Chapter 11
Team RWBY's Dorm
Ruby woke from bed, stretching her arms with a yawn as the morning light tickled her face. She kicked out her feet to get off, but looked down to Blake's bed to see its occupant was still missing.
She walked over to Weiss's bed, where she was still sleeping and shook her awake. Weiss stirred as her eyes blinked open slowly. "W-what is it?..."
"Weiss, we gotta find Blake." Ruby pleaded to her sister.
"R-Ruby, don't worry about it. Faunus can take care of themselves…" Weiss said with a half-awake tone.
"No! It's my job to worry! Who knows how she's doing out there! Faunus, White Fang, whatever she is, we're a team, and I want it to be whole again." Ruby demanded, earning a nod from Yang, who got down from bed, and a reluctant sigh from Weiss, who began to dress herself.
As they left their room, Team RWBY was met with the site of Liu Kang and Johnny Cage who seem to have been waiting for them.
"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" Ruby asked
"Thought you would need our help finding Blake, so here we are." Johnny said
"Plus we can use this opportunity to find Kuai Liang as well, since we can't find him as well." Liu Kang added
"What about Hanzo?" Weiss asked
"Captain Grumpy? Said he was heading into town to find Kuai Liang by himself." Johnny said
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's move." Ruby said as they all left.
Vale
Keeping a neutral expression in his chair, Sub Zero looked forward at the black-haired girl in front of him, calmly sipping from her cup of tea.
Setting down her teacup, Blake finally spoke "Kuai Liang, are you familiar with the White Fang?"
"Outside the fact that my brother killed some of them?" Sub Zero asked leaving out the Lin Kuei
Blake flinched at this but continued "I used to be part of them."
"That would explain your reaction when we first met." Sub Zero said before signing "I apologize for the death of your former allies."
"I've gotten over it, besides you weren't the one who killed them." Blake said
Sub Zero then nod for her to continue.
"I was a member most of my life, actually. You could almost say I was born into it. I'm the daughter of former High Leader Ghira Belladonna." Blake began as she travelled down memory lane.
"Back then, things were different. After the Faunus War, my father founded the White Fang with the dream of equality with humans, but obviously, it doesn't always work that easily. We were still mocked and looked down upon by the humans, subjected to discrimination and hate." Blake said, her eyes quivering from recounting the events.
"The White Fang was meant to be the voice of peace, an ambassador from our people to the rest of Remnant. I was at every protest and every demonstration. I still remember holding up signs and flags at the front of the crowd, shouting as loud as my little voice could manage."
"I thought things were changing, that we were making a difference. But I was just a naïve little kid. Five years ago, my father retired in order to govern my hometown. But in his place came a new leader, one with a much more radical vision. Nonviolent protests turned to organized attacks. We were robbing shops, stealing cargo and attacking companies that abused faunus. The worst part? It was working. The humans began to treat us as equals, but not out of respect, but fear."
Sub Zero listened intently while observing her for any form of deception, but found none.
"I take it your friends are unaware of this". Sub Zero noted
"Yes. I was hoping I could move on, forget the past, but I guess we can't escape it." Blake said with a weak smile.
"My brother Bi Han, was the strongest amongst my clan the Lin Kuei. The Lin Kuei to put it bluntly is a Clan of Assassin's and not Ninja's." Sub Zero said
"But you dress like Ninja's." Blake said jokingly which to her surprise caused Sub Zero to smile slightly.
"I get that alot. Regardless my brother was always recognized for his ruthlessness in kombat, never letting an opponent live. I had recently been made aware that he and my clan may have been involved in the murder of Hanzo's clan which once again have opened my eyes to the evilness of my clan."
"Hanzo didn't mention that when we spoke." Blake said shocked
"He probably didn't want you to pity him." Sub Zero deduced, before adding "So here I am taking up my brother's mantle of Sub Zero in hopes of redeeming his name."
"You're not your brother, you're not as cold as him." Blake said
"True, but you can't really run from the past." Sub Zero said
"Guess that's one thing we have in common." Blake said with a smile.
Just then they both see Scorpion approaching them with a certain monkey Faunus being lifted from his collar.
"Come on dude, put me down!" Sun complained
"Hanzo?" Blake asked
"I came looking for the both of you but noticed this one eavesdropping." Scorpion said
"Heh, heh." Sun said awkwardly
"You can let him go Hanzo." Sub Zero said
Letting go of him, Sun landed on his butt with a resounding turd.
"Ouch." Sun groaned while getting up to face the Sub Zero and Blake "Sorry for following you. The name's Sun Wukong by the way."
"Kuai Liang."
"Blake."
"I knew you looked better without the bow." Sun said causing Blake to role her eyes.
MMM
"Blaaaaaake?"
"Blaaaaaaaaaaake!"
"Blaaaaaaaake, where are youuuuuuu?!"
"Weeeiiiss, you're not helping!" Ruby whined.
"You know who would help? The police!" Weiss responded.
Johnny rolled his eyes and scoffed at her response.
"What? It was just an idea!" She said
"Yeah, a bad one…" Ruby growled.
"Weiss, I think we need to hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions." Yang reassuringly suggested.
"I think that by the end of the day, you'll all see that I was right!" Weiss replied.
"And I think Weiss's hair looks wonderful today!" Penny continued.
Wait…
The five of them jumped in surprise when they noticed the girl from yesterday right behind them.
"Dah! Penny! Where'd you come from?!" Ruby exclaimed in surprise.
"Hey guys! What are you up to?" She asked with a smile.
"We're looking for our friend, Blake." Yang answered her.
"Ooooh! You mean the faunus girl!" Penny replied.
Ruby raised an eyebrow. They hadn't told anyone else about this. "Wait, how'd you know that?"
"Uh, the cat ears?" Penny said as she pointed to her hair bow.
"What cat ears? She wears a… bow…" Yang slowed down as they all realized.
"She does like tuna a lot." Ruby whispered in Yang's ear.
"So! Where is she?" Penny turned her head left and right, looking for the girl.
"That's the thing, Penny. She's been missing since last night." Ruby told her, earning a gasp from her.
"That's terrible! Don't you worry, Ruby my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!" Penny proclaimed as Ruby giggled awkwardly.
"Heh… that's very nice of you Penny, but-uh… we-we're okay, right guys?" Ruby looked over Penny's shoulder only to find Liu Kang, Johnny, Yang and Weiss gone, and stood there awkwardly as a random tumbleweed rolled
"Hm, sure is windy today." Penny remarked.
MMM
Blake, Sub Zero, Sun and Scorpion' continued walking down the street, discussing their next course of action.
"So, what's the plan now?" Sun asked with his hands behind his head as he walked.
"I still don't believe the White Fang are behind these robberies. They've never needed that much Dust before." Blake answered him.
"But… what if they did?" Sun suddenly stopped.
Blake paused too, raising a brow. "What do you mean?"
"I mean the one way to prove that they didn't do it, is to go where they'd go if they were to do it, and not find them there right?" Sun suggested awkwardly.
Sub Zero looked at Blake. "He has a point. If they were behind these robberies, then we would need to catch them in the act."
Blake sighed. "But the problem is, I don't know where to look."
Sun scratched his chin for a bit, before snapping a finger. "Hey, while I was on the ship, I overheard some guys talking about some huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas."
"How big are you implying?" Sub Zero asked him.
"Huge. Big Schnee Company freighter." Sun answered him.
Sub Zero nodded. "Then we head for the docks tonight and investigate."
MMM
"Thanks anyway!" Yang said to the shopkeeper they had questioned as she closed the door.
"Man, this is hopeless. Nobody's heard from her all day!" Yang groaned, and then noticed Weiss's indifferent expression.
"You don't even care if we find her or not, do you?" Yang asked Weiss.
"Don't be stupid! Of course I do! I'm just… afraid of what she'll say when we find her. The innocent never run, Yang." Weiss admitted.
MMM
"Sooo… Blake is your friend?" Penny asked Ruby.
"Yes, Penny."
"But you're mad at her?"
"Ye- well, I-I'm not. Weiss is." Ruby stuttered back.
"Is she friends with Blake?" Penny asked Ruby again.
"Well, we can't say for sure yet." Ruby answered her.
"Why not?" Penny asked her friend.
Ruby sighed. "Well, you see… Blake might not be who we thought she was."
Penny gasped. "Is she a man?"
Ruby giggled at her response. "No, no. We think we may have got her to open up about a very private matter."
"Yeah, but she didn't exactly say much before she ran off." Ruby continued.
"I… don't have a lot of friends. But if I did, I'd want them to talk to me about things." Penny told the pair.
"Yeah, me too." Ruby agreed as the two of them continued to walk down the sidewalk.
Docks, Night Period
Blake was lying down on her belly atop a shipping crate at the docks, in position. She looked ahead of her at the warehouse to see Sub Zero perched on a vantage point jutting from the side of the building. She didn't see Scorpion but she knew he was there, probably hiding in the shadows.
Blake then looked to her left, to see the massive import of Schnee Dust Company cargo, each container marked with the iconic snowflake symbol.
"See anything yet?" Sun asked her, cradling a bundle of fruits in his arms.
"Not yet. They unloaded the crates from the boat, now they're just sitting there." Blake answered.
"Stole you some food." Sun kindly offered an apple to her.
"Do you always break the law without a second thought?" Blake asked him with a raised brow.
"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?" Sun threw back at her, earning him a frown from the girl.
"Okay, too soon." Sun joked, but the pair felt a strong gust of wind, and looked up to see a Bullhead descending from the sky with headlights shining down, looking for a landing site.
Once the aircraft had landed, several hooded figures wearing Grimm-like masks stepped down from the ramp, giving Blake, Sun, Sub Zero and Scorpion a good glimpse of their figures.
"Oh, no." Blake muttered with wide eyes.
"Is it them?" Sun asked her.
"Yes, it's them." She answered him, eying the unmistakable symbol on the back of their uniforms. A red wolf symbol with three claw marks, a sick perversion of the symbol of peace she used to fly with glowing pride.
"You knew, didn't you?" Sun asked her.
"Deep down, I knew. But I was just hoping I wasn't right." Blake admitted, but her eyes widened when she heard a certain voice.
"Okay, what's the hold up?! My employer's got a deadline on us, so why don't you animals pick up the pace?!" Roman barked at the grunts, with his own men stepping from the aircraft, wearing the red uniform of the Blighter gang.
"Something isn't right. The White Fang would never work with humans. Especially not one like that!" Blake unsheathed her katana and jumped down from her cover, heading straight for Torchwick.
Sun tried to grab her, but she was already far from his reach. He looked to Sub Zero who was nowhere in site.
Blake spied on the gang boss from behind a shipping crate, then made her move, holding the mobster with Gambol Shroud against his neck.
"What th-? Whoa! Take it easy there, little lady!" Roman exclaimed.
The White Fang grunts and the Blighters raised their guns and blades at Blake, ready to fire. Blake then undid her hair bow, revealing her black cat ears and signifying her as a faunus.
"Brothers of the White Fang, why are you aiding this scum?!" Blake called out to her fellow faunus, causing them to stop and lower their weapons, but Roman only chuckled.
"Didn't you get the memo kid?" He asked her.
"What are you talking about?" Blake demanded.
"See, the White Fang and my Blighters are working together on a sorta collaborative deal." Roman told her.
"Tell me where it is, or I'll put an end to your little operation!" Blake threatened, pressing the blade closer against Roman's neck.
"Oh, I wouldn't call it a little operation!" Roman said as a couple more Bullheads appeared from the sky revealing various members of the Red Dragon.
"Boss! They're here!" They heard a Blighter call out.
Stepping out from one Bullhead we see Hsu Hao (MK X Comic) and Kabal (MK 11 Human form, also he's 18).
"Look lively boys." Kabal said before appearing before Blake faster than anything she had ever seen kicking her off Roman.
MMM
"Penny, did you hear that?" Ruby asked her as a loud boom filled her ears.
"Yes, it seemed to come from the docks." Penny informed her.
"It's them. We gotta hurry! C'mon, Penny!" Ruby called to her friend as they ran in the direction of the shipping yard.
Docks
Blake opened her eyes to see that she was surrounded by Black Dragons, White Fangs and Blighters. Cursing her luck she draws out her blade while entering a defensive stance.
"You can't possibly be thinking on taking us on by yourself?" Roman asked causing the rest of his goons to laugh.
But their laughing was cut short as massive ice storm started to form around the Docks causing a thick fog to appear.
"I thought Ice storms was an Atlas thing?" Adam asked
"This ain't your normal Ice storm." Kabal said taking out his Hookblades
Right on cue, Ice beams from the fog started freezing Black Dragon, White Fang and Blighter members alike. Just as this was happening Scorpion had teleported into the mist of the goons taking them out with swift attacks. As chaos erupted Kabal using his super speed rushed towards Sub Zero, but his opponent already anticipated this and created an Ice clone which froze him. With Kabal frozen, Sub Zero kicked him to the nearest crate denting it.
"Well that's a first. You ain't getting lucky again." Kabal said getting ready to face Sub Zero
Noticing the turn events Blake decided to engage Roman. Roman noticing Blake running towards him, aimed his cane and shot a volley of explosive flares at her, each she dodged by flipping back and forth, then running behind a bunch of shipping crates.
"Here, kitty, kitty." Roman taunted Blake, but was stunned as a banana peel was thrown onto his face. He threw it aside and looked up to see Sun jumping down on his head, sending him on his back.
"Leave her alone!" Sun growled at Torchwick.
Roman got up and charged at Sun, but was knocked aside by Blake. She nodded at Sun, who did the same, and then looked up to see a Bullhead dropping White Fang soldiers.
"Take care of them. Torchwick is mine." Blake said to him.
Sun nodded and moved toward the grunts. The first swiped at him with a blade, which he dodged and sent flying with a fist to the face. Sun smacked away another, and kicked the next grunt off of his feet. He jumped up to kick a faunus to his left, pushing himself away from a charging henchman trying to slash down on him.
As he got up, he drew his staff, knocking one in the head, and swiping two off of their feet. He delivered a combo of strikes towards a White Fang grunt in front of him, and slammed the weapon down, stunning his surrounding foes, and flipping over the final grunt to kick down on his head, knocking him out.
Blake was engaging with Roman, who she had to admit, was a skilled fighter. She tried to strike him, but each swipe and heave of her sword only ended up deflected and countered by him. She slid down and swung his sword into his leg, stunning Roman, enabling Blake to deliver a deadly combination of stabs and swings.
Blake zipped around Torchwick, trying to confuse him by swiping in between summoning shadow clones, but Roman was absurdly fast, parrying and deflecting each swing of her sword. She tried to thrust her blade at him, but was only returned with a punch to the face and several strikes with Roman's cane, knocking her down easily. Roman soon was able to stun Blake, sending her barreling down with another volley of explosive shots and several good strikes to the head.
He was about to finish her when he heard a voice. "Hey!"
Roman looked up to see Ruby, wielding Crescent Rose. Recognizing her from that night at the dust shop, he greeted her, "Oh hey, Red! Isn't it past your bedtime?"
"Ruby, are these people your friends?" Penny asked Ruby.
"Penny, get back!" Ruby warned her, only to be caught off-guard as an explosive round hit her straight in the face, sending her flying backwards.
Penny's innocent expression soon faded, replaced by an angry glare. Nobody was gonna mess with her best friend.
"Penny, wait! Stop!" Ruby tried to call to her friend when she saw her stepping forward.
"Don't worry, Ruby! I'm combat ready!" Penny proclaimed.
As she said this, a compartment on her back opened up, revealing a set of swords that seemed to be connected to thin and transparent strings, much like a puppet's.
She jumped off of the shipping crate and threw down some blades at the White Fang and Blighters, sending them sprawling on the ground. She stood up, her swords pointing at the ready.
She swiped at her right, and the blades followed her hand, hacking away at approaching thugs, and threw her fist to her left, pinning a lone thug against a shipping crate. A couple more grunts charged her, but she summoned her blades in front of her to spin as a shield, knocking off any approaching enemies, and flipped up, the swords forming a wheel around her, disorienting another gangster heading her way.
A large group of thugs approached, but Penny simply threw her arm forward, sending the wheel of blades shooting towards the group, knocking each of them off of their feet.
Three Bullheads approached from the sky, raining bullets down on the girl, who blocked the fire with her spinning wheel of swords. She then shot out two new swords from her back, anchoring them against the warehouse. Using that, Penny was pulled backwards against the wall, and held up her arms in front of her. The swords then formed a circle and began to shift, forming a firearm appearance, then spinning in a circular motion rapidly.
A glowing orb of energy then formed in the middle of the swords, and Penny pulled back her arms and pushed them forward, unleashing a devastating beam of energy that cut each Bullhead in two like butter.
Penny then turned her attention to a retreating Bullhead trying to escape with a shipping container, but Penny pierced the aircraft's hull with six swords, and stood her ground, pulling the vehicle back with her steps, while Ruby only stood in awe of the spectacle she was witnessing.
"Whoa… how is she doing that?!" Ruby said to herself.
Penny smirked, and gave a final yank, tugging the Bullhead back down to Earth in a mighty explosion. Three more Bullheads appeared but before Penny could engage Scorpion appeared on one of the Bullhead, causing an explosion of Hellfire that destroyed it and the remaining two Bullheads.
Roman only stared in disbelief from his Bullhead. "I swear, these kids just keep getting weirder!"
Roman then heard a gun cock behind him before the vehicle could take off. "Who said we would let you leave?" Blake asked him with a growl, her weapon pressed against his skull.
"I do." Blake heard a voice behind her. She looked behind her to see Hsu Hao, but was caught off-guard as he fired a laser beam from his Cybernetic chest that knocked her away from Roman.
"This is the last time we're saving your ass, Torchwick!" Hsu Hao grabbed Roman and threw down a smoke bomb, covering their escape.
Meanwhile Kabal and Sub Zero were trading sword attacks with neither gaining the upper hand. As he noticed Hsu Hao escaping with Roman he decided to change tactics. Running circles round Sub Zero, he grab his shoulder with his Hookblades and tossed his opponent towards a shipping create.
"Sorry we can't continue our fight, but I gotta run. Maybe next time." Kabal said before running of at super speed.
MMM
Blake, Sun, Penny, Ruby, Scorpion and Sub Zero were sitting down as police investigated the scene. But as they turned to the sound of footsteps, Ruby saw Weiss, Yang, Liu Kang and Johnny approaching.
Weiss made eye contact with Blake, both of them sensing the tension between them. Ruby piped up, trying to explain to Weiss. "Look Weiss, it's not what you think. She doesn't wear a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kinda cute…"
Blake did the same. "Weiss, I want you to know I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was-"
"Stop!" Weiss interrupted her.
"Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you?" Weiss asked her, returned with only silence.
"Twelve hours. That means I had twelve hours to think about this, and in those twelve hours, I've decided… I don't care!" Weiss said.
Blake gave her a skeptical look. "Y-you don't care?"
"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"
"Not since I was-" Blake stuttered, only to be interrupted by her teammate.
"Upupupup! I don't wanna hear it. All I want from you, is that the next time something this big comes up, you'll come to your teammates, and not some… someone else."
Blake gave her a small smile, mending the rift between the two girls. "Of course."
Weiss returned the gesture, and Ruby was ready to explode with joy. "Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!"
Weiss then turned to Sun. "I'm still not quite sure how I feel about you!" Sun awkwardly laughed. Johnny and Liu Kang then walked towards Scorpion and Sub Zero.
"You all right?" Liu Kang asked his teammates
"We're fine. If today is any indication, it shows we need more training." Sub Zero said which caused Johnny to groan.
"Dude, you're like the Grandmaster of training." Johnny complained "You know what, from today I'm upgrading your nickname to Grandmaster Blueberry Ice.
This caused Sub Zero to face palm himself, while Liu Kang and even Scorpion laughed at the new name.
Headmaster's Office
Ozpin stared at the live feed of Ruby, glad she was unharmed. He then felt his scroll vibrate, and opened his notification feed to see a message from none other than Qrow Branwen.
The message read: THE QUEEN HAS PAWNS. ALSO: KANO IS COMING TO VALE. WHAT'RE YOU GONNA DO?"
Downtown Vale
Roman loaded his suitcase, with Hsu Hao closely behind him, scraping his knives against one another.
"Can you stop that?! My ears are bleeding!"
"Your little slip-up at the docks has her quite pissed. Like she'll let you leave without her say." Hsu Hao casually replied with a growl.
"Oh, calm down will y-" Roman began, only to be silenced as a fireball exploded beside his feet.
"How very disappointing, Roman." A sultry voice called from the darkness.
Roman's hair stood on end as he whirled around in surprise. "Whoa! Hehe… wasn't expecting to see you here so soon…"
The woman stepped from the shadows, her sharp and perfect features glowing in the light. She wore a red dress that exposed her legs, and her jet-black hair arranged beautifully down one side of her face, leaving one eye glowing with a flaming gold that could burn Roman's soul to a crisp.
"We were expecting… more from you."
"About time you showed up." Kabal snarled from a corner in the room. This earned him a glare from Cinder.
Roman chuckled uncomfortably. "W-well, you were the ones who suggested working with those stupid mutts from the White Fang."
"And you will continue to do so. I expect to see more out of one of Starrick's most trusted associates. All we ask is a little cooperation, and maybe you'll live to see Beacon burn." Cinder said to him, cradling a fireball in her dainty palm.