Before we start, I would like to thank merendinoemiliano for helping me come up with the Team Attacks for Team SCRN. This chapter would've certainly taken a lot longer without your help, so thank you again.
We pick up where we left off in the deserted alleyway with a graffiti-marked dumpster as Penny revealed her secret to Ruby. "Penny, I-I don't understand..." The smaller girl said.
"Most girls are born, but I was made. I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura." Penny explained, turning her head to the side sadly. "I'm not real..." She said sadly.
Ruby took Penny's hands in her own. "Of course you are. You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?" She asked.
"I don't... um..." She said unsurely, before leaning in close to Ruby's face. "You're... taking this extraordinarily well." She said.
"You're not like those things we saw back there." Ruby said, tapping her chest. "You've got a heart, and a soul; I can feel it!" She said reassuringly.
"Ooohh... oh Ruby!" Penny said happily, grabbing Ruby into a hug and shaking her back and forth. "You're the best friend anyone could have!" She said.
"I can see why your father would want to protect such a delicate flower!" Ruby groaned, muffled a bit as she was held so close to Penny.
Penny finally released Ruby, fully back to her happy self. "Oh, he's very sweet! My father's the one that built me! I'm sure you would love him!" She explained.
"Wow." Ruby giggled. "He built you all by himself?" She asked.
"Well, almost! He had some help from Mr. Ironwood." Penny explained.
"The General?! Wait... Is that why those soldiers were after you?" Ruby asked in shock.
"They like to protect me, too!" Penny confirmed.
"They don't think you can protect yourself?" Ruby scoffed.
"They're not sure if I'm ready yet... One day, it will be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and test myself in the Tournament." Penny explained.
"Penny, what are you talking about? Save the world from what? We're in a time of peace!" Ruby asked, confused.
"That's not what Mr. Ironwood said..." Penny said, equally confused.
"Check down here!" A soldier called off-screen.
"You have to hide!" Penny said, grabbing Ruby's shoulders, before lifting Ruby above her head effortlessly.
Ruby struggled and screamed as she is carried toward the dumpster. "Penny, wait! What are you doing? You don't have to go with them! I can help you!" She reasoned.
Penny didn't listen to this, however, throwing Ruby in the trash and lifting the lid so she could still talk. "It's okay, Ruby. They're not bad people; I just don't want to get you in trouble. Just promise me you won't tell anyone else my secret. Okay?" She asked, staring gravely at Ruby.
"I promise." Ruby said, lowering her head into the garbage as the lid was put down, but she lifted it a little to peek at the scene outside.
"There she is!" One of the soldiers said off0-screen as they ran up to her.
"Sal-u-tations, officers!" Penny greeted, cheerfully as ever.
"Why were you running? And what happened to the other girl?" The other soldier demanded.
"What girl? I've been by myself all day!" Penny said happily, but then hiccuped loudly, then smiled.
"You shouldn't cause such a scene." One of the soldiers said.
"Are you okay?" The other asked.
"Just a scratch." Penny said, showing off her "injured" palms.
"Penny, your father isn't going to be happy about this." The first soldier said.
"Please, just come with us." The second one said.
"Yes, sir!" Penny complied. Penny and the soldiers were heard walking away as Ruby looked on in sadness... until a rat screeched from below her feet, causing the young Huntress to fall and close the lid on herself.
Elsewhere, Dante, Ryu and Bayonetta had found and a couple of White Fang members from the rooftops, watching them flee from a nearby dust shop with all of its merchandise. "Bastards... Time to cut the fangs out." Dante said, about to jump down after them, but Bayonetta grabbed his collar.
"Slow your roll there, Schnee. We need to follow them back to their base, remember? Then we beat them up." She explained.
He chuckled a bit at this. "You're right. Thanks, babe. Good to know I've got someone besides Weiss to keep me in line." He said.
"And growing up taking care of a wild sister like Ruby, I am VERY good at keeping someone in line." She said, pressing her body up against him, leaning in both teasingly and intimidatingly.
"Hey, lovebirds, focus. They're getting away." Ryu called to them from another rooftop.
"Oh, yes. Coming!" Bayonetta said, hurrying over, a bit embarrassed she almost forgot her mission because she was flirting.
"Right. On our way." Dante said, not embarrassed, but mentally slapping himself for the same reason, rejoining his team stalking the White Fang members to their base.
In the ruined parts of Vale, the sound of an engine got closer and closer until Bumblebee pulled into the street and stopped just short of the camera, showing Yang Xiao Long behind the handlebars in her matching helmet.
Yang took off the helmet, gesturing with her thumb to the music playing nearby. "Come on, my friend's right in here!" She told Neptune as she got off the bike to reveal him sitting right behind her, hair and goggles messed up with a petrified expression of terror on his face.
"Cool... He said, sounding dizzy as he shook his head, somehow perfectly fixing his appearance before he got off the cycle, looking around worriedly. "And where exactly is... here?" He asked.
The music from Junior's Club got louder once inside and showed Junior behind the bar adjusting his cuffs as his henchmen stocked the bottles, carried boxes, and otherwise stood around on the dance floor, until...
"Hurry, close the door - she's coming!" The first thug shouted as he and another henchman proceeded to roll the doors shut and kept them closed with their bodies.
"What are you two idiots doing?!" Junior demanded, walking out from the bar.
The henchmen shouted incoherently until an explosion knocked them to the ground and forced the doors open, allowing a familiar face to walk in through the smoke as "I Burn" started playing.
"Guess who's back!" Yang asked confidently and happily as she continued to smile and posed as eight guns were pointed in her face with an equal number of angry Henchmen behind them. Though this doesn't faze her, she stopped and glared at the recording studio where the track was messing up until the frightened bear-headed DJ took the needle off the record and retreated back under the table.
Neptune appeared behind Yang as the henchmen continued hoisting their guns. "Yeah, so could you define 'friend' for me?" He asked.
"Stop, stop! Nobody shoot." Junior ordered as he cut his way through the crowd of goons, straightening his tie. "Blondie, you're here! ...Why?" He asked.
"You still owe me a drink." She said teasingly as she grabbed Junior by the arm and dragged him to the bar through the hired guns.
"Whoa-ho-ho-ho, what a woman..." Neptune said in awe, breaking from his love-struck state, staring to see the twins Melanie and Miltia Malachite standing beside him. "'Sup?" He asked.
"Whatever." Melanie and Miltia harrumphed together as they walked away, noses in the air.
Meanwhile, Blake's fingers traced three scratch marks on a wall before peeking around its corner and seeing a pair of horned Faunus as they were ushered into a building by a bearded man. She turned to Sun next to her. "This is it." She said.
"You sure?" He asked as Blake glared at him and started moving towards the entrance while unfastening her bow. "Y'know, I'm just gonna take your word for it." He said defensively.
The two walked inside the building to a hallway filled with cases, seeing another man announcing "New recruits, keep to the right!" at the young pair as they followed.
"I don't get it." Sun said, holding out the half-mask in his hand. "If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?" He asked.
"The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters." Blake explained.
"Grimm masks... That's kind of dark." Sun said.
"So was the guy who started it." She said, putting her mask on and walking on.
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you..." Sun grumbled as he followed her lead.
The new recruits to the White Fang were moving in a line to the side of the stage, a mere few dozen compared to the hundreds of white-vested, black-hooded soldiers to their left and up above in the balconies. Blake and Sun looked around themselves when they stopped, and a fully-masked man with tattoos standing started speaking before the large sheet emblazoned with the bloody wolf and claw marks.
"Thank you all for coming. For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!" The Lieutenant spoke.
The dark pants and brown shoes stepped forward before the orange tip of the Melodic Cudgel taps on the stage. The camera pans up to reveal none other than Roman, smiling confidently even as the crowd starts protesting.
"Thank you, thank you!" He said, waving mockingly as the crowd roared in anger at him. "Please, hold your applause!" He said.
"What's a human doing here?!" A faunus girl with deer antlers demanded, pointing at Roman from her place right in front of Blake and Sun.
"I'm glad you asked, 'Deerie'!" He taunted as he addressed her. "Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans... are the worst." He said, saluting as an example. "Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed!" He said.
"So, is he going somewhere with this?" Sun asked, leaning over to Blake.
"But, before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!" He explained as the crowd changed their tune and started agreeing with him. "Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life!" He accused, letting the crowd cheer as the two heroes shared a look. "And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around... No offense to any rodents in the room." He said.
With a snap of the fingers, the curtain fell, and the whole mass of Faunus applauded at the sight of the Atlesian Paladin-290 behind it, the mark of the White Fang painted on its shoulder. "Whoa, that's a big robot..." Sun said in shock.
"How did he get that?" Blake demanded.
"As some of you may have heard, this right here..." Roman began, tapping the giant mech. "...is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my 'employer', we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, 'hit the shelves'." He explained. "Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine... But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you." He boasted. "Any questions?" He asked, the White Fang's roaring applause telling him the answer.
"We should get out of here." Blake said to Sun.
"Will all new recruits, please come forward!" The White Fang Lieutenant ordered.
"Welp!" Sun said as the line surged forward with the two having to follow.
Back at the Club, Junior put down his glass as he sat behind the bar separating him from his interrogator. "I don't know!" He snapped.
"How can you not know?" Yang demanded.
"I haven't talked to him! I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here." He said, leaning over to point in Yang's face. "He paid up front, I lent him my men, and none of them ever. Came. Back." He explained.
"So where did they go?" Neptune asked, rushing to Yang's side to raise a question of his own.
There was a long pause, before... "What kind of stupid question is that? They never came back!" He snapped, turning to Yang. "Who is this guy?" He asked.
Yang pushed Neptune out of the way with one hand. "Don't worry about him; worry about me!" She ordered, Neptune straightening and standing to attention. "if I don't find out what I want!" She snapped.
"I already told you everything! Torchwick hired my boys, and I guess he wasn't happy with them, which is something I can relate to!" He shouted this at his own men, who grumbled and walked away in response.
"Come on, Neptune." Yang sighed, turning from the bar and walking away.
"We get everything we need?" Neptune asked, following with his hands in his pockets.
"Well, we got everything we can. Hopefully the rest of the team is having better luck." Yang said.
Dante, Bayonetta and Ryu finally tracked the White Fang members back to their base. "Alright, then. Now we can finally bust these punks." Dante said, texting Kratos to join them, before glaring back down at the warehouse.
"Finally. I was getting tired from watching up in the nosebleed section." Bayonetta said.
"Still, remember they've got a lot of Dust in there, so let's not blow everything up like usual." Ryu said.
"Why, Ryu! I am shocked and appalled you think that's all we- no, you're right, that's what we do." Dante said as the 3 jumped down, taking out the two guys about to close the doors and bursting in, catching everyone's attention. "Operation Repo!" Dante called.
"That's the best you could come up with?" Ryu said
"Even Yang would have something better than that." Bayonetta said.
"What?! You gotta be kidding me! That was good!" Dante complained.
"Get them!" A White Fang member shouted, half of the warehouse rushing towards our heroes, turning to the ones in the back. "The rest of you, move the stuff!" He ordered, before rushing in.
"Come on!" Dante said, rushing in.
"How did he become the leader again?" Ryu asked, rushing in as well.
"I honestly can't remember, but he's the only one of you boys I'd take orders from." Bayonetta giggled, joining her teammates. Dante laid down the beatdown quick with Cerberus, his ice nunchaku, landing a few hits on several White Fang members before knocking them all away with a wide, powerful swing knocking them all away with a limb or two covered in ice. Bayonetta jumped forward, landing and spinning on her hands with her bazooka tonfas strapped to her feet, knocking away another good few soldiers and firing the tonfas at one more decently larger soldier, blasting him back. Ryu also had his tonfas, battering another dozen or so soldiers and sending them flying, before combining the weapons into a powerful machine gun and firing at even more soldiers in the upper levels of the warehouse, causing several of them to fall back, but more of them to fall over the railing and collapse down to the first floor, unconscious.
"You guys are about to learn why you NEVER steal from a Schnee!" Dante said, spinning his sword and stabbing it into a ground, creating a large glyph underneath him, white wolf-like creature with glowing blue eyes (a Shadow from DMC1) leapt out of the glyph in front of Dante, rising high into the air and changing into a giant knife in mid-air, crashing down on top of a small group of White Fang members.
"What the hell is that thing?!" One of them demanded.
"Who cares, just shoot it!" Another shouted, all of them laying down fire on its body, causing it to react in pain and melt to the floor with a glowing white and blue orb floating above the puddle. They were shocked for a moments, but continued shooting it the wolf reformed, grabbing the nearest member and lifting him above its head, before exploding, blasting away the member he was holding and launching away the others as well.
The three of them then looked up to see the rest of the White Fang finish loading up, preparing to leave. "Let's hurry, they've got most the stuff loaded up! They'll escape any minute!" Ryu said, running forward. But before they could reach the few dozen bullheads, a much larger ship powered up in front of them.
"Oh, man. I hope the others aren't in as much trouble as we are right now." Dante said, staring up at the Atlesian Dragon, piloted by Roman's partner in crime, Neopolitan.
The White Fang was still cheering loudly as the recruits were marched to the stage, with Blake and Sun having no choice but to follow along.
"What are we going to do?!" Sun whispered to Blake.
"I'm thinking..." She hissed quietly.
Sun watched Roman lean on the robot, smoking his cigar and laughing with the girl beside him before he zeroed in on the two, frowning.) "He sees us..." He said, trying to smile and wave.
Blake then noticed the junction box on the wall. "He can't see in the dark." She said. With that, she unsheathed Gambol Shroud, transformed it into a pistol, and shot at the box, making the lights go out for the whole building and turning the screen dark.
"Don't let them get away!" Roman ordered.
"Sun! The window!" Blake called out.
"Stop them!" Roman snapped, before the two student Huntsmen crashed through the window and started running as fast as they could, the mechanized sound of running power signaling the Altesian Paladin's activation, and it crashed through the wall of the building in pursuit of the runaways, who leapt off of a car and managed to get on the roofs. The Paladin followed beside them on the street as Blake and Sun ran, jumped and flipped from rooftop to rooftop.
"So you wouldn't happen to have... oh, I don't know... some form of backup?!" Sun shouted in fear amidst twirls in the air.
"On it!" She said, grabbing her scroll and put it to her ear as she continued to jump.
Weiss was seen leaving the Cross Continental Transmit tower's elevator when she grabbed her own scroll and listened to Blake's message.
"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-" Blake called over the scroll, before being interrupted.
"HEEEELLLLP!" Sun screamed in the background.
Weiss rolled her eyes and starts running out the door, a little smile on her face as she does so.
Ruby was still beside the dumpster, which was now boarded up, possibly to keep the rat imprisoned, staring at her scroll as she received a call.
"Big robot! And it's big! Really big!" Sun shouted.
"Oh, I am not missing this!" Ruby said excitedly, running off to join the fight.
"Sorry, but we'll have to get back to you. We've got our own problem at the minute, thank you!" Dante said, dodging an energy beam from the Dragon's mouth, a small explosion rising from the spot he had just been standing on.
Yang was back on the motorcycle in her helmet and sunglasses with Neptune looking at the scroll in her hand over her shoulder.
"That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something!" Sun explained.
"Where are you guys?" Weiss asked.
Right on cue, behind them, Blake and Sun could be seen running through the street with the Paladin hot on their heels before they all disappeared from view. "HURRYYYY!" Sun screamed in both person and on the scroll.
"I think that was them." Neptune said.
"Yeah, I got it." Yang said, putting the scroll away, she quickly circled her ride around - much to Neptune's alarm - and drove off to follow them.
Back with Dante and the others, they quickly moved towards the exit as the Dragon lifted up from where it was grounded and fired at them, slowly flying after them through the warehouse and firing at them. Ryu and Dante made it out first, but as Bayonetta was escaping, Neo noticed a few falln dust crystals in her path and fired at them, creating an explosion that knocked the former Umbra to the ground. "Bayonetta!" Dante and Ryu shouted in concern.
Neo fired the energy cannon at the downed girl, but at the last second, she split apart into a swarm of bats, avoiding the laser and reforming outside of the warehouse and turned into a panther, moving as fast as Ruby using her semblance to cross the road and leap onto the building across from it, but as she was still about 8 feet in the air, she turned into a crow, 4 red feathers of energy coming off of her and shooting at the emerging ship, each hitting and making a small explosion that shook the aircraft a bit, before she turned back into her human form and landed perfectly on her feet. "Oh, my... That was amazing..." She said in awe.
"What was that?!" Ryu asked in disbelief.
"I don't know..." Dante said, equally shocked, before smirking. "Plus side, my girlfriend's okay." He said, joining her on the rooftop.
"Dante. Always looking on the bright side. Even in the middle of a fight." Ryu said, remembering where he was, turning to face the ship as Neo recovered from her own shock, starting to fire at him, but he used a Ninpo to teleport next to his team.
Neo flew through the warehouse and high into the air, aiming and firing down at the heroes. "Find some cover!" Dante shouted, the three of them running across a few rooftops and then taking various places for cover on a large rooftop.
Fortunately, Kratos had had quickly reached their location, using his chains and swords to swing through the city until he reached his team, noticed them under fire from the Atlesian Dragon he'd seen an announcement for earlier. "Hang on, team!" He shouted, swinging towards the airship, creating his cestus and slamming into it the Dragon, Neo grunting as she and the ship were taking off-balance, struggling to level out as Kratos landed on the roof with his team.
"Nice timing!" Dante said.
"What'd I miss?" He asked.
"We found their hideout, but they cleared it out! Then we found this!" Dante said, pointing towards the Dragon.
Kratos looked towards the ship, then was shocked to see who the pilot was. "That's-!" He started.
We flash back to when Kratos was standing outside the info broker's office, talking to the girl with the cat-eared motorcycle helmet. "Your sister?" He asked, looking at a picture of the multi-colored girl displayed on the scroll held in front of him.
[My little sister Neo, yes. My name is Celty. We both grew up on the streets and tried to make a living for ourselves. I have a... MOSTLY legal job as an underground transporter, but Neo got involved with this crime boss, Torchwick.] She said, showing him the picture of the Crime Lord's mugshot.
Kratos got a chuckle from the picture, seeing Torchwick with several bruises and imagining he was the one who placed those on him, before looking up. "I'm aware of who he is." He answered.
[It's not that he treats her bad, he's good to her... but lately they've been getting into some serious stuff, WAY worse than their normal business. They're getting in some serious trouble and I just want to get her out of it.] She explained.
"I'll see what I can do." He said.
She jumped with joy at hearing this, even hugging the pale Huntsman-in-training. [Thank you! I'll give you my number! Let me know when you track her down and I'll be there in a flash! or... Whatever a dark version of a flash is...] She said at the end, Kratos raising an eyebrow.
"I know that pilot! I met her sister at the informant's place! We have to be careful not to seriously hurt her!" Kratos explained.
"Considering she's in a vehicle loaded with Dust and other explosives, that might be a bit hard." Ryu said.
"Then we'll have to either destroy the cockpit and get her out or damage the main the propulsion systems without damaging the main body or weapons to the point of blowing up the explosives!" Bayonetta explained.
"Alright, then! Perfect time for team attacks!" Dante said with a smirk. "Ryu! Hellish Dragon!" Dante announced, spinning Rebellion around and stabbing it into the ground, a yellow glyph appearing under him, several others about 4 feet in diameter appear in the sky.
"Right!" Ryu said, grabbing some fire dust and using his Ninpo, becoming a massive serpent dragon, flying through the yellow glyphs to gain electric powers before crashing into the battleship, again taking it off balance with the powerful explosion while the electric surge overloaded and short-circuited some of the functions on the aircraft.
Unfortunately, one of the things that were still functioning were the guns, which open fired on Dante and Bayonetta, but their two remaining teammates jumped in the way, Kratos shielding himself and Dante with the shield that accompanied his spear while Ryu protected himself and Bayonetta with Dabilahro. "We have to take out those guns or we'll get shredded!" Bayonetta said.
"Slice of Lilith!" Dante said, him and Bayonetta jumping out from behind cover, Dante throwing Rebellion around and catching it when it boomeranged back while Bayonetta drew Rakshasa, flinging energy waves from the swords as the two fought and struck in beautiful dancing motions while their weapons sliced apart the ship's guns, ending Bayonetta leaning back and Dante catching her with one hand (like in the waltz or some ballroom dance I don't know), confetti and smoking shooting from nowhere as a light from nowhere shined down on the couple, who then kissed.
"Oh, brother." Kratos said, facepalming.
"I don't know what to be more embarrassed about, their needlessly flashy moves or their making out in the middle of a fight." Ryu said, shaking his head.
Neo growled from within the machine and fired a barrage of missiles at the couple, who broke off the kiss and looked at them coming with barely any concern, more annoyed their make-out session was interrupted than anything. "Dark Dragon." Dante said simply, Bayonetta freezing time, which didn't effect Ryu because of his own time altering ninpo, allowing him to jump in front of the couple and shoot a Piercing Void at the crawling missiles, detonating them at a distance where they couldn't hurt the heroes as Bayonetta restarted time.
Neo was shocked her missiles had been destroyed, before a large scowl stretched across her face at her rapid loss of weapon options. She then shoved the control stick forward, sending the ship charging at them, forcing them to dodge as she all but took the roof off the building they were standing on. "Ooh, that's gonna take a dent from my wallet to fix." Dante said.
"If we don't slow or bring that thing down, half the buildings on this block will wind up without a roof!" Ryu said.
"You're right! Stygian Spartan!" Dante ordered, Kratos cupping his hands to make a foothold as Bayonetta ran towards him, jumping and placing a foot in his hands, allowing him to throw her high into the air above the Dragon, then throwing his spear after her. She transformed her whips into a bow, kicking down the spear and impressively firing 3 arrows at once to hit the turbines of the drone-shaped aircraft, creating decent explosions and causing the ship to sway violently out of control, now struggling to maintain altitude, doubtlessly unable to charge at them again.
"We're doing good, but we're not cracking that cockpit and getting her out of there like this." Ryu said, noting how their automatic weapons were having little to no effect on the windows of the cockpit Neo sat in, the small girl sticking her tongue out as she was safe from the bullets harmlessly bouncing off her windshield.
"Then hit her with something bigger! Draconic General!" Dante shouted.
Ryu nodded, transforming Dabilahro into the Howling Cannon and Kratos drawing the Blade of Remnant, swinging the massive claymore and shooting lightning balls that connected and powered up Ryu's cannonballs that slammed into the cockpit, sending a spiderweb of cracks through it. incredibly limiting Neo's visibility while the flashing red lights and danger alarms signaling severe damage drilled away at her other senses. Neo was now furious at this, her eyes changing color back and forth before she powered up and fired the main energy cannon at the heroes. "Ryu!" Bayonetta shouted.
"Got it!" He said, firing the Torn Sky Blast to hold back the beam, the two appearing to be at a stalemate. "I can't hold it back for long! Hurry and take out the head!" He grunted.
"Divine Hell!" Dante announced, much like with Bayonetta, getting a launch into the air from Kratos, before swinging down Cerberus for Kratos to grab onto, allowing Dante to fling him higher into the air, Kratos making his cestus and shooting one of the heads towards Dante, grabbing him and flinging him even higher into the air, before Dante tossed him the nunchaku and reeled him in once more, the two now about 20 feet in the air above the aircraft, powering large amounts of fire and lightning dust respectively into their gauntlets, Dante having been wearing his Ifrit gauntlets and greaves the whole time, before the two crashed down, fist first into the neck of the dragon-headed battleship, breaking it off with a powerful explosion, cancelling the beam and causing it to land on the roof in front of them.
Neo hopped out of the destroyed cockpit, staggering dizzily for a bit, before glaring at the heroes and pulling out her umbrella, preparing to fight, before she heard something that sounded like a horse's whinnying as a bike came from nowhere and slammed down in front of her, Celty getting off and angrily storming up to her. [Neopolitan!] The scroll that was soon stuffed into the smaller girl's face read as the older girl stood in front of her, one hand on her hip, the other holding the scroll.
Neo jumped a bit, almost dropping her scroll, typing shakily as she prepared her message. [Celty?!] The opposing scroll read as it was shown to the taller girl.
"Whoa, whoa, what?! Who's this?" Dante asked.
"The sister I mentioned before. I told her where we were when I was shielding us from the bullets. She's here to TRY and taker her sister home." Kratos explained.
[I've been looking all over for you! I told you from day one Torchwick was dangerous and now look what he has you doing! Stealing brand new military grade weaponry! That's a WAR CRIME! You could be executed for that!] Celty's scroll explained as the older girl gestured and moved as if she herself was talking and scolding the girl in front of her.
[Roman's in deep this time! He needs me! I'll help him through this no matter what!] Neo typed her rebuttal, sticking the scroll in her sister's face, pressing it right up to the helmet visor.
[Your obsession with that bowler hat bozo is going to get you KILLED!] Celty typed back, moving the scroll closer and further from the smaller girl's face, pointing at the capitalized word.
[I can take care of myself! I don't need you! Roman's the only one I need and I'll stick with him whether you like it or not!] Was the reply from Neo's scroll as the younger sister glared and stuck her tongue out at the older one.
Celty leaned back, a bit shocked, before leaning in close with her scroll in Neo's face once again, lowered just enough so she could see the glare most likely coming from under the helmet. [Don't talk to me like that, young lady! I have half a mind to bend you over this bike and spank you in front of these kids that already beat your ass!] Celty threatened.
[You wouldn't...] Came the response with a threatening, but slightly nervous glare from the younger girl.
Back with our heroes, they all sweatdropped as they witnessed the two girls going back and forth, simply sticking their scrolls in each other's faces with varying degrees of intensity. "Uhh... Anyone know what's going on anymore?" Dante asked.
"I THINK they're both mutes. They must only be able to talk through their scrolls." Kratos guessed.
"Count every blessing you have, I suppose. Every single working function of your body is a miracle if even speech isn't guaranteed." Ryu said.
"Team RWBY's mission CANNOT be this crazy." Bayonetta said, before Neo suddenly got a text, quickly checking it and her eyes shooting open before jumping backwards and vanishing. "What the?!" She asked.
"What happened?!" Dante asked.
[Damn! She went after Torchwick! He's in some kind of trouble with a bunch of Huntresses.] Celty explained.
"That's probably Ruby and the others! We need to get there now!" Bayonetta said.
[I'll give you a hand, since you at least helped me find out my sister's alright.] Celty said, turning to her bike and snapping her fingers, the bike suddenly moving in a shifting ball of shadows until it became a Bullhead.
Team SCRN was shocked by this before saying the only thing they could. "That'll work." They all said at once.
Meanwhile, Blake and Sun somehow made it to the highways, jumping down into the busy street and continuing their escape by hopping on cars while the Paladin followed them by pushing vehicles out of the way. Sun paused to look at their pursuer's path of destruction and offered a quick "Whoa!" before leaping onto more cars, much to the anger of Roman inside the robot, his face surrounded by blue holographic screens.
Yang and Neptune were able to follow the mech suit on their ride, coming up next to it as it runs. "We've gotta slow it down!" Yang said.
"Got it!" Neptune said, reaching for his gun, but Roman noticed the pair on his sensors and crashed into a multitude of cars with the Paladin's strong bulk, sending them flying towards his chasers.
"Hold on!" Yang ordered.
"Wuh-oh!" Neptune screamed in shock.
Yang swerved, leaning her bike to the side in avoidance of flying debris while Neptune flailed in a panic. Back on two wheels again, Neptune unslung his weapon, aimed as sparks start flying, and fired several bolts of blue electricity at the Paladin, causing Roman to grimace from the force of the attacks. Switching strategies, Neptune flipped the gun and it grew a shaft and an energy blade at the end, then jumped from Yang's bike as the spear's head split in three and drove it into the top of the Paladin. Sun and Blake paused in their car-hopping to look back.
"Neptune, hang on!" Sun called.
Neptune was trying his best, but the mech kept bucking and threatened to make him fall. Closing his eyes, Sun smashed his palms together, and from the golden Aura around him, his Semblance created two glowing outlines that copy their creator, leaping off and going back over the tops of vehicles to collide into the Paladin's front. They explode into blinding light upon contact to let Sun leap forward with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang held high, but Roman finally turned enough to send Neptune flying off and knocking into his leader, sending both of them off the highway.
As Blake looked on from her spot, she heard a voice from her scroll. "Blake! I'm in position!" Weiss announced.
She was seen twirling over a highway and landing in the middle of the road, holding Myrtenaster at the approaching Roman. He smiled as his robot charged the girl, but Weiss spun and plunged her blade into the ground, summoning a circle of ice across the pavement that caused the Paladin to slip and crash, actually flying over the young Huntress and falling off the ramp, landing further down before Ruby, who already had her Crescent Rose out in scythe form.
The Paladin stood back up, and the rest of Team RWBY fell beside their leader to took up positions. Roman chuckled, moving the robot slowly towards the girls.
"Freezer Burn!" Ruby announced, her and Blake jumping back out of the way as Weiss performed her same ice-circle trick, but backed out of Yang's way when she jumped into the air and hit the epicenter with her Ember Celica, creating a wave of mist that surrounded Roman. Immediately, the Paladin activated its laser sensors to make up for the lost sight, but it barely saw the afterimage of Blake and narrowly missed the dashing Yang. A gun managed to fire at the area between Blake and Yang, but out from the blast came Ruby, who slashed the metal with her blade, causing it to falter.
"Checkmate!" Ruby ordered again. Blake and Weiss went in this time, each girl going for the feet until Weiss jumped up and stabbed a sensor before leaping off of a white glyph. Roman lifted the Paladin's foot to crush Blake, but Weiss summoned another glyph under her teammate to launch her backwards before the crushing blow could land. Roman growled and fired off the missiles, but Weiss and Blake flipped backwards as the explosions merely hit where they had been.
Finally, Weiss jumped up too high, and Roman fired a double energy blast at her. Myrtenaster absorbed the damage, but Weiss was thrown back, so she casted a beam of light from her weapon to the ground under Blake. She would've hit the ground, but Dante suddenly leapt from nowhere and caught her. "Dante!" She said, surprised.
"Helping your teammate instead of worrying about yourself. I'm impressed, sis. Selfless and risky. I like it." He said, setting her on her feet.
The beam Weiss fired formed a yellow clockwork circle that was absorbed into the Faunus girl and let her slice through each launched missile with ease in a flurry of super-fast slashes.
"Team! Unload!" Dante shouted, pulling out his sniper rifle the other members of Team SCRN firing down their explosive weapons: Bayonetta's bazookas, Ryu's howling cannon and Kratos' Blade of Remnant shooting lightning balls on the monstrous machine, staggering it heavily.
"Ladybug!" Ruby ordered, running into the fray. Ruby shot herself forward and cut at the robot's legs, then turned as Blake aimed herself at the giant's feet as well. They both dashed forward and attacked at the same time, circling each other around the Paladin with each strike until they both launched themselves into the air and came down together on the shoulder, cutting off the left arm entirely.
Yang didn't waste a second, jumping onto the Paladin's back and punching the top with fiery shotgun blasts. Roman was knocked around in the cabin, but seeing as he couldn't reach her with his remaining mechanical arm, he ran backwards through two columns and left her embedded in a third before backing away and turning towards her. Just as she was falling down, the remaining arm extended a closed fist, and when it punched her, she flew through the column and doesn't get up.
"Yang!" Blake and Dante shouted worriedly.
"Good game, Torchwick, but I'm afraid it's over now. You just screwed yourself over." Bayonetta said, knowing what happened when Yang took serious damage like that.
"Don't worry! With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special." Ruby explained to the two.
Yang slowly got back on her feet, hair burning a brilliant white as she clenched her fists. Sensing victory, Roman threw a punch, but Yang caught it in her own hand, despite the ground cracking beneath her and, eyes red with rage, smashed her knuckles into the second arm, obliterating it under her force.
Getting desperate with his armless robot, Roman immediately kicked Yang to the side, but as she passed her sisters and teammates... "Bumblebee!" Ruby announced. Blake threw her Gambol Shroud out for Yang to catch while flying, and the Faunus used the momentum to swing the glowing girl around for a final hit to the robot. Roman, however, stepped out of the way just in time to avoid complete destruction.
"We have to slow it down!" ruby shouted.
"And how do you propose we do that?" Weiss asked.
"I've got a few ideas." Dante said.
"Ice Flower!" Ruby announced again.
"Chill Out!" Dante called, tossing Cerberus to Bayonetta, she rushed forward on her Odette ice skates, skating and doing figure 8's between the robots legs, hitting them and freezing up the legs until they were entirely frozen, noticing Ruby and Weiss were ready and jumping away.
Twirling their weapons so they both pointed at Roman, Weiss created a series of glyphs in front of the scythe's sniper barrel, and a single shot through the circles created a dazzling spiral of energy that creates large icicles upon impact with the Paladin. Ruby continued to shoot as Weiss freezes the fire, and as the ice completely envelops the robot's body, Blake swung her partner around in a circle one more time, but with Roman unable to move, the Paladin was hit by the speed and power of Yang's fists, flying into the air before crashing down in a hundred pieces and a defeated criminal.
Roman got up, slightly dazed but unharmed as he inspected the damage while brushing himself off. "Just got this thing cleaned..." He grumbled.
He looked up just in time to see Yang, still burning with her absorbed power, fire a single shot at the defenseless thief, but he was saved at the last instant when Neo dropped in front of him and merely opened her pink umbrella, deflecting the blast entirely. "Oh, right, we forgot about her." Dante said, rubbing the back of his head as the rest of team SCRN joined up with him and Team RWBY. The new arrival hung the weapon over her shoulder as Roman addressed the victors.
"Ladies, gentlemen, Ice Queen..." He said in farewell.
"Hey!" Weiss snapped.
"Always a pleasure! Neo, if you would..." Roman said, looking to his partner in crime.
The pink-and-brown girl curtsied her enemies with a bow, but Yang will have none of it, charging forth with fists raised to strike the outlaws. "Yang, wait!" Kratos called.
But suddenly, their images broke as if made out of a mirror and the group turned just in time to see them escape in a Bullhead. The rest of team RWBY and SCRN ran up to Yang's side, who now cooled down with the end of the fight.
"So I guess he got a new henchman..." Yang hugged.
"She's been with him for a while. The girl in black was her sister. She asked me to help track her down." Kratos explained.
"Either way, I guess she really made our plans... fall apart!" Weiss joked, smiling and looking at Yang.
"Not bad, sis. Finally making jokes with the gang." Dante said proudly, patting her on the back.
"No. Just... no." Yang simply stated while Weiss and Dante smiled, Ruby giggled, and Blake and SCRN started walking away.
"What- But, you do it!" Weiss pouted, getting mad.
"There's a time and a place for jokes." Yang said.
"You joke every single chance you get, you hypocrite!" Bayonetta said.
"You know me too well, sis." Yang said.
"Was this not it?" Weiss asked.
"It was fine, sis." Dante said, earning a smile from his sister.
"No, it just wasn't very good." Yang said as she followed Blake."Better than some of yours." Dante said.
"Oh, you did not!" She snapped.
"Well, at least I'm trying!" Weiss pouted.
"I thought jokes were supposed to bring people together." Kratos said.
"Good jokes can. Bad jokes can tear people apart faster than Ruby can run." Bayonetta said.
"Hey, NOTHING'S faster than me!" Ruby boasted, before realizing something. "Wait... Where are Sun and Neptune?" She suddenly wondered.
"Do we HAVE to find them?" Ryu asked.
Sun and Neptune were sitting in the middle stools of the "A Simple Wok Noodle House" eating their plates of noodles with the Shopkeep behind the counter and their weapons leaning on the other two stools.
"They're probably fine, right?" Neptune asked.
"Probably." Sun confirmed.