I saw a reddit post on r/rwby about "fanfics you want to be canon" and the OP was like "I want this story about Ruby x Adam to be canon. She gets pregnant with his child and he has silver eyes and-"
Isn't he like 20-something
Isn't she 15 at the start of the series
That's fucked up
You should feel bad
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
The second those words escaped his mouth, the other Outcasts went pale. Did...did Vilgax kill Neo?!
Kevin and Blonko raced over to try and pull Albedo away from the portal, just so they could get some kind of comprehensive idea of what was happening on the other side.
"Albedo-!" Blonko called out, only for Ben's color-inverted copy to elbow the Plumber in the gut.
"DON'T TOUCH ME! I have to get back! I have to get back! I have to!" Albedo screamed, clawing and slamming his fists against the portal, only causing it to ripple more. The adrenaline and fear that gave him such a boost were quickly depleting and soon he fell to his hands and knees as the hopelessness of his situation slammed into his heart like a truck.
"Neo...Neo...I'm sorry," the human Galvan sobbed, his tears dropping and staining the sands. Albedo was suddenly picked up by someone and pulled into a tight and comforting hug, letting the grieving doppelganger just cry into their shoulder.
"We...we have to go back! They don't stand a chance against Vil-!" Kylie said, putting her hand to the portal and watching as it just rested there, "...what." She pushed and pushed against the portal to no avail.
"We...we can't go back," Oscar realized, "Why can't we go back?!"
"Ooooohh that bastard," Min cursed, the realization striking her.
"What? Who is a bastard?!" Blonko asked.
"AMBROSIUS! Weiss told him to make a 'one-way trip to Vacuo!' And he did!"
Kevin's eyes shrank. "...no. No, it can't be. We were specific with him!"
"Too specific! God damn it!"
"Then the door…it is truly only one way. We cannot go back and help Ben and Ruby and the others." Blonko explained. "That means...they're all alone."
Back in the hangar, the Ace Ops were sat against a wall and bound up by gravity bolas. Elm and Marrow were on guard duty, making sure that none of them tried to break for it. The whole complex rumbled a few times, disturbing quite a few of Atlas' best.
"That was it, wasn't it?" Vine asked, "The Staff is...out of the Vault."
"Probably," Elm sighed.
"And you're just ok with dropping the city? Oh, what am I saying, of course you're fine with destroying a city! You're a bunch of traitorous insurgents!" Chiffon said, rolling his eyes.
"We don't have to listen to you. You literally tried to blow me up all because you didn't get in." Marrow snarked. "Between the two of us, I think you're worse here. Besides, there's no one left in Mantle or Atlas right now. After everything's done, Ben will use that one big alien to set Atlas near the tundra. The city'll be banged up but it'll be there."
"Honestly, that sounded like the most far fetched part, to be honest. Not sure if there'll be time." Elm frowned.
"What? You mean 'Way Big?' Isn't that the name?" Harriet asked with a scoff, "You don't believe it'll work, do you?"
"I have some doubts, I won't lie. Like I said, not sure if there'll be enough for him to pull it off. But here's the difference between me doubting and you doubting. Despite those doubts, I still trust them. They reciprocated that trust, always have too, which is better than some people I could name."
"Well, we got all the time in the world before we fucking crash. So, go on. Tell me all the shit you've always wanted to say but couldn't because you'd be thrown in the brig for insubordination!" Harriet yelled.
"Can you just...knock her out? Please? I'd really rather just skip all the personal drama between you two," Nesmith sighed.
"Shut up!" Everyone yelled, collectively sick of Nesmith's crap over the last few days.
"Yes, yes, yell at me, the guy who was pretty much roped into this bullcrap because Jacque approached me and suggested 'Hey, wanna team up for a little PR stunt? You'll be well paid, you just gotta be a superhero to endorse my campaign.' And because I was drunk, I just said, 'Yeah, why not!?'" Nesmith ranted. "Whatever..."
"Not the most exciting job in the whole plan, but still totally worth it," Rex snarked. Harriet just rolled her eyes at the comment, knowing he said that just to mess with her.
With all of their focus on their new prisoners, none of this team of Outcasts and their allies noticed one of the smallest details in the hangar. No one could really blame them though, given how easy it was to overlook. One of the cameras mounted high up on the hangar wall turned to focus on Ace-Ops prisoners and their guards. It adjusted its lens to make sure everyone was in focus, taking note of all of them.
If a mechanical eye could show signs of malevolent joy and curiosity, this one would have it written all over it.
The main command center of the military headquarters was a far cry from the ordered yet still somehow frenzied setting that Ruby's team of Outcasts originally found it in. The place was in ruins. An emergency alert light had cast the room into a permanent red hue. Smoke filled the air as fires caused by whoever assailed the very heart of the Atlesian military continued to burn.
Outside of the main entrance, Knights, human soldiers, and even a few of the modernized Praetors littered the hallway in crumpled wrecks. The coordinators, comm officers, and technicians still at their stations didn't fare much better. Some were laying across their consoles, the screens now stained crimson, while others either fell to the ground or had died in their chairs. The most common causes of death here were bullets, fired off from a pair of powerful shotguns and a standard issue Atlesian rifle, claw marks that were so sharp that they made a Teryx's talons seem as dull as a butter knife, and arrows made of black glass.
What made matters worse was that not all of those attackers had left.
Above the main floor of the command center was a small security office, where anyone assigned to monitor duty on night shifts would be posted. A still surviving soldier crawled along the floor, reaching towards a rifle resting against the side of the main desk in the room. It was so close, the man could practically touch the trigger. He could get out of here, he could survive, he could-!
He couldn't.
A black armored boot slammed down on his hand before a blade was thrust down into him, tearing through the soldier's armor and body alike, before the tip of the blade ripped into the metal floor below. The wielder removed their weapon as the weapon was deconstructed.
The monitors at the main desk were still operational by some miracle, the live feed from the hangar camera looping back to display the bound Ace-Ops and their guards. Sitting in the office chair behind the desk, Arthur Watts smirked before he took a bite out of an apple he managed to find in the break room. He quickly began typing on the hardlight keyboard, bringing up displays and schematics, including those for the payload that was to be dropped on Mantle. A vile plan formed in his head and he began to access a single charging dock, bringing its Atlesian Knight occupant under his control.
"Wait," a familiar voice called out, putting her hand on the doctor's shoulder, "What hangar is that?"
"The academy's, level 17," Watts answered, "Want to say hello?"
"Yes," Black Knight smirked under her helmet. Oh how she'd imagined this scenario. She'd gone over it time and time again, and now she had the chance to make those imagined scenes a reality.
Black Knight walked off, grinning underneath her mask. With all the fun reveals today, what harm could one more do?
Harriet glared at Elm. "For a moment, I thought you came to your senses. I thought you were finally realizing what a danger those kids were."
"No...but I did realize just how broken the Ace-Ops are. Hare, admit it. Clover was literally the only thing holding this team together. Look what's happening now!"
"You don't get to say his name anymore, traitor..." Harriet growled.
"You keep looping back to that word." Marrow huffed. "Like it has any meaning here. You're the one betraying everything we're meant to be by standing with Ironwood. He's destroying Mantle all for the sake of 'peace'. I dunno how many times I have to hammer it into your stubborn head..."
"You can try all damn day, Marrow," Harriet hissed, "I swore an oath to Atlas, and unlike you, I'm not one to just drop it because some kids fed me some 'power of friendship feel-good' bullshit."
"Jesus. Christ. I wish I could just shut you up somehow." Marrow gowled. "I am just…so… sick of this, your endless devotion to an army that has no issue replacing the best of the best with garbage they found on the side. Don't you find that strange?! Don't you find that the slightest bit off? Why are the best of the best so..."
Marrow looked over to Chiffon and Nesmith.
"...bad?"
"So, what? You know other people who could follow orders to the letter and can just ring 'em up during the apocalypse? The general made an executive decision. We were short on manpower, so he pulled some of the only candidates he could to fill in the gaps. We lost people, we replaced them, we moved on. Nesmith might be an upper-crust asshat who was pulled in over his head-"
"At least you admit it now," Nesmith rolled his eyes.
"-and Chiffon I'd love to throttle the life out of, but we needed them. The Ace-Ops needed as many people as possible."
"Why do I even bother? Why do I even try with you?! It's like you're brainwashed!" Marrow groaned.
"Maybe if Marion was here...she'd listen." Elm said coldly.
That made Harriet's blood boil, shifting her gaze to the hammer-wielder.
"Don't you say her name," the Ace-Ops' speedster growled.
"Say who's name?" Black Knight asked after the hangar doors opened, getting the attention of their guards, "No, really, dying to know."
"Black Knight..." Rex growled, quickly forming up the BFS while the others all gathered up with their weapons at the ready.
"So this is Roboboy's boogeywoman, huh?" Robyn asked, looking the armored figure over, "I thought you'd be taller."
"Cute," the knight scoffed, walking into the hangar, but she just walked past them. Qrow fired off a shotgun round to stop the armored combatant in her tracks since it looked like she was making for the shuttle with the bomb already loaded into it.
"Step away from the ship," Qrow threatened, "or the next round's going in that tin can you call a head."
"Was expecting that from Salazar, not you, Branwen. I didn't come to fight-"
"Oh that's bull and you know it," Robyn chimed in, "You're the one who gave Rojo that ticking time bomb of a suit, aren't you?"
"And the one who gave Locus and Felix the tech to disable my builds during the Arrowfell incident,, my brother's tech, by the way!" Rex added.
"Guilty on both counts. But I do mean it. I'm not here to fight. I'm here to reunite with the little punk," Black Knight put a hand on her hip casually.
"Come over here and-" Rex started.
"Not you, prototype," the knight rolled her eyes behind her helmet before she pointed at Harriet, "I mean you."
Harriet raised an eyebrow. "Reunite? The hell are you talking about? We've never even met."
"Still got that spunk, I see. Love it." The Black Knight laughed. "You've got a mission to complete, don't you? Let me give you a hand."
"You expect me to work with you? Maybe take that helmet off, sounds like it's cutting off oxygen to your brain..." Harriet taunted.
"Wow. You know, it's not like this is the first time you needed my help to finish a mission," the knight pressed two fingers to the base of her neck and her helmet began to disassemble into an array of metallic shapes, moving and sliding down to join the rest of her suit. When the helmet was gone, the knight's real face revealed as indigo hair fell to cover her left eye.
"Right, Hare?" the now unmasked Black Knight asked.
Harriet's face went blank. Vine's eyes widened, his jaw agape. Elm's hands covered her mouth, but Marrow just stared on in confusion before it dawned on him. His eyes went wide as all the pieces clicked together.
"What? No. You're...no." Marrow said. "You're-"
"The name's Marion." Black Knight smirked. "The woman you replaced."
"You…you were alive all this time and instead of coming back you joined Salem?" Vine growled.
Harriet looked over at the usually zen elite operative, who looked the angriest the speedster had ever seen him.
"Please tell me you're not going to listen to her," Vine pleaded.
"I…" Harriet started, but that wasn't what Vine wanted, needed, to hear.
"You're that lost without a real leader, aren't you? Someone who can think so that you don't have to," the monk-like Ace-Op finally snapped, "Harriet, if you help her blow up Mantle, you're an associate to a terrorist. You're not considering this, are you!?"
"...you too...huh?" Harriet asked, "You're disobeying the general's order too?"
"No, Harriet! I'm trying to stop you from following Marrion down a path that will only lead to corruption and eventually SALEM!"
"Harsh words, Zeki. Never would've made it as black-ops. Sometimes, you need to do some real evil things to keep the rest of society nice and happy. Don't you think, Hare?" Black Knight smirked, brushing past Qrow, Robyn, and Rex so she could put a hand on her old friend's shoulder.
Harriet flinched at the touch but didn't pull away. Vine looked between the two of them, clearly struggling with his own emotions.
"...no." Harriet finally answered.
"No?"
"No." Harriet repeated, looking angry. "I'm...I'm not helping you do that."
Normally, telling the villain 'no' would make them upset, but Marion's expression twisted in a smile, before he began to laugh. Everyone who could backed away, her laughs carrying a psychotic and terrifying energy to them.
"Well, that's bringing back memories!" Marion said between laughs. "The 'fastest Huntress in Atlas,' Harriet Bree finally decided to listen to her conscience. I've always wanted to hear that rebellious streak of yours come back! For the longest time, I didn't even recognize you! All that 'yes sir, no, sir,' shit is supposed to be my routine. That's how the dynamic worked!"
Harriet didn't say anything at that, taken a bit off guard by the response and a little unnerved too.
"Ohhhh, Hare, there's just one problem with it," Marrion sighed, "Too little...too late." With that, and a sadistic grin, one of Marrion's arms turned into a clawed gauntlet much in the same way that Rex would build up the Smack Hands. She pulled back and was about to impale her, but Cammie of all people intervened. She let out a cry as she rushed in and managed to kick Marrion in the face, skidding to a halt after she floored the former Ace-Op.
"Stop playing fucking mind games with her!" Cammie yelled, "She's got enough issues with your comin' back into her life and messing things up more!"
"Ohhh right. The new girl. Jimmy must've been really desperate to pull you into this," the villainous Nanite warrior rubbed her cheek where Cammie made impact.
"Maybe he was. Doesn't mean I can't still kick your ironclad ass."
Black Knight smirked. "Please. You think some fancy leg armor can stop me?" Her hand morphed into a curved hook.
"Lay off the kid." Qrow frowned, shifting Harbinger into its greatsword mode. Robyn loaded a bolt into her weapon and Rex morphed his hands into the Smack Hands.
Marion smirked. "Oh...oh, this is precious."
"Yeah, our weapons are just downright adorable," Robyn quipped.
"More so the fact you think you can actually beat me. A rights activist, a rookie, a drunk, a prototype-"
Marion's arm suddenly morphed into a second clawed gauntlet and moved up just in time to block a bullet from Fetch. Marrow was aiming down the sights of his weapon, even if he was shaking a bit.
"- a dog...and maybe the walking tree if she can pick her jaw off the floor," Black Knight finished, "Not exactly the most intimidating roster."
"Yeah...you're definitely one of their rogues. Vilgax has probably said the same thing about my nieces," Qrow scoffed.
"...Vilgax probably killed your nieces by now." Black Knight corrected with a callous grin. The Black Knight lunged forward with lightning speed, her hook hand poised to strike. Qrow, Robyn, Rex, Cammie and Marrow all moved to intercept her, but she was too quick for them. With a swift swing of her hook, she knocked Qrow's sword out of his hand and sent him stumbling backwards.
Robyn fired a bolt at her, but the Black Knight ducked and weaved around it effortlessly. Rex charged forward with his Smack Hands, but she sidestepped him with ease and delivered a vicious blow to his side.
"I've been at this much longer than you, kid." Marion smiled, knocking him down. "Your nanite is just a beta test compared to mine."
Rex didn't answer, just moving to try and strike back, land a backhand on the knight, but she just caught it in her claws. She smirked as she forced the fist down and moved to kick Rex in the head, sending him staggering back. Marrow and Cammie charged in with a mix of powerful kicks and sword slashes that were all aimed at the knight, but she just weaved through them as if they were kids pretending to fight. The metal on the back of Marion's suit shifted and opened up, allowing two metal wings to jut out and slam into the two Ace-Ops. With purple jets emerging from the wings, she flew into the air, spinning in place as her hooked sword turned into the large cannon build.
"You know, one thing you got right, prototype, is naming the builds. I call these Lucifer's Wings and this little number? Heh, well, Bombs Away!" Marion grinned as she took aim and fired at Harriet.
Just as Harriet was about to get hit by Marion's blast, Elm dashed in front of her, bracing herself for the impact. The explosion knocked Outcasts' double agent down, but she managed to shield Harriet from harm.
"Elm!" Harriet cried out.
Qrow, Robyn, Marrow, and Cammie all attacked Marion at once, but she simply dodged and weaved through their attacks without so much as a speck of effort. The purple energy flowing through her armor intensified around her wings before, with a flap of her build, she unleashed a purple energy shockwave that sent all of her opponents flying back, their weapons clattering to the ground.
"You're all so predictable," Marion taunted, hovering in the air with Lucifer's Wings. "It's like you keep forgetting. I was an Ace Op, the best of the best! Not my first fight where I'm outnumbered!"
Elm thudded to the ground thanks to the previous blast from the Bombs Away build, covered in soot as her green Aura flickered, seemingly on the verge of breaking. Hariet rushed over, her arms still bound, her mind just a mix of so many conflicting emotions.
"Why did you do that?! Your Aura-!" Harriet tried to rationalize the act.
"Because..." Elm huffed. "You're going through a lot. No need for you to get burnt by an old friend today."
"Now's not the time for jokes, Elm!" Harriet yelled, "I just...ugh, what the fuck is wrong with me?!"
"You're internalizing all the pain and issues and instead of addressing them, you're just bottling them up, ignoring them. That's gonna make it all worse instead of helping," Elm frowned.
"Wow, my 'death' hit you harder than I thought, didn't it?" Marion smirked, overhearing the exchange.
"Shut...shut up! You...you're not...you're not-!" Harriet shot back weakly.
"I'm not Marion? Oh please...I am Marion, the one who finally saw through all of Ironwood's false promises," the knight paused her taunting and looked over the Ace Ops' speedster, "Are...are you having a panic attack? The breathing, the eyes...all signs of one. But you're Harriet Bree! You don't do panic attacks!"
Harriet gritted her teeth, trying to will away the fear and anxiety that threatened to overwhelm her. Marion sneered at her and it all returned to her in full force, all that trauma.
Why...why can't I...shake this!? the speedster mentally asked herself.
"Need some help there, Hare?" the Black Knight grinned, morphing her hand into a dark metal, purple glowing scythe. She narrowed her eyes at her old friend and leveled the scythe, the jets on the wings roaring before Marion raced towards the frozen Ace-Op. Harriet realized what was happening all too late. This was the day she di-
Her train of thought was interrupted when someone shoved her out of the way. The scythe still found a target, its purple energy blade cutting through flesh, bone, and Aura alike. Marion turned to look at the Ace-Ops' speedster on the ground, disappointed she missed, looking back to who she actually impaled.
"No...no, no, no, no, no...VINE!" Harriet screamed.
Vine coughed off some blood, but lifted his head to glare at Marion. "The day you died...I took an oath. An oath to protect the people who couldn't defend themselves, to fight against those who would threaten their safety…"
He stood up shakily, his injured body trembling. "I don't care…who you used to be, Black Knight. I won't let you hurt anyone else."
"Oh, Vine...you were my favorite, well, aside from Hare and Clover," Marion sighed, "You always stayed out of people's way, kept to yourself. Did those kids affect you so much that you just had to intervene?"
"More...than I thought," Vine coughed, summoning up enough Aura around his arm to grip the purple blade of Marion's scythe.
"How unfortunate," Black Knight sighed, before she wrenched the blade free, cutting out of Vine's side with a splatter of blood that just made the hangar go deathly quiet. Vine's body slumped to the floor as what was left of his Aura shattered.
"You...you..." Harriet panicked as Marion turned to her and grinned.
"Your turn," Marion promised before Fetch flew in and clipped one of her wings, "What?!"
Fetch returned to Marrow, who looked horribly distraught and yet oddly calm. It was like staring into the eye of a storm. Marrow gritted his teeth, his hand trembling as he tightened his grip on his weapon.
"All these years, I always wondered what the person I replaced was like." Marrow admitted. "I wondered what Harriet liked about her, why she would properly hate me for being second rate compared to someone so much better than me."
"And now that I meet her..." Marrow looked up, his eyes lighting up, "I think I can confidently say I'm happy that I replaced you, you goddamn monster."
"Old vs new blood. Alright then," Marion smirked, readying for the fight to come. Marrow didn't even hesitate at that point. He rushed in with Fetch and leapt into the air, bringing the rifle's blade down on the Black Knight. The scythe build moved to counter the heavy strike, before the knight swiftly flourished her weapon and moved for a downward strike of her own. Marrow dodged out of the way before the scythe's blade impaled him too, lashing out with a combo of strikes. Each one, unfortunately, was blocked by Marion's impressive weapon skills. It was almost like fighting Ruby in a way. The scythe parried one of the slashes and quickly morphed into her Devil's Hands clawed gauntlets. She lashed out and tried to use the opening given to her by the parry to impale Marrow. Instead, though, Cammie rushed in and kicked away the gauntlets.
"Like you said, old vs new. Desperate appointment or not...I'm still an Ace Operative," Cammie said before unleashing a flurry of side kicks that Marion managed to block and parry. On the last one, Cammie ducked under the incoming attack from Qrow, a side arc that would've decapitated the knight if she didn't bring up her gauntlets to block. The blade met the claws, followed by two quick shotgun blasts, one from each barrel, both of which sent her skidding back. Robyn raced in and slashed at the fallen Ace Op's back with her weapon's war fan-like mode, the first hit landing before Marion morphed one of her Devil's Hands into the hooked sword, the Butcher Hook. The Black Knight turned around and tried to hook Robyn's weapon and arm, stab through both and make sure the Happy Huntresses' leader could be finished off easily.
But Marrow came in at the right time and yelled, "STAY!" Marion froze up in the middle of the swing, letting Robyn do a backflip kick that knocked the disgraced Ace-Op off her feet.
"You might be the best of the best, but that doesn't mean you can't take hits," Robyn smirked.
With a swift and agile leap, Marion sprang back into action, skillfully molding her hands into a formidable arsenal of Bombs Away, in truth one of her most cherished constructs, especially when surrounded. She loved playing the 'bait,' acting like she was beaten, then dropping the bomb, quite literally. Her arms morphed into the twin powerful cannons that were now fully armed with an abundant supply of ammunition. Initiating her onslaught, she unleashed a volley of explosive projectiles, wreaking havoc upon the hangar with devastating force.
"SHIT!" Qrow yelled, ducking out of the way for cover. While the others retreated, Rex boldly navigated the 'bomb site', his hand deftly transitioning into an entirely new construct. As the billowing smoke gradually dissipated, Marion was greeted with the sight of Rex, jumping into the air with a giant hammer for a hand. Instead of surprise or fear, she just reacted with amusement.
"That's new." the former Ace-Op grinned, firing off a new barrage of bombs to destroy the new hammer. Rex swung the construct and betted on sheer brute force, attempting to crush Marion's bombs before they could detonate. However, the Black Knight's agility and precision allowed her to outmaneuver him, quickly adapting her strategy to keep him at bay.
Rex's arm then morphed into the Slam Cannon. It dug into the ground to grab some debris, before firing off the compressed metal cannonball. His opponent swiftly leaped into the air, somersaulting and spinning mid-air to avoid the incoming projectiles. With remarkable agility, she landed gracefully on the ground a safe distance away from the impact zone. Not wasting any time, Marion retaliated by first transforming her hands into a whip-like construct, crackling with electrical energy. She swung it with lightning speed, aiming to immobilize Rex and leave him vulnerable.
The whip wrapped around Rex's hammer and sent out its current, shocking the nanite-user and leaving him open. She lashed out with the second whip and wrapped its cord around her enemy's neck, adding more voltage to the shock. Marion sadistically grinned, trying to amp up the shocks, before something slashed through both cords. Harriet reached up her hand and grabbed Thorn, her body still wracked with panic and confusion.
"H-how the hell did you bust out-" Marion asked, genuinely caught off guard, but Harriet ignored her question. Immediately, her body overclocked itself, going instantly from stable to a Berserker state. She rushed at Marion, tossing Thorn so hard it probably could've broken the sound barrier. Harriet's former friend tried to block it with her arm, but the throwing star was too powerful. Even when the weapon clashed with her armor, it seemed to defy every law of physics it could as it continued to spin like a buzzsaw, sparking against the metal.
What the hell!? Marion thought. Then she remembered something important. Vine had a special function added into Thorn early on in his career, that being the Dust mode.
The gravity Dust in the throwing star was usually used to give it more range, let it fly farther on a single throw than normal and allow for a greater number of ricochets. And that was the normal secondary function. By overclocking the Dust inside, using up more of the substance as a trade-off, Thorn was essentially given infinite spin. Harriet used the enhanced shuriken as a distraction and as a way to handicap Marion. She swerved to the left and threw out a few quick jabs, take advantage of the knight only able to fight with one arm, but the former Ace-Op was ready for that. She parried aside the punches before tossing aside Thorn, letting it clatter to the ground.
"Did you honestly think you could beat me, Hare? You never could even when I didn't have the nanites in my blood," Marion scoffed, shifting away from energy whips to a pair of energy axes dubbed the War Hatchets, ready to fight her "sister."
Harriet scrambled to her feet, picking up Thorn as she did, before throwing herself back into the fray. She thrust the weapon towards Marion's way, her ferocity making it seem like she was trying to cut off one of her limbs with the throwing star.
"All my life, ALL MY LIFE, I've devoted myself to a GODDAMN LIE! I PUSHED PEOPLE AWAY BECAUSE OF YOU! I DEVOTED MY LIFE TO THE MISSION, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU'D DO! AND I HAVE NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT! ALL OF THAT JUST TO FIND OUT YOU'RE ALIVE AND WORKING WITH SALEM!"
"Medals, commendations, Atlas would've hailed you as a hero," Marion argued, countering Harriet's mad flurry with strikes of her own, "And you say it's nothing?"
"SHUT UP! You're not trying to praise Atlas, you're just trying to play me!" Harriet growled as Thorn's blades ground against that of the massive nanite ax.
"Ah, I missed that. Quick learner, Hare, always were," Black Knight smirked before a new build appeared over her eyes. The build resembled a pair of safety goggles with a single purple visor, the glow entirely obscuring her eyes behind them while a small extra piece jutted up from the middle of the goggles, projecting a purple targeting laser. Harriet saw it hover over her face and she quickly ran out of the way. A millisecond later, Marion fired out a concentrated, rectangular beam of purple energy that would've incinerated the speedster if she had hesitated.
"Well...this looks incredibly intense, doesn't it?" Nesmith asked as he and Chiffon watched the battle unfold.
"Incredibly. And...part of me realizes that maybe the Ace Ops weren't all they were meant to be," the extremist realized.
"Yeah but...you're not bad. Ever think about being a superhero?"
"Well...I do have the bird gimmick for it...hmmm, but first, I suggest we get out of here. Can your suit still stand?"
"With some effort, but yeah. Make for the ship?" Nesmith asked.
"Not this one. I know where another hangar is," Chiffon answered.
"Perfect!"
Chiffon started to slip out of the gravity bolas, using a single hardlight feather from his rig to cut the bindings, and immediately started to help Nesmith.
"Alright. We go to Mistral, act like nothing happened, and come back to Atlas when things cool off. Deal?" the rich extremist suggested.
"Deal." Nesmith said, before the two booked it.
"Hey! Where are you-?!" Cammie yelled, but she stopped when she saw the doors to the hangar open and reveal three whole squads of Atlesian androids, Knights and Praetors both. The two fleeing Ace-Ops stopped for a moment upon seeing the machines, but continued on when they seemed to be ignored. Half of the androids' visors turned purple, while the other half turned red.
"I hope you don't mind the back-up," Watts announced over the comm with a smirk, "It's terribly boring up here, you know. Nothing but corpses and I can't exactly talk to the dead, now can I?"
"I'm fine, Arthur!" Marion growled.
"Well, I'll just lighten the burden then. Prioritizing MacCloud, Branwen and Hill. I'll leave you your successor, the brute if she can still stand and...whatever your relationship with Bree is. Can't be bothered to remember right now."
Qrow grit his teeth. "Too cowardly to fight us yourself, huh? Heard you gave Ironwood a run for his money, would have loved to bash your face in."
"Ohohoh, such a scathing retort.. Quips won't save you here, birdy." Watts scoffed.
"Oh, don't be too mad with him. From what I heard, he's an inventor by trade. And knowing him, he only tells people what to make and he takes all the credit," Robyn taunted.
"...and you have just made it to the top of my kill list, Miss Hill," Watts sneered.
"Aww, such an honor!"
With that, the Knights drew their arm blades and rushed in, more of them focusing on the Happy Huntresses' leader. She smirked and fired off bolts from her crossbow to stop them in their tracks, or at least that was the idea. What should've normally dropped the machines was now just an inconvenience to them, as now they charged forward with three bolts in their chassis.
"Oh that's cheating," Robyn huffed.
"Overclocking their cores, shutting down their smarter protocols," Watts smirked. "Have fun dealing with them when they don't really care about tactics."
Cammie knew that they needed a strategy to bust through these stupid machines. She quickly analyzed the situation and formulated a plan.
"Aim for the heads!" Cammie yelled, leaping up to kick a head off a robot with ease.
"Hardest problems, easiest solutions, something like that," Robyn shrugged, rushing in and lashing out at one of the Knights. Its arm blade rose up to meet the bladed wings of the Happy Huntresses's stylized weapon. She smirked and swept the drone's legs out from under it before slicing down, severing its head from its shoulders.
"Not much of a distraction..." Marion sighed and turned to Marrow and Harriet, "but enough to where we can have some time to ourselves."
"Keep that fucking visor on..." Harriet seethed.
"Hah! Well if it makes it easier for you...no," Marion swapped out the Death Stare and morphed one of her gauntlets into a larger pair of claws, the blades each composed of glowing purple energy.
Harriet wasted no time and activated her Fast Knuckles. She darted forward, aiming to deliver a rapid barrage of punches and kicks. Her movements were a blur as she unleashed a flurry of strikes, her attacks fueled by her anger towards Marion.
Marion, on the other hand, relied on her Devil's Hands. The Armor of Achilles, what she dubbed the trademark armor she was always seen clad in, was already enough of a good defense, but she wanted to make things harder for Harriet. She deftly dodged Harriet's initial onslaught, her nimble movements allowing her to anticipate and counter the attacks. With each swift motion, Marion aimed to capitalize on any opening she could find.
" You're an open book to me. Or are you trying to bury that too?" Marion smirked.
Harriet's frustration grew, her attacks becoming more aggressive and reckless. She threw a series of wild punches and kicks, but Marion expertly sidestepped each one, her movements precise and economical. She was always a step ahead, analyzing Harriet's patterns and exploiting her openings.
With a sudden burst of speed, Marion closed the distance between them, ducking under one of Harriet's wild swings. She retaliated with her sharp claws, aiming for her one-time friend's exposed areas. She targeted vulnerable spots like Harriet's sides and legs, aiming to disrupt her balance and limit her mobility.
"COME ON, HARE!" Marion teased. "YOU CAN DO BETTER!"
"Do you ever shut up?!" Marrow yelled, throwing the Black Knight off by following up one of Harriet's punches with a powerful uppercut slash. The hit made the knight stagger, much to her annoyance, as she was put on the defensive again. Just as she had examined Harriet's movements, so too had she gone over Marrow's. While not being as familiar with his fighting style, it was easy enough for her to pick it apart and find the weaknesses. She lashed out and managed to scrape at Marrow's side, cutting away at his shirt and skin. Not deep enough to be life threatening, but Marion's claws did still draw blood, the crimson liquid now staining her build.
"Would you prefer I go back to being some anonymous robot?" Marion taunted as she shook the blood off her blades, "Follow Ironwood's little doctrine?"
"No! I think...I think we would've preferred it if you just stayed dead," Marrow seethed.
"Going for the heart, eh Armin? Well, hate to say it...but it's as metallic as the general's now."
"STAY!" Marrow yelled, his voice filled with determination. Marion's body froze up upon hearing that simple word. Harriet, realizing the advantage they had gained, swiftly capitalized on the situation. She leapt forward, her Fast Knuckles powering her punches with enhanced strength, letting her deliver a series of precise blows.
"You're! Can't! Be! Her!" Harriet screamed between each hit, finishing up with an uppercut from Thorn. The throwing star cut into Marion's eye as she was knocked off her feet. The speedster of the Ace-Ops took in several shaky and rage-fuelled breaths as she watched the Black Knight get back up, freed from Marrow's Semblance. A hand shot up to her eye on instinct and the once-dead Ace Op screamed in pain as blood seeped between her armored fingers.
"Hare, are you-?" Marrow began, but he was cut off when he heard Marion's scream quickly transition into laughter.
"Good one, Harriet! You could hardly touch me back when you had the pony tail and the death scrunchie!" Marion chuckled, "And, and, and now look at you! You took one of my fucking eyes! That'd be something...if nanites weren't such effective little medics." The Black Knight lowered her hand away from her face to show Marrow and Harriet that her wound was being quickly healed, purple circuitry lines forming around the eye socket and regrowing the damaged tissue.
Harriet's fury turned into shock as Marion's laughter echoed through the hangar.
"What...what are you?" Marrow's voice wavered with a mix of concern and confusion.
Marion's laughter subsided and she smirked, after revealing her new healing factor. "Oh, I'm just a little something more than just a 'build it wreck it' type of nanite user. I possess something far greater than Rex's little Omega Nanite."
"Omega what?" Rex repeated.
"Your parents called it...the Alpha Nanite."