RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late Monty Oum.
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RWBY: Destiny of Remnant
Chapter 41: Escape from the White Fang
Razor walked with the members of his Elite Guard onto a large catwalk that overlooked a large room in the White Fang's headquarters with a stage at the back. Today was the day they would hold a funeral service, a wake so to speak, for the brave Faunus who had been killed by the Vacuo Rangers out in the desert. The incident had been discovered about three days ago, right before the Atlas military arrived. Bodies of Vacuo Rangers were found shot to death and signs of battle had been documented by Adam's scouting team, which confirmed that humans had been behind the brutal attack. As of yet the Atlas Military had yet to say anything about the incident or release information to the public.
'Probably to save their own skins.' Razor thought to himself, but still... there was something about this that didn't feel right. He had been shown the pictures of the mining facility and had seen the blood, bullet holes in the walls, and other various tell tale signs of an intense battle but in one of the pictures he could have sword he could see claw marks in the background. There was a nagging feeling in his mind, telling him that whatever happened at that mine humans weren't behind it. He had no idea who else could have been responsible, but if he was to be honest he felt something was very wrong with this whole mess.
Below them hundreds of members of the White Fang had gathered to mourn the fallen, or pray for their safe return if they were still alive and merely in captivity. Some were crying, some looked angry, some looked solemn, but they were all here to pay respects to the dead. Razor knew that some of these Faunus had known the ones who had been at the mine, so this was going to be a bit of a sensitive day. He looked to Russell, who stood next to him on the right and he whispered "Sad, isn't it? So many good Faunus down there, mourning for their friends, praying that they're still alive in a jail cell somewhere."
Russell nodded and quietly answered "There's hope, groups like the Rangers are like the Atlas military, they try to take prisoners, remember? With the way human-Faunus relations have been improving they'll probably have taken prisoners unless they were forced to kill."
"I don't know what to really think after those pictures I saw." Razor confessed.
"Well I guess we'll just have to wait and see, I trust you boss." Russell told him sincerely.
"Thank you." the Boar Faunus said with a smile before he looked down to his left to see Piper. "Remember Piper, somber tones, respectful. Add some lightness in your music to give these people some hope. Just do your best."
Piper smiled and nodded confidently. Adam had approached them earlier that morning with the proposal for Piper; she would use her Semblance to preform some music for the lost ones, to give the ceremony a bit more emotions. Piper didn't like Adam very much, there was something about his she never liked as her music would often tense up if he was around her, but she happily agreed to do this for the lost members of the Fang.
Razor returned the smile and said "Just do your best."
Piper nodded again before giving Razor a brief hug and snapping back to a more professional stance. Just then a blast of air from one of the ventilation shafts blew past her and nearly blew her scarf off of her neck. She let out a gasp and frantically moved to grab her scarf and wrap it around her neck again. Had one been looking closely they would have seen some rather unnerving scars on her neck.
"Are you alright?" Razor asked her. She nodded and fastened her scarf a little tighter.
At the end of Piper's side stood Thayer who was looking through his scroll before the ceremony officially began. He thumbed through the photo gallery until he came across one little picture that was very close to him; one of he and a younger Velvet taken before he left the Scarlatina family for the White Fang a few years ago...
4 Years Ago
Thayer walked about his younger brother's home in a very foul mood. They had been working at the Sandleford market for years now, helping needy Faunus families get food, and even some human families at his brother's insistence but for Thayer it was mostly for the needy Faunus who had been neglected and mistreated by humanity. Unlike John, his more forgiving brother, Thayer was a bit of a vengeful type. When they were young they had often been picked on for their ears, some of the meaner human punks would sneak up on them and scream right into their ears to give them one hell of a scare. Thayer had often wanted to fight back but John always kept him in line, keeping him from sinking to their level.
When they grew up and John got married to the lovely Rabbit Faunus named Margery, who had a cute little rabbit tail for her animal attribute, and they had a wonderful daughter named Velvet, whom Thayer simply adored. When she was little he always made time to play with her or tell her stories, and he didn't even mind her little nickname for him; 'Uncle Bigwig', which she called him due to the odd way his hair looked between his ears, while he found it a bit embarrassing at first he got used to it, mainly becasue of how cute she was as a little girl and he couldn't bring himself to make her stop calling him that, and he honestly missed it when she got older and stopped using the nickname. He was very protective of her, as if she was his own daughter, because whenever he heard about Velvet being bullied at school John had to talk him out of marching down to the school and making a scene.
The two brothers worked together for years until four years ago when John had discovered something that made him furious: Thayer had been supplying the White Fang with free food.
"I can't believe this Thayer... we agreed, no criminals!" John said, his ears twitching nervously.
"They're not criminals! They're freedom fighters! They're the best chance we have at equality..." Thayer said before John cut him off.
"Oh? Our best chance at equality is terrorism, hurting humans, stealing, and attacking companies? I don't buy it! I mean, they were perfectly all right and I wouldn't have made such an issue over this if that Claude or whatever his name is was still in charge but he isn't! They kicked him out when he refused to go along with their violent ideas, is it any wonder why so many people who once supported them have withdrawn said support!" John cried.
"It doesn't make any difference. If those schools and councils really cared about equality they would have done more than just 'support' the Fang. They're the way of the future John!" Thayer argued.
"If the future of Faunus kind is to harm others with a 'might makes right' mentality then I want no bloody part of it!" John snapped furiously.
There was an uncomfortable silence between the two.
"So what does that mean for us?" Thayer asked.
"I guess it means we're through. I can't cover you for this, this is serious man... I..." John tried to say but couldn't bring himself to be too blunt with his brother.
"It means you'll turn me in? Is that it?! Well fuck you. If that's how little family means to you, if this is how little Vlevet's safety means to you..."
"Leave her out of this. She's made friends with humans, her teachers at the academy adore her, hell she's even thinking of applying to Beacon in a couple of years! She understands that we can't judge humanity becasue of a handful of bigots. I don't want you poisoning her head with lies and White Fang propaganda. Please Thayer, don't do this to us." John pleaded.
Thayer looked at his brother sadly and said "I'm sorry, but I have to do this. It's what I think is right."
"I'm sorry too, please understand you have to stay away from us until you get this nonsense out of your head. I know it will hurt but... I have to take care of my family and I can't risk you getting us into trouble." John said sadly.
Thayer looked at his brother with a mixture of anger and sorrow. "I... I understand. The one I've been selling the food to, big chap named Razor, offered me a place among them. I guess I'll have to take them up on that offer. Goodbye." he said before he turned around and walked out the door quietly, not even glancing back.
He shut the door behind him and walked outside to see Velvet, now fifteen years old, sitting by a tree in the front yard looking rather sad.
He sighed, for he knew that she had probably listened in on their conversation. Thayer hated to see his niece sad, but it was always worse when he felt responsible for it.
He walked over to her and sat down next to her and said "Hi. So... I guess you heard me and your dad fighting?"
She nodded.
"Look... I know this isn't easy for you Velvet but it's just something I have to do. I know your dad is angry with me, your mom will be too when she gets back tonight, and I know your mad at me too but... I need to go, alright? I'm doing this for our future, for yours. Maybe someday we will all be equal, but I don't think that'll happen anytime soon."
She was silent still.
"Velvet... do you hate me?" he asked.
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and she said "No, I just don't understand why you helped the White Fang after the bad things they've done. You've helped criminals Uncle Bigwig, and I know you have to go away so you won't go to prison."
"Uncle Bigwig? You haven't called me that in five years." Thayer said with a bittersweet smile.
Velvet gave him another smile and she said "I still love you, I just don't want you to get hurt."
"I'll try not to, but it'll be hard without your dad to keep me out of trouble..."
"You already are in trouble." she reminded him.
He chuckled and said "I guess I am. I might come home one day, maybe we'll win or maybe we'll quit once the humans learn their lesson but I think one day we'll be together again, I promise. Just don't forget that I love you Velvet."
She smiled and said "I love you too, Uncle Bigwig. Let's take a picture, so you won't forget your promise."
He took out his scroll and said "Good idea."
Thayer was snapped out of the memory by Misha, who had nudged him in the ribs. "You with us?" she asked.
"Yeah, yeah, just thinking about my family, that's all." Thayer said as he put his scroll away.
She smiled at him and nodded understandingly. "A lot of us have families, hell that's why I'm here." she said.
"Really?" he asked.
"Yep, for me it's my little brother. He's out in Mistral City working at some restaurant. When he was in school he got attacked by some human punks and beaten up pretty badly. I tracked 'em down and beat the shit out of 'em, after that I ran off and joined up with this mess..."
"Shush!" scolded Warwick.
"Shush yourself. I guess we'll talk later." Misha said, and Thayer merely nodded with a small smile.
As more members of the White Fang arrived, at least a few from each base and outpost, the Elite Guard observed them.
On Russell's side of the catwalk Kane, Selena, Jinty, and Babara all looked down and the Elephant Faunus couldn't help but comment "Man, there's a lot of them down there."
"Yeah, makes me wonder what Adam's gonna pull." Jinty said quietly.
"What makes you think he'll pull anything?"Selena asked.
"It's Adam bloody Taurus, besides he didn't do anything this big for the ones we lost at Beacon. I think something's up." Jinty elaborated.
"Like what exactly?" Kane inquired. While the Flying Fox Faunus didn't know whether to believe Jinty or not he knew for a fact that something like that wasn't beneath Adam and that their leader had become increasingly violent over the years, more so after Blake ran off.
"I think he's trying to smother out any discourse in the ranks and use this tragedy to rally everyone to his side. I mean from what I've heard the only bodies the scouts found belonged to Vacuo Rangers, so why would the humans take all of the Fang troops there, dead or alive, but leave behind a few of their own soldiers there? It don't add up." Jinty pointed out.
Kane and Selena glanced at each other, both knew that the Weasel Faunus had a legitimate point. Little did they know that Razor had overheard this and he also knew that Jinty wasn't wrong, he had questioned Adam about it himself but Adam simply said that the humans weren't as honorable as he was and had brought up the possibility that it was done on purpose to throw them off track. Razor didn't know the truth but he suspected that it would come to light sooner or later.
"So did you know anyone who was at the mine?" Babara asked.
"Yeah, one of them, a guy called Riley. Met him a few times but I wouldn't say we were friends." Kane admitted. "He used to be the leader of a recon team, some of them are down there with the others. He was a decent guy, spoke out against Adam when he and his group were forced to help out in the attack on Beacon, they lost one of their own and he really began to voice some harsh opinions on Adam, even when he stopped by my old outpost in Mistral. I guess Adam respected him though since he gave him a promotion and put him in charge of that old base."
"Weird." Babara muttered.
"What is?" Kane inquired.
"Because the medical officer who got transferred to the mine, Styles, also spoke up against Adam once when he said to let a human prisoner die." Babara told them.
"Hmm, she probably wasn't used to Adam's typical rants. It is a bit odd that both of them had spoken up against him though." admitted Russell.
"Plus, Adam does have his... violent outbursts and punishments..." Kane said, remembering the needles stabbed into his back as punishment for losing Blake and his troops.
Razor nodded in agreement, making note that he would have to ask his leader about this later on but for now he spoke up; "I understand your concerns but don't go spreading rumors. I will speak to Adam about this in detail later, for now we need to remain quiet, it's about to begin."
"Yes sir." they all said before going respectfully quiet as lights lit up the stage. Razor looked to Piper and she nodded as she began to make her music.
Hui and eleven other White Fang lieutenants walked out to the stage before standing to attention as the cameras began to transmit the ceremony to other White Fang bases on a secured channel. Adam came out with Emerald, Mercury, and Steppenwolffe following him, the three putting on stoic faces for the crowd.
As Piper's music kept up the somber yet respectful tone, Adam stepped up to the microphone and began to speak; "I'd like to thank each and everyone of you for attending this ceremony today, and to all of those who couldn't make it I commend your dedication to our cause. In attendance today we have at least one or two White Fang soldiers from each outpost and base throughout the Four Kingdoms, we have the members of the White Fang Elite Guard on the catwalk above, and we have three representatives from our ally's forces; Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black, and Lieutenant Commander Steppenwolffe, a Faunus who fought for our race's freedom in the last war, before some of us were even born."
Steppenwolffe nodded to the crowd modestly, some looking at with awe, some with doubt due to his Grimm appearance. "I've wanted to work with the White Fang ever since I've heard of what you've all accomplished. So far you haven't disappointed me, you do our race proud." he said, earning some applause for himself before looking to the Fang's leader.
Adam continued, "They have come to assure us of their dedication to Faunus equality, they promise me that when they overthrow the failing Kingdoms they will bring about a new world order, and in that order we shall be free to do as we please! We will have justice!"
The crowd applauded and cheered for him and for the three agents of Salem. Emerald simply smiled and waved while Mercury soaked it up.
Once the applause died down Adam began again. "You know why we are here. Several weeks ago I decided to reestablish an old base from the Faunus Wars, a large place where we could be safe in the event of a catastrophic defeat or attack by the humans. I placed Captain Matthew Riley in command of this operation, knowing he would be right for the job, even though he and I had our differences in the past. The equipment was faulty but he assured me they'd have them up and running soon. After over a week of nothing from them I sent Lt. Hui to check on them and he found the facility devastated with obvious signs of a battle and the bodies of four Vacuo Rangers, all human."
There were a few hisses, growls, and boos from the crowd while Piper's music got a bit angry sounding. Adam allowed himself a smirk and went on, "It was obvious to me what had happened; the humans arrested any surviving White Fang operative and took the dead ones away to throw us off of their trail but it didn't work! I know that the humans are behind this and that they have our people imprisoned and have done gods know what with the dead! But we will not be silenced, will we?"
"NO!" shouted back the crowd.
"No we will not! They want us to forgive and forget their past sins, but I cannot forgive and forget what humanity did to me, that is why I am forced to wear this mask, to hide how the humans marked me! I will not forget the innocent Faunus who died by human hands and I will not forgive them for it! Even our founder Claudandus fell to this sin, as he wanted to 'forgive and forget' humanity's atrocities, he even tried to silence me as some months ago he conspired with the traitor Blake Belladonna to spread lies about me, blame me for the deaths of White Fang operatives who deserted us! He currently rots in prison for his crimes. He wants us silenced!" More boos roared out. It had been easy to turn the White Fang against Claudandus since most of them had joined after he left and the cover story seemed to work. "Well we won't remain silent for long my brothers and sisters! As we speak, in our main hanger, a special ship is being refitted with armor and weapons for the purpose of flying all over Remnant, from villages to cities to let the world of humans and Faunus know we will never be silenced! We shall broadcast a message to remind them of our cause and of their sins, and if they try to shoot us down we will shoot back! Next week we will fly that ship and it shall spread our message and we will speak up for the whole of Faunus kind! We will not allow ourselves to be silenced! We will not let the humans forget the blood on their hands! We are the White Fang and we will have justice!" Adam yelled, earning a loud chorus of cheers and applause from the crowd before him as Piper swelled up her music victoriously, even though she found herself a bit unsure of Adam's methods, but she did what was wished of her.
Adam waited for the cheers and claps to die down again before he gestured towards the Elite Guard and said "The whole Elite Guard is here and with them is their leader Razor, and I would like for him to say a few words."
Razor gracefully nodded, even if he was sure he agreed with what Adam was purposing for the ship, but he cleared his throat and began to speak nonetheless.
"I am grateful for the chance to speak for our fallen comrades, even if I didn't know many of them, but I am sure that at their hearts they were good people who wanted nothing more than equality, like all of us here today." he said as he briefly met the eyes of Razor and Steppenwolffe who eyed him oddly, but Razor ignored this for now. "While we hope and pray that some of these Faunus are alive and in captivity we know that some of them must have perished and I hope that their souls have been taken to Elysium where true heroes belong. I must ask why are we here? Not why do we exist, that is too complicated to answer, I ask why are we a part of the White Fang? Why do we fight? We have all been wronged by humanity in someway or another; maybe they hurt us, maybe they hurt a loved one, maybe you couldn't stand being treated like you were lower than dirt, maybe you had been a slave, maybe you had been left scarred by them..." he glanced at Piper who still made her now sad sounding music, even as she briefly touched her scarf that hid her neck from the world like Adam's mask hid his forehead. "... or maybe you just joined up because you felt it was the right thing to do. The Faunus at that Mine were not the only ones to be lost, we fight each and every day to survive and sometimes we will lose one of our own. But I hope that you will all find comfort in the fact that these Faunus will never be forgotten, they will live on in our memories. They will live on as long as the White Fang lives on! Long live the White Fang." he finished.
"LONG LIVE THE WHITE FANG!" Everyone else cheered.
As the applause roared Jinty leaned over and said "Nice speech boss."
"Thank you, I meant every word." Razor said.
"But that makes me wonder how much of Adam's speech was genuine?" Babara said, her voice nearly drowned out by the crowd. Razor had heard her but said nothing. There was a part of him that wondered that same question himself.
Adam spoke up again as he took out a piece of paper. "Well said, old friend. Now, I am going to list off the ones we lost in this tragedy, starting with Captain Matthew Riley... Ginger Styles..." He continued reading names off the list for the next five minutes as the ceremony went on.
Some time later the ceremony ended Razor made his way through the White Fang's headquarters with Kane and Selena trailing him.
"I'm just saying I never really bought the whole 'Blake and Claudandus wanted to blame Adam' thing. Hell I was the one who arrested him! I think Adam made it up so guys like you wouldn't really question it." Selena said.
"I don't believe it either and I know neither of you did, so why bring it up now?" Razor asked.
"Well we didn't make a big deal about it because neither of us wanted to piss Adam off, but this whole thing is just weird, man. I mean nothing really adds up, and after what Jinty said about the thing at the mine we're even more suspicious." Kane said.
"I understand and I'm going to talk to Adam about it now. Go back to the others and tell Jinty to quit spreading around his conspiracy crap." Razor ordered. The two nodded and left, leaving Razor alone. He walked through the occasionally busy hallways until he came found Adam in the main hangar, talking to some engineers who were working on the ship. "Adam! I'd like a word with you." he said.
Adam looked over to him and nodded, "Back to work." he said to the engineers, who quickly went back to their work places. Adam walked over to Razor and asked "What is it?"
"We should probably do this somewhere private. Just to be safe." Razor advised.
Adam nodded and led Razor away from the hangar and to a spare room where they could talk in private. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I just want to ask you about Claudandus, in case you've forgotten both Kane and Selena are now part of my Elite Guard, and they both say you didn't have Claudandus arrested for conspiring with Blake. Why did you have him arrested? I know you want to use him to capture Blake but I want some reassurance." Razor demanded.
Adam glared at the older, larger Faunus and said "I've spoken to him several times and he told me he thinks I was responsible for the deaths of several deserters such as Tuskon. He confirmed he told Blake the same thing."
"But this was after you had him captured and did he threaten you with this lie? And why the cover story instead of just letting everyone know he's bait?" Razor pointed out.
"First of all; No, it was just his suspicion. Second of all; I don't want any traitors in our midst to tell that truth, plus some of our underlings light not like us taking our founder prisoner was so we can have bait to capture a traitor like Blake. Why are you questioning this now? You've known this ever we've had him in captivity, and it's been nearly six months." Adam said.
Razor sighed and knew Adam had a point. "I wasn't thinking clearly back then, my mind was elsewhere, busy fighting for the freedom of Faunus slaves in illegal work camps. I didn't question it then but I wish I had. Could I speak with Claudandus?"
Adam gave him a look and said "Perhaps, when his purpose has been fulfilled. If he cooperates he may go free."
"What do you mean by that?" Razor asked sharply.
Adam looked at the bigger Faunus and said "I'm using him as bait to trap not only Blake, but her friends as well. When you saved me from capture last week I suspected that they were on a mission to find Claudandus. If my calculations are right they'll begin a jailbreak any day now and when they do we will rush in and take them all down."
Razor glanced at his leader and asked "What will you do with them?"
"I'm to give Ruby Rose to our ally, she wants that girl alive. I'll do what I please with Blake, and that is final." Adam said firmly, glaring at the Elite Guard's leader. "We'll ransom off the robot and the Schnee sisters and use them as bait to lure in Willow Schnee, then you can find out what he wanted with all of those slaves. We'll use online dummy bank accounts to keep the money safe so we'll get some financial gain out of it as well. I might want to have some time with Wukong and the Xiao Long girl... but as for the others... we'll just have to wait and see. Are you satisfied?"
Razor sighed and said "I suppose I'll have to be for now... but know this Commander Taurus, I will not allow you to kill them outside of the heat of battle. We might be fighting for freedom, but we can't allow ourselves to sink to the levels of some humans."
Adam nodded, "Understood. Now leave me, I must attend to my guests."
"Yes sir." Razor said with a salute before he walked out the door to see Piper waiting for him. "Hello there Piper, did you follow me?"
She nodded and he just had to chuckle. "Well how about we go back to the ship together?" She nodded again with a smile. "Well then let's go." he said as he took her hand and the two walked down the hallway together, noticing Adam glaring at them as they left.
Once they were out of his sight Razor asked the thirteen year old girl "Piper, do you trust him?"
She glanced at him as if to ask 'are you serious?' before shaking her head 'no'.
"I don't trust him very much myself, but for the time being he is our leader. To be quite honest Piper I think I would have left this whole mess years ago had I not found you." Razor told her. She smiled and squeezed his hand.
Piper's scarf was like Adam's mask, it hid scars caused by human cruelty from the world, but the sad thing is these scars had been made just a little over four years ago. He had been reminded of the cruelty the humans were capable of and he took Piper in, treating her like the daughter he never had. He smiled at her as he began to think about what would happen should Adam go too far, something that now seemed incredibly likely.
Elsewhere in the White Fang's Headquarters Emerald, Mercury, and Steppenwolffe waited for Adam to arrive so they could talk with him about his plan to deal with Team Beacon.
"Ugh, how long do we have to stay here again?" groaned Mercury.
"As long as necessary, now quit whining." said Emerald. "We're lucky we've been given this job; we've barely done anything since Haven outside of keep Cinder company while she trains. Hazel would have come but he's busy scouting for the Spring and Summer Maidens with Sheer Kaa and Thorn."
"Hazel, heh. Still can't believe he puts on the 'strong, silent tough guy' act with a name like that. Seriously what parent names their son Hazel if he isn't a Rabbit Faunus or something wimpy like that? He didn't even bother changing his name." Mercury said.
"Say that to his face." Emerald dared.
That shut Mercury up.
"Anansi got stuck with Ante and this thugs and we can't let them come here and mess everything up, Ziz has been acting too moody lately and prefers to stick with her Grimm, Dr. Watts is working with Dr. West, Salem can't trust Tyrian with this since that freak mess it up big time, Sherizawa is busy working with Cadmus, Mavis is too inexperienced, the less said about Norvik the better, and you know what Cinder's been like recently so that leaves you and me." Emerald finished.
"Just be grateful you've been permitted to come along, boy. I don't mind Emerald but I find you to be untrustworthy, I only agreed to bring you along because Mistress Salem requested so, I wanted this assignment so do not screw around or you will be sorry." Steppenwoffe said darkly.
Mercury nodded and said "Okay, okay, I got it."
"So what do you think of the White Fang?" Emerald asked.
Steppenwolffe considered and said "The White Fang is rather impressive, reminds me of my old army from before Mistress Salem found me. I think they'll serve us well, but I think we may need to keep Taurus in line from time to time."
"Tell me about it." muttered Emerald as the door opened to reveal Adam himself.
"Don't bother, I heard you." Adam said, getting a snicker out of Mercury which earned a light slap from Emerald. "Sorry I'm late, I needed to see that progress on the ship was on schedule and I got held up by Razor."
"Will he be a problem?" Steppenwolffe asked.
Adam considered and said "Possibly later on but for now we'll need him. Many look up to he and the Elite Guard and if we were to turn against them things could go wrong for the White Fang. Now, shall we go over the plan?"
Late in the afternoon of a rather overcast summer's day in Vacuo a bus filled with guards for the White Fang prison drove down the old dusty road towards the village of Oro. It was nearly nightfall, even though it was a bit hard to tell due to all the gray clouds overhead but the darkness made it clear night was falling soon.
The lead guard came up to the driver and asked "How long will it be until we reach the village?"
"Uh... we're about ten minutes outside of the village and it's about another ten or so minute drive to the prison from there so about twenty or so minutes. Anyway we're nearly there, Sir." said the guard who drove the bus.
"Excellent, we'll be there in no time and... wait, what's that up ahead?" asked the lead guard, pointing to a small group of six White Fang troops standing in the middle of the road.
The bus got closer and stopped in front of them, its door opening so the lead guard and a few others could get out and confront these strangers blocking the path; two were male and the rest were female.
"What's going on here? Warden Wade said nothing about a welcoming committee." the lead guard said sternly.
One of the shorter female guards stepped forward and said "The Warden thought you'd like a surprise. Is that not acceptable?"
"Well... it's nothing to get mad over but it's damn unusual." said the lead guard as he eased up a bit.
"Well we're sorry to have bothered you sir, if you'd like we can escort you to the prison." she said as she offered up her hand to shake.
The lead guard nodded and said "That would be quite alright." He reached out to grab the woman's hand only for her to grab him and use her surprising strength to pick him up by his arm. "What the...?!" he exclaimed.
"One Hundred and ninety-six pounds." the girl said as the trooper next to her took out a whistle and blew into it, sounding off an alarm.
Just then with a sight similar to shattering glass the six White Fang guards were revealed to be Ruby, Blake, Velvet, Sun, Yatsuhashi, and Penny who currently had the lead guard by the hand.
"Attack!" Ruby cried as she let go of Ashe's whistle and yanked out Crescent Rose while Penny tossed the guard towards her friend and Ruby took him out with a blast of light caliber bullets from her beloved weapon while Qrow led Yang, Coco, Scarlet, and Neptune out of hiding from the forest and they all worked together to shoot at the bus, forcing the guards to get out and fight them head on, which was a bad idea as the guards closest to them were taken out by a heavy barrage of Dust bullets in mere seconds.
Blake jumped onto the bus, gripped the roof tightly, and swung inside, her feet kicking the driver in the face. She landed on her feet, grabbed the driver before he could recover, and tossed him into a waiting Penny who knocked him out and called "One hundred and sixty-seven!"
The three remaining guards who weren't busy fighting Sun, Ruby, and Yatsuhashi tried to run only to come face to face with Winter.
"Hello there." she said. Before any of the thugs could even move she attacked one with a brutal series of jabs to the chest, arms, and gut, knocked him down with a sweeping kick and punched him in the back as he fell before she jumped up and kicked the second one in the side of the head as she grabbed the third one and pulled her down by the shoulder, headbutted her in the gut, and smashed the palm of her hand into the guard's face before knocking her out with a swift kick to the head. Winter expertly landed on her feet and saw the second one trying to crawl away, she put a stop to that nonsense with one swift jab to the back of the head.
All of the guards had now been knocked out cold, with their uniforms, I.D.s, and bus all for Team Beacon's use.
"Penny, weigh all of them." Winter said as she took out a small kit with tranquilizers in it. She needed to know their exact weight in order to drug them with the special tranquilizer she had with her so she could give them enough to keep them asleep for ten hours. Too much could kill them and too little they'd risk a guard waking up early and figuring out a way to escape. Luckily Penny was able to determine someone's exact weight if she were to pick them up using her internal computers and special sensors in her skin.
After Penny had weighed them all the twelve guards were taken into the forest and tied to a tree tightly so they couldn't escape.
"So far so good. Those uniforms good Coco?" Blake asked as the leader of Team CFVY inspected the White Fang's uniforms.
"Yeah... we might have a bit of a problem here and there since Yatsu is so big but if Neo keeps up her Semblance that won't be an issue." Coco said as she made sure the outfits would be good so when they split up they'd still be convincing as members of the White Fang.
"We might have another problem. There are supposed to be seven guys and five girls, but we'll have four guys and eight girls." Sun pointed out as he checked the guards sleeping forms out.
"That's another thing I can take care of. Schnee, Yang, Coco, Velvet, and I will be the girls while I disguise the rest of you as guys." Neo said.
"Why us?!" demanded Weiss indignantly.
"Because you and Ruby will be easier to disguise, Blake needs it since she doesn't want to be recognized, and I don't think even my Semblance can hide Yang's tits." Neo said with a dry smile.
"Hey! Don't be jealous!" Yang teased back as she jutted out her assets proudly, which all of the boys (minus Qrow) couldn't help but notice while Ruby and Weiss rolled their eyes.
"... I don't get it." confessed Penny.
"And I'd like it to stay that way." Ruby said to her.
"Enough, we need to get to work. They'll be expected within the hour so we need to get moving. Is everyone ready?" Winter asked.
"We got our weapons, the uniforms, the I.D.s and Neo has her Semblance. You got the virus program?" Qrow asked.
"Of course. Penny, Mr. David, get back to the R.V. and get moving." Winter ordered. She had contacted the Vacuo Rangers before they left the R.V. and the ships were already on their way
"You got it Specialist Schnee, later lads and lasses, good luck in there. Come on Penny." Scarlet said.
"Coming. Good luck everyone, and be careful." Penny said to them all.
"We'll do our best Penny." Ruby said with a smile.
"I know you will, you're Ruby! You always do your best." Penny returned with an equally kind smile before she walked off, following Scarlet.
"Velvet, are you sure you wish to come with us? We already know we will see horrible things, you don't have to come if you don't want to." Yatsuhashi said to his partner.
"Yeah Velv, I mean I'm pretty sure Scarlet can..." Coco tried to say before Velvet stopped her.
"No, I'm good. I can do this." the Rabbit Faunus said, her voice filled with determination, which got a smile out of all of her teammates.
"Alright kids, let's get dressed." Qrow said, "Ladies first."
A short amount of time later, as darkness took light's place, Team Beacon's newly acquired bus drove through the village, soon left it behind and made its way towards the mountain Qrow finished putting on his gloves and checked the I.D. of the lead guard, who was apparently named Captain Furman, of all things. Qrow looked back to everyone as Winter, who was wearing a wig Coco had given her to hide her all too familiar white hair that the Schnee was associated with, drove the bus to make sure they were all ready for the mission and everything seemed to be good; they were all in their uniforms and Neo had her Semblance ready to use at any moment.
If things went according to plan they could pull this off with minimal casualties for both sides and save both the prisoners and the villagers, of course that was rather optimistic view and one that probably wouldn't happen considering their track record so far, but all they needed was a little bit of luck and this mission would be a success.
"Okay, let's go over the plan again." he said.
"We got it Uncle Qrow, we've drilled it a hundred times today." Yang said as she pulled a glove over her robotic arm.
"I know, but I'll feel better if I know for sure we all know what to do. Better safe than sorry, right Schnee?" he asked Winter nodded in agreement.
"He's right, you can never be too careful. Go over the plan again." she said.
"We know it, man; we get in, meet with the warden and let him take us on a tour of the prison or whatever and once we ditch him we go into action." Coco said.
"And once we are alone we split up; Winter goes to the command room to upload the virus which will take out the security systems and once she give the clear signal Uncle Qrow will take me and my team plus Sun to get Claudandus out while Neo and Coco lead everyone else to get proof of what Adam has done to those poor Faunus." Ruby continued.
"And once we've got Claudandus and the proof we hightail it out of there, probably being chased because let's face we will be, meet up with Scarlet and Penny in the R.V., drive to the extraction point while keeping any White Fang thugs who try to chase us off our backs, get on the Rangers' ship, and get the hell out." finished Sun.
Yang spoke up next, flexing her robotic arm which had a new rocket inside of it. "And when we need to get out I use my handy rocket to blow apart that wall since you guys said it looked pretty shoddy. We blow up the wall, get out, meet up with Penny." she said.
"And then the Rangers will move in and get ready to free the village and once the councils release the proof of what Adam has done to his own kind arrive which will make taking back Oro and freeing the prisoners much easier." Blake added.
"That sums it all up pretty nicely. Now remember, you'll probably see some pretty awful things in there; beatings, the amputees, and Oum knows what else but you need to keep your cool, alright?" Qrow said and everyone nodded affirmatively.
"It's just down the road, get ready everyone." Winter said.
The members of Team Beacon became silent as the old bus drove up to the front gate and one of the on-duty guards approached them. Winter opened the door so Qrow, now disguised by Neo's Semblance to look like Captain Furman, could speak to him.
"Hello there, nice to see you made it on time. Warden Wade has been waiting for you, I'll let him know you've arrived. We'll open up the gate for you." said the guard.
"Much obliged." Qrow said, doing an impression of Furman, having heard a bit of his voice when he confronted Ruby and the others at the blockade.
The large gates split apart to let them into the compound and Winter drove the bus inward.
"No turning back now." Yatsuhashi muttered to himself.
"Was there ever?" Coco joked dryly as the bus swerved and came to a stop before the main building's entrance.
There were multiple White Fang troops in the yard, marching about on patrol or going about their duties as spotlight towers slowly moved about. This amount of activity was to be suspected in a prison but it made the present members of Team Beacon feel that these guards were competent at their jobs and would pose a threat in a battle.
Everyone got off of the bus, with Neo disguising most of them and hiding their weapons from plain sight, as a worker got on the bus and took it away to a garage on the other side of the compound.
Warden Wade, a large Bison Faunus who was the commander of the prison, came out of the main building with a stern and serious look on his face as he approached them. "Captain Furman, good to see you made it here. I trust the trip went well?" he said as he looked at them all thoughtfully, sizing them up and judging them.
"Uneventful sir, my troops and I have had a long trip and we weren't able to rest on those old roads so we'd like to retire for the night and familiarize ourselves with the base in the morning. Would that be alright, sir?" Qrow asked, still keeping up the impression as he knew the Faunus was inspecting them.
"Everything seems to be in order... oh, forgive me I was just getting a good feel on your troops. Why of course you can rest for now, I understand that you've had a long trip and are probably eager to get some rest. It would probably be better anyway as I have little to do tomorrow morning so I'll show you around the place and introduce you to some of the more high profile prisoners you will be guarding in the morning. We've already have a room set up for you and I hope it will be to your liking." Wade said.
"I'm sure it will be sir, thank you sir." Qrow said.
"Thank you sir!" said the others, to keep up the impression that they were the ideal, obedient White Fang guard team, even though Ruby, Weiss, and Blake had to deepen their voices to throw off the Warden, and it seemed to be working.
"Impressive... very well, I'll report to Commander Taurus that you've arrived, I trust he'll feel our prisoners are more secure now that you're here." Wade said before he pointed to a guard "You there, Sarne, take Captain Furman and his troops to their quarters then you may carry on with your duties."
"Yes sir." said the White Fang guard, "Follow me everyone."
Qrow nodded and saluted Warden Wade, which made everyone else follow in suit, before they followed the guard into the main building.
So far so good.
Once Sarne left them in their room Team Beacon made sure to search the room for bugs while Neo put on a trick with her Semblance on the security camera. Once they were sure the room wasn't bugged they all got on the beds. "Everything seems clear." whispered Sun.
"Yeah, I don't see anything" agreed Blake.
Qrow nodded and quietly said "Okay Schnee, your time to shine."
Winter nodded as she took out her scroll with a map of the base from Neo's downloads and she easily located the command room but found something else. "There's a computer terminal nearby, I think I'll be able to upload the virus there. It might be better, we should be as scarce as possible so I probably shouldn't pretend I just wandered into the command room." she said.
Qrow nodded, "Good thinking, if you can upload it there come back here but if you can't you'll probably have to go to the command room... and that Warden chump will probably have us woken up to help patrol the grounds for any intruders..."
"Which will allow us to move about freely." Winter finished, allowing herself a small smirk, which Qrow returned.
"You're brilliant, now while you're gone we'll go over the layout again just to be sure. Now get moving." he said.
"I'll go with you, if there's a camera there they might see you." Neo warned.
Winter nodded, "Good idea, come on."
As they exited the room Weiss said "Good luck Winter, be careful out there, you too Neo."
The elder Schnee sister smiled at the younger before closing the door and setting off down the dull, somewhat chilly gray hallway with Neo, who was already using her Semblance to keep them unseen by security cameras or any passing guards they encountered.
It wasn't long before they came to the terminal and Winter quickly plugged in her scroll and used it to subtly hack into the network, she just hoped it hadn't been noticed and mentally wished Penny had came along, her upgrades included advanced hacking abilities that would come in handy but her hiccups would be a problem for an infiltration mission such as this. Soon enough she was in and it seemed that she was unnoticed, so that was a big plus. She took out the flash drive that had the virus on it and plugged it into the terminal's port and once it was it she quickly gave the go-ahead for it to do its job.
On the R.V. Winter had programmed the virus to disable security cameras, alarms, listening devices, and electronic doors so it would be easier for them to get around and it would last for one hour. It had been made all the easier thanks to the information Neo had gotten the other day. After a few moments a small window opened up on the screen that read 'Virus Successfully Uploaded.'
Winter nodded and whispered "It's in." She then pressed a button on her scroll to send a transmission to the R.V. before she added "Come on, we better get back to the room."
Neo nodded and kept up the illusion as they made their way back to the room.
Meanwhile the R.V. moved along at a fairly quick pace in the forests surrounding the mountains with Penny in the driver's seat. While she was far from an experienced driver her highly tuned senses helped her keep the vehicle away from trees, logs, and other debris strewn about the forest so they would manage to get around unnoticed by the White Fang agents in the village.
"Whoa!" Scarlet cried as he banged his head on a cabinet.
"Are you injured?" Penny asked him.
"Eh, it's nothing, just a bump." he said as he sat down in the passenger seat next to her.
There was a short, slightly awkward silence between the two, even if Penny didn't realize it.
"So... you think they'll be okay in there?" he asked her.
She looked to him and smiled before she answered "Yes, I think our friends have a fair chance of pulling this mission off successfully, and you'd know if I'm telling the truth or not."
"How?" he asked her, a tad confused.
"Oh, you've never seen it. Well my father put in a little quirk so he knows when I tell a lie." she said.
"And what is this 'quirk', exactly?" Scarlet inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"My hair is blonde." Penny stated before letting out a hiccup, then she added "That is the quirk."
"Well that would probably get annoying." he observed.
"Only if I have to lie, probably why they took Velvet for this mission instead of me. I've asked my father to patch it but he refuses, he thinks it's... cute." Penny confessed.
Scarlet chuckled and said "Well he might not be wrong... what the?! Penny, look over there!"
"What is it?" she asked.
"Look, a pack of Beowolves, five or six of 'em." Scarlet exclaimed as they could see a few hundred meters away in the forest a pack of lupine Grimm dashing through the trees of the thick woods. "Wonder what's gotten them so excited?"
"It is most likely they saw the R.V. and have deemed it a threat, so they are getting out of our way. Wise, since this R.V. would allow us to crush them with minimum effort." Penny said.
"I guess that makes sense." Scarlet said with a nod.
Just then the computer on the car's dashboard lit up as Winter's transmission arrived. Penny opened it up and said "Specialist Schnee had uploaded the virus, the jailbreak will begin soon. Get the weapons ready just in case."
"You got it." Scarlet said as he jumped out of his seat and went to activate the vehicle's turrets and shields while Penny began to drive faster, still keeping to the woods but rushing to get there in time to help her friends.
She didn't want to let any of them down.
Winter and Neo returned to the room in no time at all and if their exit had been noticed it could be easily excused as a trip to the restroom but the important thing was that this phase of the plan had been a success so far.
"Virus uploaded, we sent Penny the message, everything went off without a hitch. We should move out now." Winter said.
"Yeah, the sooner we're out of this place the better." agreed Yang.
Blake nodded as well, she wanted to get Claudandus and get out as soon as possible. The last thing she wanted was to be around the White Fang after everything she had experienced and learned.
"Eh, hold up for a few minutes, we don't need to arouse suspicion." Qrow said.
"But the virus won't last more than an hour, maybe less since they might be able to recover quicker than we anticipated." Winter argued.
"My sister is right, plus we could be suspected since we just arrived. I don't thing the warden is very smart but he's probably not too stupid." Weiss voiced.
"All good points, can we please just decide what to do and do it?" Velvet asked.
Winter nodded and said "I think we should move out now, we need to use our time wisely..." before she could continue she was interrupted by a knocking at the door.
Qrow quickly placed the White Fang mask back on his head, then he got up to answer it while Neo quickly disguised the others. He opened the door to see a few White Fang officers standing in the hallway. "Captain Furman, Warden Wade has a job for you and your team. We understand that you wanted to get some rest but we have need of your services."
Qrow nodded and said "We're at his beck and call. What is it?"
"Something is happening to our security systems and he suspects there may be intruders in the complex trying to break out a prisoner. He needs more guards in the maximum security wing post haste." said the officer, who could see into the room and found it odd that they were all still in uniform despite retiring for the night.
"Right away, just take us to the wing and we'll help keep it secure until he gives us other orders. Come on everyone." Qrow said as he came out of the room with the others following him.
"Very good, come with me." said the officer who led them down the hallway, further into the prison.
After a few minutes they arrived to the maximum security wing of the prison; it had two doors on the left and the right as entrances, a large electronic gate that served as the entrance to the cells, which they knew contained Claudandus, the amputees, and who knows who else. There were six other guards there, all looking a little anxious.
"This is Captain Furman and his team, the Warden has assigned them to assist you in guarding the wing, so show them around and keep your guard up." said the officer. "Now we have to go join the others to search the premises. Do your best, soldiers."
"Yes sir." said the six guards. After that the three officers left the maximum security wing, with one of the guards locking the door behind them.
"How prisoners do you have in this wing?" Winter asked.
"Not many of the cells have prisoners but we do have a few, the ones Commander Taurus doesn't want getting out at all, but why would you ask? Weren't you assigned to help guard these people?" asked one of the guards.
"We just want to be sure." Sun said.
"Eh, it's okay. There are only five or six cells that are occupied and one of them had about a couple dozen or so traitors in it. I think altogether we have about thirty prisoners in this wing." the guard answered.
"They give you any trouble?" Winter inquired.
"Not much, some of the ones in their own cells do but not the ones all bunched up, those morons are broken, they're too scared to fight back anymore." the guard reported.
Qrow looked over to Ruby who was looking out of the left side door and she gave a nod, coast was clear. "Well then this job sounds easy. Any exits or restrooms?" he asked, just to make small talk.
"Yeah, one restroom here and there's another one in the cell block and there's a fire exit that leads to the compound right there." said the guard, gesturing to the 'T' shaped corridor that had an emergency fire exit at the top with a hallway on both sides.
Qrow looked over to Neptune, who was 'guarding' the right door and he gave a thumbs up. Qrow smirked a little as he said "Well everything that will Guard sees to be in perfect order, I think we'll have a good time here."
All of a sudden his arms shot out, grabbed the guard he had been talking to and slammed his head down on his knee before kicking him in the chest, making him stumble back to Coco who slammed her heavy bag into his head, knocking him out.
"What the...?!" a female guard began to cry when Yang delivered a powerful uppercut with her robotic arm to her jaw, sending her into the ceiling and when she came down Yang punched her into Weiss who finished her off with some quick and well placed punches to the back and a punch to the face.
Yatsuhashi grabbed two guards who were moving to fight and slammed their heads together before throwing them to Sun and Blake. Blake opened up her attack on the first guard with a kick to the chest and then slammed the blunt end of Gambol Shroud into the guard hard enough to knock him out while Sun whacked the other guard with Ruyi and Jingu Bang's combined form in his legs, arms, chest, stomach, back, and head and finished him off with a quick, but strong blow to the head.
Winter, on the other hand, had a more subtle way of dispatching her guard, she used a glyph to prevent a female guard from moving which allowed her to wrap her hands around her mouth and nose, cutting off the air, not nearly enough to kill her but enough to make her slip into unconsciousness.
Ruby took on the last guard; she rushed forward with her Semblance and she attacked with three kicks and a punch to the torso before she kicked him in the chin and followed up by slamming Crescent Rose into the guard, sending him flying to the other end of the room but Ruby's Semblance allowed her to beat him there, so she could jump up and finish him off with a powerful kick to the ground, spiking him like a volleyball. She added insult to injury by landing on his back perfectly.
"That's all six of them down and out, let's block the doors." Qrow commanded. He, Yang, Sun, Yatsuhashi, and Coco quickly went to work moving the desks and chairs and a few other things over to the door to barricade them just in case they were noticed. Ruby, Weiss, Velvet, and Neptune moved the unconscious guards to the side.
Blake grabbed a set of keys from a hook on the wall and said "Here are the keys to the cells, Neo give us the access codes to the main doors."
"Sure thing, according to this Claudandus' is 13751619." she aid slowly and carefully so the Cat Faunus would remember it. "Got that?"
"Got it."
Winter spoke up "I just checked on the R.V., it's nearly in position."
"That means this is it kids, no backing out. Let's move." Qrow said.
"Go, I'll stay here and keep look out." Winter said, and everyone nodded.
The group split up with Qrow taking Team RWBY and Sun down one hallway and Neo leading the present members of CFVY and Neptune down the other. They didn't chat, they didn't waste one precious moment of time. They couldn't afford to if they wanted to help these people.
However, little did they know that after Coco had finished off the lead guard he had managed to keep himself conscious long enough to turn his radio on, and transmit it to the command room... and the Warden had heard them.
Adam's head jerked to look at the door as someone began knocking on it. He has been resting after his long and extensive 'conference', so to speak with his three guests. He sighed and said "Enter."
The door opened to reveal a female White Fang officer, looking a bit on edge. "Commander Taurus, sir! Warden Wade had just contacted us via scroll, the prison has been infiltrated by Belladonna and her team!" she said quickly.
Adam jumped out of his chair and grabbed his sword. "He can confirm they're there?"
"Yes sir, he heard them himself, apparently one of the guards they attacked began transmitting on his radio before they knocked him out. He says they're in the maximum security wing." she said.
Adam snarled and said "We can't let them escape." He pushed the officer out of hid way as he dashed out of his room and towards the control room.
He entered the room and saw Hui standing at attention. "I trust you've heard the news sir?"
"Yes I have, go fetch our guests, they will be very interested in this. I do believe it is time the White Fang proved itself to the Mistress of Grimm by doing what her 'Maiden' could not." Adam stated confidently. "And once you have them gather our best troops just to be safe, we don't want to waste this opportunity."
Hui nodded and let the room to get Emerald, Mercury, and Steppenwolffe as Adam went over to the P.A. system.
"Attention all members of the White Fang, the nearby prison is under attack by the traitor Blake Belladonna and her... Team Beacon, a group of self-righteous humans and pathetic self-loathing Faunus like herself. They are trying to free the humans we have imprisoned and traitors to our race! We need to stop them! I call out to the Elite Guard and I ask for their help in stopping this attack on our cause." Adam said with a proud and determined voice.
"And you shall have it." said Razor's voice over the radio. "We'll stand by you and we'll help capture them, but let it be known that we want do fatalities on the young Hunters, understood, sir?"
"Understood and agreed." Adam said, hiding his annoyance with Razor's little code of honor. "I will come with you and your ship with Lieutenant Hui and some of my elite troops. Ready your vessel, Razor."
"Understood sir." Razor said before shutting of his radio.
"Commander Taurus sir, our long range radar has picked up faint traces of ships hovering in the air about a mile away from the village, they could be Ranger ships." said a technician.
"Then prepare the attack ships, if they make a move I want our fighters to shoot those ships down. And just to be safe move out our troops and surround the village and the mountain perimeter, many of the visiting officers from various bases are still here so we'll be able to do this a little easier. Deploy the troops at once." Adam commanded.
"Yes sir!" said a high ranking deck officer.
Adam smirked and walked out of the room, he knew Blake would try to save Claudandus sooner or later and the fact that she knew where he was proved that there was a traitor among them, or had been if said traitor had died with Riley and the rest of his fools in the desert. Luckily the White Fang's headquarters was located in the mountains near Oro, the prison was a simple flight away, that way if a jailbreak were to occur he could have troops flown in to aid the Warden in recapturing the prisoners. He wondered if Blake and her team knew they were so close, but it wasn't likely. They had been well hidden in these mountains for months and very few of the general rank knew its location unless they were told and in that case they usually swore to secrecy.
"Adam, your lieutenant has told us the situation. Are your forces getting ready?" asked Emerald as she, Mercury, and Steppenwolffe came out from behind a corner.
"They're preparing to mobilize, come with me to the Elite Guard's ship." Adam beckoned.
"I'll go on my own, thank you. I have my pack waiting for me nearby." Steppenwolffe said, as he had summoned some of his Beowolves earlier and had been calling to various Beowolves in the nearby areas.
"Suit yourself. Take us to the Elite Guard." Emerald said.
"Just follow me." Adam said as he began walking away, with Emerald and Mercury in tow while Steppenwolffe went off on his own.
Adam thought about the current events and knew that within a few hours his beloved would be his again whether she liked it or not and her little friends were his to do with as he pleased.
He allowed himself to grin at that thought.
The various members of the White Fang Elite Guard were rushing about their ship, getting into place, readying the weapons, releasing the ship from the grips that kept the ship steady in dry-dock, and starting up the engines.
"Ready your weapons everyone and get ready for a good fight, I think most of you will remember that these kids are not to be underestimated." Razor reminded his followers as he made his way through the ship. "And remember, no killing. Just because they're our enemies doesn't mean we shouldn't show mercy."
"And we don't show mercy to those who don't deserve it, just like those slaves, right boss?" said Kong excitedly.
"Well they're not that bad, so just keep your temper in check." Razor advised with a small smile, but the warning was clear.
"Uh, got is Razor, no fatal attacks." Kong said with a nod as he walked off.
Razor rolled his eyes as he walked forward to see Thayer and another member of the Elite Guard, a Horse Faunus named Edward.
"Get to your ships and get ready to pull out, we're probably going to have to give chase." Razor instructed them.
"You got it." Edward said he strolled off but Thayer lingered behind, obviously nervous and Razor noticed this.
He sighed before bringing the Rabbit Faunus close, leaning in, and whispering "Thayer... I'll do my best to make sure no harm comes to your niece."
Thayer looked at his leader, his true leader, Adam Taurus be damned, with nervous eyes and said "Th-thanks boss... oh Oum she'll hate me for this."
"Let's hope not. I'll talk Adam into releasing her and some of the others via ransom. You have my word, old friend. Now get to your post."
Thayer nodded, muttered "Thank you Razor." And he took off towards the hangar. As he turned a corner, getting out of Razor's sight, he took out his scroll and saw Velvet's number on his contact's list. He shook his head and whispered to himself "Sorry boss but I don't trust Taurus enough. My family is more important."
And with that he began to type a message to Velvet. Little did he know that he wasn't the only one on board the Elite Guard's ship that was sending a warning...
Neo led the group of four Hunters-in-training to the large steel door the sealed off the cell that contained the White Fang's amputee victims.
"Here it is, got your scrolls?" she asked as she began entering the code.
"You bet." Neptune voiced as he and Coco took out their scrolls. They had decided that there should be as much proof as possible, so both of them would record the amputees as backup just in case one scroll was damaged.
Yatsuhashi kept a tight grip on his sword just in case something were to happen, but his attention was caught by Velvet shivering a bit.
"Are you alright?" he asked her.
"I... I'm just a little nervous. I've never seen amputated Faunus in person before." she admitted.
"Neither have I, I know it will not be a pleasant sight but we must stay strong." the large teen said as the door unlocked and he went to open it up.
Velvet nodded and plucked up courage as her partner opened the door. Secretly she prayed her uncle wasn't in there.
Light poured into the dank, dark dungeon-esque cell, causing some of the prisoners within to draw back.
One of the prisoners, a Bear Faunus who had his claws forcibly torn out of his fingers, stood up and looked at them. "I don't recognize you so you must be the new guards we've heard about. Look at us, do you think Adam's little crusade is..."
"Relax man, we're here to help." Coco said.
"What?"
"We're not White Fang, heck most of us aren't even Faunus. We're here to get proof of what the White Fang has done to Faunus like you and turn the Fang against that scumbag Adam." Neptune explained. "You need to show us what they've done to you and everyone else in this cell."
The Faunus' eyes widened and he said "You're going to get us out?"
Coco sighed and said "Not now, but soon. We don't have enough room for so many people and we're here to spring the original leader of the White Fang out, but if you help us prove what Adam has done it will turn a lot of Faunus against him and we'll have him by the balls. I promise we will get all of you out soon but for now we need you to help us."
The Bear Faunus sighed and said "I've heard Claudandus was locked up in here too, you promise you'll free us?"
"We promise." Velvet said honestly. "If you don't trust them, then trust a fellow Faunus, one who knows what's happened to you is abominable. You have my word we will help you. I promise you will be free."
The Bear Faunus grimaced and held out his hands, showing them where his claws had been plucked out, they had healed a bit but the wounds were still very much visible. "Everyone, come up and show them your wounds! They're safe they're here to help us." he called.
Others began to come forward, showing stumps where tails, feet, and hands used to be. Some of them looked to be recent as there were still blood stains on the flesh of a few of them others were lumpy and swollen. Others had horns lopped off and if one were to look closely at one Faunus they would get a small glimpse of bone.
"Oh Oum..." Neptune murmured.
"That sick bastard..." Coco voiced as she kept taking pictures.
A woman with bindings around her eyes came up. "I used to be able to see in the dark thanks to my eyes... they took them from me..." she said as she unwrapped the bandage around her head and showed them that her eyes were gone.
Velvet let out a gasp of shock as she began shake while tears welled up in her eyes and felt bile rising in her gut.
A young teenager wearing a hood over his head came up. "I wanted to leave the White Fang a few days after I joined up about a month ago, Taurus was there and when I tired to leave his thugs stopped me. When I fought back they arrested me and before they threw me in this prison did this." He took off his hood to reveal that the rabbit ears that once adorned his head had been cut off.
"Holy crap." muttered Coco in disgust while Neo winced.
"Monsters." hissed Yatsuhashi, while Neptune was stunned silent by all he had seen.
Velvet's ears twitched and her eyes got wider as her body shook more violently. "I... I... oh Oum I'm going to be sick..." she said before covering her mouth and running out towards the restroom the guards had mentioned.
The earless Rabbit Faunus looked a bit hurt when Coco said "She's sensitive, she didn't mean to offend you. Yatsu, go after her and make sure she's okay."
Yatsuhashi nodded and left the room.
"Okay, how about you speak directly to the camera? Get some definitive 'tell all' crud." Coco said to the Bear Faunus, who nodded in agreement.
"Start it up." he said.
Yatsuhashi found the restroom easily enough and could hear the sound of his partner vomiting. After a few moments Velvet stumbled out of the stall and balanced herself over the sink. She grabbed a paper towel and wiped off her face, but Yatsuhashi noticed the sweat covering her hands face and arms, her hands still shaking and her eyes wide with horror.
"Are you going to be okay?" he asked her.
"I... I think so. Yatsu... how could they do this? How could any Faunus let this happen? This is just cruel and horrible! Nothing could justify it!" she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"No, nothing justifies this kind of butchery. I know it pains you to see this, but you must be strong." he said to her.
"I know... but it makes me wonder if my uncle is still part of the White Fang, and if he is does he know about this? Yatsu... there are just times when I wonder if I really am strong enough to be a Huntress." she said with a sad sigh. She looked at herself in the mirror, a little disappointed in herself and added "I ran out and that poor Faunus probably thinks I'm disgusted with him. I'm such a coward. Maybe Penny or Scarlet should have come instead of me."
"Velvet, do not doubt yourself like that." her partner said firmly as he grabbed her shoulder and turned her towards him. Velvet looked up at him and he went on. "You might be sensitive in spirit, but that doesn't make you weak, it just shows how caring you are as a person. I know that you are a strong and brave girl, a weak, cowardly one wouldn't have made it this far in the life of a Huntress, a weak girl wouldn't have been able to brave herself through Haven, the fall of Beacon, the missions we went on, and this mess. You shouldn't mistake your meekness for cowardice. I..." he sighed and looked her in the eyes. "You can make it through this, I know you can be strong and brave and... I'm not good with words, I prefer silence, but I want you to know that you are not weak, or cowardly, or a burden. You are our friend, you are my partner, and I am happy to have you as my friend."
Velvet, eyes quivering, asked "Do you mean that Yatsu?"
"Every word. Just remember, deep down you are stronger than you think." he said, giving her a smile.
The Faunus girl returned the smile as she tackled Yatsuhashi and hugged him. "Thank you." she said.
"Any time." he said as he rubbed her back the top of her head near her ears, which made them twitch adorably and forced her to giggle.
All of a sudden her scroll vibrated, signaling a message had been received. She took out her scroll and looked at the title of the message that she been sent and she gasped in shock.
"What is it?" the large teen asked.
"It's... it's my uncle..." she said in surprise. The title of the message read 'To Velvet from Uncle Bigwig. IMPORTANT!'
She quickly opened it and was shocked at what she read: 'Velvet, I know you and your friends have broken into the prison, the White Fang knows you are there! The leader of White Fang is coming for all of you along with the Elite Guard and probably some strangers who work with that Cinder Fall woman. I may be a part of them but I don't want you hurt, finish whatever your doing and GET OUT OF THERE NOW!'
Velvet had many questions buzzing around in her head but she looked up at her scroll and said "I don't believe it..."
"What is it Velvet?"
She looked up at her partner and answered "My uncle just sent me a warning; they're coming for us, we have to get out."
Claudandus took a sip from the meager bowl of water he had been given for the day, not drinking too much, only enough to keep himself from being totally dehydrated. He pulled at the chains that combined his wrists together, only spreading apart for about a foot, which was enough for him pick things up. How long had he been in here? He knew it was longer than a few weeks, possibly a couple of months, it was hard to account for the passage of time in the cell since it had no windows and no clocks, plus the guards never bothered answering his questions.
He sat down on the bench that served as his only furniture in the cell and began to wonder about what Adam had told him the other day; damn boy didn't realize what he had gotten himself into when he hooked up with Salem's apprentice, he had deluded himself into thinking his madness and cruelty were justified and was foolish enough to believe Salem and her ilk could be dealt with so easily. Even if the Mistress of Grimm were to fall another would take her place.
It made him wonder just how much Adam had done; how many lives had he taken? How much blood was on his hands? How many members of the White Fang knew the truth? How many allowed it to happen and how many died trying to stop it? Claudandus knew the answer to none of these questions and he probably never would.
There was a part of him that blamed himself for this, had he been a stronger leader, had he been a bit tougher and more demanding when he was in command of the White Fang then maybe Adam's insurrection would have never happened. Maybe they would have achieved total equality by now. Maybe he could have told Blake the truth...
Just then, as if on cue, his thoughts were interrupted by the heavy metal door opening up. He glanced over, not knowing who he would see since the guards had already supplied him with his meal for the day, but he saw the guards and didn't recognize any of them.
"Claudandus!" cried an all too familiar voice as one of the guards rushed forward and ripped off her mask to reveal beautiful golden eyes.
"Blake!" he cried in return as he pushed himself up and limped over to the cell door, which Blake opened with the key. "How did you get in here?"
"We'll answer your questions later Claudandus, we're here to get you out of here." Blake said as she pushed the cell door open. "Hold out your hands, I'll cut the chains." she added as she took out Gambol Shroud and transformed it into its katana form.
The elder Cat Faunus nodded and held out his hands and kept them as far apart as he could. Blake slammed down the blades, severing the chains and freeing his hands.
"Thank you, finally free of those blasted things. I've probably had them on for months." he stated.
"Probably, you've been in captivity for nearly six months." Blake told him as she put Gambol Shroud away.
"That long?! Gods above, I am happy to see you." Claudandus said as he grabbed Blake and hugged her. Blake smiled and eagerly returned the hug. "Thank you for saving me." he whispered to her.
Blake sighed sadly and said "I would have been here sooner, but I had a friend to save."
She pulled away from the hug and gestured over to Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Sun, and Qrow who come into the cell.
"Uh... hi Mr. Claudandus." Ruby said waving to him.
"Sorry it took so long." Weiss said.
"Better late than never, right?" Yang joked.
Claudandus allowed himself a smile and he said "Indeed."
"Claudandus, this is my team; Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and my partner Yang Xiao Long."
"Nice to meet you." Yang said.
"Yeah, I guess we're making a pretty good first impression so far, right? I mean we're breaking you out of this place and all." Ruby voiced.
"There are far worse ways, believe me." Claudandus assured her.
Sun stepped forward and looked at Blake, reminding her about him. "Oh, and that man over there is Ruby and Yang's Uncle Qrow." she said, giving Sun a teasing smirk which he returned "And this is my... boyfriend, Sun Wukong."
"Boyfriend?!" Claudandus cried, "You mentioned him last time we met but you didn't say he was your boyfriend!"
"He wasn't back then, but he is now." Blake said with a blush.
"Yeah, I guess you're practically family to Blake, so I hope you're okay." Sun said to the older Faunus as he held his hand out. Claudandus looked a bit troubled but shook it off and smiled as he accepted Sun's hand.
"As long as you make her happy I'm fine with you, and yes, I am okay now that you're all here. It is good to finally meet you all in person, judging by the fact that you've all gotten back together and made it here I can tell something happened while I was locked up." he said.
"Dude, you don't know the half of it." Yang stated bluntly.
"Keep up the happy reunion, I'll go keep guard with Winter." Qrow said before leaving.
"Well I'm just happy because I'll finally be out of here, and I'd like to get to know all of you soon, especially how Blake ended up being friends with a Schnee." he said.
"Trust me sir, it is a long story." Weiss assured him.
"I could do with some long stories after being locked up in here for so long." Claudandus said with a chuckle as he noticed Blake's face saddened at that. "Blake, what's wrong?"
Blake sighed and looked up at him with sadness radiating in her eyes while her ears drooped down. "Claudandus," she began, "I am so, so, so sorry you had to suffer like this for so long. I wanted to come as soon as I heard you had been captured, I even found out the location to Adam's last base but I was captured by Kane and Yang and Sun and his team came to save me. I wanted to go help you but we found out that Ruby and another friend of ours named Jaune were in trouble, they had been captured by Salem's forces and we needed to help them. Once it was over Adam and the White Fang had already relocated and left the location I learned about. I've been worried about you for months and I feel like what's happened to you is all my fault and I..."
She was silenced by Claudandus hugging her once again, shushing her as he did so. "Blake... you have nothing to apologize for. From the looks of it you made the right choice going to help your friends instead of letting them suffer to save an old fool like me. Besides, Adam had known my location for a while, he just needed an excuse to arrest me and 'conspiring with a traitor' was good enough. I have suffered through this, yes, but this mess is my fault too. I gave up the White Fang, my creation, so easily to that brat. I just didn't fight hard enough for equality or for the loyalty of the Fang but I do not blame you for what has happened at all. You are precious to me Blake, you always have been, more than you know." he said.
Blake hugged him tighter and said "I'm sorry for all of this, I was young, stupid, and angry. Had I known what Adam would turn into I would have left with you! Can you ever forgive me?"
"I already have, Blake, but can you forgive an old fool like me for lying to you for so long? For not telling you the truth?" he inquired.
"Huh?" Ruby asked, a bit stumped.
"What do you mean?" Blake asked, just as confused as her friends were.
Claudandus sighed and said "I never told you the truth out of respect for your mother, she hated me in the last few years of her life because I refused to give up my hope for obtaining equality through peace. She left with your father... but when she came back to me on that terrible day with you in her arms and fatal wounds on her body I blamed myself. I should have fought harder to make her see the light but she refused and... she died in my arms on that day. Blake... your mother was my daughter."
There was a stunned silence in the room. Weiss let out a gasp of shock while Ruby's eyes went wide with surprise, Yang was speechless (a rarity to be sure) and couldn't even think up a proper response that wasn't 'What the hell?' Sun was confused, shocked, and a little angry that the old Faunus had never told Blake the truth about their relation in so many years.
Blake was silent as well before asking "W... why didn't you ever tell me? Why did you say my grandfather was dead?! Why did you lie to me?!"
"Because I didn't deserve to be your grandfather." he answered.
"Um... how come?" Ruby asked, innocently.
"I allowed my daughter to go down a path I knew would lead to disaster, I didn't fight hard enough to keep her from shutting me out of her life. I didn't fight hard enough for her... and yet she came to me with you when she was dying. I never told you the truth because I felt I had failed your mother so terribly that you would hate me for not trying harder to stop your parents. I wanted to tell you when you came to my cabin all those months ago but I couldn't muster up the courage to tell you the truth then, and the only reason I'm able to now is because Adam figured it out somehow. If... if you hate me now I understand and I do not blame you. If you wanted to leave me here I would understand, because I still feel like I do not deserve you." he said, his voice dripping with sadness and regret.
Silence reigned again. Sun and the three other members of RWBY looked at Blake with concern, all of them began to say something when Blake surged forward and captured her grandfather in a hug.
"I don't hate you. I'm confused and a little angry that you lied to me for so long, but I don't hate you." she said with tears coming out of her eyes. "We'll talk about it later but what matters right now is getting you out of here... grandpa." she said.
Tears began to fall from the old Cat Faunus' eyes as he hugged his granddaughter once again. "Thank you, Blake." he said happily.
The rest of Team RWBY and Sun smiled at the sight of the reunion, Sun couldn't help himself and said "I guess you really were born into the White Fang."
Blake smiled at him, just as her scroll began to vibrate.
"Ugh, always at the worst moment" Weiss said with a roll of her eyes.
Blake took it out and saw she had gotten a text message that read 'Blake, get the hell out of the prison! Adam knows you're there and he's coming after you with us Elite Guards in tow! Plus those two punks who work for Cinder! Get out ASAP! - J'
Her eyes widened in fear as Yang asked "Blake? What is it?"
"It's my informant in the Elite Guard... they know we're here..." she said.
"Guys!" cried Neptune as he appeared in the doorway. "Velvet's uncle just sent her a warning! The White Fang are coming for us! We gotta go now!"
"That can't be a coincidence, crap!" Yang snarled as she looked over to Blake and Claudandus "Can you continue the reunion later? We gotta move."
"A wise idea." Claudandus agreed as Blake led him out of the cell.
They ran down the hallway, with Sun and Yang helping Claudandus to move faster via him putting his arms over their shoulders so they could lift him up together, and they met up with Qrow, Winter, Neo, and the present members of Team CFVY at the main room.
"You got the proof?" Sun asked.
"You bet we do monkey-boy." Coco said as she tucked her scroll in her pocket.
"Can you transfer it somewhere? Like to Professor Ozpin?" Ruby inquired.
"We tried that but they're jamming us, we can't send the proof to Ozpin until we get away from this place." the fashionista answered.
"But before they blocked out communications I contacted Penny, they're in position and ready to get us." Winter said.
"Well that's one good thing at least." Weiss stated as Qrow looked out the window of the side door.
"You think they're out in the hallways waiting for us?" he asked Winter.
"No doubt about it, probably outside the fire exit as well." she said.
"Then we're gonna have to fight our way out." Qrow surmised
"Right. Everyone, we're going out the emergency exit and we're going to fight our way out. Just in case the guards inside get through these doors I'll be planting explosives, I hope you don't mind setting them off for me Miss Rose." Winter said as she laid down small explosive packets out in front of the barricades.
"You got it." Ruby said with a nod as she transformed Crescent Rose into it's full form and switched to a heavy caliber of bullet.
"What about Claudandus? He won't be able to run." Blake pointed out.
"I'll use my Semblance to get him through if you guys can provide a distraction." Neo volunteered.
"Why can't you disguise us all and save us the trouble?" Neptune questioned.
"Because I've been tiring myself out disguising you lot recently, the least you could do it let me have this one easy task." she snapped.
"Okay, okay, geeze." muttered the bluenette.
"Winter and I will go first, followed by Yang, Blake, Coco, Yatsuhashi, and Sun. Ruby, Weiss, Velvet, and Neptune will bring up the rear and keep guards off of us. We make it close enough to the R.V., we get in, we drive as fast as we can to the extraction point. Everybody clear on that?" Qrow asked as he took out Reaper in sword mode.
Everyone nodded as they got out their weapons; Yatsuhashi held out his sword, Neptune transformed his weapon into trident mode, Sun took apart his staff into nunchaku forms, Coco loaded up her minigun, Velvet readied her camera, Ruby was all ready with Crescent Rose, Weiss gripped Myrtenaster, Blake took out Gambol Shroud once again, and Yang slammed the Ember Celica together.
Winter drew out her sword and she said "Alright Neo, get ready to go invisible."
Neo nodded as Claudandus leaned against her as they all moved to the fire exit.
"There's probably a hundred guards out there waiting for us, the moment we open that door they'll start shooting." Sun said.
"True, Mr. Wukong, but I think we'll be able to put a decent fight against them." Winter stated as she created a glyph before them and used summoned a white and pale blue Beowolf. "Is everyone ready?"
"Ready as we'll ever be." Yang stated as her eyes began to glow red.
"Do it." Qrow said.
Winter's arm pointed at the door and with that simple command the Summon-Beowolf charged at the door and slammed it down, attacking a few White Fang guards as it did so, slashing and biting at them, catching them by surprise.
"GO!" Winter yelled as they ran out.
Qrow got out first and slashed the armor off of a guard before slamming his fist into his face so hard the mask cracked in half. Qrow whirled his sword around to deflect bullets as Winter, Yang, Coco, Sun, and Yatsuhashi all ran out into battle. He smirked as he parried a strike from a sword wielder and slammed his fist out, knocking the attacker off balance before Qrow finished him off with a slash of Reaper. Another thug tried to attack him but Qrow bent down and sprung up just in time to catch the Faunus launch him towards Sun, who jumped up, preformed a scissor grip with his legs and threw him into another guard. Qrow gave an approving nod to the teen before whirling around to cut a trio of guns pointed at him in half.
Sun returned the nod and tripped over another guard with his tail before slamming Ruyi Bang into the back of the guard's head. Sun began to slam and whirl Ruyi and Jingu Bang around wildly, firing off shots each time they impacted on a White Fang trooper, which would hit another White Fang trooper. He slammed the two weapons into bo-staff form and spun around, whamming the staff into White Fang guards and then he jumped up, landing with a kick on another guard and twirled around, his staff slamming into more guards.
Winter's Beowolf summon was destroyed after enough shots but she could afford that brief loss as she began attacking White Fang guards with brutal efficiency, disarming them or slamming the hilt of her sword into their heads to knock them out. A quartet of guards rushed her but she sent them flying into another group of guards via a glyph.
Yatsuhashi slammed his sword sideways, cutting sword blades off of hilts and guns in two. He swung his sword's blunt side at the now disarmed attackers and sent them flying into the air before backhanding a guard who tried to jump him from behind while Coco shot up guards who had heavy armor and weaponry.
"Come and get it!" Coco yelled as she blasted a guard's thick armor to pieces. She ran forward and slammed her heavy weapon into the Faunus, taking him out before she hoisted up her bag and opened fire on the spotlight towers shining down on them.
Yang blasted a guard that was trying to tackle Winter but this allowed a guard to sneak up on her and slam the butt of her gun into Yang. Yang cried out and fell to her knees, which allowed the guard and a few others to begin beating on the blonde brawler.
"Yang!" Blake cried as she blasted one of the guards in the back.
Just then a brilliant flash of light as Yang jumped up, tore the rifle from the female guard and grinned. "Thanks for the hurt, let me return the favor." she said menacingly. She slammed her robotic fist into the female guard's shoulder, shattering it and following it up with a mighty punch to the gut. She whirled around and kicked another guard in the chest so hard he was sent flying. She opened up a wild, furious barrage of fire with her Gauntlets, taking out the other guards who had ganged up on her.
Yang smirked as she grabbed the female guard, who was attempting to get up again and began to spin her around rapidly, knocking her into other White Fang troops before letting her go sailing into an officer. Yang activated her rocket and aimed her fist at the wall and the explosive went sailing out, crashing into the hastily erected wall and blowing a large gap into it easily.
"Go!" she cried.
Neo activated her Semblance and led Claudandus out of the building and away from the fighting while Blake and Neptune quickly began to blast any guard who tried to get in.
Weiss turned around and could hear sounds of the guards still inside of the prison breaking through the doors. "They're trying to get through. Ruby, shoot the explosives." she said.
"You got it." Ruby said with a nod. "Get out there and fight guys, we're blowing it!"
"Right." they all said before rushing out into the fray, Neptune blasted guards down and stabbed his trident into a guards armor and twisted him down to blast him, Blake loaded up Gambol Shroud with purple Dust crystals and began slashing into the air to create violet energy arcs that slammed into the White Fang troops as she went to keep guards off of Yang and Sun, and Velvet created huge replicas of Penny's swords and brought them down on the large crowd of guards, forcing them to scatter while the blades deflected their fire.
Ruby fired at the two small explosives which did their job, erupting into two powerful blasts of fire, blowing the guards inside away, forcing them to retreat. The blame rushed out at Ruby but Weiss used a glyph to create an ice shield to stop the flame, even if it only lasted a few seconds before melting.
"Thanks Weiss." Ruby said as she blasted a guard down and used the pole of Crescent Rose to slam a female guard into the wall.
"Think nothing of it." the Schnee Heiress said as she created a slick patch of ice which caused guards to trip and fall, making it easier for Neptune to blast them.
It was around this time that Neo and Claudandus got through the hole in the wall, unnoticed by all.
"Move forward!" yelled Qrow as he slashed an armored guard across the chest before helping Ruby blast away a few more guards. "Good job squirt!"
"Thanks!" Ruby said as she twirled Crescent Rose around to deflect bullets as Weiss parried the slash of a guard's sword before she expertly maneuvered about him, slicing a hand and forcing him to drop to his blade. She landed a kick on his gut, dropping him to his knees where she held her rapier blade in a stabbing motion, making him cower in fear but he was surprised when she dropped her stance and created a glyph under him instead, sending him to the other end of the compound.
Most of the guards attacking them had already been knocked out or were drawing back, but a few pressed on, moving towards the hole Yang had made in the wall.
"They're trying to keep us from getting out!" growled Yatsuhashi as he smashed a guard into Sun who delivered a hard blow to the Faunus with his staff.
"Yeah, let's see how that works out for 'em." Coco said as she aimed her minigun at the group of guards.
"Let me help you with that." Yang offered as she pointed her gauntlets at their direction, but the guards opened fire, forcing Team Beacon to dodge.
Qrow saw someone charge them and he whipped around just in time to parry a strike from Warden Wade's battle ax.
"You're not getting out of this, Hunter! The Elite Guard will be here any minute now and then you'll all be done for!" Wade snarled as he slashed at Qrow a few times, the Huntsman blocking each blow.
"Fat chance!" Qrow snarled back as he heard the sounds of ships overhead. Qrow looked up to see fighter ships zooming by, but this allowed Wade to punch Qrow in the chest and slash him across the arm. "AH!" Qrow cried as he fell.
Wade held up his ax but before he could bring it down Ruby blasted it out of his hands and slammed into him, knocking him down.
"You okay Uncle Qrow?"
"Just fine." he said as he got up, but he was worried about those ships.
All of a sudden there was a tremendous crashing sound as the R.V. slammed through the wall, Penny at the wheel. "You were taking too long so I decided to drop in... wait, maybe it was didn't invite me to your party so I crashed? I'll need to watch more movies later." she said to herself as she drove into the compound.
The guards were distracted by this sudden intrusion so Blake, Yang, Neptune, and Coco were able to shoot them down with little resistance.
The door on the side of R.V. opened to reveal Neo who yelled "Come on!"
"You heard her, get in!" Qrow ordered as he deflected a bullet meant for his head as Scarlet began operating the R.V.'s turrets to keep guards and snipers off of them.
Ruby and Weiss quickly got in with Neptune not too far behind. Velvet got in next as Scarlet blew a sniper away, Yatsuhashi followed his partner in as Blake, Sun, and Yang followed them.
"Coco! We're leaving, come on!" Blake called as they climbed in.
"I'm coming!" Coco called back as she fired at the remaining guards to keep them at bay, not an easy task as they were now using shields to advance. Coco gave up and ran inside as Winter kicked one last guard in the head before making her way to the R.V., with Qrow bringing up the rear.
"Penny get moving!" Winter ordered as she stepped onto the footplate. She glanced back only to see Warden Wade was about to attack Qrow again. "Branwen, behind you!"
Qrow whipped around quick as a flash and slammed Reaper into Wade's midsection. He plunged the blade in deeper, bringing the Bison Faunus closer.
"Murderer!" spat Wade.
"At least I'm not a butcher like you. We know what you've done to your own kind in there! We have proof now." Qrow snarled furiously as the R.V. kept moving out of the compound.
Wade's eyes widened with fear. "No! You'll destroy the White Fang if the truth gets out!"
"You should have thought of that before you mutilated your own people, you sadistic son of a bitch!" Qrow yelled as he transformed Reaper into scythe mode... while it was still inside of Wade; the force of the transformation cut Wade in completely half. The Faunus' torso fell to the ground; blood, glowing aura, intestines, and gore pooled out from the cut apart body.
"He's murdered the Warden! Shoot him!" cried an officer.
Before Qrow could make a move for the R.V. several shots managed to hit him in the torso, making him cry out in pain. He slumped over and rolled to avoid more gunfire when all of a sudden a flock of shining white birds which Winter had used against him in their fight way back during the Vytal Tournament, swarmed the guards.
"Come on!" Winter said as she grabbed him and helped him run to the R.V., Qrow glanced up an could see the Elite Guard's ship approaching the prison. They needed to get to the extraction point as soon as possible if they didn't want to be overwhelmed by the White Fang.
Ruby and Yang helped get Qrow on to the R.V. as it slowly moved forward and once Winter climbed in she yelled "Penny, get us to the extraction point now!"
"Yes ma'am!" Penny said before accelerating the large vehicle and taking off a bit too quickly for everyone's liking. Had any of the guards paid attention they would have noticed a sparrow landing near Wade's corpse.
Up above in the Elite Guard's airship Adam grimaced and his fist clenched in fury as his enemies sped away with his beloved and that old fool in tow.
"So much for your maximum security." snarked a cocky as ever Mercury.
"That doesn't matter now, what does matter is stopping them from escaping entirely." voiced Emerald.
"Don't worry, they won't get far. Razor, gather your troops and ready the drop ships, we're going after them." Adam commanded.
"As your command, Commander Taurus. Jinty, call thee hangars and ready the ships for launch!" Razor ordered.
"You got it boss, with any luck this will be over before midnight." the Weasel Faunus said as he activated the P.A.
Wade woke up to find himself in a strange void that was dark and light at the same time. He was confused at first, but then he remembered what had happened.
He remembered being stabbed...
"Oh Oum... am I...?"
"Dead? Yes, quite so." said a voice. Wade turned to see a dirty looking human with old glasses, dirty old brown clothes, and wild hair approaching him. "Hello there, my name is Azreal. Come now, Warden... we have things to do and places to go... well just one place really..." he said with a dark grin.
"N-no... no! Go to hell!" Wade screamed. He turned around to run, only to come face to face with Azreal.
"That's our last stop, how did you guess?" he asked with an amused, slightly crazed face.
Wade screamed.
Claudandus strapped himself into the seat he was in as the R.V. gained more and more speed.
"Are you alright?" Blake asked him.
"I've been better but I can't complain as I've certainly been worse!" Claudandus said with a small smile. "So who are the rest of your friends?"
"Introductions later, right now we're gonna focus on getting away." Blake said as she went over to the window. "Are we being followed?"
"Oh you bet! The Two Elite Guard ships from the last time are coming right at us." Yang said.
"Don't worry, I'm doing my best to keep them off of us!" Scarlet called as he kept blasting at the ships.
"Let's help you out there." Coco said as she opened the window and began shooting at the ship.
"Good idea." Ruby said. She dashed to the back trailer and forced the widow open before using Crescent Rose to shoot at the ships.
Edward winced as one of Ruby's shots landed on the windshield of the drop-ship. "She's not bad." he said with a shrug as Adam came up. He, along with Emerald, Mercury, Hui, some White Fang troops, and a few Elite Guard members like Babara, Morgan, Penn, Misha, Warwick, and the Tasmanian Devil Faunus whose name was Teresa. Thayer piloted the other ship, which had Razor, Piper, Kane, Selena, Russell, Kong, along with some of the other Faunus who had fought Team Beacon in their first encounter; Goddard the Skunk Faunus, Darla the Flying Squirrel Faunus, Burton the Rhino Faunus, Johnny the Ram Faunus, and Cash the Dog Faunus.
"Keep firing, don't give in!" Adam ordered.
"I'm doing my best, sir." Edward said as he swerved the ship to avoid a barrage of bullets from Coco.
"Well it's not good enough, get out! I'll fly." the Bull Faunus growled.
"Um, sir... are you...?"
"NOW!" Adam screamed.
Edward didn't say anything else, he wisely got out of his seat as quickly as he could so Adam could take over.
"Adam, what are you doing?" Razor demanded over the radio.
"Taking control. I've gotten word from an officer at the prison, they've got Claudandus and Branwen has murdered Wade." Adam explained, careful not to mention the amputees. He didn't know what had happened, but he knew there was a good chance they had proof of what he had done and if the truth got out it would be the end of him.
"Wade is dead? Then we can't let them get away, can your patrols corner them?" Razor inquired. He didn't care for Wade in the slightest but he did his duty for the White Fang and didn't deserve to die. Branwen would have to pay for that.
"Already taken care of, my men are spreading out to blockade this valley and our fighter ships are engaging their backup from the Vacuo Rangers, taking out any chance of escape. We just have to stop them before they cause more trouble. Do whatever you have to, just stop them!" Adam ordered, his voice very much on edge.
"I understand, Commander Taurus." Razor said.
"Good." Adam hissed before shutting off the radio.
"Well he sounded more than a little obsessed." Kane stated, knowing full well Adam's obsession with Blake.
"This is an important battle, he has a right to be." Razor stated as the ship swerved to avoid being hit by giant replicas of Yatsuhashi and Sage's swords from Velvet's camera.
"Do you really believe that, sir?" asked Russell.
Razor glanced at his old friend with no answer to give. He then looked to Piper who looked doubtful herself.
"Kane, you used to work with him back when you were young, what do you think of Commander Taurus?" he asked.
"Honestly boss? That guy's gone more than a little nuts over the years." Kane answered.
Razor sighed and said "I'll look into him once this mess is over. hopefully it doesn't end in disaster."
"We can only hope sir." Thayer voiced as he looked down at the R.V., which was swerving to avoid laser fire from Adam's ship. "Come on, move..." he whispered quietly, hoping for his niece's escape.
The R.V. kept moving, its wheels spinning rapidly on the ground, over dirt, mud, and sticks from the trees as it sped through the forest, bouncing those inside violently.
"Keep up the defense! We'll make it to the extraction point soon enough!" Winter said as she hung on to the back of the driver's seat as Penny drove the R.V. on. She looked up into the sky and could see something very unsettling; ship battles in the night sky. "Oh gods, hold on... you can beat them." she whispered to herself as they got closer and closer to the extraction point. Her worries were not soothed as she could see a bright explosion, signaling that a ship had been destroyed. "Damn it." she muttered.
The ship Adam piloted got closer to the R.V., lowering a bit as it did so. "You're mine, Blake." he said to himself in the cockpit. Then he let out a furious roar as he flew the ship downward.
Ruby looked up and could see how close the ship was. "Penny, speed up!" she called, and the android did so just in time, as Adam fired the ships weapons and scorched the ground where they had been a split-second ago.
"Get back!" Ruby yelled as she shot at the ship, managing to land a few hits on its front.
"Taurus are you insane?!" Emerald shouted.
"That's a big fat yes." muttered Mercury, who got a haunting, murderous glare from Adam in response.
"PULL UP!" screamed Misha as the R.V. went under an old bridge that was was too low for both of them, so Adam jerked the ship upward violently, knocking down a few of the passengers in the progress. Adam growled as he steadied the ship as he regained control and kept chasing after the R.V., he lowered the ship again and kept close to them and he saw someone in the R.V. staring at him with malice.
"Blake..." he muttered.
The Cat Faunus aimed Gambol Shroud in pistol mode and shot at him, the bullets hit the glass, which was luckily bullet resistant, but had there been no glass to separate him from the outside Blake would have hit his head. "You won't get away this time." Adam snarled.
Ruby kept shooting at the ship, helped out by Yang, Blake, Coco, Neptune, Scarlet, and Velvet, who were all working to keep the two ships off of them. As they rumbled over a bridge Ruby looked over to see a surprising sight; there was a pack of at least a few dozen Beowolves rushing at them with a humanoid figure riding an elder Beowolf.
"Steppenwolffe!" Ruby muttered. "Heads up everybody! We got company and it's a Grimm hybrid!"
"Crap!" cried Qrow as he looked out the window to see the Grimm rushing towards them.
Ruby opened fire on them, taking out a few Beowolves before one jumped towards her, but she quickly blasted it in half. She reloaded Crescent Rose only for Adam to fire at the R.V., grazing the trailer and throwing Ruby off her balance. "Jerk!" she exclaimed as she got back up and fired at the ship again.
"I'll help you out!" Neptune said as he joined her in the back to help her shoot at both the ship and the Grimm.
Just then three Beowolves jumped onto the R.V. at once, from both sides, two of them managed to get in but Neo stopped the third one as it began to climb through the window.
"Okay then, the gloves are off!" Neo shouted furiously as she began wildly stabbing the Grimm with her estoc.
The first of the intruding Beowolves jumped at Qrow but Weiss got in front of him and impaled the creature with Myrtenaster, she channeled her aura into the blade and combined with the Dust crystal within the force caused the Beowolf to explode.
"Good job kid." Qrow said as he shot out of the window to keep Steppenwolffe and his pack at bay.
Sun slammed Ruyi and Jingu Bang into the second Beowolf, injuring the creature's side before kicking him towards Yang and Blake who finished it off with one blast each from both of their weapons, killing the creature. "Thanks for the... Blake behind you!" Yang cried as she aimed her gauntlet at the window behind Blake. Blake leaned away and Yang fired, killing another Beowolf who tried to get in.
"Thank you." the Cat Faunus said as she leaned out the window and began shooting again.
Up in the driver's seat Penny kept adding speed. "Not long now, we're almost there." Winter muttered.
"I hope..." Penny began to say as two large Beowolves jumped onto the front of the R.V.. The first, and larger one, slammed his spiky claws into the windshield and shattered the glass. Winter grabbed her sword but before she could whip it out Penny's arm transformed into its cannon mode and jabbed it into the Grimm's head before firing, blowing the beast's head off with one shot. The disintegrating body fell backwards, knocking the other Beowolf to the ground where it was brutally ran over by the R.V., the weight of the mighty vehicle crushing it.
"Excellent work Penny... wait, stop!" Winter ordered as she saw a small drop up ahead. It wasn't too big, a mere five feet, but it was risky in this situation. "Penny, stop the R.V.!"
"I have a better idea, create an ice road!" Penny said.
Winter smiled and said "Not bad." She quickly worked to create a glyph between the R.V. and the drop and used a Dust crystal to create an ice ramp for them, allowing them to slide down easily.
However, Adam's ship didn't have it so lucky; he didn't see the drop in time, nor did he see the large tree next to it. "Sir pull up!" cried Edward, but it was too late, Adam swerved violently and the ship smashed through a thick, heavy tree branch which cracked the windshield like a spiderweb. The ship was damaged but not too badly, Adam pulled the triggers and the ship fired at the R.V. one more time before it pulled up and came out of the tree tops, scattering leaves all about the place.
The laser blast managed to hit the end of the trailer, throwing back both Ruby and Neptune, even though the bluenette took most of the hit.
"Ugh, what a... Neptune are you okay?" Ruby asked as she helped him up.
"Yeah, a little banged up but I'm alright. That was way too close!" he cried.
"Don't worry, we're almost there!" Qrow called.
Above them Adam brought up his ship along side Razor's while Steppenwolffe continued to give chase on the ground and through the woods.
"Taurus, what were you thinking?! You could have gotten everyone in that ship killed, yourself included!" Razor scolded angrily.
"Well I didn't, now shut up and keep after them!" Adam ordered.
Razor grimaced, furious with his leader's behavior.
"He IS crazy." Thayer muttered.
Razor didn't object and simply nodded in agreement as they continued flying after Team Beacon into the night.
TO BE CONTINUED...
What will happen to our heroes? Will they escape? You'll have to check in next time to find out! But bad news: next chapter will be the last one of the year, sorry but I'll need to go on Christmas break since I've got shopping (and reading) to do, but there will be one more chapter before the year is out and chapters 43 and beyond will begin publishing in January.
Also Claudandus was not originally planned to be Blake's grandfather, but as development went on I decided to change it, to make her statement that she was 'born into the Fang' more true than she realized. I hope I pulled it off well enough, since they have to rush to get out of there but I think under the circumstances it was alright. Also Claudandus is named after the villain in the animated murder mystery thriller Felidae, it's a pretty good, but very strange and creepy, movie and it's up on YouTube but be warned it's pretty NSFW (cat gore and cat sex scene).
Yes, I will be using V4's villains, I need all of the enemies I can get. Mercury's joke about Hazel's name was originally going to be between Anansi and Ante but I felt it would be just as suiting for Emerald and Mercury's banter. Also Thorn and Mavis, who have been mentioned here, will be villains in the coming story arcs
If you enjoyed this chapter on Fanfiction . Net then please review, follow, and favorite it you liked it and if you're on An Archive of Our Own then leave a kudos and comment and possibly even bookmark it. Please guys give me some feedback, as it keeps me and this story going and if possible at all mention this story on the RWBY Reddit. Please guys, help me out here, let me know if you enjoy this story, what's good and bad about it, I work really hard to make this story good so please give me some feedback.