"Alright! Keep the sausages coming!" An ecstatic Sun yelled. He and his partner, Neptune were having breakfast at a local dinner in Vale, courtesy of team RWBY. But while Sun was busy gulping food like a savage, Neptune eyed the girls while steering his coffee, knowing something was up.
"Sooooo, you tell us to meet you on the docks, invite us to an all you can eat breakfast and just so that we go to the mall with you?".
Ruby, Yang and Blake were at the other side of the table, just looking at both boys with obvious fake grins.
"Well… we just like to hang with our favorite boys! …From Heaven!" Yang assured, less than effectively.
While Sun was still chewing, Neptune kept pressing. "So… Where's Weiss?". At that moment they saw Yang give a forced cough, 10 seconds later, and after an awkward silence, the door to the dinner opened and in came Weiss wearing her costume. Both boys had been briefed on her paparazzi situation.
"Oh… Hello, Neptune and Sun". All in the table looked at Weiss as she sat down. "Wasn't expecting to see you here! Hey! How about if when we are at the mall, we go to the game store and buy… buy…" she then turned to Yang looking at her for help.
"Killer Street 3! It's not that hard Weiss!".
As un finally gulped down his last dish, he and Neptune then just looked at the poor huntresses and their little manipulation game with pity.
Sun finally spoke up "Ok. Enough with this. What do you all want?".
Ruby tried to fake a shocked face and voice. "Whaaaaat? What'cha talking about, Sun! We're just hanging with our guy-friends!".
Neptune and Sun looked at each other again. Their faces just as unimpressed as they were before. "I'm not an idiot, girls. I knew there was something up the moment you said 'free-breakfast'".
All girls went silent, looking at each other. Blake was the first to talk. "Well… we did only invite Sun…".
Neptune, while not offended, retorted "We are a package deal. You know that. So off with it. Why try to bribe us with food and games?".
The girls let out a collective sigh before Ruby spoke again. "We need your help Sun, and only Sun. We need you as a mole".
"So… is it to get dirt on a bully or something? Is Cardin being a jerk again, Weiss?"
"For the love of… not a silly little spy, Neptune. Mole. As in we need you to get classified data from a company! Borderline corporate espionage".
This shocked both boys. They stared at them to see if they, at any moment, would just crack a smile and reveal all as a prank. But when no such event came, it was just Sun's cheerful voice that broke the silence. "I'm in!".
"YOU WHAT!?" Replied Neptune while Ruby and Yang looked at him with wide grins while Blake and Weiss just with surprise.
"You… are ok with this Sun? Thought you'd need more convincing" asked Blake.
"You kidding? That White Fang rally was the most fun I had since getting to this city! I knew you girls had a thing for trouble".
Neptune was in shock, but before he could call out the insanity of what was being talked about, Sun stopped him. "But I do have conditions: One, I want details. All of them. No holding back. Also, and be sincere, is this to help the SDC?" he asked the last part while looking at Weiss. All girls understood that if he was to be convinced, it should be her effort.
Weiss took a deep breath before answering. "On the long run, yes but this is not about me. It's for Pyrrha".
This woke Neptune's interest. "Hold on. The Pyrrha Nikos. Mistral champion? The hot red-head from the library the other day?".
All girls nodded while Weiss also gave him a mean eye. "She is a friend, a good one. And we know for a fact that people who want her are not good".
"Ok. Was gonna help anyway, but honesty is best. So, where do we begin?".
With assurance that Sun was on board, the girls told him all that happened at the Night Beatle and what was planned for the moment.
"Uuuuuuuuuugh, Cardin I'm so bored!".
"Besides, you said Arc was no longer a target. And Dove really needs to finish that report or is more detention with Port!" Both Russel and Sky complained to their leader.
Cardin tried his best to ignore their whining, but he just had had enough. "We'll leave when I say we can leave. Besides, it's just a small prank; cover him with ice dust and run away. Won't even know it was us".
Ever since the incident at the Forever Fall, some distance was drawn between both students and their respective teams. Fighting only when needed in combat class and cooperating on mutual projects when ordered to. But ever since that day, Jaune seemed to get better at combat (still not even close to his level) but also on the theory classes. This sure annoyed Cardin, and he wanted to take Jaune down from the pedestal his team was now on. Childish? Maybe. Going against their non-aggression deal? Perhaps. But if something embarrassing happened and an anonymous source leaked pictures of that to all the students in school without JNPR knowing he was the source of all, then he wouldn't be guilty. At least he thought so that way; he was not revealing his forged transcript papers, so it wasn't that bad.
It didn't help his mood that suddenly his teammates started to worry about their grades and how ´physical abilities are not the only requirement to become an official huntsman, Cardin´, making their troublemaker reputation fade away with every week.
But alas, he convinced them to torture Jauny-boy once while in Vale… If only he would step in place. They were waiting atop a building next to the park where team JNPR were just sitting on the benches, pacing back and forth with a worried look on their faces. It was ages before they saw Nora answer her scroll and then they all seemed happy and started to walk in their direction.
"Ok boys, get ready, here they come. Dove, the ice dust gun! Sky get the camera ready!".
All pieces were falling in place, but while the three boys were busy preparing everything, Russel noticed something strange, something rolling in Jaune's way; and when he stepped on it, the object pushed him up backwards and made him crash onto a woman wearing a black hoodie behind him. The crash made her drop all the boxes and papers she was carrying.
"Oh no, sorry ma'am! I don't know what happened! I swear-!" Jaune tried to apologize, but the woman was having none of it.
"You Imbecil! You moronic, blonde goof!" The woman stood up to look behind at the mess on the sidewalk. "Great, thanks a lot, shit-head".
"Hey! It was an accident, lady. Cut him some slack!" Demanded Nora as she stepped between them. "He said it was an accident and that he was sorry, ok?".
Not intimidated by Nora in the slightest, the woman just stepped closer to her and then leaned forward to be on her eye level "I am not talking to his orange pet; and he is gonna pay for what he just-".
The fight was interrupted as out of nowhere an ice stalagmite appeared behind the woman. She quickly turned around and stepped back a little before verbally attacking again and then turning. "What the hell did you little fu-". As she turned, they all had left. Left in anger, she just turned around again and started to pick up the papers and box contents.
Up on the roof top, CRDL watched the confrontation. Dove, above all others was now pissed. He now had less time to finish his report and the excuse for why he didn't do it was a flop. "Well, Cardin; I hope you are happy. We just… hey, where did he go?".
"Seriously, Dove? He is next… to…". Russel tried to reprimand his teammate, but Cardin, indeed, was nowhere on the roof. "What the… where did he…?".
Dove and Russel started to look before being distracted by Sky. "Of course he is...".
Both then looked at the street again, seeing Cardin go out of the building and heading directly for the woman. "Oh, no. What happened here? Are you alright?" Cardin asked, pretending to be surprised by what happened.
"No, I'm not. First my designs get rejected, then I must store them in my house and hope for them to be used in the future, my college tuition went up, and now I must collect all the posters, or I'm fired! Gods, I need to punch something. But guess what? My martial arts dojo is closed due to termites. GAAAAH!".
Cardin could give very little care about her problems. But she looked fit under that hood, and he did like his girls to be fit. "Well, you'll finish faster if I help you." He started to pick up the papers before pausing and reading some of them more carefully. "Armored Fists? Hey, I love that band!". His attention was then drawn to some tickets which he then picked up "The Cracked Skullz tournament? Man, I would love to go see it".
"Another Fists and a Cracked Skullz enthusiast? Small world".
"Where did you get tall these?".
"Part-timer at a publicity company. The owner sometimes gets free stuff as a bonus. Though many in there don't really appreciate some of our clients".
When they were finally done with the cleaning, the woman removed her hoodie and tied it to her waist. That revealed her thin body yet amazingly marked six-pack, beautiful pale skin and her short side parted hair; kind of manly, but she seemed like a tough girl who could pull that look.
"Well, thank you for your effort. Though… Could you help me take these to my apartment? I could pay you with lunch". She then turned around to face him and Cardin could swear her chest size seemed bigger. "Though… are burgers fine with you? I know this place, Marcs. We also get discounts".
Hot body, same interests in music and fighting, has no problem with fast food and hates Jaune with passion? He had to be dreaming. "Sure, lead the way!". Before they left, he felt his scroll vibrate. He had received a message from Sky.
'Seems you have plans. Don't want to be extra wheels; can we go now?'.
He looked at the ceilings and gave an ok sign. Boy was he glad he used that dust to make a distraction for JNPR to leave. Now he had scored a date with an older girl… who he still had no idea what her name was.
"Um, by the way: I'm Cardin. Cardin Winchester".
"What do you known. Big boy has manners. I'm… Elsa. Pleasure to meet you".
When they left the park area and the rest of CRDL were gone, two neon blue lines began to glow and then faded into the alleyway.
"These huntsmen academies. Are you sure they are our best option general?". Asked the blue-robed figure to the avatar of a blonde woman on his amulet.
"They are. Military will not accept people over 30. And even if we got in, bootcamp will take ages to graduate. Huntsmen can roam public spaces with weapons at their disposal and are assigned missions that allow them to go to different parts of their corresponding kingdom. Although, Major Briggs assures me that portal traveling will be available in a few weeks, we can be on opposite sides of this world within hours".
"Have you given a thought on these academies?".
"My team would work better in Atlas; we are already used to the military lifestyle".
"No chance babe. 'This' needs his eight hours beauty sleep… what? I was joking!" a voice said in the background.
"The White Lotus would be better fit for Heaven over at Mistral. Very similar to many Asian cultures".
"Good, the ninjas are heading to Vale as we speak. Should any development arise, I'll be in contact".
"Good. Over and out". As the hologram vanished from his amulet, the robed figure turned to his companion; a tanned man with long white hair tied into a ponytail wearing more humble clothes; two strips of red cloth and black leather that went over each shoulder with blue pants, a black leather cummerbund that held both pieces together and a set of silver wrist guards. He was glad that his companion had returned from recon, not noticing the somber look on his pupil-less eyes.
"Fujin, I did not expect you to arrive yet. Have you any information? Who are we dealing with? Shao Kahn? Shinnok?"
The robed man pressed on until Fujin stepped next to a table. "Neither, but what I did find, is most troubling". He then threw him a knife packed on its sheath.
"I do not understand".
"Look at the brand, Raiden".
"Manufactured by… It can't be… Seido… Orderrealm…".
"And that's their kamidogu. No coincidence. People from Orderrealm are here".
"But it makes no sense. Why would the realm of Order, out of all others, want something from this place?" Raiden then passed the knife back to Fujin and began to walk on the opposite direction. "They are a neutral realm, secluded. Every major invasion has been ignored by them".
"It's true, but they also ceased what little communication they had with Earth not that long ago. I have not been able to perform any diplomatic visits in ages, ever since Shao Kahn and Shinnok's failed invasions. Their protector and elemental gods have also not mentioned any developments recently, only that people were growing more afraid with each passing day".
"This is indeed worrying. Are there more of those?".
"Knifes, swords, guns, weapons of every kind. They even commercialize the so called 'dust' that Hanzo mentioned. They have been here for a while".
Raiden knew that in order to solve this mystery he needed to go at least go back to Earthrealm. He then needed an audience with the gods of Orderrealm and see why all of this went unnoticed. Not just from fellow gods, but from the Elder Gods themselves.
"Fujin, I must leave. I need to-"
"Consult with the Elder Gods. I understand" He then walked next to Raiden and placed a hand over the other man's shoulder. "We will talk with Jax tomorrow morning, right now we all need to rest my friend".
As they made their way to meditate, Raiden turned his head towards Fujin. "Jax? He has gained the respect of his superiors by achieving the rank of 'Major'. You should address him like that, Fujin. It is respectful".
"True, but he is also a friend, Raiden. Or should I say, 'Lord protector'?"
For a little while, Raiden chuckled, defeated by the logic of his long-time friend. "You speak the truth, 'Wind God'".