Omniscient POV
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After accidentally discovering a literal underground crime network in the ruins of Mountain Glenn, Team RWBY, Professor Oobleck, and Zwei engaged the White Fang and Roman Torchwick inside a runaway train making a one way trip to the city of Vale.
Things became much more complicated when they learned that each railcar was packed with explosives, systematically decoupling and blowing holes for Grimm to fall into the tunnels.
Unable to find a way to stop it, the train plowed out of a gate sealed underneath the Town Square.
Citizens ran screaming for their lives as endless waves of Grimm clambered out of the breach and flooded the city, chasing whoever was unfortunate enough to catch their eye, and Team RWBY did the only thing they could in the midst of all the chaos after coming to their senses.
Smack dab in the middle of the Town Square, there was a park, sitting in a lower area that required going up a flight of stairs to reach the surrounding streets and buildings, and a large stage for people to perform on or give presentations to the masses.
Team RWBY used it as bait.
They hollered and flaunted themselves from there like a free snack, gaining the undivided attention of the horde while giving the citizens a chance to escape, and each member of the team individually defended a side of the stage and did whatever possible to hold their ground until any form of help arrived.
Inside the breach on the eastern side of the square, an engine revved inside the head of the train peeking out of the street, and a massive chainsaw sliced open the door.
A large man garbed in White Fang gear stumbled out, head completely covered with a custom mask which signified him as a high-ranking member, a Lieutenant at the very least, of the organization.
Looking around and taking everything in, the chainsaw wielding Lieutenant spotted a white fleck flickering on stage and lost it.
"Schnee!" He sawed apart a Grimm trying to bite him. "I'm not finished with you yet!"
Weiss' fury returned full force, vividly recalling how his lucky shot knocked her unconscious during their previous battle in the train.
An encouraging nudge from her pride and an inkling of revenge motioned her a step closer, but reason stopped her from abandoning the team and screwing them over.
"Go on." Blake came up beside her. "I'm sure you have unfinished business with him."
Weiss flinched. "We can barely hold this spot as is. You need my help."
"It'll be fine." Her bow twitched. "Besides, we've got plenty of that incoming."
A distant explosion followed by the echo of an oddly familiar laugh gave the heiress permission to dash off for vengeance.
Nora Valkyrie sailed past the rooftops on her hammer, whooping and saluting.
At the wrong moment, the black half of a King Taijitu poked its head out from the breach, and Nora promptly squashed it back inside.
Shortly after, a Bullhead entered the hot zone.
Team RTLS and the rest of Team JNPR dropped into the battlefield, and a tidal wave of joy hit Ruby, distracting her from the Beowolf sneaking up from behind.
Luckily, an arrow punched it between the eyes.
Ruby's scroll rang, and the name of the caller sent her heart aflutter.
"Cheers, love. The cavalry's here!" said Cooper. He hummed. "Now where did I hear that before?"
"Cooper!" Ruby put her scroll on speaker and searched for him. "Where are you?"
"Over here." From up on a rooftop on the southern side of the square, he waved his hat. "Look for the dashing fella."
"What are you doing here?" She cut her way up the stairs leading up to the street right below the building he was on. "Aren't you supposed to be on a mission?"
"Could ask you the same thing." Cooper shot down some Nevermores. "But for right now, let's save the chit-chat for after we sweep all the trash into the bin."
The comment cranked Ruby's gears.
"Follow my lead." She hurried to the western end of the street, cleared any Grimm along the way, and stopped in front of a wall. "I got a plan."
"Yeah, and what's that?"
"Shoot your Dust arrows at me."
Cooper fumbled his bow. "You're joking."
"Nope." Ruby knelt on all fours and faced the mob coming at her. "Get ready!"
Like a track star, she broke into a sprint before transforming into a red vortex zipping towards the eastern end of the square. The air pressure lowered. A powerful tailwind sucked up any and all Grimm she passed by, dragging them along for the ride.
Cooper flung a plethora of Dust arrows for the tailwind to gobble up.
Ruby caved in the side of a building to stop herself and leaped to safety. Grimm splashed the wall and piled up on top of each other, providing the perfect canvas for the brushes of broadheads to paint them in nature's wrath.
Meanwhile in the park, Stiofan pole vaulted on stage with Red Fury and stomped a Grimm's skull.
"It's wonderful to see Ruby and Cooper work so well," he said. "Wouldn't you agree, Blake?"
Blake swiped Gambol Shroud across a Grimm's jaw and side eyed him, unamused. "Are you implying something?"
"It appears your hands are full." He hurled Yellow Fury past her and skewered a pouncing Ursa Minor. "Allow me to relieve you of that burden."
To challenge the offer, a rather large Boarbatusk hopped on stage and charged them.
Blake bounced around, projecting shadow clones to distract it. Gambol Shroud had no effect, though, thanks to the suit of armour covering almost its entire body. Blake aimed for the exposed underbelly, but the Boarbatusk balled up like a spinning wheel, zoomed, and at the last second, unfurled itself to gore her into oblivion.
Like a mirage, her body vanished from existence, and the puzzled Boarbatusk huffed at the red glint coming out from behind the clone.
It brandished its curly tusks to block and noticed Gambol Shroud hooked to one of them.
Boosted by her clone from earlier, Blake hovered high above and yanked on her ribbon. The Boarbatusk's head jerked aside, exposing its shoulder. Red Fury grazed it and did so again on the pull back. The connected foreleg froze in place. Blake yanked harder while Stiofan swept out its bad leg, knocking it flat on its side.
Stiofan passed Yellow Fury up to Blake as he dislodged her gun. Blake descended and impaled the Boarbatusk's belly while Stiofan unloaded her entire magazine into its throat.
"Colour me surprised." Blake returned his weapon and cracked a mischievous smirk. "You managed not to fall off."
The day they first met danced in Stiofan's mind.
"Well, of course." He returned her weapon and mirrored her smirk. "Don't think I'll ever let you get away that easily from me again, Beauty of Black."
"Back to the name calling, huh." She rolled her eyes, yet an unmistakable blush found her cheeks. "I'll let it slide this time. . . Stio."
Dynamite went off in the First Guard, and he battled more Grimm with an extra spring in his step.
In the open space around the stage, Jaune screamed like an idiot and button mashed his way to victory while Ren did the exact opposite, ending dozens of Grimm in a precise and graceful manner with his bladed machine pistols. Nora simply smashed, bashed, and crushed everything and anything in front of her, and Pyrrha wrecked any fool to dare cross her path without breaking a sweat.
When Sun and Neptune arrived from the western side of the square (fashionably late), they brandished the temporary badges they received for their mission with pride despite nobody giving a damn.
"Nobody move!" Sun said. "Junior detectives are at the scene!"
Neptune fist bumped his partner. "We have badges so you know it's official."
Heavy duty engines rumbled in the sky, and much to Sun and Neptune's shock, an armada of Atlesian airships casted its shadows and machine gun mowed the Creatures of Grass.
Several Atlesian Knight-200's floated down from the aircrafts on their built-in jetpacks, all too eager to wreak havoc.
From the northern end of the square, Cinder and her team wandered over just as a Grimm fell at her feet, blasted by a fist pumping android.
Cinder wore mini shorts and a short crimson dress. Golden embroidery ran along her sleeves and around a diamond keyhole on her upper back, revealing a tattoo resembling a heart formed by a pair of heels pressed sole-to-sole, and a blue feathered accessory adorned her hip.
Mercury, in a grey zip-up jacket and black slacks, and Emerald, in a crisscrossing collared white vest that exposed her olive crop top and white pants covered by brown chaps, followed closely behind their team leader.
With a simple twist of her head, Cinder set Mercury and Emerald loose while she strolled past the carnage without a care in the world and relaxed at a bench, observing a yellow and red blur on the southern street directly across from her.
Roderick and Yang cut deep into a crowd of Grimm.
Yang led the charge, slugging whatever popped up, and Roderick whipped Rex around to cover their flanks.
Once they reached the eastern side of the street, the breach rumbled, and the white half of the same King Taijitu Nora smacked earlier burst out of the rubble.
"Yang," Roderick said and changed Rex to a rifle. "Go, I'll cover you!"
Roderick shot the snake to distract it, giving Yang an opening to bullet boost herself and latch onto the top of its skull.
Yang cocked a gauntlet and bashed its brains in. "Try not to let this get to your head."
The snake wriggled and hissed, doing whatever it could to toss her off.
"Don't worry." She laughed and kept punching. "It's all in your head."
The snake's desperate attempts for freedom escalated from mere shaking to a full blown rodeo ride.
"What's the matter?" she said through clenched teeth to keep her from biting off her own tongue. "Can't get it out of your head?"
It screeched.
"Did I hit the nail on the head?"
"Enough with the puns, Yang!" Roderick said.
"Fine." She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I'll try to think of something else from off the top of my head."
"Shut up and keep hitting it!"
The King Taijitu failed to notice Rex whipping around its neck. The mechanisms in Roderick's prosthetic whirred, and he cried out, muscling the snake to the ground and holding it in place.
"Yang!" Roderick drew Tyrannus. "I think it's hungry!"
Yang grinned and wrenched on the snake's nostrils, peeling its jaws wide open for Roderick to unload the entire cylinder down its maw. He flicked the switch. It exhaled a breath of fire and smoke, and an explosion packing a decapitating punch boomed out of it.
"Whew." Yang ran a forearm across her brow. "Now that's what I like to call using your head."
Roderick groaned and walked away.
"What?" She followed him. "You don't need to lose your head over it. Wait. Where you going? Slow down, will ya? Are you running from me?! I'm sorry I'm a head above the rest. Get back here! Even with a head start, you'll never get ahead, and once I catch you, heads will roll! You hear me, Roddy?!"
As the pun rant went on, Cinder watched, her sliver of a smile never once faltering.
A Beowolf leaped at her.
Without sparing a glance, she lobbed a fireball, incinerating it alive.
Inside the breach, Professor Oobleck and Zwei bumbled outside in a damaged Atlesian Paladin stolen by the White Fang, and another Bullhead entered the hot zone at the same time, dropping Team CFVY and Professor Port off into the Town Square.
The second year students proceeded to lay waste to anything not resembling a person.
Fox and Yatsuhashi beat their foes senseless while Coco's minigun split apart anything caught in her crosshairs, especially the Grimm who destroyed her favourite clothing store.
Velvet hopped circles and delivered kicks powerful enough to knock out Grimm.
However, despite her full night of rest, fatigue still weighed heavy on her bones. Clamps crushed her feet, making it hard enough to stand let alone run and fight, yet failing to protect the city hurt Velvet more than her own body breaking down.
Nearby, Alexander caught a glimpse of the Death Stalker coming up behind Velvet. He adjusted his duffle bag and bolted over, running into Jaune along the way.
"Okay." Jaune exhaled and got ready for the Creep coming at him. "You can do this."
He blocked its headbutt and stumbled but managed to keep his footing.
Once more, the Creep tried to put him on his ass. Knees bent, Jaune jerked forward, and most importantly, put his back into it. They collided. The Creep thumped against steel and collapsed while Jaune didn't budge a single step.
A satisfying sense of relief and accomplishment twinkled in his smile.
Passing by, Alexander gave Jaune a pat on the arm before sliding between Velvet and the Death Stalker.
Its stinger sprung and deflected off Tereo, burying deep in the concrete.
Unbridled glee spread across Velvet's lips, and if there was an energy meter hovering above her head, it would've instantly and inexplicably rejuvenated to full.
He grunted at her, and she jokingly grunted in return.
The Death Stalker snapped its claws. Alexander ducked underneath one of them and bumped it closer to the tail. Velvet followed up by kicking the claw so the tail got caught in it. Velvet leapt to hold the claw in place, and Alexander charged a shockwave, cracking it against the bottom half of the claw.
Snip.
The Death Stalker wailed and waved around its severed tail.
Alexander aimed Tharros, but the flailing tail swatted the sword out of his grasp.
Velvet caught it.
Dashing to him, she stretched out her hand. He grabbed hold. Like a ball attached to a rope, he spun in place and swung her, charging another shockwave as they built up more momentum. He blasted her at the apex of his wind-up. She curled into a ball and bullet boosted herself to become an out of control windmill. The Death Stalker barely had time to move or react, only able to instinctively take cover behind its claws.
It changed nothing; Velvet buzzed the entire scorpion in half.
Over by the breach, the heiress of the SDC struggled against the chainsaw swinging menace.
Stiofan, catching wind of the duel, recognized the White Fang Lieutenant from the gathering at the warehouse.
Blake threw her bladed pistol and twisted the ribbon to pull the trigger, boosting the blade into the neck of a Beowolf approaching Stiofan's flank to kill it instantly.
Stiofan recomposed himself. "Gratitude, Blake."
Blake motioned him to leave. "Just go, already."
Confliction glazed his eyes, but he didn't argue and nodded in appreciation.
Weiss stuck to playing defense, incapable of fathoming how much she wanted to murder her own frustrations.
No counter or strike fazed The Lieutenant; she lacked the muscle power to deliver a staggering blow. Anything she threw was brushed aside. He pressed forward, forcing her in a never ending spiral of evasive maneuvers against the chainsaw's onslaught which did no good deed to her lungs.
Weiss' heel caught a crack in the ground, and she gasped at the incoming high speed steel aimed straight for her face.
A red flicker struck The Lieutenant's arm twice, causing him to cry out and retreat when his arm refused to budge.
"Stiofan!" Weiss kept cool despite the amount of joy drumming her chest. "What took you so long?"
Stiofan glared at The Lieutenant. "Apologies, I've been rather occupied."
Frosty irises narrowed on Blake. "Last I checked, you work for me."
"Last I checked," Stiofan chuckled at her exhausted state, "you were better than this. Has your skill declined?"
Weiss recoiled and stomped the pavement. "How rude!"
"You may reprimand me later. However, for now, I propose a dance." He changed Red Fury and Yellow Fury into swords and offered a hand. "May I, milady?"
"You may." She accepted his hand begrudgingly. "And word of the wise: don't call me that."
"I get to kill a Schnee and a First Guard." The Lieutenant laughed. "Must be my lucky day."
"It appears you're more foolish than the many who have fallen before you." Stiofan honed in to meet the shadowed gaze within the slits of the mask. "Much of which were bested by myself, of course."
Pure untamed hate roared out from The Lieutenant.
Despite his arm still being immobile, he charged, spurring his chainsaw one handed from diminuendo to crescendo real fast.
Stiofan slipped the wild swing and targeted the mobile arm, striking smooth in a legato flow that knocked the chainsaw loose, while Weiss delivered her piece of sharp staccato jabs that released his inner baritone from the other side.
When the feeling in his arm returned, The Lieutenant lurched as if he were trying to give them a big hug, but the Atlesians ducked under and stabbed the back of his legs, buckling him to his knees.
Weiss activated her time dilation glyph beneath Stiofan and herself, and she also set up a dome of glyphs around The Lieutenant.
The Atlesians raised the tempo and bounced off the glyphs in a streak of silver and white, playing a rhythm of blinding blows in perfect tune to each other. To top it off, Weiss glued both of The Lieutenant's hands to the street with ice, and poised with dignity and grace, the Atlesians synchronized their movements before aiming their weapons at the sole spectator of the duet.
Red Fury exhaled a wave of flame, and Myrtenaster fed it a gust of wind.
The two elements waltzed together for a grand finale. Weiss kicked her leg high, Stiofan draped her to the ground, and they ended the performance on a note so explosive, it blew The Lieutenant away.
Within the train wreckage, Roman Torchwick regained consciousness, spat at all the weird kids who kept interfering with his plans, and did whatever possible to make a quick escape.
Too bad a certain devilish raccoon spotted Roman and tased him out cold with a lightning arrow.
In the southeastern corner of the square, Glynda Goodwitch growled and marched down the street, swatting Grimm dumb enough to stand in her way.
Glynda telekinetically shoved the train back inside the tunnel. Hunks of stone, concrete, and any other bits of rubble swirled under her guidance and perfectly puzzled themselves together to plug the breach.
Other than some noticeable lines, it looked as good as new.
The Creatures of Grimm were nothing more than a nuisance from there on, and by the end of the hour, they were all exterminated.
-----
After everything calmed down and order was restored, the Atlesian military put together a hasty camp in the middle of the square in order to tend to the injured and assess the amount of damage done to the city.
A pair of androids carted off the White Fang Lieutenant onto an awaiting airship, and soon to accompany him was Roman Torchwick, escorted arm in arm by Emerald and Mercury.
Emerald leaned close to Roman's ear. "Looks like you did it again."
"First there was the docks," Mercury stifled a laugh, "the bookstore, which we handled no thanks to you, and now this. Guess that makes three. You're lucky we still have a use for you or else, well, that's for Cinder to decide."
"Glad you kids are enjoying this," said Roman. He didn't bother to lower his voice. "Really, I do. Cause when it's all said and done, and you finish doing whatever it is you're doing, I won't ever have to see your faces again. . ." The waggle of a tail grabbed his immediate attention. "And I'll be free to settle my own scores."
Emerald sighed. "Didn't know you stooped so low, Roman. Students, really?"
Roman mouth opened, but he froze as if a Nevermore bonked his bowler's hat.
"You know, kid, I really hate to admit this, but you're pretty good at. . . acquiring certain things." He (in)genuinely placed his cuffed hands on his chest. "You might even be as good as me."
"What's your point?" Emerald scoffed. "I'm leagues above you."
"Is that so? Then prove it. Try that guy with the raccoon tail over there." Roman smirked at the way Emerald's eye twitched. "Although, it might be too much for you, dare I say. So, don't bother."
They passed Roman off to the androids standing by an airship.
"So, what do you think?" Mercury crossed his arms. "Half a minute should be enough."
Emerald scoffed and shook her head. "Plenty, actually."
After a brief celebration and an exchange of jokes, the dawdling inhabitants of Beacon parted ways, mostly to rest their aching muscles and to escape from the reporters about to flood in.
"Alexander, hold up," Coco said and dragged Velvet behind her.
Cooper grinned and pulled the others away, leaving Alexander alone.
"See you made it back in one piece." Coco pulled down her sunglasses. "So, how'd your mission go?"
"Peachy."
"Great." She pushed up her teammate. "By the way, Velvet has something to say."
Velvet played with the hem of her jacket and chewed her lip.
"Um, t-thank you for backing me up earlier." She found her shoes rather interesting. "I wanted to also say thank you for what you did the other day, too. That chocolate bar was really good, by the way."
Alexander patted her between the bunny ears.
Velvet followed Coco's encouraging gestures, and after scraping the bottom of her courage barrel, she jumped on her tippy-toes and pecked Alexander's cheek.
Alexander stood there dumbstruck while steam rushed out from all of Velvet's ears, and she zipped away faster than her own team could keep up.
Roderick and Stiofan gawked, and Cooper tipped his hat in congratulations.
The moment was cut short when Emerald accidentally bumped into the raccoon.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." She feigned ignorance, slipped his wallet out a pocket, and tucked it into her own. "I didn't see you there."
"It's quite alright." Cooper slid closer to her and flaunted an extravagant grin. "And may I say, darling, how do you fare yourself?"
Emerald blocked him off. "Fine, thank you. Well, anyways, see you around."
Mercury clapped at her smooth return.
Smirking, she dug into her pocket, and her heart skipped a beat.
"What is it?"
Her shock slowly morphed into a cold case of disbelief. "No. . ."
Walking away and whistling a merry tune, Cooper flaunted his wallet for the Haven students to see, winked at them from over his shoulder, and unfurled the tip of his tail to drop a piece of green leather that clapped the ground.
Eyebrows raised, Mercury nodded with his mouth curled while Emerald stood there, fuming.
After Team RTS collected the L of their name, they left the Town Square.
"Ugh," Roderick said and sat on the first bench he came across, "I'm beat."
"This isn't the time to rest." Cooper threw his arms wide. "With Roman behind bars, we should be celebrating, mate. This day can't possibly get any better."
As Alexander joined Roderick on the bench, his duffel bag wiggled.
Everyone gave him a funny look.
"Did your bag just move?" Stiofan said.
Alexander zipped it open, and a furry head poked out.
Roderick and Stiofan's eye popped out their sockets.
"Bear!" Cooper spun him in the air. "I can't believe you brought him here!"
The memory of trying to smuggle the bear without Goodwitch noticing was something Alexander still had trouble believing he managed to do.
"Hey, there, buddy. I'm Roderick." He waved his prosthetic in front of the bear's snout. "Remember me?"
The bear bit a metal finger.
"Aww. . . I think the little guy does remember me."
"He's with us now, I assume." Stiofan combed his fur. "Does he have a name? I suggest Theodore."
"I say, Theo," said Roderick.
Cooper shoved the leader aside. "How 'bout Ted!"
Alexander held the bear eye level. "Teddy."
The bear nuzzled against him, happily climbing his shoulder and finding comfort on top of his beanie.
"Well, that settles that." Cooper tugged on Roderick's sleeve. "How about we hit a restaurant? I'm famished. Oh, and you're paying, yeah?"
Stiofan chuckled and sent his partner a silent apology. "Ditto."
"Gotta be kidding me, man." He sighed and got up. "Let's just sleep."
Roderick fell flat on his face.
"Uh, guys." He rolled over and gave his thighs a squeeze. "I can't feel my legs."
As Cooper and Stiofan shared their amusement and worked on carrying Roderick, Alexander stared at his scroll.
Teddy uttered questionable squeaks.
Alexander drew a long breath and made a call.
The line on the other side clicked, displaying Nebula's name, picture, and a line that spiked whenever she made a noise.
"Uh, morning, Leon?" Hesitation stumbled in her voice. "Been awhile since you called me. What's the occasion?"
Alexander watched how his teammates lifted their leader by the legs and arms and laughed at his flustered reaction.
"I heard you spoke to my team," he said.
A clamor of different things clattered.
"Look, I'm sorry for going behind your back, but I had to do it. You won't open up to me or mom, so I thought maybe—"
"I owe you one."
There was a brief pause.
"Wait, what?!" she said loud enough to sting his ear. "Hey, say it again. I've never heard you say anything that nice to me bef—"
Alexander hung up, and once he managed to collect his thoughts, he came up with an idea, one that left him feeling a little sick to his stomach but knew somewhere in his heart it had to be done.
When he tried to stand, he froze.
"Oi, Xander," Cooper said and dropped Roderick's upper half.
"Ugh!"
He returned to him. "What's the hold up?"
An awkward silence filled the air.
Alexander looked away. "I can't get up."
In a moment, Cooper's world crashed.
"Stephen!" He waved him over. "Xander can't walk. Let's switch!"
Stiofan blinked and politely smiled. "He's your partner. Besides, isn't it your turn to carry him?"
Roderick chuckled under his breath. "He's got you there, bud."
The depressed wails coming out of Cooper echoed through the streets, and not long after, the four of them worked their way back to Beacon.