This chapter will be me, trying something else. The third-person limited narrative isn't working out too well for me, so I will try to use a different third-person limited.
If something is a Ruby POV, it will be told through her eyes, but with the occasional drop of her name in the narrative. You'll see. Just be sure to tell me if it is better or worse :D
~0~
"The soldier who kills must either overcome that part of him that says he is a murderer, or completely annihilate it. In order for our operatives to slay the enemy, we must enable them to understand the familiarity of the deaths. To realize that what they do is needed not only for themselves, but also for others. They do not possess loved ones, so they must love their duty and their superiors. In short, they must be ordered to kill first without ever developing the maddening guilt. Moral dissonance is one way…age is the other one. Guilt comes with both, unless both are removed. As such, the sooner the kill is performed the easier it is to remove all guilt-processes."
General Randall, known associate of Onyx
~0~
Day 33, Thursday, 13:14, Vale city district.
"Blaaake!" Ruby yelled loudly, trying to catch the attention of her lost teammate. At first she had thought that Blake was simply in need of some time alone, hence why she hadn´t gone searching for her. But when the morning had arrived without something Blake-shaped standing in their dorms, she had gotten worried. However, after more than five hours of intense searching, they were still just team RWY instead of team RWBY.
Yang was also calling out, but her voice was always much louder than hers. "Blaaaake!"
"Blaaaaaaaake! Where aaaare yoooouuuu!?" Ruby tried again, to no avail. But when she noticed that Weiss wasn't joining them in their verbal search, she turned to look at her. "Weiss," She told her partner, "you were seriously mean to Blake. I can understand your hatred of the White Fang, but you could have at least tried to understand the position of a friend."
"Well, how was I supposed to know that she was a Faunus?" Weiss sharply replied. "You might have found that out before Ruby, but I didn't."
Yang didn't notice their argument and kept yelling. "Blake!"
"Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions," Ruby continued.
"I think that when we hear it, you'll all that agree that…that…"
"Yes?" She urged her, almost daring her to continue. She knew that Weiss cared deeply for Blake, but she needed to hear it.
"Well, fine!" The white-haired girl snapped, whirling around and gesturing wildly with her arm. "Nothing will be agreed on at all! The White Fang are lawless criminals Ruby! They deserve everything that has been dealt out in the past…but I don't think Blake does."
"I think that you don't really mean the things you said…" She replied.
"And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today!" Penny told them.
Wait…Penny?
Ruby turned around in shock and realized that the strange girl was walking behind them again. She had NOT expected that. "Aaaah! Penny! Where did you come from!?"
Penny cheerfully ignored her question. "Hey guys! What are you up to?"
"Uhh..."
"We're looking for our friend Blake," Yang explained.
"Ooooh, you mean the Faunus girl!" Penny proceeded to score another point at the surprised department.
They simply stared at her.
"Wait, how did you know that?" She asked the orange-haired girl.
"Uhh, the cat ears?" Penny replied, pointing at her own head.
"What cat ears?" Yang laughed a bit. "She wears a... boooohhh..."
"The penny drops?" She asked her sister.
"I do not drop! How could you say that?" The other Penny gasped with shock.
"She does like tuna a lot…" Weiss muttered, realizing the obvious.
"So…where is she then?" Penny then asked.
"We don't know, she's been missing since yesterday-evening," She said with distress, her worry for Blake coming right back to hit her in her face again.
Penny gasped with shock. "That's terrible!" Then the orange-haired girl approached her, got really close into her comfort zone and continued. "Well, don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!"
She did her best to smile, but the situation didn't really give her much to work with. In the end, she settled for the good old 'thanks but no thanks'. "Uh, that's really nice of you, Penny, but we're okay! Really! Right, guys?"
She turned around, only to realize that there were no guys. The guys were gone. They had betrayed her.
"Meanies…" She muttered.
Penny happily smiled and waited for the next step.
They scouted the city like that; her looking around to watch for any sign of her lost friend and Penny curiously eyeing her.
Eventually, the girl spoke up. "So, Blake is your friend?"
She sighed as she made her way down the sidewalk. "Yes, Penny."
"But you're mad at her?"
"Yes. Well, I'm not. Weiss is."
"Is she friends with Blake?"
"Well, that's kind of up in the air right now..."
Penny seemed to contemplate that before she grew confused yet again. "But why?"
Ruby sighed in frustration, thinking about how much Penny resembled Will in the mighty arts of emotions. Thinking of the Onyx Operative again, she grabbed her scroll and hastily send him a message, asking him for help. "Well, you see, Blake might not be who we though she was..."
Penny gasped. "Is she a man?"
What? That…what? "No! No, Penny. She's..." She stopped herself and stared at some building to her left. Penny was being honest with her. Without joking around. She truly, really did not understand. "I don't know what she is. She didn't exactly talk to us before she decided to run off."
"I don't have a lot of friends, but if I did, I would want them to talk to me about things." Penny suddenly stated, without sounding sad or bitter or anything like that.
Ruby could not muster the same courage and sadly dropped her head. "Me too..."
~0~
Day 33, Thursday, 14:29, Vale city district, near unidentified café.
"So," Blake calmly spoke as she set her tea-cup down. "You want to know more about me?"
"Finally, she speaks! Nearly two days and you gave me nothing but small talk and weird looks!" The Faunus-boy called Sun cheerfully exclaimed.
She gave him a firm look.
"Yeah, like that," Sun saw fit to notify her and calmed down a bit.
She rolled with her eyes before closing them, remembering the truth that she was going to tell this other Faunus. Apart from perhaps Velvet, there wasn't a single person she could trust with this. Humans didn't understand her troubles.
"Sun... Are you familiar with the White Fang?"
The monkey-boy was quick to reply. "Of course! I don't think there's a Faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them. Stupid, holier-than-thou creeps that use force to get whatever they want. Bunch of freaks, if you ask me!"
She calmly took a sip from her tea and dropped the big reveal she had been pondering all night over. "I was once a member of the White Fang."
Sun promptly went cross-eyed; he choked on his drink, quickly put it down and wiped the corner. Because he put up a hand indicating that he needed time to process that information, she allowed him to choke in peace. "Wait a minute, you were a member of the White Fang?!"
She nodded. "That's right. I was a member for most of my life, actually. You could almost say I was born into it. Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between Humans and the Faunus."
She remembered how it had been initially, before the White Fang had been forced to take a different road. "Of course, despite being promised equality, the Faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings. And so, the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people. And I was there."
A memory hit her; it was her, as a young girl, holding a protest-sign." I was at the front of every rally. I took part in every boycott. I actually thought we were making a difference. But I was just a youthful optimist. And then, five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a new way of thinking."
"And then?" Sun asked her.
"Suddenly, our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunus labor. And the worst part was, it was working. We were being treated like equals. But not out of respect... out of fear." She smiled at the Faunus sitting in front of her, feeling glad that she could finally tell her story. "So, I left. I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence, and instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress. So here I am: a criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little black bow."
To demonstrate, she wiggled her cat-ears underneath said bow.
"So... have you told your friends any of this?" Sun then asked her.
Blake merely looks down in shame and refused to reply. Eventually, Sun got the message and tried to change the subject.
"So…what now?" He asked her and stood up.
She reached for her wallet and placed down a few Lien. "I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies. They've never needed that much Dust before."
Sun widened his eyes and jumped off the ledge, forcing her to follow him. "What if they did?" He asked her. "I mean... the only way to prove that they didn't do it, is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it, and not find them there! Right?"
She frowned. "The only thing is, I've no idea where that would be."
"Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas" Sun then told her.
"How huge?"
"Huge. Big Schnee Company freighter."
"You're sure?" If Sun was right, this would be the perfect way to clear the White Fang´s name. Not only would they be safe from retaliation, but it was also the only way she could prove to her friends that she was truly trustworthy. She could not trust humans with her troubles…but perhaps she could trust her team.
The monkey-boy nodded, full of confidence.
"If the White Fang are behind this…they will strike at night." She explained, pushing her doubts and fears away for the moment. "We will have time to prepare."
~0~
Day 33, Thursday, 20:14, near harbor area.
Operative Greystone flicked through several files on his wrist-mounted scroll, discarding those that he did not need before finding the one that he had been looking for. It was a file on Operative Mantis; his current target. He needed all the additional information that existed on her should he wish to find and, if possible, beat her. If he didn't overwhelm her within the very first seconds of the fight, the only possible outcome of their conflict would be death
He hoped that it wouldn't come to that, but after a very long time of searching he still wasn't anywhere close to finding the Operative herself, let alone any information on her.
But even with his high-end security levels he could not get past the high amounts of black ink of the files that he did dig up. As to be expected of an Operative, information on Mantis was not freely distributed. But then again, neither was he wholly dependent on that Intel. He had known Mantis for years and he was well aware of her skillset…and mindset. She wouldn't beat him so easily again.
During his hunt –which closely resembled a wild goose chase- he had been in repeated contact with Ruby, who was in a completely different sort of mess.
Apparently, he wasn't the only one who was looking for a stealthy girl. Something had happened with team RWBY; something that had caused enough strife for Blake Belladonna to go AWOL.
The news had come as a surprise to him, but it had also caused his own mission to become more urgent. He did not know who Mantis was working for or what she was even doing in Vale, but he knew that Blake was not safe. A lone huntress-to-be alone in the city with a defected Operative in the loose? That was a recipe for disaster.
But despite his best efforts, he had only managed to isolate Mantis' trail to the docks, in the city district of Vale. He could spent days at an end searching such a place for her and still not find her, so he would have to change the rules somewhat.
He just hoped that his target would not be interested in the scattered students walking around Vale. Mantis wasn't the type to obey anyone, unless she wanted to reach some obscure goal for herself. If her goal held any animosity to Beacon whatsoever, people would die. Good people.
He needed to avoid that.
Things were very rapidly going south in Vale. The increased activity of Roman Torchwick and the White Fang continued to bring harm to commercial instances in the city and the presence of foreign people having already come from Atlas only complicated things. Airships and boats were coming in from all around them and Onyx was working hard to keep tabs on all of them.
Specific instances, like the female teenager called 'Penny' and her relatively important caretakers, were not important to him. But apparently they were to Ruby, as she had sent him a message before asking if he knew a Penny.
He did not personally know Penny so he had answered in the negative.
Will sighed and deactivated his scroll again. His black suit made it difficult for him to be spotted, but if he kept still in one location for too long he might be seen nonetheless. Mantis had to know that he was stalking her, as she was a master of hunting herself. And any people stalking her generally vanished. It was simply how she was trained; how she had been pushed to survive for so long.
He did not miss shots and Mantis did not miss opportunities and chances.
So he had to be ready for any and all ambushes and attacks. Mantis was as lethal from a distance as she was from up-close and there would be no recovering from her attacks if she got the drop on him. Not like it used to be.
Everything had changed…and Will wasn't even certain of Mantis' true state of mind at the moment. Would she attack? Would she disappear? There was no way of knowing for him.
In a way, it made her as unpredictable as Blackwood. But at the very least he could think like she did, which was a major difference.
With his newly repaired helmet sealed closely over his head, he moved. The docks weren't far away and the sooner he moved, the sooner he could apprehend Mantis.
But as he darted over the rooftops, evading the sloppy gazes of patrolling Policemen and civilians alike, a strange feeling began to settle in his stomach. There was something wrong, he could feel it. Something big.
Why had Blake Belladonna defected from RWBY again? What had been the cause of her conflict?
He didn't really remember Ruby having told him anything about it, but that was alright. Blake was not very important at the moment.
Eventually, the operative made his way to the docks where his target was supposed to be. But instead of the dark-clothed Operative Mantis, he saw a completely different setting. One that worried him more than the appearance of a defected Onyx soldier.
The docks were there alright. But there was also so such more than he had prepared himself for: the searchlights of at least three outdated Bullhead dropships were scouting the container-littered docks, searching for a proper place to land. And that was no easy task, as there were easily fifty giant containers scattered all over the place.
But eventually, the dropships still managed to find a place to touch down and once they did, at least a dozen men stepped out of each ship.
Will's eyes widened as he realized just who were running havoc like that and as soon as the realization hit him, his blood froze over. Memories surged to his head and for a second, the scene changed. He wasn't standing on top of some roof near the docks; he was standing in front of a Schnee Dust Company factory, facing an enemy that outnumbered him by far. They had guns, blades and explosives and he had one assault carbine.
A voice spoke in his head and he steeled himself, ready to do what needed to be done. Ready to kill his emotions and perform the deeds that would be justified for the greater good-
He shook his head and reached for his forehead when he felt a sudden headache coming up. Banishing the memories of blood on his face, he focused on the scenario that was unraveling in front of him. The White Fang was in Vale, they were behind the thefts and he needed to stop them.
"Finally here?" A cold voice spoke up and he shifted his gaze from the scurrying troopers to the rooftop next to him, where a dark figure was currently resting.
He snapped his rifle up and aimed at the target, sitting roughly seven meters away from him 'How did she sneak up on me like that?' He thought. Out loud, he said: "Mantis."
~0~
Amidst the chirping of crickets and darkness of the evening, Blake lay flat on her stomach on the rooftop, overlooking the shipments of Schnee Dust containers at the docks, with Sun by her side.
"Did I miss anything?" The monkey-Faunus asked her.
"Not really," She replied. "They've offloaded the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there."
"Cool," Sun simply stated and handed her one of the green apples in his hands. "I stole you some food!"
She gave him a questioning look at that. "Do you always break the law without a second thought?"
The blonde immediately countered by slipping into a severely defensive attitude. "Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?"
His words hit home hard and her stare turned into an angry glare. Thankfully, Sun quickly realized his mistake and held up his hands dismissively. "Okay, too soon!"
Just when Sun said that, the wind blew all around them and she quickly looked up to see what had caused that disturbance. Responsible for the sudden gale were at least three dropships, casting down their searchlights to look around for a landing spit.
Eventually, they descended in the middle of the cargo containers and extended a ramp for a black hooded individual with a metallic fanged mask to come out, who was quickly followed by ten more similarly clad men and women.
"Oh no…" She whispered, recognizing the outfit and style.
"Is that them?" Sun asked.
She stared at the bloody wolf on the back of the warriors' outfits, sorrow and denial soaring through her body. At first, she thought that there had to be something wrong; that there had to have been foul play involved for her suspicions to be confirmed like that.
But she steeled her resolved and accepted the situation for what it was: a fact.
"Yes. It's them." She bitterly admitted and continued to watch the White Fang troopers.
One of them motioned to the other soldiers with his rifle, getting their attention with the movement: "All alright, grab the tow cables!" He yelled at them with a not-too surprisingly young voice.
"You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?" The blonde next to her carefully asked.
She stared at the scene with sadness in her heart. "No, I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right."
She closed her eyes in despair at the situation, but quickly opened them again when she heard a new voice yelling.
"Hey! What's the holdup! We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"
It was the neatly-clothed form of Roman Torchwick, criminal mastermind and would-be murdered of a lot of people. The young soldiers turned to look at him as he walked down the ramp of the second ships, gesturing widely.
What was this guy doing here? No, what was a human doing there? This problem was to be solved by Fauna only! "This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a Human. Especially not one like that," She said and stood up, unsheathing the katana of her Gambol Shroud.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Sun snapped at her, his voice betraying his alarm.
But she paid him no mind. This conflict needed to be solved by her.
Blake fell to the ground in a crouch, and then continued on to hide behind one of the containers and peeking around the corner. She saw Roman berating a White Fang member holding a coil of rope in a VERY degrading way.
"No, you idiot! This isn't a leash!"
It was reminiscent of how every human treated the Fauna; condescending, humiliating and degrading. It was wrong.
As Roman looked around, she sprinted up towards him and grabbed his shoulder, placing her blade at his throat to prevent anyone from discharging their weapons. Hostage-taking wasn't something that she approved of, but desperate times called for desperate tactics.
"What the –Of for f-" The man started to swear, but she cut him off.
"Nobody move!"
The young troopers readied their guns and equipped their swords in response, but her hostage didn't seem to be nervous.
On the contrary; he seemed relaxed.
"Whoa! Take it easy there, little lady," He sneered at her.
As the former friends closed in on her, she used her free hand to go for her bow and remove it, causing the black ribbon to fall away as she showed her Faunus ears to the world.
"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this human scum?" She asked the soldiers as they looked amongst each other, to check for people who knew her. Then they slowly lowered their weapons, looking a bit unsure of what to do.
Then Torchwick laughed. "Oh, kid, didn't you get the memo?"
"What are you talking about?" She bit at him.
"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together!" He exclaimed, chilling her to her very core. If he was truly working together with the White Fang –like some rumours had stated- then her former allies had lost all their integrity.
Again.
"Tell me what it is or I'll put an end to your little operation."
In truth, she was nowhere near ready to take this man's life. Not like this, not so…close. So intimate.
Suddenly, the air got filled up with more turbines, blowing the wind wildly around the holdup. Roman looked up and laughed like a psychopath. "I wouldn't exactly call it a little operation!"
Three more dropships were hovering above the heist. As she watched in horror, her hostage suddenly fired his cane at her feet, causing a large explosion. She felt the intense waves of overpressure completely overpower her and her body got flung away, plummeting through the air and eventually landing against the metal wall of a container.
She gasped loudly as her back slammed against the solid steel and for a few seconds, she was completely disoriented.
"Let's do this then shall we?" Torchwick screamed loudly and whirled around, preparing to fire off another few explosions at her. Overhead, the dropships –which she had come to recognize as Bullhead gunships- were preparing to fire their weapons at her.
Had she messed up?
~0~
"Don't call me that!" Mantis snapped at him and her eyes narrowed with anger. She wasn't wearing her helmet this time. Her medium-length, dark-blue hair was flowing free in the evening wind –at one side at least. Mantis' hair was shaved extremely short on the left side of her head, around her temples.
She had always had trouble with obeying the strict regiments on hair-length.
"Why are you here?" He carefully asked her. The last time he had seen her, she had kicked the living daylights out of him. With the White Fang so close-by, he couldn't afford to slip up. Keeping an eye on Mantis took all of his concentration and if he even looked at the scurrying troopers for a second, he'd be dead.
"I'm working down a list," She told him and rose to her feet. She was as large as he was, but due to his relatively bulky armour he still stood taller than her by a few centimeters.
Not that he could see the difference between their sizes when she was standing at seven meters distance. "What list?"
She elegantly jumped off of her roof, landed on the one he was standing on and –probably unintentionally- drove him a few feet back.
The defected Operative then placed one hand on her hips and ran the other one through her hair. She still looked very mad. Then again, she was always mad at someone.
Then again again, she had a very justified reason for that. A selfish one at that, but still.
"A list of the people who hurt me."
Hearing her speak like that in such an open way was not something that was on his to-do list. She had always been the strongest out of the three of them, mentally. To see her indulging in useless self-pity and melancholy was just insulting.
"Back at Beacon," He started, "You were part of a criminal force attacking the Academy."
"That," Mantis explained, "Should be clear to you. I was operating under someone's orders with the intention of gaining information on a few people. Hurting you…was a fortunate if unexpected benefit."
"What was your instruction?" Will then asked her, ignoring the obvious attempt to destabilize him.
"Injecting you with that mess. I had to improvise, as you wouldn't stop struggling."
He shook his head disapprovingly. Down near the docks, people started talking with each other. Shouting.
"Did you forget our purpose? To protect whatever the cost?" He asked.
That hit home alright. Her eyes widened and she took a more aggressive stance. "I'm not the one who desperately clings to his past!" She screamed at him, her otherwise attractive features changing into an angry scowl.
A sudden bout of rage spread itself throughout his body and he felt the adrenaline flowing through his veins, preparing him for an extremely violent battle.
Her comment was completely unnecessary and cruel. "I'm not the one who is trying to kill the past! Mantis-"
A knife flew a mere centimeter past his temple, immediately shutting him up.
"Don't. Call. Me. That," The girl growled at him and slowly stepped closer to him. "You sick, brainwashed, insane little child. I have a name. You have a name. He has a name."
He swallowed and tried to back off even further, but there was nowhere to go. He was at the very edge of the roof, stuck between Mantis and the scouting White Fang members. "Alice," He spoke again, this time using a softer voice. It almost sounded pleading to him. That wasn't what he was aiming at…was it? "Don't blame Onyx. We were needed…they needed us."
"Who did?" The dark-haired girl exclaimed loudly. "The innocent, or the ones in power? How many times do you dream of the ones you have murdered in cold blood?! How many times do you dream of her!? "
He closed his eyes, refusing to give in to her words. And yet he knew that the only way to stop her from verbally abusing him would be to attack her. He could not do that. Not now that she was finally so close to explaining her actions. "I tried to forget it…block it out with mental training. But you came along and ruined that. Do you need justification for the nightmares too?"
"Like you would care," She sneered at him and stepped closer, choosing a more feminine sway for her movements than her normal, graceful ones. Now she swung her hips a bit more…placed more accent on her shoulders. "Like you are capable of caring for anything else than your perverted duty."
"At least I know where my duty lies!" He bit back at her. The things I did were for humanity as a whole!"
"Do you need justification for- who's the girl?" Alice started, but suddenly changed direction and focus as well. She was now looking at the scenario between the Schnee Dust containers.
He tore his gaze from Mantis' body and looked at what was so interesting to her.
He saw Blake lying on the floor, with Roman Torchwick slowly approaching her before a banana peel was thrown to his head.
A monkey-Faunus leaded from the container above Torchwick and dropped down on the criminal's face feet-first, rolling up and readying himself for a fight. "Leave her alone!" He told the orange-haired psycho.
"Blake Belladonna, student and part of team RWBY-" He replied, but then he saw the ears. The purple-black cat-ears on top of Blake's head.
"And member of the White Fang as well," The other operative mused, sounding like she had lost the interest in their conflict.
"What?" He replied, feeling a cold pit of dread forming in his stomach.
Alice turned to look at him again. "While you were backing up like a scared girl, this Blake said 'brothers and sisters of the White Fang'. She's a member."
The revelation struck him like a knife-thrust to the kidneys. Blake Belladonna, member of the White Fang. No…he needed to talk to Ruby ASAP. Forget about Mantis and Roman Torchwick. There was something much, much more important to tell them and if he didn't do that soon…no, he needed to come clean.
He resisted the urge to scream out in frustration and watched with desperation burning through his stomach as the White Fang members descended on the scene, standing by Roman Torchwick as he got up and surrounding the monkey-Faunus in the process
Will couldn't interfere. If he so much as showed his face here, the consequences would haunt him and Blake forever. He was forced to watch Roman mock the blonde Faunus: "You're not the brightest banana in the bunch, are you, kid?" And subsequently order all of the White Fang troopers to charge at the monkey-boy.
But he was pleasantly surprised to see how he managed to dodge, roll and retaliate against some of the soldiers with basic hand-to-hand skills instead of getting slashed to death. And when the Faunus pulled out a collapsible red staff, the fight got quickly turned to his favor. The kid quickly used that to beat down each trooper that approached him with one single, flaming blow. Eventually, he spun around and created a scorching shockwave to beat two at the same time.
While he did that, Blake leaped into action. "He's mine!" She growled and closed in on Torchwick, becoming a blur of afterimages and slashes as she struck at the criminal with both of her blades. But as a testimony to his past, Roman managed to back away and deflect each would-be-blow with his cane at incredible speeds. Blake continued to dash, hop over and slide around Torchwick to try and find a weak spot, but her enemy managed to land a few hits on her. Eventually one last beating with his cane even caused the speeding girl to go down.
Mantis frowned and crossed her arms, but Will didn't flinch at her movement. He saw the monkey Faunus appearing right behind Blake, disconnecting his staff in two spinning circles of flame-firing gun nunchucks. Then, the monkey-boy swung each gun at Roman while firing everything he had at him, but even with the rapid series of shots and flying bullets the criminal still managed to defend himself against every single projectile and hit. The combined prowess of Blake and her friend was not enough to bring Torchwick down, only causing a minor slip-up for half a second which allowed Blake to get a minor hit in.
The criminal got flung to his back but quickly rolled with the blow, jumping back to his feet and instantly aiming his cane at a container hanging by a crane, suspended above the two Fauna.
Roman fired and Blake managed to leap behind the falling container, but the monkey-boy missed when he jumped forward. The dust-stealer's shot ended up having separated the two Fauna, with the monkey one at his mercy right under the nozzle of his cane.
Will couldn't watch on as Roman proceeded to bring his finger to the trigger and aimed at the man's leg, preparing to fire as soon as the moment came. There was no way he could miss that shot.
But just as Greystone was about to fire, he heard a very familiar voice yelling "Hey!" at the criminal.
Ruby Rose appeared on another rooftop overlooking the scene, her scythe extended and ready for action.
Torchwick lost interest in the Faunus and waved at Ruby. "Well, hello, Red! Isn't it past your bedtime?"
The orange-haired girl called Penny stepped up behind Ruby and asked her something.
The redhead flashed a single look behind, told Penny to get back and paid for it when Torchwick fired his cane at her too, launching the young Huntress-in-training back from the explosion and sending her scythe flying away.
Ruby screamed as she got blasted back and while Roman gave off a professional laugh at Ruby's pain, Will shifted his aim from the criminal's leg to his head.
Penny frowned and started walking forwards, ignoring a wounded Ruby's futile attempts to make her stop.
"Penny, wait! Stop!" The redhead weakly called and held up hand to stop her ally, but the strange girl paid her no heed.
"Don't worry, Ruby. I'm combat ready!"
And then a lot of things happened in quick succession. Penny's backpack mechanically opened up, allowing a single sword to rise up from its dark depths which immediately turned into several blades, hovering over her back by unknown means.
With the weapons acting as wings, Penny leaped from the rooftop and sent three of her swords to knock two White Fang soldiers down, swiping their legs away and sending the crashing to the ground.
And then she landed on the ground.
In the meantime, Roman Torchwick snarled angrily as he watched the reinforcements appear, but he got quickly distracted by a torrent of fire that appeared out of thin air, leaving small particles of Dust hanging in the air.
"What the-" He snapped and looked up, trying to spot who had attacked him.
The answer to Torchwick's problem manifested itself in the form of Weiss, having found her way to the Docks all by herself.
And she looked pissed.
"Is that Weiss Schnee?" Mantis asked.
"Yes," Greystone replied and continued to keep his rifle trained at Roman, ready to take him out should the need arise. Keeping an eye on the defected Operative was still important to him, but the well-being of team RWBY was more important than his own.
But Mantis too continued to watch the violence down below, never keeping Blake out of her eyes.
Weiss was standing on top of one of the containers, frowning as she pointed her rapier at the criminal. Blake watched the Dust Heiress come to her aid with large eyes, inaudibly mouthing a question.
Weiss huffed and arrogantly kept her eyes directed at Torchwick. "Because! You're my friend. And I care for your well-being."
As Weiss proceeded to engage Roman Torchwick in medium-range combat, Penny continued to pummel the teenagers that made up the White Fang's troopers. She flung one of her swords to bisect the rifle of one enemy, pinned another on to a wall and even created a barrier of spinning steel against a running attack, leaping over a hostile with her swords in tow before finally making a wheel with her blades that she threw at several Fauna, throwing them off their feet.
The monkey Faunus watched the spectacle in amazement. "Whoa!" He exclaimed and quickly ran off to safety.
A confused and probably injured Blake tried to escape the intense fire and damage that Weiss dealt out with her Dust-based abilities, but she did no spot the eight darkly-clothed hostiles that rose out of the water, roughly ten meters to her right. They all wielded polarized helmets, moderately-well armoured body-suits and large rifles.
Blake was so preoccupied that she did not notice them and as the group of well-armed warriors spread out among the containers, it became obvious that they were going to ambush and kill the lone cat-Faunus.
He spun around and aimed his rifle at Mantis, who in turn aimed a ballistic knife at him.
"Who are they?" They both demanded at the same time from each other, before they realized that neither of them were responsible for the armed group that was moving out to engage Blake.
Mantis kept a close eye on him, but when the probable leader told his squad to "fan out and kill the bitch" the Operative let go of her cold façade.
The girl scowled, pulled out a second ballistic knife and said: "Take out those gunships!"
And then she too dropped off the roof, moving to engage the death-squad that had appeared from nowhere to kill Blake Belladonna.
Will was surprised, to say in the least, that Mantis even cared about the life of someone she had never met. She had just told him that she didn't believe in their duty, so why should she go ahead and put herself in danger to protect those that she did not know? It didn't make sense.
But he could not afford to linger over the other Operative's strange behaviour; two of the gunships had already taken off to engage the rampaging girls and they were soon joined by three other Bullheads, opening fire on the battle.
But Penny merely formed a shield with her swords, launching two of them into the wall behind her. The twin blades pulled their wielder back with strings attached to them, positioning her away from the storm of bullets.
With her swords swirling around her again, she somehow forced them to open up and fold away, forming a large glowing ball of green light in the middle of the blades, positioned a few feet above Penny. With a punching action, several bright lasers cracked when pavement when they fired at the gunships.
Three of the ships were quick enough to dodge the blast, but the other two were not so lucky. They were neatly bisected in length, causing several of the White Fang members inside to fall while the two Bullheads fell in pieces behind the building where Ruby was lying on.
But Penny was not yet done. She launched several of her blades at a third ship that was holding a crate of Dust, using the strings attached to her weapons to tug the ship downwards.
The Operative watched Penny on one side of the battle pulling with all her might, causing the aircraft so slowly descend with its nose to the ground and on the other side of the battle Mantis moving with her familiar, superhuman speed in a flurry of motions.
But Torchwick had not yet given in to the fight. While he was playing a deadly game with Weiss, the two remaining ships under his command turned to face both Penny and Ruby on the roof, steam ventilating from the pods hanging underneath their wings.
He knew what that meant; the Bullhead was originally meant as a sturdy gunship, armed with autocannons and rocket pods. One of those rockets would be enough to completely blow both Penny and Ruby to pieces with a successful hit.
He calmed his breath and aimed at the two ships, probably commanded by White Fang troopers. The many explosions around him ceased to disturb him as he focused on the trajectory of the ships, creating a lull in the violence for himself.
The total of four rocket pods discharged and plumes of exhaust shot out of the rear, indicating that the deadly projectiles were launched straight at the two preoccupied girls.
Ruby was still unarmed and Penny was busy tugging an entire gunship to the ground; neither of them had time to dodge the otherwise easily avoidable explosives.
Weiss meanwhile accidentally detonated a crate of Dust, which caused a series of rapid explosions to tea through the docks. Greystone then waited a split-second, noticed the explosions rocketing through the ground, and then used those to cover his shots. He pulled the trigger and a round tore through the air, impacted on one of the rockets and detonated it mid-air.
The Operative then continued to fire off shots perfectly timed with a series of rapid explosions, shooting almost every single rocket out of the air while allowing two that would have missed otherwise to keep on going, impacting on the ground without harming anyone.
As Penny proceeded to remain unopposed and tug the gunship to the ground, sending it nose-first into a large container, Mantis finished off her last opponent by punching him five times in the face in one second before kicking him in the chest, sending him back into the water.
Roman Torchwick made his way to one of the last ships and watched the total collapse of his plans. "These kids just keep getting weirder…" He muttered and then used his cane to close the doors, allowing the jet to fly off.
Operative Greystone was done there. He jumped off the roof and looked at Blake and Weiss while they rejoined each other on top of the remains of a ruined Bullhead. The two of them seemed glad to see each other in one piece and they didn't even see him and Mantis, who was sitting on one of the smaller containers in the shadows, staring at the two girls too with a strange longing in her eyes.
"Why did you do it?" he asked her and sat down next to her. For some reason, he felt like she wouldn't attack him anymore. "Why did you protect Blake?"
The female kept on staring at the two talking girls, never keeping her eyes off of them. "Blake's a Faunus…but I don't think she's as radical as the White Fang. She shows such promise…I guess I simply wanted to protect her."
Her words were strange. Even though he hadn't seen her in a long time, he still knew that something had changed Mantis. Her attitude was different from how she had been at Beacon, but even then she had changed.
"Who did you work for?" He asked her. "When you attacked me?"
Mantis shrugged. "Someone who was interested in you. I'd say go after a woman named Crimson. She knows more."
Mantis had gone undercover with someone that was interested in him? Then why inject him with a series of nonlethal chemicals? What was the point of that?
"Why give up Intel on your ally?"
Mantis scowled. "She was never an ally. I don't care for her wellbeing."
"What did you get in return?" He then asked.
"Information on the people I'm hunting," She replied, "and a good idea of the things she knows of us. And Onyx."
Will took notice of her calling herself and Onyx aside from each other and guessed the rest. Mantis had truly defected…why?
But she wasn't finished yet. "Blake's a member of the White Fang…and Weiss is the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. You hurt them both greatly. What will you do?"
He watched as the two members of team RWBY finished reconciling, while the whining of police sirens slowly became audible to them.
"I don't know…" He admitted, "...talk to Ruby…come clean. What will you do?"
Mantis sighed and stood up, wiping the blood off her blades on some body. "I hate you, Will. I hate you and I hate Onyx...but there are desperate times. Vale needs Onyx now…and I have important things to take care of. I won't kill you…I think you could use some more suffering."
He smiled bitterly. "You're a selfish, blind idiot. If you were willing to talk to Rose, or even Belladonna, about what you really felt they could hel-"
Mantis spun around and punched him in his face with her armoured gauntlet, knocking him off the improvised bench.
"Look around Greystone!" She snapped at him. "The things you have caused! The things Onyx has caused! There is no talking for us, no understanding us. Nobody can help me…and nobody will help you. Just give in to the voices and go insane, because you will only cause more suffering otherwise."
He stared at her in shock, not believing what she was saying. Onyx existed purely to serve the innocent and protect those who could not protect themselves. They were doing good! They protected mankind and preserved all of humanity! The things he had done were always for the greater good. What right did Mantis have to simply allow herself to let all of that go? Her selfish actions would only harm mankind.
Will brought a hand up to his cheek and thought about the consequences for Blake and her reveal. Whatever happened that night, the very first thing he needed to do was telling the truth to Ruby. And Yang.
And pray that they would forgive him for it…because he couldn't stand having to leave Beacon now.
~0~
Day 33, Thursday, 21:03, near Vale Docks
Weiss sighed and ignored the five policemen charging past her to head for the ruined docks. She had a very important task to undertake and she could not use anyone interrupting her while she did.
Ruby, Blake, the monkey-Faunus and Penny were all sitting on some boxes at the edge of the Docks, together with Yang, watching as the VPD scurried around near the destroyed containers and cranes. The blonde girl hadn't arrived in time to aid them in the fight, but her being there was still a very positive thing.
She had spoken briefly to Blake concerning a few things she had wanted to say, but they had gotten separated due to some troublesome events. Now, it was time to completely resolve this petty conflict.
As the Heiress stepped towards the group of friends and weird people, her partner quickly stood up and tried to explain the situation.
Weiss smiled at her dear friend's attempts to diffuse the probable tension. Ruby was a very clever girl and she was always very impressed with her ability to understand people, but Ruby was currently lagging behind a bit.
But she didn't worry. She would bring the girl up to speed too.
"Look Weiss," Ruby started, "it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually have a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute…"
She gently petted Ruby's head and continued on to Blake. They had only had time to talk about the very young appearance of the White Fang troopers and the help that the monkey-Faunus had offered Blake, but that had been about it.
Now it was time for the full deal.
Blake calmly looked up at her, but she also looked apprehensive. And worried. "Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-"
She held up a hand and interrupted Blake. "Stop! Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you?" She stopped to pause. "Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours, I've decided..."
She stopped again and took notice of Yang, Ruby and the boy looking with worried faces. That amused her.
"…I'm sorry." She finished and smiled warmly at her friend.
Blake was obviously surprised. "You're sorry?"
"I have treated you with disrespect and suspicion purely because of my somewhat radical views, when I should have been focusing on what was more important: you. You said you're not one of them anymore, right? So it doesn't even matter"
"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-" Blake started, but she silenced her.
"Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah! I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..."She looked at the monkey-boy and decided that he wasn't too bad. "Someone else."
Blake looked to the side, where Ruby and Yang were grinning at them. Then the poor girl wiped a tear from her eye and nodded.
"Of course."
Weiss smiled and turned to look at Ruby, wanting to tell her something important too. Too bad that Ruby suddenly couldn't handle the serious atmosphere anymore, screaming: "Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!" As she wildly flapped with her arms like some excited child.
Then she turned to the blonde Faunus and frowned. "I'm still not sure how I about you, but…thanks for helping Blake."
While the boy grinned, Ruby suddenly realized something else. And as she looked around, she asked: "Hey, wait a minute... Where's Penny?"
Before any of them could give that problem more thought, Ruby's scroll pinged loudly, indicating a received message.
She walked up to Ruby and wrapped an arm around her slender frame, looking over her shoulder as the redhead opened the message.
"Ruby, I need to talk to you. It's very important. Can I meet up with you in your room, after you and Blake made good again?"
That was the message. Strange.
Weiss threw Ruby a questioning look, but the caped girl shrugged and typed a message back.
"Sure. Sounds serious. Did Mantis kick your ass again? And how did you know of us having found Blake again?"
After having sent the message back, Ruby folded the scroll and placed it away.
"We're back in action girls!" The redhead then happily squealed, sounding like she was proposing a group-hug.
"Who sent you that message?" Blake carefully asked.
"Oh, Will. He wanted to talk. And stuff. But that's not important! Tomorrow is Friday and then we can finally enjoy things! Things are very good!"
She laughed at her leader and then remembered the measure that Will took in importance. Things like death and injury were 'normal' to him…and he was hunting down one of the few enemies dangerous enough to defeat him one one-on-one combat.
So that left the question…what was so important to him?
She decided that the boy could them himself. In the meantime, she was very glad that they had finally resolved that awkward conflict that had been plaguing them for a while. RWBY was back together, Torchwick was beaten and the White Fang had been exposed for their crimes. Now all that was needed to do was enjoy their spare time and prepare for the coming Vytal Festival.
It didn't take long for their team return to Beacon; the return trip was filled with happy banter and conversations about how awesome everyone was. Yang was a bit sad that she hadn't been around for the action, but after Ruby promised her older sister that there would be plenty of action to go around, she cheered up somewhat.
Eventually, they reached their dormitories. It wasn't even that late in the evening, but both ream LACG as JNPR were already inside of their dorms. Apparently, some interesting article concerning activity near the Government building was catching their attention.
And there, waiting for the four of them by their door, was Will. He didn't look very good. His eyes looked very tired and he had a bloody bruise on his face.
And was it just her, or did the boy look nervous? That could not be very good.
"Hey Will! Found your target?" Ruby happily asked him, but her expression quickly changed from happiness to worry once she saw some hidden emotion that the rest of them could not see.
"Whoah, got your butt kicked again?" Yang asked and poked at the bruise on his face. Will raised his hand to push her arm away, thought better and then stepped backwards.
"In a way. I need to talk to you. It's important, " The soldier explained.
Ever since she had heard about what was probably the origin of his messed-upness, she had come to see him a new light. Of course he was still a uselessly stoic, emotionally-stunted soldier, but at the very least she could understand where it came from.
Blake frowned and looked behind her. "I need to take care of something. Can you three take care of this?"
"Of course!" Yang laughed and placed her hands at her hips. "If Operative here behaves like a good boy, there won't be any problems."
Blake nodded and walked away, while Ruby, Yang and her opened the dorm and allowed the distressed boy in.
Once they were safe from any listening ears, Ruby sighed and jumped on her bed. Yang sat down on her bed and Weiss settled next to Ruby, leaning against her as the redhead stared at the young soldier.
"What's wrong?" Ruby asked him with a serious tone. "How did you know that we found Blake? Were you at the docks?"
"I tracked Mantis to the docks," Will started to explain, ignoring Ruby's comment. It didn't take a Ruby to see that he was seriously having a hard time keeping calm; he was anxiously pacing back and forth through the room and his breathing was sort of irregular. "I witnessed your battle-"
"-what were you doing there?" She asked the boy, feeling annoyed that he had basically been spying on them. "We could have used the help! Torchwick got away, remember?"
"I couldn't do anything. Listen, Blake is a member of the White Fang-"
Yang got to her feet. "Used to be. And relax; it won't be a problem. We trust her and you can do the same."
She reached out to grab Will's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down, but he stepped back and held up his hands, looking even more worried.
"Don't touch me…don't!" He told her and tried to find more words to keep talking, while Yang edged back, looking insulted and confused. Then she frowned and sat jumped back to her bed, turning on the television in the process.
Weiss didn't think that Yang should be as insulted as she was…was there a different reason for her being so angry?
Will continued talking. "That's not the problem. The White Fang is a terrorist organization, a clear enemy of Onyx."
"Hold up," She asked the soldier and placed her hands on her hips, "do you plan on causing trouble again? Is Onyx going to force you to take measures against the White Fang now that everything is going so well?"
"No," Will said with increasing distress, "they have already taken steps, two years ago! They have already sent me against the White Fang in the past!"
His voice didn't break down, but it was obvious that he was severely distraught by something. What had he done? What had happened two years ago?
"Hey look!" Yang suddenly snapped and increased the volume of the television. "Will, you're on TV!"
The soldier visibly paled and Ruby wordlessly shook her head, joining her older sister on the bed.
"We are interrupting this program for an emergency broadcast. In light of the events of these past days, the Vale News Network has received an anonymous tip regarding the Final Solution Killings, otherwise known as the Schnee Dust Company murders committed two years ago-"
"-no…." Weiss whispered.
"-the one responsible for the deaths of more than forty White Fang protesters, having decided to form a peaceful operation for once before being brutally cut down, has officially been identified as the teenage male Operative "Will" Greystone, working for a secret and unofficial military organization. Greystone is currently working closely together with the famous Beacon Academy, who will probably be quick to incarcerate him. Back to you, Lisa-"
Yang shut off the television again and stared at Will, disbelief and shock clearly visible in her eyes. "Is that true?" She whispered, but Ruby's face held nothing but disappointment and disgust.
Weiss felt physically sick. All this time…all this time the person responsible for those brutal murders…the stain that was put on her father's name, leading to so much unhappiness in her life…it had been Will all this time. "You did that!" She bit at him. "You were responsible for that!"
Ruby's gaze shifted from the soldier to the doorframe and Weiss turned around, realizing that the one person in her circle of friends that had been hit harder by this revelation than her…was Blake.
Will turned around too, his eyes widening when he saw who was standing in the door frame. "Blake…" He whispered.
Blake's face was, if possible, angrier than ever before. "You?" She snapped at the soldier, her voice filled with pure malice. "You killed my friends? Because of a protest?"
"…there weren't forty…" The soldier whispered, almost sounding pleading. "Blake please…I killed twenty armed and murderous hostiles…you have to believe me-"
"I don't have to do anything!" She shouted at him, reaching for her weapon and unfolding the katana part of Gambol Shroud. "You killed my brothers and sisters! They were simply going to protest, that was all! But you, you murderous SOCIOPATH! You just had to kill them! Can't you do anything GOOD? Is the only thing you are capable of MURDERING PEOPLE?"
Blake had her katana placed directly on Will's throat and for a second, Weiss thought that the Faunus-girl was going to kill him then and there. And had the boy continued to stare at her without remorse, that might have happened.
But even from her position, she could see that Will was visibly shaken up. He was extremely pale and his facial expression was almost pleading.
"Blake…they were going to murder people…" The derailed soldier explained, but Blake did not allow him to finish talking. She dug her blade deeper in his neck and scowled. Ruby and Yang both got to their feet and assumed a combat position, ready to interfere should blow flow.
But that did not happen. Blake's expression softened and she pulled her blade back again, revealing a thin red line on the boy's throat –but nothing else. "You should have never, ever existed," The girl told him. Her voice was calm now, but it contained more emotion and sorrow than any rage could express. "The only thing you can do is hurt people. Get out of here. I don't want to see you ever again."
Will nodded, perhaps understanding the reason behind Blake's harsh words. He looked around, locked eyes with Yang and then walked out of the room.
No words could be expressed to soften the pain that had been caused…and no words should be expressed.
But Ruby tried nonetheless. "Tomorrow…we'll go looking for Lima. It's about time for Onyx to come clean."
The rest of the night was spent without anyone else speaking. They undressed, redressed in pajamas and other night attire and then went to bed.
~0~
"Hello ladies. If I am correct, you have a conflict with someone from Beacon that needs solving. Tell me, am I correct?"
"Depends on the 'someone'. Blonde bitch?"
"How do you know that girl? Did she visit your place too?"
"Let's just say that my mistress has an interest in fighting the girls from Beacon Academy. Do you want to get back on that 'blonde bitch?' Humiliate her, degrade her and force her to submit?"
"I like your ideas."
"What do you have in mind?"
Conversation between HVT Crimson, Melanie and Miltiades Malachite/
~0~