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At
Sun’s confusing suggestion, Blake found herself at Vale’s dockyard watching
over a Schnee Dust Company shipment that had just come in. She kept a low
profile lying prone on top of a warehouse roof overlooking the shipping yard.
Night had fallen and she scanned all the hiding places, shadows, and edges of
the Schnee shipping containers, but there was no movement.
“Did I
miss anything?” Sun plopped down next to her, clutching a bushel of apples to
his chest.
“Not
really. They’ve offloaded all the crates from the boat. Now they’re just
sitting there.”
“Cool.
I stole you some food,” Sun said, casually offering her a granny smith.
“Do
you always break the law without a second thought?”
“Hey,
weren’t you in a cult or something?”
She
gave him a smoldering glare.
Sun
crumbled. “Okay. Too soon.”
Suddenly,
a strong wind kicked up around them as an whirring engine roared. An airship
was above. Tensions slightly rose as they watched it drop into the yard. The
boarding ramp shot down and Blake felt sick.
“Is
that them?” Sun spied a man with a white coat that had a red tiger’s face and
claw marks on the back. He wore a white mask that vaguely resembled a Grimm.
“Yes.
It’s them.”
Several
more disembarked from the airship, one carrying a gun. He ordered, “Grab the
tow cables. Let’s get the Dust and get out of here.”
Sun
said, “You really didn’t think they were behind it, did you?”
“No. I
think deep down I knew. I just didn’t want to be right.”
Just
then, there was a new voice coming from the airship. “Hey! What’s the hold up?
We’re not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment,” said
Roman Torchwick. “So, why don’t you animals try to pick up the pace.”
“This
isn’t right,” said Blake. “The White Fang would never work with a human. Especially not one like that.” She
jumped off the warehouse ignoring Sun’s protests and charged into the shipping
yard.
Blake
peered around a shipping container and saw Torchwick scolding a White Fang
member holding a steel cable. “No, you idiot. This isn’t a leash.”
Blake
leapt forward and put the back of her blade across Torchwick’s throat.
“What
the—? Oh, for f—”
“Nobody
move!” demanded Blake. Several of the White Fang drew weapons on her.
“Whoa,
hey!” said Torchwick. “Take it easy there, little lady.”
As
more White Fang surrounded her, Blake undid her bow. “Brothers of the White
Fang, why are you aiding this scum?!”
Some
of the White Fang seemed ashamed and lowered their weapons.
Torchwick
laughed. “Oh, kid. Didn’t you get the memo?”
“What
are you talking about?”
“The
White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together.”
“Tell
me what it is, or I’ll put an end to your little operation.” Suddenly, there
were two more airships kicking up fierce gusts at their arrival.
“I
wouldn’t exactly call it a ‘little’ operation.”
Blake
looked up at the airships and was distracted momentarily. Torchwick pointed the
end of his cane at her feet and fired. The resulting explosion sent her flying
back.
Elsewhere
in Vale, the explosion caught the attention of Ruby and Penny. Ruby groaned.
“Oh, no.”
Torchwick
continued to bombard Blake with his cane. She dodged the shots expertly, but
found it necessary to take cover, dodging behind a shipping container.
“Here,
kitty, kitty,” taunted Torchwick. But then, something floppy fell on his hat.
He cleared it off and found it to be a banana peel. He looked up to see where
it came from just as two feet landed on top of his head and knocked him to the
ground with force.
Sun
rolled and jumped back up to his feet. “Leave her alone,” he threatened.
Seven
more White Fang members jumped down from the two airships still circulating the
yard. They surrounded Sun.
“You
are not the brightest banana in the bunch, are ya kid?” said Torchwick.
The
White Fang charged Sun. He took them on using only fisticuffs proving to be a
capable fighter not even taking a single hit and using his tail as an extra
appendage. Eventually though, he pulled out a rod that extended into a bo
staff. With each hit, there was a small fiery explosion suggesting that there
was Dust embedded into the staff. He knocked back several of the White Fang
before slamming it on the ground creating a shockwave that felled the nearest
three.
Torchwick,
exhausted with his inept crew, took things into his own hands and fired. Sun
however managed to block it and dissipate the shot by spinning his staff.
Suddenly,
Blake jumped out from behind Sun. “He’s mine!” She charged Torchwick and dueled
him fiercely. She used both her sword and sheath as well as her Semblance to
dodge attacks and burst forward. Torchwick however proved to be more than a
capable opponent with his cane. He parried every hit and dished out some of his
own despite his undisciplined fighting style.
Torchwick
managed to catch Blake off guard by whacking her with the crook of the cane. He
followed that up with three more attacks that eventually knocked Blake to the
ground. He laughed, but then Sun was on him.
Sun
broke apart his staff into two sets of nunchucks and went at Torchwick flipping
and spinning them. Sun fired one of them revealing that they were actually
shot-chucks possessing a lever and handle at each end of the chuk and a gun
barrel on the other.
Torchwick
was surprised, but he held his ground. He managed to deflect or block each shot
so well, he didn’t take the fight seriously even managing a laugh until Blake
charged and slashed across his chest with Gambol Shroud. He was knocked back
several feet, but as he got up, he saw a shipping container suspended by a
crane. He shot the cable holding it hoping to flatten Sun and Blake. They
dodged it, but Sun went forward as Blake went back. Sun hadn’t stuck the
landing and as he was getting up, he found the business end of Torchwick’s cane
pointed at him.
Suddenly,
there was a “Hey!” from atop the far warehouse and Ruby appeared, flourishing
her scythe.
“Oh,
hello, Red!” said Torchwick. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”
“Ruby,”
said Penny, “are these people your friends?”
“Penny,
get back.”
Torchwick
took the opening and fired at Ruby. The shot hit her and she went flying,
losing her scythe in the blast. Torchwick laughed evilly. Penny’s eyes narrowed
and she stepped up to the end of the roof.
“Penny,
wait! Stop!”
“Don’t
worry, Ruby,” she replied. “I’m combat ready!” A panel in Penny’s back opened
and out sprung a long object. It paused in mid air, extended into a sword, and
then multiplied into ten swords.
Penny
ran and jumped off the warehouse. She landed amongst several White Fang and
with the slightest stretch of her arms, the ten swords danced through the air
knocking them back. More joined the fray, but Penny sent her swords flying
forward and they sent the charging White Fang flying back en masse.
Three
airships targeted Penny and started firing their 20 mm Dust cannons. Penny
merely spun her swords creating a shield deflecting the projectiles while two
more swords shot directly out of her back. They embedded themselves in the
warehouse wall and the almost invisible wires that attached the swords to Penny
became taut pulling her all the way back to the warehouse.
She
formed the ten blades again into a spinning circle, but their shape slightly
altered so they looked like guns, their ends pointed at the airships. As they
spun, a ball of green energy began to grow in the center of them. Penny waited
a second, then pushed both of her fists forward. The ball of energy turned into
a beam and split into several smaller beams slicing two of the airships in
half. Their crews fell into the yard and the airship halves wrecked in the bay.
The
other airship was beginning to cart away a Schnee container, but Penny aimed
six of her swords at it. They flew upward and dug into the ship’s steel hull,
the wires became taut again, and Penny began to back up, pulling the airship
with her.
Ruby
was in awe. “How is she doing that?”
Penny
had a brief tug of war with the airship before pulling down with all her might
making it crash into the yard.
Torchwick,
amid all the chaos, made good his escape on the first ship. Before closing the
hatch, he commented, “These kids just keep getting weirder.”
***
Sometime
later, the Vale police showed up and started casing the scene. They took
statements from Ruby, Penny, Sun, and Blake, and got to business investigating
the rest of the yard.
The
four sat off to the side by themselves. No one spoke. Ruby had called Yang and
Weiss on her scroll, and they waited for them in silence. Both Ruby and Blake
were anxious to hear what Weiss would have to say. Finally, they appeared.
Ruby
was first to approach Weiss. “Look, Weiss. It’s not what you think. She
explained the whole thing. See, she doesn’t actually wear a bow. She actually
has kitty ears, and they’re actually kind of cute…” But Ruby’s plea fell on
deaf ears as Weiss strode up to Blake.
The
two stared at each other for a while. Blake broke the silence first. “Weiss. I
want you to know that I’m no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I
was—”
“Stop.
Do you have any idea how long we’ve been searching for you?”
Blake
went blank.
“Twelve
hours. And, you’ve been missing for two days. Meaning, I’ve had a lot of time
to think about this. And in that whole time I’ve decided… I don’t care.”
Everyone
seemed dumbfounded.
“You
don’t care?”
“You
said you’re not one of them anymore, right?”
“No. I
haven’t been since I was younger—”
Weiss
quickly hushed her. “I don’t want to hear it. All I want to know is that the
next time something this big comes up, you’ll come to your teammates and not
some…” glances were shot at Sun, “and not someone else.”
Blake
wasn’t really sure what to make of Weiss’ request. But considering everything
that Blake knew about her, this was as personable as Weiss was going to get. If
Blake read between her words, she discovered that Weiss was actually saying a
lot more. She did feel a little touched as betrayed by her necessity to wipe
away a small tear that had developed in the corner of her eye. “Of course.”
Weiss
nodded and smiled.
Ruby
blurted out, “Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!”
But
then Weiss turned to Sun. “I’m still not quite sure how I feel about you.”
He
laughed nervously.
Ruby
and Yang joined their teammates, but Ruby noticed something was wrong. “Hey,
wait a minute. Where’s Penny?”
Some
distance away in a Forge Model V, Penny looked out its tinted windows, longing
to be back with her friends.
“You
should know better than to go running around in a strange city,” said an old,
raspy voice, sitting right next to her.
Penny
looked at the car’s floor. “I know, sir.”
“Penny…
your time will come.”
***
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