Chapter 19: Black and White
"So, everyone, what do you do if you're caught?" Roman Torchwick asked his assembled goons, who were dressed in the red and white outfits of White Fang protesters. They were in a secure warehouse within the industrial district of Vale. A small fleet of bullhead airships were lined up before them, their pilots running checks to ensure a safe flight.
"Blame it on you?" a member of the crowd answered.
Roman nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes, give it all that infamy to me!" he said, spreading his arms wide. "There's no need for you to get a rap sheet like mine! After all, you have lives beyond this gig; wouldn't want your friends or family thinking less of you now, would we?"
A nervous laugh ran through the crowd. A girl tentatively raised her hand.
"Yes, short with the pig ears?" Roman called on her.
"What should we say, exactly?" she asked.
"Whatever you want!" he responded, opening his arms again. "Say I blackmailed you, threatened you, it doesn't matter! You won't even need to think about it!"
He held up a fan of orange-marked plastic cards. "Your upfront payment, with more to come."
The crowd beamed at the money as he held it out, allowing each new member to take one ten-thousand lien card.
After they had taken their payment, Roman snapped at them, "Now, get ready to move out!" They dispersed to their assigned vehicles.
Roman pulled a cigar out of his coat and lit it, making his way over to where Neo lounged by a bullhead. She was flipping through a pamphlet about the Vytal Festival that showcased a collection of art pieces. She smiled as she handed it to Roman, who began pursuing it himself.
He flipped a page, grinning at the pictures as he said, "I always was a fan of the classics."
"Hi."
Ruby and Weiss stared at each other as the sun dipped behind the horizon.
"I…" Ruby started, "I guess we should… sit down?" She gestured at a box vent beside the wall.
Weiss nodded tiredly. They both walked over and sat next to one another. Ruby held her hands in her lap while Weiss crossed her arms, each enduring the awkward silence.
Eventually, Weiss cracked.
"I'm sorry," she said, her voice terse at first before it leveled out. "I shouldn't have been so disrespectful."
"I'm sorry too," Ruby said. "I acted childish at times, and I had no idea what you were going through." She looked down at her feet. "Being a good leader is a lot harder than I thought."
"It doesn't help when you have unruly subordinates who don't listen," Weiss added, casting her eyes downward.
Ruby shook her head. "I don't see my teammates like that," she said. "Every member of team RWBY is equal. We each have different strengths and weaknesses. Yang's strong and has a big heart, Blake's stealthy and streetwise."
Weiss winced.
"And you're smart and confident," Ruby continued. "I admire those qualities."
She pulled into herself, tucking her hands under her knees. "Maybe even envy them. Some days, I just feel like an uncoordinated kid who cheated herself by skipping two years of training."
Weiss let her finish, pondering her words.
After a moment of silence, she said, "I don't think that's true. You're a klutz, you're annoyingly energetic, you have no attention span…"
Ruby blinked at her, confused. "Buuut?"
"But, you've got talent," Weiss admitted, "you're an incredible fighter, and, occasionally, you come up with a good idea." She held the bridge of her nose. "Even if they are all insane."
Weiss lowered her hand, staring out past the distant spires of Beacon. "I guess- what I'm trying to say is, you shouldn't doubt yourself so much. And as your partner, I shouldn't have fed into that."
Another pause rolled in, giving the girls time to think.
"Ok then," Ruby said, standing abruptly and turning to Weiss with an outstretched hand. "Let's start over."
Weiss hesitated, looking at Ruby's hand before taking it, sliding off the box they had sat on.
Ruby cleared her throat with her free hand and hopped on her heels.
"Hello there!" she said cheerily. "I'm Ruby Rose, and I'll be your team leader and partner for the next four years!" She brightened with a smile.
Weiss' face cracked into a smile as she reintroduced herself.
"I'm Weiss Schnee, and from this point forward, I'll be the best partner you'll ever have!"
Ruby raised an eyebrow. "But, you're the only partner I'll ever have."
"You know what I mean!" Weiss said, stomping her foot.
A moment passed before the two girls broke into laughter- the first real laugh they'd shared since meeting.
As they calmed, Weiss' face dropped as she asked, "So, any news about Blake?"
"Oh, Yang found her," Ruby said. "But she went quiet so they could talk."
Weiss drew her mouth to a line, letting out a conflicted hum. "She's not with the White Fang, is she?"
"I'm not sure," Ruby admitted, "but Yang can handle things with her. We'll probably see them again in the morning. You know, Pyrrha did invite us to have pancakes with her team."
"At night?" Weiss said, gesturing out at the setting sun. "I don't know about having breakfast for dinner."
"Come on! It'll be fun!" Ruby insisted, grabbing Weiss' sleeve to tug her back into the building. The heiress went willingly, hiding a smile with her free hand.
"So, do you have any family in the Fang?" Yang asked.
"No," Blake answered. "My dad left before I did, and I don't have any siblings, so..."
"Any friends then?"
"A few, I guess," Blake looked down as she spoke. "I should've tried to get them out, but I sort of left on an impulse."
"Are you worried being a huntress will mean you'll have to fight them?"
Blake perked at the question. "Actually, I don't think I will. I heard some customers today saying that someone might be trying to frame the White Fang."
Yang looked at her confused. "People talk about that stuff in the open?"
"It was in code," Blake said, "A fairly common one, honestly."
"What's that you've heard?" Tukson asked, coming up the stairs with a set of blankets over his arms. The girls turned to him.
"That the White Fang's being framed for all the dust robberies," Blake said.
Tukson hummed. "I've heard something similar. No confirmation yet, but everything surrounding it points to there being someone with deep pockets hiring for something big."
"Could it actually be the Fang, though?" Yang asked. "Vale has been listening to the concerns of the faunus. I mean, sure, there are a few racists here and there, but overall, things are pretty chill here."
Blake furrowed her brow. "It could really damage the image of the faunus," she said. "The backlash will only hurt their relationship with the kingdom and push the White Fang towards deeper radicalization."
"Could we clear their name?" Yang proposed, raising a finger.
Blake and Tukson looked at her.
"How?" Blake asked.
"The only way to prove they didn't do the crime," Yang said, "is to go to the place where they would most likely go if they were to do it, and not find them there, right?"
Tukson and Blake blinked at her logic.
"The Vytal Festival committee is having Mantle art pieces being shipped in from Atlas tonight," Tukson said slowly. "The chapter I was part of tried burning some museum pieces back in the day, and if things have gotten worse..."
"Then that's where we go!" Yang said, standing up excitedly.
"Just the two of us?" Blake asked.
"Why not?" Yang said, holding up her scroll to text Ruby. "Even if the White Fang are doing the crimes, no one will be there anyways, right? They were stealing dust before, not paintings."
"That's true, but…" Blake started, then glanced at Tukson. He shrugged.
"If you girls can prove the White Fang aren't as bad as everyone thinks, then go do it," he said with a smile. "Just be careful."
Blake smiled back as she and Yang began gathering their equipment.
"Re-en! You need to make more!" Nora pleaded with her partner as he carried another large stack of pancakes over to the counter top.
Team JNPR were in the kitchen on the ground floor of their dorm tower. Several high pancake stacks sat before Jaune and Pyrrha, who were eating off of smaller plates.
"There are plenty here, Nora," Ren chided, setting his platter down. "This is all I'm making tonight."
Nora pouted, crossing her arms while muttering, "I should've made more batter," before scarfing down two pancakes at once.
"Hey guys!" Ruby said as she and Weiss walked into the kitchen. Pyrrha and Jaune turned with smiles, while Nora shot up, hands on the counter.
"What is she doing here?" she said as she swallowed her pancakes, pointing at the heiress.
"I invited them," Pyrrha said before motioning to the feast before them. "Even I don't think you can eat all these pancakes, Nora."
"That doesn't mean you invite a racist to our party!"
Weiss flinched, then cleared her throat and said, "I'm sorry for what I said at lunch yesterday. I… wasn't thinking clearly, and relied on ideas from my upbringing that many found offensive."
"I- wha-" Nora sputtered, turning about her team. "We're not going to accept that, right?"
Jaune shrugged. "Atlas is a different place. Humans and faunus live peaceably enough, just… separated."
Nora spun on him. "And how do you know that?"
"I've been there?" Jaune said. "Once. My mom had a business trip in Mantle and managed to get my whole family to tag along."
"I understand that faunus, as individuals, are different," Weiss tentatively interrupted. "But, as a whole, well… I only ever associated them with the White Fang." She looked at her shoes, bearing Nora's glare.
"Nora," Ren said, placing a hand on the ginger's shoulder. "She's fine."
"Yeah!" Ruby chimed in, sneaking away with two small platters of pancakes. "Weiss is fine!" She held one out to the heiress, who took it with a smile.
Nora grumbled, sinking into her stool as she snatched more pancakes from the stacks.
Ruby and Weiss took a seat at the counter, picking up condiments for their dinners.
"You know, Weiss," Jaune said. "I never got a chance to ask if you had any siblings."
Weiss looked at him, bewildered. "What? Of course I have siblings." She paused, then continued, "An older sister and a younger brother."
"That's nice," Jaune said with a smile. "Not too crowded at home, huh?"
Weiss frowned, poking at her pancakes. "I guess," she muttered before taking a bite.
Ruby's scroll buzzed, receiving a message from Yang. As she read it, her eyes bulged.
"Not at all like my house," Jaune kept musing. "I have seven sisters who-"
He stopped as Weiss had vanished, being dragged away by Ruby in a storm of rose petals. He blinked at the empty space until Nora swiped Weiss' plate of pancakes away, consuming them in a ravenous flourish.
"So much for them not being here," Yang commented as she and Blake examined an in-process crime scene from behind a stack of shipping containers. They had made their way from the commercial district down to the docks by the industrial district, the night settling in as they found the boat.
Scattered across the adjacent dock were sailors and guards lying unconscious, or worse, as masked people dressed in white uniforms gathered boxes and crates around a bullhead airship on the deck. Their clothing bore a red animal head with three claw marks slashed through it: the mark of the White Fang.
Yang glanced at Blake, who viewed the scene with a pained look. "You ok?"
"Yeah," Blake said, coming back to herself. "I'm fine."
"So, that's the Fang then?" Yang said, peering out to look at the ship again.
"It… looks like it," Blake admitted. "Those uniforms are what I used to wear."
"What should we do?" Yang asked. "Call the police?"
"Not yet," Blake said. "Let me see if I recognize someone. Maybe I can reason with them."
Yang crouched, watching the henchmen search among crates for something, presumably the paintings, waiting for Blake to point someone out. However, it was her that recognized someone first.
"You don't think he's in charge, do you?" Yang said, pointing to a human with bright orange hair, a black bowler hat, and a white coat who just waltzed out of the bullhead.
Blake looked and balked. "That can't be- they'd never work with him!" She was gone the next instant, rushing towards the ship.
"What is this?" Roman Torchwick said, gesturing at a framed image of a half-naked man lounging on a sofa some goons had gotten out. They, and several more around them, shifted uncomfortably.
"Just wanted a peak, sir," one of them said.
"You idiots!" Roman bopped his head with his cane. "These are paintings! You can't expose them to ocean air or they'll get ruined! My buyer is not going to pay top card for damaged goods!
"Put it away and go stand guard or something," he waved them away. "Leave the hauling to the less curious."
The group nodded, wrapping the painting up with plastic and storing it in a nearby crate. They hefted improvised weapons and wandered away from the bullhead, leaving Roman alone.
As they left, a blur of shadow passed them, materializing into a girl who leveled a sleek black sword to Roman's neck while shifting behind him. She wore white and black, blending into the night, with a prominent bow atop her head.
"What the-" Roman started. "Oh, for f-"
"Nobody move!" she shouted, causing all the thieves to turn toward her. Several hired thugs pointed weapons in Roman's direction.
"Whoa, take it easy," Roman said, lifting his hands up to his men. "Let the lady speak."
The girl tore her bow off, revealing two black cat ears on her head.
"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang," she began, "my name is Blake Belladonna. I was a member with you until recently- when you started committing crimes like this!" She shifted her sword toward the whole scene. "Please, reconsider working with this man! Think about the hate your actions will create towards your fellow faunus! You have to stop this!"
There was a brief pause, followed by a general murmur of snickering. While some of the assembled thieves hesitated, the larger part just laughed at Blake's words.
Blake's eyes hardened as she said, "Don't you care about the reputation of the faunus?!"
"What reputation?" Roman quipped before firing his cane to the side, slamming an elbow under Blake's arm. She stumbled, her sword flipping out of her hand as she fell. She hit the ground, her black aura appearing as a cushion.
"Well now, kitty cat," Roman said, placing a foot on her sword. "What am I gonna do with you?"
Horror played across Blake's face as she realized, "You're framing the White Fang? What- How-"
"Great questions!" Roman said, leveling his cannon-cane at her. "Unfortunately, I don't care to let the real terrorists in on this business venture. So, you can sit there until we're done, or I can kill you. Your-"
Yang appeared next to Roman, her eyes glowing red. She decked him in the gut with a spin, letting off a fiery blast of yellow from her gauntlet. Roman's green aura alighted as he was flung all the way to the ship's edge, sliding amongst his band of thieves.
"You won't touch her!" Yang shouted, ratcheting her weapons as her hair lit up, becoming a beacon of gold in the night. She kicked Blake's sword back to her, facing the crowd with a grim determination.
Roman, who was leaning against the railing, blinked, then shouted an order, "What are you lot standing around for! Get them!"
The goons closest to the girls ducked away as a firing squad at the ship's edges turned machine guns on Yang. The shower of bullets meet her aura, causing ripples of yellow to wash over her form. She swiped swathes of projectiles away with her gauntlets, her hair burning brighter with each plink.
Eventually, the firing stopped, leaving Yang glowing as bright as the sun.
"My turn," she smirked, then let off several blasts from her shot-gauntlets, knocking the gunners into the water with bright yellow explosions.
The fire in her hair dampened slightly, but even the humans among Roman's band could see well enough to gather themselves and charge Yang with swords and pipes. The blonde shot at the ship, jumping high into the air as the brigands arrived.
They stopped, looking up as Yang shot down with another blast, slamming the metal hull with her weapons hard enough to send a ripple through it and into the water, jostling the vessel. The shockwave tossed several more thieves into the sea, leaving only a handful of criminals sprawled across the boat.
Some got up, dazed, while others only looked as Yang stood up in a dying ring of fire.
Of those remaining, only three of the largest goons charged, lifting crudely made swords.
Yang reared her fists back, punching the first man in the chest with a double-fisted uppercut. A large blast released from her weapons, sending him flying over the ship and onto the shore platform, landing in a smoldering crater.
The other two goons tried to flank her, each swiping with their swords. Yang jumped and spun between the attacks, losing a few hairs in the process. She caught the arm of the goon on her left with her legs, twisting his limb as she dragged him to the ground.
She righted herself and, lifting her elbow above his nose, fired her weapon. Her arm jerked back and slammed into his face, shattering his aura and knocking him out.
As the final thug lifted her blade in a two-handed stance, the ribbon of Gamble Shroud wrapped around her wrists. With a strong tug, Blake fired her weapon with the ribbon and heaved, pulling the criminal towards her. The faunus girl tripped the woman with her back, throwing the thug over the ship's railing and into the bay.
Yang stood up, facing the darkening deck as her hair dimmed.
The last few hirelings that were awake dropped their weapons, turning to run down the ship's ramp or jump into the harbor.
"You look familiar," Roman mused, studying Yang. "Have you ever visited a club named Juniors?"
Yang fixed him with a deadly glare, stomping past bodies to approach him.
The man turned and ran down a ramp back to the docks, getting all the way down the gangway before a ribbon shot at him, tripping his foot. Blake used Gamble to tow Roman back towards the ship.
Yang towered over him on the metal plank, her eyes filled with rage.
"Alright, blondie," Roman said, raising his hands. "How about I give you and your friend here a cut of the profits?"
"We're huntresses," she spat at him. "We don't take bribes." She lifted a foot to stomp on his crotch, only for his form to shatter. Blake's ribbon had entangled a random pipe instead of his leg.
A whole wall of glass fell before the girls, revealing Roman Torchwick and a girl with pink and brown hair inside a bullhead that must have landed on the docks at some point.
"Ladies, meet Neopolitan!" Roman gestured dramatically at his partner, who flourished her umbrella with a curtsy. "Now, if you would kindly get off that ship, it would be much appreciated."
"No way!" Blake shouted down at them. "You won't be stealing anything tonight!"
"Well, I did ask nicely," Roman said, looking at his partner with a shrug. He held a hand out to Neo, asking, "Shall we?"
"Ruby, stop!" Weiss cried as the two of them turned past a corner deep within Vale. The two of them had run down from the campus in a blur of rose petals thanks to Ruby's semblance.
Ruby halted abruptly, fumbling for her scroll.
"Sorry Weiss!" she started. "Yang said she and Blake were gonna try and stop the White Fang from committing a 'potential suspected maybe-crime?'"
"And that has you worked up?" Weiss asked.
"Look!" Ruby held up her device, showing an aura read-out for team RWBY. While Blake's was grayed out because she turned her scroll off, Yang's aura was steadily dropping. "She's in a fight right now! We gotta help her!"
"Okay, well- wait!" Weiss cried as Ruby dragged her within her semblance again. They stopped at the next corner as Ruby bumped into someone.
"Oh, Penny!" Ruby shot up, holding a hand out to the ginger. "What are you doing here?"
"Hello Ruby!" Penny said. "Hello Ms. Schnee! I'm helping with reconstruction for the Vytal Festival!"
"At night?" Weiss questioned.
"We don't have time for this!" Ruby said, pulling Penny to her feet. "We have to get to the docks!"
"This isn't the right way," Weiss said. "I was trying to say that earlier."
"Well, you don't have any sense of direction either!" Ruby shot back.
"I know the way to the docks," Penny spoke up. The two girls looked at her as she asked, "Why are you trying to get there? Most places are closed at this time."
"Yang and Blake are in danger," Ruby started. "They went to-"
"Yang found Blake?" Penny interrupted, clapping her hands. "Stupendous! She was looking for Blake earlier, and I tried to point her in the right direction!"
Weiss let out a groan. "Can you just point us to the docks already?"
"Sure!" Penny said, lifting her arm. "You take this street all the way over the bridge, then take the right two streets after that. Keep heading straight until you see the ocean!" She smiled.
"Thanks!" Ruby said, reaching for Weiss' hand. "Let's go!"
"I can help!" Penny said as Weiss smacked Ruby's hand away.
"No, Penny," Ruby said. "It's going to be dangerous."
"No worries! I'm combat ready!" Penny snapped the straps of a small beige backpack that matched her dress.
Ruby studied the girl while Weiss pinched her brow.
"Come on," Weiss said while dragging her partner towards the docks. "This weirdo can do whatever she wants. We have to go save your sister."
They began walking at a normal pace with Penny following along.
"Should I call the authorities?" the ginger asked.
"Yeah, sure, whatever," Weiss said flippantly.
"Fantastic!" Penny said, stopping by a streetlight. She didn't get out a scroll; she just stared blankly forward as Ruby turned into a stream of rose petals again. Weiss let out another scream as they ran through the streets of Vale.
"Damn it!" Yang shouted as she blasted apart another illusion of Neo. She and Roman had waltzed back onto the ship, slipping past Yang and Blake using the small woman's semblance.
Neo was engaging the blonde girl, frustrating her with fake targets. To Yang, it looked like the girl was running straight at her, a thin spike in one hand and her folded umbrella in the other.
As she punched the image through the face, it shattered into a million pieces, and then the real Neo drove her spike towards her back. Yang's aura pulsed around the point, barely preventing it from piercing her jacket.
The girl spun, decking another illusion with the back of her gauntleted hand. Yang's hair stood on its ends, the blaze growing hotter with anger.
"Careful there, blondie," Roman said. "Don't want to burn up any priceless art pieces now, do we?"
Blake was dueling him, barely holding her own as Torchwick swatted her blades away. He leveled his cannon at her, firing a flare that left a large dent in the ship, the projectile passing through a shadow copy of the faunus.
The girl leapt at Roman from his side, both weapons pressing against the man's cane as he blocked. Blake skirted past him, slashing upwards to catch his flank, but he had moved away, stuffing more shells into the back of his weapon.
Blake shifted off another clone as Roman clicked his cannon together. He fired an explosive, the flare connecting with the girl as she leapt for her opponent. She was thrown into the railing at the front of the ship, her aura crackling around her in dark purple sparks.
"Blake!" Yang cried out, turning to intercept Roman, but Neo jumped off the railing next to her, planting both feet in the side of her head. They went tumbling to the deck, Neo's form shattering once again.
"I must say, as far as thwartings go, this was nearly perfect," Roman said, aiming his cane at Blake. "Nearly."
He fired.
And the flare exploded a foot from his weapon, sending him flying backwards.
Crouched on a stack of distant shipping containers was Ruby, aiming down the sights of Crescent Rose. The barrel let out a trail of smoke, having intercepted Roman's bullet mid-flight with a perfectly placed shot.
Holding his hat to his head, Roman looked up from his skid to see her standing, silhouetted by the shattered moon with a billowing red cloak.
"Why, if it isn't little Red," he began. "Are these-" He balked, watching her vanish in a puff of rose petals.
As Roman's goons climbed out of the water, they turned to find a girl in white streaking across the upper docks, leaving a large, spiky wall of ice blocking their path back to the ship.
Weiss darted up the gangway, interposing herself between Yang and Neo, who were ready to engage again.
"Help Blake," she said, spinning the dust chambers within her rapier as she took up a stance. "I'll handle Snow-Cone."
The girl in pink sneered, holding her spike out with one hand while resting her umbrella on her shoulder.
"Isn't that your name?" Yang said playfully before running over to help her partner.
Ruby appeared next to Weiss, red petals scattering around the girls as she readied her scythe.
"No dust this time, Roman?" Ruby asked coldly. "I thought it was your addiction."
"A thief must broaden his horizons from time to time," Roman said, strolling up to stand by Neopolitan. "One flavor simply isn't enough."
Blake and Yang returned, the former appearing next to Weiss holding her cleaver and sword and the latter by Ruby, reloading her gauntlets.
"Can we take them on?" Blake asked in a worried voice.
"Working together?" Weiss said confidently. "Of course we can. We're a team." She smiled at Blake, who paused. Weiss nodded to Ruby as Yang finished rearming.
"Snow-Cone's a trickster," Yang said, her shot-gauntlets clicking. "Watch out for her illusions."
"Yang and I will take on Torchwick," Ruby said quickly. "Blake, work with Weiss to keep that girl off our back."
Blake looked at Weiss, then nodded.
The girls readied their weapons and engaged.
Ruby shot forward with a blast from Crescent Rose, swiping at Roman's feet. His form dissipated in a puff of shattered glass as she skidded past him, along with the woman at his side. He reappeared beside Ruby, cannon readied.
As he was pulling the trigger, Yang slapped his cane down, jostling the weapon as it fired. The blast separated them for a moment, letting Roman snatch the barrel with his other hand. He spun, raising his weapon like a bat to smack Yang. She took the hit on her gauntlet, her hair flaring to life once more.
Ruby had spun out of her attack, her scythe's blade planting into the deck. She fired her weapon, hitting Roman in the shoulder. His aura sparked as Yang threw another series of punches and shotgun blasts into him, forcing him away from the sisters.
As she split from Roman, Neo unfurled her umbrella, blocking dust-fueled strikes from Weiss with an elegant twirl. The heiress clicked her sword's trigger, causing fire to stream across its blade while using her free hand to keep the barrage going.
She took a stance, then thrust forward, gliding right for Neo. As she hit the illusion, Weiss aimed Myrtenaster and slashed the air. The blast of fire caught the actual girl's umbrella as it snapped open to deflect the flames.
Neo stumbled away, her light pink aura wavering as Blake lunged at her from the shadows. She shattered another illusion as Neo lunged for her, spike raised, but found only a copy of Blake. The faunus girl attacked again, swiping with both her weapons, forcing Neo to block with hers.
Blake reared back and struck, shattering Neo's form again.
The dainty girl reappeared by Roman's side, their weapons held defensively as team RWBY gathered to face them.
"It seems the tides have turned," Roman said with a frown. He looked about, spotting a few of his hirelings fleeing the scene. "Where's our back up when we need it, huh?"
Neo rolled her eyes, then pointed with her spike out past the ship's tower.
Veering into sight were three bullhead airships, each with a mounted gatling gun under their heads. Their spotlights illuminated the boat's deck, revealing the huntresses. Roman waved his cane, then pointed it at team RWBY.
Just before the guns began firing, Weiss summoned a brilliant white glyph under her team and jammed her rapier into it. A large dome of ice spikes formed around them, averting the gun fire.
"Great job Weiss!" Ruby cheered.
"It's not going to hold!" Weiss said, sweat forming on her brow. "Their bullets are tearing through the outer layers, and I'm running out of dust!"
"Yang, could you hold their fire?" Blake asked.
"Not for long," Yang admitted. "I'm low on aura."
"Ruby, think of something!" Weiss said tersely.
Ruby hummed frantically, peaking out of their cover to find a solution.
"Uh oh," Ruby let out.
"What is it?" Yang asked.
"Penny's here."
"Attention criminals!" Penny Polendina shouted from in front of a stack of shipping containers. The bullheads stopped firing, turning their spotlights to her.
"The police are on their way to arrest you!" Penny continued. "Please land your vehicles and wait for them!" Her voice wasn't strained from the shouting, but it still came out in a loud boom.
"Another one?" Roman said, peeking out from the bullhead he and Neo were tossing covered paintings into. "Why do all these teenagers have death wishes?" He waved his cane, ordering his fleet to take care of Penny.
As each aircraft spun towards her, Penny let out a breath.
"Very well," she said, her voice returning to normal. A series of twelve foldable swords unfurled from the small backpack she wore. Two spun in front of her, averting incoming fire while the other ten shot forward at the bullheads.
The blades bit into the underbelly of the vehicles, causing them to veer oddly. Penny lifted her hands, pulling on invisibly thin wires to maneuver them away from the bay. As the gun fire stopped, her remaining swords attacked the mounted turrets, disarming them.
With great strain, Penny thrust her arms to the right, spinning the bullheads and sending them crashing into a set of buildings behind the docks.
Ruby yelped, slipping out of Weiss' ice dome, jumping straight to the dock, and sprinting by Penny, who grabbed her cloak.
"Don't worry Ruby," she said. "Those buildings were marked for deconstruction, and are abandoned."
Ruby blinked at her, then stared as Penny's swords returned to 'float' by them.
"That's a really cool weapon!" Ruby said, mesmerized by the blades.
"Thank you!" Penny said with a smile.
"Oh, we gotta stop Torchwick!" Ruby snapped back to reality, hefting her sniper rifle. With a shot, she leapt over Weiss' ice wall and ran back to the ship.
Weiss was disintegrating her shield while Yang pounded on the closed door of a bullhead. Blake stood behind her, pistol ready.
"Can you encase it in ice?" Ruby asked, stepping up to Weiss.
"I would have done so already," Weiss said, shaking her head. "I'm completely out."
"What about-" Ruby started, but was interrupted by the bullhead.
Its engines roared to life, emitting an immense amount of heat right next to the girls. Blake grabbed Yang and darted away from the airship as it lifted off. Once it was almost two dozen feet off the ground, the door slid open, revealing Roman Torchwick.
"End of the line, Red!"
He kicked an open suitcase out of the aircraft and down at team RWBY. The densely packed dust crystals within gleamed in the moonlight.
Yang shot away from the boat, her gauntlets propelling her out over the water.
Blake dashed after her, leaping over the railing wall with the help of her semblance.
Weiss froze, bringing up a white glyph as a shield.
Ruby snatched her by the waist, her red aura flaring as she carried Weiss to safety in a flurry of rose petals.
As it was half way to landing, Roman fired a flare at the suitcase.
The scene exploded in a blast of bright colors, leaving the ship's deck strewn with sputtering flames and spikes of ice and rock.
Roman's bullhead drifted away from the scene, stabilizing over the ocean after a moment. Loose cargo and unconscious people were hurled into the railings or off into the water, pushed by the force of the explosion.
Ruby and Weiss looked up in shock at the sight.
"Yang! Blake!" Ruby shouted, then felt relief wash over her as their voices called out.
"We've got people in the water!" Yang shouted before diving under.
"That-" Weiss started, still shaken. "That was close." She looked up at Ruby. "Thank you."
Ruby smiled. "Can you still use your glyphs?"
Weiss nodded, standing with her partner's help.
Blake appeared next to the dock, hoisting a bleary-eyed sailor out of the water. She got out herself, shaking her cat ears free of wetness.
Weiss blinked at her, noticing.
"Um," Blake started, her ears flattening, "I-"
"We'll talk later," Weiss said, straightening out of Ruby's arms. "For now, we have lives to save."
"That went well," Roman said dryly, moving into the cockpit of the bullhead. "And after I spent so much capital to get that plan off the ground."
Neo shrugged, letting the aircraft stall as Roman took the pilot seat from her. She slid into the co-pilot seat, visibly relieved.
"No relaxing yet," Roman said, making some adjustments to his chair. "We still gotta get the cargo to safety."
They started flying towards the city to find a covert place to land.
"No you don't!" Penny shouted from the top of the shipping containers she'd climbed onto, her swords gathered around her in a circle. She glared at the aircraft as it soared higher, out of her weapon's reach.
Penny's blades began to spin as Roman's bullhead circled by, her arms outstretched. A green glow emanated from her, then that glow became a visible energy, gathering within the circle of swords.
Just as Roman noticed her, she shot a beam of bright green at his ship.
The attack sheared off a wing of the bullhead, leaving the vehicle to flounder through the air. Neo and Roman went wide eyed, desperately trying to float their aircraft away.
They crashed into the spot Penny had sent the other bullheads, causing the ground to cave under the weight of the rubble.
Emergency responders arrived some time after Torchwick went down, finding team RWBY and Penny still fishing people out of the bay. Of the girls, only Weiss and Penny hadn't gone swimming, using their semblance and weapons to assist in the rescues. They all sat by police cars after they had explained some of the situation, leaving the remainder of the work to the authorities.
"Well, this has been the craziest night ever," Yang said after a long pause. She, Blake, and Ruby were wrapped in towels as they sat on a set of crates.
"Tell me about it," Weiss said, shifting uncomfortably towards Blake, who had put her bow back on.
"Weiss, we don't-"
"It's ok, Ruby," Blake interrupted her. "Let me explain.
"I'm no longer part of the White Fang, but I'm still going to fight for justice for the faunus, just not the way-"
"Stop," Weiss interrupted, prompting confused looks from everyone.
"I have had twenty-four hours and-" she checked her scroll "-six minutes to think this all over. And I've decided: I don't care."
Blake blinked, surprised. "You don't… care?"
Weiss met her eyes. "You said you left, haven't you?"
Blake nodded. "Yes; I haven't been-"
"Ahpapa!" Weiss waved her hand between them. "I don't want to hear it. That's all in the past. Just know that, in the future-" She looked off to the side uncomfortably before finishing: "You have teammates."
A pause rolled over the girls as Weiss and Blake held gazes.
"So," Blake started cautiously, "are we… good?"
Weiss sighed. "Yeah," she said with a weak smile. "We're good."
Blake returned a small smile of her own.
"Yeah!" Ruby cheered, dropping her towel. "Team RWBY is back together!"
Her team looked at her with mixed levels of exasperation as she started a small jig.
Ruby's mood dropped as she wondered aloud, "How are we supposed to explain all the property damage to them?" She gestured at the policemen taking several White Fang imposters into custody.
"Penny, what do you-" Ruby started to ask, only to find Penny had left their group. "Where'd she go!"
"I don't know," Yang said, looking about with the rest of the girls. "She was here a moment ago, right?"
"That was a ridiculous interpretation of protocol," said the woman behind the wheel of the car Penny had retreated to. She wore a blue beret and skirt with a white shirt and black fingerless gloves.
"I know, Ciel," the ginger responded. "But, my friends needed help." She looked out the window at team RWBY, forlorn.
"I'll let your guardian know that," Ciel said. "But both he and your father told you not to get too involved in this city." They started off, heading for a tower in the middle of Vale. "Your time will come, but not tonight."
"Yes ma'am," Penny said, looking down at her lap.
"You didn't get damaged, did you?"
"No ma'am." Penny's answer was short and quick.
"Good," she said, making a turn. "But we'll still have someone look over you just in case."
"Yes ma'am."