Cover art by CHE3ZY.
Been dealing with a lot of lately and so I couldn't get this chapter out last week. Work was killing me on all levels, but thankfully I made it over that hump. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Remember to like, share, leave your thoughts in the reviews, and vote for your favorite OC on the poll on my profile. Without further delay here's chapter 18.
Three Months Later:
"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!" Weiss could feel her anger beginning to rise more and more.
Team RWBY had retired to their room for the night, but the argument that Weiss and Blake had started over the issue of a certain faunus stowaway earlier that day continued. Team RWBY and team PGRT, with the exception of Jai, took a day trip into the city to observe the preparations for the Vytal Festival. A monkey faunus had stowed away on one of the ships at the port, causing a fuss with the police. Weiss and her teammates attempted to pursue him, but he was too fast and escaped. Penny, Terre, and Rahm didn't make an effort to pursue, seeing how the faunus wasn't a threat. Weiss had made a few racially charged comments about the faunus, earning Blake's anger.
"That is the problem!" Blake shot back.
"You realize you are defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you? The faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"
Blake got to her feet, moving from her previously seated position "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"
Weiss couldn't believe the audacity of what Blake just said.
"People like me?"
"You're discriminatory!"
"I'm a victim!" Weiss yelled.
The two stared each other down in silence. Weiss leaned in close, leering as she began to speak quietly.
"You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the faunus? Weiss leaned against the bookshelf by the window. "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." She banged her fist on the bookshelf, an angry scowl formed itself on her face. "Not only that, but they've done terrible things to me," she brought her hand up to her left eye and faintly touched the scar, "things that are too painful for me to say." Tears began to form in the heiress' eyes, but she forced them back. She wouldn't cry now; she wouldn't show weakness.
Ruby approached Weiss slowly. "Weiss, I-"
"No!" Weiss turned away and walked back over to Blake. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"
"Well, maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Silence dropped down on the scene. A surprised Weiss backed away slowly.
Blake realized her mistake as she looked around at her teammates. "I... I..." Blake dashed out the door.
"Blake, wait! Come back!" Yelled Ruby as she ran over to the door and called to Blake down the hallway as Yang sat down on her bed and Weiss remained standing, shocked at what she had just heard. Blake ran outside and arrived at the statue of heroic huntsmen standing over the body of a defeated Grimm. She closed her eyes and slowly lifted her arms up to her bow and pulled the string to release the bow from her hair, revealing her cat ears. On the verge of crying, she became startled when she heard a voice above her.
"I knew you would look better without the bow."
She turned around and looked up and spotted a familiar monkey faunus looking down at her with a smile on his face.
The Next Day:
"I guess the literal cat is out of the bag then?" Rahm was laying down on his bed as he read from the current issue of his favorite aerospace magazine. The clock in their bedroom read 0800. They had just returned from breakfast and a team workout before that.
"It appears so," replied Terre as he cleaned his weapon.
Jai stood against the wall with his arms folded across his chest, his sword was housed in a sheath on his back. "Did you overhear anything else last night?"
Terre looked up at Jail, pausing from polishing his staff. "Nothing important. Weiss and Blake argued and then Blake ran off with that monkey faunus from yesterday. I followed them at a distance, but I stopped once I realized that she wasn't up to anything suspicious."
"Did you learn his name?" Asked Penny.
"I heard him mention that it was Sun Wukong," replied Terre.
Jai nodded, acknowledging Penny, before he turned his attention back to Terre. "We're still going to keep an eye on her just in case, right?"
"Definitely," replied Terre.
Rahm looked over at them before returning to his magazine, reading a cross-cut diagram of a contemporary fast attack fighter. "Do they just guess the math on these things?" Rahm thought aloud, drawing the brief attention of Terre and Jai.
"Do you think she could actually be plotting something sinister?" Penny asked with genuine curiosity. The ginger robot girl was seated on her bed, twiddling with her thumbs.
"Not sure Penny," replied Rahm, "but if she does then we have orders to take her out."
Penny frowned at that. "I really hope she is not up to anything bad. It would be very sad to have to hurt her."
"Orders are orders Penny," said Jai, "we do what we must."
"I know I am still new to all this, so please forgive me for asking this…" she trailed off as if in thought. The three Guardians turned their full attention to her. "but…"
"What is it, Penny?" Rahm put his magazine down. He could sense something was off with Penny. He climbed down from the top bunk and sat down beside her. She looked a little uneasy. "What's wrong?" The concern in Rahm's voice was genuine.
"Do you think it is ever appropriate to disobey an order?"
There was silence in the room. The question had caught them all off guard. In truth, they didn't know. As far as they could remember, they were raised and trained to follow orders without question. Granted, they followed the orders of only one person, but still. There was never an order issued to them that they disobeyed. Their duty as Guardians was to defend Remnant, humanity, and the Kingdom of Atlas, whatever the cost.
"No," replied Terre simply, "everything we do is for the defense of humanity, Remnant, and the Kingdom of Atlas."
"But what if our orders were to ever conflict with those objectives?"
If her first question caught them off guard, then this one threw them for a complete loop. That thought had never even crossed their minds. What if they received orders that conflicted with their ultimate duty? No one answered. No one could answer because they truly didn't know. Jai glanced at his watch, noticing that it was now 0805. He pushed off the wall and made for the door.
"Where are you going Jai?" Asked Penny.
"Sorry, but I have to go and help Pyrrha train Jaune," he replied.
Jai opened the door to reveal a worried-looking Ruby, her hand positioned to knock on their door. The young leader of RWBY let out a surprised gasp. Jai nodded at her and at a concerned-looking Yang and an indifferent-looking Weiss who stood behind her.
"Good morning Ruby, good morning Weiss, and good morning Yang. Excuse me, but I need to get going," he said as he moved past them and walked over to team JNPR's room.
"Where's he off to?" Weiss questioned aloud.
"No idea," replied Yang.
Ruby turned her attention to the remaining members of team PGRT. "Blake's missing! Can you help us look for her?"
"Absolutely Ruby! Together we will find her!" Penny zoomed over to Ruby faster than the leader of RWBY could follow and enveloped her in one of her airtight hugs. Luckily, Penny let her go after a few moments. Ruby readjusted herself and straightened out the wrinkles in her dress.
Terre and Rahm were already standing at this point.
"We'll help in any way we can, Ruby," said Terre. Ruby beamed the warmest smile at him.
"Great! Thank you! We should split up to cover more ground!"
Weiss had her arms crossed as she walked alongside Rahm through the streets of Vale. The Ice Queen was deep in thought, unsure how to feel about Blake's whole reveal. Not only did she hide the fact that she was a faunus, but she was also a member of the White Fang, the same White Fang that caused her, her family, her company, and humanity so much pain. She found herself unconsciously balling her fists. Everything had been turned upside down and now she found herself asking herself so many questions. Were they safe? What would happen to their team? The questions and the conflicting feelings had overwhelmed her to the point that she didn't realize she was about to walk across the crosswalk when there were cars still passing. A strong hand on her shoulder stopped her from entering the crosswalk and getting hit by a car that sped past. Weiss gasped in realization at what had just been prevented. She looked up at Rahm, who looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.
"T-Thanks," she said sheepishly.
"I may not be a psychologist, but even I can tell that something's bothering you," he replied.
Weiss frowned as she looked away. "It's nothing," she said.
"If it were nothing then you wouldn't have almost let yourself get hit by a car."
Weiss opened her mouth to speak but she found herself unable to do so. He was right, as much as she hated to admit it.
"Fine, you're right. I just don't know what to do or think about Blake hiding that she was a faunus and the fact she was or still is a member of the White Fang. I honestly don't want to be out here looking for a liar and a terrorist, you know?"
Rahm pondered her words for a moment.
"I don't think it's an easy answer, but you two are now part of a team and have to stand for something greater than yourselves. I didn't expect to be on a team with Terre or Jai or even Penny, but that was never in my control. What is in my control is how I cooperate with them, and I intend to make the best of it not just because our lives are in each other's hands, but it's just the right thing to do."
Weiss looked at him as if she were studying him. "Who did you expect to be on a team with?"
Although Weiss couldn't see it, the slightest hint of a frown formed on Rahm's face. "Before I was teammates with Jai, Terre, and Penny, I had some very close friends that I would've liked to have been on a team with." Rahm knew he needed to be careful with what he revealed. He took caution in how he phrased his responses. "Unfortunately, things didn't work out and I ended up with my current team."
"They ended up on another team?"
Oh, how he wished that was what happened. No. Project Guardian was not merciful to its candidates. There were so many of his brothers and sisters who didn't survive. Rahm found himself unconsciously balling his fist.
"Yeah…" he lied.
Weiss nodded in understanding. She didn't exactly end up on the team she wanted. She originally wanted to be partnered with Pyrrha and it took her time to get over the fact that the younger Ruby Rose was chosen to lead team RWBY.
"Do you like your current team?"
Rahm's cold blue eyes met her warm blue ones. "They're my family and I would gladly die for them if needed," he replied.
Weiss heard no hesitation in Rahm's voice. His words were genuine, and he spoke with such a noble intent. It was honestly admirable. Weiss found herself staring at the tall blonde in wonder and admiration. This went on for a few seconds until Rahm noticed Weiss' staring.
"Is something wrong Weiss?"
Weiss' face turned red in embarrassment as she quickly looked ahead. "No! Nothing's wrong!"
Rahm raised an eyebrow in confusion but decided not to press the issue further. He and the Ice Queen continued walking in silence.
"So why are you mad at Blake?" Penny asked with her signature curiosity.
"I'm not!" Ruby almost yelled. "Well, Weiss is," she said sheepishly.
Terre walked alongside the two of them in silence. Yang had opted to go searching for Blake on her own. She said she had a lead she was hoping to follow up on. He didn't ask questions.
"But why would Weiss be angry with her?"
Ruby looked down at the sidewalk. "Blake…isn't who we thought she was…"
"Oh, I understand. You determined that she was a faunus?"
Ruby and Terre looked at Penny. Ruby looked surprised while Terre had a look that silently warned her to be careful what to say next.
"How…how did you know that?"
"The cat ears, and the fact that a hair bow does not move by itself," Penny said with a smile. Terre relaxed his serious demeanor, satisfied at Penny's damage control.
Before Ruby could say anything, the sound of a distant explosion caused their three heads to turn. By the looks of it, the explosion came from the docks.
Ruby paled slightly. "Oh no…"
Blake, dazed but relatively unhurt on the ground, quickly rolled and ran out of the way of Roman's continued attacks. Flaming missiles destroyed cargo behind her as she flipped and used her semblance to dodge then retreat behind more containers.
Roman approached slowly. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty..." His taunt was interrupted when a banana peel landed on his head, causing him to toss it aside then look up and growl at the assailant.
"Woohoo!" Sun leaped from the container above Roman and dropped down on the criminal's face feet-first, rolling up and readying himself to fight. "Leave her alone!"
The Bullheads opened to let more White Fang members descend on the scene, standing by Roman as he got up. The White Fang members had surrounded Sun.
Roman laughed darkly. "You're not the brightest banana in the bunch, are you, kid?" With that said, the White Fang charged at the monkey faunus, but he managed to dodge slashes and get some of the soldiers with his fists and kicks until he rolled out of the way of one's sword.
Sun smirked. "Haha!" He pulled out a collapsible red staff. He quickly used this to beat down on each opponent that neared him, felling each one in a single flaming blow when he twirled it around, even creating a scorching shockwave to beat the last of them. Blake peered around the corner of the container to watch Sun jump around and beat another White Fang soldier. The monkey faunus landed on his back and caused him to fly over toward Roman's head. The crime boss ducked then growled in annoyance and aimed his cane at Sun, firing a shot that he managed to defend himself from just when Blake leaped into the action.
"He's mine!" Blake ran in close and became a blur of afterimages as she slashed both blades at Roman, who backed away and deflected each would-be blow with his cane at unbelievable speeds. Blake continued to dash, hop over, and slide around Roman to try and find a weak point. She finally managed to land a blow after using her semblance, but he quickly recovered, deflecting several more attacks before attempting to punch her in the face only to hit a clone as she flipped away. The two clashed weapons again, but Torchwick jabbed her in the side.
Roman laughed. "Hahaha!" He landed a few more hits on Blake until he launched one final blow to the head with his cane which caused her to go down. Sun appeared right behind her. Vaulting over Blake, Sun kicked Roman in the chest and disconnected his staff into two spinning circles of flame-firing shotgun nunchucks. Sun swung each gun at Roman while firing everything he had at him, but even with the rapid series of shots and flying bullets, Roman managed to defend himself against every bullet and hit until a millisecond-long window of opportunity allowed Blake to get a slash in and knock him back. On his back, Roman noticed a container hanging by a crane right above the two warriors and got up to fire his cane at its supports. Blake leaped behind it, but Sun barely missed when he jumped forward, ending up right below the muzzle of Roman's cane. Just as he was about to fire, his and Sun's attention was drawn to a familiar voice.
"Hey!" Ruby appeared on the rooftop overlooking them, Crescent Rose extended and ready for action.
Roman seemed to lose interest in Sun. He waved at Ruby. "Well, hello, Red! Isn't it past your bedtime?"
Penny and Terre landed behind Ruby, ready for action. "It appears your hunch was correct, Ruby," Penny smiled at her friend.
Terre took notice of the arriving White Fang reinforcements. The Guardian super soldier reached for his collapsible staff and readied it for action. "I'll handle the reinforcements. Penny," he said to Penny quietly, making sure that Ruby didn't hear. "Stay close to Ruby and keep her safe." Terre didn't wait for confirmation as he leaped into action, moving faster than most huntsmen could.
Ruby looked surprised as Terre moved faster than she could follow and proceeded to engage the many White Fang soldiers. Ruby shook herself out of her stupor and looked behind her at Penny. "Penny, get ready!" While Ruby's attention was diverted, Roman snarled and fired his cane at her, launching the young huntress-in-training back from the explosion's force and sending her scythe flying away.
"AAAAAH!"
Roman gave a dark laugh at his successful attack on the young girl. Penny turned her head toward the criminal and glared. She walked forward while Ruby tried to get back up.
"Penny, wait! We need a plan!" She raised her hand in a futile attempt to stop her.
"Don't worry, Ruby. I'm combat ready!" Her back mechanically opened up, and from its dark depths emerged a single sword that split itself into several blades hovering over her. Leaping from the rooftop with the weapons acting as wings, Penny sent three of her swords to knock two White Fang soldiers down before even landing on the ground, where she proceeded to fling the swords at one enemy, impale another to a wall, and create a barrier of spinning steel against a running attack.
Sun observed the spectacle in amazement.
"Whoa!" The monkey faunus ran off to safety with Blake following behind him.
Three Bullheads descended from the skies and opened fire on the battle, but Penny merely formed a shield and launched two of her swords into the wall behind her, which in turn pulled their wielder back with their strings. When her swords swirled around her again, she commanded them to open their points and build up a large glowing ball of green light. With a punching action, several bright lasers cracked the pavement when they fired at the transports and sliced each one in half, causing several of the White Fang members inside to fall towards the ground. Those White Fang soldiers didn't reach the ground alive as Terre swooped in and made quick work of them midair. Ruby watched as the Bullheads fell in pieces behind her. Stunned, she turned back to Penny as she aimed her swords at the remaining Bullhead holding the crate of Dust and pulled back on their wires, tugging the aircraft with them.
Ruby watched in awe as everything unfolded. "Whoa... How is she doing that?"
Seeing the Bullhead's flight fall under Penny's control, Roman grimaced and turned to run towards the last transport. Roman growled in anger from the safety of his transport. "These kids just keep getting weirder..." With his observation made, he used his cane to close the doors, and the jet lifted off, flying away from the lost battle.
Penny, after her large green pupils dilated for a second, pulled with all her might on the strings, and the aircraft crashed into a stack of crates, causing an explosion as a result. The same explosion caused the Dust crate to rocket off towards an unprepared Ruby Rose. Penny immediately took notice of what was happening and went wide-eyed as the crate fell in what seemed to be slow motion. Penny ran as fast as her robotic body could move, hoping to save her best friend in time.
"Ruby look out!" Penny yelled.
Ruby looked up and noticed a massive shipping crate plummeting towards her. The young leader of RWBY looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. She flinched as she prepared for what looked like to be her impending doom, but instead of feeling the sensation of being crushed to death, she heard the sound of metal scraping against metal. She opened her eyes and saw, to her disbelief, Penny holding the crate above her head with her own two hands.
"P-Penny?"
With a bit of effort, Penny threw the crate away from them. Ruby glanced at Penny's hands and noticed that her palms had a silver metallic look to them. Penny didn't waste any time and quickly enveloped the dark redhead in a tight hug.
"Are you ok Ruby?"
"Y-Yeah, thanks." It didn't take more than a second for Ruby's energetic self to return. "Penny! That was amazing! How did you do that? Why are your hands metal? Are you a robot? Why-"
"Ruby please!"
Ruby stopped her questioning, looking shocked.
"I'm sorry Ruby. I…I didn't mean for that to happen."
"Penny! Please! What is going on?! How did you do that?!"
"I-I can't! Everything's fine!" Penny started to hiccup. "I-I don't want to talk about it!" She hiccupped again.
"Penny, if you can just tell me what's wrong, I can help you!"
"No! No, no! You wouldn't understand."
"Let me try! You can trust me!"
Penny looked as she was going to cry. The poor girl never felt so conflicted in her life. "I'm sorry Ruby. I can't tell you anything. You need to promise me that you won't tell anyone."
"But why? Wha-"
"Promise me Ruby!"
Ruby took an involuntary step back out of shock before she slowly nodded. "O-Ok…I promise."
Unbeknownst to the two girls, Terre observed them from a fair distance away. The super soldier had heard everything thanks to his advanced hearing. Penny's secret was out. This was not good. The general made it explicitly clear that Penny's secret was to remain a secret. He would need to address this later on.
Later, a handful of police cars were at the docks, where Ruby, Blake, Sun, Terre, and Penny were sitting on boxes in silence. That is, until Weiss, Rahm, and Yang appeared on the scene.
Ruby took notice of the three and hastily got to her feet. "Look Weiss, it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually have a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute..."
Weiss ignored her and proceeded to square off with Blake. Blake calmly looked her down. "Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-"
Weiss cut her off.
"Stop! Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you?" She paused. "Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in those twelve hours, I've decided..." Yang, Sun, and Ruby looked on, worried. "I don't care."
Blake looked at her in surprise. "You don't care?"
"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"
"Not anymore. Not since-"
"Don't say anything. I don't care what you have to say about your faunus heritage or your past with the White Fang. As long as you truly aren't affiliated with scum like them anymore then it doesn't matter. We may not see eye to eye on many issues and we may not necessarily like each other, but we're on the same team and that means we need to work together. All I need to know is that I can trust you to watch our backs as you trust us to watch yours. If you can't keep your personal feelings out of this then let me know now. And you need to promise that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..." she looked at Sun who was standing behind her "someone else."
Blake looked to see Ruby and Yang grinning at her. The cat faunus wiped a tear from her eye, nodding. "Of course." Weiss smiled and nodded. The moment was serious for a second more until Ruby yelled out.
"Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!"
Weiss pointed an accusing finger at Sun. "I'm still not quite sure about how I feel about you!" Sun laughed nervously.
Penny stood in between Rahm and Terre as she happily watched team RWBY reunite. The robot girl held onto Rahm's and Terre's hands like a little sister would. She looked up to see Terre staring at her with a look of disappointment. Penny looked down at the ground in sadness, knowing that Terre knew she had blown her cover.
"Rahm," Terre said. Rahm looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Contact Jai. I'm calling for a team meeting in the dorm room."
Meanwhile, Ozpin was holding a scroll showing a communication channel with Qrow, whose team name and other information was left blank and his only message was: "QUEEN HAS PAWNS." Ozpin hummed in thought at what he had just read.
Roman walked into a large warehouse with a shadowy interior. He went over to a table and placed down a case of mysterious contents, sighing from fatigue.
"How very disappointing, Roman."
Roman suddenly turned around when he heard the female voice.
"Whoa! Hehe... I wasn't expecting to see you guys so soon..."
"We were expecting... more from you," said the voice.
Roman laughed nervously before getting serious. "Hey! You were the ones who suggested working with those stupid mutts from the White Fang."
"And you will continue to do so." The woman summoned a fireball in her hand and stepped out of the darkness with her two companions, a purple-haired boy, a mint-haired, tanned girl. The woman's eye was glowing gold. "We have big plans for you, Roman. All we ask is... a little cooperation."
As you can see, Weiss has a bit more of a personal connection to the White Fang than in the main series. I think you'll be surprised when you learn the truth. I'll try to have the next chapter out in a few days now that I'm on a bit of a break from the intensity of my job. See you all next time!
-Dude64