Red With Rage Part 1
Vale White Fang Base: AKA Roman's Warehouse
"I'm not so sure about this one, Kong. You're not entirely healed. Shouldn't you wait for a hint on this one?" Roman asked as he saw Kong leading the White Fang in preparation for a mission.
'Let the big man get himself into trouble, Roman. It's the only way he will learn sense.' Neo signed with a bemused shrug, as if already knowing where this was going.
"There's no time to wait, Torchwick. The little wannabe hero needs to die today." Kong replied, a look of hatred towards the girl in question in his eyes.
"The troops are ready at your command, and the forward section is in transit to the Dust transfer station as we speak." A lieutenant said, after stopping to salute his superior first.
Kong nodded a smirk on his face. "Excellent. It is time to move out." He told the lieutenant, grabbing his hammer and spear before putting them into their transportable forms.
"When do you wish to send out your message, sir?" The Lieutenant asked.
"As soon as we reach the shipping yard, lieutenant." Kong replied, donning a helm before grabbing and sheathing his sword.
"Yes, call out the tiny creature who can snap a Humvee in half like a pretzel stick, that sounds like a great idea." Roman said in a mockingly dry tone, while Neo held back a giggle.
Kong rolled his eyes as he donned his mask. "Just take care of your end of things, Roman." He replied in his booming voice.
"I know Shao, but is honor really throwing you and your men's life away?" Roman asked.
Kong looked sternly at Roman at that. "Do not call me by my given name, Torchwick. We are not friends." The gorilla Faunus replied before turning and leaving.
"Alright, but you're not invited to post-mission smoothies!" Roman yelled as he turned to look at the shipping orders.
'Dum-dums. I'm surrounded by dum-dums.' Neo signed with a sigh.
Meanwhile inside a Beacon Study Hall
Despite Yang and Azura's sudden absence from the group study session, everything was going as expected. Ren had to stuff food into Nora's mouth to make her focus. Pyrrha was helping Jaune with his homework. Zhan livened things up with bad jokes, getting near constant giggles from Ember and growls from Rena. Weiss and Blake quietly worked together to the surprise of all. However, to Blake's surprise, her scroll began to ring, and when she looked at it, her face was filled with horror. The White Fang was calling…
"I thought I disabled that thing from picking up random signals on its own." Blake hastily muttered as she frantically opened her scroll.
"What's wrong, Blake?" The white coated Schnee heiress asked in concern.
"Keep it down, Weiss. My phone picked up a White Fang signal. I thought I disabled that feature from passively doing it." Blake harshly whispered as she got into the function that did that.
Weiss's eyes widened in shock at that. "Excuse us, please." Weiss told the others as she and Blake got up to check the message.
"Take your time. You would not miss much." Ren said as he readied another granola bar to send down Nora's gullet.
"Can I get chocolate next?" Nora asked.
"Nora." Ren sternly said.
"Come on, Ren! You know those are my favorites!" Nora replied with a pout.
"They're also not healthy for you." Ren said.
Soon the black and white combo made their way around the corner to safety. Blake then accessed the hidden feature, and, to her horror, she saw a familiar helmeted face on a recorded message.
"Kong…? Kong is in Vale? Oh, this is bad." Blake said in horror.
Weiss was confused about this. "Kong? Why does that name sound familiar…?" She asked curiously.
"Shao Kong. Second-in-command of the Vale chapter of the White Fang. I… used to work with him…" Blake said, shame and regret reaching her voice.
Weiss paled a bit. "What could be so important that someone that high up would be sending out a message?" She asked, a bit nervous now.
"It wasn't on broadband. This was a targeted one, likely someone inside Beacon. The function only works with intercepting nearby signals." Blake explained to her compatriot.
"Now I'm more confused. Who could he have sent it to…?" Weiss asked.
"Let's hear it from the horse's mouth." Blake said, pressing play on the recorded message.
"Attention, Ruby Rose! You have humiliated me in the eyes of my mentor! For that… you will suffer…! If you are not the coward you seem to be, then meet me in the Vale City Dust Transfer Yards! We will settle this there…!" Kong's voice boomed in the message before the recording was cut off.
A silence hung over the two in dread. Kong, a dangerous, wanted, and known criminal, reviled for his deeds of violence, wanted their team leader dead. Even Weiss with her begrudgement with Ruby, saw such a fate utterly revolting. Both of them may have had their differences over the White Fang, but Blake and Weiss could not lay in the shadows on this. They had to warn the others. Just then they heard voices down the hall.
Peeking out, they saw Yang and Azura discussing some things in hushed tones. What they were talking about did not matter. Leaping into action, the two rushed towards the two, almost barreling into them with the vigor and purpose they came with.
"Blake? Weiss? What are you…" Azura asked in confusion but was violently and suddenly cut off.
"Shao Kong! Shao Kong of the White Fang!" Weiss blurted out in concern, trying to keep quiet so that they would not be kicked out of the study hall before they could explain
"What?" Yang asked in confusion.
"He's after Ruby! He issued a challenge to her…!" Blake told the two as she and Weiss prepared for the inevitable eruption of noise.
"A fucking criminal challenged my baby sister!?" Yang roared in fury at the sheer idea of it only for Blake to cover her mouth to silence her.
"Shhhh…!" Blake shushed her partner.
"How did you two discover this challenge…?" Azura asked in a tone full of suspicion and concern.
"I have a function in my scroll to pick up White Fang signals." Blake explained.
"How do you… never mind! That is not important! We need to take care of this before Ruby finds out!" Azura replied in a hushed tone.
"He said for Ruby to find him in the Vale City Dust Transfer Yards. It's an obvious trap." Weiss said simply, crossing her arms.
"One Ruby wouldn't be able to resist! We need to make sure she doesn't find out and go deal with this scumbag!" Yang quietly replied with a look of fury in her eyes.
"You girls get your weapons. I will tell the others. And, when you see Ruby, do not tell her anything." Azura explained to them sternly.
"Right." The three members of Team RWBY said in unison as they rushed off.
As Azura rallied with the troops, the three made it to their dorm room. Stopping a bit away to prevent Ruby from getting suspicious, they entered as if they had finished their study time. To Weiss and Blakes' confusion and worry, Ruby was lying on her bed, curled up a bit. Something happened to her that made her look sullen and down. They could feel her distress from across the room, yet they could not inquire. It made them more determined to deal with Kong, knowing Ruby was not in any state to fight.
"How was the study time?" Ruby asked sullenly, not even turning to look at them.
"Not too bad. Just kind of boring. Azura wanted all of us to go into town to pick up something to make you feel better, since he noticed how down you've been." Blake told her team leader and friend, lying as smoothly as polished silver.
"I don't deserve it." Ruby said with a small pout.
"Of course you do, Ruby." Yang told her baby sis, a bit concerned.
"All I do is mess things up. I don't make anything better." Ruby answered.
"No, you don't. You may make mistakes, but all you do is try to make others happy and think of others." Yang insisted, her worry growing.
"Ruby… I know we've had our differences, but even I can tell that you're a good person." Weiss insisted, now concerned herself.
"... Thanks girls. T-tell Azura I said hi." Ruby answered in a more shy, nervous tone, and curled herself further into a tight ball.
Yang grinned at that. "What's wrong, Rubes? Can't face your boyfriend right now?" She asked teasingly.
"I don't know why I ever thought I could try to get him…" Ruby mournfully said.
"Ruby, you're a catch. You're adorable, sweet, kind, and caring. But, despite that, you have a fire in you." Blake insisted.
At that Weiss tapped her wrist, indicating they needed to move. Realizing this, they had to make their way out fast. They needed to act against this threat now.
"We'll be back later, Rubes. Try to take it easy, okay?" Yang told her baby sis in concern, walking up and giving her a gentle hug.
"I'll try…" Ruby answered quietly.
With that, the three exited as naturally as they could. Once they closed the door, they rushed out to meet up with the others in the courtyard. Little did they know that Ruby, despite her melancholy, picked up this sudden change of movement. Curiosity began to stir in her and, slowly, she rose from the bed. Looking out into the courtyard, she saw her friends rush off into the city.
'What are they up to? Vale isn't that dangerous this time of night. No. I can't. I should let them have their night.' Ruby thought, turning away from the window, before thinking about it a bit more. 'Maybe I should shadow them to make sure everything is alright…'
Later: In the Train Yards
The cool autumn night in the soft haunting glow of the moon was punctuated by the running forms of the huntsmen in training. With the use of maps on their scrolls and being able to maneuver through the old warehouses and factory buildings with ease, they arrived at the rail yards within record time. A platform for trucks was the main feature of the yards, alongside cranes who could move up and down the half a dozen lines of track to move cargo to and from the trucks and the railcars. Hundreds of boxcars and container flatbeds were lined neatly in rows for the evening, waiting for the next major shipment.
"Well, we're here. So where is tall, dark, and gruesome?" Zhan asked, looking around the eerily empty railyard.
"So, Rose didn't come to face me herself and sent her underlings? I'd be insulted if her cowardice didn't amuse me." A deep, booming voice came out from the darkness.
"You leave her alone, Kong! How about you pick on someone your own size for once!" Blake yelled out, a sharp tone of resentment shocking some of the members of her friend group.
"Ahhhhh… so the traitor has decided to throw her lot in with a freak of nature and a pack of lowly humans. Adam will be so disappointed by this news…" The voice chuckled in a false melancholy tone.
"If you're so tough, why don't you show your big, fat face!" Jaune called out, which got a much more vitriolic answer.
"You are playing with fire, human trash! Be careful… before you get burned…!" The voice called out as the figure of Kong stepped out of the shadows in all his towering glory.
"Hey, Azura… you can take him… right?" Jaune nervously asked his samurai friend as Kong observed the blue wonder.
"Hmhmhmhm… Sōtora Azura. The Prince of the Azure Tigers. So Rose is bold enough to manage to find a mate well above the station of garbage like her." Kong chuckled as he cracked his knuckles.
"You will not touch her, Kong! Not while I am breathing!" Azura snapped with a growl, growing defensive at how the terrorist leader was speaking of his friend.
"Then allow me to test your mettle!" Kong yelled as he grabbed hold of the nearest shipping container and, in a sudden swing, hurled it in a spinning boomerang fashion.
"Evasive action!" Jaune called out in terror as everyone scattered, all but Azura.
Coating his blade in Fire Dust, the samurai dropped into an Iaijutsu stance as the hand on his hilt, as well as the fiery blade itself, were then coated in wind. Leaping into the air, Azura swung his blade with all his might into the large metal container. To the shock of all present except Kong, his blade cut through the shipping container like a hot knife through butter while sending a crescent blade of white-hot flames roaring at the gorilla Faunus, the two halves dropping to the ground on either side of him as Azura flipped in midair, landed tall on his feet, and sheathed his blade. Kong simply sidestepped the arcing crescent blade of flaming death, letting it hit the ground as it melted the pavement next to him.
"Your reputation precedes you, prince. Impressive… for a human…" Kong told the enraged samurai with a smirk.
"That was so fucking cool…" Jaune said in awe, admiration trailing in his voice.
"Jaune. Focus." Pyrrha sternly said, snapping him out of it.
"Yes, Pyrrha." Jaune said snapping into a combat stance.
"He's so whipped." Zhan muttered to Ren.
"More than he knows." Ren whispered back.
"Lieutenants. Cut down the weaklings. The tiger prince is mine." Kong growled out his order with a feral smirk.
Azura drew his ōdachi with a glare on his face as Kong's lieutenants began to slink out of the shadows from behind their commander. Soon they rushed out and one even attacked both Pyrrha and Jaune at once, nearly giving Jaune a buzz cut with a shockingly close swing. Meanwhile, Azura made his way towards Kong as Yang, Zhan, and Nora formed up on him.
Azura turned to look at his partner and two friends. "You three should help the others." He told them, firm in his belief that he could handle this himself as three of Kong's top lieutenants stood with him against them.
"By the looks of things boss, you could stand to have some help against that brute." Zhan said, drawing his switch ax.
"You think I'm going to tolerate that giant ape bastard threatening my sister? You got another thing coming, Azura!" Yang yelled, cocking some shells into the chambers of her gauntlets before punching them together.
"Let's break their legs and feed them to the wolves!!!" Nora screamed, hefting her hammer over her head.
"The weaklings are yours, my loyal lieutenants. I only tolerate bloodying the noses of the strong." Kong told his three top subordinates with a feral smirk as he drew his blade.
"Consider them dead Huntsmen walking, sir." One of his Lieutenants, a Faunus with wicked sharp bison horns on his head, said, staring down Yang intently with a smirk as he cracked his knuckles.
"What a shame. I've always wanted to kill a Zodiac." One with a long, tree trunk thick reptilian tail said with a smirk as he drew a metal war club while staring down Nora.
"Let's make this quick. The Blitzball game is within the hour." The third lieutenant, one with falcon wings on his back, said with a smirk as he drew a pair of dual Khopesh as he stared down Zhan.
Azura and Kong locked eyes and, with a blinding burst of speed from each, they closed the distance. Killer intent in both of their eyes, and the tools in hand and frame to perform nature's simplest act of survival. To fell another man if it means your own life is spared.