Thanks to his enhanced vision, he was able to see better than most of the other Humans around. The cloud of smoke didn't do much to deter their executioners, as they continued to pour bullets down on them.

Mason for the most part got lucky and was able to dodge and deflect most of the shots that were fired his way. Still using Fuil to defend himself, he transformed Bas back into its shotgun mode and blasted away aimlessly through the smoke – sometimes at some of the men and women around him. Every MLG Point counts.

Eventually, a couple of people were able to set up a device that created a large, spherical force-field that protected them. Many other survivors began rushing towards the field, while others dragged their wounded companions in with them. The smoke had begun to clear, so Mason knew he had to pick up the pace. The redhead made a mad-dash for the ward of energy, pushing a girl Faunus to the ground while she stumbled with her unconscious friend, only for both of them to be gunned to shreds while Mason took refuge in the shell of light as he screamed a good-natured, "Scrubs!" over his shoulder.

"Dammit! This shield isn't going to hold for long!" the redhead heard one of the people in the safety bubble scream.

"Bloody hell, what do we do now?" Kane asked, walking over with both machetes in hand. The blades of the weapons were bent at odd angles to the hilts and didn't seem very functional.

Once Mason got the wind back into his lungs, he started pulling a few shotgun shells out of his pockets. "I think there's only one thing to do." He said as he began reloading Bas while several White Fang members wielding flamethrowers approached the shield and began spraying fire all over it, causing it to deteriorate even faster as several large holes were being made in it. Several of the machine-gunners were able to penetrate the shield and put several holes through some of the less fortunate.

Cocking the shotgun, Mason waited just before the bubble dropped before screaming, "Prepare your anus!" as he blasted apart one of the flametroopers.

Several of the White Fang guards were jumping down off the walls now, swords, axes and other melee weapons drawn as they began cutting down the remaining survivors. A pair of the Faunuses were trying to cut down the redhead, but he was able to block the first's overhead slice before blasting him backwards with a shell from Bas, using the backwards momentum to slam the stock of the gun into the other's chest before spinning around in an anti-clockwise motion to slice the Faunus' chest open.

Before he had a chance to watch the man drop to the ground, a section of the surrounding walls blasted apart, scattering debris and flailing bodies everywhere as two figures stepped through the smoke.

"Drop your weapons and we might not kill you!" Tanner shouted, firing several Dust rounds at the White Fang soldiers along the walls while T jumped down next to him before taking off at a sprint.

He was quick to extend an explosive charge out of his right arm before flinging it towards the White Fang lieutenant standing on the balcony. There wasn't enough force behind the throw, so the disc fell short and stuck onto the balcony instead, giving the lieutenant the time he needed to retreat into the tower before it exploded.

Target lost. Recalculating strategy…Strategy recalculated = Activate contingency assets.

Almost a dozen calculations were running through the hackers mind as he held his Scroll close to his face, swiping his finger across the screen and activating all the dormant Atlesian androids. While he was doing that, T's proximity alarm started blaring in his mind as a mercenary wielding a sledge hammer charged at him at full speed.

Ducking under the swing, he straightened out his prosthetic arm to its full length. With the momentum of the duck and pivoting in a clockwise motion, T flicked a combat knife – holding it backhandedly before digging it deep into the man's throat, only realising at the last minute that he was trying to save the man.

Kicking the man's corpse off his knife, several bullets dug into the hacker's Aura as he dropped to the ground in a rolling motion while hiding behind a deployable wall that someone planted into the ground. The hard steel alloy even protected him from a stray rocket-propelled grenade as he cleared some of the terrorists on the stone wall opposite him with his silenced pistol, improving his momentary safe spot.

The only problem was that he wasn't the only one hiding behind the deployable barricade.

The two shared a look before pointing their weapons at each other. Unsure of how to talk his way out of the conundrum, he lowered his weapon slowly, giving the other man indication that he should lower his.

"Kane Carnage." The man introduced, tilting his head to the side slightly to dodge a stray shuriken.

"T."

"What the fuck kind of name is Tee?" he asked as he flung one of his oddly shaped machetes at one of the gunners on the walls. "This is a right ass-end mess we've gotten ourselves into." The weapon knocked the Faunus gunner off the wall before flying back towards them. T was about to intercept the projectile, but Kane reached out his hand and caught the hilt.

"Backup's coming." T muttered as he fired at a couple of White Fang gunners on the wall facing their deployable cover.

As he said that, the concrete ground underneath them erupted as various androids began crawling out of the opening – guns hot and firing in various directions as they made menacing artificial groans and low cries. This time, the hacker remembered to give the androids the command not to just shoot anyone – even if they shot first. It was always the beauty of having a synthetic army in T's mind; they were expendable.

However, T wasn't paying attention to the chaos and destruction the androids were causing as he focussed his vision on a pair of White Fang soldiers along the wall seeming to be fighting air, swords bouncing off an invisible wall.

"Good, he's here."