We do not own RWBY or any other copyright content. All rights to it go to Monty Oum, Viz Media, and their original owners. All OCs are owned by us.
Writing credits go to Uzumaki Ricky, Monsterhuntergod, Sharad the hedgehog, and Traines, as well as Kima Whitehawk Jordan on Facebook. And a very special shoutout and thank you to 501awezome and Mega Ghost on Fanfiction.Net for all your support.
Tiger King and Dragon Queen: Year 1
Volume 1 Chapter 32: Strands of Fate
"Weiss, can you shut up already?" Yang groaned, realizing the vaguely mixed drinks she was ordering was not helping with the current situation.
"You're one to talk, Yang. What with all the reckless and dangerous stunts you pulled in the race." Weiss shot back.
"That doesn't give you the right to act like an overstuffed peacock, Weiss." Azura sighed, nursing his own drink.
"At least Morgan agrees with me." Weiss huffed.
"Right, the obvious Casanova agreeing with you. Big accomplishment there." Azura replied sarcastically.
"My title is 'professional smooth talker,' thank you very much. Anyway, I would love to chat and eye your slim yet fit form, love, but me and the team have to head back to Vale. Private business, you see." Morgan said as he got up from his chair, though not before giving her a gentlemanly kiss on the cheek. Causing a slight blush from Weiss.
"Hurry the fuck up, you blowhard! I wanna get outta this serving wench monkey suit!" Olivia shouted at Morgan.
"Alright, guys, it seems our lovely Olivia is getting the first round." Red said, rubbing her shoulder soothingly.
"Enjoy the rest of the night, guys! You earned it!" Carter called out as he hoisted the rolled-up tent onto his shoulder.
"No promises with Weiss strutting around like she owns the place…" Yang grumbled irritably, only to feel a hand gently be placed on hers and rub it soothingly.
Looking up, she saw Azura give her a smile as he tried to calm her. Smiling back, Yang immediately felt her mood lighten, only to blush lightly when Azura then lifted her hand and kissed the back of it in a manner befitting an aristocratic gentleman like himself. This gave Trivia and Ruby a chance to tag in on the action.
"Well, Weiss. That was an impressive victory… for a beginner." Ruby said with a smile.
"Like you could've done any better, Ruby. Remember: without factoring in our Semblances, I am faster than you." Weiss shot back, a prideful smile on her face.
Ruby deflated a bit at that, which caused Trivia to perk up. 'Yes indeed, the glistening alabaster tortoise was able to outlast the iron workhorse. A tremendous feat only made possible if the quarry run was not added. I would feel so bad for you if your slender, dainty little legs were to be broken on the slate-lined run up that slope.' She signed out with a smile.
Weiss immediately deflated at that, seeing her point. Seeing this, Ruby immediately capitalized on the opportunity to get her own playful barb in. "Not to mention that Azu and my sis were way out in front of you before Yang's little accident allowed you to overtake them. But sure, relish in your victory, Weiss. Not fully earned or otherwise, you do deserve it." The red reaper playfully replied, deflating her partner's ego further.
"I'm honestly surprised I got third…" Ember said, sitting in amazement as she sipped her own fruity drink.
"Honestly, that race wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It was definitely better than doing farm work without Aura while wearing your entire body weight in weighted training clothes." Azura replied, sipping his drink.
"You know, boss, if you want something harder, you can volunteer to work the haying crew along the track. Long hours working a scythe cutting grass in the baking sun. Sounds like your style." Zhan said to his partner as he reclined in his chair.
"What did you think was one of the things sensei had me doing in those conditions?" Azura replied, raising an eyebrow.
"You Zodiac people are insane." Rena simply said.
"I'd say that the results speak for themselves, Miss Rena. After all, we insane Zodiacs were the first line of defense against the Grimm for generations before the founding of the Huntsman system." Azura replied with a shrug.
"I second that opinion." Yang said with a devious smile.
Azura blushed and wisely silenced himself to avoid giving Yang more ammunition to tease him, choosing to quietly sip his drink. However, his silence did not deter the blonde brawling beauty from her playful flirting in the slightest.
"You know, Azu. We got the whole rest of the afternoon before we need to take the train back down. What say we take the teams out to see the lovely scenic countryside that we nearly fell down into?" Yang asked slyly, sliding her hand onto his nearest shoulder.
Azura's blush deepened as he gulped a bit. "I… I suppose that would be nice…" He nervously replied.
Blake subtly took out a notepad and began jotting down a note, putting it back in her purse quickly. "That would be lovely. Though don't Zhan and Ruby have to run another train in between?" the monochromatic ninja girl asked.
"Wait, what!?" Ruby yelled in shock, turning her head rapidly to look at Zhan.
"Yeah. We got to run a line of slate from the Quarry up higher in the hills." Zhan answered, pointing in the direction of the route.
Ruby craned her head towards where the behemoth blacksmith pointed. She saw the rails climb higher into the hills, surrounded on both sides by towering walls of rock wreathed in mist. In the distance, she could barely pick out the dust from the quarry. To take it from there down to the bottom station would take… the entire afternoon…
Ruby groaned in frustration. "Aw come on! I wanna see where Azu and Yang almost got themselves killed and nearly kissed!" She huffed in frustration.
"NO, WE DID NOT/DIDN'T! NOTHING HAPPENED!" The blue and yellow not-couple snapped at the red rose reaper, blushing as crimson as Ruby's hood.
"Methinks thou protests too much." Nora said with a grin, clearly imitating Azura's voice.
"Nora, do you even know what that means?" Jaune groaned tiredly.
"No. But I like it." Nora said smugly.
After their celebratory lunch, the group separated. Ruby grumbled as they went to put the coaches onto a siding for the return trip. While the others, led by a local guide, took them up old shepherds' trails to get a better look at the scenery. As the cool autumn breeze hit them, they saw the rolling hill countryside they ran through continue to climb. Now there was lush, green grass as far as the eye could see, grazed by many fluffy sheep. Small, idyllic farmhouses dotted the landscape as if put there by a paintbrush. It took even Rena's breath away, though for her admittedly not long.
The group all stared out in awe at the scenery. Even Azura and Yang both could not help but smile as they looked over the landscape. As expected of the blonde bombshell, she could not help but make a move when she was sure no one else was paying full attention to them. Wrapping her arms around Azura's arm, the one he had used to save her life, she snuggled up into his side and rested her head on his shoulder. The azure daimyō blushed at the gesture but could not help the small smile that graced his lips as they all just drank in the scenery before them.
'That feels kind of nice… no. NO! Focus, Azura!' Azura thought, snapping himself back to his default state of self-control.
After the group had their fill of sightseeing, they all returned to the station for their return journey. Though many would not like to admit that they ended the sightseeing cause their legs felt like they were to give out. Hearing a familiar whistle, they saw the number one engine and coaches backing down onto the platform. Through the cab, Yang could see her sister had been through the wringer. Her face was smudged with dust soot, her hair was frazzled, and she was visibly sweating buckets being that close to the roaring fire.
"Hey, Ruby! How was your work this afternoon?" Yang called out to her little sis playfully.
"I! Hate! Trucks!" Ruby groaned loudly.
"Oh, it wasn't that bad." Zhan said snidely.
"It felt like they were going to send us off the rails!" Ruby yelled at her partner.
"Aw come on, Ruby! A little hard work never killed anyone!" Yang playfully teased.
"What about you, Yang? Did you and Azu nearly kiss again?" Ruby shot back, teasing her big sis right back.
"We did not kiss!!!!" Yang yelled at her baby sister.
"Hey, island sisters! Knock it off so we can get back home!" Zhan groaned, ending the argument, as no one had enough energy to keep it going.
Everyone filed in an orderly fashion, with Trivia checking all the doors to make sure they were shut. With that, she returned to her van to check luggage, and once all that was done, she blew her whistle and waved her green flag. Zhan pulled the whistle line before the engine began to make its trip home. Everyone was tired, even the engine moved at a slower pace than anyone would have expected.
It, however, created a slow swaying motion for the coaches, enough to begin putting people to sleep. The first among them being Yang, who nodded off first among the group. Resting her head on Azura's shoulder right next to her, she slowly fell asleep. Azura, however, blushed and was left wide awake, unable to even contemplate sleep at that moment. With only the orange, comforting sunset to keep him company.
Meanwhile: Undisclosed Location
The mechanical hiss of automatic doors covered the heavy footfalls of Roman Torchwick, engrossed with a copy of the Vale Sheets newspaper. Across its brightly colored, borderline useless facade in big and bold words was, "Killer back at it again! Police stumped!"
"'A young woman, recognized as a Huntress-in-training, was found dead last night. The young woman has not been identified, but, rather disturbingly, both of her eyes were removed. No known eyewitnesses,' there never are. 'Those closest to her saw her before the killing in perfect health,' they always are. 'The police have identified several key similarities to women killed some twenty years earlier, in relation to the Vale City Ripper case, of which to this day has gone unsolved.'" Roman read off before setting the paper down.
"Ya' see this, Big Hammer? Women being carved up like turkeys," Taking a drag of his cigar before continuing, "It's all so tragic…ally beneficial for us." Roman said with a dry chuckle.
His partner stood in darkness, looking at a monitor. Standing up to his full, towering height, the man turned to face him. Heavy footfalls of metal on concrete as the whirring of servos could be heard. Out of the darkness, came a man clad in gun gray metal armor. Roman's thought turned to that of an ancient Vale knight's, though it was far more segmented, with elements of a biohazards suit thrown in. With a sharp, industrial click, the helmet came off to reveal the tanned, broad, and thickly built head.
"Always one to make a meal out of a tragedy, aren't you Roman?" The man asked rhetorically.
"Think about it: with some blood crazed psycho on the prowl, no one, not the Hunters or the boys in blue, will be paying attention to a couple of entrepreneurs like us. It's the perfect smoke screen." he said smoothly.
"I don't mind down time. It allows for more projects to get done, and to get new items ready to test. But I see your point. Funds are a bit tight. And I take it you have already figured out targets for us to lose men on?" The man sardonically asked, already knowing where this conversation was going.
"Tch," Roman let out in frustration as he pulled a map from his coat and set it on the table.
The man looked down at the map, surveying it for all details. "If possible, I would like to prioritize industrial targets. This 3D print shop could yield us some good long-term results." He said, ignoring the other targets.
"So, what do you think, Dao?" Roman asked, taking another drag of his cigar.
"It's a start. Though that makes me wonder who else is taking advantage of this chaos." Dao mused, putting his giant fingers on his stony chin.
Uptown Vale
The peace of the cool, pleasant Autumn night was sharply disturbed by the sounds of gunfire. Fires began to start as a group of White Fang attacked a depot of the Vale Security Forces. Striking fast, moving under covering fire from their gun toting comrades, they rapidly overwhelmed the small security force. However, a problem soon arose when the White Fang reached their prize, as the remaining security officers initiated emergency lockdown procedures. Soon, security doors slammed down and locked, crushing one poor White Fang member in half in the process. The windows soon sprouted metal reinforcements, which frustrated the leader of this assault.
"What's the hold up, Kong?" A red-haired man with black bull horns and all black attire with a red-patterned, white Grimm mask asked.
"Apologies, sir. The enemy forces are more competent than expected. Not to mention that these security doors are thick enough that, even with my Semblance, it'd take time to punch through them. Apparently, unlike most of their inferior species, these humans actually have functioning brain cells." The towering Faunus commander replied, clenching his gorilla hands and feet in frustration.
"Very well." The man said as he began to unsheathe a red-bladed, guardless eastern sword.
Readying his chokutō, the bull-horned man gripped it tightly. However, it was at that moment that more Vale Security Force officers rounded the corner, guns pointed at the White Fang members.
"Hands up! Drop your weapons!" One of the lead officers barked out, rifle trailed on the group of masked Faunus before him.
"No." Was all the redheaded man said.
"I was hoping you terrorist scum would say that! Take 'em down!" The security force captain called out.
As soon as the captain barked out the order, the security force officers opened fire on the masked Faunus before them. The White Fang members behind the man, excluding Kong, began to panic as the veritable wall of bullets approached them. However, the bull-horned man's blade then became a blur of movement as soon as the bullets got in close. As he swung his chokutō with blinding speed, the bullets, sliced in two by the razor-sharp cutting edge, sailed past him and his subordinates, the two halves of each bullet hitting the thick metal door behind them while harmlessly missing the masked Faunus.
"What the… next volley!" The captain ordered desperately.
However, before the officers could open fire, the redheaded Faunus shot forward faster than any bullet. In a blur of red and black, the man raced past each individual trooper, his blade a blur of motion. When he came to a stop behind them, he gave his blade a brief twirl of motion before slowly sheathing it.
"You are already dead, humans." The man told them as the sound of the blade clicking into its sheath was heard. Immediately, the rifles of the troopers fell apart into sliced pieces before the security officers fell over, blood spurting from wounds in their chests that cut clean through their armor.
"Did he just turn dudes into chunky salsa?" One grunt asked.
"Just be glad he's on our side…" Another grunt muttered.
"Quit the back chatter, you lot! Grab the goods and get to the airship!" Kong roared out, pointing in the direction of the order.
"Commander Kong, we still can't get through the door!" A third grunt pointed out.
"Stand aside." The red-haired man said, readying his sword.
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, the horned man began to glow a vibrant, near demonic red, even his hair and the red lines on his mask glowed red. His Aura leaking off him like muted flames, he channeled the energy into his sword. Then, with a full body swing, he transferred the energy into a single stroke of his sword, unleashing a great, red crescent wave. The wave tore through the air with the contemptuous ease of a buzzsaw, before colliding with the front security door. It was stopped only momentarily by the thick steel, before it was rented asunder as if it were paper. The sheer size of the wave did not stop at the door, however, as even the reinforced concrete was rented before this power scythe of energy and anyone behind the door was sliced in half. Leaving all, save Kong, staring in awe.
"Any further objections?" Kong asked the grunts behind him.
"N-no, Commander…" One of the White Fang troops replied nervously.
"I'm good…" Another said in a fearful tone.
"Then get in there and move the goods! NOW!" Kong roared in anger.
At that, the tide of Faunus ruffians swarmed in like a horde of rats. Grabbing crates and ammo boxes, they then made their way to a nearby landed airship. Back and forth they scurried like lines of ants at a picnic.
"Apologies, Lead Warden Adam, for the delays…" Kong said, bowing his head.
"Apologies are not necessary, Kong. After all, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Besides, this was a minor setback at worst." The man, now identified as Adam, replied.
"Of course, sir. We will be finished in a few minutes." Kong said in an apologetic tone, very unlike the tone he used with his men.
Nodding, Adam looked down at one of the slain human security force members. Shaking his head, he sighed. "To think, this could have been avoided if you had not aimed your weapons at my brothers and sisters. Or, better yet, if you had not been born human." He quietly said, sounding almost saddened.
"Sir… forgive my asking. But for what do we need all these supplies? Sienna hasn't given us any indication of a major operation in the future." Kong asked in confusion.
"Unfortunately, Kong… we have no choice anymore. That… woman and her two subordinates have forced our hand. We have no choice but to work for them or die. And I refuse to allow our brothers and sisters to be slaughtered by some freak of nature who can harness the elements seemingly without Dust just because we disobeyed her." Adam explained to his second-in-command.
Meanwhile: Downtown Vale
As the lights and noises of the bustling city kept the night life going, the distinct forms of Team CROM made their way through the throngs of denizens. Carrying gym bags and wearing nondescript clothing, they eventually made it to a hole in a wall establishment. The only thing that stopped them from entering the dark green door was a titanic man with a Hawaiian-patterned shirt and black sunglasses.
"Passcode." Was all the man said to the four.
"Whiskey sour." Red answered, looking at his scroll just to make sure.
"I could use one of those after today." Olivia groaned.
The man gave a nod and opened the door for them. At that, the four walked inside. As the door closed, they were able to get a better handle on the look of the place. The floor plan was far larger than what it looked like on the outside. In the center, ringed by several levels in an octagon arrangement, was a massive and very bloody martial arts ring. Complete with a barbed wire cage to lock the poor bastards inside.
On every level were amenities that were a mix of a sports bar and stadium lounge, all for the purpose of two things. To get into fights, and to watch the main event fights. One man, a very well scarred and muscular one at that, attempted to have a go at Olivia's ass. Only for her to twist his wrist in a very unnatural way, throwing him into an armbar. With several brutal stomps on his head, the encounter ended as quickly as it started.
"I already feel at home." Olivia sarcastically said.
"Alright, guys, we're here for this guy." A tap on his scroll caused the rest of theirs to vibrate.
"He looks like a mobster who ate too many bags of chips. And oil. Lots of oil." Morgan said, wincing at the look of the guy. "I'm glad I'm placing bets…"
"Try not to get us kicked out. Keep your eye on the money, not the women" Olivia said sternly to Morgan.
"Hey, it was Red who got us kicked out last time." Morgan shot back.
"No comment." Red said as he put his scroll away.
"Alright, everyone," Carter said as he cracked his knuckles. "It's time to commence Operation Monkey Business!"
"How long you spend on that one, boss?" Olivia asked over her shoulder as she stepped into the ring.
"Long enough for it to kick ass." Carter said, rather pleased with himself.
"It didn't." all three of his teammates said.
To Be Continued…