A/N: I know it has been a good month since my last update but at last I've finally got this chapter done. It was fun at times, it was hard at times but I got the chapter done! I hope you all enjoy this chapter but first I need to get some items out of the way. First and foremost, I know it's been several months past since this happened but I want to give a shout out to one of the greats in Manga. Akira Toriyama was one of the best authors in the industry. His work on Dragon Ball and the subsequent series it spawned will stand the test of time. RiP Toriyama-san, you will be deeply missed.
Second, I also got asked on Ao3 if this series will be affected by the closure of RT. Well, let this chapter be that answer for anyone with similar concerns here on this platform. I intend to finish this series and hopefully expand on this story a little bit in the future. That being said the changes that been going on behind the scenes have led to some changes in the disclaimers moving forward and speaking of which.
Third, some of you have pointed out somethings from the last chapter and the cat's out of the bag. I can't say much but all I can say is just sit back, read, and enjoy. With that, Let us begin.
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based homage. Transformers and GI Joe are owned by Hasbro. RWBY is owned by Viz Media and created by the late Monty Oum. Please support the official release.
September 20, 2015 AD
Clayton's Sports Dive
Jasper, Nevada
1:43pm
Yang had just finished her latest order and handed off to the kitchen before stepping out onto the dining room floor. The restaurant was fairly quiet this afternoon. Not many customers at this hour. Still, business was good and the couple of stains on her uniform's apron wouldn't be too hard to wash out. With some time to kill while she waited and decided to take a seat at the bar.
"Taking a break already?" Clayton asked
"Nah, just a slow day. Looking to kill a few minutes." Yang answered. Clayton looked at the restaurant and saw all the orders had been given out and tabled.
"Fair enough. Just make sure you're ready for the next customer." he said. "Thanks." Yang replied. The blonde bombshell watched Clayton as he worked. Ruby may have told her to leave him alone for the time being but she didn't say to not watch him.
"How's the gang holding up? Heard things got rough after the meteor shower." Clayton asked.
"Been hanging in there. The raise helps a bit. Probably by next year we might have enough to get our own place. It'll be cramped but we'll manage. Reminds me of the old dorms we used to live in back home." Yang answered.
"You sure about living in that van still, I could still let you stay at my home, plenty of room for you and your friends. Plus you'll be able to get out of that van of yours." Clayton said.
"Thanks, but no thanks. We've found a way to make it work. It's actually not that bad. " Yang replied. Clayton made a mental note of that for later. Yang meanwhile, still had one glaring question to ask.
"Speaking of the shower, a friend of mine showed up at the old Auto Shop we were shacked up in got totaled. She says she saw you and some friends." Yang's words caused Clayton to pull the lever on one of the beer taps a little harder than normal but not hard enough to notice.
"Really, what did she say?" Clayton asked. Yang looked back and saw the various customers. She then turned back to her boss.
"I think I should talk about this away from the customers." Yang said. Not good. Clayton thought to himself. How Yang knew the girl who trespassed and later flew away was beyond him. However, he had a feeling he was about to find out. He and Yang walked down the corridor and through the kitchen and made their way into Clayton's office in the back. The old bartender closed the blinds to his office and the room grew dark with a few lamps lighting the room. It was a quaint office and was organized similar to that of a military general with an american flag mounted behind his desk flanked by two cabinets. On Clayton's desk was the statuette of a hawk catching a snake in front of a red telephone on his left and to his right was a plaque with his name and pen resting behind it. Clayton sat in a brown swivel chair and looked at Yang who sat in a wooden chair of her own.
"Alright," Clayton began. "What do you want to know?"
"What happened that night?" Yang asked.
"Be more specific." Clayton replied.
"Penny arrived at the auto shop before midnight and was approached by two guys and she was trying to defend herself when a friend of yours shot at her?" Yang responded. Clayton stayed quiet for a moment. Fowler would need to be notified about Penny in case they encountered her in the future.
"Perhaps your friend had me confused for someone else. I was already back home and in bed with my wife at that point." he answered leaning back in his chair. Yang scoffed.
"No offense Clayton, but I call bullshit on that. I've known Penny for over a year and if there's one thing she's good at it's that she never forgets a face." Yang retorted. She then leaned forward in her chair. Clayton stood up and got out of his chair.
"What exactly are you looking for here, Yang?" Clayton asked.
"The truth, I want to know who those guys were and who or what the hell Sector 7?!" Yang fired back with a raised voice. Her lilac eyes glared back into Clayton's ice blue eyes.
"This conversation is over and it doesn't leave this room. Now, I don't know what you are talking about or who your friend met that night but I promise you that it was not me. I'd advise you talk with your friend again. The next time you come to me about something like this again I will be forced to put you on a suspension for a month. Is that clear, Yang?" Clayton rebuked in a hushed tone. She didn't know why but suddenly, Yang didn't believe she was working as a waitress anymore, at least figuratively.
Somehow, she briefly thought that she was in boot camp for the Atlesian Military and was getting lectured by one of the Ace Ops. The thought almost felt real. And that terrified her.
"Yes, sir." Yang said and for some reason gave Clayton a salute. Yang's body relaxed. She then turned to leave and headed towards the door.
"I'll get back to work." Yang said.
"Not quite, you still have 10 minutes left on your break. Besides, you look a little shaken up so just relax for a bit and calm down. Didn't mean to scare you but I needed you to understand, alright?" Clayton replied. Yang looked back at Clayton and smiled softly.
"Thanks." she said and left the room.
As soon as the door closed. Clayton let out a sight of relief.
"Close call, but she might know too much." Clayton muttered.
The telephone in his office rang and picked up the phone handle.
"Clayton's Sports Dive." he answered. He listened to the caller on the phone who sounded like he was in excitement.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down for a moment. What happened?" Clayton said. He continued to listen, little by little.
"Who showed up?"
"Where?!" Then the voice on the other line continued and his face contorted with shock and fear.
"YOU DID WHAT?!"
Parking Lot
11:19am
1⅙ hours earlier
Pyrrha took a battle stance and prepared for a fight against the two bikers in front of her.
"The way I see it you can either come with us peacefully or you can fight back." Buzzer said.
"Oh and please do fight, it makes this job a lot more fun." Torch followed up earning a chuckle of agreement from Buzzer. Pyrrha kept her stance on the defensive with Akoúo̱ in front of her person and Miló close to her side and point out through the curve in her shield should either Buzzer or Torch get close enough. She then noticed the latter's grin.
"Say, you look like someone who enjoys fire." Torch remarked. He then aimed his flamethrower and fired it as a stream of fire burst forth and landed behind Pyrrha before continuing around her and Sunstreaker.
"So how about we turn up the heat?" Torch quipped. He let out a hardy laugh as he built his wall of flame. Acting on instinct, Pyrrha leapt over the flames and behind the two mercs. She swung the but of Miló's javelin form to trip them up while using polarity to direct Torch's flame thrower away from Buzzer. Said chainsaw wielding biker charged at Pyrrha and swung his weapon downward.
The invincible girl raised Akoúo̱ above her head and her shield blocked the attack as she felt the vibrations of the chainsaw's teeth scratching at Akoúo̱'s surface as sparks flew as Buzzer gave a sadistic smile.
"Mind if I cut in, sheila?" Buzzer quipped. Pyrrha responded by pushing Akoúo̱ upward. Buzzer pressed down again and for a brief moment pushed harder. Then a black aura enveloped Buzzer's chainsaw, much to his and Torch's shock.
"What in the bloo-?" Buzzer was cut off and Pyrrha pushed again and roundhouse kicked him in the face while using her semblance to gain a little extra speed. Sheathing her weapons, Pyrrha then dashed toward Torch and the two engaged in fierce hand to hand combat. Torch's lack of speed showed but he made up for it with every punch he tanked and the sheer power behind each punch he threw.
Pyrrha then dodged a left hook and then hit Torch in the stomach before knocking him out by bringing both of her hands down onto the bearded mercenary. The two mercs groaned as Pyrrha stood victorious. She then remembered the flames and rushed to put them out. She drew Miló and converted it into its rifle form before loading a cartridge of ice dust. She aimed at the flames and let loose a volley of shots at the fire… only for nothing to happen. Not even as much as a puff of steam.
"My paint job!" Sunstreaker cried. Pyrrha looked and saw one of her bullets had grazed his door.
"I'm sorry." She said quickly as her mind raced back to why the dust didn't work.
What's happening? Why didn't it work? Pyrrha thought.
A gun cocked behind her head as a hooded man with black tattoos over his green eyes appeared out of shadows.
"M" HQ
11:23am
Weiss and Ms. Cisarovna walked down the halls of the building. A series of cubicles were on their left and hard at work as they typed up contracts and took calls with clients. To their right was a blue-gray wall with the occasional brown door. As they walked Weiss was eager.
"Ms. Cisarovna" Weiss began.
"Please, call me Ana." Ms. Cisarovna replied.
"Okay, Ana, I was wondering. The job description was rather vague on certain details and I was wondering if you could enlighten me, please."
"Of course, what would you like to know?" Ana asked.
"Well, for one thing it was rather vague about the possible clientele I would be partnering with. By any chance does M deal with…" Weiss paused and leaned into Ana's ear.
"...Federal agencies?" Weiss whispered. Ana looked at Weiss.
"I appreciate your caution and yes, we do on occasion but most of our clients are more in line with vehicles and transport." Ana answered. Weiss's interest grew. While she never had done business with the Atlesian Council directly, her father did include her in some discussions. At least when he came home in a good mood.
"For the most part your duties will be to meet with clients to negotiate deals and sometimes assist with maintenance if need be." Ana continued
"Very well, thank you." Weiss replied.
"You are welcome, Ms. Schnee." Ana said. The two stopped at a wooden door and Ana approached it before stopping.
"Before we go in, I must inform you that due to the nature of some of the materials we work with, we need to ensure that we perform a drug test prior to completion of the interview to have a baseline. As such we ask for you to take a spit, urine, and blood test. We will be moving between rooms to keep each sample from contamination." Ana informed Weiss. The heiress was nervous, she had no problems with needles but found the act of spitting into an object or onto the ground disgusting. She dreaded but hoped that the spit test was the first one.
"I'm willing to do these tests." Weiss said.
"Good, please step inside and I will wait here." Ana said, opening the door. Weiss walked in and waited on the patient's seat. She immediately noticed the spit test.
Let's get this over with and move to the next one. Weiss thought disgustedly.
Parking lot
11:27 am
Pyrrha froze as she felt the mercenary push his gun onto the back of Pyrrha's head. Torch and Buzzer groaned in pain as he started rising to his feet and saw the mercenary holding their target at gunpoint.
"Good to finally see you again Zartan. I was starting to wonder if you'd ever join us." Buzzer said.
"Please, like I'd miss out on a fun time with you lot. Besides, it's nice to be in the field again." Zartan said.
"Now, what's a lovely sheila like you doing parked outside one of the biggest weapons manufacturers in the nation?" the hooded mercenary asked.
"Waiting for a friend." Pyrrha retorted.
"Ah the Schnee girl. If I reckon she should be getting to the orientation any minute now." Zartan replied. Pyrrha froze and her eyes widened.
"But that's beside the point, sheila. Me and my mates have a job to do and so far you've been making it quite easy for us. That said, we know you ain't alone here. So how about this, you can either tell us where your other friends are or Buzzer over there can carve their locations out of you." Zartan said as the green eyed mercenary gazed briefly at Buzzer who carried an unconscious Torch back to his motorcycle.
Pyrrha was on the verge of panicking. How did these guys know about Weiss? Did "M" hire them and if so, what did that mean for Weiss? The questions mounted but she had to push them aside and focus on the fight in front of her. While she was certain her aura could tank the bullet to the head. The pain it left would daze her and her aura would shatter instantly. Leaving her vulnerable to whatever torchers Buzzer could concoct with his chainsaw. Sunstreaker watched as Pyrrha was forced to stand still. He hated being forced to stay put when someone needed saving but the intensity of the flames meant he would have to blow his cover and that wasn't good.
Times like these are when Trailbreaker would be very helpful right now. Sunstreaker thought. He hated this and he couldn't let these whack jobs hurt his new friend. Buzzer then made his way toward Pyrrha and raised his weapon toward the invincible girl and brought it down only for her to raise Akoúo̱ again to block it.
BANG!
The sound of a gun shot rang out as Pyrrha was sent flying and her aura shattered instantly as she lost grip of her weapons. Like she predicted, her aura tanked the head shot but that was her only shot. Pyrrha started to get up.
"Still alive? Well, color me impressed. I wonder if your friends will be any luckier." Zartan said. He and Buzzer walked towards a staggering Pyrrha who readied herself for battle again.
At that point, Sunstreaker roared through the flames and turned toward the two mercenaries. Zartan and Buzzer turned to face the yellow sports car.
"Look at that, her pal wants to play the hero." Buzzer joked. Sunstreaker drove towards them at high speeds. Zartan and Buzzer leapt out of the way as the disguised Autobot swerved left and opened his car door and grabbed Pyrrha. Sunstreaker then turned around and made a break for Pyrrha's weapons. The hot headed Autobot floored it and partially transformed as he grabbed Miló and Akoúo̱ off the ground; much to the shock of Zartan and Buzzer. Sunstreaker then transformed again and hightailed it out of there.
"What in the blue blazes was that?!" Buzzer exclaimed.
"Like I care! We've got a job to do. All that's left is for the rookie to do his job. For now we need to get Torch out of here. Besides, the boss will want to hear this." Zartan ordered. Buzzer nodded as the pair grabbed their comrade and carried him back to their truck.
As the mercenaries vanished, Prowl and his group arrived on the scene and after seeing the fire, were rightfully concerned.
Prowl radioed his Autobot comrade.
"Sunstreaker what happened?! Where's Pyrrha?" Prowl ordered.
"Safe with me, but some crazy goons got the drop on us and we had to high tail it. No telling where they are now." Sunstreaker radioed.
"Hang tight, we'll catch up with you." Prowl said. Activating his sirens as he drove down and out of the parking lot. As Prowl floored it out of the building, Blake pulled out her scroll and sent a message.
Springfield, MA
11:30am
The two were enjoying the scenery of the city. It was a beautiful day. They casually strolled down the street as they talked to each other.
"Nice to be out here every once in a while. A little warmer than the cold summers we had to sit through." said a man with blonde hair.
"Yeah, but does it have to be next to a river? You know how I feel about water?" his blue haired companion.
"I get it dude. Trust me, I do. But isn't it nice to just relax?" the blonde one asked.
"You don't have to pretend you're alright. If you want to talk about it just tell me. You can't keep pretending everything is fine after our team split." The blue haired boy replied. His blonde friend sighed.
"Not yet. I'm just not ready." said the blonde.
"Alright, but when you are let me know." the blue haired boy replied
The blonde's scroll buzzed and he pulled out and saw a message. It read.
"If you're in the area, we could use your help. Bit occupied at the moment but Weiss should be wrapping things up. Please get her and then come and help as soon as you can.
–B"
The scroll then had a link to the tracker app the group installed to their scrolls before fleeing Remnant. The fact it still worked was still a miracle.
"What's up?" the blue haired boy asked. The blonde turned to him as the "belt" around his waist and uncurled into a monkey tail and he smiled.
"You got Tri-Hard on you?" The blonde asked
"Yeah, why?" The blue haired boy answered. The blonde reached into his jacket and pulled out Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang before combining the two shotgun-nunchucks into their staff form.
"We're about to see some action."
Springfield, MA
An alley way
11:42am
Sunstreaker and Pyrrha made their way down the road as the former did his best to remain calm.
"They almost torched my paint job." he muttered in shock. "They almost singed it." Sunstreaker's hologram's eye twitched at the thought of it. Pyrrha meanwhile was more worried about what happened.
Why hadn't the dust worked? Pyrrha thought. It worked just fine when they fought Soundwave. So what was different. Pyrrha pulled out Miló and removed the cartridge of ice dust. She pulled out one of the bullets and pocketed it for the moment until the pair entered an alleyway and waited. Pyrrha opened the car door and walked into the alley.
Pulling out the round of ice dust she quickly noticed that the round that once glowed a radiant white had grown dim and was growing dimmer with every step. She paused.
"Pyrrha, what are you doing?" Sunstreaker asked.
The invincible girl didn't answer as she turned whilst holding the bullet in front of her. The glow of the munition grew as she turned toward Sunstreaker. She turned away and the bullet dimmed. She turned back to the Autobot and the bullet brightened. Her eyes widened in surprise as she approached Sunstreaker.
"Okay Pyrrha, stop! What's going on?"
Pyrrha said nothing as she took a step closer. She stopped right in front of Sunstreaker as she looked at the bullet as it glowed as bright as it did back on Remnant. Sunstreaker transformed into his robot mode.
"For Primus sake, Pyrrha! Stop!" Sunstreaker said. Pyrrha snapped out of her trance as Sunstreaker transformed.
"I'm sorry. I-I just thought.-" Pyrrha didn't get to finish her sentence as a police siren sounded. The two turned around as a police car pulled up. Sunstreaker reverted back to his alt mode immediately and Pyrrha pocket the dust bullet again. The police car stopped and the passenger cars opened as Blake and Carly stepped out.
"Pyrrha!" Blake called as she ran to the red.
Pyrrha sighed in relief as her friend rushed to hug her with Carly following behind.
"You alright?" Carly asked. "From what you sent, it sounded like you were cornered."
"You could say that. A group of thugs came after me and Sunstreaker." Pyrrha replied.
"Any reason why?" Blake asked
"I'm not sure." Pyrrha then explained everything that happened in the fight. Based on Blake and Carly's reactions they were just as confused.
"After Sunstreaker grabbed my weapons we sped on out of there." Pyrrha concluded.
"Did the bikers see him transform?" Prowl asked.
"Not sure. But I only did it to grab Pyrrha's gear so we could hightail faster. Why? Going to throw the folder at me?" Sunstreaker retorted. Prowl sighed.
"Normally I would but right now we've got bigger problems." Prowl answered. Sunstreaker sighed in relief.
"Still, this doesn't make sense. Why would they go after Pyrrha? Who told them about Weiss? There's so much we don't know." Blake said.
"Well, we better. For all we know Weiss could be in trouble." Carly replied.
"Weiss is a capable fighter. If she needs help she'd call us immediately to pick her up and we'd be heading for the hills." Blake said. "She can take care of herself. Right now we need to plan. I've messaged some friends and they'll meet up with her soon."
"But who will help you?" A new voice said. Blake's cat ears dropped as her bow fell. Her face paled as she heard the voice. Pyrrha heard it too and her body tensed and took a defensive posture with both Miló and Akoúo̱ drawn. Carly meanwhile raised her M-16 as she took aim down the alley.
A figure emerged from the shadows as blood red hair mixed with brown sideburns while a white mask with red marks covered the eyes of the voice's owner. He then rushed toward her with his sword, Wilt and brought it near Blake's throat while keeping an arm behind her back.
"Hello Blake. It's been awhile."
"M" HQ
11:42am
Weiss then exited the room having completed her blood test. Her arm felt a bit of an ache from the blood draw. The Schnee girl looked at the bandage on her arm as he opened and closed her hand. It was a most unusual blood test. Mainly due to how much they asked for it. Did blood tests on earth usually require a pint? Ana may have reassured her that it was to establish a baseline but somehow it didn't sit well with her.
As she sat in the fourth waiting room inside the building, Weiss took the moment to look at her scroll. She opened it up and saw she had a new message. However, it wasn't from Pyrrha, nor was it from Blake. She was slightly surprised by the one who sent it. It read:
Blake and Pyrrha won't make it for a bit. So they asked us to help out. We'll meet up with them after you're done.
Her surprise then turned to concerned interest. On one hand, it was going to be a nice reunion. But then why didn't Blake and the others message her first? Something felt off and with the interview almost over, she was determined to find out. The heiress then noticed Ana arriving and stood up as she walked in the room.
"How are you feeling Ms. Schnee?" Ana asked.
"Arm's a little sore but that's to be expected."
"True, that's to be expected. Still, I believe that will wrap things up. We will let you know the results and by next week we'll let you know if we wish to move forward." Ana said.
"Very well, thank you for your time Ana and I look forward to your response." Weiss answered cordially as she held out her hand which Ana shook.
"Likewise" Ana answered as she shook the heiress's hand. Weiss turned to leave and headed for the elevator with an air of confidence while Ana watched her walk away before turning to the clipboard in her hand. A smirk of success lining her lips as she viewed the results of the lab. The eggheads were going to eat these results up. To think alien humanoids actually existed and were potentially living among us.
"I look forward to working with you." she whispered to herself.
"M"
Building Entrance
11:45am
As expected, Weiss stepped out of the building and walked to the side and she saw the blonde boy and his blue haired companion in front of her. She had to admit, it was nice to see them again.
"There she is now." the blonde said.
"Glad you guys could help out." Weiss said.
"Hey, what are friends for?" the blonde quipped.
Weiss smiled then looked at his friend.
"How have you been. Heard things got rough in your team." she said
"Yeah, it did." The boy said before looking at his blonde companion. Of all the people who responded to the split, he took it the hardest.
"We'll talk later. Right now, we need to get going. Blake said she was in trouble. You got Myrtenaster on you?" the blonde asked.
"Not now, I left it with Blake and our friends. I can't exactly go into an interview with a sword strapped to my side." Weiss replied.
"We'll worry about it when we meet up. Right now, we need to hurry up and help them." The blonde said.
As the three continued to talk up a plan, across the street, an agent of Sector 7 listened in from the rooftops.
"Then let's go. You ready Weiss?" the blue haired boy said. The heiress nodded.
"Always." she replied and the three ran off. The S7 Agent laid low and pulled out his radio.
"The Schnee girl is moving away from the building and is accompanied by two males. Follow and detain." he said.
Further down the road, a pair of black vans began their pursuit.
Nemesis
Bridge
11:45am
"Lord Starscream" a Vehicon called out to his master who approached his soldier.
"You're going to want to see this." Starscream approached the Vehicon and peeked at the monitor. Starscream smiled. On the screen was a split shot of two locations with the ex-huntsmen in Springfield.
"Ah, I see the Autobots' new pets are out and about." Starscream said.
"That's the thing sir, only three of the energon signatures match one of them. The other three…" The Vehicon was stopped by the appearance of his master's hand on his shoulder axle. The air commander glared at him.
"Only elaborate when I ask for it." Starscream ordered. His tone of voice may have been calm but his face plate showed his irritation. The Vehicon gave a firm nod and Starscream let go.
"Good, now elaborate." Starscream said.
"Yes, my lord. Based on the six energon signatures we've detected, only three match the signatures of the eight Soundwave informed us of." The Vehicon typed on the console and the screen created three head shots. One for Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha. "These three being the ones we recognize."
"I see, and what of the other three?" Starscream asked.
"Unknown, as of now we have no record of them in the database. In addition, one of them has another in a headlock with some kind of sword at their neck." The Vehicon explained.
"So you're saying there could be more of these… energon generating humans?" Starscream questioned.
"It's the only logical conclusion I can reach and if what we are seeing now is accurate then that means…" The Vehicon stopped only to view the sight of the energon signatures.
"I get the picture." Starscream said. He then walked toward the exit but turned to a nearby computer. The air commander and Decepticon leader pressed a key and he spoke.
"Seeker squadron alpha, report to the flight deck. I will be joining you shortly." Starscream ordered.
Alley Way
11:47am
Adam had changed a lot since he arrive on earth all those months ago. He hoped that Faunus existed on other worlds and that hope grew when he saw that Humans existed. However, he became sickened when he found that the worlds so called, "Faunus" were really people in animal suits. It felt insulting to him. Humans did something similar until the end of the Faunus Rights Revolution where doing so became culturally taboo. To learn that Faunus did not exist on Earth nearly drove him into a blind rage. Well, that is until a group of unique Humans found him.
He wasn't fond of them at first but he strangely found himself warming up to them and now he was working with Humans, and they respected him for it. So when his friends were hired to bring some friends of the Schnee brat, he didn't waste any time and volunteered himself to bring them in.
His personality wasn't all that changed. His friends had also hooked him up with some new attire. Black and red shoes and with black pants with a matching trench coat over a blood red shirt and red belts that allowed him to carry his red bladed Wilt and its black scabbard/rifle, Blush. On the back was his trench coat signature wilting rose emblem and its white background design. However, what caught Blake's attention was the tattoo just under his sleeve. It was hard to make out, but she swore she saw Adam had a tattoo of a devil skull inside a ball of fire flanked by a single knife that pierced the flame. She looked back at Adam to glare at him.
"What do you want, Adam?" Blake said with venom in her voice.
"Nothing personal Blake, just business. I don't necessarily need you, just about any of you will do. Now, since word is that Ms. Invincible Girl gave my friends a good start to what people like us can do…" Adam said before looking at Pyrrha. "Why not let her finish the project?" Adam then looked at Carly, or maybe let the native pick."
Carly tightened her grip on her rifle while Pyrrha did the same with her weapons.
"Sounds like a plan. I pick neither. Because neither one is going to be some biker gang's toy!" Carly exclaimed.
"Who said we were the ones that wanted her?" Adam asked. That caught the ex-huntresses and their friends off guard. "I don't know who it is, but our kind coming here caught the eyes of some heavy hitters out here. Plus, your guys' little stunts out west certainly garnered their attention."
"What about these friends of yours? Are they looking to bolster their ranks once their done with my friends?" Carly asked. Adam scoffed. "Why would they when they have me? Or when they can have more people like me; more Faunus?" Adam questioned.
"What does that mean, Taurus?" Pyrrha said.
"When I first arrived they offered me a place at their table. They saw me for who I was and what I can do. I told them that there are more people like me out there and all they ask is to prove my worth and that's exactly what I'll do." Adam declared.
Blake struggled for a moment but was stopped when Adam pressed the sharp end of Wilt against Blake's neck.
"Rest assured, one way or another, I'll be back for you and when I do, you and every other Faunus will join us." Adam told Blake.
"I'll never be yours again." Blake retorted.
"Believe me, I know." Adam said. He lowered Wilt, let go of Blake, pushed her forward and grabbed Blush while transforming it into its rifle form and fired. Two shots rang out as one hit Blake's leg rather than her head only for her body to evaporate as her Shadow faded away and the real Blake stood firm with Gambol Shroud's smaller sword in pistol form and aimed at Adam but lowered from the second shot that whizzed by her hair and hit Adam's hand. His aura tanked the shot but that didn't make the pain hurt less.
A figure lept over Sunstreaker's vehicle form (much to the bot's irritation) followed by another. While Weiss walked between Sunstreaker and Prowl before retrieving Myrtenaster from the former. Adam raised Wilt as he was faced with the staff form of Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang before his first attacker split them into their separate nunchuck/shotgun forms. His friend meanwhile had lowered a pair of yellow glass goggles and raised his weapon in its trident form as Adam blocked him with Wilt. His blade glowing red as he absorbed each blow. But he was then blindsided by his first attacker who tripped him up with his monkey tail but Adam recovered only for the first attacker to kick him in the face and embed him into a nearby wall. Adam started to pull himself out but was only forced to stay in place when Weiss placed him on top of a black glyph.
"I'd say now we're even on the 'saving each other's bacon' front. Wouldn't you agree?" Weiss quipped to Blake.
"On Remnant. Though I have to owe you one now on Earth." Blake replied.
"Fair enough." Weiss answered. Blake smiled before turning to her fellow rescuers and smiled.
"Thanks for getting my message." Blake told them.
"Hey, what are friends for?" said the first figure. He turned to face her with a massive grin. As was his usual. Blake playfully rolled her eyes.
"My hero." Blake replied jokingly. "Still, it's good to see you again, Sun."
"Same." The figure said. Blake looked at Sun in his blue eyes and could see the relief beneath his smiling facade. He had definitely changed over the months. His outfit was largely the same as it was when they left Remnant. His short blonde hair was somewhat longer but the untrained eye wouldn't tell the difference. He still wore his monkey medallion and his white jacket's sleeves were torn off.
He still didn't wear a shirt but Blake wasn't complaining. His red bracers, though lightly scratched, were still their vibrant red and. His blue pants were torn at the knees with a faded white belt around his waist and he had since replaced his black and white sneakers with a gray and white variant.
Sun then turned to his friend, Neptune. He also largely stayed the same. His hair was a darker shade of blue to match his eyes as he lifted his goggles up to his forehead. He still wore the same red jacket and white dress shirt but had ditched the black tie. He still kept his gray jeans and their black padding on the sides with match shoes. His black fingerless gloves also had been given a small red stitching on the back hand of his gloves and around the sleeves as well. Neptune lifted his weapon, Tri-Hard onto his shoulder.
"Hope we weren't interrupting anything." Neptune said.
"Nah, you're just fine. A friend of Blake's is a friend of mine. Name's Carly." Carly said as she lowered her weapon. Carly proceeded to hold out her hand to Neptune who shook it.
"Neptune" the blue-haired boy introduced himself. Carly let go and turned to Neptune's partner.
"That's Sun. Leader of… well, Team SSSN" Carly held out her hand to Sun who also took hers.
"Former leader." Sun clarified. "We split up."
"Oh… I-I'm sorry to hear that." Carly apologized.
"All in the past now." Sun answered.
"I'd hate to cut this reunion short but I can't exactly do this all day." Weiss said. Her free hand she was using to keep the black glyph in place that restrained Adam. Pyrrha nodded in understanding.
"Then let us leave. Weiss, once we're far enough away drop the gly-" several shots rang out as Pyrrha spoke and one grazed Weiss's hand causing the glyph to disappear. The sound of footsteps and the familiar sound of a primed flamethrower were heard. Everyone turned to see Zartan, Buzzer, Torch and another member, Ripper, a man with shades a black mohawk and beard wearing a torn camo tank top and blue pants with a pack and hydraulic clamp on his back, walking towards them with Ripper holding a machine gun pointed at Weiss.
"Make one move and it's curtains for Snow White." Ripper demanded.
Zartan and Buzzer then walked to Adam and pulled him out of the wall.
"And here I thought you didn't need me to step in." Zartan remarked.
"You try getting jumped out of the blue then we'll talk." Adam shot back. Zartan laughed as he and Buzzer finally got Adam free. Zartan turned to the huntsmen.
"Now then, what do you lads reckon we should do with this lot?" Zartan asked his crew.
The crew of bikers smirked as they looked around at their targets.
"I say we take one of 'em with us. Be a lot more fun." Buzzer said as he revved his chainsaw.
"Nah, too boring, I say we let the princess here watch as we slaughter them all." Ripper said, pressing his gun to Weiss's temple who attempted to glare daggers at him. Adam, meanwhile, was staring at Blake who seemed to be standing still. None of her friends seemed to be bothered by it. Then he looked down and saw that Blake mysteriously lacked a shadow. He then heard the faint sound of footsteps behind Ripper and Adam charged toward his ally. Faster than Ripper could blink, Adam charged at him and swerved around him at the last minute before landing a flying kick on Blake's stomach. The cat Faunus recovered and bounced off the wall. The momentary distraction garnered the attention of all of the bikers and Ripper lowering his gun. Weiss took this opportunity and placed a white glyph on the ground. She bashed her head against Ripper's face who reeled back in pain as Weiss recovered her weapon and went on the offensive. The rest of the heroes did the same with Sun activating Via Sun triggering a trio of light clones to attack the bikers. Zartan shot one and another causing them to detonate and push him and his gang back. Sun then charged with Neptune at his side with their weapons ready in their nunchuck and trident forms respectively as they jumped Buzzer. Weiss attacked Ripper and attempted to strike Ripper with it while her opponent either dodged each strike or blocked each one with his gun. Zartan meanwhile charged at Pyrrha and the two began a heated fist fight with both Zartan dodging as many punches, hooks, and jabs as they came and would even land just as many blows at the same time. Carly found herself caught in the middle of it all as she couldn't get a clear shot on any of her friends' opponents without potentially harming her friends. She wasn't the only one who was frustrated as Sunstreaker and Prowl were just as frustrated. Neither one wanted to see their friends dragged away but they also couldn't risk their existence falling into the hands of people like Zartan or whoever had hired them.
Torch found himself blasting his flamethrower at any of the ex-huntsmen who got too close and soon walked into the empty street. The fight then began spilling out onto the street and out of the alley as the fight continued to intensify. Carly now was able to get a clearer shot and began to take aim and pointing her gun at Adam.
Nemesis
Laboratory
11:48am
Starscream entered the onboard laboratory. He hoped to find the bot he was looking for inside. It was by no means a small lab but wasn't as massive as its occupant's former research base was back on their homeworld but it made do. The walls were lined with tubes of yellow liquid as he entered the labs main chamber. A circular room with several apparatuses in a series of rectangular spaces in the walls with a console directly below each of them and an operating table in the center of the chamber. To his left was a secondary chamber that housed various tools and equipment that ranged from cables to saws to laser cutters. In said chamber was the shadow of a single bot. His shadow gave away his identity. Starscream was pleased and approached the chamber.
As the Air Commander entered. The lab's occupant was busy at work with the repair of one of his tools.
"Any luck on finding the organic's mobile communications relay?" Starscream asked the Decepticon Scientist.
"Yes, though locating it was far more difficult than anticipated. I found that the time in which the relay moves from one continent to another was delayed longer than anticipated and some flight paths didn't go as originally predicted." The scientist explained. He finished repairing his tool and turned to Starscream. He lifted his cannon arm to his side and pressed the Decepticon symbol on his forearm. A blue hologram of Earth appeared from his arm and began to display the flight paths of this supposed "relay" in yellow. Each path saw the relay lift off from one continent and then land on another. The paths followed very few patterns and even among the few that there were, the paths seemed only to be randomed. The scientist tapped parts of his forearm and many of the paths disappeared with only a few paths remaining.
"However, I was able to isolate a majority of the flight paths. Based on the time and date of the flights occurring in relation to the other flight paths, I hypothesize that the relay will begin making its approach to the northern continent of the planet's western hemisphere in five days' time. I believe it would be logical to expect the relay to begin its approach during that time." the scientist continued. Starscream smiled.
"Then begin your preparations, when we acquire the relay I want you to ensure that we are able to gather all that we can about the organics that use it." Starscream ordered. The scientist then lowered his head and brought his right hand to his chest.
"At once, Lord Starscream." the scientist said.
Starscream left the lab shortly after without a word and the one-eyed scientist took his newly repaired tool and gathered several more and entered the main chamber of his lab.
After all, such preparations were only… Logical.
Nemesis
Flight Deck
11:52am
Starscream exited the door and his seeker squadron of Vehicons stood in attention as he approached them.
"Seekers, today you will have the honor to fly by my side. Our target is a group of Energon producing organics. You are to retrieve as many of these fleshlings as possible and bring them back here upon your return. Do not let anyone or anything stand in your way and destroy any and all that dare to do so. Is that understood?" Starscream told his troops. The Seekers gave one response.
"Yes, Lord Starscream!" They exclaimed. Starscream nodded and put a finger to his audio receptor.
"Soundwave, open a space bridge to the organics location." Starscream ordered. He walked to the front of his squadron as the portal appeared before them.
"Decepticons, transform and rise up!" Starscream declared.
Starscream and his seekers transformed into their alt modes and flew into the portal.
Springfield
Downtown
11:55am
The battle between Pyrrha and Blake's team against Adam and his allies was starting to get to them. Despite holding their own quite well, exhaustion was beginning to set in. Fortunately, their adversaries, sans Adam, was feeling it to a slightly greater degree. Buzzer's strikes with the chainsaw were getting slower, Ripper's rifle was already split in half and was attempting to punch Weiss with his bare hands. Weiss also had resorted to using fists and feet as well upon seeing her enemy lacked aura. Torch's flame thrower was almost out of fuel while Carly dodged the few flames from a safe distance waiting to get close. Finally, Zartan was finding it harder to stay out of the sun. One wrong move and Pyrrha would win.
Sunstreaker and Prowl stayed back to wait for an opening as the fight continued to quickly get everyone out. Sunstreaker in particular was getting impatient. He was hoping to get in the fight but Prowl wasn't as eager and hoped that their Human and Faunus allies wouldn't need them.
Adam, meanwhile, was continuing to fight against both Blake and Sun. For every strike from Gambol Shroud and Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang he blocked with the blade of Wilt and sheathed it long enough to store the energy. Sun activated Via Sun for a few moments to distract Adam while Blake activated Shadow to send her clones charging at Adam. The bull Faunus tried to strike them or get them close enough to attack him but the clones continually evaded him while Blake and Sun weaved between them and struck Adam when they could as Blake's shadows distracted with Sun using his own semblance to occasionally attack. Adam grew frustrated with this tactic and decided to take drastic measures. He went into his trench coat and pulled something out. Blake and Sun noticed this and realized what it was when he pulled the pin and tossed it into the air.
Adam leapt into the air as the object imploded with Wilt in front of him, Adam absorbed the kinetic energy from any shrapnel that hit the blade before sheathing it and landing on the wall of a building, his eyes set on his opponents as red energy crackled and surged around him. Time seemed to stand still as Blake used her shadow clones to block his field of vision but the former leader of the Vale branch of the White Fang had already focused on a single point before the clones blocked his line of sight. He focused on the shadow the real Blake cast. Using Blake's actual shadow as a target, charged straight for the pair intending to swing lower so he could use his semblance, Moonslice, on them directly.. Sun grabbed Blake and attempted to jump out of the way with her in tow but Adam was too fast and everything went red for a brief moment as something yellow transformed and shielded them both from the attack.
Next was silence. Blake looked on in shock and terror as Sunstreaker briefly rolled by them. She looked on the path he was rolling and saw Sunstreaker's forearm laying in the street. The cat Faunus looked on in horror as she saw the staggering body of Sunstreaker with a massive black scar on his back as blue sparks jumped between exposed circuits as the yellow clad autobot propped himself up against a lampost.
The brawl crawled to a halt as all eyes were now focused on Sunstreaker. Even Prowl broke cover and made a B-line for Sunstreaker. Some like Pyrrha and Carly joined him and pushed their opponents back and ran to their giant ally. Zartan raced after the former but stopped when he felt a burning sensation in his hand. He pulled it back to him and removed his glove. He saw his hand turn blue and dotted with small blisters. Zartan hated the drawbacks to the augmentation he underwent and it hurt even more when so close to victory. However, he saw the opportunity this provided. He delved into his back pocket and took a photograph with a throwaway phone that he sent to his personal email then looked in the distance and saw the black armored vehicles moving in. The green-eyed mercenary turned to his comrades.
"Dreadnoks, pull back! We're leaving!" Zartan ordered as he retreated. Ripper, Buzzer, and Torch reluctantly began to do the same until they saw the Sector 7 vehicles approach and began to run. Adam however…
"No! We can still win this! We can attack now and finish this!" the Bull Faunus declared.
"Are you bleedin' insane! You want to take on Sector 7 all by yourself?! Even with your fancy sword you'll only be able to last so long!" Torch told him.
"I won't run like a coward!" Adam retorted as he faced his flame throwing comrade.
"It's called a tactical withdrawal besides the mission is accomplished. We've already got what we came for and even if we won we were always going to cut and run at the end!" Torch replied.
Adam looked back at the oncoming vehicles. He was sure he could take them and he wanted to bring them down. He then looked at Weiss as she and her friends ran to the yellow giant. The heiress to the family he held responsible may have suffered a lot but he didn't think she had suffered enough. He wanted her to feel the pain that her family had inflicted upon every Faunus had to endure for centuries and especially the last few decades her family had caused. Torch spoke again as Adam looked at the heiress.
"I know you hate to leave a fight unfinished but right now is not the time. There's a difference between finishing the job and throwing your life away and right now we have to go. Adam, please, we don't have a choice." Torch's words echoed in his ear and soon he heard the sound of a portal opening above them that caught the two Dreadnoks attention and out poured a series of jets. Adam hated this. He didn't want to leave but as the jets attacked the S7 cars, he knew the chances of success were getting more slim.
"Fine, but tell Zartan he owes me for this." Adam relented. Torch gave a slight smile.
"Good on you mate, now let's hurry before the crap really hits the fan." Torch said as the two fled the scene. Neptune saw this and snapped out of his shock as he turned Tri-Hard into its railgun mode.
"Hey! Get back here!" Neptune said as he opened fire on the two fleeing criminals. Sun also did and turned to Neptune to see Adam and Torch retreating. He began to run but saw that it was becoming pointless as Neptune began to fire. Sun ran to him and grabbed Neptune's shoulder.
"Neptune! Stop! Now's not the time! Besides, we've got bigger problems." Sun said, guiding Neptune's attention to their friends as they ran to the injured Autobot. Prowl had already grabbed Sunstreaker's arm and while he was far from a doctor, he was able to provide some emergency care to his comrade.
"You alright?" Prowl asked.
"Peachy all things considered. Though having your arm sliced off is not my definition of alright." Sunstreaker said.
"Har har." Prowl answered and began his work attempting to reattach what major servos he could to keep Stunstreaker's arm in place until they could get back to the Ark.
"I thought your precious protocol dictated that you not reveal yourself." Sunstreaker said.
"Unless absolutely necessary to protect sentient life or to prevent discovery. In this case, you did just fine. Besides, protocol's gone to scrap at this point. Stay low and save your strength." Prowl answered. Blake continued to stare at the arm and saw the damage that came from it. The damage caused by the strike was severe and the scorch marks from Moon slice had been seared into her mind many times before. Pyrrha meanwhile pulled out her scroll and began to call someone while Weiss tried to calm down a frantic Neptune.
"…ake"
The world grew silent for the cat Faunus as she stared at Sunstreaker's wound.
"…lake."
How could this have happened? How was Adam on Earth? What happened to him over the past seven months? Who were those guys he was working with?
"Blake!" Sun called out to her, finally snapping her out of her trance.
"Huh?" Blake responded.
"Blake what's going on? Who are these guys?" Sun asked, pointing to Sunstreaker and Prowl. Blake shook her head to rid herself of the remaining haze in her mind.
"Long story but we need to get out of here." Blake answered. Explosions and tire screeches began to surround them as the black vehicles and troops of Sector 7 began to open fire on Prowl who was knocked to the ground.
"Prowl!" Carly called out and rushed to defend her Autobot comrade as he got back up.
"New Contacts! Be advised, Civilians in the are! Repeat, civilians in the area!" One soldier called out. Several troops surrounded Sunstreaker and began to tackle Weiss, Neptune, Blake, and Sun. Carly also met a similar fate as the Sector 7 agents brought her to the ground while more came and opened fire on Prowl, much to Carly's horror. Pyrrha meanwhile still remained on her scroll giving her message for help.
"Tell Ratchet and Wheeljack to open the ground bridge online and at our locati- ah!" Pyrrha didn't get to finish her message as the Sector 7 agents tackled her to the ground as well.
"Pyrrha? Pyrrha, what's going on?" Jaune's voice called out on the other end
"Pyr-" Jaune didn't get to finish as Pyrrha's scroll was crushed underfoot by a soldier covered head to toe in black attire and body armor that covered his whole body. On his vest was a patch that read "Sgt. Hauser". Hauser lifted his foot off of the scroll and picked up the device and stared at it, then turned his attention to Pyrrha who was brought to her feet with her hands behind her back.
Hauser approached the invincible girl who stared back at him.
"Excuse the improper introduction but under S7 executive jurisdiction you and your friend are being taken into protective custody until further notice." Hauser explained.
Then, missiles rained down on them all.
Clayton's Sports Dive
Jasper, Nevada
1:47pm
Clayton sighed. This was not what he wanted to hear. He had hoped that Yang and her friends might have been brought in under more peaceful circumstances but the arrival of the Dreadnoks now complicated the matter.
"Please tell me that they're safe?" Clayton said.
The voice on the phone continued. Clayton nodded and wrote down notes about what he was being told and once again, he sighed.
"I get the picture. So that just leaves one last question." Clayton asked
"How did they escape?"
A/N: Well ladies and gents, there you have it, another chapter in the bag. Originally, this was going to be the conclusion to the Sector 7 arc but the chapter was going on for longer than I wanted so I figured now would be a good stopping point. Still, I don't want to make this into another trilogy but if does it does. Hopefully, I can make this a four parter with all that I've brought into this.
Speaking of, Adam's back. To be honest, I think that after Vol. 5 Adam just became a shell of what he once was and was watered down to an obsessive ex who only wanted to hurt Blake. It felt like a character assassination of a high order for me and it just didn't work out for me. So I figured I make him a dreadnok in this story and trust me, Adam and his new pals will be around for a while. You might even get a special on how they met towards the end of the season.
Now onto the reviews.
Deathwing: That's not for awhile and will more than likely be a full blown season or at least half of one.
Rodimus Speedwagon: Not sure about the Offensive Optimus or what that means but I will make a reference to it once we get closer to a certain tyrant's return.
Hulk: Again, the return to Remnant will be more of a season rather than a single arc. As for Remnant, you will find out what happened to everyone soon. Also, I think it's cute that you think Salem will get revenge. Especially, when her master sent the Quintesson's to succeed where she failed over and over again. To put it simply, Salem isn't looking for revenge right now. :)
Any ways, that's all I've got for now.
Until next time,
Live life to the fullest and God bless you.