Moments before the crash…
The struggle for victory raged on and each member of opposing forces was locked in a battle that no one wanted to lose. At this impasse, team RWBY and Adam faced each other and continued their battle.
Swing after swing, punch after punch and retaliation upon retaliation had long drained the front-line fighters of Blake and Yang but their war of attrition was working, Adam was slowly getting pushed back as fighting four people at once couldn't work for anyone.
Blake breathed heavily, leaving behind a statue of ice that gets sliced by a red blade. "Ruby!"
Ruby stops firing and reloads as the distraction done by Blake makes her look to her partner with a smirk, "Weiss, Ice Flower!"
Weiss stops her own attacks and with a flick from her hands a glyph of ice forms around Ruby's sniper rifle. Ruby takes aim, using the opportunity presented by Blake to overwhelm Adam with attacks from ice.
"Grah! Annoying little pests!" Adam managed to keep himself upright as he dodge growing shards of ice but his left leg gets hit as more bullets come, forcing him into a stance for his Semblance.
"Bumblebee!"
Not letting Adam fight off each of her ice-enhanced attacks, Blake and Yang join together in their attacks. Latching onto one of Blake's Gambol Shroud, Yang builds up her speed as Blake spun her around and releases.
Adam couldn't react to one without the other, he had to choose whether to avoid a direct attack from a Yang or keep getting hit by Ruby's ice attacks, potentially getting hit hard or getting frozen.
*BOOM!*
Adam panics, his calm mind shattering when the train suddenly forces all of them to topple over… apart from Yang who hasn't stopped and was now barreling towards him. No matter, he thought, he could always return whatever damage Yang was going to cause.
"Yang! Watch out for his semblance!" Blake warned.
Adam tried raising his arms to block ensuring he would absorb all kinetic energy and unleash a wave of empowered steel.
Tried.
How couldn't he raise his arms?
Ice.
Adam saw ice everywhere on his arms and legs, he missed it during the crash and sudden stopping of the train, and instead of avoiding Ruby and Weiss' ice attacks or Blake and Yang's kinetically devastating punch, he couldn't avoid either.
And when it all ended, he could only see white.
Perhaps fighting four-on-one wasn't the most ideal of circumstances. He should've just retreated the moment he saw more than he could handle, he underestimated these girls as if they were just nothing more than humans.
Prideful, vengeful, and decisive.
Yet when the last one mattered most, the other two clouded his judgement. Adam wanted Blake back, to kill her friends who dare to try and stop the White Fang.
What resulted was his head becoming heavy as he tried resisting getting knocked out and his body launched back.
Adam stood up after his body kissed the dirt and grated his body, his aura shattered, and his pure willpower was the only thing driving him forward. He wouldn't get captured, he didn't want it!
"Guhaa…. Hrkkk!" He couldn't speak, Adam's words hung at his throat and only wheezes and grunts came from him. The others probably knew what he was trying to say anyways.
"Adam, stop." Blake approached with the rest of her team on standby, ready to step in if something were to happen. "You're defeated and the train has been stopped, there's no way out except for us to take you in."
Through all the pain and all the blood escaping his wounds, Adam screamed, "Never!"
With the last of his strength, he lunged forward.
And then black.
Adam's body was sent to the roof and a mass of armour came from underneath, growing to its full size as Maus followed where his instinct took him from the sound of battle.
"Woah." Yang couldn't fathom how big and painful that must have been and then her eyes wandered to the behemoth. "Holy shit-"
"Swear!" Ruby chastised her.
"But, Ruby! Look at him! Who's that and why is he so big?!"
Everyone did in fact admire Maus' large size, constructed out of pure German steel and weighing big enough to collapse any bridge in existence. The only thing preventing that was its newfound abilities from getting called by Ruby to another world.
"Maus," Ruby answered, her memories of that dream not fading due to her writing down everything she had seen. Experimental and secret, not even Tiger knew of his creation and neither did Iosif.
"...Yes?" Maus asked.
"...Can I touch you?"
"..."
"..."
"Ja."
The next day…
Mountain Glenn.
Its name was uttered over and over and the popularity of the word spread soon after it was reported that the White Fang and its local Valean leader had been arrested and taken in.
Team RWBY was now a household name.
Everyone knew who took down the powerful leader and stopped the train carrying enough bombs to breach the city's defences. Thousands of Grimm came but were reported to all have been killed inside the subway system.
It was a decisive victory that the public had been shown, rather than negativity, they were all amazed and practically demanding that the girls of team RWBY be awarded for their bravery and actions that night.
They were ignorant of the fact tanks were involved and due to this, the people of Vale saw their actions as nothing less than miraculous and impressive. Fighting droves of White Fang, thousands of hungry beasts of Grimm soon after, defeating the leader and then stopping a calamity that would've killed hundreds and destroyed property.
Walking side by side, Ozpin and Ironwood walk toward the beige-washed rooms of the council building. The incident within Mountain Glenn has made him busy at every hour, they couldn't hide the fact that team RWBY, a first-year team was actually commissioned as a special operative with even more 'special' traits.
"Opzin, this was close to being a disaster but Ruby had held her ground and made a name for herself. I don't think we can keep her employment as one of Atlas' operatives an uncommon secret."
A small chuckle left the headmaster's mouth. "I would imagine Ruby would not appreciate her popularity. Advanced by two years, leader of her own team, defeated Roman Torchwick and his Assassin companion, one of her tanks intervened in the CCT, and now the hero that saved Vale. Now she's going to be known as the youngest special operative directly taking orders from you and has ranked above the common enlisted men and NCOs."
"About Ruby and her vehicles, I've sent Taiyang some men to widen the search and call for that ship he spotted near Patch. He should be shouting out Ruby's full name by now, with any luck we can finally find this vehicle."
"Have you told all your soldiers searching for tanks to yell Ruby's name?"
"No, not yet. Only a few my operative brought with her knows why they yell Ruby Rose's name. This power of hers might have already leaked."
"...and the deal?"
A smile gets drawn from Ironwood's face. "Accepted, a few more steps into employing him are underway. Still, I have doubts as to why you even recommended this course of action. Although your plans have been working so far, I will keep my best operatives near them just in case."
"I know you are weary of this deal… but it will be beneficial now and in the future, criminals ran amok and have affected all corners of Remnant, a necessary evil is what we need. Besides, Ruby has proven that we may have yet seen what is possible and I am confident she will ensure his will to work with us."
"You must be proud of her."
"That's an understatement, I'm more than proud of her. So…" They stop in front of a door as Ozpin settled a hand over the knob. "Shall we report to the council of our success?"
"Of course, my friend. "
In another random motel...
Cinder has been biting her lips for hours, the anxiety of this level had not been reached ever since her time meeting Salem. How could she face her now? All of her plans have been overturned, her identity was at risk and she was surrounded by wary enemies.
It wasn't a sensible option to stay but it would be suspicious. She still wanted to try to make it work if only someone hadn't been involved.
"Mercury, why haven't you gotten closer to that childish brat? If you were close, we would've known they were actually working for Atlas and had been sent to stamp out Mountain Glenn!"
"Cinder, I can't tell you this without sounding like I oppose you but there was nothing we could do."
Cinder started an inferno in her hands.
"Oooookaayyy… Hey, Emerald can you tell her what you found on Ruby Rose before I get cremated?"
Their crazed boss suddenly snaps her head fast enough for it to look like she was possessed by a demon. "Speak, Emerald."
"Ma'am, with the knowledge that you have fought a vehicle in the CCT, I investigated more and looked closely at team RWBY's actions. Often I see them talking to one another but I hear names that I do not recognize. Mercury found tracks that looked like these which mirrored the ones you described before."
"So… Ruby has been interfering with us since the beginning?!"
"That would look to be the case. She's being supported by-"
"Emerald." Mercury cuts in. "I don't think telling her that these things can go poof and have magic properties is a good idea when her eyes have been erratically shaking this whole time you were speaking."
"Oh, should we run?"
They looked back to Cinder starting to literally get covered in flames.
"Yes, yes we should."
That day, amongst the headlines of the victory of the White Fang and Grimm, there would also be news on a motel being burnt by a stove left on. No one would know what exactly was the cause but it would be forever in the minds of two henchmen that bore their eyes on an inferno of rage.
Meanwhile...
Taiyang flew along the sky, his eyes glued to the constant azure waves. More Grimm had kept pestering them but the trained huntsman could always take care of them easily.
"Sir, communication has just been sent. Special Operative Winter Schnee is arriving near the docks in Patch." The pilot's voice came through the headphones on Taiyang's head.
"So that general sent one of his own? Can't say I'm surprised. Let's go. We already marked this location, hopefully, we can finally find whatever I saw."
Their bullhead turned and left the area, Taiyang held on tight as he opened his scroll and answered messages and looked at the news.
"Hmm… prices of dust have settled to normal and the Vytal Festival decorations are looking nice. The news seems good-"
What he did first was to pop his eyes out of their sockets. It didn't actually pop out, that's just how it looked and felt.
"Huh?! No, no, not again! Ruby what have you and your sister been doing?!"
His worries had been sensible, her daughters were once again involved in another incident. At first, it was a mastermind criminal and an assassin, the next was a mysterious woman that attacked the CCT, and now it was a terrorist organization.
"I'm so going to ground them for being so reckless in fighting literally everyone in Vale… at least they won." He still smiled at the sight of the news showing a paparazzi picture of the four. Blake had a neutral look, Weiss mailing professionally, Yang playfully hugged Blake and Ruby was trying to hide within her cloak.
"Sir, we're landing."
"Has it been that fast?" Taiyang stood up and walked to the opening of the bullhead, he saw a private VTOL craft, he recognizes the prominence of white as they landed safely within the area, soldiers were strewn around while Winter Schnee, older sister of Weiss Schnee, was standing with utmost stillness.
Taiyang left his own vehicle and headed towards the Atlesian Specialist, he was being expected so the soldiers around him saluted him since he was technically in command of the search as of now.
"Winter, how's Ironwood?" He was casual in his talk, to which Winter responded with stern professionalism.
"Sir Taiyang, the general is doing excellent in his duties to safeguarding Vale."
"Haaa… drop the sir, I should be retired by now so don't make me feel old. Have you seen your sister in the news lately? Crazy to think she was Ruby's teammate who is now also apparently an operative that was so secret, Ironwood kept it close."
Winter tried to keep a small smile from forming, her lips remained flat but the ends of her mouth started tilting upward. "Weiss' actions were reckless but they did the job finely, shall we start talking about our duties?"
"Right…"
"General Ironwood has given orders to repeat this phrase." Winter clears her throat, ensuring she wouldn't get misunderstood. "Ship of the Japanese Empire, the empress, Ruby Rose has given us the command to relieve you of your patrol of the seas."
"Hang on… empress?"
Rather than explain the whole 'ship and tanks from another world' thing to Taiyang since he didn't even know about it, Winter opened her scroll and offered it with a face-up palm.
"It is all in this report, specifically for now, it is what the general knows of the Japanese Empire. In short, it's an empire that ruled a large portion of Asia from another world. Ruby can call various machinery from this world and the ship we are looking for is believed to be part of the Japanese Empire. Ruby is now considered its empress due to the form of government it had been used to and would only respond if we mention your daughter's name."
Taiyang opened the document and had to choke on air after seeing almost a hundred pages. "Ok… I'm just going to believe what you said. I already have routes from my previous attempts in the search, I'll send you the details and we can cover more ground… or rather sea."
Winter nods and commands the rest of her own unit to form up and board their VTOL ships. Minutes came and the rest of the VTOL reached high into the sky as speakers now blasted whatever they wanted.
Mostly it was the phrase Winter had already briefed them about.
"Ship of the Japanese Empire, the empress, Ruby Rose has given us the command to relieve you of your patrol of the seas."
It was weird saying the phrase but almost an hour had passed when they all started to try and spot the naval ship that was supposed to be from another world.
"Nothing again, let's head to the next one."
The pilot answered back. "Yes, sir."
He then waited for a few minutes, Taiyang was tired from all the searching but he needed to find whatever was huge enough to start bombarding the cities of the world just based on the size he guessed.
"Ship of the Japanese Empire, the empress, Ruby Rose- woah!"
A massive bellow of a ship's horn creates a huge disturbance from underneath. Tayiang covered his ears and tried to recompose himself after the sudden sound of low-bassed horns.
"Oh… my… Brothers."
He had the same exact reaction to Ruby the first time she met a tank. This time, it was the most massive ship he had ever seen, he didn't even think any port could handle the size. The deck he could see from above, dozens upon dozens of anti-aircraft guns start to stop aiming at them.
'Was it going to shoot us just in case?'
Taiyang spoke again, trying to reassure whatever he just met wasn't going to start bombarding the entirety of Remnant by opening fire.
"What's your name? I am Ruby Rose's father, Taiyang Xiao-Long, it's her mother's side she has taken and-"
He was interrupted again by the booming sound of horns.
"The empress has sent her father! Tora! Tora! Tora!"
Wait… was that a woman's voice?
To avoid any confusion, yes, this is in fact the Yamato. I saw a review that said it wasn't, I don't know how this chapter said the opposite.
