I do not own RWBY or AdventureQuest Worlds.
Blake was pacing wall to wall in their room again. Never a good sign. Yang thought, watching her partner carve out a track in the floor with her anxious pacing.
"We have to go back down there." Blake said. "We can't rely on Johnny. If we intervene we could have less bodies than if Atlas or the VPD go at the sewers alone."
Ruby winced at the reminder of the grisly fate the White Fang they had fought just a day before had. Their Uncle Qrow actually visited them and debriefed them on what happened. Johnny didn't kill the men, that much was true, but he couldn't prevent one of them from detonating an explosive that killed him and his comrades. He needs a team with him, or so Ruby thought.
"Finally! I was waiting for you to say that." Weiss said. "When are we going to go?"
"Hold on." Yang cut her off. "How are we going to navigate the sewers in the first place? Johnny had the map, and I don't think asking Miss Goodwitch for it would be good for our health." Thankfully, after what happened, they didn't get a tongue lashing, or any lashing for that matter, from the blonde headmistress. They had been warned not to do any more 'extra-curricular' activities however, and focus on preparing for the Vytal festival.
"I know some spots where they could've hidden. But it's likely they've already moved." Blake remembered. "It would still be useful to visit those places though, maybe we could find some clues there."
"I have an idea." Their little leader said, after thinking for a bit. Her teammates turned to her. "We should get another team's help for this, or at least, Sun and Neptune's again."
"What? Why? Wouldn't that just make Miss Goodwitch that much more angry if she finds out?" Blake said. "With that much students going absent, or sneaking out, we have a much higher chances of getting caught."
"And much higher chances of preventing an unnecessary…tragedy." Ruby shot back. The other girls were reminded of what happened recently. "The more hands we have on deck, the more we can control what's happening around us."
"Who are we gonna call though? Are we gonna get Sun and Neptune again? Weiss-cream here would certainly like that, wouldn't she?" Yang teased the white haired heiress, who blushed and looked away. She was already typing away at her scroll contacting Neptune.
"Well, while Weiss contacts Neptune…" "Hey!" "We should contact vomit boy if their team is free for some…exploring…"
]|[
Johnny kept to the shadows as he walked through the sewers. It was night time already, and he had yet to catch any White Fang walking around. He followed the map on his scroll, tracking where he was and where he came from, ensuring he won't get lost in the labyrinthine tunnels of the Valean Underground.
He had passed by over where Stevie the Rat killed himself. The corpses have already been cleaned, meaning the Atlas soldiers and other VPD officers might have already swept through this area, or at least, still in the underground, but deeper still.
He turned from a fork in the road and followed the map where it led to what had to be some kind of main area for operations. He was led into what seemed to be an atrium; a ladder led up to the ceiling where he could clearly see skies beyond the steel bars covering the opening above. A series of ladders led up to the opening. Johnny reasoned that it had to be an easy access point of some kind.
The wind above kind of smelled like fish and burnt steel, like the kind near the docks at the industrial district. Johnny reasoned that this access area must be just below where the Dust explosion happened, or somewhere near it.
Tunnels must be built near the ocean. Johnny thought. He looked at his map. It was vast; some tunnels cross almost the entire place. Some tunnels must span the shoreline or perpendicular to it. Johnny saw a drain marked near where the access area. If it works like home, that sewer might lead to the ocean…
"What goes with the other assignment?"
Voices! Johnny instantly melted back into the shadows. The access area was plenty dark, even with moonlight shining beyond the opening. He was hidden from view as he watched a squad of three White Fang goons enter from another tunnel leading to the access area. They were carrying some heavy tools on their backs, with satchels slung over their shoulders.
"No sight of him. Some of our above ground agents have been stalking around, and no one had seen his description."
"This sucks! Not even the information brokers wanted to deal with me when I talked to them! He knew I was part of the Fang!"
"Why didn't he want to? You're a paying customer, right?"
"Because it would be bad for business helping us, he said. No money to be made in a destroyed city."
"I mean, I don't think we're destroying the city…"
The trio took out what looked like the bombs he saw from before from their satchels. Johnny looked closer. They passed out their bombs to the one standing near the western wall of the access area, while one of them took out a scroll.
"Lessee here…" The one holding a scroll said. Put them just over that wall yonder there. "He pointed to the western wall. About five of these should do it. Then we move on to the area near the ocean drain."
Johnny watched the two stick the bombs into the walls with some kind of adhesive gray material. The bombs didn't have timers on them, like the ones he'd seen in movies. Just wires linked to canisters of what he'd think to be the thing that holds the explosive material in.
The three had finished their work here, and walked to the tunnel in the western wall. It was the one that lead to the drain to the ocean. They opened the grate that covered the drain, and walked outside near the rocks that covered the area where the continent met the ocean.
"It says here to put one near the drain, and to drill a hole at least three meters deep with the soil excavator, for about a two meter distance from the drain, moving perpendicular to the ocean." The one holding the scroll said.
The two handling the planting of the bombs groaned. They planted one of the machines in their back to the ground, letting it dig into the soil, and unfolded it to its full height. They turned it on, and soil and some rocks and sand spilled out on a nozzle on one side, and the shaft buried in the ground slowly lowered and lowered.
"This is too much work for just planting bombs." Bomb planter number one said. "Are these even going to do anything?"
"The plan looks actually legit. Have you listened in on the briefing? Whoever came up with it is actually a fucking demon. It's goddamn evil!" Bomb planter number two answered.
"I don't know about this…" Scroll holder said. "Won't these affect some Faunus up here?"
"They're race traitors anyway, who fucking cares? We're going to give some of them a chance though. I think some of the higher ups want to hold another recruitment drive…"
"Literally how are they gonna do that with the cops and Atlas crawling up Vale's ass?"
"It's gonna be even more hush-hush. Heard it might take place near a high class backer up in the residential district."
The machine dug deep into the soil, and the two bomb planters cranked the machine around, compacting the soil to the sides of the hole they had made. With a grunt, they pulled it out of the hole, and promptly dropped the canister bomb down.
They did this two more times, until they neared the water's edge. The three were practically drenched in sweat and smelled of a mix of sea spray and sewer water.
"Eugh. Bomb duty suuuucks. I'm never going to volunteer for this again."
"Think of it like this: you wanna deal with Beatrice when you get a DA when she hears you complain?"
"Yea, no. I don't wanna touch that crazy bitch even with a ten foot pole. Heard what she did with…"
Their chatter faded as they packed up and left the area. Johnny faded out from the shadows and stared at the barely-covered holes made by the trio. Why would the White Fang bomb this place? They had mentioned a plan; Johnny saw the scroll holder one carrying what seemed to be instructions on where to place the bombs.
He'd get a copy of that if he came across another patrol. For now, taking out the bombs planted should be his main concern. Using the power of his connection to the Earth, Johnny opened a fissure, ripping open the holes the machine made into one larger hole he could easily access. He collected the bombs, digging each out of the ground.
Now, how to get rid of them? He could blow them all up here, sure, but people might here or he might accidentally destroy something.
Well, there was a place he could dump these things without hurting anyone of consequence. Johnny opened a rift into the void with the power of the Void Highlord, and dumped the bombs into the abyss. Not like the voidspawn in there would get hurt by mere puny bombs, right?
Quickly stashing away the bombs stuck on the walls in the drain and in the access area, Johnny delved further deep into the underground.
]|[
Johnny couldn't quite catch up to the trio that planted the bombs, so he searched for more of the squads that he supposed were planting more bombs along the area.
But why plant them in the sewers though? It was the question on his mind. IT didn't make sense. They were terrorists, so they should want people to see their actions, and planting the bombs deep underground where people couldn't see them would be counterproductive.
Or is it because they're actually targeting something else? Like what? The most that they'll do if they detonate those bombs is bring the roof down on themselves.
He still couldn't see what the plan was yet, but maybe he could see more if he found more bombs and got a copy of that scroll with instructions.
As he walked along the shadows, he spotted another group planting more bomb canisters, sticking them into the walls with the adhesive. He let them finish and walk away, and he stashed more of the bombs away into the void rift before quickly following where the group led.
They entered another steel door, much like the one where he fought Stevie the Rat. It led to another point where the sewers met the old subway system, and Johnny headed on in. He checked the map on his scroll. The group was walking a few hundred meters away from where the old tunnel that led to Mountain Glenn ended.
The group entered another large area, where the train tracks led to a fork that could switch between three other tunnels. However, it was not empty. The place had stacks upon stacks of cargo boxes in the sides and up to the ceiling. White Fang hustled and bustled, carrying equipment and boxes. Some were training off to the sides, doing some exercises.
This their HQ? Doesn't seem much… The adventurer thought. The group he was tailing were talking to each other before splitting up. Before the last one could leave to enter the light of the HQ, a hand shot out in the darkness and dragged her into the shadows. No one noticed her gone.
The teenage, brown haired woman tried to scream, but Johnny promptly smashed her head in to the walls of the tunnel, knocking her out. He searched her pockets and satchel, finding some of the adhesive that they use to stick the bombs into the wall and her scroll.
Jackpot. Johnny opened the scroll and searched through it, finding some messages from friends, lots of ads for "Horn Care Essentials and Polishers", and some school notes.
He looked at the teenage White Fang he had just knocked out. Seems the terrorist group were already recruiting them early on. The girl was still in her high school, by Zeuster's sake!
He looked at the pictures instead. More recent shows pictures of the underground map, with a mark of 'Squad 38', and marked a small tunnel in the sewers, just along the western side of the larger HQ area where he was at. That was probably where they were planting the bombs. The instructions were at the next picture, showing how to use the adhesives, what not to do when handling the canisters, and how to work the mini-excavators.
It was not optimal that the map only had where the apparently 'Squad 38' planted the bombs, meaning if he wanted to get the full picture, he had to find more of the squads that planted the bombs and mark it himself on the map, or just steal the scrolls of some of the White Fang here in their HQ.
How fast can he snatch their scrolls though, before the girl here woke up? Johnny just had to chance it, he had no choice. He was lucky they weren't outright just blowing up the tunnels they were planning their bombs at, or he wouldn't be able to have the chance to find out what their plan is.
Unseen, Johnny slinked into the corners of the HQ, inspecting each area. They were using the cargo containers as rooms, and Johnny quickly snatched whatever scroll was left unattended.
Seemingly, other than the drill sergeants training some of them in the corner, Johnny couldn't identify who was the leader around here. It's either they didn't have one, which was very unlikely since Cinder exists, or their leader was out of the base. Cinder herself wasn't around.
Johnny didn't want to chance getting caught however, so he left the HQ to explore the surrounding tunnels after marking the location of the HQ on the map.
]|[
Two figures stood at the front of the old subway tunnel to Mountain Glenn. Torchwick and Neo had spent most of their team sneaking around the sewers avoiding and silently killing the White Fang that stood in their way.
"And have you got the ride ready for when we call you later? Okay. Alright, got it." Torchwick ended the call. "We got our ride. Let's get outta here." He told his partner, who nodded back. Neo took out the sword she got from Smansky. The ghosts of the past tragedy of Mountain Glenn still haunts the underground tunnel, and if they slip up in their stealth, the Grimm would swarm them until there was nothing left for the duo but their godsdamned clothes.
Torchwick hefted the sniper rifle to ready. They both started to walk down the tunnel, until…
"Leaving Vale so soon, darling~?" Someone stepped out from the shadows of the tunnel. A woman in the standard White Fang uniform. She had black hair in pigtails. She held on her hand a wand tipped with a star, just like the magical girls Neo had watched in some anime. Unlike said magical girls, this hag was just smiling at them with a bloodthirsty smile. "Didn't think you'd hate me that much to actually pack the bags and take the kid with you, Roman." Beatrice Astraluna fake pouted.
Torchwick had feared many people in his life. When he was in Mistral as a child, he was scared of the stories of the Rogue Huntress, and then there was his dealings with the Spider. Cinder was obviously a sociopath, but at least she had paid well. Beatrice Astraluna was the only one that he was both afraid, and disgusted with. He was no way a sympathizer of the mutts, but even he had to pity them having to deal with the obviously monster in disguise. He had seen her in action.
Neo did as well. Where she had no qualms with killing, but Beatrice had indulged in it so much that it disturbed even her.
Torchwick gritted his teeth and raised the rifle, pointing it at Beatrice. Neo crouched low with her sword in hand, in preparation of the worst fight of their lives.
And it was only going to get worse for them. A barrel was raised from the shadows of the tunnel, and blasted at the duo, forcing Neo and Torchwick to move apart. A man with red hair and black jacket and pants was holding a rifle that doubled as a sheath for the red chokuto he was holding in his other hand.
"That's just great." Torchwick couldn't help but snark. "You already found someone new after me, darling. How quickly you move on-?!" Another blast of a slug forced him to back away and cut off whatever he had to say. "Rude too. You really like bad boys, Beatrice?"
Adam didn't have much to say, and slashed at Torchwick with a frighteningly fast movement, and thankfully, Neo was already there to parry the blade away. "You have someone that wants to talk to you." He said, looking directly at Neo. "Your…skills are required."
Neo and Roman broke into pieces of glass, and reappeared just nearby. Torchwick took up his rifle and shot at Beatrice, who stood and took the shots, letting the bullets rust away.
"You're not invited though, honey~." Beatrice rubbed at her eyes like she was wiping away tears. "I'm gonna miss you, though." She pointed her wand at Neo and Torchwick, and the two immediately broke off into a sprint. They knew what would happen if she manages to focus on them even for a second. Adam wasn't about to let them get away though, and he focused entirely on the running thief.
Torchwick slung back his rifle and took out a flare gun from his coat, firing at Adam Taurus point blank, the red fiery explosion forcing the bull faunus to back off with a pained cry. He held his chokuto, Wilt, in front of him to block but the explosive noise of the shot still hurt his ears. Beatrice backed him up by shooting fiery bolts of dust to the two from her wand. Neo took the hit with her semblance, but Torchwick wasn't so lucky, being hit with the fireball. Adam capitalized on this by slicing him targeting his torso, seeking to cut the man in half.
Panicking, Torchwick dropped the flare gun and drew the sword he took from Smansky's armory to defend himself, stopping the Adam's blade, and pushed him off, exchanging slashes with Adam. He was holding his own, but Adam was obviously the superior swordsman. It didn't help that he was slowly being pushed back, allowing Beatrice to bead in on him. Torchwick felt his heart beat erratically and himself grow dizzier, but he forced himself to stay on his feet.
Beatrice grinned. "You're tough, Roman! Very surprising to know this cool side of yours!" She said, pointing her wand at the thief, who grew weaker and weaker with every slash that Adam launched at him.
Neo didn't allow Beatrice to finish her partner off though. She took out the dust revolver and shot at the woman, emptying an entire cylinder. Beatrice rusted the bullets away, only for the dust inside the small bullet to explode flames in her flames.
"Aaargh!" Beatrice waved her arm to protect herself from the Dust explosion, and Neo slashed at the distracted woman with the sword, launching the woman back a bit.
Torchwick regained some bit of strength, and forced himself to push the bull faunus away, and backed off to sprint away.
Beatrice snarled. Her wand glowed, and water began pouring off the tip of the wand. It snaked around Beatrice's form, and great spikes of water needles launched at Neo.
Neo immediately used her sword to block, but that was a mistake. The water soaked into the sword she was holding and immediately brittled and cracked, rusting away into iron dust.
Neo swore inside and backed off, but the needles of water was still there. Neo forced herself to use her semblance, appearing a few meters away, but Beatrice was already on her, kneeing the silent assassin in the face. Beatrice didn't let her get away, and grabbed her arm before she could roll away.
Neo choked, feeling something within her getting weaker when Beatrice drained at her. The woman slammed Neo's arm up into the wall, pinning her, and Beatrice brought up the wand to point it at her chin. Beatrice used her semblance at Neo again. "I won't kill you, of course. But I don't need a wriggling eel to drag back to our collaborator, so I'm just gonna take some bit of your blood here…" A red mist slowly poured out from Neo's eyes and mouth. "Nothing like a bit of iron deficiency anemia between friends, right?" Beatrice tittered.
Neo struggled to stay awake, and panic-used her semblance, cracking to pieces, appearing in another location. Her legs were still jelly; as soon as her feet touched the ground, her knees buckled and she was forced on her knees and arms. Beatrice didn't even hurry to walk and kicked her in the stomach directly.
"Neo!" Torchwick screamed when he noticed his partner collapse. Adam instantly slammed the chokuto down on him, nearly overwhelming his guard. "You don't have the luxury to look at her now!" Adam yelled, and used the sheath, Blush, to force the chokuto down. Torchwick's sword was forced down as well, leaving the thief open, and Adam took the opportunity to blast Torchwick in the chest with a sniper round, instantly breaking his aura.
"Fuck!" Torchwick hissed in pain, and just as he was about to stand up, Adam kicked him in the face, sending him flying towards his still downed partner, both of them collapsing on each other.
Neo groaned silently in pain, and Torchwick swore, trying to stand up still. Beatrice's heeled foot smashed into his back and forced him down.
"Well, Torchwick, I guess this is goodbye, eh?" Beatrice said, and grabbed the top of the thief's head, preparing to drain him away. Adam grabbed her wrist before she could do so. "Wait. Not yet." He whispered something to his comrade, and Beatrice smiled evilly at Adam's suggestion.
"Okay. Change of plans. Both of you stay alive." Beatrice grinned at them. Neo struggled to focus at Beatrice, eyes blurred from dizziness. "Both of you are gonna come with us. Even you darling~~!" She smashed Torchwick's head down.
"What the fuck…does Cinder want with us…?" Torchwick groaned. "Didn't she want to kill us?" He said between breaths.
"That's up to her. But Roman." Beatrice said, as Adam raised the blade above him. "You're needed just alive, not unhurt."
Adam swung down, preparing to cut off a limb. A white and green light prevented him from doing so, and he was forced to let go of his sword from the surprise attack.
Both Adam and Beatrice turned to where the shot came from, hearing footsteps from down another tunnel. A man in a black cap and matching black shirt and pants walked from the darkness, appearing almost to melt away from the shadows. There was an image of a Mistralian demon face in his shirt.
"Well, doesn't this feel familiar." The man said. "Two nerds trying to kill some criminals. I swear this keeps happening in this city."
Adam's eye narrowed under his mask at the arrival of the man they were told to look out for. Beatrice grinned excitedly. "The so-called Dragon Faunus and the man in the black cap. We were warned about you."
Johnny chuckled. He held out his hand holding General Aurola's Pistol and returned it to his inventory. Another thing appeared in his hand, a sleek, baton-like thing that looked like a flashlight, with silver steel flowing on its body. He activated it, and a blade of pure light erupted from it.
"I don't feel like that would be enough for you to stop me from kicking your ass!" Johnny shouted and charged at the two.
[Vs. Beatrice Astraluna, the Mad Malicious Medic of Menagerie!]
[Vs. Adam Taurus, Blade of the White Fang!]