No one was expecting THIS to get adapted, did they?
Just a quick run down of the chapter's I'll NEVER adapt;
Ben 4 Good Buddy
Pretty dull episode- the Road Crew is one of those lame D-lister villains you can't really do much with. It's also weird to clown on the Rustbucket after we know it can straight up ram into spaceships and has a plasma cannon built in.
Fool's Gold
I know I've alluded to this scenario a few dozen times in Gems, but I will never show the full events. It's too...weird and gross.
Anything Relating to Elena
So, I will admit- a few years ago, I did toy with this idea to involve Elena in a mini arc. This would have been set between Be Afraid of the Dark and The Rooters of All Evil. Elena was the 'unofficial' fourth musketeer in Ben, Ruby and Kevin's group, an outsider who at least had ties to the Plumbers via her father. Her father messed toyed with some microchips, died and then Elena took over the microchips as their queen and started to 'save' people- usually by using the nanochips to fit them in a box she saw fit.
It was a really lame concept.
Double or Nothing
Albedo's not the greatest showman or petty.
Most Dangerous Gameshow
I like Yuri Lowenthal. I like how much he loves the character. I've met him three times and he's literally one of the coolest people I've met. But this is not it, dude. Most Dangerous Gameshow, penned by Lownethal, is probably one of the weirdest episodes in the series, especially given how it's a penultimate episode before the send off of the original franchise. I hate everyone involved in this episode- especially Kai, she got done very, very dirty in the end.
It'd be weird to pit Ruby against various women who are probably not interested in Ben / are most likely friends / are in relationships themselves, especially when she and Ben are very happy together. I could do commentary about Reality TV or something, but I could not give a shit about TV nowadays.
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
The Atlas Academy library was a place that Blake often frequented on her scant time between missions. If someone was trying to find her, the library would be either the second or third place to check, depending on who's looking. Partly, she was here to just find a new book to read, maybe the next Ninjas of Love book if she got lucky, but it was unlikely. The other part was...well, she wanted to tell someone. It had been a few weeks since Nesmith was put behind bars and, in turn, a few weeks since she, Rook, and Min found Ironwood's secrets. She hadn't said a word about it to anyone outside of those who already knew.
And she hated that. She promised herself she wouldn't do this again. The last time she kept a secret like this was back when she met the rest of her team, when she kept her identity as a Faunus a secret. In comparison though, that paled in severity. She sighed as she pulled another book from the shelf, her feline ears drooping a bit, even if the book she pulled did seem a bit interesting.
"Everything ok?" Yang asked.
"Hm? Oh, yeah it-it's fine," Blake lied a bit, "Ok, I think that's all. You can let me down, now."
"You know, we have a ladder." Weiss said, pointing down to the one she was using.
"Shush. Lemme have this." Yang smirked, as she put down Blake.
"Thanks," Blake smiled a little, holding at least six more books in her hands. Most were just for reading, though one she kept hidden was a book on Atlesian military conduct. Neither Yang nor Weiss saw it, but it was just something that the cat Faunus thought she'd need.
"You've been doing a lot of reading recently, Blake. Doing research, I take it?" Weiss asked.
"Nah. I just haven't been able to read and...get away from everything, y'know." Blake shrugged. "Reality is nice, but..."
"You just wanna read more Ninjas of Love." Ruby said, poking her head through an open area on a bookshelf.
"...you're always gonna hold that over me, aren't you? One time you find it," Blake sighed.
"Hey, I was curious." Ruby countered. "Listen, I thought it was gonna be a shounen-esqe light novel series about ninjas fighting for love. Not..."
Ruby made a face.
"I don't even wanna say it out loud."
Ben poked his head through the hole next to her. "Whisper it in my ear." He requested. Ruby did so, and Ben made a face.
"You're kidding." Ben said. "I think we'd get in trouble if I said it out lo-" Blake shoved a book in Ben's face, cutting him off.
"I get it, it's...steamy," Blake blushed, "Doesn't mean you have to keep saying it."
"Blake, the confrontation between Yuno and Haruno is gonna be in my mind forever." Ruby stated.
"I don't see what's so bad about that scene." Blake said.
"Because you surround your mind with FILTH!" Ruby pointed an accusing finger. Blake rolled her eyes.
"I've seen your search history." Blake stated. "Tell Ben about it sometime."
"Wha-?! When did you-?!" Ruby blushed.
"And like that, I claim my vengeance," Blake grinned. It was around then that both Blake's and Yang's Scrolls buzzed as they received a message. The two pulled out the devices and checked the message.
"Huh. Looks like we got a mission," Yang said, "At...special request from Ironwood himself?"
"Just you two, huh?" Ruby said, awkwardly changing the subject. "Man, must be special-"
"Don't change the subject." Ben smirked, poking Ruby's face. "What's in your search history?"
"...pics of Yor Forger." Ruby said, looking away.
Ben stared at her.
"Valid." Ben nodded.
The cat Faunus couldn't help but blush a bit as well. She was actually thinking of using Yor as the next Halloween costume. But with that thought aside, the black and yellow duo made their way to Ironwood's office, leaving the other trio in the library.
"Ironwood requesting the bees for the job- somebody's about to get stung." Yang joked.
Blake gave her a weird look. "Bees?"
"Yeah! That's us! It's...it's our team name." Yang said.
"Oh! Because our combo move is Bumblebee," the usually cool ninja of Team RWBY rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "R-right."
Yang gave her a look. "Hey, you doing okay? You've been super weird recently. Not that that's bad. I like weird."
"Yeah, just...thinking about something," Blake admitted, "I'll...tell you about it after we get back."
"Hm? Alright. If you're comfortable with that." Yang said, reaching for her hand. "I just wanna make sure you're in the right headspace to say whatever you wanna say."
Blake sighed and took Yang's hand, "I...I should be, yeah."
Yang gave her the same sunny smile, the one that made Blake's heart skip a beat. It eased her mind for a moment...but then that horrid secret flooded her mind again. The military's secrets were...horrific. They had done something truly despicable, and Blake was to pretend like she was FINE working under this.
But, no.
Blake just had to push that worry down.
She'd done it before. A long time ago.
The duo walked into the general's office, the man himself getting papers and files ready, seemingly just for those two. Even as she walked in, Blake spotted something that made her stop in her tracks. On the general's desk, among the papers and files was a bone white mask with dull red markings, resembling the mask of a Grimm.
A White Fang mask.
"I'll cut to the chase." The rather impatient general said. "This man has been spotted around Atlas. His appearance is always followed by a large seismic movement."
The general pressed a button on his desk and brought up a security camera still of the man in question. None of his body was visible, being covered by a heavy and tattered brown cloak and hood. The only thing visible in the still was a full-face Grimm mask, usually reserved only for the highest ranking members of the organization.
"Wait, seismic? In Atlas?" Yang asked.
"As impossible as that sounds, yes. Already, two military storehouses have completely collapsed because of this individual. What makes this even worse, is that whoever this person is...he seems to be in league with the Happy Huntresses."
"What?" Blake asked in shock.
Ironwood pressed another button on his desk and the still changed to show the cloaked figure speaking an unknown man with blonde hair tied up in a ponytail and who wore a brown jacket and old green shirt with matching jeans. In another frame, the pin associated with the Happy Huntresses was on full display, hooked on the second man's jacket.
"I've never seen that man before." Blake said, looking at the photo of the man. "I was under the impression that the Happy Huntresses were all women."
"Apparently not." Ironwood said. "Investigate it, and put an end to it."
"Right," Yang said. Ironwood was snippy today- best not piss him off.
It made sense though. Ironwood and Robyn, while no longer outright hating each other (or at least that's how Yang and Blake understood it) the two were still on shaky ground. Seeing someone who might be involved with Robyn causing targeted earthquakes was no doubt going to make things worse. Seeing that White Fang mask and the fact Ironwood called for her specifically...Ironwood wasn't told about Blake's past was he?
Blake looked back at Ironwood as she left, but he didn't look back. The scattered papers on his desk were clearly distressing him.
Her ears drooped a little as they left Ironwood's office, but she tried to push aside all the negative thoughts in her head. Of course, Yang took note of it, definitely feeling concern at Blake's behavior. The stealthy Faunus did say that she'd explain everything after they were done and the blonde trusted that she'd hold to her word...but still.
Yang shook her head. Don't pressure her. Let her go at her own pace. If I pressure her now, it could be off putting and make her shut herself off more. Again.
"So...what do you think?" Blake broke the silence, "Should we try and find Robyn and ask her? Or investigate the storehouses? See if they took anything?"
"Sounds like a good place to start. I'm sure she knows who this dude is." Yang said, holding up the photo.
"I have no idea who this is." Robyn said, looking at the photo boredly.
"Seriously?" Yang asked.
"Never seen him before in my life. And if I had, he'd already be behind bars."
"He doesn't ring any bells at all?" Blake asked hopefully.
"Nope." Robyn said. "None of my supporters would EVER support the White Fang, too. They're old news."
"What was that about the White Fang?" Fiona called out from behind a stack of boxes, "Uh, Joana, could you take these real quick?" The sheep Faunus handed off the boxes to the muscle of the Huntresses before she could actually accept or decline before walking on over.
"...third time you've done that, Fi," Joanna sighed.
"Some idiot's wearing our emblem and associating with another idiot from the White Fang." Robyn said, as Fiona walked over.
Fiona hummed. "Is he...a bearded guy with brown hair?" She asked.
"Yeah. How'd you-" Blake said.
"Oh, yeah. That's Forest." Fiona said. "May knows ALL about him."
"May does?" Yang asked, just to make sure she heard that right.
"Well, I say she knows all about him, she's usually the one who throws him out on his ass every time he shows up."
"She around?" Yang asked. "We're kinda in a rush. Ironwood's impatient about this."
Robyn rolled her eyes. "Things never change with him, do they?"
"I mean you said he's wearing our emblem right?" Fiona asked, "He probably thinks you're involved, but he doesn't wanna jump the gun."
"One guy flashing our emblem around like it's his own personal coat of arms and Ironwood's first option is 'go to war with the good guys.' Again, nothing's really changed."
Yang shook her head. "Stress from the Battle of Haven is probably getting to him."
"You guys took down Cinder, though. What does he have to be stressed about?" Fiona asked.
"Cass," Blake answered bluntly, "As unhinged as Cinder was, she was...really the only thing that could stop Cass from going on a full-blown killing spree."
Yang knew that Blake was covering the truth with a lie, but...it was at least believable.
"Hm. Great. Another thing to keep me up at night," Robyn rolled her eyes. "Go talk to May and get out of here."
"Right," Blake nodded before motioning for Yang to follow her.
"Oh, yeah...Forest." May said, as she scratched her cheek. "Yeah, the dude is a follower. But only because he hates Ironwood and Jacques. He supports us cuz we're against everything Atlas wants, but misses our messages and policies big time."
"A fanatic." Blake frowned.
"Yeah, that's a good word for it. Surprised Ironwood doesn't have the guy's face in the system. Or maybe he does but didn't think to look that low."
"So what? He's a small-time anarchist then?" Yang asked.
"Pretty much. Most of his rap sheet's non-violent...against people. Broken a few camera drones here, smashed up a recharging AK there, maybe he even broke one of those fancy propaganda monitors the tin man's got everywhere," May scoffed a bit.
"That's not too bad." Yang said. "Still doesn't explain the earthquakes."
"He's also just really insistent on trying to be buddy buddy with me. Like, going out of his way to celebrate who I am and how brave I am- kind of annoying to have that pushed in my face." May rolled her eyes.
"Maybe he thinks you're his in," Blake said, "He wants to join and...I'm not 100% sure on how you recruit so..."
"Recruiting's easy, he just doesn't fit."
"Know where he'd be lurking?" Yang asked.
"Yeah, he hangs out at a bar not too far from here. It's called Triangle Tavern." May said. "He gives food reviews there with a bunch of his pals."
"He's...a food critic?" Blake asked, a little surprised.
"Kinda? Think its for a blog or something," May shrugged.
"Weird detail, but we'll look into it." Blake said. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it. If it gets him out of my hair, I'm happy to help." May smirked.
The Triangle Tavern wasn't exactly hard to miss, given its distinct neon-green triangle sign. It wasn't the best place to hang out, but it wasn't a complete dive. It was, for lack of a better term, standard Mantle fare. If there was one detail May left out that could've been helpful, it would be how popular the place was. The bumblebee duo must've arrived at one of the busiest times, much to their bad luck. It was gonna be a pain to find Forest in this sea of people. From Dust miners on break to just the average passerby, Forest could be anywhere in the crowd.
"Okay, be on the look out for the bearded dude." Yang said. "We just have to act casual for now-"
A man spat out something into a trashcan. "Are you serious!? YOU CALL THESE WINGS!?"
"I think we found him," Blake smirked, heading in the direction of the yell.
"These are garbage!" The man yelled. " I thought that the honey BBQ wings would be completely covered almost like they were tossed in the sauce. No! I'm not paying to watch some half decent girl squeeze some sauce from a bottle on the wings!"
The waitress gave him a look. If she didn't need this job, she'd spray the man in the face WITH said BBQ sauce.
"Ahem," Yang cleared her throat, crossing her arms and glaring daggers at the man, "You Forest?"
"Yeah! And I got shitty wings!" Forest yelled, pointing at the wings. Yang did have to admit- they looked poor.
"Uh uh. Sure." Yang said. "So, tell us about your friend."
"...what friend?" Forest asked. It was hard to tell if he was playing coy or genuinely needed them to narrow it down.
"Hooded guy, meets you in lonely alleys...wears a Grimm mask," Yang put emphasis on that last part. She knew it worked because as soon as she finished her sentence, Forest froze and started to sweat. He knew exactly who she meant.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Forest insisted.
"We have photos." Blake said, crossing her arms.
"I don't know." Forest looked away.
"We're gonna need you to come with us, then." Yang said.
"Uh...I'm gonna have to take a rain check on that one ladies!" Forest said in a panic. He quickly flipped the table over to distract them, before he grabbed the sauce from the waitress. Yang tried to grab ahold of him, but their suspect threw the sauce at Yang before he made a mad dash for the door.
Yang dodged the sauce bottle, but some of it got in her hair. Yang grabbed her hair, and looked at the BBQ sauce stain in her hand, like it was a bullet wound she'd taken to the head. Her eyes turned red, the first time they'd done so in a long while.
"That motherfucker is DEAD."
"We still need answers from him! So kill him after we interrogate him!" Blake tried to persuade Yang, but she could already see the flame-like energy radiating off her girlfriend's form.
"Guess I'm playing the bad cop then," Yang slammed her fists together and dashed after Forest.
Yang busted the door down the restaurant, as she hunted down Forest. Yang was like a cheetah in pursuit of her prey, and Forest was...no, gazelle is too poor of a comparison. Forest was a very, very lame runner.
In his panic, he started throwing over trash cans and anything else he could find just to make the pursuit somewhat more challenging for the two Huntresses. Granted, they were Huntresses so obstacles like those would put them back by a second if he was lucky. The runner quickly pulled out his Scroll and tried to call his "friend."
"C'mon, c'mon...please tell me you didn't switch burners..." Forest muttered.
"COME ON! I JUST WANNA TALK!" Yang yelled, getting faster and faster. She looked like she was gonna rip this man's arms off and then feed it to him-
But she came back to her senses when the ground shook.
"What the-?" Blake gasped, almost missing one of her Gambol Shroud swings. Unlike Yang, Blake had decided to chase after Forest from the rooftops. Not the smartest move in hindsight, but she thought it would work.
Yang came to a halt, as it looked like ground before her was about to burst open. Forest ducked for cover, as the ground exploded open. Yang jumped backwards, and shielded her body for any loose debris that might hit her.
Unfortunately, that loose debris did knock free Gambol Shroud. Blake's eyes widened as she realized she was quickly falling.
"YANG!"
Yang leapt over to catch Blake from falling. Gambol Shroud clattered on the ground, before it was buried under a bunch of debris.
"Shit!" Blake cursed.
"How the hell-?!" Yang hissed, looking around for the hooded figure that always caused these quakes.
Forest huffed and puffed, clearly out of breath. "W-whew! That was...a close one...thanks, man."
And then it came out of the ground.
Climbing out of the crack in the ground, a massive figure rose to tower over Forest. It was like a Paladin was just spawned from the earth, but yellow in coloration and more humanoid in shape. The head of the figure was more like a bucket-shaped helmet with a v-shaped visor, showing two small white eyes peering out from shadow. Massive pistons jutted out from the seemingly-mechanical form.
"Hi Tree," the imposing armored figure said in a deep voice, giving him a shy wave.
The hooded figure that Yang and Blake were looking at followed the armored hulk, leaping out of the crack and landing deftly behind Forest.
"Shcho, chort vizʹmy, ty robysh?!" (Translation: What the hell are you doing?!) the figure hissed at Forest.
"Wha-? Running for my life!" Forest answered.
"The masked figure is from Ukraine?' Blake asked.
"Guess so." Yang said. "But check out the other guy. That's the same species as Ben's Armodrillo alien."
"Ya dumav, ty skazav, shcho zasluhovuyesh doviry," (I thought you said you were trustworthy,) the figure jabbed Forest with a clawed finger.
"I am trustworthy! You want to stick it to Ironwood as much as I do!" Forest countered.
"Bilʹshe nizh ty! Ya khochu, shchob olov'yanyy cholovik HORIV za te, shcho vin zrobyv!" (More than you! I want the tin man to BURN for what he did!)
The armored figure turned to see the two Huntresses. He wasn't sure what to make of them, tilting his head like a curious puppy. He shyly waved to the two while the criminals behind him argued.
Yang awkwardly waved back. "Blake, call me crazy- but I don't know if that Armodrillo guy knows the damage he's doing."
"Yeah...he...doesn't seem hostile at all," Blake agreed.
"He's like a giant, metal version of Winnie the Pooh." Yang noted, as a snowflake hit the armored alien's nose.
"A-ah! Cold!" The alien sneezed.
The hooded figure turned to the armored alien and sighed. His gaze then turned to Blake and Yang and marched forward.
"You...soldiers of Ironwood...da?" the masked figure growled.
"Uh, yeah." Blake said. "Who the hell are you, and why are you wearing a White Fang mask?"
"Who...am I?" the figure balled his hand into a fist.
"Uh-oh! Don't ask that! He gets angry when you ask that!" the Armodrillo warned. The figure lowered his hood and ripped off his mask, showing that he had no face.
"Navitʹ ne pam'yatayu!"(Even I don't remember!)
Yang yelled. "OH, What the HELL!?"
Blake's face drained. This man- he was NOT with White Fang.
"Shche dvi heneralʹsʹki bez·hluzdi bolonky..." (Two more of the general's senseless lapdogs…) the figure growled before turning to the Armodrillo, "Andreas! Pokhovayte yikh!" ( Andreas! Bury them!)
"Are...you sure?" Andreas asked, "They're not the armored guys you talked about."
"They're incognito, big guy! Not all of Ironwood's puppets are gonna be walking around in uniform!" Forest interjected, "Some of 'em can walk around in plain sight and no one's the wiser!"
Andreas looked the two girls up and down a few more times. "But...what if Andreas hurt them?"
Forest slapped his face. "JUST FIGHT, YOU OAF!"
"Fight...?"
"Andreas!" the faceless figure yelled, loud enough that people in the neighboring buildings probably heard him, "Khochesh, shchob mene zabraly? Ironwood ub'ye mene, yakshcho znayde. Vy khochete, shchob tse stalosya?" (You want me taken away? Ironwood will kill me if he finds me. Do you want that to happen?)
"W-what? Kill?!" Andreas shuddered at the word, "You're my friend! I don't want you to die!"
"Todi zupynitʹ yikh. Z tonnamy betonu." (Then stop them. With tons of concrete.)
"O...okay," Andreas said regretfully, "Andreas sorry!" He threw his arms in the air, hands quickly being replaced by massive piston-heads, before he slammed both fists into the ground. The pistons jutting out of his elbows began to move, slowly at first, before picking up speed to match that of a jackhammer.
The ground exploded when his fists hit it- Yang and Blake were sent flying backwards. Yang quickly maneuvered her wire to wrap around something sturdy, and swung her way over.
"This guy's being gaslit." Yang frowned. "Poor guy."
"Think we can get around him?" Blake asked, not wanting to hurt the guy. Well, if she could anyway. She'd never gone up against Armadrillo personally, but she knew that armor wasn't just for show. And the only real opening was his visor... If she could get past Andreas and take out the freak manipulating him, then this could end quickly. After all, Forest didn't seem the type to fight.
"I think we can try and convince him to come with us. We just have to be really nice."
"Agreed," Blake looked to who she was just going to call NoFace for now and Forest, "Hopefully they don't have too much sway over him."
"Only the guy with no face does. Forest just seems like an angry boxing manager." Yang said. "Take care of convincing the big guy away from here. I'll deal with the two bozos."
"Then I'll come back and help," Blake added, before she walked in front of the towering alien, "Andreas, right?"
"Y-yeah...that's Andreas' name..." Andreas answered nervously.
"You look lost...do you need help?" Blake asked. "Your friends don't seem very nice."
"They...they yell, yeah. But they tell me that's just cause they're mad with the Tin Man," Andreas answered.
"What the- this isn't a group therapy session, Andreas! Smash her!" Forest yelled.
"B-but, yellow lady being nice to Andreas." Andreas insisted.
"I DON'T CARE IF SHE'S THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND! POUND HER TO THE GROUND!"
"Hey! Let the lady talk!" Yang yelled, launching herself at Forest with a blast from her gauntlet. Her fist was reared back and ready to slam his smug face in, but NoFace decided to intervene. He jumped in front of Forest and grabbed hold of the blonde brawler's attack, the impact blowing off his cloak. A lack of a face wasn't his only monstrous characteristic. He was covered in what seemed to be a chitinous exoskeleton, with parts of his body more insectoid than human. Beneath his two, more prominent arms, was a pair of smaller, but equally functioning ones that ended in three clawed fingers.
"Offer friendship in one hand," NoFace growled, "Hide knife behind back with other. Typical ATLESIAN!"
"I'm from Patch, asshole!" Yang yelled, throwing a few more wild punches.
"Never HEARD OF IT!" NoFace yelled after dodging the barrage of strikes. He landed a solid hit to Yang's gut that made her keel over. If she didn't have Aura up, that might've broken some of her ribs!
What the fuck IS this guy?! Yang thought to herself.
Yang looked back up at him. He's not alien, he's not human, he's not a mutant- what the hell is this guy?!
NoFace overpowered Yang with another few strikes, and knocked her down to the ground with another punch. Yang's eyes lit up as she clenched her fist.
"Thanks for the boost." Yang said, as she dodged another heavy attack, and punched the bastard square in the jaw.
She heard something crack as NoFace went staggering back, thudding to the ground from the hit. Yang smirked, turning her attention to Forest.
"All bark, I guess," Yang chuckled. Before she could take another step towards Forest. NoFace leapt up off the ground and tackled her, slamming her into the nearest wall.
"Overconfident..." NoFace growled.
Andreas looked over his shoulder to see NoFace and Yang square off, his concern growing with each hit the two traded.
"Why...why are they fighting?" Andreas asked.
"Because Yang wants to help you too," Blake answered.
"By hurting NoFace?" Andreas's little ears drooped a little.
"That's what you call him too?"
"NoFace says Noface forgot Noface real name," the towering alien sighed.
"He forgot it...then maybe he's just as scared and confused as you are." Blake said. "I have a friend that looks like you...once every few transformations, of course. But he's a good guy. Maybe he can help get in contact with someone to return you to your home."
"Transfor...mations?" Andreas asked, tilting his head a bit.
"He can turn into other species and one of them looks just like you."
NoFace slammed his chitin-plated head into Yang's with a loud crack. With her stunned, he quickly grabbed hold of her by the collar and threw her at Blake.
"Vony breshutʹ! Vony pratsyuyutʹ na henerala, a u kozhnoho, khto pratsyuye na tsʹoho cholovika, sertse kholodne, yak u tundri! Pokhovayte tsykh brekhuniv pid yikhnim lytsemirstvom!" (They lie! They work for the general, and everyone who works for that man has a heart as cold as the tundra! Bury these liars under their falsehoods!)
the strange mastermind yelled.
Andreas looked at Blake one last time. Blake didn't understand what the NoFace was saying, but Andreas heard his message loud and clear.
"Sorry…But Andreas have to do this!" Andreas said, winding up a punch.
"Andreas, don't!" Blake yelled, bracing herself for impact. Instead of slamming down on her, Andreas' fist hit the concrete again. Once more, the earth began to shake and crack. NoFace jumped back, grabbing Forest by the jacket and pulling him along too.
"Sorry!" Andreas yelled once more, before his pistons began to whir up again. The stone beneath Blake's feet started to give way. She grabbed Yang and tried to leap away, but a brick thrown by NoFace slammed into her back and knocked her back down.
"Your tomb awaits..." NoFace said smugly. If he had a mouth to smirk with, he would be right now.
The two women fell into the hole, as rubbled started to fill it.
"HAHA! Take that, Tin Man!" Forest yelled. "Two of your finest, squashed like pancakes!"
Andreas tilted his head. "What...pancakes?"
(Miles away, Nora suddenly had a hankering for them.)
"...eh, we'll tell ya later. So, boss, guess we still got a date with the Academy?" Forest asked.
"Da...it is time for Ironwood's powerbase...to take a direct hit," NoFace huffed, picking up his cloak and putting it back on, "Andreas. We're leaving."
Andreas looked back at the hole he just made, and turned away. "Yes." Andreas walked after the two. Forest was gloating (as usual) and NoFace was studying their surroundings.
And Andreas...was scared.
Blake jolted awake, sitting up and panting. Was she dead? No, no, she couldn't be. She gave a sigh of relief, even if said relief was small comfort. She looked around and saw that Andreas must've made them fall into Mantle's sewers. The hole they fell through had been filled in with rubble, and the other sections of the sewer had collapsed due to the seismic activity.
Wait...they fell through the hole. Where was Yang?!
"Ow." Said a voice from the darkness. "That NoFace dude knows how to pack a punch."
"Yang!" Blake yelled, looking around in the darkness. She could see perfectly- she was a Faunus, after all.
"Blake? Over here!" Yang called out.
Blake's head shot in the direction of the noise. Yang was lying atop a giant pile of rubble. She waved at Blake awkwardly. "Hey, hun..."
"Oh thank god," the feline Faunus sighed, "Are you ok?"
"Uh, about as good as I can be," Yang answered, "Aura's...a little low, feels like."
"Then we're trapped till backup arrives. All exits are blocked." Blake grumbled.
"Great." Yang sighed, gazing up at the sewer ceiling.
Blake and Yang sat silently for a few moments before Yang turned to face Blake. "Hey, since we have the time...talk let's about that stuff you wanted to talk about. If you're fine with it, obviously."
"...before I do, promise me something. Promise me that...this stays between us for now. Ok? I need to tell the others but..." Blake started, but she sighed before she finished that thought.
Yang noted how serious Blake sounded. She reached for Blake's hand, and propped herself up.
"I promise." She said, squeezing her hand.
"Ok...ok..." Blake sighed, "What would you do if, say, someone was ready for everything we threw at them?"
Yang hummed, "If someone was prepared for everything. If someone was ready, I guess I'd have to figure out how they obtained it, devise a technique to go around their knowledge of everything we can do...and then beat the living shit out of them."
"Ok, but...what if they knew more than your fighting style? What if they knew you? Personality, flaws, all of that, and just...used that as data-points to deconstruct you."
"...I'd question if my opponent was some weirdo. Like, a stalker or a sociopath. Or a manga artist." Yang said. "You're being awfully specific with this."
"Why a manga artis-actually, no. Question for later," Blake started, before getting back on track, "I know it's specific...because me, Rook, and Min found something."
Yang went quiet. "...what did you find?"
"Ironwood has files on all of us." Blake said, finally dropping the bomb.
"As...in, personnel files?"
"I mean contingency plans. In case any of us ever went rogue, he has ways to take us down. Me, you, Min, Ruby...even Weiss and Winter," Blake corrected.
Yang stared at Blake in shock. "...You're kidding, right?"
Blake shook her head no. "I'm sorry."
"Did...did you copy them? Like, as evidence?"
Blake held up her Scroll and shook it to answer.
"...on his own kids too? What the fuck..." Yang groaned.
"Yeah. After that alternate Ben said to 'question everything', it got me wondering. Ozma had skeletons in his closet. Leo sold people out. What...what's Ironwood's worst-?" Blake said.
But then the rubble moved.
"Come on...come oooooon!" a familiar, if muffled, voice strained as the rubble began to move.
"Was that-?" Yang asked.
Blake frowned. "Crap- backup got here fast. I didn't think they'd respond so fast."
"Ironwood's pissed." Yang said. "Obviously about something."
The rubble began to move, tossed aside, and soon the bottom layer collapsed. Yang and Blake leapt out of the way as the debris came crashing down.
"You guys ok down there?" Elm called down from above.
"...Yeah." Blake said, helping Yang up. "We're fine. Just a few bruises, but we'll live." She hid away her Scroll, and looked at Yang.
Yang nodded, before looking back at Elm. "You got here fast."
"We got complaints about some more earthquakes." Elm explained, looking around. "Yeesh. This place is a mess."
"Par with Mantle." Harriet rolled her eyes.
"Really?" Elm deadpanned.
"It's true." Harriet rolled her eyes. "Anyways, you two are free to go. We'll take it from here."
"Huh? But-" Blake said.
"Sorry. General's orders. We need to take care of the dangerous criminal and his 'associate' behind the earthquake." Harriet said, holding up her scroll- it showed a picture of No Face, Forest and Andreas, taken from above. "New stealth drone snapped a pic."
"You were spying on us?" Yang asked.
"What? No, standard security sweep. We got lucky," Harriet fully admitted.
Blake raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh."
"Yeah. Why the hell are you being so standoffish about it?" Harriet raised an eyebrow as well.
"Ironwood chose us specifically. Stealth drone does make it look like he didn't really have faith in us," Yang answered.
"...I mean I kinda get it," Elm agreed.
"Don't agree with them. We just deployed it to have some visual on the enemy." Harriet huffed.
"You'd feel the same if Felix and Locus showed up and said the same thing," Elm countered.
"I would not," Harriet snapped.
"Harriet, listen- the big one. His name is Andreas. He's being manipulated by the other two. He's-" Yang began.
"He's a danger, and we'll handle him in any way the general sees fit." Harriet said.
"Ben can turn into one of those, right?" Elm asked, ignoring Harriet's little statement. Blake and Yang didn't ignore that though, and they felt immediate concern.
"Y-yeah. Ben can turn into one." Blake said.
"Then we know what to do." Harriet said. "Stay out of this."
"We do?" Elm asked, a bit surprised by that. Harriet ignored her teammate and immediately brought out her Scroll, dialing up a number.
"Elm, take them back to the academy. I'm calling in some back up," Harriet said. Granted, Harriet would need to swallow her pride for this, but it was a sacrifice she could deal with.
Elm looked at Harriet and shook her head. "Wish she'd let me in on the plan for once. Geez."
"Elm." Yang said. "Look the other way on this one. Please."
Elm gave her a look. "I don't know if I can do that."
"An innocent life is caught between the crossfire of some other weird agenda- he's being manipulated into doing all that stuff." Blake explained. "We need to get him away from here, especially if Harriet's gonna..." Blake made a cutting motion across her neck.
"...you really think he's being tricked?" Elm asked, "Drones didn't catch any audio so..."
"Best way I can describe him? Baby elephant. He's innocent, but he can cause a lotta damage if he's not careful," Yang tried to explain.
"Oddly specific..."
"Best I can come up with right now."
Elm made a face, and looked back at Harriet. She was preoccupied with her phone call. The giant woman took a deep breath and shook her head.
"I do like baby elephants." Elm admitted. "Fine- just stay in the shadows."
"Thank you," Blake smiled.
"How long do you think it'll take you to get here?" Harriet asked, unaware of the conversation behind her back.
"Give us...what? Twenty minutes? Also, Hare, thank you. Seriously, Mantle patrol duty is such a DRAG. I mean do you have ANY idea how many times I've just had to set up make-shift shooting galleries to keep mysel-" Harriet's "backup" rattled on over the phone.
"Didn't ask, didn't care. Put your partner on the line."
"He's right. Twenty minutes tops. We'll find him," a gruff voice said on the other side.
"I'll hold you to it, Locus."
"Thank you, Harriet." Locus said. "Always happy to do my part for Atlas."