#oh cool new robot customization combat game! Maybe this is for me!

[littlestartemis]

Man I dunno, I just don't know if this is the direction the series should have taken, it's too different now.

I mean for one Custom Robo was never quite this dark-

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 46

Last time: The Armstrong Siblings “fought”, Envy pulled a Loki, and Greedling got a new crew. Onwards!

Timeskip apparently, Narrator’s saying that our guys planned as the year changed and it’s spring now. “Ready or not, the Promised Day would soon arrive.” So the Day is in spring? Episode 46 - “Looming Shadows” Gee, I wonder which shadow-based Goth is going to feature in this episode? Hey Sideburns! What brings you down to the land of sun, sheep and cheerful villagers? Wait, Resembool? That’s the hometown of the Blonde Trio! Oh I get it, take a break to fill up on water for the train, while you’re there pass a note to Granny Rockbell, she’s probably wondering why Winry hasn’t called lately. Or forget the note, just smuggle Winry home! Been a while, hasn’t it? You went to Rush Valley to study automail and wound up with an apprenticeship, then went to Central to patch Ed up, went back to Rush Valley because of demanding customers, went to Fort Briggs to patch Ed up again, and after dealing with Ishvalans and Goths you’re finally home. While the disguised Briggs troops look around the workshop, Winry heads upstairs for a long-awaited outfit change HEY cameraman stop creeping on Winry can’t you see she’s changing her shi Um Yeah Ed, I’m having the same reaction. Minus the sandwich, but yeah. Same face on my end. So Winry understandably screams at the Surprise Boyfriend in her bedroom her guards run upstairs guns ready surprised to see the Protagonist chilling then Gorilla and Boar are there pointing their guns at the guards then the Rockbell Dog comes running up to bite Gorilla (not the cat Chimera? Missed opportunity) on the bum who gets pulled off by an irritated Greedling then Winry recognizes “Ling” then the troops recognize Kimblee’s former men who recognize guys from Briggs then accusations about everyone following each other start flying and everyone’s yelling at each other [Winry]: “Ok Ed, you want to tell me what’s going on here?” [Ed]: “Looks like a cautionary tale about guns.” [Winry]: “Don’t be a smartass, tell me why you’re in my room!” [Blushing!Ed]: “I just wanted someplace private to eat my sandwich!” By this point Winry is just Done and kicks the guards/the chimeras/Greedling out, Ed and Dog cowering at the sight of the furious mechanic with a wrench. Awww but now she’s admitting she was worried about Ed and he says he was worried about her and Al- hey wait a minute. Where’s Little Brother? At the trainstation with Sideburns? Hurry Ed, you can reunite with your brother and Absentee Anime Father! Wait no need to stop and say goodbye and give Winry back her earrings and kiss her already you fool. Or not? Oh yeah, Ed’s kind of a fugitive, while it’s Sideburns and Al at the train if any of Bradley’s forces are around and see him then they’re all in trouble. So what, he just has to wait and let his brother be separated from him again? That sucks. Granny Rockbell! Good to see you again. After all the other interlopers recover introductions go around, and Winry tries to talk to Ling but nope! It’s Greedling now. The “boss” gives the backstory over supper, explains that they’re crashing at the Rockbell’s place because Ed’s automail is banged up thank you I was wondering if they were going to address Ed moving with the old limbs after a growth spurt. And don’t think I missed your game Granny, you passed on Ed’s checkup so the two kids could chat on their own. Ed’s glad to get the good news about Liore rebuilding, and learns that Al’s going with Sideburns east to help with the combined North/East forces. And Beard’s heading to Central? Damnit so Ed has to choose between helping his brother or his pops. Winry says it’s almost the Promised Day ok I’m sorry but when is the Promised Day? Is that like an Amestris holiday or something? Spring Solstice? Anniversary of Amestris’ founding? Selim’s birthday? When is it?! Whenever it is, Ed notes that they might be able to use it to get their bodies back, but there’s the likely risk of catastrophe. So he wants Winry to take her Granny and the dog out of the country-

Winry does not approve of this plan. Honey, I get that you have faith in the Protagonist and hate the idea that people will get hurt if he fails, but you have to admit that he’s up against long odds. We can hope that he’ll succeed, but even Armstrong the Great ordered her family out of Amestris on the chance of failure. And HA! He is taller than her now! Growth Spurt confirmed!

(yes Winry’s leaning forward in that shot but damnit I’m taking this) ...dude! Not cool! Don’t just gripe that she just doesn’t understaaaaaand and storm out! Don’t let that be the note you part on! Look, even Greedling’s mocking you. And NOPE you stay the hell away from my ship you Goth. [Ed]: “That kind of wanting is dangerous; That’s not how reality works. Take a look, this is what I got for wanting something unrealistic.” What, a badass robot arm? I mean, I’ve made my stance on being a cyborg clear, I’m not really sympathizing with you here buddy. Greedling disagrees as well. [Greedling]: “You wanna bring back someone that you’ve lost. You might want money. Maybe you want women, or you might wanna ‘protect the world’. These are all common things people want. Things that their hearts desire. Greed may not be ‘good’, but it’s not so ‘bad’ either.” Ed starts walking away. [Greedling]: “You humans think greed is just for money and power! But everyone wants something that they don’t have.” Ed comes to a stop on the stairs. Then he keeps on walking. You’re leaving already? Where are you heading, Al or Beard? Also hot damn Ed’s rocking the suit look, I’m so proud of my no-longer-little boy. Thankfully he’s trying to leave on a good note with Winry, goes so far as to say he’ll stop them like she told him to promise earlier. ...wait, did you just basically tell your LI to get in the kitchen and cook for your victory? Back in Liore wait are the Chimeras and Yoki still there? Why didn’t they head to Central with Beard? See even Boar’s complaining that they need to prepare for the Promised Day oh so they’re waiting on Scar and Marcoh to come back never mind here they are. What were you guys up to, anyway? Ok then guess we’ll find out in Central. The majority of the Mine Crew is back on the road now, Toad and Boar chatting about the irony of working with a former Antagonist to save their own country. Scar retorts that he’s not trying to “save” Amestris, but change it. Yeah, with how militarized and expansionist Amestris is under the Goths I suppose it’s be essentially a new country, changed to be unable to cause another Genocide. [Voice?]: “If you truly dream of changing the world, you must first be able to change yourself!” It’s the Ishvalan Elder! With a bunch of other Ishvalans, talking about “the ebb and flow” wait a minute that sounds suspiciously like the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Jeez, when was the last time we got to update the EEC? Should I count this? Anyways, Toad and Boar are shocked to see other Ishvalans, turns out that recruiting these guys was what Scar and Marcoh were up to these past few months. And there’s General Grumman! Back in his uniform, looking over his troops. And Sideburns is there too, with the Northern forces. Everything’s all set- a “stumbling block”? Uh, that’s Fuhrer King “Wrath” Bradley up in the observation tower. I’d call that a bit more than a “stumbling block”. So what now? Later that night Al’s still in that train car bored out of his non-corporeal mind oooor slipping away. Crap, he’s getting worse. He needs his body back, soon. A crash? Al’s looking outside did water just fall on ooooooooh no. That’s not water. Gluttony! Crap, run dude! It’s not just Wrath here but Gluttony’s back in the field SHIT IT GOT WORSE. Normally light would be safe but it just cast a shadow behind Al and Leto-damn Pride is here to do that hand-grabby thing from the last intro, and Al’s losing his connection again no no no Al’s down. The hands are moving in. Al… [Pride]: “You rest up Alphonse, just take it nice and easy for a while. We’ll wake you on NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO “-on the Promised Day.” GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIS SIGIL ...how the hell did this episode go from “hyuk hyuk lets have Winry almost undress in front of Ed” to “hyuk hyuk lets have Al get captured by the Goths”. What the Leto. Mid-ep pictures of Winry undressing and Wrath drinking tea. Armstrong the Great’s hanging out in her mansion when Roy pays a visit. They take a walk outside as Roy admires the size of the home, “you could hide an entire battalion in it” real subtle, wannabe-Fuhrer. But Armstrong the Great says he can have it if she dies? Holy crap does Armstrong the Great think she won’t survive this? It’s one thing to order non-combatants out of the line of fire, but you’re writing your own will? Although it is sweet that you would leave it to Roy wait hold on I ship Roy/Riza you stop that right now you homewrecker! Ok fine you can take flowers to celebrate your victory although that happened months ago wait WHAT?! You’re only just now telling her that Selim is one of the Goths? What the hell took you so long, that’s kind of an important thing to know! Fine whatever, she knows now so- hah ok that was funny, glad to see it’s still a good rivalry between the two. And making her angry enough to throw the flowers (representing “ladylike charm”) in the fire along with the note, nice touch. Bradley’s overlooking the drills while Grumman gripes about feeling helpless. We seem to share the same initial thought that the artillery cannons being fired could “accidentally” blow up the observation tower, but since the guy’s a Goth that’s probably just piss him off. Uuugh, and the good guys can’t find Al anywhere, where did the Goths take him? And on the day before the Promised Day, too! A General come to talk to Bradley? Warning him about Grumman staging a coup but Bradley already knows about the plan damnit he’s questioned Al. But that’s not the plan? Ooh! So while these drills are going on Scar’s Ishvalans are preparing to attack Central, then Grumman can move his troops to “save” Central, meeting up with Roy’s forces. Damnit General, way to spoil the secret plan. Bradley watches the drills a bit longer to confirm that Ishvalans are gathering outside of Central, then orders the train to depart. Some of his flunkies are complaining about Roy being “treacherous” (say the guys planning to massacre a friggin country) when the train reaches a bridge- wait. Wait wait wait. Ooooooooooh. Grumman? You are a genius, please never be my enemy. Yup! The train comes to a stop in the middle of the bridge, ostensibly because of some sheep crossing the far side. Then the engine splits off and books it for the far side of the gorge. 3...2...1…

Hahahaha screw you Wrath! Uuunfortunately while I see a bunch of twisted metal and a broken bridge where the traincars used to be, I don’t see Wrath’s body so we have to assume he lived. Damn I would not want to be that Snitch General when Bradley climbs out of that ravine. Tactical Genius Grumman just snaps his fan closed and laughs the laugh of the victorious. And now the end credit music is starting up as hell yeah Riza’s getting her guns back out! [Riza]: “This is it, everything goes down tomorrow. It’s Do or Die now. I’m glad the two of you have got my back.” [Breda]: “Hey, anything for you Riza. Even if it does mean deserting.” [Fuery]: “Oh man… there go our careers…” [Riza]: “Heh. Once the dust’s settled, we’ll make sure the Colonel answers for us.” After-credits of the Central Officers freaking out over the assassination news. Armstrong the Great’s just chilling in her chair, mentally mocking the fools for panicking the moment their leader is gone. Maybe now’s her chance to Nope Never mind. Uncle and Sloth are right behind her. The Officers regain their composure as their ultimate leader finally steps foot outside of his Pipe Room. [Uncle]: “I’m still here with you, and I’m watching over Central.” ...wait a minute, did Ed ever give back those earrings?

[zippdementia]

Part 76 Alignment May Vary: Portents and Prophecies

Welcome to the continuing adventures of Alignment May Vary, our twice a month gaming group! We’ve been playing the same narrative for three years this month, with tons of twists and turns along the way. You can now hear the dramatized episodes at our website, Alignment May Vary.

In the last session, long time player character Aldric was killed by another player character, Imoaza, in an unseen betrayal out in the cold of space. Carrick, the third PC, is unaware of the betrayal as the group tries to figure out what to do about their current predicament.

Days pass. The situation on board the (still unnamed) Surveyor ship goes from desperate to grim. The power surge used to fight off the asteroid spiders has left the ship’s crystal depleted. What fuel they have is being used to keep life systems active, but this will fail within the week and the party is adrift in some unknown corner of space, surrounded only by asteroid dust and the wreckage of previous ships who have become stranded here.

The dreadful monotony, the slow wait for the end, is broken by one major event: a capsule adrift in the wreckage around them suddenly comes to life and starts sending out a signal. Retrieving it and bringing it on board, Carrick and Imoaza find it is a life capsule identical in most ways to the one they saw Carrick’s double in, back on Faerun. That tells them this is Surveyor technology, though it looks older even than that capsule. Carrick, accessing his Surveyor memories, figures out how to open the capsule, to reveal...

... nothing. The capsule is empty.

But it wasn’t empty very long ago. Its inhabitant has the ability to shift through space using the ethereal plane and now he appears beside the party, a hulking humanoid robot with red glowing eyes who raises his hand to stri-- or no, raises it in greeting to Carrick.

“Ah! Greetings. My name is Milosh. Are you the Surveyor?”

“No,” Carrick replies. “At least not the one you are probably looking for.”

“Ah! My visual senses tell me you are a 93% match for the Surveyor. Ah! I have come to serve the surveyor and stop the prophecy.”

Meet Milosh, our new PC (following Shando, Abenthy, Trakki, and Aldric... we’ve had quite a few player characters over the course of this epic).

Milosh, the Seeker of Prophecy

Milosh is a Warforged out of the recent Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberon. He is, visually, a little like a Mechanical Groot. He is, personality wise, a lot like the Paper Clip office assistant from 1997′s Microsoft Word. His backstory is that he was created by one of the Surveyors ages ago, centuries ago, to hunt down and stop a certain prophecy, a prophecy we’ve heard about before, involving the three figures: a devil, an angel, and a dragonborn. But while he was traveling to his destination, which would eventually become known as Faerun, his ship was caught in the Asteroid Spider’s webs and destroyed. He managed to escape and has been floating in stasis ever since. In the ages that have gone by, his memory banks have been damaged and now he cannot recall the full prophecy or even his full abilities. But he does know how to transform his right arm into a variety of weapons and tools and uses this to form a variety of special attacks, including a photon blast and a drill arm.

His personality is a little... simple. He says “Ah!” before every sentence, usually while holding up a finger, and runs off of very literal interpretations of his surroundings, relying on old programs in his working memory banks to get him through situations like combat or social etiquette.

This leads to some awkward (and funny) moments, such as when the party tells Fiona that Aldric has passed. She isn’t sure how to respond and also being a robot doesn’t do the best job of it...

“Where is Aldric? He’s dead?? Oh! I guess... Wow!”

... but she tries to give Milosh some advice, at least. Fiona tells him that bad news is best given with a smile and exuberance. And his response...

“Ah! I am unable to smile.”

The group also tells Milosh about the suspected traitor somewhere on the ship, the one who changed the bearings on the party in the first place, dropping them on Hell, and the one who erased the footage showing evidence of the deed. Milosh agrees to try and help them discover who the traitor is.

Good Moments of Interlude and Development

This session was mostly interlude, originally meant to be a quick connection to the next event, but the players got really into the roleplaying here and so the session became an elongated exploration of the personalities on the ship and their response to the various situations going on. Here are the best moments...

Milosh, with the help of Fiona, tries to access his old memories and also hack into the computer mainframes and learn more information about the traitor. What follows is a fun little hacking mini-game, where Milosh has to devote different levels of energy to different tasks, increasing his chances in some and decreasing it in others, then rolling to see what is successful. Ultimately, he fails to access any thing coherent from his memories, and he also fails to pull out any detailed information about the traitor, but it is still a good moment of personality development for him and gives us a chance to play around with some improvised mechanics. It also sets up the next good scene...

While Milosh plays around inside his head, Carrick and Imoaza decide the best clue they have for discovering the traitor is the ripped piece of leather. They go to talk to Krisp, who has leather gloves, and who the find in the darkened and otherwise empty bridge, staring out into space. This is a good roleplaying moment, as the three of them talk about Aldric. Imoaza keeps her cool and neither of them suspects that she actually murdered Aldric. Krisp is depressed, and asks Carrick if he ever just looked out at it all, at space. He is not his usual boisterous self and is instead contemplative, saying that this is never how a captain thinks they are going to end their days, but now he has captained TWO ships to his death. He also says that it wasn’t fair Aldric had to die, while Krisp had two chances to live his life. Carrick asks about the Horn of Green Company and the horn gets bequeathed to Carrick and renamed the Horn of Silent Sounding, for its power has fallen quiet and it makes no sound. This scene is interrupted by Milosh accidentally tying his memory visions into the bridge mainscreens, replacing the view of the stars with a crazy scene of Nazragul proclaiming his dominion over the world and flashes of an Aasimir and a Tiefling they don’t know. Carrick asks Krisp if he ever knew a Tiefling, and Krisp responds he did, then says it couldn’t possibly be the same one. The whole time, Imoaza is trying to look at Krisp’s gloves, but she ultimately sees no rip or tear.

Carrick meets up with Alyss, who says she wants to celebrate Aldric’s memory. She had built him a bike in secret and planned to teach him to ride, but now instead she gets high with Carrick on some drugs and takes him for a race around an empty cargo bay. The two sit for a long time, reminiscing and bonding until Carrick realizes she always wears a leather jacket. He asks for it, and she thinks he is coming on to her. Thus follows a pretty amazing scene, where Carrick is examining the jacket, then looks up to see Alyss is down to her bra. He is stunned, even more so when she leans in to kiss him. He tells her awkwardly he is a virgin and that he can’t do this, that he isn’t in a headspace to do it. Alyss is surprised and feels a little dumb herself for jumping to conclusions. She ends up telling him it doesn’t have to be awkward between them and not to worry. However, as she is getting dressed, Carrick notices that she has recently covered a hole in her jacket with a new patch. In honor of Aldric (it reads, “The Green Company”) but there is a lingering question now as to her innocence.

There is a funeral for Aldric, with some suitably bad speeches from Krisp. Among the lines he offers are this gem: “We will all be dead soon, but that’s longer than Aldric got.” Milosh accesses his memory banks and uses his vocal processor to play sad music in honor of Aldric. Aldric’s goblin kids are there, Alyss is there... heck, everyone is there except, noticeably, Otto (one of Krisp’s lieutenants). We’ll come back to this in a moment...

Maybe my favorite moment is when Milosh and Carrick hunt down Alyss, with the goal of figuring out if she was the traitor. Milosh asserts he has sensors in his hands that can detect traces of DNA on the leather scrap and, if he can gain physical contact with Alyss, he can see if the DNA is a match. Carrick agrees they should try it and so they find Alyss near her chambers in the mid section of the ship and Carrick introduces her to Milosh.

It’s such a great scene. There is some sexual tension left over between Alyss and Carrick and Alyss plays it up for fun, making Carrick as uncomfortable as possible. Then, knowing Milosh is such an outrageously naive personality makes all of his approaches to the situation hilarious. He boldly sticks out his hand and says (ah!) he understands that humans have a custom wherein they must grip hands when they meet and he would be delighted to try it. Bemused, Alyss takes his proffered hand and Carrick breathes a sigh of relief, thinking they now have their sample. Then Milosh says, “Ah! Now we must stay like this for two minutes.”

“It takes that long to get a sample?!” Carrick whispers in Milosh’s ear.

“Yes,” Milosh explains loudly. “This process takes five minutes to gather the appropriate data.”

Now thoroughly wierded out, Alyss extracts her hand from Milosh’s grip and he fails to get the sample. So then he tries another tact: he asks to see her jacket. Suspicious now, Alyss asks why and Carrick stutters and speaks for him, saying that he’s hoping Milosh can make a copy of it for him to wear. Milosh barely registers that this is an attempt at skullduggery and manages to keep silent until Alyss, after a brief hesitation, agrees to the request. “This your new wingman, Carrick?” she asks, making light of the situation. Carrick doesn’t get the joke. Alyss sighs and explains, “because he got my shirt off for you, again. Nevermind...”

Milosh examines the jacket while Carrick tries to distract Alyss, asking about Otto’s absence from the funeral. She says she hadn’t noticed, but then she hasn’t seen him around in a couple of days.

Suddenly Milosh says, “Ah! Surveyor, I have new information! The sample matches the jacket.”

Now armed with evidence, Carrick turns on Alyss and confronts her, demanding to know why she erased the footage of the ship’s sabotage. She cocks her head and says, as if it’s obvious, “Because I didn’t want you to see that it was me on the footage.”

And right on cue, hearing this, Milosh says, “Ah! Surveyor, I have new information!” As if that wasn’t painfully obvious.

Alyss proceeds to give an explanation for her actions, though not an apology. She says that in life, she was the leader of a powerful cult that worshipped Asmodeus and in death she sought to join his retinue in Hell, only to find he had disappeared during the Blood War. Obsessed with finding him, she wanted to bring to pass the prophecy that the Abyss would return if a devil ever left Hell. To do that, she needed outsiders to come with a ship. She secretly resurrected old technology, excavating it from the deserts around the Hell city, and eventually built herself a ship capable of at least leaving the atmosphere. She also fixed up tech that could detect when a ship would pass through Hell’s space. That is how she found and got onboard the Surveyor’s ship.

“I checked the original coordinates, you know,” she tells Carrick. “It was heading for a corner of space ruled by the Mind Flayers. That would have been a bad fate for you all, if you’d even survived to see it. By the time I boarded your ship, a critical failure had occurred in one of your engines. You had left warp space and were drifting slowly towards your destination on momentum alone. It would have been centuries before you reached it. In a way, I saved you by bringing you down to Hell.”

She further tells him that she has a piece of Asmodeus which she will use to find his body in the Abyss, once the way becomes clear. But she does not elaborate more and, not seeing her as an immediate threat, Carrick lets her go to contemplate what all this might mean.

Moving On

During the funeral Imoaza happens to spot Otto down a corridor and he is acting very strange, walking around stiffly and stopping to stare directly at her. Curious, she follows him down several corridors to a large room where she sees Otto addressing in a foreign language all of the Fiona and Bobs, the androids of the ship, gathered and floating cross legged in the air. Startled, she tries to flee, but suddenly is targeted by a psychic attack! Fending off visions of Aldric and Hecate (for those who don’t remember, that’s her dead daughter, who has been trying to kill her for a while), she runs down the ship’s corridors with Otto in pursuit. He catches up to her, but does not attack. Instead, he explains that he is not Otto, but is simply borrowing Otto’s body to be able to observe the crew and see if they can help his people.

It is soon revealed that Otto has been taken over by a Githzerai psychic, whose myriad companions have also taken over the systems of the Fiona’s and Bobs and who now proceed to hold the players hostage... well, sort of. In a mutually beneficial way.

Essentially, it turns out the players have invaded, by accident (or at least they think it’s by accident), a sector of space that is being fought over by the Githyanki and the Githzerai. The Githyanki have had the upper hand for many years and have captured an ancient Stardock carved out of an asteroid deep in the asteroid field and have essentially barred all ways in. The Githzerai “bored” a new way through the space between space, but their path was discovered recently and retaken by the Githyanki. In this same battle, the leader of the Githzerai lost his son, Ezria, to the Githyanki and Ezria is now being held captive on Stardock. The Githzerai cannot go after him because the Githyanki are scanning for ‘zerai brain patterns and would detect them immediately.

What the ‘zerai want the players to do, therefore, is to send a team of three humanoids into this space-between-space, and from there have them enter and infiltrate Stardock, rescue Ezria, and return. If they succeed in saving their kin, the ‘zerai will help them by using their prodigious powers to recharge their crystal with enough energy to get them to Faerun. This long space journey is nearing its end!

The players agree to this (their only other option, honestly, is to float out here until they become space dust). They are the perfect candidates, besides: a warforged, a yuan-ti, and a half elf with the brain signature of a Surveyor are unusual enough that they will definitely slip under the Githyanki radar.

And so the Githzerai open a portal to the space between worlds and the players teleport through... though not before Immerstal takes Carrick aside and warns him that Imoaza now carries the Rod of Storms and that could be a very dangerous thing for the universe, if she fails to control its power. Or chooses to abuse it.

And one last thing...

Alyss sat crosslegged on the floor of the ventilation chamber, the altar to Asmodeus before her. Her hands were clenched tightly, her nails drawing blood from her palms as she concentrated. With a gasp, she made the connection and opened her eyes as in front of her a portal appeared.

“Took long enough.” The taunting voice of Puck broke her concentration and she turned to him with a snarl.

“It wasn’t easy to tap into the Gith’s power. And it won’t stay open for long.”

The little impish devil hovered in the air lazily, raising a red bushy eyebrow at her. “Are you sure you are ready for this? The abyss is not a place for those who are not fully sure of who they are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What did you tell Carrick about your past? Did you tell him the truth?”

“What I told him doesn’t matter. I know who I am. But more importantly, I know my purpose.” She grunted and rose to her feet. “Coming?”

[play-read-write]

Paladin

Fandom: RWBY Characters: Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Ozpin, Glynda Goodwitch Words: 12,958 Description: Huntsman and Huntresses, warriors trained in the use of special Mechanized Battle Suits, or in laymen's terms, Paladins. Team RWBY trains in their suits to become one of these elite warriors in the never ending battle against the grimm. However when a routine mission takes a strange turn they may have to deal with a threat from inside the kingdoms walls.

This is my post for the @rwby-bigbang. Also posted on AO3 and Fanfic if you prefer to read it there (where i get a hits counter). The very good art can be found Here, by @Ieatedanimation (who it won’t let me tag for some reason). 

Ruby sat on the ground, turning and twisting various parts of the device in her hands. “Penny,” She called out to a seemingly empty room, “Do you think I could make this work if I had it run a feedback loop to build up before release, or would that just make it go all kablooey?”

“I would say that would just cause it to explode.” Penny says, her voice coming from all around the room. “It would build pressure too fast is my belief. Perhaps if you did so but included a pressure sensitive trigger to turn the input off even when you’re trying to use it? It could cause it to malfunction in combat, but would prevent it from exploding, which would render it useless anyway.”

“Oh, that’s not a bad idea. Right now it’s just a weak stream, but I guess I could use it in bursts if I did that. I just can’t find a way to push enough power through it continually without overheating it. If I vent then I lose power, ice dust just soaks it up too fast before running out or causes a reaction so it ices over, and a heat sink material just can’t stand up to the output.”

“I’m sorry, Ruby. I wish I could be of more help.”

“No, it’s fine. You’re a lot of help.” Ruby says, “Oh wait! What if I-“

“Hey Rubes!” Yang calls out, stopping in the doorway.

“Hey Yang, what’s up?”

“We just got a call, latest mission. Getting pick-up on the roof in ten.”

“Awesome, what is it?”

“Just some grimm getting a bit too close to the city, basic stuff.” Yang says, “I’m gonna got tell Weiss and Blake. Remember, Weiss likes to be early, so…”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll be there in a few.” Ruby says, standing up and setting the chunk of metal and screws on the desk nearby.

“Sweet, see you there.” Yang says and walks off.

“Alright Penny, you heard her.” Ruby says. She brushes off the jeans she had on and rolls down her sleeves before wiping her hands on her pants.

“Yes I did, want me to get it now?” Penny asks.

“No, we’ve got about five minutes-ish before Weiss would get mad at us for being late, let’s clean up first.” She says, picking up tools and pieces of metal scattered around. Robotic arms from the ceiling and floor rose up to help, grabbing things and moving them to put them up. Once everything is put away Ruby moves back and looks it over.

“Clean enough to eat here, and I should know.” Ruby says, “Okie dokie, Penny, suit me up!” She holds her arms out in a T pose.

“As you wish, Ruby.” Penny says. The robotic arms shift then, moving to the sides of the room and bringing back with them red and black pieces of metal. Gauntlets adorned her hands, metal plates covered her chest and back, greaves placed on her legs, intricate pieces of technology in the form of body covering armor. In a matter of moments the armor covered her, the last piece being a helmet, covering her head. The visor came down and the suits power source came on, red lights running across the whole suit, the glowing rose emblem in the middle of her chest being the most prominent. Last was the glowing silver eyes on the visor. That part didn’t actually do anything most of the time, she just thought it looked cool, though it could serve as a flashlight in the dark for people who didn’t have night vision.

“Looks like we’re good to go. All systems running normal?” Ruby asks.

“That they are, Ruby.” Penny says through the speaker system in Ruby’s helmet. “Everything is good, you are combat ready!”

“Awesome. Guess we’re ready then.” Ruby says. She rolls her shoulders, lifts her legs a bit, and does a few squats, getting comfortable in the armor. Of course she wouldn’t have if anyone had been here, it looked ridiculous, but the only person who could see here was Penny.

“Shall I open the doors for you?” Penny asks.

“No thanks, I’ll take the long way.” Ruby says, “I’ve got a bit of time. Maybe I’ll grab a snack on the way.”

“Food is good for you, especially for energy.” Penny says, “But remember to be careful not to let it fall into the suit, or it will be quite uncomfortable and difficult to remove.”

Ruby lets out a small nervous laugh, putting one armored hand behind her helmet, like she would put a hand on the back of her neck. “Yeah, I remember that happening before, that wasn’t a fun fight. Maybe I’ll just skip the snack.”

“Very well. Also, Weiss is already on the roof, so you should probably hurry.”

“Oh, Thanks. How are Blake and Yang?”

“Just a moment.” Penny says, and then pauses for a few seconds. “Yang has just donned her suit and should be making her way up soon. Blake is reading in her room. Should I give her a time warning?”

“No, not yet. She’s usually on time. No need to disturb her. But if she still hasn’t put her suit on at two minutes before pickup then you should.”

“I can do that.” Penny says, “And Weiss just contacted Yang to ask if she was ready yet.”

“Ugh, she’s always in such a hurry.” Ruby says, slumping forward before walking off. She headed into the main part of the building and climbed the stairs, moving up towards the roof. “Call Weiss.” She says, and a ring is heard for just a moment.

“Ruby, how did you-“ Weiss starts.

“I’m already on my way, Weiss, just wanted to let you know before you called and asked.”

“Oh, very good. Thank you.” Weiss says, “We can link our suits then.”

The call cuts off as Ruby keeps climbing. One of the perks of being a huntress, even in training was that each team got their own small place on campus. If the suits weren’t so hard to use then perhaps more people could have been hunters, but as it was they were so limited that it came with quite a few benefits.

Finally she reached the roof, opening the door and stepping out into the light. Her visor adjusted immediately, filtering it slowly so her eyes could adjust and not be blinded. There in the center of the roof were Weiss and Yang, already waiting on her.

Weiss’ suit wasn’t unlike Ruby’s. It was made of lightweight but strong metal, kept fairly small and close to Weiss’ own size, painted white with touches of ice blue for accent. In the center of the chest was the Schnee snowflake symbol, glowing faintly with the dust inside. Weiss’ suit was actually equipped with multiple types of dust, giving her a lot of versatility on the battlefield, though she had to sacrifice a bit of armor for it. She also had the latest in Atlesian technology, capable of scanning and searching the battlefield to always know what was where. As for weaponry, nothing was visible, but Ruby knew about the thin sharp blades hidden in the arms, which could even be detached to wield as a sword if Weiss wanted to.

Beside her was Yang, in her monstrous suit. Ember Celica, or as Yang sometimes called it, “The Grimm Buster” was a massive set of armor, at least comparatively. It added at least a foot to Yang’s already impressive height, and was built like a tank, as broad as Weiss and Ruby standing side by side. Yellow with touches of brown and glowing red eyes, it was an imposing figure. The thick armor all over let her take hits from even some of the toughest Grimm, and hit back just as hard. The large shoulders and legs could charge through just about anything, and the oversized shotguns and flamethrowers built into her arms meant she could tear things up.

“Hey guys.” Ruby calls out, her helmet opening up to let her talk as she walks over.

“There you are.” Weiss says. She holds up an arm and touches a holographic keypad that comes up. “Just a moment and… There. All linked up.” That was always the first thing to do, make sure they could communicate. Had she closed her helmet Ruby would have seen a display featuring both Weiss and Yang’s vitals and GPS coordinates, though she didn’t need that right now.

“So where’s Blake at?” Yang asks, “Still reading?”

“She’s right behind you.” Came a voice from behind Yang.

“Gah! Don’t do that!” Yang says, as Blake walks around. “How’d you even get out here?”

“I followed Ruby out.” Blake says casually.

“I hate it when you do that, almost hit you.”

“Be quiet, I’m linking hers in too, then she won’t be able to do it again.” Weiss says.

Ruby looked over at Blake as they waited for the pickup. Blake’s suit was more similar to her own and Weiss’ than Yang’s. It fit Blake well, custom made for her just as all of their suits were. Each had features designed around their fighting styles and Blake’s was no different. Though it was mostly pitch black, purple highlights lined the suit and were actually lights. They could glow in a unique way, blurring her image as she moved in order to confuse the enemy. They could also reflect things around them, allowing her to subtly cloak herself, though if you looked a bit you could still spot her, but that could be enough for her to slip in behind someone, especially in the heat of battle. She also had two blades hidden in her arms, a standard feature actually, though Blake’s were unique. They were collapsible to form scythes instead of just swords, and attached to long chains that wrapped underneath the armor. She could fire them out like grappling hooks or swing them around.

“So, who’s ready to kick some butt?” Yang asks with a grin.

“Oh, me!” Ruby says excitedly, “I’ve been working on a new trick I want to try.”

“This isn’t a game, Ruby.” Weiss says, “Did you forget we’re going to fight monsters? Monsters that want to kill us?”

“Well no, but I know we can take ‘em.”

“Even so, we still need to take every engagement seriously.”

“Cut her some slack, Weiss. She’s always serious once the fighting actually starts.” Blake says.

“I suppose you’re right. You’d think I’d be used to how casually the two of them treat humanity destroying monsters by now.”

“You’d think, yeah.” Yang says, “Guess we’re just too unpredictable.”

“Yes, that’s it. It has nothing to do with the insanity of you enjoying being thrown into life threatening situations.”

“Hey, just because we know how to enjoy ourselves doesn’t mean we’re crazy. You’re just a prude.”

“I am not. I’d just don’t get a thrill out of it.”

“Then why are you a huntress?” Blake asks, “Face it, whether we enjoy it as much as these two or not, none of use hate fighting. If we did we wouldn’t be here.”

“See, Blake’s right. You love it.” Yang says.

“That’s not what she-“ Weiss starts, but Ruby interrupts her.

“Uh guys, our ride is here.” She says, pointing up. Above them an airship comes into view, descending from the clouds.

“Is everybody ready?” Weiss asks.

“I am.” Blake says, closing her visor.

“Ready and pumped.” Yang says, doing the same.

“Yep.” Ruby says, closing hers as well. “Ready, Penny?”

“Of course, Ruby. I should be able to maintain contact during the entire fight.” Penny says over the speakers in Ruby’s helmet.

“Very well then.” Weiss says, closing her visor as well. The airship descended down, hovering just beside the building as the ramp lowered down. The four of them walked into it, Yang taking one side while Blake, Weiss, and Ruby took the other.

“I wish we could just fly there on our own.” Ruby says.

“Not all of us can fly though, Sis.” Yang points out.

“Not my fault you got boring armor.”

“My armor is awesome and you know it. Weren’t you the one who wanted to help design it?”

“Anyway.” Weiss cuts in, “Even if we all could, it would be a waste. Our suits don’t have a limitless power supply after all.”

“I know, but it’s so much more fun!” Ruby complains.

“Fun isn’t important. Your armor is not a toy.”

“Maybe yours isn’t. Mine has games on it.”

“Yours has WHAT?” Weiss asks in shock.

“Yeah, I copied some games to it for when I get bored. I’ve got Ultimate Huntsman Battle 2, Reaper of Grimm, Merciless Dancers, Ninja Revolution, Knock-Out Punch, and Tetris.” She lists off.

“You’re wearing a highly expensive, state of the art, custom built combat suit designed to defeat man eating monsters and protect the city of Vale, and you put games on it.”

“Yep!”

“We’re all going to die.” Weiss says and lets out a sigh, putting her head in her hand with a small clink of metal on metal. Yang’s laughter and even a small chuckle from Blake could be heard through the speakers in their helmets.

…

“Ruby, it appears you’re nearly over the drop zone.” Penny says.

“Sweet.” Ruby says, “Hear that guys?”

“Yeah we all got that one.” Yang says, “Looks like it’s time to show them why you don’t mess with Vale.”

“Everyone ready then?”

“Obviously.” Weiss says.

“Alright then.” Ruby says as the ramp lowers again, showing the ground well below them, “Team RWBY, out!” With that she runs at the open cargo door, jumping out of it. As she fell down she turned, falling feet first and activating her jets on her hands, feet, and even a couple on her back, slowing her descent so she didn’t land too hard.

While beside her Weiss and Blake landed in a similar way, Yang didn’t have that option, not that she would have taken it. Her heavy suit came crashing down, landing with a crater-forming boom. “Where are they? Bring ‘em on!” She says.

“According to the last location and speed the Grimm should be approaching from the south, directly ahead. They will be on location in approximately five minutes. I suggest either preparing now, or increasing the distance between the battle and Vale by meeting them.” Penny says.

“Why not both?” Ruby says, “Weiss, see what you can do with dust. Ice floors, stone walls, whatever. Yang, you play goalie. Be ready to work as a fence if any try to get past. Blake, you’re with me. We’ll run ahead to buy them a little time, see if we can slow them down.”

“Got it.” Came three voices over the speaker.

Ruby fired up the jets on her suit and took off, flying right in the direction the grimm were coming from. Her heads-up-display told her Blake was doing the same right beside her. “We want to focus on slowing them down and distracting them here.” She explained, “This isn’t the final blow, if you think you’re going to get hit back out and recover. We’ll focus on actually stopping them once we regroup with Weiss and Yang.”

“Right.” Blake answers, falling quiet.

It only takes them a few minutes to cover the distance with their speed and they pull up, finally getting a look at what they’d be facing. “Wow.” Ruby lets out quietly as she sees the grimm. They move like a wave, a writhing mass of darkness with flecks of white and red as they rush forward towards the city.

“I’ve never seen so many grimm in one place.” Blake says.

“Penny.” Ruby says, her voice stern, “Call Ozpin. Tell him we need back-up. Now. Send him, and Weiss and Yang, a video feed.”

“Very well, Ruby. Calling them all now.”

Just a few seconds later Yang’s voice came through the speakers. “Holy crap. You need some help up there Ruby? You okay?”

“We’re fine.” Ruby says, “We haven’t started yet. Just… be ready, okay? I’ve already sent word to Ozpin, but this one’s going to be tough.”

“We’ll do our best here.” Weiss says, “Try and make a bigger blockade. You two stay safe.”

“We will. Heading in now.” Ruby says. She lands ahead of the grimm a bit and reaches behind her. Attached to her back between the jets was a large rectangular piece that she detached. Holding it out she felt the weight shift as it transformed, extending out into a large scythe. She planted the blade in front of her, pointing the barrel of the rifle at the mass of grimm. She didn’t even bother aiming as she pulled the trigger.

“I don’t think that’s going to do very much.” Blake says.

“Hey if it gets a few then that’s just a few less we have to fight.” Ruby says, “I’ve got a better idea though.” She reaches up to her side and a chamber opens up, pushing out a clip that she switches onto the scythe rifle. “Let’s see how they like this.”

She pulls the trigger again and fires into the horde. Only this time a large explosion erupts when it hits, though even that didn’t seem to put a dent in the number of grimm. “Been wanting to use that one. Just wish it did more.” She pulled the trigger again, and again. Round after round she fired into the approaching grimm, setting off one explosion after the other, but there were always more to take the place of those that fell.

As she ran out she switched clips again. “Alright, time for the fun part.” She says. “You ready?”

“Ready and waiting.” Blake says. She throws her arms down at her sides and two blades unsheathe themselves, extending out of her wrists.

“Go!” Ruby calls out. Once more she fires off the rockets attached to her back and feet, and rushing forward with her scythe raised. She brought it down on the first grimm she reached, a Beowulf, slicing through it with ease. She kept her momentum up, following through with the swing into a spin, cutting through even more. As some rushed towards her she jumped and flew up into the air to get away. She expected them to keep coming after her, but they ignored her and ran on ahead.

“Dang it, if only I could have gotten that to work. Be really useful right now.” She says, looking down. She couldn’t even see the ground through all the grimm. Scanning the field she managed to find Blake, but only because of her suit being connected. The black suit blended in and the flowing light blurred her image. Grimm fell around her but it looked like she was trying to fight off a river.

“This isn’t working. We need a new plan.” Ruby says, looking around. Nothing on them was powerful enough for a horde of grimm that big. “Something’s wrong. Why aren’t they fighting?” She asked aloud, mostly to herself. “Blake, break off.”

Blake jumps, slicing an ursa on the way, and hovers above the grimm. “What’s going on?” She asks.

“I don’t know. Weiss, Yang, we have a problem.”

“You mean other than the massive horde of grimm headed our way?” Weiss asks.

“Um, no?” Ruby says, “It’s just, they’re ignoring us. Like they’re so intent on getting to the city they don’t even see us.”

“Okay that is weird.” Yang comes in, “I’ve never heard of a grimm passing someone up.”

“Yeah, it’s odd. Maybe we can use this though. That wall, stop. Make spikes instead. Trees, ice, rock, whatever. If they’re that focused they’ll just run right into it and stab themselves instead of trying to break it down.”

“You got it, Sis. One grimm kabob coming up.”

“Good. Penny, reinforcement status?”

“An airship is inbound with reinforcements. Team JNPR will be joining us in a few minutes.” Penny chimes in.

“Awesome, that’ll help a lot. Especially Nora. Do you think you can make it?”

“I’m sorry Ruby, but you were right before the mission. My signal would be weak. I’m afraid I’d be more of a hazard than a help.”

“That’s alright Penny, just had to ask. Now what do we do?”

“Hit them from behind while they’re distracted.” Blake says, “It won’t slow them down, but we weren’t anyway. We can do that without risk of being run over.”

“Not as fun as actually fighting, but I guess it works.” Ruby says, “Let’s go.” She flies down, moving behind the grimm that ran underneath them to the back of the group. She landed and ran with the grimm, swinging her scythe. She cut through them like wheat, cutting apart creepers, ursi, beowulves, and other grimm of varying sizes. Even the typically armored deathstalkers fell easy when she could cut off their legs without them fighting back.

“Guys we’re almost to you, are you ready?”

“We’ve got some nice spikes waiting for them. Ice Queen even set up a little skating rink for them right in front of it.” Yang says.

“Good thinking. Team JNPR is on the way too, if we can hold up for a bit they should lend us a hand.”

“I’d think they’d lend us eight hands.”

Ruby could practically hear the grin in Yang’s tone and let out a small chuckle. “As long as a couple of them are Nora’s we should be able to do a lot of damage.”

“Oh yeah, she’s going to have a great time with this.”

“So are you. Those flamethrowers will be handy.”

“Oh, is my ‘boring armor’ starting to impress now?”

“Still can’t fly though, so nyeh.” Ruby says, sticking out her tongue even though she knew Yang couldn’t see it.

“Will you two stop? We’re in the middle of a fight.” Weiss says.

“And we’re in the middle of a conversation.” Yang says.

“Not for long.” Weiss says, “Look.”

“Wow it looks even bigger when you see it.” Yang says.

“Looks like we’re here. Let’s break off and join them.” Ruby says, moving up and flying over the horde of grimm, Blake following behind. She landed beside Yang and Weiss and turned back to face the grimm. “Yang, fire!”

Yang stepped forward, a thud sounding with each step and held out both arms, palms out. Then fire shot from them, long streams of it just as the grimm got into range. She moved her hands, spreading the wave of fire as the grimm kept charging until they were almost on her, then she started swinging. Shotgun blasts fired off with each punch, smaller grimm bounced off of her armor as they tried to run through her. She stood like a golden statue in the middle of the black sea.

“Checkmate!” Ruby called out, and Weiss and Blake rushed forward. They flowed around one another, black and white suits contrasting as they moved. As one cut down a grimm another would take its place, only to be cut down as well. “Yang, Weiss! Falling Meteor!” Ruby called out the next attack.

Weiss jumped away and landed beside Yang, planting her sword into the ground. A spire of stone shot up beneath Yang’s feet. As it rose Yang jumped, she couldn’t fly but she could jump well. Combined with the speed of the launch she rose high up, and then came back down. She set off the flamethrowers as she fell, diving towards the ground. Along with the fire she activated a small bit of other dust kept just for things like this. She impacted the ground, slamming her fist into it with shaking force. The fire and earth dusts both activated, causing the crater to spread outward, tearing up the ground and many grimm with it.

“Ruby, reinforcements are here.” Penny said, causing Ruby to look up. Sure enough an airship had arrived. She also saw above it some nevermores had arrived, headed for the city.

“We got birdies!” She called out, and then her next attack. “Ice Flower!” She dropped down to one knee, pointing her scythe upwards. As the area between her and the grimm began to fog over from what she knew to be ice dust she fired. Her bullet gathered it and impacted a nevermore, freezing it’s wing and causing it to fall. She kept firing, striking the winged beasts and bringing them down, though she knew she wasn’t killing them.

“Blake, finish them! We need to keep them off the airship so they can open up!” Ruby called out, trusting Blake to kill the grounded birds. “Yang, don’t let her get trampled.”

“Like I’d let that happen.” Yang says.

Ruby pauses in her shots to swing at a Beowulf that tried to trample her, cutting it in half and then decapitating a creeper before firing again. Her HUD went off, alerting her to a bigger nevermore to her left. She looks over, seeing one easily twice the size of the ones she’d been picking off. “Oh crap.” She says.

Luckily she doesn’t have to figure out what to use to beat it as two shapes come out of the airship. A bronze and red power suit, followed by a green one. They fly over and start fighting midair, soon clipping one wing and sending it plummeting on top of other grimm below it.

“Looks like the cavalry has arrived.” Yang calls out as she wades through grimm, swinging massive fists. “Got it yet, Weiss?”

“Kind of busy here!” Weiss says as she fights as well, she stabs one, then another, and with a wave of her hand her suit glows, sending a series of ice spikes out to impale others.

“Penny, link us in if you can.” Ruby calls out, she fires the rockets on her feet and rushes forward, swinging the scythe, taking out at least two with each swipe of the large blade.

“Very well, Ruby.” Penny said, cheerful as ever. “It’s taking a bit longer than usual but it should be there right about… now.”

“Can you guys hear me?”

“Hello, Ruby.” Pyrrha says, “We can hear you clearly.”

“Yay, glad you’re here. Please tell me Nora came fully equipped.”

“You bet I did!” Nora said over the speakers, her excitement clear. “Save some for me!”

“Oh there’s plenty.” Yang says. She grabs two beowulves by their heads and slams them together.

A loud crack draws Ruby’s gaze and she looks over at the wall of ice and stone, now with a spiderweb of cracks running through it. “They’re breaking through the barricade!”

“Come on, come on, come on.” Nora chants impatiently, “YEAH!” Then a loud boom echoes as Nora finally manages to enter the battlefield. Despite Nora herself being small, the suit was only about half a foot shy of Yang’s in height. It made up for that through the attachments though. The pink and white armor had a pair of large cannons mounted on it, one on each shoulder. Wrapped around the wrists were missile launchers containing the same small missiles Ruby had one each of in the arms of her suit, though Nora’s held a dozen each. Then, attached like a backpack, was another missile array, this time containing another two dozen of somewhat larger ones. All of them were detachable once she’d used up the armament, though she rarely did given that she had enough firepower to level a small village.

“Oh this is gonna be awesome! Eat rockets!” She cries out as braces herself, holding her arms forward. From her wrists she lets loose every single shot she has, finally putting a serious dent in the grimm. The shoulder mounted cannons begin firing repeatedly, cutting through the grimm with ease. Then she lets loose her entire arsenal of rockets from her back, smoke trails forming as they flew every which way, creating dozens of explosions.

“I have GOT to get me some of those.” Yang says.

“You mean some of these?” Ruby asks. She raises one arm and the missile comes up, firing off at the largest grimm she could find, a deathstalker. It strikes dead center, leaving an empty space where its head had been.

“I didn’t know you had those, no fair!”

“I only got two.” She pauses to swing once, cutting through a beowulf, and then kicks a creeper aside, “So I like to save them.”

A loud howl came out from a beowulf, interrupting the talk, and things took a turn for the worse. Whatever had been affecting them seemed to have disappeared, and the remaining grimm had begun attacking. Yang punched an ursa in the face, smashing its skull, and then pulled a Beowulf off of her back.

“This is bad.” Ruby says, cutting through a few grimm. “We’re right in the middle of them.” She strikes down two more and kicks one aside, then sees one jump at her from the other side, only to be cut in half.

“Hey, Ruby.” Jaune says, swinging his sword at another. Despite its age his white and gold armor still holds up fairly well on the battlefield. Unlike the others his suit was a relic from the Great War. It was made of heavier, thicker metals and had a shield attached to the left arm, making it durable but not sizable, though it lacked some of the abilities the more modern suits had.

“Hey, Jaune. How’s it going?”

“Oh you know, hah, just being overwhelmed by grimm as soon as I arrive.”

“Yeah I,” She swings and fires, cutting through two and blowing off another’s head, “I know what you mean.”

“We need a way to do more.” She says, “I’m going up!” She flies up, hovering above the battlefield. If they could pack more weapons onto a single suit then being able to fly would be a real tactical advantage, however given limited power supply and weapon weight all it did was take her out of the fight. “Okay Ruby we need a plan come up with a plan. Got it. Bumblebee go!”

Blake doesn’t hesitate, jumping away from her fight and firing both her chains at Yang. The armored suit isn’t even phased by the force of them as Yang catches them in her hands and pivots, swinging the smaller suit around. When she lets go Blake flies forward and spins as well, her chain blades ripping through grimm in a large path.

“Weiss, wind. Yang, Fire.”  Ruby called out. Weiss threw out both arms, air dust creating a current of wind. Yang met it with streams from her flamethrowers, feeding off the wind and following it, burning through even more.

Jaune then came in, following Ruby and calling out a team attack as well. “Ren, Nora, Flower Power!”

“Understood.” Ren responds. He flies into the air towards Nora, who grabs a Beowulf and throws it at him. He slices through it and circles around above her, cutting through more as Nora sends them flying into the air.

“Alright guys, we’re almost there, let’s finish them off.” Ruby says, “Team RWBY, full power, burn some dust.” She folds her scythe and reattaches it to her back and flies down as her suit glows a bit brighter, along with the rest of her team. She never touches the ground, flying through and striking at everything within range. Her enhanced strength sends her fist through grimm almost as easily as her blade.

 She loses herself in the frenzy, focusing only on her immediate surroundings, which were mostly grimm. Operating on instinct she fights her way through, letting her training and armor work together to dispatch every grimm in sight until there weren’t anymore.

“Well…” Yang says, “That was actually a bit anticlimactic.”

“Yeah, was kind of hoping to finish them with a big move.” Ruby says, “Or maybe have them merge into one super grimm that we all had to fight together. That’d be cool.”

“Personally I’ll take cannon fodder over a super grimm. Tedious though it may be, at least it’s less likely to result in the end of Vale, and our lives.” Weiss says.

“Big or small, we won, and that’s what is important.” Pyrrha says.

“I guess so.” Ruby says, “Oh, and thanks for the help. We didn’t really have the arsenal to handle that on our own.”

“No problem, glad to help.” Jaune says.

“Yeah, especially since I got to use all of it!” Nora adds, “I blew up so many grimm. It was sweet!”

“Totally. I think I saw an ursa just get obliterated.” Yang says.

“Ruby, I hate to interrupt, but your suit is running low on power.” Penny chimes in.

“Huh? Oh wow it is.” Ruby says, “Signaling the pickup now. How about you guys, you low?”

“A little.” Blake says.

���Oh yeah, I’m super low.” Yang says, “Switching into power saver mode kind of low.”

“I’m doing fine.” Weiss says.

“Of course you are, you could power a small city with all the dust on that thing.”

“A small village actually, one of approximately four hundred people.”

“Holy crap I was just kidding. Dang Princess, share a bit.”

“There’s plenty of dust to go around. Perhaps you should just carry more in that monstrosity of yours.”

“Hey this ‘monstrosity’ has taken blows for that little soda can you call a suit.”

“Excuse me, this is the latest in Atlesian grimm suppression technology.”

“It’s thin and will explode if you hit it in the right spot, especially if you shake what’s inside a bit. Sounds like a soda can.”

“Guys, our ride is here.” Ruby interrupts, pointing at the landed airship. “Wow, déjà vu.”

“Good, I wanna go home. I could use some food. My suit isn’t the only thing needing a refill.” Yang says as she boards the ship, team JNPR already on board.

“Okay it’s not just me.” Ruby says, as she, Weiss, and Blake board as well. “I’m starving.”

“Great, we can all go get some lunch once we land.”

“You do realize we have debriefing first right?” Weiss adds.

“Dang.”

…

“Ahhh.” Ruby let out a contented sigh and stretched her arms. “That’s better.”

“I thought you liked being in your suit though?” Weiss asked as the team of them walked towards Ozpin’s office, having just left their suits behind to be repaired and refilled.

“I do, but it’s like changing into your pajamas. Even if you like your clothes, PJ’s are better.”

“I suppose that makes some kind of sense.”

“Of course it does. Softer, lighter, lets the skin breath. Having a flying suit is fun, but normal clothes are more comfy.”

“Can’t argue with that. That thing is kind of exhausting. There’s a reason not everyone can use them.” Yang says, and then looks over as they walked, “Hey what’s that?”

“That’s a… oh wow.” Ruby says. On a large push cart hovering just above the ground was a large, metallic gray machine. She rushes over to it and looks up. “It’s a Mark I Paladin.” She says in awe.

“A what now?” Yang asks.

“Paladin was the first model of mechanized combat suits.” Blake says, “Their efficiency in combat is what led to the study of more advanced combat suits and the hunters we have today.”

“You sound like you read that out of a book.” Yang says, and then pauses for a moment. “Oh wait, you probably did. Nevermind.”

“I never thought I’d see one in real life. Most of them were destroyed or salvaged.” Ruby says, walking around it and staring up.

“There are only six left in the entire world.” Weiss says, and smirks a bit, “My family owns one of them.”

“The only one in Atlas, which they have repeatedly refused to donate to the museum.” Blake points out.

“That part isn’t my fault.” Weiss says.

“Uh, Ruby,” Yang says, “I think you’re drooling.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.” Ruby says, standing up straight and giving a nervous laugh. She wiped her chin to see if she actually was, but of course Yang was kidding. “It’s just so cool. The first suit. The reason we’re here. You got to appreciate the classics. I mean, look at the design.”

“Nerd.”

The sound of someone clearing their throat drew their attention and the girls turned around. “Oh, hey Goodwitch.” Yang says, receiving a glare in return that made her wish she was still in her suit.

“Professor Ozpin is waiting.” Glynda says, adjusting her glasses. She turns and walks away with them following. Eventually they reach the office and she opens the door, leading them in. The room is open, large windows showing the city of Vale below, gears turning beneath a clear floor, and a desk with four chairs placed in front of it.

Ruby walked up and sat down in the chair on the far left. Weiss took the seat next to her, sitting with her hands in her lap. Blake went one over and sat down, crossing her arms. Yang took the last one on the farthest right, hopping backwards into it. “So, Oz.” She says, “What the hell was that out there?”

“Ms. Xiao Long!” Goodwitch chastises.

“It’s fine, Glynda.” Ozpin says, holding up a hand to calm her. “They did encounter something far more than I prepared them for.”

“I’ll say, if Ruby hadn’t decided to go ahead and try and thin them for us we’d be grimm chow right now.”

“I am aware, and I do apologize. I did not expect such a large number of grimm. Though it does help reaffirm my decision to make Ms. Rose team leader, not that I was doubting that decision anyway.”

Ruby gives a nervous laugh and scratches her neck. “Heh, thank you, Sir.”

“Now, as for the rest of your encounter, what can you tell me about the odd behavior of the grimm?”

“Oh, right.” Ruby focuses, “They were really weird for a bit. Usually grimm attack anybody they can sense, but these ones seemed to ignore us, for a while at least.”

“It was like we weren’t even worth bothering with.” Yang adds.

“I see.” Ozpin says, steepling his fingers. “What is most interesting is that you aren’t the only ones to encounter this.”

“We weren’t?” Weiss asks, “What do you mean?”

He presses a few buttons on his desk, bringing up a holographic map of Vale and the surrounding area. Three lights came up on it, one denoting the area team RWBY had their encounter. “While you and team JNPR fought here, two other groups were sent out to deal with a sudden spike in grimm activity. Like you, a large number of grimm were present and ignored them, moving directly toward Vale. Then, at exactly the same time as with you, the grimm ceased this and resumed normal behavior.”

“So… What does that mean?” Ruby asks.

“Something was drawing them in.” Blake answers.

“Ms. Belladonna is correct. Something was acting to draw the grimm in, like a powerful grimm magnet.” Ozpin says.

“What could do such a thing?” Weiss asks.

“Our current theory is… negativity.” Ozpin explains, “It’s common knowledge that grimm are drawn to negative emotions. We believe something caused the grimm to pick up on negativity too small for them to usually detect and brought them in. We also believe this was intentional, and merely a test, given that the grimm stopped suddenly.”

“So what, someone built a sadness ray and shot it at the grimm to draw them in, but stopped when they realized it worked?” Yang summarizes.

“In a sense, yes. Though it doesn’t necessarily have to be sadness they’re amplifying. Anger, fear, grief, all of those and more work as well.”

“That’s insane.” Weiss says, “Why on Remnant would anyone do such a thing?”

“We may be in a time of peace, Ms. Schnee, but not everyone wishes good for the kingdoms.”

“So, what do we do?” Ruby asks, “Find them and stop them?”

“Precisely. If we do not, then they could use this to bring an untold number of grimm upon the kingdom. That is where your team comes in.”

“Whatever you need, Prof. Just point me at the bad guys and I’ll smash them flat.” Yang says, punching her fists together and grinning.

“And we will be sure to do that.” Ozpin says, “However first we must locate them. For that we would like the help of Ms. Schnee.”

“Of course Professor, I’m glad to help in any way I can.” Weiss says, holding her head up high at them needing her help.

“Thank you. We will need to borrow your suit for some time. We hope we can detect whatever signal attracted the grimm and pinpoint its source. Having advanced Atlesian scanners like the ones from you suit tied into our own systems could do wonders for augmenting our search.”

“Oh, right.” Weiss says, doing a surprisingly good job of hiding her disappointment, though some still shown through. “You can borrow it for as long as you like.”

“Thank you again. Until we are through with it the four of you can rest. It might be some time, hours or even days, before we find what we’re looking for, so enjoy some time to yourselves.”

“We will, Sir.” Ruby says as the team stands up. “Thank you.” They turn to leave, starting in single file but walking in a group once out the door.

“So, food?” Yang suggests.

“Food.” Comes three voices of agreement.

…

“Twenty seven… twenty eight… twenty nine aaaannnnddd thirty.” Ruby counted off, looking down at Yang who was laying on her back. She took a step back as Yang put the bar back, sitting up and wiping her forehead off with a towel.

“Only thirty?” Blake asks as she sat on the floor nearby, her legs stretched out and a book between them as she leaned forward over it. “More weight or just a less strenuous?”

“Just relaxing. Since Ozpin hasn’t found the sadness gun or whatever it is I figure it’s better to keep a bit in reserve.” Yang answers, grabbing a bottle of water and opening it before taking a drink.

“Smart.” Blake says, adjusting her position for a different set of stretches.

“Speaking of which,” Weiss adds from her spot on a nearby bench, “have any of you heard any news on that? I’d like to know when I can get my armor back.”

“Sorry, Weiss, nothing yet.” Ruby says, “But if it helps, I’m almost done with something super cool for the suits, so when you get it back we can make it even more awesome!”

“Oh yeah, that thing you were tinkering with the other day.” Yang says, “Almost done then?”

“Yep, Penny’s putting the final touches on my suit right now.” Ruby says with a smile.

“Good lord, what have you built now?” Weiss asks, “This one isn’t going to explode is it? Because last time you built something like this we had to replace an entire room. Glynda was not happy.”

“Well I hope it doesn’t.” Ruby says, “That’s kind of what I spent the last few days fixing.”

“I’m sure she has it under control, Weiss. I mean, she managed to integrate an AI into our house, I think she can manage an upgrade to her suit.” Blake says, leaning back and relaxing.

“She also managed to turn our toaster oven into a broiler, somehow. We all know how well that ended.”

“Hey that one wasn’t my fault, you’re the one who messed it up.” Ruby protests.

“That thing shot flames! My sandwich was cremated.”

“It was supposed to do that, you’re the one who turned it up.”

“Alright guys, calm down.” Yang says, stopping them. “So Ruby, what’s the upgrade?”

“Oh, you’ll have to wait and see.” Ruby says, smiling and putting her hands behind her back. “It’s awesome though. You’re gonna want one.”

“Come on, Ruby, don’t be like that, now I just want to know more.” Yang says.

“Perhaps I can help.” Penny says over the speakers. “The install is completed if you’d like to try it out.”

“Sweet!” Ruby says, “Come on guys, let’s go!” She runs over the door, hoping from one foot to the other as she waits on them. They do follow behind, with Ruby skipping ahead the whole way, leading down to the workshop. As they arrived she skipped over to the table where the arm from one of her suits was laying.

“Is that it?” Yang asks, gesturing to the wires coming out of it, connecting it to a small box.

“No, that’s just a power source so I don’t have to put on the whole suit. Also my next project, hoping I can make one for each part of the suit and integrate it in.” Ruby explains as she puts on the gauntlet.

“That’s actually quite a good idea. Why didn’t you do that first?” Weiss asks as they move to stand behind Ruby.

“Because I was working on this.” Ruby says, “I had it wired to work through the flight stabilizer so I don’t have to modify much, but check it out. Penny, target.” A robotic arm from the ceiling holds down a small circle, white with a red dot in the center. Ruby points the glove at it and focuses. Then a blast fires from the palm of the glove, sending Ruby flying backwards and creating a dust cloud as it tears through the target and puts a dent in the thick wall on the other side.

“Ruby!” Yang calls out and braces herself, catching her sister as she flies backwards. “Are you alright?”

“Hehe.” Ruby lets out a small laugh, “Wow. Yeah I’m fine, just thinking I should have put the suit on.” She stands up as Yang lets go of her.

“So it was supposed to do that?” Weiss asks, gesturing at the hole in the wall.

“Uhh, yes?” Ruby says, “I didn’t expect it to be that powerful though. Even better than I thought it would be.”

“Was that an energy blast?” Blake asks, looking at the wall, and then at Ruby. “Don’t you usually need specially made dust focused weapons for that?”

“Yep.” Ruby says, hopping a bit and grinning. “I managed to figure out how to take the suits stabilizers though, since they already use dust power, and run it through them. So now I got energy blasters!”

“That sounds extremely dangerous.” Weiss says.

“And super awesome!” Yang adds.

“I’m just impressed you managed to do that.” Blake says.

“Well I had help from Penny.” Ruby says.

“Ruby, I have additional information if you’d like to hear it.” Penny says at her name.

“Sure, go ahead.”

“The blast is quite powerful, however I have managed to take your ideas on dust energy projection and flow to use the minimal amount of power while maintaining force, so you should be able to use it quite a bit, though I would suggest not doing so if you want to conserve.”

“Alright, can do. Anything else?”

“Yes, I installed a limiter that you can control in order to allow for weaker blasts should you need them. However I noticed another function of this. At a full charge you can sustain a blast of seventy three percent power for up to 3.67 seconds if you would like an extended beam.”

“Penny you are the BEST!” Ruby says, jumping up and down in excitement. She looks at the gauntlet and inspects it a bit. “Let’s see, this is like this so… got it.” She points it at the wall again. “Yang can you brace me?”

“On it, Sis.” Yang stands behind Ruby, putting her hands on her to keep her from flying back.

“Ready… go!” Ruby says and fires a blast. It holds a beam for a few seconds, 3.67 to be exact, and then fades out.

“Okay, you’re right. I have got to get me one of those.” Yang says.

“Penny?” Ruby asks.

“I am already in the process of manufacturing more. There should be three additional units by tomorrow.” Penny says.

“Ruby was right, you’re awesome.” Yang says.

“Thank you, Yang. I’ll install it on your suit first.”

“Hey!” Weiss says.

“Don’t complain, Weiss.” Blake says, “Yours isn’t even here so you can’t get it.”

“I just didn’t know the AI could play favorites.” Weiss says.

“You’re focusing too much on the ‘A’ and not enough on the ‘I’.” Ruby says, “She still has a personality.”

“Yes, I know. Sometimes I just forget since I don’t see a face.” Weiss says.

“Well I think you should apologize for that.” Ruby says, crossing her arms.

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

“I’m with Ruby, don’t think less of Penny just because she doesn’t have a body.” Yang says.

“They’re not wrong.” Blake says.

“Fine.” Weiss says, and looks at the ceiling. “Penny, I’m sorry for referring to your as ‘the AI’ and for forgetting you’re a person.”

“Thank you, Weiss. It’s okay. At least you knew to forget. Most people don’t.” Penny says.

“Well I’ll do my best not to forget again.”

“Good, all made up.” Ruby says, taking the wires off of her gauntlet. “Now Penny, can you suit me please?”

“Of course, Ruby.” Penny says.

“Why are you putting your suit on?” Weiss asks.

“I wanna run some practice with my new weapon. Get used to it, learn how to balance it with more normal fighting, feel how it works in my suit when I won’t get blasted back.” Ruby explains as her suit is placed on, the helmet fitting on last with the visor open.

“You mean you want to blow stuff up.” Blake says.

“Yeah that too.” Ruby says, “That’s just a bonus though. You guys wanna watch? Might help for when you get them.”

“Sounds cool, I’m in.” Yang says.

“I suppose I can join. I can watch and read at the same time.” Blake says.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to pass.” Weiss says, “I need to contact Ozpin about my own suit. I’d like to know if he has an idea when I’ll be getting it back. I know they don’t have the same technology but honestly it’s starting to get upsetting. I don’t like not having it around in case I need it.”

“You could always get a back-up.” Ruby says, “Won’t help now, but it would be good to have a second suit for times like this.”

“I suppose it would be. Why didn’t we do that before?” Weiss asks.

“I did.” Ruby says, “This is my third suit actually. Crescent Rose Mark Two! The first one was called Iron Rose. Technically this is just my latest model but I still have the old ones.”

“Oh, well anyway you three can go do what you were doing. I’ll contact Ozpin, and then I might see if I can get the process for a new suit. That seems like it would take a while.”

“Alright. Penny, doors.” Ruby says. She only has to wait a moment as the wall on one side of the workshop opens up, splitting in half to reveal itself to be a set of doors. “Meet you there, and see you later Weiss.” She says and gets a running start before firing off the boosters and flying through the open doors.

…

“Hey Weiss.” Ruby says, coming up behind her as Weiss sat on the couch looking at her scroll. “I got you something.” She circles around to stand in front of Weiss with her hands behind her.

“Oh joy, I’m sure this will be good.” Weiss says and rolls her eyes, setting down her scroll.

“It will.” Ruby says, pouting a bit. Then she smiles again and holds out her hands, in front of them, a roll of paper in them. She spreads it out to show it to her. “See, isn’t it cool?”

“It’s…” Weiss looks at it to make sure she’s seeing what she thinks she is. “It’s schematics for a combat suit.”

“Yep. Penny and I have spent the past few days coming up with a new one for you since you said you don’t like being without one. Mostly Penny, since she doesn’t need sleep and all.”

“You’re kidding. You designed an entire suit in a few days?” Weiss says, looking up at her skeptically.

“Yeah, though we based it on your current suit so that helped. It’s more an upgrade than a new one. I had Penny analyze the records of your fights, and she came up with a few points on your style, suit functions, and stuff like that. Then I came up with ways to improve it based on that.”

“That’s actually quite impressive.” Weiss says, “I was turned down for an extra suit by Atlas. Apparently since I won’t be going there more than one suit is too much. But this could help.” She takes the paper, looking it over. “Thank you, Ruby.” Then after a moment she looks at the ceiling, “And thank you too, Penny.”

“You’re welcome.” Comes two simultaneous replies.

“Now I just need to figure out who-“ Weiss starts but is cut off by her scroll buzzing. She sets down the paper and picks it up. “Hello? Oh really? Thank goodness. Yes, right away Sir.” She closes her scroll and looks up at Ruby, “Ozpin is ready.”

…

“So, what do you think’s gonna happen now?” Yang asks as the four of them sat in Ozpin’s office waiting on him.

“I’m assuming he’ll give Weiss back her suit and tell us our mission.” Blake says.

“Well yeah, I just meant like what’s it gonna be?”

“My guess, search and destroy.” Weiss says, “If they know where it is, all we have to do is take it out before it can draw in more grimm.”

“Wouldn’t surveillance and recon be better?” Ruby asks, “So we can figure out who did it? I mean, even if we smash it, if we don’t get the bad guys can’t they just build another?”

“She has a point.” Blake says, “We don’t know who did this after all.”

“Yeah, I still hope we get to smash it either way.” Yang says.

“Worry not, Ms. Xiao Long, there will be plenty of that.” Ozpin says from behind them as he walks around to his desk and takes his seat. “I see you’re all wondering what the plan is.”

“Uh, yes Sir.” Ruby says.

“Well allow me to enlighten you. It’s quite simple. We’ve pinpointed the source of the signal that drew in the grimm, though it wasn’t easy.” He looks at Weiss, “Thank you for letting us borrow your suit, Ms. Schnee, it was invaluable in our efforts. Atlas technology truly is spectacular.”

“Of course, Sir.” Weiss says, “Anything to help.”

“Now that we’ve located the source, Ms. Rose is correct, we need to determine the perpetrators. Whoever is behind such a scheme is a very large threat to Vale, as well as all the other kingdoms. Ms. Goodwitch and I will be working on determining anything we can through contacts, paper trails, and all the other boring work. The four of you will be working with team JNPR to do a stake-out of the building in question. Team JNPR will be taking the day shift and the four of you will keep an eye on it at night. My apologies if this is an inconvenience, but while team JNPR is quite skilled I do not believe Ms. Valkyrie or Mr. Arc are suited for a subtle, after dark operation.”

“And Yang is?” Weiss asks, earning a small chuckle from Ruby and a smirk from Blake.

“Oh you’re one to talk. Everything you own is so white it looks like your house got flooded with bleach.” Yang counters.

“Hey! There’s nothing wrong with my clothes. I look good in white.”

“Just hope it doesn’t snow or we might lose you.”

“Ladies.” Ozpin interrupts.

“Sorry Sir.” Weiss apologizes, looking down.

“Anyway, I believe Ms. Xiao Long will do fine. Especially with the three of you on her team. Once you have located the ringleader behind these events, or believe you have, then contact us. Do not engage immediately. Of course, if you feel your own lives, or the lives of others are in danger then you can do what is necessary, but we would prefer to take this slow if possible. We don’t want anyone getting away because we rushed this.”

“I understand, Sir.” Ruby says. “We’ll do our very best.”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine.” Yang says, “We’ve got Blake after all. Sometimes she’s hard to see in the day. Nobody’s gonna notice her at night.”

“I do hope you’re right.” Ozpin says, “That will be all. You can return home and rest up. It’s going to be, more than likely, a long few nights.”

…

“Bye guys.” Ruby says, waving to team JNPR. Their shift had just ended, with team RWBY arriving on a rooftop near the target to take over. “Alright, ready guys?” She asks, turning back to her own team.

“Of course. It’s just watching.” Weiss says. “We’ve been doing it for two days now, three today. I don’t even know why we bothered bringing our suits.”

“It’s better to be over prepared than under.” Blake says.

“I know, I just hate not doing anything.” Weiss says.

“We are doing something, we’re watching.” Ruby says. “I know it’s not the most active thing, but it has to be done.”

“Still sucks.” Yang says, “This is duller than that board game Jaune made up.”

“No, no it’s not.” Ruby says, “Please don’t make me remember that.”

“Don’t tell me you actually got dragged in to that.” Yang says.

“Yeah.” Ruby says, “Me, Pyrrha, and Ren. It was awful. If Nora hadn’t come in we’d probably still be there.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

“It composts in real time, Yang. Real time.” Ruby says, almost sounding distressed.

“We’ve gotten off topic.” Weiss says.

“Yeah, let’s go back to normal boring.” Yang says.

“Right.” Ruby says, “Um, everybody knows their places?”

“Of course.” Weiss says.

“Alright, Weiss, Yang, go. Blake, hold on a moment, I got something.”

“See you Sis.” Yang says, her suit thumping as she turned and jumped onto another roof nearby.

“Moving out.” Weiss says, flying off.

“So what did you need?” Blake asks.

“Here.” Ruby says. A compartment on the side of her suit near the ribs opens up and she pulls out a small case. “There’s movement sensors in here. None of the rest of us could risk getting close enough to place them, but you might be able to. Don’t take any chances, but try and place them around the target building if you can.”

“Good idea. Is that all?”

“Yep, that’s it.”

“Alright, I’m going.” She says and turns, running off the edge of the building, disappearing into the night as she falls.

…

“Come on… Come on…” Ruby whispered to herself, her focus intent. Just a little more and it would be perfect. Hours of waiting, patience, and practice would lead up to this moment. So of course an alarm sounded at exactly that second, causing her to flinch and mess up her perfect combo. “Dang it!” She shouted, and cleared the game away. “Penny?”

“It appears to be one of the alarms that Blake set.” Penny answers.

“Uh, guys.” Yang asks over the coms, addressing the whole team, “Why are my ears ringing?”

“It’s an alarm.” Ruby says, “That’s what I had Blake stay behind for earlier. Penny, can you tell where it is?”

“It’s coming from the northeast corner of the building.” Penny says, “It appears someone is going in through the rear.”

Yang lets out a snort of laughter. “Oh my gods, did you have to say it like that?”

“Really, Yang?” Weiss asks.

“I’m confused, what did I say?” Penny asks.

“Nothing.”  Ruby says, “Yang’s just being a dork. Come on guys, focus. Blake, can you see anything?”

“Moving now.” Blake says, “Alright, looks like a small group of people. Six of them, lightly armed. Hold on, zooming in.” There’s a short pause and then, “Wait… that guy. That’s Roman Torchwick.”

“Uh, Penny?” Ruby asks. A few seconds later an image of a mugshot appears on her HUD.

“Roman Torchwick. Notorious criminal known to operate in Vale and surrounding areas. Wanted for assault, theft, petty theft, grand theft, homicide, and attempted homicide. Known Associates, Neo Politan. Wanted on the same charges. Both are considered to be heavily armed and very dangerous at all times, despite appearances.”

“Wow, okay.” Yang says, “That really sounds like our guy.”

“The Neo girl was with him too.” Blake says, “And a few others, didn’t recognize them. Basic armaments. Probably hired goons. I’m moving in for a closer look.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Weiss asks.

“Are you sure that’s Weiss.” Yang says.

Ruby gives a small laugh. “Just be careful, they might have sensors that can pick you up. There’s a reason we haven’t tried going in yet.”

“I’m just going to get a look through the door when they walk through it.” Blake says, “They’re going in now. Focusing and enhancing… Dear gods.”

Chills went down the spines of the other three. Hearing the tone, especially from Blake, was terrifying. “What is it?” Ruby asks.

“They’ve got captives.” Blake says.

“You’re sure?” Weiss asks.

“They’re tied up and bloody.” Blake says, “I only saw two from the angle but I’m sure there are more.”

“We should call Ozpin.” Weiss says.

“Already contacting him.” Penny says.

“Didn’t he say something about civilian lives being in danger?” Yang asks.

“We can wait thirty seconds.” Weiss says.

“Hello? Ms. Rose?” Ozpin’s voice comes over the coms.

“Hello Sir. We think we’ve found the guy. Roman Torchwick just entered.” Ruby explains.

“That is very good news. Withdraw and regroup.” Ozpin says.

“With all due respect, Sir.” Ruby says, “Requesting permission to engage instead. Immediately.”

“Care to explain that request?”

“Captives, Sir. Bound and injured. We’d like to save them, ASAP.”

“Captives?” He says and pauses. “Of course, a source. Very well Ms. Rose. Your team may engage, with caution I might add. I’m sending two more teams to join you as well.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Ruby says. “Alright guys let’s go. Weiss, back door, seal it so no one gets out. Then move to the front. We’ll go in there.”

“What about me and Blake?” Yang asks.

“You’re the battering ram that opens the door, of course.” Ruby says, “Blake, slip in behind us. Try not to be seen. Focus on getting the people out of danger while we fight them.”

“I can do that.”

“Alright, Team RWBY, go!” Ruby says. She flies down and waits in front of the front door, taking Crescent Rose off of her back. Weiss lands beside her a moment later, and then with a loud boom and the sound of cracking concrete Yang lands in front of them. She doesn’t hesitate then, charging forward and plowing through the door like paper as she rushes into the building.

Ruby flies in behind Yang, getting her first look inside the building, which is pretty much just one big room. It’s big, but mostly empty. Cages, also empty but with claw marks on the floors and bars, are scattered around the edges of the room. Beside but not in the cages are people, tied to the walls, most looking disheveled and somewhat bloodied from scratches, bites, and small cuts. In the center of the room was a large machine, reaching from the floor to the ceiling.

“Oh for fu-“ Came a voice, which a quick look revealed to be Torchwick. “Someone kill them!”

The four men accompanying him, scattered through the room, all raised their weapons. Yang jumped over, grabbing the weapon from one of them and crushing it. He tried to run but she grabbed him by the arm. She bent one of the bars on a nearby cage and threw him in before bending it back, somewhat sloppily, so he couldn’t get out.

Ruby fired off a shot, knocking the weapon out of another’s hand before rushing forward and hitting him with the back of Crescent Rose, knocking him into a wall so he fell flat on the floor and didn’t get up. The third was suddenly encased in ice from his feet to his shoulders, unable to move. Nobody saw what happened to the fourth and closest one, but he somehow ended up tied up where one of the captives used to be.

“Stupid cheap guards.” Roman curses under his breath. “Neo, stop them please.” He turns towards the machine in the center of the room and begins typing on a keyboard on it.

“Yang, stop her. Weiss, help Blake.” Ruby calls out, and rushes towards him. She swings her scythe down at him from behind, but he turns and raises his cane, blocking the strike.

“Attacking with my back turned? That’s not very huntressy, Red.” He says.

Ruby takes one hand off of her scythe and punches forward, only for him to move to the side. Instead her fist goes through the console of the machine.

“Oh, too bad. How are you going to stop it now? It’s already started.”

“Already… PENNY!” Ruby calls out.

“I’m afraid it’s a closed system, Ruby. I can’t access it.” Penny says.

“Guess I’ll have to blow it up then.”

“Ruby look out!” Someone calls and Ruby looks to her left. Roman had put some distance between them and she just had time to register he was aiming his cane when the shot came out. A dust burst, similar to the one she’d just installed on their suits, hit her square in the chest.

Thrown backwards she skidded across the concrete floor. “Ugh, damage report?”

“Primary power source damaged. Chest plate integrity reduced. Operating efficiency at 87%.”

“Those are still butt kicking levels. Let’s go.”

“A little help over here?” Yang asks, causing Ruby to turn. Yang’s fist hits the ground as the small woman dances out of the way. She follows that with a charge, only for Neo to jump over her and come down behind her. She draws a blade from her umbrella and stabs between the joints of the armor just behind the bend of the knee. “Dang it! She keeps doing that.”

“Blake, help Yang. Weiss, on me.” Ruby says, “Stop them, now!” She turns to see Torchwick had attempted to flee through the back door, only to find it sealed.

“Nice touch, but I’m not going to be caught that easy.” He raises his cane and fires again, but this time Ruby is ready.

Raising her arm Ruby fires off a few bursts of her own, meeting his in midair. Then she rushes forward, scythe raised, to go on the offensive. She brought it down, around, up, and let it flow as she had practiced over and over. She was surprised when each hit was dodged or deflected by cane. Luckily she had back up.

She pressed her advantage, using the strength of her suit to force him to move backwards. She didn’t have to hit him and didn’t really try to, cutting a person in half wasn’t something she wanted to see. As he moved back he didn’t see Weiss waiting bit behind, and the ice floor she’d created. Stepping back on it he slipped and fell, barely blocking Ruby’s last hit with his cane. With both hands holding up the weight of the scythe he couldn’t do anything about Weiss’ rapier pointed down at his face.

“Ice him.” Ruby says.

Weiss touches her rapier to the ice floor, her suit glowing a pale blue as she activated the dust. It flowed through the blade and onto the floor, covering him from shoulder to feet and leaving him immobilized.

Looking back at Blake and Yang they saw the two of them not fairing as well against Neo. Yang’s suit had been almost completely immobilized by the looks of how she moved. Blake pressed the offensive with high speed slashes, but seemed unable to land a hit.

Weiss and Ruby rushed over just as she dodged one of Blake’s strikes, the four of them forming a square around her. She keeps a small smile on her face as she looks around at all of them, and then over at Roman.

“Give it up, you can’t do anything now.” Ruby says. She raises her arm towards the large machine and one of her rockets comes out of the top firing off towards it and exploding, leaving a large chunk of it missing. “Your thing is smashed too.”

Neo simply looks at them again and winks. Then she bows low, holding her umbrella open above her. For a moment none of them know what she’s doing, and then she vanishes from sight.

“What? Where’d she go?” Ruby asks, looking around. She opens the visor on her suit and looks as well, seeing no sign. “She vanished. Weiss?”

“I’m not getting anything either.” Weiss says, “Nothing is picking her up in any direction.”

“Camouflage.” Blake says, “She must have a way of hiding herself from sensors, even our suits optics.”

“Crap.” Yang lets out, “Can’t believe she got away.”

“Forget it.” Ruby says, “We need to make sure everyone is safe. Yang, ditch the suit for now. You can help better out of it.”

“Got it.” Yang says, the front of it opening up as she climbs out.

“Get anybody we can help. Make sure they’re safe and not hurt. The other teams should be here soon to help with medical. Let’s go.” Ruby says. She clips her scythe to her back and walks off to see what she can do.

…

“I knew he’d screw up.” Emerald says, her arms crossed. “I don’t know why we relied on him in the first place.”

“You rather be where he is?” Mercury asks, reclining in a chair with his hands behind his head.

“Oh shut it, you didn’t like him either.”

“Now now, calm down.” Cinder says. “There’s nothing to be worried about. It’s a bit sooner than I expected, but that’s not a problem. Everything is going just as planned.”

“Nothing’s changed?” Emerald asks.

“Not at all. The machine works, the huntsman and huntresses think they’ve solved their problem, and we are free to do as we please. Everything is going wonderfully.”

“So what’s next?” Mercury asks.

“Now we wait. The rest will come in time. For now, let them celebrate and think they’ve won.”

…

“First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your victory.” Ozpin says. “You four did a wonderful job. While I would have preferred the machine intact for study,” He looks at Ruby, who ducks her head sheepishly, “you still managed to stop it before more grimm could attack the city. Not only that, you managed to capture the man behind it all and save numerous hostages as well.”

“Thank you, Sir. Though I feel like we could have done better. I mean, we watched that place for days while those people were hurt.” Ruby says.

“Plus that one that got away.” Yang says.

“Do try not to worry about that.” Ozpin says, “You had no way of knowing those people were in there. As soon as you did, you did your best to help them and keep them safe. I could ask for nothing more. As for Ms. Politan, well she is quite elusive. It’s no wonder she managed to slip away. Nonetheless she was not the ringleader in this operation. You managed to apprehend him, and that is more than enough.”

“We’ll try not to dwell on it, Sir.” Weiss says. “Will that be all?”

“Almost.” He says, “One last thing. Ms. Rose.” He looks at Ruby, “These schematics you submitted as potential improvements. They’re quite good. We have our design team looking at possible improvements, but personally I don’t see many to be made. Hopefully within a month or two it will be standard on all modern armors.”

“Really?” Ruby says, leaning forward a bit.

“Really. It’s quite the innovation. It might even end up named after you.”

“Wow.” Ruby says, her eyes going wide.

“Awesome! Way to go, Sis.” Yang says.

“Quite impressive.” Weiss says with a small smile.

“Good job, Ruby.” Blake says.

“I’m just glad I could help make the suits better.” Ruby says.

“Well, you certainly have.” Ozpin says, “We thank you for it. Now that will be all, you may go.”

The four of them stand up and make their way out of the office and start heading for the front of the building. “Well, guess we gotta celebrate now.” Yang says, “Ruby’s got people liking her work and we just took down the biggest threat to Vale.”

“Do we have to?” Ruby asks, “I mean I’m kind of like, really tired.”

“I haven’t slept well in three days.” Weiss says, “I’m not nocturnal.”

“We could always celebrate another time. Like this weekend. Maybe invite team JNPR, they were quite the help after all.” Blake says.

“Good plan.” Yang says, “So what’s up for tonight then?”

“Relaxing.” Ruby says.

“Sounds good. Team movie night and hitting the hay early?” Yang suggests.

“That could work. What kind of movie?” Blake asks.

“Action!” Ruby says.

“I’ve had enough action for now.” Weiss counters.

“Horror.” Yang says.

“I just saw people tied up.” Ruby says, “Plus I want to sleep well.”

“Comedy?” Blake says.

“Perfect.” Yang says.

“I’ll bring snacks.” Ruby says.

“Bring more than sugar.” Weiss says.

“I’ll bring half the snacks.” Ruby corrects.

Ruby pushes the front door open as they finally make it, the moon high above and full, shining down on the quiet city as they walk out into the night. She looks up at the moon and stars as they leave, sure that whatever the future held and no matter how hard it got, they could handle it as long as they were together.

 Omakes- These are just a couple things I cut out. Mostly filler to hold a scene before I went back and edited it. Thought they were amusing enough to keep though, so enjoy.

Omake 1:

“Looking good there, Blake. Working the legs? Maybe I can give them a hand.” Yang says with a smirk, only to get a laugh from Weiss, sitting on a nearby bench taking a break of her own.

“You wish.” She says.

“Aww, jealous there Ice Queen? Don’t worry, I’ve got two hands and plenty of heat to thaw you out.” She gives her a wink.

“Ugh, here we go with this again.” Ruby rolls her eyes.

“Please, your hands stink of sweat, keep them away from me.”

“Oh, ouch.” Yang feigned hurt, “You’re missing out then. Isn’t she Blake? Aren’t I hot?”

“You are a Goddess’ statue carved from marble and given life.” Blake says in a deadpan tone without looking up.

“See, Blake agrees.”

“Oh please she’s not even paying attention. She’d say that about anyone right now, watch.” Weiss says, “Blake, am I attractive?”

“You are as beautiful as a perfectly carved ice sculpture in the sun on a cold winters day.” Blake says in the same tone.

“I’m a Goddess in marble, your just ice.” Yang says.

“Completely missing the point.” Weiss says.

“Doesn’t matter, this is fun.” Yang says with a grin, “Hey Blake, do some more. How hot am I?”

“You are the sun a dozen times over. People go blind looking at you and say it was worth it. If we weren’t teammates I would want you to ravage me wonderfully.” Blake says, still without a hint of emotion.

“Oh come on.” Ruby complains, “That’s my sister you’re saying those things about.”

“I guess it runs in the family then.” Blake responds easily.

“Oh!” Yang lets out in surprise, “Wow. I’d usually threaten someone for saying that about my sister but that was a nice save so I’m gonna let it slide.”

-Omake 2:

 “Ahhh.” Ruby let out a contented sigh and stretched her arms. “That’s better.”

“I thought you liked being in your suit though?” Weiss asked as the team of them walked towards Ozpin’s office, having just left their suits behind to be repaired and refilled.

“I do, but it’s like changing into your pajamas. Even if you like your clothes, PJ’s are better.”

“I suppose that makes some kind of sense.”

“Of course it does. Softer, lighter, lets the skin breath. Having a flying suit is fun, but normal clothes are more comfy.”

 “At least you actually remembered to wear normal clothes under it.” Yang says with a grin.

“That was ONE TIME!” Ruby yells and blushes, “I was running late and I didn’t even have time to dry my hair!”

“The best part was when you forgot and stepped out of the suit.” Yang says and laughs, “I still remember the look when you realized.”

“It was embarrassing! I was in my underwear!”

“I’d say the best part was her choice of attire.” Blake adds, “The beowulves were a nice touch.”

“Can we please stop talking about this?”

“We could always talk about the time you put your suit on backwards.” Weiss says.

“Hey that one was Penny’s fault.”

“And who programmed her?”

“Fine it was my fault.” Ruby says, looking down. Then she gets a mischievous grin. “Or we could talk about the time Yang’s hair got caught in her suit.”

“Hey that wasn’t funny.” Yang objects.

“I believe your exact words at the time were ‘if any of you try to cut off my hair I’ll shave you bald and make a sweater out of it’ or something like that.” Weiss says.

[movietweets]

Iron Man

Cracking a beer and getting stuck into the first film of the series: Iron man. He's a man made of Iron apparently so I'm expecting a lot of rust related plot devices  #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Oh yeah! I can already tell this is going to be good because there's army cars and AC/DC playing. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Oh but look who it is, in a suit, with a glass of brown alcohol and wearing sunglasses, its RDJ. My man! Always appropriate for any situation. About to go into combat? No problem I'll just grab a bottle of jack and my cuff links. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Obviously he treats everyone else like shit too. Obviously. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Oops! Didn't see that coming. Can't go 30 seconds in a superhero movie without an explosion though and now a war's happening and I'm getting a Saving Private Ryan flashback. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

That’s not good. Better text the wife and tell her I won’t be back for dinner.  #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Oh Shit! It's terrorists, and they've got guns! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Flashback on Tony's past. No wonder 'Big T' has an ego problem. Bet he pulls some ridiculous shit in vegas. Also I wonder how much that casino paid to get in this movie? #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Bloody knew it!

Dude’s like: “why the fuck did he just hand me a big glass dildo?” 

Just a quick argument with a supermodel journalist to set up a parallel with US foreign policy in the subtext. Yeah, I make loads of money selling weapons that kill people but look how cool and attractive I am. Lets fuck! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan 

Oh no! That’s your best comeback?... surely you’re not going to let that win you over Everlove? Surely?! 

Well I guess we all have moments of weakness. 

And literally all it took was a couple of gadgets for her to drop all her morals. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Poor Pepper, He's literally a nightmare to work for and now he's flirting inappropriately! Also he forgot her birthday and she didn't care... yeah right. #realwomen #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Of course his private jet is a strip club. Where is that pole coming from exactly? #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Why is the business owner doing the job of a salesman right now? Does he really need the commission? #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

All that technology, like genuine future stuff, and he has literally the shittest phone in the world. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Good thing that mad scientist guy happened to be captured by those guys too. Also didn't we just see that he was wearing a bullet proof jacket? How did shrapnel get anywhere near his heart? #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

PROOF!

Oh no! The weapons got into the hands of the naughty men! isn't that what sexy journalist/supermodel woman was talking about? Maybe you should have been paying attention to her argument instead trying to sleep with her? #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

“But Tony... You promised!” :(

They went all that time without exchanging names? Guy saves your life but nah, funny accent, not worth getting too close. Also NOW you want to small talk, right when he’s holding a pot of molten metal in a pair of forceps?! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Oh yeah, just make a couple of rings, stick them together with some copper wire and there you go magic chest battery. Step one, make a ring. #Therestofthefuckingowl #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

And here we are having a bash at step two...

Hey presto! That was easy.

Well to be honest its about time that the wrongens noticed something wasn't quite right. Man had a massive glowing thing on his chest that looks like its from the future and nobody seemed bothered. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

For a man who we've established is intelligent Big T has no game. Yeah just leave the blueprints to the secret plan you're working on out on the table. Fortunately the baddies are totally negligent. I'm surprised they remembered to lock the door #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

We've already seen that they have CCTV of what Tony and his mate are up to but some how they aren't seeing him assemble a full suit of weaponized armor under their noses? Even after they've been caught with the blueprints?? #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Could they be any more blatant about what they’re up to?

Also why build a suit that leaves the one vulnerable part, the battery that powers it and keeps his heart from being shredded, exposed. 10/10 for visual aesthetic -10000 for common sense. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Seems to hold up though, even when shot point blank in the head. Shame his assistant had to die. There could have been some serious competition for chief romantic interest with Pepper later. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Yeah, no shit. This guy had expendable character written all over him. 

What is going on with his legs? Seriously, who has hips that wide?  #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Ahahaha! Silly baddies! Haven’t you realised that your guns are useless!?

Oh no! He's gone down! Looks like the terrorists are going to win after all. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Oh... no they fucked it. 

Good thing he can fly!

Also good thing that that, way bigger explosion didn't have any nasty shrapnel in it this time. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

 Ah, phew! Good thing the military are here to save the day. Held off till now though obviously because PLOT #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

“Taxi!”

Also yeah, I want an American cheeseburger and a... (hint at sex but surprise with) a press conference. Definitely don't want to go to the hospital, not even after spending days(?) in the desert following a firefight and crash in a metal suit from 100m #MCU #Marvel #IronMan

Fast food and a quickie?

Seriously had enough of his shit... 

Of course Burger King got that contract. I'm a little bit surprised that Tony didn't ask for a mac book and a bottle of new mountain dew red alert, available in a convenience store near you...#MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Don't tell me he's grown a conscience! Big T! Think about what you're going to the military industrial complex! What about the economy!? All those people who came out to clap at you getting out of a Rolls Royce are jobless now! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Hashtag UN-nesesary segway #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Okay Pep, just reach into the massive hole in my chest and grab that loose wire. Don't mind all the puss and blood. Oh you fucked it up, never mind, should have had a doctor do it. To be fair, could have done it himself but wouldn't want to miss this opportunity to flirt #MCU

100% uses that sentient robot arm to wank #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Yep, just walk into a military base and start talking shit to the commander because you're Tony Stark #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

"working on a secret project are we Sir?" - You can trust me, I'm a web connected AI with the same voice as HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Speaking of wrong hands, who's this with a useless remnant of scrap metal. I think I know who the main antagonist is going to be! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

“What did you just say about my sunglasses!?”

That looks like pretty complex stuff T! Good thing you've got Wankatron to help you out. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Oh shit... that's at least 3 months in hospital. Also wouldn't a man of science have worked out exactly how much thrust 10% capacity would generate before testing it on himself. Why not test it on a crash dummy first? #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Also, hats off to Wankatron for the excellent comedic timing. That bit with the extinguisher. GOLD #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Okay, how does he still have an arm after that? Tony Stark is a normal  human right? I'm not going to find out 10 movies in that hes actually from the planet Joopizoop where everyone is a demi-god am I? #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Where does he buy those shirts with the hole cut out of the chest? Reckon that's a custom job. Another example of Big T's genius. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Oh yeah. Let's do this highly experimental test that is likely to end in something exploding or going catastrophically wrong in the garage along side 3 to 6 expensive super cars. #justbillionairethings #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

What did you expect dude? I’m getting tired of your bullshit!

WHAT KIND OF HERO RUINS ICECREAMS FOR CHILDREN?!?!  #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Oh! Did it go wrong? Well that will teach you for ignoring HAL 9000!

With great power comes incredible lack of responsibility. There’ll be a pothole there for weeks now.  #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Wankatron giving Tony a taste of his own medicine.

Just as well that ghetto Iron Man is looking like something off of scrapheap challenge #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Well that was a slap in the face... are there any women who his ‘hero’ does respect?

Also, of course he knows Hugh Hefner. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Wow. Pepper is looking on point, must have guys lining up and she still puts up with that crap from Tone. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" Shit man...you're making ME uncomfortable and I'm watching this from my bedroom, in my underwear. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

“I need a new job.”

Wait! Isn't that supermodel/journalist from before the hostage situation? Oh and she's got some leverage this time...  #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Oooo! Looks like uncle cigar might be the main antagonist after all.

Somebody’s having a little sulk in the man cave are they? Angrily adjusting your super complex future cyber arm with a screwdriver. I mean...seriously? Screw drivers only do one of two things. They tighten or loosen screws. How much tinkering is really going on there? #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Wow... wankatron had a few upgrades! Now he comes out of the floor and gets you dressed in the morning #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Terrorists are on the rise again. Oh! You've got a gun, have you? Well here's a massive punch in the stomach.

Or why not have a blast of my...wait, what is that stuff that’s being blown out of my hands? Is it just pure bad-ass?! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Oh shit... now he's screwed, no way to save the hostages at gun point..

SHOULDER GUNS! BANG! 

AUTO-TARGETING, NO RECOIL, EAT THAT YOU BLOODY WRONGENS! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

 “Cheers mate!”

Uh oh...

Tank gun to the face? 

No prob bro. JUST WALK IT OFF  #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Bogey just went supersonic. Good thing that people from Joopidoop are impervious to the effects of instant acceleration or his bones and organs would be jellified by now. 

Also good thing that he though to add in some knee flares... you know for disco scenarios and this... #MCU

Whiplash is right... ejecting is no joke. Most people never fly again and are left with severe spinal injuries. Cheers T. NICE ONE. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong

When your missus catches you having some fun with your newly upgraded wankatron... #mcu #ironman #tweetalong #marvel

Ghetto ironman looks still looks shit.. 

no wonder the baddy used his weird sound torture lanyard on him. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

OH SHIT! Pepper out. So that was the stick that broke the camels back eh? Developing a sense of responsibility and taking the initiative to do the right thing...oh hell nawh! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

I knew she was bluffing. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Wow... how awesome do computers look in this film. I want to work with an interface like that. Who cares that all the icons are on the wrong side!? You can literally type translate and it starts speaking English! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Jesus! She’s not a piece of meat! Damn, the main baddy is kinda creepy. Even without all the murdering and crazy sound torture dongle! RUN POTTS! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

OH NO! Not Big T! He's gone all pasty 'cause of the torture lanyard!  

“You’re not going to try and kiss me are you?”

Oh no, no. Just going to syringe the future battery out of your techno pacemaker... You know.. Baddie stuff.

Wait... is his name Obediah? Seriously how didn't anyone guess he was evil? #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

YES! COME ON WANKATRON! POP IT IN THE HOLE! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Pepper is the real hero in this story. Just look at that power walk. Either that or I have a massive crush on 2008 Gwyneth Paltrow #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Shitt... ghetto iron man been hittin' the gym! How did we get from scrapheap challenge to beefcake overnight? I want that protein shake! #therestofthefuckingowl #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

LOL that whole family are like: Holy shit what is happening?! This never happens when we stay with daddy! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

lets hope it wasn't dad following behind on that motorcycle #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

HE KNOWS THE MATH WANKATRON! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Ha Ha yeah... chill out Obediah. You've been iced out. Don't you realize that you're just an overweight imitation? #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

those disco knee flares are are literally a get out of jail free card. I've said it before and I'll say it again... bloody good thing he thought of them. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

“Nooo! Not the disco knee flares! How did you know my only weakness was the boogie!?

Yes Pepper, flip every god damn switch! Meanwhile the masks are off... #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

PUSH IT! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

God dammit Pepper! What are you waiting for!?

wait for it....

Oh thank goodness for that... it had been almost a whole minute without an explosion! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Lets see if we can't shoehorn in a little post action office romance between boss and employee before Tony pars off supermodel/journalist for the third time and does the obvious thing by letting his ego overtake everything. #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Yep.

At least we can enjoy some well earned Black Sabbath as the credits roll #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

Wait... WHAT IS THIS!? The film is over but there's more? Is this a thing? Oh my word! GET THESE MOTHERFUCKING SUPERHEROS INTO MY BADDY FIGHTING CLUB! #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

The end. 

Hope every one of my 27 followers enjoyed that. I'll be posting it to my blog soon in a special post with bonus content and screen shots to accompany each tweet. Look forward to tweeting @ you all soon when I watch The Hulk (2008) next time #MCU #Marvel #tweetalong #IronMan

*UPDATE*

Uh oh, looks like one of my followers didn't like that at all. Good riddance I say! To the remaining 26: PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME HERE ALL ALONE! :(

[crystalized-dreams]

PC Gaming Show

So, as I mentioned yesterday, I would be talking more about Ooblets today! I was so excited to see a new trailer that not only showed a bit more of the customization aspects (with a clothing store and getting your hair done), but also more areas and even two new Ooblets, Glanter and Snurfler. I just genuinely can’t wait for the game? It looks so cute and charming and it’s really going to be a game I can see myself doing both updates here and videos like with Animal Crossing. I can’t wait until it comes out next year. Dooziedug and Petula are probably my two favorite Ooblets right now, but they’re all incredibly cute.

I will say though that I’m not sure what exactly is with the PC Gaming Show, but it always comes off a bit boring. When it shows Game Trailers, great, but things like random commercials and long spiels are just often kind of awkward. Despite that though, I was happy to finally see another game capture my attention–Tunic. The trailer mostly walked through some combat and a few level designs, but it’s really pretty and I love the isometric style of it. Unfortunately, they didn’t really say much about the game–I’m not sure if maybe they would have if sound didn’t cut out, but oh well. The game is actually about two years old now having originally been called the Secret Legend. It’s nice to see it back and looking forward to playing it in 2018 🙂

Oddly enough, even though I know Sea of Thieves will be on PC and it’s how I plan to play the game, I wasn’t expecting to see it on the PC Gaming Show and was excited to see it pop up. The Mixer stream was… glitchy, sadly, so I was excited to see more of it today. I signed up for the Insiders Programme so fingers crossed ❤ Ylands was up next and definitely looks pretty interesting to me. There was a lot I really liked about it and since you can make your own kinds of things and visit others' creations, I feel like it'd give me a lot to do similar to how much I played LittleBigPlanet. My only worry is about the Survival part. I don’t care much for Survival games and just don’t really enjoy them. I prefer things a bit more easygoing. Regardless, if it can be turned off (which, the site barely mentions the feature at all so maybe??), I feel like I’d enjoy the game a lot. I hope you can customize the player character too, though.

The PC gaming conference was definitely longer than I expected it to be, but I’m glad I found a few things that interested me during it.

Ubisoft

Ubisoft’s up next and I’ll be honest–I’m happy they didn’t go to a celebrity host this year. I haven’t enjoyed the hosting of their press conference these last few years now and the jokes were just… never funny. That said, it is Ubisoft so even without a celebrity host, I’m still expecting things to be kind of crazy.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was first up and even though it was essentially leaked already, I still have no clue how to feel about it. The Rabbid in Peach’s outfit is cute. Also Miyamoto bringing out the lifesized weapon was kind of cool too: I’m still going to wait to see actual gameplay of it to decide, but I don’t really think it’s a game I am going to want to play just from the promotional material and information alone. At the very least, the world DOES look quite nice: #gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

But I’m not too into the combat itself so I feel like it may be a game I’d rather watch than play myself. I mean, it does look fun and silly, but I just don’t think I’d enjoy that kind of combat system. I do like the cute little bunny-robot thing that moves them when in combat, though.

Similarly, Skull & Bones got my attention from the graphics, but considering the main gameplay sounds like hardcore PVP which is like… one of my least favorite kinds of gameplay, I’ll most likely end up passing on it.

It was then time for the annual Ubisoft concert to go with Just Dance and it was probably one of the most eclectic group this time. I liked the Panda though. The Panda was cool.

So, the first game I wasn’t expecting that I got interested in was Starlink: Battle for Atlas which features ships that you essentially can own and customize in real life and play with in the game and yes, please. My husband will probably talk more about it, but we’re likely getting it for the Nintendo Switch–especially due to the neat Joy-con Add-on. In the meantime, I really like this ship: Fingers crossed for a light pink one.

Also fingers crossed for more Imagine games, but considering it’s been four years since the last ones, my hopes and dreams are already crushed there. More Imagine Detective games would have been nice (SPEAKING OF DETECTIVE GAMES, I STILL WANT DETECTIVE PIKACHU. I will continue this discussion tomorrow with Nintendo). Going back to things that were actually being shown during Ubisoft’s press conference, Beyond Good & Evil 2 looks quite interesting. I never played the first game, but I still find myself intrigued by it.

Surprisingly, I feel like Ubisoft actually did pretty well? Between the hype from Miyamoto showing up, mostly focusing on the games and when they were talking about them, actually keeping it interesting… Like sure, there was the one weird concert part for the latest Just Dance title, but besides being expected, it was actually shorter than usual? And still kind of worked? I definitely didn’t like everything (I still don’t see the appeal in South Park at all for example) and heck, I may not even get any of the games shown (Maybe one??), but it was still really enjoyable and I feel like it’s been a long time since I felt that way from a conference.

Sony

So, I didn’t expect much from the pre-show, but this locket for the special Undertale physical edition is beautiful and also a music box and I need it: Moving on, I just really hope Sony fixes their issues because there have been so many audio issues and we haven’t had any stream buffer this much. It’s a little better on Twitch’s stream for it, but even their audio is kind of messed up. But well, at least we have sound now.

I don’t have much to say about Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, but it seems less like a Versus and more like an Alliance. Still looks kind of interesting though. They then got into their VR section which is frustrating because I’m just… not a fan of VR and Moss looks so cute and interesting, but I just would not play that as a VR game and I wish it could be a normal PS4 game. Like I would probably buy this at launch/preorder it if it was a normal PS4 game? But nope, VR only

Detroit Become Human still looks quite interesting and this was a completely different trailer compared to the first we’ve seen. Still no release date though… I’m not sure if I’d personally play it, but I think it’s a game I’d really enjoy watching.

We then got to see more of the upcoming Spiderman game which just… genuinely does look really good. Another game that I’d be watching over playing myself though. The conference was definitely a bit shorter than I expected, honestly. I guess because they showed a decent amount during the pre-show, but still. All the technical issues were terrible, though. I still want to know who this character is though…

I think Ubisoft, surprisingly, was my favorite for today. Tomorrow is Nintendo’s and the start of Nintendo Treehouse Live so I’m looking forward ot it!

#E32017 Thoughts – Day 3 ( PC Gaming Show, Ubisoft , and Sony) PC Gaming Show So, as I mentioned yesterday, I would be talking more about Ooblets today!