RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart
Chapter 33: Civil War
The streets of Atlas were infested with loud screams of terror as civilians raced indoors or across the roads, desperate to get away from the nightmare that was the droids of the Atlas force. The robots red visors glowed brightly as they repeated the order,
"Martial Law: All non-Atlas police force and droids are to evacuate the streets and remain indoors until Weiss Schnee is captured. Failure to comply will result in arrest or termination."
Blake winced at the chaos unfolding before her, people shriek's of fear stabbing her ears, cars crashing into robots who soon opened fire and exploded the vehicles as drivers frantically exited, and some civilian's being shoved by a gun from the droids so hard they screamed in pain as they clutched their bruised faces or arms that broke when hitting the cement. The droids were honestly almost as much as a menace as the Grimm, their orders being the only thing keeping some stability as they didn't open fire on the people immediately if they hurried indoors.
"Now of all times, why did my Aura have to go dead?!" Blake said to herself, her spine chilling as she saw the carnage unfold.
Blake really wished she could do something right now, but not only was her Aura gone, she and her friends were completely surrounded by droids who aimed their blasters at them. Marrow was aghast the robots were encircling them, the tight space causing him to breath heavily as he remembered their close call in the mines. He hadn't escaped one death trap to fall to another.
"What the hell are you hunk of bolts doing!? Where hunters, Ace Ops even, I order you to stand down!" Marrow screeched, his cries startling Clover and Vine, they honestly never heard the new recruit of their team be so vocal before.
One droid slowly stepped forward and launched a ray of red light that scanned the group, making them wince as they covered their eyes to shield them from the brightness.
"Remind me to send Ironwood the bill for my cataracts surgery later." Raven groaned, her comment almost eliciting a smirk from her brother. He was amused she would joke at a time like this…. Hell that she would joke at all.
The droid retreated its light into its head, the visor soon beeping as it spoke up.
"Confirmation of the following individuals Hunters licenses: Clover, Marrow, Vine, and Harriet of the Ace Op's division. Order to stand down against these individuals confirmed."
The droid said, it's response bringing sigh's of relief to marrow and Yang, but Raven put a firm hand on her daughter's shoulders and shook her head. Yang's expression went dark at the sight of her mother's sharp gaze, it was never a good sign when she of all people disapproved of relaxing, it was the prelude to a dangerous battle about to happen. She gritted her teeth as she felt the pain in her ribs grow. She wished she could charge up her Aura and heal faster, but she still hadn't recovered just like Blake, if a fight broke out they'd be helpless. Raven, along with her brother, held a tight grip on their swords. They hadn't failed to notice the report from the droid only mentioning the Ace Op's and had a bad feeling what that meant.
Soon the droid jerked its metal head towards their direction, causing the Branwan siblings to get in between the injured girls, ready to cover them from all sides as the remaining droids eyed them specifically.
"However, the following individuals, Qrow Branwan and Raven Branwan are not found to have Atlas issued Licenses and are must surrender or be placed under arrest for defying martial law by remaining outside." The droid's declaration drawing the remaining one's around them to raise their blasters towards the siblings, drawing a cold sweat from them.
"We could handle a bunch of tin can's with guns but…" Qrow thought to himself as he eyed Blake.
"If we move these two will get caught in the crossfire." Raven bitterly thought to herself as if she read her brother's mind and eyed her injured daughter, who continued to breath raspy as she grabbed her rib painfully. They had to get her out of here to recover or this would be a blood bath. Should they just surrender and try to buy time to heal and fight back? No! The prison's in Atlas were made with cutting edge technology, it would be impossible to escape. Raven eyed her blade, she could try to summon a portal, but what if the droids blasted them before they escaped? Without their aura, Yang and Blake would be Swiss cheese from those guns. Raven thought for a moment,
"Should me and Qrow separate from these girls?" she said in her head. If the droids were after only them, girls could be safe while she made a portal and escaped. She glanced at her daughter and felt a pain in her own chest. She hated the thought of abandoning her again, after all she still felt the bitterness in Yang's voice and soul whenever she chatted with her since reuniting. Not that she blamed her daughter for her resentment; she had left for her whole life, even if for good reason, and knew it wasn't likely she deserved forgiveness. Her hesitation was simply out of fear of worsening that bitter resentment, but if it meant her daughter would be alive and free she Raven felt she could live with that.
As if fate cursed her for having hopes, she cocked her head towards the main droid as it lighted up its visor and showed images of Yang and Blake, shocking the group.
"In addition, the following indivuals, Yang Xiao Long and Blake Rose have had their Licenses revoked for colluding with the terrorists Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee and are under arrest by order of General Ironwood. Surrendor or die!" The droid commanded.
The group gave a thousand yard stare as they saw the wanted poster of the two girls. They couldn't comprehend why they were labeled criminals. They hadn't broken any laws, and there was no way Ruby and Weiss could have either.
"You cannot be serious! Were innocent and so is my baby sis and Weiss you metal shit heads!" Yang screamed, aghast by the indignant treatment they were receiving.
Yang gritted her teeth with rage as the droids charged their guns and aimed at her, causing her to close her eyes bitterly.
"Why couldn't this just happen to me?" she thought to herself. Elm's neck getting kicked by Mercury and snapping flashed threw her head. She felt her heart beat rapidly, the pain of her broken ribs being the only thing keeping her from hyperventilating.
Sadness and rage overtook her as she clenched her eyes roughly, causing tears mixed with blood to pour down her cheeks. She felt she deserved this treatment alone. Unlike Blake, Ruby, and Weiss who hadn't done anything wrong, she felt she deserved to be locked up or shot for getting the Ace Op killed due to her ego and temper. She especially felt bitter about Weiss, knowing how much she would martyr herself for how much trouble her status as an outlaw caused her team.
"It's not your fault Weiss… it never was." She said to herself. She bit her lip as she imagined the one she believed who truly deserved to be blamed for her friends misery, Cinder.
Yang saw her friend's crying face as she also imagined her Grimm claws and fangs as she screech in rage. That cursed witch Cinder not only took Weiss's dignity that night, she had also stolen her reputation and plunge them all into this mess, not that it was the first time that happened. Cinder had tormented her family for years, kidnapping Thorn and Ruby, using their semblances to reek havoc in their name, and now she may have cost her family their freedom in addition to their licenses; Ruby's dream was as good as dead because of that rotten bitch. She swore in that moment, as she prepared for her mother and uncle to inevitably brawl with the droids and risk their lives for her, she would plunge her bloody fist into that bitches stomach and roast her innards with all her firepower.
Blake crept closer to her angry partner, wiping the tears of blood from her eyes as she hugged her arm with her free hand. She didn't feel confidant they would both survive this ordeal and closed her eyes as she heard the laser guns charge up, ready to fire and end them. Yang unclenched her fist, returning the hug as she prepared for their fate. Suddenly, the sound of wires short circuiting and a clang caused the two girls to open their her eyes as they saw the image of a droid with a emerald blade lodge in its jittering neck.
(Painting the town ost: watch?v=w5qVRnG3FxA)
The others looked on in shock, they couldn't what the hell just happened. They didn't see the blade thrown it just… magically appeared out of thin air! The droids also paused, their hands motioning away from the trigger as they eyed the droid commander that was stabbed and collapsed to the ground, twitching its head as it's red visor powered off.
"Unknown enemy! Error! No enemy detected! Error! The droids unanimously declared as their heads twitched.
"Yeah, were did that come from? I don't see anybody!" Marrow exclaimed, but Blake smiled. She wasn't just grateful the droids paused their attack and gave them a breather, she heard something the others didn't, the crackling of ice forming at the droids feet.
"Jeez, I ought a kill you ice queen, you really gotta be a bitch and show off don't ya?" Blake muttered to herself, she hated how Weiss just had to wait to last second and endanger them to make a grandiose entrance. But hell, she was honestly just grateful to receive the help now.
The droids looked down to see their feet encased in ice, unable to pull them out despite their mechanize enhanced strength.
"Error! Movement limited by 80%, searching database for counter protocol!" The droids exclaimed in unison, but the hunters gritted their teeth and clenched their weapons, they weren't about to just let the droids have time to free themselves. Now was their time to attack and get over to Ironwood and smack some sense into him.
Not that either side would get much chance to do anything. Out of thin air a storm of rose petals zigged zagged left and right and a flash of green light shined as the sound of blades slicing against metal screeched the air. In the blink of an eye, a dozen droids heads detached from their metal bodies, spouting oil as they collapsed to the ground and their visors shut off. Blake and Yang, despite their jaws hanging in the air in surprise at first, felt their hearts flicker with joy as they saw the figure appear out of thin air before them, the 5'10 woman with lips red as the rose petals she produced, a black and red short haircut with a ponytail, a pink and red dress and silver eyes that shined brightly as the woman smiled with vigor. It was Ruby, and she carried not her scythe, but Penny's emerald blade in a reverse grip while exuding a confidant grin, much like her Uncle right now ever so impressed with her display of skill.
"Kid sure does have a good habit of showing up at the right time!" he thought to himself, not saying it out loud to avoid distracting her. He grabbed Harbringer and transitioned it into Scythe form as he advanced towards his niece, feeling a sense of nostalgia as he stood by her side. It reminded him of the days they trained in the Grimm woods in Patch, only she wasn't screaming in panic for help or that she was getting tired from killing so many hounds and wanted a cookie. He almost chuckled as he looked towards his left to see her, only to widen his eyes as she was instantly gone before he had to twirl his scythe to deflect a stream of lazar bolts fired at him.
"Where the hell did she go?! I knew she was fast but…" he grunted to himself, pondering how she escaped his sight. His sights soon turned to his back, he saw his niece Yang and Blake crouched on the ground to avoid any fire while Raven covered them, deflecting any stray shots for extra comfort. This sight eased Qrow as he felt confidant to head forward and kill these annoying robots. Clover had the same idea as he handed Harriet's body to Vine, who grunted as his aura arms enhanced to carry her and Elm's corpse, but the extra exertion was exhausting for him and the captain cocky grin didn't ease his irritation.
"Vine cover those kids, they can't take anymore shots today until their Aura recovers." He ordered his subordinate, who simply nodded and grunted as he formed two more vines of energy to whip around as he slowly walked towards Raven and the kids.
Clover then eyed the scene, there was smoke and fire from tattered vehicles and rubble from craters in the streets from all this chaos. People were quivering from within the buildings, but still didn't take complete cover as they still felt a dangerous curiosity to see the battle unfold. Clover formed a serious frown and glare at this, their curiosity would certainly get them killed if they weren't here. He soon eyed Vine and Raven covering the Cat Faunus Blake and Yang. He felt a pit in his stomach as he saw more droids advance towards them, if the people saw a massacre here today, the droids would be the least of their worries,
"Marrow delta formation now!" Clover ordered as he grabbed his fishing pole and snagged it around a startled Marrow. Whipping him around Marrow frantically cried as he was flung upwards above the robots. It was a tactic to quickly get Marrow behind the enemy for a pincer movement, but the rookie was clearly not used to this move that the captain had practiced with the others a bunch of times. Clover merely chuckled in amusement seeing the rookie's panic, before he slid and duck beneath a wave of lazars and struck with an aura enhanced roundhouse kick to the droids, creating a hole in their formation.
Marrow, for his part, clasp his head as everything felt dizzy from the shock of being thrown, but he quickly collected himself as he plopped against a buildings wall, his aura shining as he absorbed the blow. He soon saw the droids scrambling from Clover's attack, a couple aimed their blasters at Clover from behind. Marrow then reached for his gun, he had to protect his captain despite the irritating temptation to let them shoot his back and damage his aura, but didn't feel like getting a reprimand, honestly it made him shiver whenever Ironwood or Harriet did that to him and he could only imagine how bad the one a nice guy like Clover could give. With this in mind he aimed and blasted a few from behind before they could shoot. Another droid noticed this and shot towards him, but Clover hooked Marrow with his hook and yanked him towards him, narrowly avoiding fire and landing him into Clover's arms princess style to the formers embarresment.
"Stop that stupid grinning and drop me!" Marrow demanded.
"As you wish" Clover chuckled before promptly dropping Marrow on his but to his irritation.
His amusement grew as he paused in awe to see the sight before him. Ruby was twirling around her blade, slicing threw countless droids with ease as if they were mere pieces of paper. Such a young girl having such power without aura exertion was baffling to the older huntsman, though seeing Qrow limbo past the legs of another droid and bisect it with Harbringer made him realize where the prodigy got her talents from. Ruby soon heard the sound of another wave of droids coming, no doubt alerted from all the comrades of theirs shutting down and well…blowing up.
Soon they were frozen in place as a large pillar of ice encased them. Ruby glanced towards her right to see from the alley Winter and Weiss holding a saber together, the latter breathing raspily. Ruby frowned at this sight, she was thankful for the assist, but wished they remained hidden since they lost the cover her invisibility when they stopped touching her. Her fears proved true as a few remaining droids eyed the sisters.
"Weiss Schnee detected, advance and capture, destroy if resists."
They said in unison. Ruby's ear twitched at the word, "Destroy", and she formed an angry glare.
"Destroy her? OVER MY DEAD BODY" Ruby screamed as her aura shined throughout her entire body bright red, the others covering their eyes to avoid being blinded by the bright light. They soon saw Ruby petal burst not towards Weiss or the droids advancing towards her, but to the sky where she whipped around in a circle motion.
"What's she doing?" Blake asked confused.
"Knowing Ruby, something goddamn crazy as hell!" Yang yelled, her face giving a confidant smile despite her pain. She always knew her sister was full of surprises and wasn't going to disappoint them.
Ruby flickered in and out of petal bursts as she charged her aura towards Penny's swords that shined green and red together. Penny's AI felt an extreme surge of power and pleasure from this exertion of energy.
"Ooooooh I like that. What shall I do with all this Aura besty?" Penny echoed from within the storm cloud of rose petals.
"Let it all out besty!" Ruby screamed as she returned to petal burst form completely and formed a tornado from her motions. The droids were encased in the funnel that soon shined green and red as Penny and Ruby delivered a wave of energy slices from the blade within the tornado, slicing apart the remaining droids.
However, the circular motion made Ruby feel queezy, her head wobbling as she felt weak from the dizziness overtaking her.
"What a…rush…" she weakly said as she slipped out of consciousness and fell from the sky.
"Ruby!" Penny screamed from the sword that slipped out of her hand. As she plummeted to the ground with Ruby, she eyed her friend and felt an unusual feeling within her arise.
"What is this I feel, is it… frustration is what they call it?" Penny asked herself. She had always been upbeat and found a way to help or make the situation better for others, something watching Ruby taught her to do, but for the first time in her life Penny felt helpless. She was helpless to save her friend falling to her death, helpless to move and cover the fall, helpless to do anything at all now in this blade and she hated that. She grew fearful as she saw the ground come closer, was this going to be their end? She thought.
Thankfully, Ruby and Penny were snatched out of the air by Qrow and Raven, the latter in bird form as she landed with her brother and set both down gently. Qrow eyed his niece who wasn't moving at all, his lungs felt like rupturing from the stress he was feeling before he took a huge sigh of relief seeing Ruby give small chest movements, indicating she was breathing.
"Oh man! Don't go giving me heart attacks like that kid." He chuckled after sighing in relief.
Yang and Blake ran, despite their soreness, to her side as well; tears of happiness stinging their eyes as they hugged her.
"Girls!" a familiar voice yelled as they looked up to see a teary eyed Weiss with her arms wide open jump towards them and embrace the group hug. Ruby slowly opened her eyes, but felt her chest being crush from the pressure of their hugs.
"Girls… Can't breath." She meekly muttered as the team separated, letting Ruby take dramatic breaths of life. Winter walked up to an amused Qrow and Raven, her arms folded as she eyed the damage to the city done.
"Hopefully Ironwood doesn't take this out of your paycheck babe." Qrow joked, earning a sharp glare from the captain.
"Call me "babe" again, and ill freeze you like those tin cans over there." She sternly said as she pointed to the mountain of ice she made still hosting the stuck droids.
Soon a wave of cheers startled everybody as citizen's shoved doors open and ran outside to meet their heroes who saved them from the droids. Some asked them for autographs, others took their hands and forcefully shook them to Yang's displeasure, she was still really sore and her hands were stinging from the pain of her fire and lightning enhanced attacks earlier. Winter grinned as she saw this scene unfold, it was the perfect time to enact her plan. With a wave of her saber in the air, Winter released a glyph of ice dust that sparkled to get the crowds attention.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF ATLAS! Ironwood had betrayed out entire city! He sent death machines after you, tried to kill your protectors, and tried to take away your freedoms!" She yelled so everyone could hear.
Marrow, Vine, and Clover eyed each other nervously, they felt there were hints of truth to what she said, but betrayal? Sure Ironwood went a little too far, but it was clearly to ensue order and was within his legal rights as a general. They eyed the damage to the streets and building, Marrow wincing seeing his body shape indented on a crater in the wall he crashed into, and began to feel they did more harm than good intervening and helping their fellow hunters stop the droids.
The crowd focused on the damage too and began to feel rowdy. They started spewing words like "down with Ironwood!" or "Traitor hang him!" making the hunters present unnerved. Winter however, sought to capitalize on this outrage, with it Ironwood's era was over. She waved over to her sister, her arm around Ruby's shoulder holding her up as she glared at her sister.
"Together with these brave huntsman, including my sister who Ironwood condemned, Weiss Schnee, we have liberated this city from Ironwood's robot menace! She has helped save all of you and Ironwood wants her locked up?! Will we allow it?!" she asked.
"Nooooooo!" the crowd ranted in unison.
"Then my friends and family of Atlas, I will step up and remove the corrupt General from his position and instill order again, but without taking away your rights like he did, THIS I SWEAR!" She yelled, earning massive praise from the crowd who chanted,
"Schnee, Schnee, Schnee, Schnee!"
10 minutes later…
After the crowd dispersed after thanking the hunters, Weiss felt a little relieved, she was glad she wasn't going to be targeted by the Public at least.
"At least" she murmured as she eyed the Ace Ops. She knew they were the closest to Ironwood in authority and worked directly under them. She was worried they wouldn't so easily get caught up in her sister's speech and join them.
Her worries worsened as she suddenly no longer felt Ruby's presence on her shoulder and glanced around to look for her.
"Er… Ruby where did…" she stuttered before seeing her partner kneeling before the unconscious Harriet and dead Elm. Ruby had her mouth covered in horror as she saw the formers shattered and bloody leg and the latter not moving.
"What happened to them?" she fearfully asked, making Clover rub his neck awkwardly.
"We were ambushed in the dust mines and they…wait… WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" He asked in shock as he saw Ruby summon some vines from her fingers and injected them into Harriet's leg and Elm's neck.
"Adding my Aura to theirs, maybe I can help them?!" She yelled, she had to save them but didn't know if she had the Aura left, either way she had to try. Her expression grew horrific as she felt no pulse whatsoever in Elm's body. She quickly realized she was dead. Ruby took her vine out of Elm's neck slowly, tears stinging her eyes as she bit her lip. She soon froze up from a declaration from Marrow.
"Stay!" marrow yelled with an angry glare, causing Ruby to stiffen, but she didn't undo her vines. Marrow tried to yank them out of Harriet's leg, but to his shock, saw her bloody leg spasm.
It began to shine a little as it's holes closed, blood disappearing and the bone's regrow and align perfectly in place as they should. Marrow's focus wavering caused Ruby to be free, making her sigh in relief at the release of tension in her body. Harriet also gasped as she came too from a sudden bolt of pain and relief overtaking her at once as she looked to the source.
"What the hell is she doing to my leg!?" Harriet screamed in shock before a smack to the head from Clover drew her eyes towards him.
"Apparently, she's fixing it, so calm down that's an order." He said with a smile and his arms folded making her glare at her leg.
With a flash of red aura, the leg spasm one more time before Harriet felt a surge of energy envelop it once the vine left her wound, which closed shut promptly. In an instant she stood up and quickly ran around, her leg feeling good as new.
"Holy crap! I feel I could run 20 marathons!" she yelled.
"You usually do anyway, so I guess your back to normal huh?" Vine blandly stated, earning a chuckle from Harriet, who glanced at Ruby who was panting in exhaustion as her Aura guard dusted off her.
Ruby's team ran to her side, Weiss putting her arm around her again to support her up.
"You really like to show off don't you?" Weiss scolded her leader, who merely gave a weak thumbs up and smiled.
"Hey honey at least I didn't kiss her this time, can I get one?" Ruby weakly asked Blake, who put up a finger saying one moment please.
As Ruby pouted in disappointment, Qrow and Raven got in between the girls and the Ace Ops. They saw how Harriet and Vine in particular were now glaring at Weiss and knew it would be a bloodbath soon.
"Harriet, just so you know. While you were out, the General declared Martial law until Weiss Schnee was arrested. Her sister in fact, is trying to start a Coup as well." Vine said to Harriet, making the girl grit her teeth in anger.
"I knew you rich snobs wanted nothing more than all of Atlas. Guess being wealthy isn't enough, you gotta be actual kings and queens over the land before your satisfied huh?" Harriet roared at Weiss, who soon had her sister join the barricade of hunters around her and her team.
"Call it what you want, your boss went off the deep end and needs to go down instead of Weiss." Winter yelled.
"If we just arrest the your bratty sister, we can end all this right now, so hand her over!" Harriet demanded, her response was a stream of ice towards her from Winter, having lost all her patience.
Harriet darted past the wave and instantly got behind the 3 older huntsman. They were startled as they felt a gust of sharp wind fly past them as she darted towards Weiss, holding her by the throat as she clasped her captors hands and struggled to breath. Winter grunted as she drew her blade towards the Ace Op before her palm was snagged by Vine, who held her in place and shook his head. She was going to have to get through him first. Clover and Marrow eyed the scene unfolding, unsure who to support, their team or the poor girl getting the life choked out of her.
"You know what, I'm tired of asking, now there's only doing, and I'v wanted to do this forever now, Weiss Schnee your under arrest!" Harriet roared.
Ruby, Blake, and Yang gritted their teeth as they fought their exhaustion and advanced towards Harriet, their damaged weapon's drawn as they knew they had to save Weiss, even if it killed them or the Ace Op. Ruby bit her lip at that thought, she hated to think about killing a fellow huntress, but had to think of her partner first. "How did things get so chaotic so quickly?" she thought to herself as she swung Penny's sword at Harriet, it had only been a few short days since they arrived in Atlas. All seemed so beautiful at first, now the chaos unfolding had turned all around them into a total shit show.
Schnee Science Facility
The SDC held many departments revolving around dust, from medicine, to electronics, and to weapon's manufacturing. This was all made possible by the science division's efforts in fact. Testing different types of dust to see their reactions led to lightning dust being added to cell phones to enhance their performances. With such little dust being used to improve every day life, it wasn't hard for anyone to see the potentials for a kingdom or it's military a bunch of crystals could do. That was exactly the thought the White Fang had for many years, the mere notion of getting so much dust and using what layed in this facility to exact revenge and conquest on the human kingdoms was one of the wildest fantasies they could have. That's all it seemed like for many years, just a fantasy. The security was tight, and even if a terrorist snuck in, there was no way to sneak so much dust in or out without detection, until today that was.
Two cloaked figures quietly walked behind Whitely past some guards of the center. It was Cinder and Emerald, the latter concealing her and her lover through her semblance. Whitley soon flashed his company badge to showcase his new clearance and was allowed past the ray shields that covered the center by the guards. They were the same type that guarded Atlas and Mantle from so much as being touched by Grimm once at full strength. Cinder smirked at the sight of those shields that kept her pets away from having their fun slaughtering people, she was going to be happy to get rid of them, and with the chaos the heroes had to deal with fighting each other, it would be almost too easy. Until they a room riddled with ray shields and guards holding lazar blasters. Whitely had said the main control center in the building run by the corporate heads oversaw this section. His clearance alone was a gamble, there was no guarantee one owner could convince the guards to undo all that technology. This risk was unnerving, but silently amusing to the witch, she had been looking forward to a good battle and wanted nothing more than to have the cloak undone, rip these guards to shreds, and blast through the shields for the sheer challenge it presented before a hand waved in front of her.
"Stick close to me and don't make any sound. I'll do the talking." He confidently stated, earning a bland look from the two girls. They clutched their blades, ready for the rich snob to mess up and kill the guards once their cover was blown, actually they may just do it anyway for the fun of it.
Whitely showed his president ID to the guards who remained unflinching despite being before their new boss.
"Sorry sir, but until the whole corporate counsel contacts us we've been ordered to not let anyone past the shields." The guard said with a polite but firm tone to show respect.
"In case you haven't heard, I am in charge of the company now and so in charge of your paychecks." Whitely said with a smirk, but it soon faded when the guard simply shook his head in denial, his bluff not working. The president couldn't fire security unless they broke the rules, something these guards clearly knew.
Whitely spent the next few minutes trying to smooth talk the guards, all the while Emerald and Cinder just snickered in amusement seeing him make an ass of himself trying to be suave. A few more minutes passed and eventually Cinder got annoyed how long this took.
"Okay you know what, Fuck all this!" Cinder yelled, startling the guards and Whitely as she summoned a horde of Beowolves that promptly gutted most of the guards. Cinder and Emerald saw one pinned under the paws of one of her Grimm and held a hand up, pausing it from slicing his face off. The guardsman relief was short lived as the two girls gave him an evil smirk, his face turning pale as he felt their blades pierce his throat. Satisfied, Cinder panted heavily as she recalled all but one Grimm into her arm. It was an extreme exertion to summon Grimm past the shields, especially with Salem now so weak in her arm. Feeding her Grimm she summoned from the Dark Continent was the only thing keeping her captive alive and Cinder powerful, or at least more powerful. Whitely threw up as he noticed the guts and lifeless corpses before him, his senses overwhelmed by the rotting smell of blood. His loss of lunch was interrupted by the sole Beowulf before him grasp his throat with its demonic hand, snarling at him with drool and blood in its mouth. Whitely felt like he was staring at evil itself, it was the first time he was face to face with Grimm, and he couldn't imagine how hunters kept calm seeing these demons. He averted his glance to Cinder, anything to avoid seeing the wolfs face, only to see her smirk.
"What the hell are you doing?! Call it off we had a deal!" he yelled.
"The deal was I made you president, and you get me to the science lab. The deals done I'd say, which means we don't need you anymore rich boy." She menacingly stated as she grabbed the security key and his id badge from the ground by the guards corpses, which see slinged away in portals for Monstra. Whitely jerked his head around, his eyes bloodshot as he soon saw the wolf Grimm lick its black lips, readying itself for a meal as Cinder snapped her fingers. On que, the wolf released his neck and replaced its hands with its jaws at it clenched its teeth on it, splattering his blood like a geyser all over the place as Whitely screamed in horror before silencing.
As Cinder portal away his body and the wolf, she saw in her lair through the other end her numbers reach 5 and gave a satisfied smile. She was ever so close to summoning Monstra and destroying the Kingdoms. Her smile grew wider and more sadistic as she thought of Team RWBY, how she could imagine the look of despair in their eyes seeing her power. Emerald then swiped the security key into the control panel and undid the laser grid. As they entered the lab, they saw before them the package, the end game that would solve all their force field problems and ensure their invasion's success.
RWBY vs Ace Ops
Harriet darted around each girl as they delivered meek sword slices and punches towards her, not bother to release her grip on Weiss. The trio was too slow from their exertions, Harriet didn't even need to use her semblance, a fact which her grin said as she slugged Yang in the face, earning a roar of anger from the blonde. She had wanted to pummel Harriet since their first argument and couldn't stand she wasn't able to fight at her best and this girl was mocking them. Harriet simply caught a fist sent her way and whipped Yang around and slammed her into Blake, the latter's aura shattering as she collapsed. Suddenly Harriet felt something snag her leg and looked down, seeing a black cord wrapped around it.
"Now Ruby!" Blake yelled as she gripped the cord from Gambrol Shroud, unbalancing the Ace op and causing her to release her grip on Weiss who plopped to the ground.
(Dbz kai ost: Destiny plays
watch?v=I9Ac_O0hBP4)
Harriet saw the red head form a fist and yell as reversed her blade to smack Harriet's eye with the blunt of the handle. Harriet's aura shined as she rubbed her eye, staggering from the pain before she took Penny from Ruby's grip, shocking the girl as Harriet cut the cord around her leg and delivered a roundhouse kick to Ruby's stomach. Ruby felt the wind escape her lungs as she rubbed her stomach, Harriet threw Penny aside, wanting to finish this with her own weapon. Ruby slowly raising her head as she coughed to see Harriet grit her teeth and raise a gun to her face.
Ruby's eyes widen in terror, as did Yang as she watched the scene unfold, they were out of Aura so there was no way to survive that. Was she gonna die like this? At the hands of another Huntress?
In that moment, Harriet's hand trembled as she eyed Ruby's fearful face. Harriet couldn't tell why she was hesitating.
This girl was a traitor, they all were, so this should be easy, she was just doing her duty. She then remembered Ruby healing her leg, giving her a second chance at her career. She remembered seeing Elm's lifeless eyes in that cave and her outburst towards Mercury.
Why did she react like that? She wondered. When you lose someone on the team you just replace them, bonds were a weakness. That doctrine was instilled in their training since day one. So why? Why was she angry with herself, with losing someone, with the thought of killing this girl?
Suddenly, the sound of a gun shot ripped through the air as Harriet dropped the gun.
She was placed in a full nelson by Weiss, who felt the strength of the clearly stronger melee fighter as the latter struggled to break her grip. Ruby felt her hair sing as she felt the heat by her ear. She had narrowly missed being shot during that altercation, a fact that made her breath heavily as she lost her balance, her knees losing all their strength.
"Get her Weiss!" Ruby yelled, her encouragement helping the out of breath Schnee get her second wind and enhance her grip on Harriet.
"Let go of me Damnit!" Harriet yelled as elbowed Weiss's sides, drawing blood from her mouth as she struggled to maintain her grip, but she tightened her fist around Harriet's throat, she would either be pryed off or Harriet would pass out from loss of oxygen it was just a battle of stamina.
Winter eyed her sister's plight a Ruby's screams and ran to help her, but had her leg snagged by Vine.
"You have a bad habit of taking you eyes off your opponent." Vine sternly said as he whipped her around, smashing her on the streets and causing her aura to flicker. Qrow and Raven drew their blades on him, but suddenly had them snagged by Clover's fishing pole before they could connect to Vine's throat.
"Please stand down. I'll make sure Weiss gets a fair trial. There's no need for anyone else to die." Clover said.
Qrow and Raven merely gave him the stink eye, unnerving him at their almost murderous aura as they slowly advanced towards him.
"So Weiss is the only one who's gonna die? You think were just gonna let your boss do away with her to make people feel more cushy?!" Qrow yelled.
Clover felt bitter inside hearing these words. He had heard legends from Ironwood about Qrow's stellar record as a huntsman. He honestly looked up to him and tried to always think outside the box like he heard Qrow did. This battle with the droids was one of the greatest he ever felt fighting as he got to be around one of his idols. He seriously didn't want them to be fighting each other, but he couldn't help but acknowledge this whole situation could have been avoided if Weiss was arrested like Vine and Harriet said. He looked to the two still struggling with the Schnee siblings and eyed their injuries. Vine had burn marks and was clearly exhausted from his aura exertion. Harriet was riddled with cuts and bruises and turning purple from lack of air. They wouldn't last much longer and were going to need his help.
"Marrow what are you doing? Tell them to stop now or our teammates are going to die like Elm!" Clover yelled to Marrow who darted his head back and forth to each side. He was honestly conflicted as well, he had enough aura for one more command, but should he stop his teammates who were going overboard or should he follow his orders?
Winter saw his uncertainty and slashed the vine of her leg and shouted to him, gaining his attention.
"You just follow orders all your life boy, you'll be nothing more than Ironwood's lapdog." She yelled.
Marrow gasped at that comment, he always hated that slur, but deep down felt she would be right, but still felt uneasy with the idea of turning on his team.
"Come on Marrow, or Harriet's going to die!" Clover yelled again.
In that moment, Marrow found the best answer to him. He simply had to make sure no one killed the other.
"Stay!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, which shined blue as he added more aura to the declaration. He had to make the command stronger.
In that instant, not only were Team RWBY, Qrow, Raven, and Winter frozen in place, easing the grip on Harriet and allowing her to breath, but all of his own teammates were frozen in place.
"M-Marrow, w-what t-the s-shit you d-doing!?" Harriet grunted, barely moving her lips as she remained upright.
"Lets all just calm down a bit and think! Are we really each other's enemies? Is Ironwood even right?" he asked.
"O-Of course y-you i-idiot, n-now unfreeze me!" Harriet yelled, but Marrow shot her a stink eye, showing he was the one in charge, then he grinned as he realized that. It felt good to be in charge and stop giving orders. Seeing his smile, Winter forced on herself and pried her mouth open to talk, ignoring the force compelling it closed despite threatening to break her jaw.
"T-Then join u-us and we'll, s-stop all this k-kid." Winter stuttered.
A few moments passed, Marrow had closed his eyes, pondering his role.
"Am I a soldier? A lapdog? A Faunus? A hero or a traitor?" he said to himself. These were the many things he had been called in his life, but none of them sounded overly appealing to the dog man. He snapped out of his stupor as he saw Ruby reach into her pocket for something. Was it a gun?
Marrow ran to her and grabbed her arm firmly, threatening to crush the bone as she squealed. To his shock, what was in her pocket fell out of her hand in that instant, it was simply a photo.
He released his grip on her, uttering a meek apology for his force before grabbing the photo. It was a photo of a dog faunus baby and Ruby, kissing his cheek as she lovingly cradled him.
"Who…who is this?" Marrow asked nervously. His loss of focus caused Ruby to break free of his command, but she was too weak to move from all the fighting.
"My… son Thorn. I was forced to have him. But I love him more than anything. Whether you lock us up or join us, I just wanted to see his face one more time." She said.
Marrow eyed the photo and Ruby. He was amazed, despite all the pummeling she took, the chaos of the situation at hand her team faced, she thought nothing more than the love of someone she was forced to have in her life. This girl, a human and not a Faunus, cared more for others, even his kind, than herself.
Marrow paused and closed his eyes, silently pondering this revelation. With a heavy sigh, he raised his finger towards the groups having made his decision.
Team RWBY and their allies were freed while the Ace Op's remained frozen.
"I'm sorry guys, but these girls are on the side of the angels, not us." Marrow said as he helped Ruby up.
Clover and the others gave him stern glares, Harriet's icy cold that he felt would be the thing to kill him rather than those thick legs of hers should he free her, another reason he chose Ruby's team.
"Good to hear, now we need to get out of here and lick our wounds, no pun intended kid." Winter said before awkwardly correcting herself from a glare by Marrow. She helped up her sister and motioned the teams to advance north. She had to get to Pierre to get their weapons fixed or else her plan would never work against Ironwood. After all, he was one of the strongest Huntsman in history and they were going to need as much firepower as possible.
As the team departed, Clover looked to the sky, slowly feeling the order from Marrow disappear and regaining control of his neck. Despite his good luck, he lost again. He lost Elm and now he lost Marrow. What kind of leader was he if he couldn't keep his team together?
As these thoughts filled his head, Clover saw his luck change again from bad to worse as he saw a portal appear before him.
Cinder, having been drawn to their negativity, had waited for the perfect moment to strike. The Ace ops were strong souls that would fuel Monstra and in their frozen state were helpless to stop her. She was going to enjoy this.
Pietro's lab
"There's my girl!" Ruby yelled with glee as she cradle Crescent Rose as if it were her son. She gleefully eyed its enhanced appearance, looking similar in design to its original appearance, but with black stripes, a firmer build and blade, and additional dust slots to insert.
"I'm glad you like it Ruby." Pietro warmly said, the old scientist loved it when people appreciated his work. Since the loss of his legs, it made him feel fulfilled, like he wasn't useless despite the inability to walk. Ruby's warm smile filled him with even greater joy, she was just like his wife all those years ago. She could never get enough out of using his new weapons to kill Grimm, she seemed to have had an obsession with them. She wasn't called the Grimm Reaper for nothing. He had heard stories of Ruby, and heard she went by the title of Crimson Reaper, no doubt inspired by his wife, he chuckled about.
"So I have taken the liberty of enhancing it to be resistant to much greater stress which, while making it heavier, will make your attacks stronger. I even made it compatible with Quake Dust."
"Quake dust?" Ruby answered confused, raising an eyebrow.
Pietro wheeled over to a canister and handed it to Ruby. She opened it to see some clear dust crystals.
"It's a rare dust we recently discovered. Think of an advanced gravity dust. It can generate earthquakes and energy streams that produce shockwaves if applied the right way. If you insert it into Crescent Rose you could slice the very air itself and probably split reality." He chuckled, Ruby not understanding if he was exaggerating or not before reaching for one and trying to insert it into the scythes slot, curious to find out before Pietro shriek shocked her out of that.
"Child don't! Do that here and were getting blown up or swallowed by the ground! He frightfully yelled raising his hands, causing the others to glare at Ruby with "seriously" eyebrows raised.
"Hehehe, maybe I should do this later huh?" Ruby sheepishly said as she put the dust away.
"Yeah no kidding dunce!" Weiss said before Pietro handed her saber to her.
"And for you Weiss, your blade is now able to handle more power like crescent rose, I enhanced it with steel dust to make it so. You also won't need as much dust to enact it's powers from now one allowing you to conserve better." Pietro stated confidently with a smile. Weiss returned it with her own as she felt amused by the old man's pride despite his age and stature. It was honestly inspiring and made her feel more confidant in him.
Pietro then eyed Yang and Blake, resting on beds wrapped in band aides as their aura recharged and watched tv.
"Not to worry girls, I'll fix up your weapons and then some. Any requests?" he asked. Yang and Blake's eyes turned to Ruby, who was fondling her own weapon in a daze, not paying attention until the two cleared their throats.
"Well nerd, any suggestions to improve my Ember Cecilia?" Yang chuckled. Blake grinned, not able to resist teasing her wife.
"Yeah nerd, or my sword?" Blake said.
Ruby's eyes sparkled as she was asked that, ignoring the "nerd" taunt" as she had fully embraced her weapon's loving dork side for years. She hadn't been asked this in years as Yang and Blake were always very efficient in their work and so needed very few repairs till now.
"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Yes! Piettro come on! We got a lot of work to do, I can show you the schematics, maybe we can make the cord on Blake's blade gun longer and out of carbon fiber, oh maybe a flamethrower for Yang too?!" Ruby screeched as she grabbed the damaged weapons and Pietro's wheelchair and hauled them all off to the lab.
"Whoa there, think you can fix my heart if you break that too?" Pietro exclaimed as they disappeared into the workshop.
Everyone chuckled as they saw Ruby get into her work face. It was honestly a refreshing sight to see after all the crap they had to go through these last few days.
"So is Penny okay, she looked a little bended up after all that slicing and dicing?" Blake asked worried.
Winter alleviated her with a confidant grin,
"Don't worry, Pietro's daughter is getting fixed up and should have a new robot body soon." She said, her comment about robots making everyone grunt in annoyance to her shock as she covered her hand, no doubt a habit Weiss inherited from her. They were annoyed with the last battle and wished aside from Penny they didn't see anymore droids forever. Blake then pondered something else to ask the captain.
"Speaking of that, how did my wife turn invisible and do all that?" Blake asked, wondering if her semblance evolved again. Last time was not very pleasant to say the least, and she was worried a bigger danger to Ruby presented itself if her powers mutated again.
"Penny said her semblance actually allows her to manipulate the cells in her own body and do a lot of crazy things. She even turned us invisible by touching us before we could be caught?" Winter said.
Blake smiled tenderly, pleased with this explanation as her heart calmed down. She wasn't sure why, but Ruby always managed to surprise and impress her even after all these years together.
"That's my Rubes for ya! Baby sis always saves the day!" Yang proudly roared while pumping her fist in the air.
"Yeah but only after being like 2 feet away from a droid and getting blasted! She really cut it close that time." Weiss groaned and crossed her arms, deflating Yang who pouted at Weiss for spoiling her celebration.
Everyone in fact grew somber at her comment; they had a lot of close calls today, in the mines and on the streets. Yang's stomach wrenched as she could still hear the gunshot that nearly took her sister from this world, from her.
Rather than dwell on that any longer and risk summoning Grimm due to shitty mood swings, Yang pressed a button on the remote control and changed the channel, hoping for a nice movie or a light hearted cartoon to ease their tension. But to her dismay, it was the boring news channel that showcased the tattered streets of Atlas, with reports saying it was a the "fugitives" AKA them, who caused it.
As Yang was about to change the channel, Marrow snatched the remote from her and turned up the volume to her shock.
"What is it dude?" she asked, fear infecting her tone as she saw his worried glance, he merely pointed to the screen.
"This just in, the SDC science sector was attacked by Grimm, killing several guards and resulting in looting from unknown criminals that remain at large. Reporters say only one object was reported stolen from the facility, but that the SDC refused to divulge the details of this item." The news anchorwoman said.
"Oh my god! Theirs only one thing there that warrants that much hush hush!" Weiss said as she covered her mouth in terror. Everyone noticed Marrow and Winter likewise looking shocked and horrified and knew this wasn't good.
"Don't keep building up suspense kid, what are we dealing with?" Qrow said sternly, he wanted to cut to the chase, but his heart sank with fear as he got his answer.
"A Bomb!" Weiss fearfully stated.
Dark Continent
Cinder and Emerald sat in their king size bed covered by black sheets. They fondled each other's hair as they eyed the wall of fire before them, the flames dancing and giving them a show as they saw the number now only at 1. Just one more powerful soul would awaken the mighty monstra and guarantee their victory. Killing the Ace Ops made them feel even more heated and excited then the fire in front of them. As they gave each other a kiss, they then eyed another prize before them in their room they won today. The Dust Bomb of that Whitely brat SDC company. Soon Atlas's demise would be upon them, at the hands of one of their own, an irony Cinder gleefully enjoyed as she covered her lover in the sheets, ready for a much need night of rest after all their celebrating.
Farewell Ace Ops, you will be missed. Evil has drawn first blood and is looking to seek its teeth into our heroes flesh. Next time, Team RWBY will gear up to stop Ironwood and help Winter with her Coup. They don't like this idea since Ironwood was a much closer friend to them than in canon, but like canon like fanfic Ironwood went off the deep end to do wrong things for right reasons. Ironwood won't let the death of his operatives stand and he will blame the heroes for this, helping Cinder's plan even though he wants to stop her. Next time on CH 34: Doomsday