The Shadow of Fire
Chapter 12: The Prototype
Weiss quite frankly enjoyed the sensation of falling, oddly enough considering her personality.
After Weiss had pulled Luna from her computer console, Weiss had proceeded to race towards the stairwell to leave the tower, find Professor Port, and locate Ruby. However, as the heiress reached the door to the descending stairwell, she was greeted with a wall of rubble and chunks of stone. Apparently, several kinetic strikes from Saturn's flagship had weakened the structures foundation and caused it to collapse in on itself. None of which was good for Weiss.
Weiss raced back to the balcony, looking out into the distant sky where the remaining cruisers where firing their weapons, destroying pavement and building alike. As more and more Bulkheads soared across the bright morning sky, both destroyed and un-damaged alike, she knew that the battle wasn't going in their favor, not with the cruisers still in play. The M.A.C cannons may be incredibly powerful and deadly, but they had a disadvantage at ranged attacks. And that was something Beacon couldn't afford to not have.
Weiss glanced back at the crowd of students fighting off the drones that had managed to survive the crash landings, the battle was intense and even at this distance, and Weiss could swear that she could feel the Auras of the combined students.
Realizing that there was no other way to get down from the towering control room, Weiss did something completely Ruby-like.
She jumped.
As the ground raced towards Weiss, the white haired teen could see images of her family, friends, loved ones, her team, and most of all, Ruby. The rush she felt as the heiress fell reminded her of the younger redhead; fast, uncontrollable, and most of all, deadly.
Speaking of which, it would be a good time to stop falling.
About ten feet from the concrete below, Weiss activated one of her Glyphs, the large snowflake design greeted her with open arms as the heiress repositioned herself for landing. The heiress landed with a loud "thud" on the large Glyph, her legs wobbling for a second due to the vibration of the landing before coming to a state of absolute stillness. Seeing as she was safe from falling to her death, Weiss jumped in the air, wilding waving her fingers around, causing the Glyph to reposition itself, the floating white and light blue emblem targeting the exact spot that she had last seen Ruby running about.
Weiss landed smack in the center of an all out battle, drones and students firing weapons and swinging swords at each other. As Weiss descended in the battle from the sky, she spun in a wild arc, Myrtenaster glowing an icy blue color. As she landed upon a squad of unsuspecting drones, she jabbed Myrtenaster into the stone pavement below her, a barrage of massive ice spikes shot out of the stone, freezing and destroying the entirety of the squad. The heiress shot up from the ground, racing in the direction of the sound of sniper fire and the smell of roses. Weiss ran and ran, every few feet she would run into another squad of drones, quickly dispatching them with expert swings and precise jabs into the main power core of the bloodthirsty, cybernetic machines. The sound of gunfire was getting louder as she moved forward, pressing her attack on the machine army with the help of random students. Out of the corner of her eye, Weiss spotted a trio of Bulkheads approaching her position, the undercover of the head of the craft opening up to present her with a large mini-gun. The large head of the turret began to spin wildly, a barrage of bullets slammed into the pavement behind her as she pressed forward. Several students behind her ended up getting caught in the gunfire, luckily only getting hurt, not killed. Weiss glared up the center aircraft, moving her fingers around the air before her form in a simple gesture before her fingertips glowed white, pointing them at the craft. A large grey Glyph to match the crafts color appeared in the center of the ship, and in one simple flick of the wrist, the Bulkhead was torn in half, the two separate parts shot off into the distance with the aid of the Glyph. As the other Bulkheads took notice of the disappearance of their fellow air craft, they rotated to face the heiress, their mini-guns spinning wildly, ready to fire.
A sharp hiss came from the building behind Weiss as the two ships exploded in a brilliant orange and red flame, crashing into the ground before Weiss. The heiress spun around to witness two giant M.A.C cannons recharging after the blast, the pair clearly destroyed the two Bulkheads before they could cause anymore damage. For a bitter and somewhat rude A.I, Luna wasn't all that bad, a pretty decent shot as well. Weiss turned her back to the cannons as they continued to fire in random directions, scaring off any resistance from the drone armada, and ran.
Eventually Weiss located the red head, along with the rest of the team of RWBY, deep in heavy combat with the drones. Ruby was swinging Crescent Rose at unimaginable speed, slicing and dicing squad upon squad without any resistance. There was an odd look in her eyes, much like the one that she had at the docks all those days ago. However this time she seemed to be in control of her body and actions... at least for the time being that is. Yang and Blake were back to back, Yang firing off shots at surviving drones from the crashed ships while Blake had Gambol Shroud in its pistol form, the high powered bullets causing heavy damage to the incoming machine forces, taking cheap shots into the gaps of their armor. The pair was at least holding their own against the seemingly endless hordes of machines, unlike a few Hunters and Huntresses nearby. Weiss ran towards Ruby, diving under a pile of burning wreckage along the way to reach her adorable dork of a leader.
"Ruby!" Weiss shouted out at the red head, waving her free right had at the younger girl, a brilliant smile adorned her pale face as she pressed forward.
Ruby did a 360 spin on the heel of her boots, swinging Crescent Rose around with her before coming to a complete stop, facing Weiss. "Weiss?" Ruby called out before breaking into a full sprint towards Weiss.
Right before the duo reached each other, a lone drone from a nearby squad turned its attention to Weiss. The drones hands transformed into a pair of tightened fists, racing off towards Weiss as quick as its robotic legs could carry it. Just when Ruby was within arm's reach from Weiss, the drone slammed its body into the heiress, sending her soaring across the main court yard with a harsh cry of pain, landing on a wood and brass bench. Ruby paused her sprint, eyes widening as her silver orbs stared at Weiss's still body, realizing that the impact might have injured her... possibly killed her. Ruby may have been just over reacting due to the situation, but she knew one thing was absolutely, without a doubt, 100% right.
No one gets away with hurting Weiss.
Ruby removed Crescent Rose from her tight grasp, folding it up and placing it on her lower back, letting the red heads "Sweetheart" take a breather before the next battle.
Ruby let out a growl from deep within her throat, flashing her sharpened teeth at the android before her. The machine gave a silent response, simply staring at the Faunus teen before it, trying to figure out if the un-armed girl was a threat. Ruby suddenly flew forward, utilizing her special ability to enhance her speed; the drone had no time to process the movement to Ruby luck. The Faunus brought her tightly clenched fist in a savage punch, her left hand piercing the drones armor, exiting the back of the machine. Ruby pulled her hand out of the android, in her palm was its red and black memory and power core. In one swift motion, Ruby crushed the object in her palm, causing the drone to flash in a red light before powering down, offline forever.
Ruby dropped the pieces of the core and ran over to Weiss's body, which lied bruised and slightly damaged upon the bench. Weiss was clearly awake, a soft groan escaping her lips.
"Weiss! Oh Gods, are you okay?!" Ruby nervously shouted out at the heiress, lifting her off the bench.
"Ow ow ow ow!" Weiss cried out, flinching at Ruby's touch upon her bruised areas. "I'm... Good. I can stand." Weiss said to Ruby, standing up at full height, Myrtenaster in hand.
Ruby pulled Weiss into a tight hug, despite the battle around them. "I missed you sooooo much!" The Faunus cried out, hugging her tighter.
"It's good to see you too Ruby, but we can't take a break to hug, we'll do that later." Weiss told the younger girl, petting her head gently before glancing at Blake and Yang. The pair had finished off several squads of drones, running over to the duo.
"Heya girls. This is pretty fun, eh?" Yang commented on the surrounding battle, a wide grin adorned her face.
"Yang, not the time or place." Blake replied, looking at Weiss. "We found Professor Port and the rest of the Professors. They've gathered at a makeshift command center, and Port said you have something important."
Weiss nodded, pulling out the data chip from her skirts pocket. "This is the defense A.I, we've got to give this to Port. Quick." Weiss explained, pocketing the device again.
Blake gave a quick nod, looking at Ruby. "You doing okay Ruby? Emotions in check?" Blake asked, a Bulkhead exploding in the distance.
"I think." Was all she said, grinning wildly, her tail wagging around quickly.
"Good, when this is all over, I'll get you cookies for good behavior." Blake said, grinning at the wolf before her.
"Girls! Port! Now!" Weiss said quickly, grabbing Ruby's wrist. "We can have a party later!"
"Right, this way!" Blake said quickly, running off towards the central plaza of the school, right towards the main statue of the school, the trio of girls in hot pursuit.
The full team of team RWBY arrived at the makeshift command center of the Professors, a large, platinum colored tent positioned right in front of the large Beowulf and Hunters statue. Weiss, at first, questioned the positioning of the tent, the cruisers had a direct line of sight on it. However, Weiss's concern was answered quickly as a kinetic missile soared across the sky, a few meters before it hit the tent, the missile collided against an invisible wall, exploding in a brilliant orange and red light. Professor Goodwitch stood before the invisible wall, her riding crop in hand. She was apparently utilizing her Aura for a more defensive approach.
"Ah! Miss Schnee!" Professor Ports cheerful voice called out, drawing the girls towards the axe wielder within the tent.
"Professor Port!" Weiss said happily, pulling out Luna's data chip. "I've got Luna!" She said, handing the older man the device.
Port gave a nod in approval, placing Luna's data chip on the center of a large wooden table, the surrounding Professors watching from the side. Luna suddenly flashed before the large group, a stern and frustrated look adorned her holographic face.
"The battle isn't going well." Luna said, waving her right hand in front of her, a map of Beacon appeared before the group. She snapped her fingers, causing several buildings on the map to turn into a dark red color.
"We've lost the cafeteria, the armory, and half of the East wing to start us off with damages; several other buildings have been damaged as well." Luna bluntly pointed out, gesturing to the buildings on the virtual map. "We have the majority of Aura casters and Dust users at the west dorms and library; they are protecting our wounded for the time being. A few groups of year one students have set up physical defenses around the buildings, such as teams JNPR and CRDL."
"I see..." Ozpin muttered under his breath, taking a sip of his coffee. "How are the defenses?"
"11 out of the 125 of the M.A.C cannons in total have gone offline; several Bulkhead airships have either crashed into them or fired at them, and the kinetic missile rods from the two Wilhelm class cruisers have done at toll on them as well." Luna explained, huffing at the end. "We can't engage them at that range."
Professor Port rubbed his chin. "Hmmm... It does appear that our options are limited."
"There is one option that could possibly work, The Rune." Luna said quickly, almost desperately so.
"Luna." Ozpin warned.
"The Rune is a fully fictional par-"
"LUNA!" Ozpin shouted, causing a few professors and team RWBY to jump slightly. In all the months that team RWBY had been at Beacon, they had not once seen or heard Ozpin so... worried and angry at the same time.
"What's The Rune?" Weiss asked, concern and confusion filled her voice.
Port placed a hand on Ozpins shoulder. "We have no other choice I fear."
Ozpin gave a small sigh before looked around the room, taking a deep breath.
"The Rune is a Prototype weapons system that Beacon developed during the Faunus Rights Revolution in order to keep peace in Vale and at our school. It was one of my... rather bad calls of judgment. The device was too powerful, thus deemed a failure, and the project was canceled at the final stage of its development. I haven't allowed it to be used in many years after what happened to Professor Torchwick." Ozpin explained, all the surrounding teachers bowed their heads in shame.
"Torchwick... Roman Torchwick?" Ruby asked, tilting her head. "I ran into him when he tried to rob the docks! How was he a Professor?!"
"He was the first and last to test fire the device... I allowed him to use the weapon; for he was our pervious weapons class Professor and my valued teammate. The Rune channels the pure energy from the hearts and souls those who use it, giving it a God-like amount of power. I had thought that Torchwick was pure, but I was clearly wrong." Ozpin said sadly. "The device fired, but at a cost. All the negative energy of the Faunus War was sent through the machine as it fired, entering Romans body and soul. His heart turned dark... If only I had foreseen it..."
"However, we do have Luna as of today. We can remotely activate the device with a minimal chance of another Torchwick incident with her aid." Professor Port said with confidence, patting Ozpins back.
"Luna... Open the Vault." Ozpin said slowly, quickly exiting the tent.
"The Vault?" Blake asked, looking at Professor Port as the other teachers exited the tent.
"The hiding spot for the most powerful weapon known to Man or Faunus, my dear girl." Port said, gesturing the girls to exit the tent.
Everyone gathered around outside of the command center, the teachers forming a half circle around the massive Beowulf and Hunter statue behind the tent, Luna's hologram appearing as well.
"Opening the Vault. Protocol system activated. Security override complete. Bringing up The Rune MK-1." Luna said robotically, her body shimmering a bright green color.
The statue began to rumble loudly, the ground before it cracking to unearth a black marble like flooring underneath. The statue began to fold itself up, transforming into what appeared to be a control panel, a small, black square shaped slab rose up from the panel, an impression of a handprint entered into it. From the spot that the massive statue had once been, a large dark dagger shaped object slowly rose up. It appeared to resemble a M.A.C cannon, however it was quite larger. The device had a pure black exterior, white glowing lines connected themselves along the upper portion of the weapon. It easily spanned 40 or so feet in length, the cannon itself making up most of it. The device slowly came to a pause, the cannons body lowering itself to face in the cruisers general direction. Out of the right corner of the massive weapon, a white and light blue leather chair emerged from the side, right next to the control panel.
"The Rune is powering up." Luna stated, a building nearby exploded into an orange fireball. "Better hurry. I do doubt that Professor Goodwitch can hold the Aura Wall forever."
Ozpin walked over slowly, handing his cane and coffee mug to Professor Dianthia in the process
before sitting down in the chair. Ozpin placed his right hand on the imprint on the slab.
"AURA LEVELS RISING. THE RUNE HAS REACHED MAX POWER." A deep voice spoke out from the control pad.
"Lock on the ship "Holy Dawn of Truth" if you would kindly Luna." Ozpin said softly, closing his eyes.
"Locking... Locking... Locking..."
Weiss glanced up at the duo of cruisers, her eyes locking instantly with Saturn's command vessel. After his allies ship was obliterated, he would be next. Weiss grinned evilly, chuckling slightly under her breath.
Ruby looked over at Weiss, concern adored her pale face. "Weiss? You okay?" Ruby asked, ears flattening on her mop of red hair.
"Yes Ruby, I am. I'm just happy."
"Happy?" Ruby questioned.
"Happy that Saturn will pay for his crimes." Weiss said, petting Ruby's head. "Pay for what he did to you."
"Locking... Target locked." Luna spoke.
"Prepare firing solution."
The cannon began glowing a dark green color, a sphere of green energy forming at the head of the cannon. The morning light around the school began to grow dimmer, all the light behind channeled into the green orb. Ozpins body glowed a harsh black Aura, the Headmaster groaning in pain as his Aura traveled into the cannon. Suddenly, all sound cut out around them. Even as kinetic missiles slammed into building and Bulkheads erupted into balls of fire, there was absolutely no sound whatsoever.
"Fire." Ozpins voice came out from the silence.
The cannon glowed a harsh and bright dark green color before the orb shot down into the cannons base. Suddenly, the cannon unleashed a loud sound, akin to that of a thousand horses running throughout a vase shop. The cannon fired a bright green light, a continuous stream of pure energy which left the cannon and soared off into the sky. As soon as the beam touched the Holy Dawn of Truth's main bridge and control room, the entire section of the ship was instantly vaporized, nothing in that section of the ship escaping the blast. The body of the Holy Dawn of Truth slowly creaked and groaned loudly, the sound echoing across Beacon as it erupted in a brilliant ball of white light, causing Weiss and the remaining people on the ground to avert their eyes to avoid being blinded. As the light dimmed down, Weiss looked back at the ship to find it falling from the sky, burning in an intense raging flame.
"All life signs gone. One ship remaining." Luna spoke out in a rather cheerful voice.
Weiss was about to let loose a loud cheer, something that she never did before but felt the need to. Before her miniature party could be thrown, Ozpin fell out of the chair, landing in the arms of Professor Port who caught him just in time.
"How is he?" Port asked Luna, a worried look adored his face.
"Aura levels are perfect; he will make a full recovery."
Port gave a loud sigh of relief as he looked at Saturn's Flagship.
"Just one more to go. But I'm afraid that was can't wait for Ozpin to wake to destroy it. We need to take it out soon." Port said.
"We could find a damaged Bulkhead and send a small team into it; they will expect it less now that there is only one cruiser left in the sky." Blake suggested, looking at the ship.
"Who would be stupid enough to do that Miss Belladonna?" Port asked, shaking his head slightly.
"I would." Weiss and Ruby said at the same time.
"We want to do this ourselves." Ruby told Port, cracking her knuckles.
"And we want revenge." Weiss stated coldly, the taste of revenge will be so sweet on this day.
A/N: Good news fans! Ruby Faunus Oneshots coming soon! I already have a few written and will be posting them soon! Goooooo little red riding wolf!
GIVE IDEAS ON WHAT YOU WANT FAUNUS RUBY TO DO IN A STORY IN THE REVIEWS! FRIENDSHIP IS KEY! :3
Ps: Chapter 16 will be a "season ending" if you will. Then I will focus on other stories and such but will be right back to it after a few chapters of my other works are posted.