Chapter 31: Information Gathering
"You two finally made it back" Willow said to her husband and daughter. Weiss and Bruce just gotten back from having lunch down in Mantle and visiting the site where Bruce's parents were killed. They were also greeted at the door by Whitley, Alfred and Barbara.
"Yeah we did, were you guys able to enjoy your lunch?" Bruce asked Willow.
"We did actually and Barbara, Whitley and I had a nice conversation and that Whitley needs to make a call to a certain someone soon" Willow said.
Bruce looked at his son and he knew what Willow was talking about he could tell how much his son cares for Yang, and how much he was devastated when he saw her that she didn't have her arm anymore. But at the same time Bruce hopes when Whitley is out in the field especially against either the White Fang or Salem forces. He wouldn't let his emotions get in the way what needs to be done.
"I see well son I wish you luck" Bruce said to his youngest child.
"Thank you father" Whitley said.
"So how did you two enjoy your lunch where did you go?" Willow asked her husband.
"Oh we went to Mary and Joesph's diner" Bruce said.
"Oh I haven't seen those two in ages how are they?" Willow asked.
"Oh, they're doing fine they said hi by the way" Bruce said.
"I see, I really should go to their diner and pay them a visit so dear what are you going to do until dinner time?" Willow asked her husband.
"Actually I just have a little work I need to get done. I might need Whitley and Barbara help to finish it,not before Whitley handles his business of course" Bruce said giving Whitley and Phyrra a clear message on what he actually wanted from them. Of course the duo understood what Bruce meant perfectly.
"Of course Mr. Wayne I will be in your office right away" Barbara or rather Phyrra said.
"Well then I suppose Klien and I shall get dinner ready" Alfred said.
"Yes quite so now if you excuse us everyone!" Klien said as his eyes turned yellow and he jogged straight towards the kitchen. Alfred could only sighed a bit as he followed his friend and fellow Bulter to the kitchen to prepare for dinner.
"Well I guess I will head to my room for now, father once I'm finished I'll head to your office right away" Whitley said as he went upstairs and headed straight towards his room.
"Shall we go as well Barbara?" Bruce asked Phyrra.
"Of course sir, it was nice having lunch with you Mrs. Schnee" Phyrra said as she smiled at Willow said.
"Of course dear we need to do this more often, try not to work her too hard Bruce" Willow said as she turned to look at her husband.
"I won't don't worry, we should go Barbara" Bruce said.
"Right" Barbara said she then bowed politely at Willow and after that she and Bruce had started to go to his office.
"I guess that just leaves us Weiss" Willow said to her middle child.
"So, it would seems mother" Weiss said as she smiled at her mother.
"You seem to be in a good mood did something happen?" Willow asked.
"Yes mother something did happen I... feel like I gotten to know father a bit better" Weiss said.
"Well why don't you tell me about as we can walk and spend time in the garden area, if you want you can help me plant some more flowers Willow said.
"Sure mother" Weiss said after that Weiss and Willow left the area and they were on their way into the garden area.
We go back to Patch currently in the Xiao Long family home. Yang was currently sitting down on the couch, she was wondering what she should do in her spare time. She then looked to the side and saw a couple of books that she could read but instantly turned that idea down. So she then grabbed the remote and turning on the TV hoping she can find something to watch.
But all they had on was the news and they were talking about what's going on in Beacon, what the council is planning to do, that sort of stuff. Yang then stop changing the channel a bit as she saw the news reporter saying how Adam was spotted in the attack and how he was a wanted man. Which Yang knew all too well, not wanting to hear anything more about Adam Yang instantly turned the TV off.
She then heard the door open and heard "I'm home". Yang then leaned back at the couch and greeted her father "hey dad" Yang said as she leaned back up.
"Guess what came in today?" Tai said as he was carrying a bunch of bags.
"What?" Yang said.
"I can't wait for you to try this" Tai said as he put his bags up he then took the box and went back into the living room and put the box down on the table.
"Well" Tai said hoping that Yang would open the box.
Yang opened the box up and she looked and saw that it was a metal arm much to her surprise.
"Brand new state of the art Atlas tech, you know I thought I was going to have to pull some strings call in some few favors, but you earned this all on your kiddo" Tai said.
"Huh" Yang said.
"Before I could even have a chance to talk to them general ironwood, Bruce Wayne and apparently his son, they and their scientists were working on this for you" Tai said to his daughter causing Yang to widen her eyes in shock.
"Whitley he was a part of making this arm for me?" Yang said.
"Yeah he seems like he cares about you a lot to go through this trouble, not to mention Bruce Wayne told me himself that he would be always willing to help people that are friends with his daughter. For the general he wanted me to tell you that you fought admirably and that you should be proud of yourself.
"Whitley" Yang thought he must have spent days working on this alongside his father and general ironwood. He done all of this because of how worried he was for her and wanted to do something to help her. She was grateful honestly, and a part of her wants to smile that the youngest schnee did all of this for her. But at the same time how can she wear this, to try to move on if she was afraid...afraid that this might happen to her again and afraid how devastated and worried Whitley would be if she got hurt or worse killed.
"Well, are you going to try it on?" Tai asked his oldest daughter.
Yang had her head down and looked towards the side "I uh...I'm feeling to great right now maybe later" Yang said.
Tai rubbed the back of his head disappointed that Yang wouldn't tried the robotic arm "well alright" Tai said.
Yang then went upstairs but not before turning her head to look at her father "thanks dad" Yang quietly said as he continued to go up the stairs.
A couple of minutes later Yang did everything to occupy her time like sweeping the porch, checking the mail and washing dishes. She tried to put a glass cup near the dry dishes. But Yang dropped it which caused the blonde to be frighten as she saw a vision of Adam mask and a sword swipe. Yang took a step back as she tried to calm down she heard a buzzing sound coming from her pocket. Which caused Yang to jump in shock for a bit she then grabbed her scroll out of her pocket and saw that it was Whitley that was calling her.
Yang had tears falling from her face as she closed eyes and hung her head. She wanted to answer the call, she wanted to talk to him and hear his voice so bad...but she couldn't she didn't want to see her this vulnerable and be worried about her. "God how can I be this pathetic" Yang thought. Tai just looked at his daughter with a sad look on his face not really knowing what he could do to help her so he just walked away.
"Well I guess that was to be expected" Whitley said as he put the scroll back in his pocket. "Maybe I should try calling her again tonight...I just don't know what else I can do for her...besides kicking Taurus teeth him" Whitley said. The youngest Schnee then got up from his bed.
"I should go I shouldn't keep father and Phyrra waiting" Whitley said as he left his room and started to head straight towards his father office. Once he was inside of his father office he was greeted to the site of his father who was sitting behind his deck and Phyrra who was standing in front of the desk and Whitley walked until he was standing next to the current fall maiden.
"So how did it go?" Phyrra asked her friend.
"She didn't answer" Whitley said causing Phyrra to frown.
"Oh I'm sorry Whitley" Phyrra said however Whitley only gave Phyrra a small smile.
"Don't be... Yang just probably needs some more time I'll try to call her again later on tonight" Whitley said he then turned to look at his father.
"So father was their a reason you called us?" Whitley asked his father.
"Yes I did I called you two here to discuss some things namely about Salem and what her next moves are going to be" Bruce said.
"Well I thought it was obvious that Salem would target Mistral next to get the relic of knowledge right" Whitley said.
"Unless she decided to maybe target Atlas" Phyrra said.
"No if Salem is smart enough she would probably target Atlas last due to us and not to mention the strength of the Atlas military still we can't take any chances I need to talk to James. I want him to try to beef up security have some soldiers station at Atlas and Mantle, in case Salem does change her mind and decide to target Atlas instead of Mistral" Bruce said.
"But Salem at disadvantage anyway if she wants the relics, specifically the relic of knowledge she needs the spring maiden" Whitley said.
"Isn't the spring maiden under headmaster Leonardo care?" Phyrra asked.
"No from what I heard from Ozpin the spring maiden ran away from Leonardo under his watch" Bruce said as he pulled out his scroll, the scroll he uses while he is Batman.
"If that's the case then the spring maiden is still out there somewhere, Salem will no doubt send her forces to look for her" Whitley said.
"Then we should alert Ozpin as soon as possible, he can even alert Jaune Ruby Nora and Ren" Phyrra said.
"Exactly, plus it's been awhile since I called Ozpin I want to see what's going on with him, since he and Qrow has been following Ruby and the rest of your team to Mistral Phyrra" Bruce said.
Bruce then began to call Ozpin and put the scroll on speaker, and after a few moments Ozpin had answered.
"Ah Batman it's been quite awhile since we last talked; tell me is everything going well in Atlas?" Ozpin asked.
" Things are going well for the most part but that's not why I called you are you still on your way to Mistral?" Bruce asked as he shifted into his Batman voice and persona. Which amazed Whitley and Phyrra how easily he can go to a loving and caring billionaire to a cold, calm and serious crusader that is Batman.
"Yes I am Qrow and I are still following and keeping an eye on Ms. Rose and her group, however we are taking a detour so to speak" Ozpin said.
"What do you mean?" Bruce asked.
"I'm sure your aware that Salem is most likely targeting Mistral next. Which means she is after the relic of knowledge but for her to get the relic she needs the spring maiden so I had Qrow contact his sister and in order to meet with us" Ozpin said.
"Raven Branwen, Yang's mother" Whitley said as he narrowed his eyes a bit.
He knew Raven history and the rest of team STRQ and he dislike the woman a great deal. Because she abandoned Yang as a baby just so she can go back to a group of murderers and thieves. It's like she didn't care about her family at all and was only looking out for herself. She could have helped Yang with what happened to her with loosing her arm to Adam.
"The main reason I called you was about the spring maiden, so we both think that Salem is going after the spring maiden. Do you think Raven has the spring maiden with her?" Bruce asked.
"I have no doubt that she does, however it's going to be hard to convince Raven to hand the girl over" Ozpin said as he sighed a bit.
" So most likely your going to have to fight Salem forces and Raven at the same time" Bruce said.
"Yes it's going to be difficult battle for sure but I think we'll managed tell me Batman is it possible for you to come to Mistral we could really use your help. Not to mention Ms. Nikos would be a great help for us" Ozpin said.
"Maybe but I don't want to leave Atlas since Salem could change her mind and come to us and knowing Ironwood I'm not sure if he could handle an attack like Beacon. Also it's possible he might not even let me leave Atlas at all if you heard what he just done" Bruce said.
Ozpin sighed knowing well how Ironwood is "I understand I'll let you know our meeting with Raven went oh and tell Ms. Nikos that her friends and teammates are doing well" Ozpin said. Phyrra smiled happy to hear that her friends were doing alright but she still feels a bit guilty that she is hiding from them in secrets.
"Understood" Bruce said after that he hung up his scroll.
"Well at least we gotten some idea about the spring maiden" Phyrra said.
"Yeah but there is also one other problem, the White Fang. Adam and his goons were there during the attack on Beacon so they are working together with Salem. So most likely they are going to be involved in the attack on Mistral" Whitley said.
"Isn't the White Fang base of operations mostly in Menagerie that could mean Blake and her parents could be in danger!" Phyrra said one of many training with Batman was to be prepared and gather and knowing every information that you can. "So that you can prepare for anything" those were his words though Phyrra does sometimes think Bruce is over cautious and maybe a bit paranoid. But Bruce was one of the smartest people she knew and so far he was right on a lot of things from the time she been with him for almost two years. She was a bit surprised that Blake was related to the chief of Menagerie Ghira Belladonna.
"In a way Blake is kind of like a princess" Phyrra thought. She actually found that funny since base on Blake personality she not really the ideal princess.
"Yes I'm aware I'm going to contact Blake sometime tonight I have no doubt she heading to Menagire right now. There really isn't anything we can do right now regarding the White Fang for now we just need to put our fate in Blake and I'm confident she could get the job done" Bruce said.
"I just wish she didn't have to run away from Weiss, Yang and Ruby especially Yang. I know that she probably hurt due to Blake leaving her like that" Whitley said. First Raven and now Blake its like every person that was suppose to be close to Yang always abandons her. Whitley promises that he won't be like that at all he promised himself that he will be there for Yang at all times.
"I'm sure Blake will come to us, I think she just needs to deal with her demons sort to speak. But Bruce was there anything else you have for us?" Phyrra asked.
"Actually there is something I have to show you and I've been working on it for the past two years and its something that was design to counter the maidens and Salem come with me" Bruce said as he got up from his desk. Bruce then went to press a button under his desk and soon the book case shifted to the right which created a entrance. After that Bruce Whitley and Phyrra had went inside the entrance and about a minute later the trio was inside the Batcave.
"Father what is it that you wanted to show us?" Whitley asked.
"You said that it was design to counter the maidens and Salem I'm actually curious about what you wanted to show us" Phyrra said.
Bruce then walked to his large computer and pressed a keyboard button and soon an extra section opened up to where Bruce had his other Batman and Phyrra widen their eyes to what they saw.
"Father is that a new suit?" Whitley asked.
What Phyrra and Whitley were seeing was an armor it was orange and black in design. The shoulder blades had spikes on them and behind the armor were a pair of wings which Whitley and Phyrra assumed were there for flight. On the wait it had a brown belt which carried a bunch of weapons and other gadgets and the arm section of the armor had two claws on the left and the right side.
"Yes, this here is the hellbat armor this armor was made to fight and defeat the maidens specifically Salem and Cinder, I'm still putting the finishing touches on the armor but it won't be long until it will be ready in case Salem comes to Atlas herself" Bruce said.
Phyrra was a bit uncomfortable looking at the armor since she was the fall maiden or co fall maiden, this armor was designed to kill her.
"Yes which is why I need you two help, to put the finishing touches on the hellbat if possible we can finish the finishing touches on the suit by tonight" Bruce said.
"Of course we'll help you Bruce
"What else can this armor do father?" Whitley asked.
"It has all of the things the rest of my suits has but it also has an A.I inside of the suit, also I can transfer power to the center of the suit to create a powerful energy blast. I can also fire some blasts from the palm of my hands and the suit enhance my strength" Bruce explained.
"So this suit is like a last resort weapon" Phyrra said.
"Yeah and that's why I've called you two here. I need your help in putting the finishing touches on the hellbat if we can work together I know we can finish by dinner' Bruce said.
"Of course we'll help you father" Whitley said as he smile he was actually a bit excited to be able to work on something with his father. Phyrra smiled and nodded Bruce had done so much for her so of course she would do everything in her power to help him in return.
"Good so lets get started" Bruce said so after that Bruce Whitley and Phyrra had started to get to work on putting the finishing touches on the suit. It was a long process but with the three of them working together they were able to work on and put the finishing touches on the hellbat and once they were finished the three of them had headed back to meet up with Weiss and Willow for dinner and it was quite nice and peaceful. Everybody was having a great time overall.
After that Phyrra had went home and everybody else went to their rooms and once Whitley was in his room. Before he could go to sleep he decided to try to call Yang one more time just to check on her and see how she was doing. Whitley then tried to call to Yang again and the scroll had rung a few times and Whitley thought that it was about to go to voice message again. Until he heard that his call was be answered.
"Hey ice prince" Yang said.
"Yang oh my god you answered" Whitley said as he had his left hand over his mouth he almost wanted to cry. Because he is able to hear her voice again after a long time.
"Yeah...I'm sorry that I made you worried I'm going through some things but I missed you Whitley you and Weiss" Yang said.
"You don't have to apologize I understand and I've missed you too; god I was so worried about you and it hurts me to see you in so much pain to see you like this and I can't even do anything to help you" Whitley said as he choked up a bit.
"Hey what happen to the cold hearted ice prince I know" Yang jokingly said causing Whitley to snort a bit.
"Good to see you still have your witty remarks" Whitley said as he couldn't help but smile a bit.
"But seriously Whitley you already done a lot for me so much then you realize. After talking with my dad professor Oobleck and Port and now you tonight I think getting better. I feel like I can at least try to move forward and not be afraid no more.
"You mean being afraid that something bad might happen to you again, like losing your arm?" Whitley asked.
"Yeah..." Yang said.
"Yang everybody has fears and doubts that what makes us human. But you can't let that stop you from being who you are, I mean your Yang Xiao Long you don't let anything get you down and your so brave and fearless. You have that confidence that nothing can take you down or get in the way of what you want. Those are the things I like about you the most" Whitley said.
"Wow you still are quite the smooth talker ice prince...you know all my life I had to act like this in order to take care of Ruby especially since my dad he was devastated when my mom Summer Rose died. I had to take charge so our family wouldn't break apart so when you say all of that. It's like I'm not the person that you see" Yang said.
"Well it makes sense you basically had to grow up quickly to take care of Ruby. I guess you didn't have the time to sort out your feelings...But Yang you are that type person you stepping up to help your family shows our strong willed you are not many people can do that" Whitley said.
"Not even your so called mother" Whitley thought but he wouldn't mention Raven in front of Yang.
Whitley continued by saying "also you know in case you need help with something, you know I'm always here by your side and its not just me you also have Ruby Weiss, Blake and the others as well".
Whitley couldn't see it but Yang smiled a bit "thanks Whitley I needed to hear that. I know it might take some time to get over to what happened with Adam but I feel like by talking with you and the others tonight I'm making progress" Yang said.
"That's great Yang, by the way were you able to get the arm?" Whitley asked.
"Yeah... but don't worry I'm going to try it out soon so don't worry and thanks for that oh if you could give your dad and the general my thanks as well" Yang said.
"Yeah I will" Whitley said.
"By the way how Weiss doing?" Yang said.
"She doing good she misses you guys but she been training and getting stronger every day most likely so her skills wouldn't be rusty" Whitley said.
"Really I guess I better not get left behind then" Yang said as she chuckled a bit.
"Do you want to talk to her?" Whitley asked.
"No not just yet still need to work on some things plus I want to talk to Weiss face to face" Yang said.
"Alright if that's want you want I won't stop you" Whitley said.
"Yeah I better get some sleep, it was so good talking to ice prince I've missed that and you...I promise that I'm going to go to Atlas to see you and Weiss" Yang said causing Whitley to smile.
"Alright you better hold on to that promise Xiao Long" Whitley said.
"Hey I always keep my promises" Yang said as she laughed a bit.
"Goodnight Whitley take care of yourself alright" Whitley said.
"Yeah same to you Yang you know I..." Whitley started to say something but stopped himself.
"Were you about to say something Whitley?" Yang asked.
"I just wanted to wish you sweet dreams that's all" Whitley said.
"Oh alright well goodnight ice prince" Yang said.
"Goodnight Yang" Whitley said after that he hung up his scroll and after that he went and changed out of his clothes and went into his night clothes. Once Whitley got in his bed he smiled, glad that Yang was doing better and he was glad he was able to talk to her again. After this Whitley maybe thought that everything was going to be alright for everybody.
A/N: Hey guys I hoped you enjoyed the chapter sorry that not much is happening here with no action but I guess for volume four I wanted to focus more on Batman side of things while showing what the rest of team RWBY is doing a little bit. I hope that I'm doing a good job in showing that but I promise that we are going to get more action soon I promise just be a little bit more patient with me. Anyway thank you guys so much for reading my story it really means a lot don't forget to read review and follow the story until next time guys see ya.