I think this is probably one of the longest fight scene I've ever written. Hope you guys enjoy it.
I don't own RWBY if I did I probably would have gotten this out sooner.
"I don't get it. If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?" asked Sun, holding out the mask.
"The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters," answered Blake as she untied the bow from her head.
"Grimm masks... That's kind of dark," commented the blonde.
"So was the guy who started it," she replied, gloomily as she placed the mask on her head.
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you," grumbled Sun as he donned his own mask.
Together the two of them walked into the large warehouse with the rest of the new recruits, becoming one with the sea of white masked faces. As they listened to the speaker introduce their 'benefactor' a frown appeared on their faces as a familiar voice carried across the room.
"Thank you, thank you! Please, hold your applause!" came Roman's mocking voice.
The duo watched as Roman incited the crowd with unease, they hadn't expected him to show his face at a meeting this early. To make it worse Neo took this moment to step out of cover behind the crook, 'is she one of his accomplices Ruby mentioned?' wondered Blake. She did try to kill Tukson and helped Roman kidnap Ruby so it was entirely likely, which just left two more unaccounted for. Blake's eyes widened as she saw Roman remove a tarp, revealing a giant mech standing motionless at the ready.
"Whoa, that's a big robot..." gasped Sun, fearfully.
"How did he get that?" replied Blake in shock.
Sun just shrugged in response as Roman began gloating about his new toy, "Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine... But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?"
The room erupted into thunderous applause as Blake turned to Sun, "we should get out of here."
"Leaving so soon?" came a chillingly familiar voice behind them.
Hands on their weapons the two Faunus spun around to see Adam Taurus staring at them, "never thought I'd seen you here again Blake."
Instantly there was silence throughout the warehouse as everyone turned to stare at them. The two hunters brought out their weapons before turning to face the crowd back to back. "Does this happen to you all the time?" questioned Sun.
"Everywhere I go," joked Blake with a worried smile.
Her smile dropped as they both heard the mech powering up behind them, "move!" shouted Sun as they dived to the side.
The spot where they were standing was reduced to a creator as the Paladin punched the floor. Seeing an opportunity the two Faunus jumped on the mech and used it as a ramp to jump out the window. Landing on the nearby rooftops they both began sprinting into the city as the wall behind them burst open to reveal the Paladin charging after them.
Adam sighed as he turned from the destroyed wall to face Roman's bodyguard. "If those two were here then she can't be far behind. Neo tell them to get the Bullhead ready, we're going hunting."
"So you wouldn't happen to have... oh, I don't know... some form of backup?!" cried Sun as they kept running.
"On it," replied Blake as she took out her scroll. "Everyone if you can hear me we need backup!"
Getting various affirmatives from her teammates the two Faunus kept sprinting, leading the mech onto the highway. As they leapt from car to car, aware that the charging Paladin was beginning to close the distance between them, the duo saw blue flashes behind them. Taking a quick glance behind them showed Yang and Neptune rapidly approaching on her motorbike. The Paladin began knocking cars into the path of the rapidly approaching duo, forcing Yang and Neptune to stop firing as they focused on dodging the incoming projectiles. Blake sighed in relief as she watched Yang successfully swerve around the cars and Neptune returned fire. Unfortunately the Paladin seemed to just shrug this off as it continued chasing after the two Faunus. Seeing this Neptune frowned as he shifted his gun into its trident mode when they heard Ruby's voice over their scrolls.
"Everyone I've got a plan I need you all towards lead Roman to Weiss, she is going to knock him down to the lower levels. Once there Roman's going to be in for a big surprise," she ordered them.
"Got it," they all replied as they began to herd Roman towards the heiress.
"Everyone! I'm in position!" came Weiss' voice from the scrolls.
They all saw the heiress twirl her rapier and point it at the oncoming Paladin with a smile before stabbing Myrtenaster into the ground. In the space of a few seconds the ground around her turned to ice which caused Roman to skid and stumble as he fell off the edge onto the empty road below. As the criminal got up he saw Ruby standing in the middle of the road with a smug smile on her face as she slung Crescent Rose across her shoulders.
"Well Roman long time no see."
"Well Roman long time no see," greeted Red.
"Indeed. You know Red now that we're alone my deal is still up for offer, we could certainly use someone like you. Especially now that you're close to Ozpin," offered the crook.
"You really think I'll make that mistake again? I'm not becoming your hired gun Roman," growled Red.
"I'll admit I didn't handle that situation the best I could have but still if you rethink my offer, you need only contact me," came the criminal's voice from the downed Paladin.
"Tempting but I'll pass. Now why don't you save us both some time and surrender quietly," grinned Red.
There was harsh grating laughter echoing from the mech as it got up, "and why should I do that?" questioned Roman.
"Because either you come out of there or I rip that hunk of junk apart and get you myself," she replied, shrugging.
Roman only response was more laughter, "really Red I knew you were mad but not this mad. Your little friends won't be able to get here before I turn you into a smear on the ground."
With that the Paladin threw a punch at Red, only to hit the road as Red disappeared in a flash of rose petals. Roman began scanning the area with the mech's laser systems in an attempt to discover Red's location only to growl as they found nothing. Meanwhile Red was sitting happily on top of the Paladin, grinning as she watched Roman struggle to find her. Penny had told her everything she knew about the Atlesian Paladins, which was a lot considering the General made her train against them, including the blind spot in their scanners.
Taking her scythe she jabbed it into one of the mech's joints before activating its electricity modification. Crescent Rose was surrounded with a blue glow as electricity ran down its length into the Paladin, instantly Roman began to see numerous error messages appear as many systems were overloaded with electricity. Growling the criminal forced the failing mech into a roll causing Red to remove her scythe and jump off least she be crushed under its weight. As soon as the scythe was removed Roman saw most of the error messages disappear as the onboard computer began restoring the functions. Looking down at Red he saw her struggling to get to her feet as she tried to rush to her scythe, only to see Roman step on it with his foot.
"End of the line Red, any last words" he taunted.
Red just grinned, "yeah, NUTS AND DOLTS!" she cried before hitting the deck.
Roman watched confused until he saw a large green laser fly over the ducking Red and slam into his Paladin, causing the mech to go flying a few feet into the air before sending him crashing to the ground. Appearing on the one undamaged screen he saw a ginger girl emerge from hiding, a group of swords hovering around her like guardians. Roman took a quick diagnostic of his Paladin and his eyes widened as he saw the extent of the damage, 'damn I can't be hit by that again.'
"Nice shot Penny," congratulated Red as the two high fived each other.
"Why did you make that the code name? It seems unnecessary long and conspicuous," asked Penny.
"It's an Earth thing," replied Red with a wave of her hand.
"Earth?" said the ginger.
"I'll tell you after this," promised the reaper as the both turned back to face Roman.
Shortly after this they all heard the sound of a motor bike getting closer and as they looked up they were greeted to the sight of a laughing Yang and screaming Neptune driving off the highway above them and landing with a skid on the road next to Red. The others quickly followed with Blake and Sun using their Faunus reflexes and Weiss using her Glyphs.
"Show off," muttered the heiress at her blonde teammate.
"Well Roman you're outnumbered and surrounded. Want to surrender now?" asked a smug Red.
"I'm not done yet Red," hissed the crook as the mech got back on its feet.
"Alright then be that way. Penny fire the laser!" she ordered.
The rest of her friends watched in shock as a ball of green energy began forming in front of the ginger before shooting out towards the mech. It looked like it was all over for Roman at that point however a black blur appeared in front of him and just as the laser hit, they all saw a flash of red before the green light blinded them. As their eyesight returned they all were shocked to see Roman's Paladin undamaged and a black and red bull Faunus standing in front of him.
"This is where the fun begins," laughed a glowing Adam.
Suddenly the glow surrounding the Faunus intensified and Blake and Red's eyes widened as the realized what was about to happen. "Everyone scatter!" cried Blake as Adam gripped his sword.
Hearing the urgency in her voice the group obeyed instantly and quickly dived off to the sides as Adam unsheathed Wilt, there was the sound of cutting metal and they all saw Yang's bike split in two before disintegrating.
"No Bumblebee! You'll pay for that!" growled Yang.
Ignoring everyone's warnings the blonde charged Adam only to find herself sent flying from an umbrella to the stomach as Neo revealed herself, standing over the blonde with a smug grin. "Ah ah aaaah," teased the illusionist.
Yang growled as she threw a punch the girl's way and saw it get deflected by the umbrella before Red charged Neo, forcing her to fall back. Slowly Yang got up and watched as Adam, Roman and Neo grouped together while she and the rest of her friends stood across from them, each side waiting for the other to make a move.
"Penny can you take out Roman?" asked Red.
"Yes but not with that Faunus in the way," she replied.
Red nodded, "Blake you and Sun keep Adam busy, the rest of you help Penny. I'll deal with Neo," she growled, her eyes briefly outlined in red before returning to normal.
"So that's Neo huh? No deal Ruby I'll take care of pinkie here you help Penny," replied Yang as she walked up next to Red.
Red wanted to argue but the look on Yang's face showed she wouldn't waver, "fine but Neptune's going to help you," she sighed.
Neptune nodded and brought out his trident as he and Yang began to circle the illusionist, while Sun and Blake did the same with Adam. Red, Penny and Weiss just frowned as they saw the mech in front of them, "why do we always get the tough jobs," groaned Red as Roman charged.
Blake and Sun watched the White Fang member cautiously while the Faunus in question kept a hand on his sheathed sword, a lack of care evidence in his stance. Sun split his staff into his gunchucks before running at Adam with Blake doing the same from the opposite direction. Their opponent gripped Blush and fired Wilt out of its sheath hitting Sun in the head before spinning around and slamming the sheath into Blake's stomach. Not giving her time to recover Adam punched Blake in the face before sweep kicking her legs from under her and kicking her in the head, leaving Blake stunned and disorientated as he turned his attention to Sun. As the blonde was still recovering from his blow to the head Adam sprinted towards where Wilt lay on the ground and got into his defensive stance as Sun finally snapped out of his daze.
Charging the bull Faunus Sun found his attacks being deflected by the terrorist's blade and sheath combo. Changing tactics the blonde began firing the gun attachments of his weapons and Adam began dodging the shots or blocking the weapons directly. Seeing his current strategy wasn't working Sun backed up before joining his palms together as two orange glowing ethereal figures appeared, one armed with a staff and the other unarmed. A frown appeared on Adam's face and he quickly brought his weapons up as he watched the two figures charge him, however instead of blocking their strikes the minute he touched them both the figures exploded in a flash of light. Sun grinned as he watched his opponent go flying a few feet from the force of the explosion, meanwhile Blake had finally recovered from her daze and took advantage of the current situation.
As Adam picked himself up from the ground he found himself being attacked head on by his enraged former partner. Blake came at him with an overhead slash from Gambol Shroud to which the bull Faunus grunted as he brought Blush up to block the incoming strike. Unfortunately while he was distracted by his former partner Sun took the opportunity to slam his staff into the terrorist, the shockwave from the staff knocking Adam to the ground. Suddenly all three of them heard the sound of sirens approaching and Blake leapt on top of her downed opponent.
"Don't move," ordered Blake as she straddled him and placed Gambol Shroud on his throat.
"I'm curious. Why did you want to fight me? Red has the best chance here to beat me surely you know that," asked Neo as the two hunters surrounded her.
"Do you know why the older sibling is born first? It's to protect the little brothers and sisters that come after them, including from themselves. You two clearly have some history and that is hindering her judgment," replied Yang, causing Neo to raise her eyebrows in surprise.
"Besides," continued the blonde, cracking her knuckles. "Anyone who can make Ruby show that angry is someone whom I need to…have a chat with."
"Well aren't you interesting I think I'm going to enjoy myself after all," grinned the illusionist as Neptune charged her.
The two hunters frowned as they saw Neptune's trident pass right through the girl before the image shattered into pieces. Leaping back they stood back to back, alert for any sign of their hidden opponent. The two were startled to see Neo appear above them as she smashed her umbrella into Neptune's face, knocking him to the ground and turned to block Yang's incoming first. Smirking she weathered the brawler's assault without so much as a scratch, using the blonde's momentum against her as Neo grabbed her wrist and slammed the umbrella handle into Yang's head.
Neptune got up from the ground and watched the current fight between the two girls as his face furrowed in confusion, 'why did she reveal herself when she attacked us? She could have easily killed us both without either of us being aware of it.' A smile grew on his face as an idea came to mind, 'she can't attack and use her semblance at once,' he realized. Switching his weapon to its gun mode Neptune carefully aimed at the fighting pair before firing. Neo was caught completely by surprise as the both turned to see a glob of blue light rush towards the illusionist. Neo attempted to move out of the way but Yang hooked her arms around her, trapping her opponent who could only struggle as the light hit and the two girls were blown off their feet.
Neptune quickly rushed over to Yang and offered her a hand, "Yang are you ok? Maybe I overdid it," he admitted, sheepishly.
"Gee you think!" coughed the brawler, accepting his hand up.
Neptune's response was cut short as they both heard sirens growing louder in the distance, "wait where's Neo?" asked Yang looking around.
The illusionist was nowhere in sight.
Red and Weiss dived out of the way of the oncoming mech while Penny rooted herself to the round before jabbing her swords into the Paladin's armour plating. Grinning the ginger pulled on the strings and sent Roman careening past her and into a support pillar. Red and Weiss watched wide eyed as Penny then preceded to drag the mech along the ground and repeatedly slam it into the ground, walls and anything else nearby, leaving creators wherever it landed. Inside the Paladin Roman was struggling to maintain consciousness as his head was repeatedly bashed against the monitors.
Snarling at the sight of the ginger girl in front of him Roman activated the Paladin's rocket systems, forcing Penny to disconnect the swords from the mech as she used her swords to slice the missiles in midflight. Free of the ginger's control the mech stand back on its feet before firing both its guns as well as rockets at Penny, in an attempt to finally end the pesky ginger. Her sword guardians formed a circle around her, blocking most of the rounds. Another two swords sank into the wall behind her as Penny was sent flying backwards, narrowly dodging the rocket barrage.
Seeing Roman preoccupied with taking down the ginger, Red and Weiss began their own assault. It started with Weiss freezing the Paladin's back mounted rocket launchers, rendering the weapon useless. Next Red stabbed her electrified scythe into the mech's energy weapons, frying the delicate circuitry inside before semblancing away as Roman brought the Paladin's fist down where she once stood. As Roman turned his attention back to the duo he saw Red plant her scythe in the ground while a white glyph appeared around the barrel.
"White Rose!" called Red as she fired and Roman found his mech beginning to freeze where the rounds impacted.
"Now Penny!" ordered the reaper and Roman saw a green glow rapidly getting brighter.
Realizing what was about to happen Roman tried to dodge out of the way but found that his mech's newly frozen limbs weren't fast enough and the green laser stuck the Paladin head on. Unable to take any more punishment the mech literally fell apart and Roman was sent flying.
"Ruby we really need to rethink these codenames," commented the heiress.
"Weiss for the last time Ice Flower will never stick. Let it go," replied Red as the two turned to face Roman, whom was dusting himself off as he got up.
"Well what will you do now Roman? They're getting closer," grinned Red as they all heard the grateful sound of police approaching.
The crook said nothing as the trio surrounded him and only grinned a satisfied smile, looking at something over their shoulders. They heard Blake cry out in pain behind them and spun to see her fall to the floor as Adam head butted her, Sun tried to help only to find a sword held at his throat by the reappeared Neo.
"All of you put your weapons on the ground or we will kill them both," ordered Roman.
All of them placed their weapons on the ground or in Penny's case stowed them in her back. All of them that is except for Red, whom just clutched Crescent Rose tighter as she stared unblinkingly at Neo. They all looked at Red and everyone could swear they saw her glowing a deep black before she blinked and gave Neo another hateful glare as she dropped Crescent Rose to the ground. Seeing them all unarmed Adam and Neo threw their captives to the ground and together with Roman they ran into a nearby street, shortly after everyone saw a Bullhead fly off in the opposite direction.
"Ruby I have to go I don't want my father or the General to realize I've been out this long," said Penny.
Red nodded," sure thing Penny and thanks for the help."
Giving a wave the ginger ran into the streets as the first police cars began showing up, "so anyone got an excuse for Ozpin after this?" asked Red, hopefully.
Well that was fun to write, although I wish I could have written more with Penny. Ah well there will be chances later on I suppose. With Neo's semblance it was the only explanation I could come out with after rewatching the series a couple of times, for instance on the train fighting Yang. She could have simply turned invisible and stabbed Yang, there was no need to fight like they did unless she couldn't use her illusions. Anyway if you have a problem with it then I'm sorry but I've made my decision and I'm going to stick with it.