Chapter 55: The Battle of Mountain Glenn
SL = 11,293,728 SL → 10,063,728 SL
VEHICLE RP = 527, 282 RP → 116,282 RP
CONVERTIBLE RP = 1,459,219 RP
The Leopard I was Rank V, meaning it needed to have 5 vehicle unlocks from rank IV to be able to upgrade the rank. Hanns needed to buy 4 more Rank IV vehicles which cost almost the majority of his RP.
"Hanns! The shield is ready!" Ruby was giddy, so was Hanns but at least he kept it himself.
Hanns headed to the makeshift workshop they had, cranes meant for heavy engines were already prepared. Tools and machines were on the side ready to be used.
Hanns didn't know if it could work, the moderator had told him he could modify his vehicle. He just needed to not repair while they modified his tank.
The best part about not needing a crew while being a tank meant that so much space was available to him. Ruby and Merlot wanted to take out the loader's side to fit in the engine.
It was going to be hard to fit everything in but they trusted their math.
Hanns nervously waited while in the workshop "Alright, let's begin."
If he could feel pain, the modification would feel like his spine getting ripped out and shoving in a toaster in his back.
Thankfully, he didn't feel the pain, only the weird movement inside. The actual shield generator didn't fit well inside the hatch so they had to disassemble it, move the parts inside and reassemble it within Hanns.
Everything else went smoothly, as soon as Ruby left the tank and closed the hatch, the system detected the change.
[Notice: Foreign Vehicle Modification Available]
[Apply?]
[Warning: Modification Cannot Be Removed Through System.]
'I need to change it again then?'
Hanns swiped at his HUD and opened the page on his tank. A new section was added but something was odd right at the label.
[LSinsAu###Is]
'The heck?'
The HUD suddenly flickered shut, to the shock of Hanns. Bugs were not that uncommon when playing games but Hanns wasn't in a game.
'I hope this isn't a death flag.'
A notification popped up.
[Well, looks like the code I created has something wrong. I'll have to update it soon.]
'Moderator? Is that you?'
[Yes, friend. I need to update the system for a while. It doesn't know how to handle such a big change.]
[Event Active!]
[Cinder 'Fall's: 0/1]
If Hanns wasn't already happy with the upgrade he had, he was already ecstatic at the mission he received.
[Server Restart 30:00]
'Huh?! No! 30 minutes?! We gotta go!'
Meanwhile…
Ruby was peacefully resting from their work, she hadn't eaten since she'd forgotten about 6 hours ago.
She sat on the red grass, milk in hand with a cookie in her mouth. She took one big bite and placed her bag of cookies on her lap while taking a sip.
A rustle from the side made her turn to the noise.
"Ruby! Call the others. We. Got. To. Go!"
"I thought we had enough time-"
"Now!"
Hanns sped away while his engine growled away in the distance, heading toward the landing strip on the outer edges of Forever Fall.
Ruby looks at her unfinished bag of cookies and sighs. "Guess, I'll call the others." She opens her mouth, and not a second later she inhales every single cookie and chugs the milk she had on hand.
She uses her semblance to travel at impressive speeds, she weaves through the forest and stumbles on the scene of Torchwick sleeping and the rest of team RWBY scrolling through their scrolls.
"Guys! Hanns wants us to go now. Where's Merlot? He should have the gas masks and… other stuff for us."
Torchwick shifted from his slumber and stood up and got his attention from Ruby by tapping his cane on the ground.
"I sent him over to the ice cream shop just a while ago. The uniforms you planned are ready. It was a bit of a time crunch but I could do it."
Ruby was surprised at Torchwick of all people being the ones who made their uniforms. Even the rest of team RWBY silently questioned if Torchwick was replaced by another person.
Weiss was the one to point it out. "Who are you and what did you do to the real Torchwick? Also-"
She turns to Ruby. "Uniforms? I didn't know we needed one."
Ruby rubs the back of her head, "Heh, it was supposed to be something that fit the gas masks we had but I suddenly got inspiration, like a eureka moment! I didn't even know a thing about designing clothes and stuff but somehow I made something nice."
"Well, Red. When Merlot told me you designed clothes, I was almost going to bring out a pitchfork since I assumed you were going to make something tacky."
Torchwick brings out his scroll and shows the rest of team RWBY what Ruby had designed.
"It's good looking. I made the effort to actually make some for all of you. It's at the back, make sure to give Neo hers too when you drop into Mountain Glenn.
Ruby went straight for the lockers right at the end of the building and brought out the clothes that Ruby came up with.
It was close-fitting black uniforms with each having some kind of design linking them to who wore them. Red, White, Purple, and Yellow highlights were present on the cuffs and collars.
The symbols that represented them were stitched in and attached on the right of the uniform while they were all given field caps aside from Weiss who had hers be a white commander's cap white and a large black snowflake in the middle.
"Wow, thanks Torchwick! These look cool!"
Torchwick stopped just as he was about to leave to get to Hanns, hearing the word thanks somehow made him freeze up. "Oh, uh. Yes, Red you're… welcome."
Ruby hands them their uniforms just before Ruby realizes something. "Oh, crud! We're supposed to go there as quickly as we can! Onwards, team RWBY!"
Only about 2 minutes passed but Hanns was panicking on the inside.
'Ok, we might be fast enough. I can fly there in no time and reach Cinder with about 10 minutes left. Probably. I don't know! I never finished a class on time management! It should be enough. Argh! Why does the moderator have to make a server restart?'
Hanns didn't want to know what happened if he got a restart. Usually, a game kicks you out of the game and you had to wait. This was real life, he wasn't sure if restarting meant.
They were in the air the moment team RWBY and Torchwick got on. They all changed in the meantime while they flew. Thankfully there were separate rooms just in case.
They were given gas masks that could let them breathe in good air and let them have better visibility under the gas. Neo was alone on the ground beforehand. Sent by Hanns to just observe.
Neo was already notified of the plan and was holding back at the upper layer away from the drop zones.
At this very moment with 23 minutes left on the clock for Hanns.
Operation Citadel was at its climax.
In another part of Mountain Glenn…
Buried deep within the ground was the old and ill-used tunnel system that once linked Vale to Mountain Glenn. It used to be busy, constantly unloading and offloading people and good in and out of the city.
Now though, it was being used by Cinder.
It was only barely been days since she'd started to plan on salvaging the situation. With most of her subordinates either gone or on other missions, like with Mercury and Emerald, there was much she needed to do personally.
"You! Why must you all be so incompetent?! I instructed you to assemble the bombs, then place them over there!"
Cinder wasn't taking it well. Already in the first few hours, she needed to make an example of five different White Fang members.
The lack of a better-organized system made commands water down as they reached the lower command structure or lack thereof.
Since Cinder thought everyone else was the reason for the failures, she didn't trust anyone from the White Fang to deal with their jobs. So she instead assigned only a few dozen people to carry out commands which were inefficient.
"Are you dyslexic? Do you need to be taught how to comprehend words?! In what world do you think placing unfinished parts on the train was going to be a good idea?!"
The White Fang was already disgruntled, no, they were starting to have the embers of a full-blown mutiny.
"What are we doing this for anyways?" A bat Faunus asked his other fellow brethren.
He continued. "It's gone long enough, we haven't seen results yet. In fact, we've only ever lost influence the more we worked for her."
Another Faunus shushed him as a newly assigned commander was walking by. "Just keep your head down, for now, we can't do anything to her. You saw what she did to Adam right?"
The bat Faunus grips the crate of dust he was holding onto harder. "Still… I don't trust her. She's the reason we lost Adam in the first place."
The other Faunus lowers his head. "You're right but we don't have an opportunity to go against her."
"Yeah… Hey?"
"Hmm?"
"You hear that?"
They stopped what they were doing and stood still. The other Faunus looks at the bat Faunus and shrugs. "No, I don't hear anything-"
"Shhh!"
The bat Faunus covers his fellow Faunus' mouth and focused by closing his eyes.
"It sounds like, whistling?"
They look at each other while the noise was now being heard by the other Faunus.
Meanwhile…
Bombs fell from the sky, and a mix of PIP(R) and PIP(M) series bombs whistled through the air as the cluster exploded mid-air and sprayed its contents on the top layer.
A single White Fang member inside the lower layer was patrolling. He heard a loud crash from the ceiling and sprinted to what the commotion was, fearing an enemy infiltrated them.
"What was that?!"
Soon after, gas started to suddenly rush forward. The entire area is blanketed by the paralysis-inducing bomb. Thanks to the wind dust, it was able to cover the city in mere minutes.
'I gotta warn the others!'
As soon as he got a whiff of the gas, his body went numb. He felt a stiffness in his legs, then to his chest, then to his arms and fingers. It spread from the middle and he couldn't suddenly move.
The White Fang member darted his eyes around in panic but even that was starting to get harder to move his eye. He tried shutting them close but his eyelid didn't respond.
He could breathe but he couldn't feel anything, neither the blood flowing through his body nor the air around him. He was aware of everything but was powerless to act.
Back up into the air was Hanns preparing to circle back around. The entire bomber tilted as the battle-ending screen showed for Hanns. Since he had left the area, the game considered it a match end.
[Server Restart 18:24]
Inside the plane after the swing around, now in their new uniforms - they prepared to leave through the bomb bay. Sure, it was impractical but it was all Hanns had for now.
"You girls know what to do?"
They all nodded. Ruby would rush to their other member and hand Neo her gas mask and uniform. While Yang and Blake were going to sweep the area for stragglers and gather them in a single area.
"Ok! Let's go!"
Team RWBY each leap out of the plane, focused on the plan ahead as they enacted the landing strategies they all had learned long ago from the beginning of initiation.
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