Chapter 5: Outta the Bag
It has been days since the battle against Baron Ashura's Doublas, and since then Hayato has found it prudent to provide some sort of explanation to Arc and Rose for what had happened. The explanation he had given was that the individual known as Doctor Merlot, who had gone missing during the Mountain Glenn incident, was the one behind the creation of the modified Grimm. It was very much likely that they would encounter his creations again, so he'd prefer they didn't go in blind, but he still kept information about Salem hidden away until Ozpin decided it was the right time.
It had been silent on the warfront since then, the scientist leaving Arc and Rose to their duties as team leaders while he searched for suitable candidates for Aura Dawn, it was a challenging search until he found some… interesting information. He saved what he found for later, retiring for the night as he saw it was becoming dark outside.
It had been a peaceful Friday evening so far, and morale was high with the Amity Festival drawing near. He took this opportunity to relax, if only for a few minutes, but then he noticed someone running from the dorms and towards the statue near the entrance of the campus. He recognized who it was, and his eyes easily honed in on the fact that she had her weapon on her as well, despite the darkness setting in.
At that very moment…
She couldn't face them again… not after her outburst, and certainly not after seeing the look on Weiss's face. She couldn't tell if it was betrayal, anger, or both, but she knew that she would need time away from her teammates… her usual cowardice controlling her.
As Blake's eyes fell upon the statue depicting two huntsman hunting a Beowolf, she came to a simple realization about the sculpture… neither of the huntsman were Faunus. It was probably never meant in any ill fashion, but… it only served as a reminder of how many of her people are seen.
Second class citizens, not worthy of respect.
Her eyes fell to the Grimm cowering in fear, and another word came to her mind.
Beasts.
On the verge of tears, the stress of the last few hours spent arguing with Weiss finally caught up to her. Feeling an uncomfortable pressure at the top of her head, Blake decided that she has had enough for tonight. She reached up, closing her eyes, and undid the bow around her feline ears. She nearly let out a sigh of relief as she felt the cool night air wash over the ears that she had kept restrained for so long, but then those ears picked up on the sound of footsteps.
"Quite a secret to keep, Miss Belladonna."
She knew that voice, and turned to meet Jin Hayato's eyes. This man… deep down, she had always been unnerved by something she couldn't place, but she realized just what it was when she saw the way his eyes glinted in the night.
"Doctor," She started, thinking of what to say as she quickly wiped a nigh imperceptible tear from her eye which, of course, Hayato noticed, "you… you were a Faunus this whole time…"
The man before her smirked as he placed his hands in his pockets, then his eyes flicked upwards for a moment as a frown formed.
"You, monkey boy, get down from there."
"Aw man, I thought for sure you didn't know I was here."
Blake followed Hayato's gaze, and saw the monkey Faunus from the docks that her team saw just earlier that day. Had he followed her?
"The name is Sun. Sun Wukong," The blond told the two, introducing himself as he hopped down from the lamp post he was perched on. He turned to look at Blake, giving her a smile that she couldn't quite find the energy to return. "I knew you would look better without the bow!"
Looked like this was going to be an even longer night than she had thought.
Two Days Later…
"So, you wanted to know more about me…" Blake muttered to Sun as she set down her cup of tea. Doctor Jin had graciously lent her a staff sleeping quarters after she gave a brief explanation as to why she had run away from her team. Of course, the man was with them right now and listening from where he was, leaning against the wall of the cafe behind Sun.
Blake explained part of her past, and her involvement with the White Fang. When mentioning the old leader of the organization, she noticed Hayato raise an eyebrow ever so slightly at her… lack of detail. Did he know? She couldn't tell.
Sun, for the most part, got over his initial shock at her involvement with the terrorist organization and listened intently to her story. He was giving her his full attention, and she was grateful as her explanation drew to a close.
"…So here I am, a criminal hiding in plain view. All with the help of a little black bow…" She finished, wiggling her ears beneath her bow.
Sun kept a serious expression, chin resting on his hand as he spoke. Doctor Jin's face remained unchanged, he had simply closed his eyes while he had listened to her, and he opened them when she finished.
"So," the monkey Faunus began, "have you told your friends any of this?"
She should've, she knew she should've told them, but she couldn't bring herself to say no from the shame. That in of itself was the answer Sun needed.
"What do you plan to do now?" Doctor Jin's voice cut through the silence like a knife, and there was one thing she had on her mind.
"Well…"
At the same time…
"BLAAAAAAKE! WHERE ARE YOOUUUU?!"
They had been calling their teammate's name for hours now, and yet there was still no sign of her. Ruby was getting really worried. What if she never came back? What if something ended up happening to her? The team leader just couldn't stop worrying, ignoring the implications of Blake's outburst in favor of just finding her, former affiliations be damned.
What was more frustrating was the fact that Weiss, her own partner, didn't seem to have any urgency in helping her and Yang find Blake.
"Weiss, you aren't helping!"
"You know who could help? The police!"
"Weiss!"
"It was just an idea!"
"Yeah, a bad one…"
That's about where Yang decided to cut in before the two got into some kind of argument.
"Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions…"
The heiress didn't seem to appreciate that comment, but kept whatever scathing comment she had to herself…
"I think when we hear it, you'll all realize I was right!"
"And I think Weiss's hair looks wonderful today!"
The last statement came as quite a shock as everyone whipped their heads around to look at the new speaker, Ruby being the one to speak when she saw who it was.
"GYAHWHEREDIDYOUCOMEFROM!" Their fearless team leader called out in a totally calm fashion. Absolutely.
"Hey guys!" The newcomer said, waving her hand. Calling her a stranger wasn't the right word, as they had briefly met her yesterday, but they sure didn't know her that well. Newcomer seems like a good word for it. "What are you up to?"
"Uh, Penny, right?" Yang asked, briefly recalling what she thinks is the girl's name. The newcomer looked of Central Mistral descent, like Doctor Jin, and was just a bit shorter than Ruby. She had brown eyes and hair, and looked to be around Ruby's age, too.
"Incorrect, my name is Nori!" The young looking girl replied in a… slightly artificial manner that they hadn't quite gotten used to.
"Oh uh, sorry." Was Yang's embarrassed response. "Anyway, we were looking for our friend, Blake."
"Oh," Nori replied, tilting her head back in thought, "you mean the Faunus girl!"
The trio all blinked as a single question came to their mind, with Ruby being the one to voice it.
"Wait, how did you know that?"
"Uh," Nori began, as if she was making some obvious statement. She pointed to the top of her head as she spoke. "The cat ears?"
"What cat ears?" Replied Yang, smiling. "She wears a…" Her smile faded as she made the realization, and so did her teammates. "…Bow."
One could hear a pin drop in the moments of silence that came in after that sentence, everyone present (with the exception of Nori) fell silent.
As usual, it was Ruby who broke the silence with a whisper.
"…She does like tuna a lot…"
"So," Nori continued, as if nothing from the last few seconds had even happened, "where is she?"
"We don't know," was Ruby's glum response as she shook her head, "she's been missing since Friday."
The red hooded teenager's view was suddenly filled with, uh, Nori. The young girl had walked right up to Ruby and grabbed her arms in what was supposed to be reassurance, but really just let Ruby know that Nori had an iron grip contrast to her small appearance.
"Don't you worry, Ruby my friend!" Nori said before letting go, "I won't rest until we find your teammate!"
"Uh, that's really nice of you, Nori," was Ruby's reply, feeling somewhat awkward from the closeness, "but we-we're okay! Right guys?"
Ruby was met with empty spaces where Weiss and her sister had been standing, the two having snuck off at some point in the small amount of time Nori had taken up her vision.
"Oh…"
Letting out a quiet sigh, Ruby just nodded her head at Nori and gave an awkward smile.
"So uh, let's go look for Blake…" She said with a shrug, and began walking. "Oh yeah, I never really asked you where you're from, huh?"
"I'm from Atlas!" Was Nori's enthusiastic response as she followed Ruby. "I was originally going to arrive with everyone else from Atlas, but my coach managed to grant me permission to come early!"
Ruby heard a small hiccup from Nori, but thought nothing of it.
"Coach? They the one prepping you for the tournament?"
"Yep! Him and Big Sis are the best trainers ever, thanks to them I'm combat ready!"
"Your big sister is a huntress, too?" Ruby asked with a smile. Looks like they have some things in common.
"Yes! She's not my only sibling, though! I've got two other sisters, though none of us really look much alike." Was Nori's enthusiastic explanation. "Big Sis isn't really related to me, but she lets me call her Big Sis anyways. My other two sisters are named Honey and Gamia, and I'm the youngest out of all of us!"
"Jeez, kinda a big family. What about mom and dad?"
"Well, father is usually busy with work nowadays. And, as far as I can remember, I do not have a mother."
That made Ruby frown. Looks like they both have in common something that… was much too unfortunate for anyone.
"Sorry… my mom is gone, too." Was Ruby's response, looking down. "She was a huntress, and I wanna help people just like she did!"
Nori seemed to be about to say something, but she simply frowned before giving Ruby an encouraging smile.
"I believe you can do it!"
They walked in silence for a while, but it wasn't an awkward one. Ruby was busy keeping an eye out for Blake, and Nori was simply enjoying the unfamiliar sights and sounds of Vale. Eventually, though, Nori broke that silence with questions nagging her mind.
"So, Blake is your friend?"
"Yes, Nori."
"But you are mad at her?"
"Yes- well, I am not, but Weiss is!" Ruby explained.
"Is she friends with Blake?"
"Well, that's kind of up in the air right now."
"But, why?!"
Ruby gave a long sigh at that question, throwing her arms up in front of herself.
"Well, you see! Blake might not be who we thought she was!"
Hearing a small gasp behind her, Ruby was already dreading whatever revelation Nori had come to.
"Is she a man?!"
"No, no," Ruby immediately shut that down, waving her arms in front of her, "Nori, she not… I don't know what she is… She didn't exactly talk to us before deciding to run off…"
"I don't have a lot of friends," Nori began, making Ruby feel a bit bad about how her teammates have treated her, "but if I did, I would like for them to talk to me about things."
That simple statement made Ruby feel a sudden pressure on her shoulders as she remembered what she's kept hidden from her own team… The desire to tell her team about her piloting grew day by day, and now more than ever she felt that her team and team JNPR deserved to know about what was happening with their leaders. Ruby's eyes fell to the floor, in both parts thoughtfulness and shame, and mumbled out her simple response.
"Me too…"
The Docks
Hayato was crouched on the roof of a warehouse, watching the skies diligently before looking at his two current charges. Belladonna certainly knew what she was doing, choosing the prime spot for a robbery. He could give Wukong some credit, too, for learning of and remembering the shipment.
Of course, the doctor had some idea of this shipment approaching. He and some of his staff had been monitoring large scale & organized criminal activity for the headmaster, in addition to Qrow his eyes in the field. That meant also keeping an eye on major incoming dust shipments, not that the Schnee Dust Company would ever know of such a security breach.
The White Fang…
Hayato looked down to his right hand, clenching it as he remembered his youth… and the bloodshed he had performed in the name of his violent revolutionary ideals. He still held the sentiment that changes could still be made, but he realized pure violence was not the way to do it.
He intently watched Wukong and Belladonna have a conversation not far from him, and the monkey Faunus seemed to notice.
"Uh, by the way," Sun nervously said. That Doctor guy's intense look always put him off a bit. "What kind of Faunus are you? And do ya even have any weapons on you?"
Blake seemed to share a bit of that curiosity from the way she looked at Hayato.
"I have everything I need," was Hayato's response as he brought up his right hand, "and if you must know, I am certainly some kind of large feline. Father was a tiger Faunus, and mother was a lion."
"Oh, so like a Liger or something," was Sun's response.
"Something like that, though I personally earned the nickname Jaguar when I was younger."
That gave Blake pause. Jaguar… that seemed familiar. It seemed to be associated with the White Fang in her head.
"...Jaguar?"
Whatever response she was going to get was cut off by the whine of a bullhead engine as the aircraft flew overhead.
"And there is our prey…" Muttered Hayato as he watched the bullhead land in an empty space in the middle of the yard. He couldn't hear whatever words Sun and Blake shared as they watched White Fang grunts exit the aircraft armed with rifles and swords.
Whatever thoughts that would have come next were interrupted by a voice that was very unexpected.
"Hey! What's the holdup?!"
Out walked Roman Torchwick, the last person Blake expected to see. She remembered how Ruby mentioned that he had robbed her favorite shop, and she would've been there to stop it if the Leviathan from months back didn't show up, and quickly pushed that errant thought away from her mind.
"This isn't right… the White Fang would never work with a human, much less someone like him…" The cat Faunus muttered, reaching for her sword.
"Wouldn't they?" Hayato countered, causing Blake to pause in her motions. "They've been more violent than usual, who's to say that someone new hasn't stepped up to the plate?"
Thinking on that, Blake closed her eyes and steeled herself for the possibility that her former allies were onto… greater things than she had realized.
When she opened her eyes to look at Doctor Jin, she saw him watching the operation below them with a shocked expression on his face.
"Doctor?" She asked, then followed his gaze. What she saw was a cloaked man with prominent reptilian features exiting the bullhead whose animalistic traits were much stronger than the average Faunus. He was large as well to match his ferocious look.
"A dinosaur Faunus…" Sun gasped out, seeing the prominent scales and long tail that trailed out from beneath the cloak.
"That can't be…!" Hayato managed to mutter out, and Blake made her move while he was distracted.
Jumping down, she landed silently and managed to quickly sneak behind Roman Torchwick before Sun or Hayato could say anything to stop her. Slowly making her approach, she saw the dinosaur Faunus sniff the air as she got closer, and quickly grabbed Torchwick. She put a blade to his throat and restrained one of his arms in one quick motion.
"What the-" Roman began, then noticed the blade at his neck, "oh, for fu-"
Seeing that all attention was drawn to her, she briefly snuck a glance upwards and saw Sun and Hayato effortlessly moving over the crates and equipment while remaining hidden. She ripped off her bow, revealing her cat ears.
"Brothers of the White Fang!"
Hayato and Sun moved quickly while Blake served as an impromptu distraction, getting into position above the grunts. The doctor looked to Sun and motioned for him to worry about the small fry and Roman.
"I will take care of the dinosaur," He quickly said before climbing up a crane that had its arm extended over where the dinosaur Faunus stood with a number of grunts. Whatever he was about to do next was interrupted by another bullhead hovering overhead. He heard an explosion below, and saw Blake get sent flying backwards as Roman spun his cane in a lazy fashion before firing a dust round from it.
Taking that as his cue, he leapt down and immediately took out one of the grunts by landing on him, feet first. Quickly crouching down into a battle stance, Hayato let out a cry as claws extended from his fingers.
All the grunts spun to face him, but he took out three in quick succession by slashing through their aura and kicking them unconscious. Those who remained were the more experienced members who dodged his attacks, and the dinosaur Faunus.
Said dinosaur Faunus saw his fighting style and appearance, and seemed to recognize him.
"You… you are The Jaguar!" The large man cried out, pointing his clawed hand at Hayato. "After all these years, we have finally found The Jaguar! We will make you pay for what you did to Lord Gore!"
The remaining grunts all seemed to hesitate for a moment when they heard Hayato's nickname, but swallowed their fear as they fought.
Dodging a swing from a sword, he slashed his right hand upwards and immediately broke the first grunt's aura and slashed his face. With the next, he speared his hand and took a chunk out of the next grunt's right hand. And the next, he quickly dispatched with a slash across the chest.
Jin Hayato flowed like water from one enemy to the next, and quickly came face to face with the dinosaur Faunus. A smile was on Hayato's face. Just like the old days.
"You traitor… do you even remember why you betrayed Lord Gore all those years ago?"
"I'm not a fan of genocide, lizard." Was Hayato's response as he splayed his fingers like bear claws. "I fought for equality, your wannabe emperor and his little cell fought for subjugation and humanity's death."
"You are already a spirit of death," The reptiloid shot back, getting into his own fighting stance, "Allow me to send you back to Hell!"
The two ran at each other, and the dinosaur Faunus whipped out two dao swords and let loose a series of slashes the narrowly missed Hayato. The smaller man lashed out with his claws, but they merely skidded off of the scales on his arm. Receiving an elbow to the chest, Hayato was sent skidding back.
A back and forth ensued where neither gained much over the other. At the same time, Sun & Blake were facing off against Roman, who was holding his own well against the onslaught and even gaining the upper hand here and there.
After a clash that left Sun and Blake separated, Roman took the opportunity to aim his cane at Sun point blank.
"Y'know, monkey boy, you've got some nice little tricks up your sleeves, but you picked the wrong side…"
"HEY!"
Everyone turned to face the new voice, and saw Ruby standing on the roof of a warehouse with a girl that Blake recognized as Nori.
"Now who's this… looks like you're a bit young to be up this late, kids!" Roman called back mockingly as Nori took a few steps forwards.
"Ruby… what is going on?" Nori asked, causing her friend to look to her instead of the enemy.
"Nori, get back!"
Unfortunately, Roman took that opportunity to fire a dust round at the hooded teenager, who couldn't react fast enough to dodge. Expecting to be sent flying back, the explosion instead happened in front of her. As the smoke cleared, she could see Nori's back in front of her.
The young girl was practically unscathed besides a few scorch marks, and she narrowed her eyes at Roman, who gave a nervous chuckle.
"Nori…?" Ruby breathed out in awe.
"I will have this under control, Ruby. After all, I'm combat ready!" Nori said. Ruby finally noticed a kind of backpack on her friend's back, and it opened as multiple gun-swords came out of it on command.
"INCOMs!" Shouted Nori. Ruby barely managed to notice the wires attached to each weapon as they snaked through the air and fired beams at the remaining grunts. After a few seconds of mayhem, Nori recalled the weapons and positioned them behind her back. Leaping into the air, she fired beams downwards that acted as thrust to get her higher into the air.
Ruby could only watch as Nori performed her next move.
Hayato and the dino Faunus were still in a relatively even match, both having landed decent blows on each other. If Blake or Sun had fought this man… who knows what could've happened. They stood across from each other, glaring into their eyes as they prepared for another clash… that is, until they heard a voice from up above.
"Inazuma… KIIIIICK!"
Nori came flying down, her weapons firing beams that further increased her downward speed and momentum right towards the reptilian Faunus. The dinosaur quickly brought up his swords in a panicked attempt to try and redirect the attack, but Nori's foot shattered the weapons and drove the Faunus comically deep into the concrete. The large man's aura shattered, but still protected him enough to prevent fatal injuries as he immediately fell unconscious.
Nori ignored Hayato's presence, and looked up to see a group of bullheads that began opening fire at her. Sending back two INCOMs to latch onto a wall, she reeled herself back at a high speed and formed her weapons into a circle once she landed. The blades pulled back to reveal their full beam weapon modes, and began charging a large sphere of energy in front of Nori.
"Buster…"
Hayato's eyes widened considerably as he heard that word. It couldn't be… could it?
"BEEEAAAAM!"
A purple beam was unleashed that immediately cut two of the incoming aircraft to pieces. Nori spotted one trying to take a crate of dust and make a break for it, but she immediately latched a bunch of her INCOMs to it and brought it down, slamming it into the ground and destroying the engines.
Hayato was speechless… he knew exactly what she was. His colleague in Atlas had finally completed it… the newest addition to the Buster series.
Buster Machine #3: Codename Bravebuster.
The remaining two bullheads quickly took off while Nori could only watch as they left her effective range, taking Roman Torchwick with them.
In the aftermath of the battle, they were all questioned by the police about the events that occurred and their presence there. Thankfully, Hayato's status as a Beacon staff member, and by extension a licensed huntsman, granted them amnesty from unauthorized use of their weapons.
Hayato himself could not take his eyes off of Nori… and he could see just how much she resembled her 'mother'.
The two briefly locked eyes as Nori snuck away from the group and to a car that was waiting for her, and shared a secretive nod. The man shifted his attention to the students, and caught the end of their emotional conversation that happened with the arrival of Weiss and Yang to the scene. Team RWBY's leader met Hayato's gaze, and tilted her head towards her team, and back towards the direction of Beacon.
She wanted to tell her team… especially after what had happened over the course of the last few days.
Thinking for a few moments, Hayato closed his eyes… Ozpin and his secrets be damned, Ruby's team deserved to know what their leader has gotten into.
He nodded at her, giving her permission to tell them.
Author's Note:
Here is the newest chapter, and the longest one so far at that!
Introducing Nori: Someone who is somewhat familiar, but unfamiliar at the same time! I had a bit of an internal debate about how much I wanted to change up Penny to fit with the story I've planned out for her, and you have seen the result. You can also see what she takes inspiration from, and you can see the hint at who she was made in honor of if you look closely.
Oh yeah! The Dinosaur Empire is back, baby! Just not in a way that is familiar. I will end up explaining this in the story anyway, but the Dinosaur Empire of Remnant was a radical group of Faunus comprised of an extremely rare type of Faunus: the Dinosaur Faunus! Of course, they eventually fell, but it looks like some of them have joined up with the White Fang!
Now that we are at the part where I can really get the story rolling, I look forward to delving deeper in this new Remnant.
Until next time!