Cover art by CHE3ZY.
I told you I'd be back. I know, I know. It's been way too long for an update. I've been getting hounded with work. But I made up for it with this chapter. This is the longest chapter to date. I hope you all enjoy this one. I want to thank all my readers and I want to thank all of you who have left your thoughts in the reviews section. I would like to give a special shout out to merendinoemiliano for the most consistent feedback by far. I encourage others to speak up more about what they think. It's always good to see how I can improve by hearing feedback from different perspectives. As always, please be sure to like, share, and review this fic. Please don't forget to vote for your favorite OC in my poll on my profile. Rahm and Dr. Haze are tied for first, Jai is second, and Terre is in third. Without further delay, here is chapter 28!
10 Days Ago:
Vale:
The sound of rough coughing echoed throughout the room as a man dressed in a red jumpsuit spat out a decent amount of blood. The man was in tears and was quivering like a jellyfish. He squinted his eyes to see through his broken glasses to see that his trusted bodyguard's headless corpse was currently laying in a pool of its own blood. In the corner of the room, there was his trusted assistant who likewise was cowering in fear with tears in her eyes. Sepia was bruised up but other than that she was okay.
Rusty looked up towards the towering figure that stood before him menacingly. He was massive; powerfully built. He was dressed in black garb with lightly armored plating around his body. His chest piece was adorned with the symbol of the White Fang, and he wore a fully encompassing Grimm mask. Upon initial observation, it would have been clear that this guy was part of the White Fang, but the last few painful minutes of Rusty's life made it clear that this guy was far from linked to them. Whoever he was, he had a vendetta against the White Fang, and he would stop at nothing to get all useful information. Unfortunately for Rusty, he didn't have it.
"Please!" Rusty pleaded as the super soldier's hand clasped itself around his collar. "I swear I don't know anything. That deer faunus never answered my calls on that burner scroll that I gave her. I was ready to deliver the weapons, but she never answered. We were supposed to meet at a place of my choosing but it never happened! I don't know how to find her. I swear!"
Rahm observed the quivering arms dealer from behind his mask. The super soldier focused his hearing to listen to any irregularities in the man's pulse, but he found none. The guy was telling the truth, and that wasn't good. This guy had been their only hope to find Torchwick or Taurus but he was ultimately useless. Finding Rusty had been easy enough, considering that he'd been here before.
Rahm's entrance into Rusty's private office had been ghostly stealthy. Despite his size, he made no noise coming through the overhead crawl spaces. From there, he hid in the shadows of the room and waited patiently. His dark clothing did its job of making him nigh invisible in the darkness. Rusty's office was dark for the most part, being lit by several well-placed neon lights. His presence was made known only when he wanted it to be. And when he had made it known it had been nothing short of horrific, evidenced by Rusty's and Sepia's screams of terror. Rusty's bodyguard made a valiant effort to protect them, but it ultimately proved futile. Rahm didn't take more than a few seconds to put the big guy down. Sepia tried to run off in the chaos, but she quickly found herself roughly thrown into the corner wall like a rag doll. With her escape prevented, Rahm focused his attention on Rusty. At first, Rahm thought that Rusty was merely resisting his interrogation methods, but now that he could see the sniveling arms dealer before him as well as hear his regular heartbeat, it was clear that he didn't know anything.
Rahm mentally sighed. He'd been hoping that this encounter would produce useful information, but that just wasn't the case. Their only potential lead to locating that deer faunus, Faline, and by extension either Torchwick or Taurus turned out to be completely useless.
"I'm telling the truth!"
The Guardian examined the arms dealer for a moment before his grip around Rusty's collar relaxed.
Rusty's eyes lit up with hope as he felt the grip loosen, but that hope quickly died as he found himself gasping for air as the super soldier's hand gripped his throat with such power and ferocity and lifted him into the air effortlessly. Rusty's eyes began to go red from the lack of air and those reddening eyes looked into the dark eye slots of the mask.
"I know," said Rahm.
In all honesty, Rahm was going to kill him even if he had useful information. This guy was a criminal and his weapons would no longer make their way into the wrong hands. It was his duty to eradicate such threats. With a forceful flick of his wrist, Rahm broke the arms dealer's neck swiftly, severing the spinal cord cleanly. The lifeless eyes of Rusty were still staring at him. Without even so much as a little effort, Rahm tossed his lifeless body aside as if it were cardboard.
The sound of female shrieks got the Guardian's attention. Rahm looked over his shoulder and saw the terrified Sepia screaming at the brutal sight she just witnessed.
Without a second thought, the Guardian retrieved a pistol equipped with a suppressor from a holster on his hip. Rahm approached Sepia with methodical footsteps before stopping in front of the woman. He brought the pistol level to her head as tears flowed even more fiercely from her eyes.
"Please don't kill-"
The sound of a single suppressed round resonated, permanently silencing her. Rahm calmly holstered his pistol before he took a look around the room. Rahm calmly walked over to the coffee table in the center of the room and grabbed a lighter and a bottle of vodka that were left next to a pack of cigarettes. Without warning, Rahm tossed the vodka bottle against the wall, and pieces of glass were sent flying everywhere. Rahm ignited the lighter before he casually tossed it against the vodka-soaked wall, setting it ablaze. Rahm proceeded to smash a few other bottles of vodka around the room, further adding fuel to the burning fire. Seeing as how the fire was slowly but surely consuming everything in the room, Rahm turned and calmly walked towards the exit. The Guardian made sure to pull the fire alarm on his way out, making sure that the innocent clubgoers would get out in time.
Present Day:
Beacon Academy:
"Blake stared up at the ceiling as she lay on her bed. The room was exceedingly dark, with the only source of light emanating from the digital alarm clock. That didn't matter to her, though. She could see quite well in the dark thanks to her enhanced night vision. She glanced over at the alarm clock and saw that it was 2 AM. She couldn't sleep. She was still thinking about everything that had transpired.
Flashback:
"Stop," Weiss pointed accusingly at Blake, whose hand retracted from the doorknob as she was preparing to leave. "Lately you've been quiet, antisocial, and moody-"
Yang raised an eyebrow at Weiss' statement before she interrupted.
"Uh, have you met Blake?"
Weiss ignored the blonde's interruption and instead narrowed her eyes at the faunus.
"-which I get is kind of your thing, but you've been doing it more than usual! Which quite frankly, is unacceptable! You made a promise to me, to all of us, that you would let us know if something was wrong!"
Without warning, Weiss flipped through the air.
"So, Blake Belladonna, what is wrong!?"
Weiss pointed her finger at Blake again as she balanced precariously on a chair's back feet. She quickly hopped off and put the chair away and returned to stand near the girls.
Blake sighed.
"I just…I don't understand how everyone can sit here and do nothing."
Ruby, with sympathetic eyes, approached Blake.
"You're still thinking about what happened with that attacker?" Asked the leader of RWBY.
Blake nodded.
"Not just that, but Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it! Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it!"
Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all visibly flinched. She was right. No one was doing anything to figure out what was going on. Sure, they stepped up their training but that encounter with that mysterious assailant left them all a little scared. They'd been horribly outmatched, and it made them realize just how unprepared they were. Out of the four of them, Weiss and Blake had been reeling from the incident the hardest. Weiss still had yet to fully get over being incapacitated and being left helpless, while Blake still felt the nightmares of the Harvester linger in her head.
"Well…what can we do?" Asked Ruby.
"Maybe we can investigate the connection between the White Fang and Torchwick?" Blake suggested it with a bit of hesitation. "If there's any place we can start to look, it would be there."
"Are we even ready for something like this?" Asked Weiss. "We're not true Huntresses yet."
"We may never be ready!" Blake stated with vigor. "Our enemies aren't just going to sit around and wait for graduation day." Blake pointed off in the distance. "They're out there, somewhere, planning their next move, and none of us know what it is, but it's coming! Whether we're ready or not!"
The girls looked at Blake with both admiration and shock. Her words, while a bit crazy, were truthful.
"Okay," said Ruby, "all in favor of becoming the youngest Huntresses to single-handedly taking down a corrupt organization conspiring against the Kingdom of Vale... say aye. Aye."
"Aye," said Blake.
"Blake's got a point," said Yang, "and besides, we've been training harder than ever. Aye."
Weiss looked hesitant for a moment before she spoke.
"Aye."
End Flashback:
Blake carefully got out of bed and jumped down to the floor from the top bunk silently, her cat-like grace enabled her to land without any noise. She stood upright and walked silently over to the window of their room. Tonight was a new moon and so the outside appeared exceedingly dark with the only sources of light being the outdoor evening lamps out in the distance. Again, it didn't matter too much to her because she could see just fine in the dark. She gazed out into the darkness and began to think. Somewhere out there was that mysterious murderer. She still suspected it was the Harvester, but she didn't know for sure. Regardless, that monster was out there and that left her feeling paranoid and scared.
Thump
Blake contained a frightened gasp as she felt her body flinch unintentionally. She looked up towards the ceiling, looking for whatever made that noise. A normal human wouldn't have perceived it, but her sensitive ears did. Seeing as there was nothing on the ceiling, she quickly looked back outside and searched frantically for anything that could have made that noise.
She didn't find anything.
Blake sighed. She felt like she was losing her mind. She'd barely slept at all with the nightmares of that monster haunting her most nights. Maybe she was just hearing things? Blake took one last look outside before she turned and walked back to her bed.
Above team RWBY's dorm window, on the roof of the dorm building, was a large, silhouetted figure that was crouched near the ledge. It was deathly still as it listened to the sound of a certain cat faunus getting back into her bed.
The Next Day:
Weiss was patiently waiting out the minute left on her holographic clock displayed from her desk in the classroom of Professor Peter Port, whose dialogue had merely become background nonsense as Jaune slid up next to her.
"So, Weiss, y'know, uh, I-I was thinking after this, maybe we could go grab a bite to eat?" He turned to the teacher for a second, then turned back around. "And, uh um, I-I've got two tickets to that new Spruce Willis movie, if you wanna make the trip to Vale. I hear it's awesome."
He paused as he realized his words were having no effect. "Aaaand maybe after that, we could study together? I mean, you're smart and I'm, uh... Y'know."
Finally, the clock in front of Weiss gave a shrill beep as it changed from 3:59 to 4:00, and she dismissed it with a wave of her hand. The professor was temporarily unaware of the alarm.
Port was posing as a towering monster about to attack. "And then I— Oh." He straightened his stance as the students started to leave. "Timed that one wrong, I guess. Well, the stunning conclusion to this story will have to wait. Until next time!
Jaune watched Weiss as she packed up her Scroll. "Weiss? Did you hear me?"
Weiss didn't even look at Jaune as she walked away. "No, no, no, yes."
Upon hearing this, Jaune groaned and faceplanted into his desk. Ruby, Blake, and Yang followed behind her. Yang looked down at Jaune, noticing his depressing outlook. She sat down next to him and ruffled his hair as Weiss, Ruby, and Blake left.
"One day," she said.
Jaune groaned into the desk, eliciting a laugh from the blonde firecracker.
"That bad, eh?" She asked.
"The worst," he replied. "She's so cold."
Yang couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Yeah she is," replied Yang with a half-smile. "She's gotten even worse since…" she trailed off as Jaune looked up at her. "…well, you know."
Jaune merely nodded. He still wasn't over that humiliating defeat, and Weiss was no different. Though, Weiss made it more evident that she was upset about it.
"Come on vomit boy," Yang said as she ruffled his hair again, "turn that frown upside down."
Jaune's forehead impacted the desk as he let out a tired groan, garnering another laugh from Yang.
"Are you sure that tapping their scrolls is not excessive?" Penny frowned as she watched Terre and Rahm prep their weapons as Jai leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed.
The three super soldiers looked at her with raised eyebrows. Tapping the scrolls of the members of teams RWBY and JNPR had been exceedingly easy. Considering how close they had gotten to them; it didn't take much effort to slip monitoring devices into their scrolls. In all honesty, the three hadn't anticipated needing to do this, but seeing as how the influx of new students (new suspects) and RWBY's and JNPR's greater involvement in this whole ordeal, they would need to take extra precautions to ensure that their mission was accomplished without failure.
It was Jai who answered her question.
"We can't have a repeat of last time. Teams RWBY and JNPR have been getting more and more involved in this matter and we need to know what they're planning at all times; even if it means listening to their conversations."
Penny couldn't argue with Jai on that. Thanks in part to tapping teams RWBY's and JNPR's scrolls, the Bad Batch had learned of team RWBY's plans to investigate the White Fang's connection to Torchwick. The entire premise of this scenario was not ideal, however. If the girls found trouble, then Ruby and Weiss faced the potential of their lives being in danger. Rahm and Terre would need to go to make sure nothing happened to them, but if Torchwick or Taurus were there then they couldn't do anything to apprehend them without blowing their cover. It was a complicated situation, but they managed to find a way around it all. Jai and Penny would stay back to not only make sure Pyrrha was safe but also to have Jai on standby if he was needed to apprehend either Torchwick or Taurus.
"I still do not like this plan," Penny said with her arms crossed and a pouty look on her face.
Her brothers looked at her for a moment before Rahm spoke.
"Do you not like it because it's not a good plan or because you have to stay here with Jai?"
"The latter," replied Penny with her arms crossed. "Is it really necessary for me to stay?"
"Yes," replied Terre as he inspected his staff.
"But I want to go," she protested.
"Penny," said Rahm, "we've been over this. You need to stay here with Jai to keep an eye on Pyrrha and help keep our cover intact if anything happens."
Penny gave a small pout. She wasn't happy about being barred from going. She would have to stay here with Jai while Terre and Rahm followed team RWBY. Jai placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's for the best Penny," Jai said firmly.
She reluctantly nodded.
"We'll be back later. Don't wait up," said Rahm.
Penny watched with her arms crossed as Terre and Rahm walked out, leaving the two alone. She looked over at Jai. "It looks like it is just the two of us Jai."
"It appears so."
Vale:
"I'm sorry, but what?" Roman stared at the raven-haired beauty that was Cinder Fall with absolute confusion.
Beside Roman stood Neo, who while not showing it visibly, was just as perplexed as her boss. Behind Cinder stood her two underlings, Emerald and Mercury. They were all currently in an old warehouse. Behind Cinder and her two followers, there was a large mech suit with the symbol of Atlas on it.
Cinder rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"It's simple Roman," she stated, "Adam is going to arrange a recruitment rally for the White Fang, and you are going to pitch this Paladin Mech Suit from Atlas as if it's for sale to the unknowing masses."
"Okay…but why?" Roman had been up to his neck with trying to control the damage that Adam's followers had caused over two weeks ago by not keeping a low profile. He had only just managed to contain the fallout from that little incident and now Cinder was telling him to basically undo all of that.
Cinder's eyes narrowed menacingly, sending a shiver down Roman's spine.
"The Harvester," she said.
Roman brought a hand to his head as he let out a tired sigh.
"You don't actually believe that load of garbage, do you?" He asked.
Adam and Faline had filled him and Neo in about the Harvesters, but Roman didn't buy it. He didn't believe in fairy tales or ghost stories.
"Didn't your little associate there witness the whole thing?" Cinder pointed towards Neo. "And didn't that weapons dealer end up dead?"
Roman said nothing. When he'd gotten word that Rusty and his crew were dead, he initially thought it was a coincidence, but with everything that had happened recently, there was no way it could have been. Thankfully Neo had destroyed that burner scroll that Rusty had given Faline, and by extension severed the link between them and Rusty.
"Even then," said Cinder, "this has gone on long enough. My plans cannot come to fruition without the White Fang and there will be no White Fang if this…whatever this thing is, isn't dealt with accordingly."
Roman let out a tired sigh before he spoke.
"What exactly will this little sales pitch accomplish?"
Cinder smirked.
"It'll be bait for the Harvester. We're going to lure it here so that I can kill it."
Neo's eyes widened upon hearing that. Roman took notice of his partner's look of shock. While he didn't think this thing was a supernatural creature, he did know that it was deadly enough to keep Neo from even thinking about trying to engage it in a fight. When she recalled everything she saw that night to him, he noted that she was scared. He'd only seen her scared once before and that was years ago when they first met. Cinder, however, wasn't scared.
"How do you know this bait will work? Why would it follow me? And wouldn't this whole thing get more White Fang members killed?"
"Oh, believe me," said Cinder, "it'll work. That last encounter made it clear that this thing wants information."
Roman couldn't argue with her there. Faline did mention how it left her alive solely to acquire information. Cinder continued.
"If the brats from Beacon have figured out that you are partnered with the White Fang then I'm willing to bet that this thing has figured it out as well. As for the potential for casualties, Adam is well aware of the risks posed. He's more than willing to sacrifice a few aspiring White Fang members if it means putting an end to these Harvesters."
Roman whistled.
Damn.
Adam was one cold son of a bitch, but Roman would be lying if he said he didn't respect it. You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs. The guy was willing to go the distance if it meant victory.
"Fine," Roman relented, "I'll do it, but just be sure to be there in case this thing does show up."
Cinder smiled wickedly.
Beacon Academy:
Terre and Rahm sat casually on an outdoor bench, observing Ruby and Weiss as they approached the CCT tower. Students walked past and paid them no mind. They did a good job of remaining inconspicuous.
"You know," said Rahm, "it's been about six months, and this still feels strange."
Terre looked over at Rahm for a moment before he spoke.
"I can see that," replied Terre, "I still find it hard to believe that we ended up on a mission like this."
"If only the others could see us now," Rahm gave a half smirk.
Terre held silent eye contact for a moment before he replied.
"Orders are orders," replied Terre, "they would have done the same in our position."
Rahm shrugged.
"I guess you're right," he replied, "but even so this job hasn't been all that bad."
Terre stole a glance at Ruby before she entered the tower with Weiss. "I guess so."
The sound of megaphones announcing something drew their attention to a crowd gathered on the other side of the courtyard. There was a holographic image of General James Ironwood standing before six AK-130 Androids, who were, in turn, standing in front of two large metal storage cases with the Atlas emblem on their doors.
"The AK-130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for over a decade, and they have done a fine job. Wouldn't you agree?" The clapping of the gathered audience caused the drones to take a jerky bow. "But... the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation, and well, that's just not good enough, is it? Presenting... the Atlesian Knight-200!"
The doors to the cases rolled up, and six new, bulkier, shinier automatons stood at attention before knocking their obsolete predecessors down, garnering the applause of the observers. Terre and Rahm stared at the new robots indifferently.
"Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary." The robots flexed and posed as a demonstration. "These models will become active later this year, but they won't be alone! Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battlefield. However, there are still many situations that will undoubtedly require... a human touch."
Terre and Rahm had skeptical looks on their faces. For publicity purposes, the general had to say that humans were being removed from the fight. But the existence of the Guardians was living proof that humans would continue to fight on the battlefield for years to come.
"So, our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company, are proud to introduce... the Atlesian Paladin!" Ironwood's image was replaced with the hologram of a robotic white behemoth, featuring hinged piston legs, large guns for hands, and a rectangular head, standing at least twice as tall as the Knights below it. "Now, we couldn't have them here for you today, but these mechanized battle suits will be seen defending the borders of our kingdom within the year!"
Terre threw his attention back to Rahm.
"I'm surprised that they even went through with building the Paladin. Didn't we find a multitude of structural weaknesses in that thing?"
"I think they built it as more of a statement for manned battle mechs, no matter how inefficient the thing was," replied Rahm.
Terre shrugged before he offered his rebuttal.
"Or perhaps as an assurance to the civilians and regs?"
"Maybe," replied Rahm. "Sometimes I wonder if General Ironwood really believes in what he says at these rallies. I know it's to boost morale and keep up appearances, but those don't generate results."
Terre nodded before he turned his attention to where he last saw Ruby.
"I wonder if Penny is giving Jai any trouble..."
Jai took a deep breath. The moment he had been training for was finally here. He looked over his shoulder and spotted Penny smiling at him. She was the only other person in the common area, the only person in his audience.
"Is this really necessary Penny?"
"I agreed to not go on the mission. I believe that I am owed this courtesy," she boldly stated with a mischievous smile on her face.
Jai sat down at the piano that was located in the center of the common room. With a bit of hesitation, Jai began to play a soft melodic tune. Penny inched closer on her seat as she watched Jai play. The sounds of the keystrokes were evidence that he was a novice, but honestly, he wasn't half bad. Jai continued to play, slowly beginning to get immersed in the act. This went on for a minute and all the while Penny was watching with the biggest smile on her face. The sound of the wrong key could be heard. Jai's brow furrowed in frustration as he stopped playing, angry that he messed up. Penny took notice of this.
"It is okay Jai. Simply try again."
Jai sighed and nodded. He hesitated slightly before he tried again, albeit slower this time. He played the tune again; its sound was reminiscent of smooth jazz piano. Although he was playing slower, he was playing correctly. Slow was smooth and smooth was fast, that's what he told himself as he played. He slowly regained his confidence and slowly but surely, he began to play faster. Penny smiled warmly at him. The sound of the door opening garnered Penny's attention. Penny looked behind her and noticed the door to the common area open, revealing a surprised-looking Pyrrha. Pyrrha quickly brought her hand up to her face in shock, mouthing "sorry" to Penny as she was about to leave. Penny stopped her with an eager, inviting gesture for her to come in and join her. Pyrrha looked a bit surprised, her gaze held apprehension, but Penny's warm, welcoming gestures put her doubts at ease. Pyrrha quietly closed the door and tiptoed over to the couch and sat down next to Penny. The tiptoeing was unnecessary, Jai heard her come in. Pyrrha and Penny watched Jai continue to play.
"What do you think Pyrrha?" Penny whispered.
Pyrrha smiled. She listened intently as Jai continued to play. She leaned in closer in her seat as she continued to listen.
"I think he's amazing," she said with a warm smile.
Ruby and Weiss exited the CCT tower in a rush, fully intent on backing up Blake and Sun against Roman after having received their message. Yang and Neptune were also on the way to help. Ruby held a slight bit of worry, though. She hoped they got there in time because based on what she heard Sun yell, it sounded like Roman was packing some serious weaponry.
As the two partners ran off to help, they were unaware of Rahm and Terre following from a distance.
The two Guardians moved in a quick, but controlled manner. They took caution to avoid unwanted attention by maneuvering clear of the security cameras as well as the many students walking about. Terre spoke up as they ran.
"Contact Jai," said Terre, "tell him to move out."
Rahm nodded. The super soldier retrieved his scroll and skillfully typed an encrypted message to their brother. Once that was done, he looked back towards Terre.
"It's a good thing we tapped their scrolls," said Rahm rhetorically.
Terre didn't respond. Rahm was simply stating a cold hard fact. Had they not tapped their scrolls then they would have been following their two VIPs without knowing the greater context. Blake and Sun had made contact with Torchwick and they weren't going to let this opportunity go to waste.
Vale:
The ringing of a scroll echoed throughout the warehouse for a few moments before it abruptly ceased. A beautifully manicured hand raised the scroll up to the beautiful face of Cinder Fall.
"Yes Roman?" Her voice was soft, but it held a certain gravity to it.
"Your little monster didn't show up! The brats from Beacon did!"
Cinder raised an eyebrow as she listened to the master thief's little rant. She could hear the mechanized sounds of the Paladin in the background as well as the sounds of cars crashing. Cinder pondered his words for a moment as Emerald, Mercury, and Neo silently observed her. Cinder finally responded.
"Patience Roman, this will work," she said calmly, "I'm sending Neo, Emerald, and Mercury your way."
Back with Roman, the master thief rolled his eyes in annoyance. She was adamant about this little show of force just to get some freak in a mask to show up.
"Fine," replied Roman through gritted teeth. He knew he didn't have much of a choice in this matter. Cinder held all the cards; Roman was doing what he had to do to make sure he and Neo made it through not getting screwed over. Roman maneuvered the Paladin to avoid the incoming clones of the monkey faunus while he thought about two things running through his mind. First, he wished that this whole thing wasn't a waste of time, and second, he hoped Neo and Cinder's lackeys arrived in time to get him out of here if things went south. The master thief let out a tired sigh as he continued forward, giving chase to the kitty cat and the monkey.
Beacon Academy:
"I must say," said Ren, "that was quite an impressive performance."
Team JNPR, team CFVY, and Jai and Penny were seated at the same table in the dining hall. Jai was currently sitting between Penny and Jaune and across from Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren. Jai looked up from his dinner plate and locked eyes with Ren. The Guardian swallowed the food he was chewing before he gave a polite nod.
"Thank you," replied Jai.
"Why didn't you tell us you were going to give a show? We would have come earlier!" Nora leaned across the dinner table and got quite close to the super soldier as she awaited an answer.
"Maybe the big guy is shy," said Coco as she grinned mischievously.
Pyrrha messaged Nora, Ren, and Jaune and invited them to come to watch Jai play. The three had dropped what they were doing and ran off to the common area. Along the way, they ran into team CFVY. Coco stopped them in their tracks, demanding to know where the fire was. As soon as she heard that Jai was playing the piano, she personally led the group of seven to the common area to see Jai's performance. Jai had paid their entrance no mind and continued to play as if they weren't there.
"Penny wanted me to play for her as a favor that I owed her. I wasn't expecting everyone to come."
Pyrrha and Velvet looked a little downcast upon hearing that.
"I'm sorry," said Pyrrha.
"Were we a bother?" Asked Velvet.
"No," replied Jai, "I didn't even notice."
While he was truthful in saying that he did not consider them a bother, that last part was a straight-up lie. Nora made quite the entrance when she and the others arrived. Jai had done an excellent job of ignoring her boisterous entrance and simply kept playing.
Without warning, Jai felt Penny's arms envelop him in a bone-crushing hug. The super soldier kept a composed face as he could feel the air in his lungs slowly get forced out.
"Thank you for playing for us Jai!"
"You're welcome, Penny," replied Jai, "you can let go now."
Penny released him immediately; the artificial girl looked a bit embarrassed by her actions.
"Definitely tell us when you're going to play again." Jaune's words were genuine. As a fellow musician, he thought Jai did a pretty good job; especially considering how new he was to the piano.
Pyrrha smiled at Jaune's suggestion before she turned her smile towards Jai. Watching him play earlier had been the highlight of her day. It was nice to see Jai exploring something other than training.
Jai wasn't sure what to say to Jaune. He found it a bit odd how everyone wanted to watch him play, but it wasn't anything he couldn't ignore when the time came. Jai's scroll vibrated, alerting him of a message. Jai immediately locked eyes with Penny, who merely gave him the faintest of nods, indicating to him that Rahm and Terre were indeed calling for him.
"Excuse me," said Jai as he stood up.
"Where are you going?!" Yelled Nora
"I need to finish my paper for Professor Port's class," replied the super soldier.
Jai's words earned looks of horror from both Nora and Jaune.
"I completely forgot about that stupid paper!" Yelled Jaune as he abruptly stood up from the table and ran off to his room.
Nora, who also forgot about the paper, wasn't far behind him, dragging Ren along for the ride as if he were a ragdoll. Jai and the others observed the whole scene without saying anything. A few silent seconds passed until Coco stood up and addressed her team.
"We should probably head out if we're going to catch that Spruce Willis movie."
"Sounds good," said Fox, "see you three later." The blind student nodded toward Jai, Pyrrha, and Penny.
The rest of team CFVY stood up and began to make their way out of the dining hall.
"Have a good night," said Velvet as she waved her hand.
Yatsuhashi merely gave them a respectful head nod as he followed behind his teammates. Jai reciprocated with a head nod of his own. Pyrrha stood up from her seat, earning the attention of both Jai and Penny. The Invincible Girl took walked around the table until she stood face to face with Jai.
"I better go and make sure Nora doesn't kill Ren and that Jaune gets his paper finished. It was really nice seeing you play. I hope to see you play again."
"You definitely will!" Yelled Penny.
Jai glanced down at his energetic little sister for a moment before he returned his attention to Pyrrha.
"As Penny said," replied Jai, "you will."
Pyrrha smiled.
"I look forward to it," said the prodigy of Mistral as she walked in the direction her teammates had run off to.
Jai and Penny silently observed as she departed. Once the coast was clear, Jai addressed his sister.
"I have to go. Keep out of trouble and make sure you and her stay safe."
"You can count on me!"
Jai nodded before he turned and quickly made his way out of the dining hall.
Vale:
Rahm and Terre stood atop a building that was nearly level height with the freeway overpass. The building gave them a clear, unobstructed view of the fight occurring on the ground below them. Team RWBY was currently engaged in a fight against Torchwick, using a stolen Paladin mech suit. Neptune and Sun had been removed from the fight during the chase on the freeway. The two Guardians watched the fight like hawks, ready to assist at any time. Rahm, however, looked more ready to jump in than Terre. Terre had ordered them to stay back and only help if team RWBY needed help, much to Rahm's initial reservations. Despite Rahm's reservations, it was clear that the girls had everything under control. The boys had firsthand experience against the Paladin in combat. They were the ones who had written the long list of weaknesses in the mech's design. In all honesty, the mech was not suited to fight those who were skillfully trained in the use of aura. It was too bulky to keep up with fast targets. It was meant to deal with large Grimm. The girls' teamwork was nothing short of outstanding. They knew each other's strengths and weaknesses well. It was evident that team RWBY's and team JNPR's fight with Terre had led to a significant increase in the quality of their training.
Down below, it was clear that the Paladin was running on fumes. Yang had used her semblance to deal some serious damage to the mech while Blake managed to strike at the mech's joints, further weakening it. Ruby and Weiss were preparing a joint attack by combining their respective weapons' firepower. The two Guardians could tell this next attack would be the last. They just needed Jai to get here so that he could apprehend Torchwick.
Out of the corner of Rahm's eye there moved something that caught the Guardian's attention. Rahm turned his head to fully examine what had caught his eye. On just the other side of the area where the battle was taking place, a short girl dressed in a colorful outfit with brown and pink hair and brown and pink eyes seemed to materialize out of nowhere. Rahm observed the girl carefully, taking meticulous mental notes of her posture and actions. Terre noticed Rahm's attention shift in attention. He followed his brother's eyes and soon found himself observing the mysterious girl as well. The girl was observing the fight and looked as though she were about to enter the fray.
"You see that?" Asked Rahm.
Terre didn't take his eyes off the girl.
"She appeared out of nowhere. My guess is either it's a teleportation semblance or she can cast illusions of sorts."
Either way, she was clearly hostile. Rahm and Terre both doubted that anyone from team RWBY had experience fighting someone like this girl. They didn't want to take an unnecessary risk by leaving RWBY to fight this newcomer with unknown capabilities. The two Guardians briefly locked eyes before Terre gave a nod of approval. The two immediately jumped down from the ledge of the building just as Ruby and Weiss blew the Paladin mech suit apart with their combined attack.
Yang threw a punch, sending a shotgun blast towards Roman but the blast was intercepted by a mysterious girl of very short stature. Team RWBY looked confused by the girl's entrance, and they were even more confused when they noticed Rahm and Terre flanking them. The two Guardians had their weapons at the ready.
"Rahm?!" Yelled Weiss.
"Terre?!" Yelled Ruby.
"What are you two doing here?!" Yang's outburst earned the brief attention of the two Guardians.
It was Rahm who responded.
"Terre and I were in Vale when we saw Blake and Sun getting chased by a military mech suit. We followed and just now managed to catch up."
Ruby's face went from surprised to happy.
"Glad you both could make it!" Yelled the young leader of team RWBY.
Roman observed the two newcomers with mild interest. The taller of the two looked familiar. If Roman remembered correctly, he'd seen him at the docks. The two kids were big and looked intimidating but judging from little red's excitement it was clear they were students at Beacon too. Roman relaxed a bit knowing that they were just students. Neo, however, let a mischievous smirk etch itself onto her face. The short girl locked eyes with Rahm as she sent a flirtatious wave and wink his way. The mysterious girl's actions didn't go unnoticed. Roman looked annoyed at her actions, Weiss looked angry, Ruby looked confused, Blake and Yang looked surprised, Terre looked indifferent, while Rahm raised an eyebrow at the girl's actions, earning a pouty look from the girl. That pouty look on the girl's face instantly registered within Rahm's mind.
She's the girl from the bar.
It couldn't have been more obvious to the Guardian. While she looked nothing like the girl from the bar, her mannerisms were identical. Even a highly trained Specialist would have had trouble connecting those two dots, but Guardians were not Specialists. They had photographic memories that could recall even the smallest, most irrelevant pieces of information. Knowing that this was the same girl, Rahm deduced that she was indeed an illusion caster. She was most likely able to conjure physical illusions that everyone could see. Moreover, Rahm also deduced that this girl was likely responsible for preventing Terre from apprehending Faline. Rahm's composure was rock solid. He didn't portray any semblance of him recognizing the girl.
The only sounds that could be heard came from the cars moving across the freeway above. No one on either side made a move. It was as if each side was daring the other to make the first move. Terre and Rahm refrained from attacking only because they couldn't risk blowing their cover by apprehending the two criminals. They were buying time for Jai.
Thump
Speak of the devil.
The eyes of Terre and Rahm and the head of Blake immediately moved in the direction of where that sound of feet touching down deathly silently came from. Blake's face turned deathly pale as the blood faded from her countenance. The cat faunus felt her heart skip a beat. Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and even Roman and Neo looked over to see what had caught Blake's attention. Team RWBY's faces all had looks of fear on them. While Neo's facial expression didn't portray fear, her eyes certainly did.
There, standing in the shadows of one of the many massive concrete pillars that kept the freeway supported, stood a very tall, familiar figure clad in dark clothing and a fully encompassing White Fang Grimm mask. It stared directly at Roman, ignoring the mixed looks from everyone else. Roman felt himself begin to sweat, knowing that the mysterious person was staring directly at him.
Terre reached over and squeezed Rahm's shoulder lightly, earning a very small head nod from Rahm. Without warning, the masked figure took off in a sprint toward Roman. Terre, too, took off in a sprint towards the mysterious figure to intercept it. The members of team RWBY looked on in shock as he did so.
"NO TERRE!" Yelled Ruby.
It was too late, though, as her words fell on deaf ears. Terre brought his staff up to attack the newcomer, but the mysterious assailant was far faster than Terre and managed to catch the Guardian's staff before headbutting the leader of the Bad Batch in the face and then hitting him with a powerful punch to the solar plexus and then finally throwing him across the battle area like a rag doll, sending him crashing into one of the concrete pillars.
"TERRE!" Yelled Ruby, who immediately aimed at the masked assailant.
Rahm watched the brief exchange closely while still keeping tabs on Roman and Neo. The Guardian mentally spoke to himself.
He probably could have sold it a little better than that.
Rahm's mental observation was referring to Terre's acting performance. With Jai here in disguise, Rahm and Terre would need to make it painfully obvious to Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Blake, and by extension the others, that the mysterious assassin garbed in White Fang attire wasn't affiliated with them in any way.
By this point, team RWBY had been shaken out of its stupor and jumped in to attack the mysterious assailant. The four girls looked angry, clearly motivated by their last encounter. Try as they might, their attacks were effortlessly blocked or dodged. Out of the four, Weiss and Blake were the most aggressive by far. And that was saying something considering that Yang was there. In fact, the aggression of those two was so evident that they had inadvertently partnered their attacks together instead of with their respective partners of Ruby and Yang.
"You're going to pay for the lives you've taken you son of a bitch!" Blake yelled at the top of her lungs as she madly hacked and slashed away at Jai with her weapon, failing to hit him.
This time you won't beat me so easily you freak! Weiss said to herself mentally.
Weiss kept herself composed externally, but on the inside, she was a raging storm. She had never felt so humiliated or helpless as she did when she fought this freak, monster, or whatever it was. The irony of the whole situation was that Blake and Weiss, the two members of team RWBY who held the most reservations against each other, had partnered against the object of their hate and anger. Moreover to that point, the one who had slaughtered those White Fang members and put Weiss into unconsciousness wasn't even the person they were fighting. During this commotion, Roman and Neo made escaping their number one priority. Both Rahm and Jai had taken notice of this. Jai pushed Yang away with an open palm strike to her stomach, sending her crashing into Blake. With those two off of him, Jai had a lot more breathing room. He ran past Weiss and Ruby, narrowly avoiding a wall of ice and a subsequent slash from a scythe.
Jai was running at full speed at this point. He wasn't about to let Roman get away. Rahm ran towards him in a bid to intercept him with his partisan held out offensively. Rahm telegraphed a downward swing of his partisan, setting Jai up to perfectly counter. Jai slid underneath the swing and delivered a series of punches to Rahm's upper body before he finally swept Rahm's feet out from under him.
I think Jai might have enjoyed that.
Jai moved fast and grabbed Rahm before he could hit the ground and threw him into a vengeful-looking Yang who was sprinting towards him. The blonde firecracker was completely unprepared to have Rahm crash into her.
Seeing as he was free of all obstacles, Jai continued to close the distance on Roman and Neo, both looked surprised at the speed at which he ran. Jai deemed Neo the primary threat to neutralize before he could apprehend Torchwick. Like lightning, Jai retrieved a pair of curved combat knives of Vacuoan origin from sheaths attached to his vambraces before he slashed at Neo. As if he had struck a windowpane, the forms of Neo and Roman shattered like glass.
It was a physical illusion.
Jai's eyes immediately searched for any sign of the two. The sound of jet engines roaring to life alerted his ears. A bullhead emerged from the other side of the battle area. Roman and Neo were the only ones clearly visible in the cargo bay door as the bullhead sped past.
Jai didn't waste a second.
Using his aura as well as his enhanced physiology, Jai leaped as high into the air as he could, barely managing to grab hold of the bullhead's tail with one hand. Jai immediately used his other hand to drive one of the blades into the aircraft's horizontal stabilizer to anchor him to the aircraft as it increased its speed.
Down below, team RWBY, Rahm, and Terre had regrouped and were looking up at the bullhead that was speeding away with the masked assassin clinging onto the horizontal stabilizer with determined vigor.
"DAMN IT!" Yelled Blake. The cat faunus was furious that both Roman and the Harvester had gotten away.
"We were still outmatched…" Ruby looked a bit downcast. They had all stepped up their training. She thought they would have stood a better chance this time. "It's like we haven't gotten any better."
The girls also looked a bit downcast upon hearing that.
Rahm and Terre shared a quick look. Ruby was dead wrong. They'd gotten much stronger. Even if Jai was holding back a great deal, their teamwork and individual skills had greatly improved. Last time it had been nine against one. This time it was six against one. Actually, it was really four against one. Terre and Rahm didn't really count against Jai. They'd taken dives in the fight just to sell the appearance and to also stay out of Jai's way.
"Didn't you say it was nine against one the last time?" Asked Terre.
"Based on that information, I would say we did a pretty good job." Said Rahm.
Their words seemed to lift their spirits a bit. Ruby's eyes regained their warmth.
Yang sighed before she spoke up.
"Why the hell did that freak show up?" Asked the blonde.
"The same reason we did," replied Weiss, "it wanted Torchwick."
'But why?" Asked Ruby.
That was a great question. The whole situation was still beyond their scope of understanding. All they knew was that Torchwick and the White Fang were the prime targets. Blake had suspected that Adam was behind the Vale branch of the White Fang working with Torchwick. Maybe Faline or Torchwick would lead the monster to Adam? It would have made sense. It seemed that everywhere Adam went, the Harvesters followed. She wasn't sure.
Terre and Rahm, meanwhile, observed the remains of the Paladin. If such a piece of Atlas military hardware was knowingly missing, the Guardians would have been aware of it. That meant that Roman had somehow acquired it without anyone knowing it was gone. They would need to inform the general about this. At this point, Terre spoke up.
"That's a question for another day," said Zero-Six-Nine, "for now, we should probably head home."
Blake glared angrily at Terre.
"And do what? Just sit around and do nothing?" Asked the cat faunus.
"No," replied Rahm, "but staying here won't solve anything either. None of us can catch a speeding bullhead and the trail ends here."
While Blake was still angry, she did seem to calm down a bit after hearing Rahm's reasoning.
"I think Rahm is right," said Ruby, "let's go home."
Blake reluctantly nodded before she sheathed her weapon and walked off in the direction of Beacon with Ruby, Weiss, and Yang following behind. Terre and Rahm hung back for a moment, though.
"Get that Paladin's serial number and dispose of its remains," said Terre in a very low whisper that was out of range of Blake's advanced hearing.
Rahm merely nodded before he spoke up, getting the others' attention.
"You all go on without me," Zero-One-One's words earned him confused looks from team RWBY. "I'm going to stay behind and give a statement to the police when they show up."
Police sirens could be heard in the distance. The members of team RWBY recalled the last time they had to give statements to the police back at the docks. The whole ordeal had been a painful waste of their time. The fact that Rahm was offering to stay behind and handle it made them all sigh in relief.
"Thanks, Rahm! You're the best!" Shouted Yang.
"We definitely owe you one!" Yelled Ruby.
With that said, team RWBY and Terre departed, leaving Rahm by himself with the remains of the Paladin. He had zero intention of interacting with the police. He would need to move quickly so that he'd be long gone by the time police showed up. The Guardian carefully examined the surrounding area for a moment before he deemed the coast clear and quickly went to work.
"SHAKE HIM OFF US!" Yelled Roman.
Up front, Mercury and Emerald were in the pilot and co-pilot seats respectively. Mercury immediately threw the aircraft into a series of aggressive turns in hope of shaking the assassin off.
Jai's body flailed about wildly as the bullhead banked aggressively but the super soldier was firmly latched onto the aircraft. Jai had managed to slowly crawl forward on the horizontal stabilizer, using his blades to stab into the bullhead to keep him from falling off. This wasn't his first time hanging on the side of a fast-moving aircraft. Zero-Three-Seven regretted not having his WRAITH suit. The suit made it exceedingly easy to stay latched onto the exterior of an aircraft with the suit's magnets inside the gloves and boots. Roman saw all of this happening with an angry scowl on his face.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" The master thief immediately grabbed his cane and began firing at Jai.
The super soldier rolled to the side while keeping one hand secured to one of the blades as an anchor, narrowly avoiding the shots from Roman's cane. This time Neo had retrieved an assault rifle from within the bullhead and unleashed a torrent of automatic fire. Jai rolled to the other side in an attempt to dodge the incoming automatic fire but was unsuccessful as a few rounds impacted, causing his aura to flash briefly. Neo kept the assault up and Jai moved to roll to safety again, but the aircraft unexpectedly banked hard in the opposite direction of his roll and caused the super soldier to lose his grip on one of the blades, sending him falling to the city below.
In the cockpit, Emerald and Mercury took notice of the lack of gunfire.
"Did you get him?" Asked Emerald over the intercom.
Roman and Neo watched as the assassin fell to the ground below. The bullhead was flying low level and so the fall was only a few hundred feet. Roman watched as Jai landed without incident on the rooftop of a building before proceeding to run after the bullhead at full speed, leaving the master thief and his short partner speechless at his inhuman level of speed. Neo's eyes moved to where the super soldier had previously latched onto. She spotted a small device that was fixated on the horizontal stabilizer. It looked like the same device that she found on Faline. Neo quickly tugged at Roman's sleeve, earning his attention, before she pointed to the device. An angry scowl etched its way onto Roman's face.
"Sort of," replied Roman, "looks like he planted a tracking device on the tail and he's currently chasing after us."
"Good," replied Emerald with a sinister grin. Everything was going how Cinder had predicted. "Step on it Mercury. We need all the time we can get."
"I still think this idea is fucking stupid," said Roman to Neo.
The short girl couldn't help but nod.
Outskirts of Vale:
Jai looked down at his portable radar before he looked up. In the not too far distance, he could see an old warehouse that looked long abandoned. His radar indicated that the bullhead was inside the warehouse. The super soldier wasn't too far from the docks of Vale. He managed to tag the aircraft with a tracking device before he was forced off. He'd been following the radar for about 20 minutes until he arrived here. There weren't any signs of guards anywhere, and that seemed suspicious to the Guardian. It was possible that they found the tracking device and departed before he arrived. This also could have very well been a trap. Either way, Jai didn't have much of a choice. The super soldier carefully approached the warehouse, staying stealthy, low, and out of sight as he made his way towards the warehouse.
Jai jumped down from the roof of the warehouse and landed on the floor silently. He had a pistol with a suppressor attached to it in his right hand and his remaining combat knife in his left hand. He'd done an extensive sweep of the perimeter and didn't find any explosives or traps. Once he saw that it was clear, he made his way up to the roof before entering. The abandoned bullhead was parked in a corner of the warehouse and with his enhanced vision Jai could see that the tracking device was still there. There were glass panes all throughout the warehouse. The super soldier did a quick scan of his surrounding area with his thermal goggles but wasn't picking up any heat signatures. To be fair, his goggles weren't getting an accurate reading due to the glass panes which could fool infrared imaging. Regardless, he didn't spot any signs of anyone being there.
Damn. They probably jumped ship.
The Guardian moved to turn and exit.
"So," said a digitally disguised female voice, "you're the one who's been causing the White Fang so much trouble?"
Jai immediately stopped moving once he heard the voice. The super soldier's eyes aggressively scanned the room, searching for the source of the voice. All the while, Jai kept his weapon at the ready. The sound of footsteps alerted the Guardian, who quickly turned and saw a masked female figure step into view. She was clad in a black, skintight body suit that hugged her figure very well. The mask she wore encompassed her entire face, making it impossible to determine any distinguishing facial features.
Jai watched as she calmly approached him before she stopped just a few meters away from him. Her body language held the utmost confidence, indicating that she wasn't afraid. The woman sized the super soldier up, taking note of his towering height, impressive build, and his armor and weaponry. The Guardian refrained from attacking. This had clearly been a trap, and so he would need to proceed with even more caution from here on out.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Asked the woman.
Jai said nothing.
"Fine," she said, "it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're going to die here and now. You've interfered in my plans long enough."
Jai's infrared goggles picked up a growing heat signature on the right side of her face, specifically near her right eye.
She's the one who attacked the Fall Maiden.
Jai settled into a defensive stance. This mission just became much more dangerous and much more important. He came with the hopes of finding Torchwick who would lead him to Salem's pawn, but instead, he found the pawn herself. Though she was a pawn to the witch, he couldn't forget that he would be facing off against a Maiden, one with only half of her potential, but a Maiden nonetheless. While he and his two brothers were trained to handle any threat, they didn't have practical experience fighting wielders of magic. They did fight in simulations that were based on Fria's abilities and fighting skills during her youth, but a simulation was never the same as the real deal. Had Fria not been so old, the general would have had her fight the Guardians to give them real-world experience. The woman was already pushing one hundred and seven. That was a side effect of magic on Maidens who didn't die in combat; they were able to live for very long. Sadly, she was indeed too old. Her age was also a reason the general never told her of the Guardians. The less stress on that woman the better. The Bad Batch had more than just simulations to go off on, though. They had access to highly classified videos showcasing the different abilities of Amber and her predecessor. The boys had also studied extensively the different uses of magic based on old texts that the general had in a highly secured vault. They knew of Qrow and his ability to turn into a bird and they knew what was known about Ozpin's and Salem's magical abilities. Given that Ozpin had gifted most of his magic to four young women thousands of years ago, it was safe to assume Salem was more powerful than a fully realized Maiden, meaning it would be a fight like the Guardians had never seen before. Here and now, Jai would be the first of his brothers and sisters to understand what it would be like to face Salem when the time. Jai would need to be extra careful during this fight. Not only did he need to win, but he needed her alive. Without her, finding Salem would be impossible.
Cinder grinned as she raised her hands up to the sky, summoning fire to life.
"Let's see what you got."
Whoo! Definitely a lot to unravel in this chapter. Some of you might think that the scene with Rusty and Sepia was a bit dark, but as you can see, just because Rahm is the most human of his brothers it doesn't mean he isn't a cold, emotionless killing machine when the time comes. Just to be clear, Jai was holding back a great deal but remember that his scenario was easier than Terre's. Terre was dealing with nine at once. Terre and Rahm took dives in the fight with Jai because they can't leave any room for suspicion from the girls. Neo is a very tricky opponent for the boys. She is smart and knows she can't fight them one on one. Her semblance is very useful for trick fighting. I think it was very obvious to Cinder that the boys knew that Roman and the White Fang were connected. As she said, if the girls could figure it out then the boys, who have been hunting Taurus and the White Fang for years, would have known. Cinder is pretty crafty. She would know that Roman would be someone the boys would want for information. What she doesn't know is that the boys are after her most of all so that they can find out what Salem has planned for Beacon and thus put a stop to it, but most importantly use Cinder to find Salem and kill her. Trust me, the boys are going to be in for a groundbreaking awakening when they realize they can't kill her and then even more so when they find out she's immortal. I wanted to make this chapter longer, but it is long enough. I'm not a fan of super long chapters. Tune in next time to see Guardian Zero-Three-Seven, Jai Gris, face off against Cinder Fall, the half Maiden. Thank you.
-Dude64