Chapter 20
Subway Tunnels
The train sped down the underground railway, the wheels under the cars sparking from friction.
One White Fang soldier looked back down the tunnel, just catching a glimpse of a red blur vanishing behind the car. Raising an eyebrow, he reached for his comms.
"Uhh… I think they made it on the tr-"
But before he could finish, a quick smack on the head from Oobleck's club knocked him out swiftly.
"This way!" The teacher called out as they began to climb to the roof of the car.
Meanwhile in the control room, a White Fang grunt entered, breathing heavily. "Uhh… boss, I think they got on the train."
Roman let out an exasperated sigh. "Then grab some cargo and get them off the train!"
As the faunus scurried out of the car, Roman pinched his nose in frustration. "Manic animals, every one of them!..."
But then he immediately changed his tone once he remembered the faunus standing right next to him working the controls. "B-but not you though, you're… you're great!"
Kabal sighed with a facepalm and proceeded to walk out of the car.
Meanwhile outside, Team RWBY and JKHL had climbed to the roof of the train, listening for orders from their teacher. "Hurry! We must get to the engine and stop this train!"
But Weiss raised her hand after she opened a hatch. "Uhh... Professor?"
" Doctor."
"What's that?" Weiss asked, pointing down the hatch at a peculiar-looking device inside, colored wires curling in and out the machinery.
"That, my dear... appears to be a bomb." Oobleck said, causing each of the girls to instinctively leap back in alarm.
"We got baddies incoming!" Johnny called out, alerting the team to a large group of White Fang soldiers walking towards them, climbing out from the train cars.
"Well, I didn't expect them to go-" Oobleck said before being alerted to a beeping noise. They all looked down the hatch to see that the bomb was armed and ready to blow, a red light blinking with a rhythmic beep.
"… easy on us. Time to go!" Oobleck finished, ushering them to run to the next car. But Oobleck managed to gain Blake's attention before she could follow her team. "Blake! Detach the caboose! It will kill us all!"
"Right!" Blake leapt down to the coupling, gaining her footing and trying not to slip. She then brought out her Gambol Shroud and raised it high, ready to sever the connection. However, much to her surprise, the cars separated by themselves.
"I-it decoupled itself!" Blake reported to her teammates.
"What?!" Oobleck exclaimed in surprise.
"I guess he really doesn't want us on this train!" Yang said.
The group then turned their attention to the car lagging behind down the tunnel, slowing down until the bomb detonated with a terrific explosion. After the car exploded, muffled roars and growls could be heard above on the surface, and Oobleck knew exactly what that was.
"That's not good…" He said to himself, until Ruby interrupted him.
"Uh, neither is this!" She pointed down at the hatch in their car, where another bomb identical to the last one was sitting.
" Another bomb?!" Blake asked in shock.
Oobleck's eyes widened as he connected the dots. "No, no, no…"
Running to the next car to confirm his suspicions, he jumped over to the next car and opened the hatch, and sure enough, there was another bomb like the last inside.
"They all have bombs!"
Suddenly, the bomb on the second car began to arm, the red ight blinking menacingly. Seeing this, the group hurriedly ran and jumped to the next car just as soon as the cars detached from one another.
"This doesn't make sense!" Yang yelled out in frustration.
But then, all of them turned their attention towards the advancing horde of White Fang soldiers coming towards them.
Narrowing their gazes, The ran forward and stood ready for a fight, their weapons deployed and armed.
One Fang member reached to grab Yang, but she managed to kick him in the leg, throwing him off balance, and then swept him by the legs, flipping him upwards to catch her winking eye, before slamming him down the hatch with a pounding fist.
Blake nimbly slinked through the attacking group of faunus, moving under their noses and eyes, using her blades to slash at her opponent's legs, thinning out the crowd and taking out enemies efficiently.
Weiss clicked the chamber in her rapier, rolling out an ice dust slot before bursting forward with a glyph, leaving a spiky trail of ice jutting up from the ground behind her. Speeding through the enemy line, the ice knocked back any and all faunus standing in the way, and then Weiss held Myrtenaster in her hand with a steady stance, moving to cut down the foes remaining in her path.
Seeing Weiss nod her way, Ruby cocked her weapon and fired. Dashing straight and quickly from the recoil, Ruby flicked her weapon back as she brought it backwards for a powerful swing. Cleaving through the horde of White Fang soldiers with a graceful spin, the entire crowd of faunus fell unconscious and injured.
Scorpion and Sub Zero fought back to back, making quick work of any White Fang members that got too close. Liu Kang and Johnny were also close by blasting White Fang members with various projectiles
Suddenly, a deafening explosion filled the tunnel, directing Oobleck's eyes to the last car to detach. The explosion sent the car flying upwards, tearing a hole through the roof of the tunnels.
As the rubble and dust cleared, Oobleck could spot Grimm of all kinds descending to the tunnels from two-limbed Creeps and Beowolves to Deathstalkers and a massive King Taijitu.
Over loud roars and screeches, the massive horde began to pursue the train, lured in by the negativity emanating from the passengers.
In horror, Oobleck realized what was going on. "He's leading Grimm into the city!"
"What?!" Weiss yelled.
"It's the cars! They detach and explode, creating openings for the Grimm!" Oobleck explained.
"That's insane!" Blake exclaimed in shock.
As they spoke, yet another car detached, urging Oobleck to run forward. "We cannot let this train reach the city!"
"It's decided then, you four should go up ahead and try to stop those bombs, my team and Doctor Oobleck will handle this." Liu Kang said causing Team RWBY nod as they left
"So what's the plan?" Johnny asked
"We're going to stop this train." Oobleck replied, striking a triumphant pose.
Meanwhile
Yang descended into the train car, followed by Ruby, Weiss and Blake. Looking down the ominous hallway of the train car, they drew their weapons with sweat lining their brows.
"I guess this is what we trained for…" Yang said.
Weiss then reached into her pocket, pulling out a multi-dust pistol clip. "Here. You'll need this." She said, passing it to Blake, who took the clip with a nod, loading it into Gambol Shroud.
Once everyone was ready, Ruby, Yang, Blake and Weiss ran down to the next car, only to stop when a bright figure descended from the roof of the train car in front of them with a loud thud.
Yang leaned in for a closer look and saw that it was the same girl who Torchwick had escaped with that night. Neo raised her head to meet the girls' gazes with a sinister grin, her eyes a dark brown.
Clenching her fists in memory of that night before, Yang said to her teammates, "You three go on ahead. This one's mine."
Nodding, Ruby, Weiss and Blake ran past Neo to the next car as Yang fired a shell at Neo, who simply flipped backwards to dodge the blow.
Walking up to Neo, Yang now saw how much taller she was compared to the diminutive girl, who looked up to meet her gaze with different-colored eyes blinking at her with a mischievous smirk.
Yang threw her arm back to try and punch her, but before she knew it, she was staggering backwards and saw Neo unfurling her parasol with a confident grin.
Clenching her teeth in anger, Yang ran up to Neo throwing a volley of punches and kicks, but much to her surprise, the girl nonchalantly managed to dodge all her hits seamlessly before proceeding to block a couple of punches and a kick with her parasol and delivered a swift kick to her leg, sending Yang to the ground.
Getting up, Yang barely dodged a dropkick from the gangster and moved to try to hit her again, but Neo only grabbed her fist and pulled her in for a kick to the chin and another heel to the gut, throwing Yang backwards.
Yang got up again and turned around to see Neo behind her and shot a shell from Ember Celica, only for Neo to unfold her lacy parasol, blocking the shot, doing the same for following punches and shots from Yang while landing a few quick swipes at her neck as she playfully toyed with the blonde brawler.
Yelling in anger, Yang fired a shot at the floor in front of Neo, only for her to cartwheel backwards and gracefully landed seated on top of a crate with her parasol held behind her. Yang growled. Nobody toyed with Yang Xiao Long. One way or another, she was going to pummel this little bitch to the ground.
Meanwhile
In the next car Ruby, Blake and Weiss ran in a break for the control room.
Suddenly, they all stopped as they spotted Kabal twirling his Hookblades
"Sorry ladies, but this is the end of the line for you." Kabal said
Weiss turned to Blake before speaking
"You go on ahead! Ruby and I will handle this!"
With this, Blake nodded and ran ahead to the next car. Kabal was about to take Blake down before Ruby used her semblance to appear behind him to deliver a kick, but before it could hit her opponent managed to turn around to deflect her attack. Seeing this Weiss swung at him with Myrtenaster, only for him to deflect the hit with his blades. Soon, Ruby and Weiss found themselves to be on the defensive quite quickly as Kabal barreled down on them with quick and violent swipes while moving at inhuman speed .
Ducking under a swing and stepping back from a shanking thrust, Weiss burst towards Kabal with a glyph, hoping her speed could catch him off-guard, but Kabal merely side stepped her advance kicking her with enough force to dent the car. Ruby tried to use her semblance again but Kabal sped towards her while grabbing her cape before tossing her to Weiss who was still recovering.
"Thought you'd be faster." Kabal mocked
Standing up, Ruby and Weiss staggered while ignoring the pain they were feeling. Seeing this Kabal smirked at them before raising his weapons, adopting a fighting stance.
Both girls began mentally preparing for the fight of their life.
Meanwhile
Blake ran down the train car and kicked down the door to the control room, ready to end this.
And sure enough, there stood Roman Torchwick, turning his head to see her. Twirling his cane with his finger, Roman grinned.
"Hello, kitty cat! You miss me? Y'know, we really gotta stop meeting like this. People are gonna talk."
Growling with bared teeth, Blake sprinted toward Roman, the latter groaning and stepping forward slowly.
Roman stared ahead at the young faunus. She was running in a straight line, practically leaving herself open. Chuckling to himself, Roman raised his cane to beat her down.
However, Blake cast a shadow clone flaming with fire dust as she rolled under Roman. As Roman struck the decoy, next thing he knew he was flying up to the ceiling from a fiery explosion.
Blake drew her sword and sheath, swinging both blades into Roman's body before both of them landed. Groaning, Roman rose up again stroking his head.
Blake landed gracefully and held both blades out in a steady stance. Roman frowned and shot a flare at Blake, trying to blow her to pieces. But Blake cast another copy, this time rock hard from earth dust. The flare hit the stone statue, blowing apart into smithereens.
Blake used this opening to leap over to Roman. Roman attempted to hit her before she landed, only for Blake to counter him by casting a shadow clone so she could land in front of him.
Both fighters then furiously clashed weapons, Roman using his cane to deflect and strike back, and Blake aggressively spinning her swords, trying to push Roman to his limits and exploit any opening.
Swiping at his feet, Roman sneered as he raised his cane, ready to strike her in the back of the head before she could get back up, only for the cat faunus to cast a shadow clone enhanced with ice dust, holding Roman's cane in place and trapping it within the ice statue.
Struggling to pull his weapon free, Blake saw this opportunity and raised Gambol Shroud, channeling all her aura into her arms as she brought the blade down. As the sword slammed into the ground, an arc of pure energy glowing a brilliant purple shot from the blade, streaking across the floor and slicing into Roman and throwing him across the room.
Disoriented, Roman weakly tried to get up, only for Blake to stomp her boot down on his chest, pinning him down to the floor and then she pointed Gambol Shroud at his head, ensuring he couldn't fight back.
Roman then laughed. "Why are we fighting? I saw you at the rally. We're on the same side and you know it."
Meanwhile
Yang glared at Neo, absolutely annoyed at how she wasn't even breaking a sweat as she sat ahead of her, holding her parasol in a relaxed position.
Yang reeled back a fist to hit her again, but Neo swung her parasol around, throwing her fist aside and whirling her nimble body upwards to deflect Yang's punches with swift kicks, pushing her back.
Running towards Neo with a fist, Yang took a shot at her with her gauntlets, which Neo blocked easily with her parasol, before using the parasol to smack aside her punches.
Throwing a kick Yang's way, she saw the move and plucked her foot from the air and spun her body around, trying to throw her to the ground, but the petite woman flipped gracefully with a perfect landing.
Grinning, Neo then proceeded to run up Yang's body, wrapping her legs around her arm. Throwing her weight forward with a flip, she threw Yang upwards to the ceiling, and with a metallic thunk, Yang crashed to the floor unconscious.
Control Room
Blake gritted her teeth as she listened to Roman's taunts at the end of her sword.
"Do you really think that a little bow on top's gonna make people forget who you are? What you've done?"
Blake's eyes flared with dark memories and frustration. She fought for the White Fang, but now when she remembered what she had done for them, she couldn't shake the unbearable regret for her actions since she left.
What Roman was saying undoubtedly rang truth for her, but as her mind cleared, she remembered everything else. Her teammates, Her friends…Kuai Liang. She was fighting for a different cause, and people would be fighting with her.
"So, what's it gonna be, Blake?"
Fed up with his talking, Blake quickly kicked him across the face, knocking him out for good before running back to assist Weiss.
Meanwhile
Neo grasped the handle of her parasol as she calmly strode over to Yang's unconscious body.
Pulling out a long, but thin blade, she gazed over her features silently, before flipping the blade in her hand and raising the weapon in line with Yang's chest with a maniacal grin.
But with the deep hum ringing throughout the train car, Neo immediately turned her head to assess the threat, only to be knocked back by two lightning swift slashes by a dark figure.
Regaining her senses, Neo's eyes flashed a pale white as she saw her attacker. The figure was dressed in a black and red robe, undoubtedly a woman with long black hair spiking outwards, with scale armor covering her arms and a short skirt embroidered with what appeared to be black feathers.
The skirt exposed her legs that weren't covered by her leggings, and in her hands she grasped a large scabbard. The most eerie part of her attire was that her face was covered by a mask resembling Grimm features, much like the White Fang's, albeit much more fearsome in appearance, complete with red markings and four eye slits.
Under the mask, Neo could see blood-red eyes staring into her soul with an ice-cold gaze as the mysterious figure pulled out her weapon, her scabbard turning through different chambers of dust. Her sword was abnormally large, yet thin and light in appearance. The blade curved with a single edge and glowed with an ethereal scarlet.
Knowing exactly who she was dealing with, Neo quickly unfurled her parasol and she was gone in the blink of an eye.
The woman relaxed her stance once Neo was gone, then turned her attention to Yang. Staring apathetically, she flicked the blade in her hand, ripping a swirling red hole into the space.
Sheathing her weapon, she began to walk into the portal. Yang then began to groan as she came to her senses. Blinking her eyes heavily, she caught a brief glimpse of her savior before she disappeared from sight completely once her vision cleared.
Looking around her to see herself completely alone, Yang blinked twice before running to catch up with her team.
Meanwhile
Outside, Team JKHL and Oobleck studied their opponent's movements as multiple Giant Paladins began approaching them.
A massive mech suit raised its mighty fists to slam down on the teacher, only for him to disappear in a burst of speed and climb up to the top of the mech's head, scorching it with his flamethrower.
Team JKHL then rushed in to help, taking down multiple Paladins. Sub Zero created a hail storm that froze multiple Paladins prompting his team to blitz the frozen mechs shattering them. Oobleck was quite impressed that this group of first year students were making short work of the enemy machines.
Not wanting to get left behind, Oobleck tossed Zwei in the air before launching him at more Paladins causing the dog to catch fire as he destroyed multiple Giant mechs.
"So, no one's gonna talk about the fact that Ruby's dog is still alive after that?" Johnny asked scratching his head
"I've said it before and I'll say it again. At this point, I don't question anything that happens here." Scorpion said
Just then Oobleck spoke up. "You boys should go on ahead!"
"But-" Liu Kang tried to argue before Oobleck stopped him.
"Don't worry. I think it's time I taught them a lesson!" Oobleck said as he ran back to deal with the enemies behind them.
Choosing not to argue with their teacher, Team JKHL began rushing towards the front of the train. Upon reaching the control room they found Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang confronting Kabal as he merely stood in front of them, completely unarmed while wearing a bored expression. Upon seeing Sub Zero Kabal smiled
"Long time know see Blueberry Ice." Kabal said causing Sub Zero to frown as he stepped in front of the girls
"The only one permitted to call me that without dying is Cage." Sub Zero said
"I knew you like me." Johnny said from behind
Taking in his current predicament, Kabal concluded that he wouldn't stand a chance against all of them
"As much as I would like that rematch with you, I'm afraid I gotta run." Kabal said making a human size hole in the train before dashing out.
"Are you guys alright?" Sub Zero asked facing the girls
"Yeah, just wasn't expecting him to be that strong." Blake said
Ruby's eyes then widened to see the tunnel's end, where the tracks literally stopped at a concrete wall.
Seeing this, Liu Kang then nodded to Sub Zero, who did the same as he created an Ice Force Field around the group.
Everything that happened next was a complete blur. After the sharp and explosive impact of the train crash, Ruby's head spun like a hurricane, and her brain felt like it was being shocked by lightning. Her ears rung, muffling the sounds of sirens, screaming and the growls of Grimm.
"Oh, come on!" Johnny complained