Why hello my friends, another day another chapter. Sorry it's a bit late but prior commitments forced me to slightly delay this chapter. Only one question from Agent 'Meta' Maine asking for clarification on whether I was postponing this fic or the other one. While the posting of this chapter should clarify the question enough, I do feel the need to apologise for any confusion I caused. I was talking about the RWBY/Starcraft crossover which whilst I have a plot lined up, I need to wait for RWBY Volume 3 before I can actually start some proper work. I have however started work on a RWBY/Overwatch fic called 'Reap What You Sow' so feel free to check it out. Now, on with the show!
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Chapter 10-No Time for Chit Chat!
"Oh god oh god oh god oh god! I hope she's okay!" Ruby franticly repeated, walking around in circles in a panicked fashion. Not one minute after being reunited with Blake and she had to be taken away because some...douche decided to shoot her! All three of them were waiting outside the medical room where Blake was being treated, Yang and Weiss waiting patiently whilst Ruby continued to walk.
"Rube, just stand still already. You're making me feel dizzy!" Yang finally said, her eyes never leaving Ruby.
"How can I stand still! Our friend could be slowly dying for all we know!" Ruby retorted, waving her arms around haphazardly in the process.
"Just take a seat and you'll feel better, trust me." Yang replied, giving a small smile in the process.
"Okay! I can do that!" Ruby agreed, sitting down on the tiled floor before bolting up almost a second later. "I can't do that! It just makes it worse!" Ruby said, resuming to pacing outside the door resuming her small chant of 'oh god oh god'.
"I think I might be getting a migraine..." Weiss whispered, rubbing her temple as she attempted to block out her panicked friends voice.
A hissing noise caught all their attention as the door opened and a Federal Army combat medic walked out, swiping commands on his pad with his bloodstained gauntlets.
"Is she going to be okay?" Ruby asked, rushing up to the medic and catching him by surprise.
"What the...yeah she'll be fine," the medic replied after regaining his bearings before continuing. "She's lost a lot of blood, not to mention she's received some trauma from the torture she's experienced..."
"SHE WAS TORTURED!" Ruby screamed, catching almost everyone present off guard.
"Don't worry! Her wounds are healing up nicely!" the medic reassured, holding his hands out in a form of surrender. "Apart from that, she just has a few cuts and bruises, but nothing too serious. All she needs now is some rest."
Upon hearing those last few words, Ruby collapsed almost immediately. Weiss, Yang and the medic looked down at Ruby's crumpled form, who merely sighed blissfully as a small smile spread across her face.
"Yeah, I don't deal with that stuff..." the medic finally said, walking away as he left to tend to more patients. Yang pulled Ruby up by her arms and laid her against the wall. Ruby finally seemed to regain consciousness, looking up to see Yang and Weiss staring back at her. The gang would be back together at last…
"There a problem here?"
Ruby bolted up almost immediately at the sound of Washington's voice, giving a wavering salute as she stood, followed immediately by Yang and Weiss.
"There's no need for any of that military nonsense ladies, you're not soldiers." Carolina stated matter of factly, causing Ruby, Weiss and Yang to turn sheepishly away as they lowered their arms.
"How's she doing?" Washington asked, stepping forward as he did.
"The doc's said she's gonna be all right, she just needs some rest..." Yang replied, turning to face Ruby and noticing that she looked as though she was about to burst.
"Good to hear," Washington said before continuing. "Just let us know if there is any further-"
Washington was caught off guard as Ruby rushed forward, wrapping him in a bear hug as Washington looked down at her, clearly uncomfortable with what was happening.
"Thank you so much for rescuing Blake!" Ruby screamed, gripping Washington's waist even tighter.
"Errr...thanks I think..." Washington replied, turning to face Carolina who looked like she was actually enjoying herself for once. "Hey uh...Carolina? Mind helping me get her off me?"
"I thought YOU were the people person..." Carolina chuckled slightly as she turned to walk away, leaving Washington with the huntresses.
"That's not funny!" Washington shouted, as he attempted to drag his body free from Ruby's grip.
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"Great! Just fucking great!" Felix shouted as he flipped a nearby table over, scattering the numerous utensils on the table in the process. Locus and Torchwick watched as Felix continued with his rampage, breaking or flipping anything that got in the way of his path of destruction. "I hope you know this is all your fault!" Felix finally said, turning to face Locus whilst pointing at him accusingly. Locus rose almost immediately, taking short steps forward in an attempt to seem menacing.
"Is that so? Tell me then, Felix, how is this all my fault?" Locus asked, tilting his head slightly as he continued to walk forward.
"Where do I begin?!" Felix asked, raising his arms in an exasperated fashion. "She escaped in the first place whilst you were in charge! She then escaped the compound! And finally, she escaped you a third time because your girlfriend Washington intervened!"
"I accept responsibility over those events," Locus replied, seemingly catching Felix off guard. "but YOU were the one who lost her in the city and let a group of small girls and the simulation troopers stop you from carrying out your mission!"
Felix groaned in an annoyed manner before turning around and continued pacing back and forth. Locus grabbed Felix by his shoulder and spun him around so he was facing him, keeping his grip on his shoulder.
"What's done is done! We need to focus on the task at hand now..." Locus said, releasing his grip on Felix and gesturing to Torchwick who had remained idle through out the entire conversation.
"At least we can agree on THAT!" Felix grunted, walking towards Torchwick before clasping his arm around the criminals shoulder. "So Torchwick, I bet you're probably wondering why you're here?" Felix asked as he led Torchwick to the main core room of the temple, followed by Locus and two guards.
"I believe that to be a slight understatement..." Torchwick whispered, glancing around the corridor he was being led through. There was something strange about the carvings on the wall, something familiar…
"Well, I just want some clarification on your story you gave us..." Felix said, placing his other hand on Torchwick's other shoulder reassuringly. "You said that you were teleported by an unidentified alien artefact, correct?"
"That's more or less accurate, yes." Torchwick replied, turning his gaze to Felix in a suspicious manner, unsure of what the mercenary was up to. The door before them opened and Torchwick was momentarily blinded by a bright orange light followed immediately by the sound of electricity buzzing in the air.
"By any chance did it look like this?" Felix asked, holding his hand out towards the room. Torchwick's eyes adjusted to the sudden light change and he let out a startled gasp.
Before him was a circular room that was littered with numerous scientific devices. In the centre was a tall metal pillar that spat out electricity as a burning orange core sat in the centre, a strange siphoning device attached to its base. A control panel that danced with digitalised encodings sat next to the siphon whilst a large metal platform capable of supporting a dozen Atlesian Knights, maybe more, hovered slightly above the floor.
"I...I believe so..." Torchwick finally muttered, unable to find the right words at first.
"We thought so..." Felix replied, patting Torchwick and gesturing for Locus to step forward.
"You claimed you had re-engineered the device, is that true?" Locus asked, his already intimidating form towering over Torchwick.
"Yes, I managed to re-engineer the device to suit my purposes." Torchwick replied, a hint of pride present in his voice.
"And what purpose was that?" Locus asked, cocking his head slightly as he spoke.
"I managed to make the device change its primary settings from an unknown purpose to create an EMP blast," Torchwick replied, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "If you'd like, I could re-engineer THIS device to create the same effect on your enemies."
Torchwick allowed the idea to settle in the two mercs minds. The two looked at one another before Felix nodded. Locus then turned to face Torchwick as he gave there answer.
"No."
"I beg your pardon?" Torchwick asked, confusion present in both his voice and on his face.
"We said no." Felix replied, crossing his arms as he did.
"Our enemies are holed up in the city of Armonia. Whilst it's true that the EMP would short-circuit their vehicles, the city itself is powered by a Nuclear reactor which maintains the city." Locus followed through, pacing around Torchwick like a wolf herding sheep.
"Then why am I here?" Torchwick asked, who was now more curious then confused.
"Do you know what this device does?" Felix asked, gesturing to the artefact in the centre of the room.
"No, why do you ask?" Torchwick replied without even glancing at the artefact. If it was anything like the one on Remnant then there was no point guessing.
"It's a teleporter," Locus replied, stopping next to the control panel as he spoke. "From what our experts here can discern, it acted as a gateway between worlds for whoever constructed these temples."
"We've managed to siphon some of the energy from the core to create the teleportation cubes our guys carry," Felix continued, moving to join Locus at the control panel. "Unfortunately we haven't been able to get the teleporter itself online." Felix said before pointing at Torchwick. "And that's where you come in."
"Me?" Torchwick asked, bewildered at what Felix said. "What makes you think I can do anything?"
"You managed to re-engineer this device to suit your purposes, a far more difficult task then the one we expect you to do." Locus replied, stepping forward slightly.
"And what task is that?" Torchwick asked, raising an eyebrow as he spoke.
"Get the teleporter online and working." Felix replied, shrugging his shoulders as he spoke. "Unless, you know, you're scared of the consequences..."
"I'll get it working all right..." Torchwick replied, giving Felix a quick glare before turning his attention to the device. "I suppose the plan is to teleport your forces into the city and attack them where they least expect it?"
"No, our forces are too few to handle that many troops." Felix quickly replied, causing Torchwick to turn to the both of them.
"Then why do you want this device working?" Torchwick asked, raising his arms as he spoke. "For reassurance?"
"No," Locus replied, his attention seemingly turned to the main door as if expecting something. "For this."
As if on cue, Jackson came through the door, pushing forward a very large device into the room. It was cylindrical in design with multiple wires protruding out of the device. A small computer panel was attached to the device to initiate whatever commands were necessary for the device to work. Torchwick also took note of how carefully Jackson handled the device, as if any sudden movement would cause untold destruction.
"What...is that?" Torchwick asked, though something told him he already knew the answer before he even began.
"That, my friend, is a bomb." Felix answer, placing his hands on Torchwick's shoulders, startling him slightly.
"It's set to a minute timer and will cause destruction in a four mile radius." Locus continued as his hand gently stroked the edge of the control panel. "Once the bomb is armed, you can't stop it."
"Now, we know what you're thinking. That bomb alone can't possibly destroy an entire city, can it?" Felix mimicked, walking around so he was facing Torchwick. "Well, you're right. But teleport it next to a Nuclear reactor…" Felix didn't even finish his sentence as he used his hands to mimic an explosion, sound effects included.
"So, do you think you can do it?" Locus asked, almost sounding threatening. Torchwick sighed before looking at the two, a sinister grin on his face.
"Of course, when do I start?"
"Now, I'll call back all our scouting parties and make sure they're outside the blast zone." Locus announced before turning to leave the room.
"Good idea," Felix replied before turning to face Jackson and the two guards that had accompanied them. "You three, stay here and make sure Mr Delarge over here doesn't do anything stupid whilst I go get a more...permanent guard dog for him."
"Got it, boss." Jackson replied as Felix left the room.
All was silent before Torchwick sighed and turned to face Jackson.
"Is he always this much of a prick?" Torchwick asked, raising an eyebrow as he spoke.
"You kinda learn to just tune it out." Jackson replied, the two guards nodding and grunting in agreement.
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"You know, when I think about it, how have we even gotten this far?" Simmons asked, causing the rest of the assembled Reds and Blues to look at him questioningly.
"What do you mean?" Grif asked as he rubbed his arm, having sprained it whilst over reaching for a sandwich in the back of the fridge.
"Well statistically speaking, if we were to go through the events we've been through another thousand times, we would probably have died like...a thousand times!" Simmons replied, causing all of them to look at one another in realisation.
"Then how have we survived? Through pure skill?" Tucker asked, earning a laugh from everyone present.
"Are you kidding me? When we started, we were basically living training dummies for the Freelancers. Know we're just training dummies for whoever wants to shoot us." Simmons replied, waving his arms hysterically.
"I prefer the term pacifier." Caboose butted in, causing everyone to groan in slight annoyance.
"Not THAT type of dummy idiot!" Tucker said, turning to face the blue moron.
"Lets face it, we're just a bunch of training dummies that got lucky!" Simmons continued, earning a disapproving grunt from Sarge.
"Speak for yourself, I used to be an ODST!" Sarge said, a large amount of pride present in his voice as he envisioned himself in his old suit, falling from the sky in blaze of glory…
"Weren't you afraid of heights?" Grif asked, snapping Sarge out of his trance.
"That's not important..." Sarge quickly replied, causing Grif to let out an uninterested sigh.
"I think the important thing is that despite O'Mally, the Freelancers, the Meta, CT, the Director and Charon, we're all still in one piece!" Simmons stated, causing nearly everyone present to nod their head in agreement.
"No todos nosotros , Doc sigue desaparecido. (Not all of us, Doc is still missing.)" Lopez stated matter of factly, causing Donut to gasp in realisation.
"You're right Lopez! Grif's sister DID die!" Donut shouted. All present grunted in realisation as Lopez shook his head from side to side.
"Ni siquiera voy a dignificar eso con una respuesta. (I'm not even going to dignify that with a response.)" Lopez sighed, as the Reds and Blues stood in silence.
"So…now what?" Grif asked, looking around expectedly.
"What are you guys doing?" Washington asked, entering the room clearly confused.
"Nothing." Sarge replied almost immediately, the other Reds and Blues grunting and nodding in agreement.
"What is it Wash?" Tucker asked, cocking his head slightly as he awaited Washington's response.
"Have you seen Carolina anywhere?" Washington asked as the Reds and Blues looked amongst one another.
"No, why?" Simmons asked, curious as to why Washington was asking.
"It's Blake, she's waking up." Washington announced, only to be met by a wall of silence. "But if you guys haven't seen her then I should probably get going." Washington continued, turning to leave the room. The Reds and Blues waited for Washington to get out of earshot before speaking once more.
"Shall we go get a sneak preview?" Sarge asked, followed by everyone nodding their heads in agreement.
"Remind me, who's Blake?" Grif asked as the Reds and Blues milled out of the room.
"She's the cat lady!" Caboose replied followed by Tucker letting out an annoyed grunt.
"For the last time Caboose, those aren't cat ears!" Tucker shouted as he left the room.
"She's probably crazy as well." Caboose quickly added before the entirety of the Reds and Blues had left the room and were making there way to the medical centre…
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Felix wandered the hallways of the temple, looking around to make sure he wasn't being followed by either White Fang or their own soldiers. Confident he was alone, he turned into one of the side rooms along the passage, the only source of light coming off the highlights of his armour. He looked around the room, waiting. A sudden noise came from behind him, and with lightning fast reflexes he unsheathed his knife and spun around to slash at whoever it was. His hand was caught mid-air by an invisible force with a grip like iron. The figure materialised, revealing itself to be Locus. Felix loosened upon seeing Locus' form and pulled his wrist free from Locus' grasp.
"You're late!" Locus grunted as he went to ensure the door was properly locked.
"What are you gonna do, call my mum?" Felix replied nonchalantly, crossing his arms across his chest. "Made sure no one is listening?"
"There is no way anyone is either watching or listening in on us." Locus replied, turning to face Felix as he spoke.
"Good, so we gonna get to the matter at hand or we gonna just stand around exchanging pillow talk?" Felix asked, holding his arms out expectantly.
Locus merely grunted before walking towards the far left side of the room and stopping in front of the wall, arms folded behind his back.
"I don't trust Torchwick or his White Fang." Locus finally said, turning to face Felix.
"Good to see we're on the same page for once." Felix replied, innocently twirling the knife in his hand as he spoke.
"As soon as we turn around, they'll stab us in the back." Locus continued as Felix nodded his head in agreement.
"So what do you want to do? Stab them in the back first?" Felix asked, holding his knife up as he spoke.
"Not yet," Locus replied, shaking his head before continuing. "They could still be useful to us."
"How so?" Felix inquired, tilting his head as he awaited a response.
"The girl, Blake, escaped with Washington and is no doubt in the capital as we speak." Locus said "If she survives her injuries, she'll be able to tell them our location..."
"Crap..." Felix muttered as the realisation dawned on him.
"We've been lucky so far in being able to take out there recon teams and drones, but we won't be able to defend this location against a full scale assault." Locus continued as Felix began to rub the back of his head.
"So what do you intend to do?" Felix asked, taking a sudden interest in the far right corner of the room.
"We wait for Torchwick to finish his job, if he does and the bomb is teleported to Armonia with no incident, we strike then." Locus replied, ignoring his partners sudden interest in the corner.
"And if the Feds and Republicans attack?" Felix asked as he readjusted his grip on the knife in his hand.
"We dedicate a small force to help defend against the White Fang. The rest of our troops will be in the temple, preparing for immediate evacuation." Locus replied, watching Felix as his partner slowly turned to face the wall. "When the immediate evacuation is complete, we recall the ground defence and order them to kill any White Fang that try and follow."
"What about Torchwick and the bomb? Kinda defeats the point of having it if he turns tail and runs." Felix asked, his attention now fully back on Locus.
"Your guard still watching him?" Locus asked, cocking his head slightly.
"Yeah..." Felix replied, whatever Locus was suggesting suddenly dawning on him. "So just to be clear...whatever happens, we're gonna kill all the White Fang right?" Felix asked as he turned to leave the room.
"Of course." Locus replied, unsure as to why Felix asked the question.
"Good to know..." Felix quietly replied.
Almost immediately, he spun around and flung his knife into the corner he had previously been observing. The sound of metal hitting flesh followed by a pained grunt resounded in the room as a White Fang soldier crumpled onto the floor out of the shadows, crying out in pain as he attempted to pull the knife free from his gut. With four quick strides, Felix was upon the soldier and quickly brought his foot down on his neck, crushing his windpipe and killing him instantly.
Felix wiped his bloodied foot on the floor and proceeded to pull the knife from the lifeless body, wiping away the blood on his wrist guard before turning to face Locus who hadn't made a single move since Felix threw his knife.
"Next time, make sure the room is properly clear..." Felix calmly said, before turning heel and leaving the room…
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Another chapter done. Any questions? Either PM me or leave in your review. Don't forget to review and constructive criticism is always welcome. Also, an internet cookie for whoever spotted the Clockwork Orange reference in this chapter.
Raging Archon out.