Chapter 16: Mechs and Morons.
"I.. Don't understand." Ruby finally uttered as she took in the words that Penny had just revealed to her.
"Some girls are born." Penny soon continued with a solemn tone. "But I was made. The world's first synthetic human to be capable of generating an aura. I'm not real."
Ruby looked at Penny with disappointment. "How can you say that! You ARE real, Penny! True! You don't have flesh and blood like me or anyone else, but you are still real! You have an aura! A soul! That alone gives you a heart, Penny. You're my friend, and you're a very REAL friend at that!"
Penny smiled at this. "Oh! Thank you, Ruby!" She exclaimed as she hugged her friend.
Ruby groaned in pain, but smiled regardless.
"Anytime, Penny." She replied, before the android let her go.
"I think you'll enjoy meeting my father, Ruby. He's a very sweet man and is the one who built me."
Ruby smiled in amazement. "He built you all by himself?"
Penny sighed and smiled sheepishly. "Well, he did get some help from General Ironwood."
Hearing this made Ruby realize why the soldiers were after Penny.
"Wait?! Ironwood? Is that why those soldiers were after you?"
Penny just smiled and sighed.
"They just want to protect me, Ruby."
Ruby rose an eyebrow. "They don't think you can protect yourself?"
"They're not sure if I'm ready yet…" Penny replied with a sigh. "One day, it will be MY job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and test myself in the Tournament."
Ruby was now confused. "Penny, what are you talking about? Save the world from WHAT? We're in a time of peace!"
Penny was now also confused by Ruby.
"That's not what Ironwood said to me." She stated blankly. However she couldn't explain further as she heard the soldiers nearby, preparing to check the alley.
"Sorry, Ruby." She stated apologetically as he grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her effortlessly into a dumpster. "But you need to hide. I don't want you getting into trouble."
Ruby didn't bother arguing as she secretly watched Penny leave with the Atlesian soldiers. Once they were out of sight, she leapt out of the dumpster, but unfortunately noticing a very big rat as she did.
"AHH!"
She ended up jumping back into it.
In the ruined parts of Vale, a club was in full swing and yet in full panic as the henchmen of Junior Xiong heard the sound of a yellow motorcycle's engine and screamed in horror.
"She's here! She's here! She's here!" One stated in panic as he and several others began to barricade the doors. Junior Xiong looked at his henchmen unamused as he saw them doing this.
"What the heck are you doing?!" He asked as then the doors were kicked open.
"Guess who's back?!" Yang declared with a grin as she found the henchmen pointing guns at her. Even the DJ with the bear head stopped his music as he ducked and hid behind his station.
Junior Xiong sighed as he walked through the crowd. "Stop! Nobody shoot!" He then faced Yang. "Uh, Blondie! You're here. Why?"
Yang smirked with deviousness.
"You still owe me a drink." She stated as she grabbed Junior and dragged him to the bar.
Of course, Neptune did practically NOTHING as he was too stupid in a "love struck" stare.
Within an alleyway, Blake was inspecting some claw marks left on the wall, as Faunus were walking towards the same direction.
"This is it." She remarked as she undid her bow and pulled out two half masks that looked like grim faces.
"Okay. Why the masks?" Sun asked as Blake handed him one.
"The masks are a symbol." Blake explained. "Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters."
"Grimm masks." Sun uttered as he felt a shiver go down his back. "That's pretty dark."
"So was the guy who started it." Blake replied as she put on her mask. Sun soon followed suit and began to follow her lead.
Walking into the warehouse stage, MANY Faunus were grouped together in the area. All varying if different types as White Fang members stood among them. The lieutenant stood on the stage, preparing to speak to all of the new recruits that came for the night.
"Thank you all for coming." He began. "For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!"
As the "comrade" made his reveal, some Faunus began to protest.
"Thank you, thank you!" Roman Torchwick stated mockingly. "Please hold your applause."
A deer Faunus scowled and pointed at Torchwick angrily.
"What's a human doing here?!" She demanded with rage, as Torchwick only grinned with amusement."
"I'm glad you asked, 'Deerie'!" He stated sarcastically. "Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans... are the WORST. Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, KILLED!"
Sun leaned over to Blake in confusion.
"Is he going somewhere with this?" He whispered to her as she shushed him.
"But, before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!" The Faunus part of White Fang and joining it began to chant in agreement with Torchwick's speech. "Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life! And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around... No offense to any rodents in the room."
Snapping his fingers, the curtain behind him fell and revealed an Atlesian Paladin-290 mech, with the White Fang insignia painted onto it.
"As some of you may have heard, this right here is Atlas's newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my 'employer', we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, 'hit the shelves'. Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine... But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?"
No questions were said as the cheers all stated that they were all ready to fight. At this point, Blake and Sun decided it would be time to leave.
"We best be going."
"No need to tell me twice."
However, the line of new recruits began to walk forward, catching Blake and Sun among them.
Back at Junior's club, Yang was busy interrogating Junior.
"For the LAST time, Blondie! I don't know!"
Yang scowled at this. "How can you not know?"
"I haven't talked to him! I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here." He then explained. "He paid up front, I lent him my men, and none of them ever. Came. Back."
Neptune, trying to NOT be useless, walked up next to Yang with a question of his own. "So where did they go?"
Junior only scowled.
"What kind of stupid question is that? They never came back!" He then looked at Yang. "Who IS even that guy?!"
Yang pushed Neptune aside, and began to speak threateningly. Don't worry about him; worry about me. If I don't find out what I want, I'll cause more havoc than LAST time!"
Junior scowled even more.
"I already told you everything! Torchwick hired my boys, and I guess he wasn't happy with them, which is something I can relate to." He then glared at the henchmen nearby and wisely left the area. With a defeated huff, Yang turned away from the bar.
"Come on, Neptune. We're done here."
"We get everything we need?"
"Well, we got everything we can." Yang corrected. "Hopefully the rest of the team is having better luck."
Back with Sun and Blake the two were still caught up in the line of recruits. Desperate to get out.
"What are we going to do?!" Sun whisper screamed to an annoyed Blake.
"I'm thinking." She simply replied, as she then spotted the fuse box. "That's it! He can't see in the dark."
Without thinking twice, Blake used Gambot Shroud to shoot the box with a dust bullet and cut out all the power. Realizing who it was, Torchwick scowled.
"Don't let them get away!"
"Sun! The window!"
Leaping through the window, the two Faunus began to hop from building to building from the roofs as two Atlesian Paladin-290 mechs began to give chase. One of them, Touchwick was piloting.
"Blake! Please tell me you have some form of backup!"
"I'm way ahead of you." Blake replied as she opened her scroll to call her teammates. "Ruby! Weiss! Yang! Aoihi! Sun and I need back up now! Two new Altesian mechs are giving chase on us!"
The responses were swift.
"Ooh! I am NOT missing this!"
"Heading over to Blazing Azure now! Weiss and I won't be too long!"
They soon were passing Junior's club.
"HURRY!" Sun screamed, as Yang heard it BOTH out loud and on her scroll. Without thinking twice, she kicked bumblebee into gear and scared the crap out of Neptune.
The chase somehow made it to the Highways as Blake and Sun hopped from car to car. The mech Torchwick was driving was causing some serious havoc, as Aoihi and Weiss came into view on board Blazing Azure.
"We got to slow them down." He uttered as Yang rolled up beside on Bumblebee.
"I agree! Any ideas?!"
"I got one!" Neptune replied as he fired at the mech and attempted to stab it with his weapon's trident form, but was knocked away.
"Neptune!" Sun cried, as he chased after his friend.
"That was useless." Yang stated bluntly, as Aoihi sighed and put his motorcycle on autopilot.
"No better time than now, I suppose." He lifted Azurestorm and its scabbard from his belt and flipped the handle on it open as it turned into a rifle. With a single shot, a blast of blue Fire dust flew towards the mech and caused it some good damage.
"Woo!" Yang cheered. "Way to go, Aoihi!"
Weiss smiled in agreement. "Indeed. Well done."
He then fired at the second mech, slowing it down as it crashed into the one of Torchwick's. Seeing this, Aoihi began to type a code into the keypad of his motorcycle.
"Weiss! Ready yourself! I'm about to have Blazing Azure's seat unleash its launch pad function!"
Weiss nodded as Aoihi did the final touches and they were BOTH launched into the air.
"Okay! Azureblizzard! Let's do this, Weiss!"
"Got it!"
Drawing out their swords, Aoihi and Weiss stabbed them into the ground and unleashed some ice dust that froze a major patch of it. The two mechs then slid on it and fell off of the highway as Ruby stood there waiting, with Crescent Rose in its scythe form, ready to fight. Aoihi, Weiss, Blake, and Yang soon leapt down and joined her as they stood ready to fight. However before they could, the second mech that was working alongside Torchwick was suddenly struck with a throwing knife that was infused with plant dust. Without warning a motorcycle leaped from the Highway and it's rider, a Woman in a White Yukata with blue and yellow swirls sprung from her motorcycle, front flipped and slashed it cleanly in the middle, slicing it in half. Everyone gasped in shock as she landed gracefully onto the ground.
"Oh, my gosh!" Blake exclaimed. "That's… that's Black Kite!"
Her teammates looked confused.
"Who?" They asked in unison.
"Black Kite." Blake explained. "She's a Faunus with a fearsome reputation of fighting against BOTH White Fang and The Human Purity. She's saved lives of BOTH races and has been a major inspiration to Faunus who still believe that Humans and Faunus can still co-exist."
Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Aoihi gazed up in awe, as they say Black Kite retrieve her motorcycle. However, as she did, she looked at Aoihi and spoke directly to him.
"I expect great things from you, Aoihi Moreuhi. I promise you, this WON'T be the last time you'll see of me."
"And what of me, little white fox?!" Torchwick asked through the speaker of his mech as Black Kite sighed and shook her head.
"A sadistic and desperate excuse of a showman is NOT worth my time. You're nothing, Torchwick. Nothing but a ramp in MY eyes."
Before he could say anything else, Black Kite used a throwing dagger of Ice dust on the mech and once it was satisfactory enough for her, she kicked her motorcycle into top gear and used it as a ramp to launch herself away and back to the highway; her throwing daggers returning to her. Now frustrated, Torchwick had the mech break free from the ice and faced team RWBYA to take it out on them. However, they were ready to fight.
"Freezer burn!" Ruby called out, as Weiss made of patch of ice and Yang punched it to make a screen of mist that covered them. They all dashed about, distracting Torchwick, as he fired at Blake and Yang, causing them to stumble before Ruby attacked him.
"Checkmate!" She called out, as Weiss and Blake began to do their tag team attacks. Ones of slashing at the mech, before Weiss used her glyph and dust, and somehow managed to unleash a glyph that can speed someone's attacks. Blake used it, and caused some good damage.
"Ladybug! Third Degree fire!" Ruby and Blake dashed back and forth as they slashed and slashed at Torchwick's mech. Then as they cleared, Aoihi and Yang came in with a pincer attack. Azurestorm with its blue fire dust activated and Ember Cilea locked and loaded. The attack also did some significant damage to the mech as Torchwick got more and more angry.
"Argh! Stupid blondie!" He then punched Yang with the mech and she flew backwards into a high pillar.
"Yang!" Blake cried out in worry.
"Blake!" Ruby spoke with a smile. "Don't worry. With every hit, Yang's body absorbs the energy from and she uses it to make herself stronger and fight back twice as hard. It's what her semblance is all about."
Standing back up, Yang walked towards Torchwick and his Atlesian Paladin-290 mech and managed to grab the arm of it as it punched her, before punching back and destroying it. Infuriated, Torchwick had the mech kick Yang and she flew back once again.
"Bumblebee!"
Not even hesitating from hearing Ruby's code name for their move, Blake threw Gambot Shroud in its grappling hook form towards Yang and the blonde immediately caught it, as Blake began to swing her around to gain momentum.
As this was going on, Ruby realized the mech was still too fast.
"We have to slow it down!"
"And do you suppose we do that?!" Weiss asked as Ruby got an idea.
"Weiss! Ice-Flower!"
Not even thinking twice Weiss summoned glyphs in front of Crescent Rose, and when Ruby fired, icicles froze and formed on Torchwick's Atlesian Paladin-290 mech. Then with a final yell, Yang punched it, causing it to fall apart. Torchwick was NOT happy as he dusted himself off.
"Darn! I JUST got this thing cleaned."
Angry, Yang fired another shot at Torchwick, but only for him to be saved by a young woman with two toned hair.
"Ladies, Gentleman, Ice Queen."
"Hey!"
"It's always a pleasure. Neo, if you would?"
The girl with Neopolitan colored hair simply curtsied at their enemies which taunted Yang. The blonde punched the outlaws, and they suddenly shattered like Glass as they then looked up and saw them escaping in a Bull head plane.
"Whoa. Looks like he got a new henchman." Yang remarked.
"Yeah." Weiss replied as she attempted to joke. "I guess she really made our plans, fall apart?"
Ruby sniggered, as Yang and Blake face palmed.
"No. Just no."
Weiss huffed indignantly. "What?! You do it all the time?!"
"Yeah." Yang stated. "But there's a time and a place for jokes."
Weiss scoffed. "Well! Are you telling me that this was the wrong time for a joke?"
Yang shook her head. "No. It just wasn't that good."
Weiss scoffed again and looked at Aoihi.
"Tch! Aoihi! You seem to be more reasonable at times! Was my joke a flop or not?!"
Aoihi blinked as he was suddenly broken out of his train of thought.
"I'm sorry? But, what joke?"
Weiss huffed. "The one I JUST made on how Torchwick's new henchman made our plans fall apart! Didn't you hear it?"
Aoihi sighed. "No, I didn't. I was too focused on something else." He then began to explain. "I can't put my finger on it, but something about Black Kite's Aura felt vaguely familiar to me. It could be nothing, but I don't want to completely shun any possibilities yet."
"Fair enough." Ruby replied. "Well, I suppose it's all back to Beacon for us."
"You can ride with me on Bumblebee, Blake!" Yang stated with a smile.
"Alright!" Blake replied.
"Weiss gets the seat behind me, Ruby." Aoihi soon spoke as Ruby pouted with dismay.
"Argh! Curse the squishy little sidecar!" Everyone had to laugh at this for it was too funny.
As Team RWBYA rode back to Beacon on Blazing Azure and Bumblebee, Black Kite was watching them from afar on the top of a tall building. With a sigh, she pulled a bracelet out from her belt's pouch, and gazed at it, as the same emblem that Aoihi inherited from his father was on it.
"I wish you can see him, Ryo." She uttered softly. "Aoihi's gotten so big. He looks so much like you too."
Even with the mask hiding her true voice and identity, Black Kite's emotions were still there. As was her tears.