Chương 17: Aftershock
Ruby was having a problem, Blake still hadn't returned. Blake left early into the night and it was already midnight without the hidden-faunus still lurking around in the city.
Ruby wasn't worried at first, Blake would return after going outside. She had done so yesterday but now, it was different. Because the two concerned faces of Yang and Weiss were now wide awake from the tank shell she just modified with dust, exploding in the middle of town.
"What was that?!" Weiss was now alarmed by the sudden boom coming from the city of Vale. Was it an attack on the city? Had Atlas once again tried to do their training exercise or was it something entirely different? Weiss didn't know.
"Don't ask us as if we know, we're just sleeping around right Blakey?"
'Oh no,' Ruby thought in her mind.
"Blake?" Yang was concerned at the lack of response, she looked under her top bunk to look at her sleeping figure of Blake. Which was just a last-moment creation by Ruby to try and hide her supposed identity. It was a pillow laid sideways to act like Blake was sleeping inside the covers.
Before the whole heist Hanns roped Blake into, Ruby misinterpreted Blake's activities last night for being a vigilante. Which was now technically true since Blake joined Hanns.
Ruby had to think of something. Yang was going to find out. It's her duty as a team leader to help their teammates. She had a super cool vigilante friend she needed to protect. She felt like one of those sidekicks she always read in comic books.
Just as Yang was going to get out of her bed and check the covers for her partner, Ruby's mind only had one thing to blurt out to stop Yang.
"She's just taking a Blake, Yang."
A pun.
"Boo Lil sis! You gotta do better than that!" Yang motioned a thumbs down at the quickly thought-up joke by Ruby.
"While I do detest the horrible attempts of humor by your sister, that was hitting low Ruby. I expected more out of my oh-so fearless team leader." Weiss joined in.
Their strained relationship as teammates had finally been fixed but Weiss wasn't below taking shots at her leader, albeit less serious now. Though Weiss was still being a Weiss.
Ignoring Weiss' comment at her horrible attempt at a pun. She quickly distracts the team with misdirection.
"Uhhh, I wonder where that explosion came from? I wonder if the headmaster has anything to say about it?" She shakily lets out the voice trying her hardest to be as convincing as possible that she wasn't up to something, despite the suspicious delivery of her words.
A message suddenly pings on Ruby's scroll, the others take notice of theirs doing the same thing. It was a message that told everyone not to panic and that details will be provided for tomorrow. It was from the headmaster himself.
"Well, I guess we'll find out tomorrow! Goodnight guys." Ruby quickly tries to make the conversation die.
Yang just shrugged and went back to sleep. Weiss took a few more seconds to think on the message before closing her scroll and following suit.
'Phew!' Ruby was relieved at her successful attempt of deception.
She only hoped Blake would come back sooner, she didn't know what to do if Blake came in late again and she couldn't prevent them from finding out.
Meanwhile…
Ozpin pocketed his scroll while he sat alone in his office. He had stayed up late at night to do some of his duties as headmaster. Glynda wasn't going to be forced to work overtime anymore and so Ozpin had to pick up the slack.
She threatened to not handle his coffee anymore. With his coffee supply taken hostage, Ozpin had to relent and do work. Even though Glynda did the majority of the work anyway.
He had just finished creating an announcement to all the Beacon registered scrolls. The explosion he heard was most curious, though he suspects something had to do with the machine.
"It seems like our friend has certainly made quite the entrance."
The headmaster had access to every camera in Beacon. There wasn't anyone constantly watching the screens but if he needed to confirm something he just needed to take a look at his scroll or table.
The moment Blake left during the first day of school, he had already noticed her exit. Their scrolls had trackers in them just in case their students went missing on a mission.
What was jarring was that on the way back, after having scaled the cliff Beacon was on, she was carrying ammunition. This was a safety hazard for the school, and Glynda voiced it to him.
Being the headmaster meant that he just allowed it to pass, which after another heated debate and another broken mug, led to Glynda giving up and accepting the fact that Ozpin let a confirmed high-profile terrorist with what is potentially a bomb in their school.
After Blake's second departure with a now dust-modified shell ready, courtesy of Ruby, the headmaster let the pieces fall and waited for what the conscious machine had planned to do with it.
One explosion later and it seems they had chosen where to use it. While he cannot know for sure the intention of the attack, it was in a secluded area within the industrial district.
He could be a great asset in the war, Ozpin thought. Though there may be animosity towards our group if Ironwood were revealed to be a part of it.
An investigation would be launched tomorrow to get a better grasp of what transpired. With it would come to the answer of whether this machine needs to be reevaluated as an enemy or a potential ally.
If Salem ever got to it, then it would be another blow to humanity as a whole. One shudders at the thought of that machine turning its arms against people. Grimm was no match, how was one man supposed to fight such a mechanical beast?
Ozpin lifted his hands as if to drink from his mug but remembered that Glynda took away the coffee he had stuffed in his desk.
He silently just went back to work on the paperwork present on top of his table.
In Forever Fall…
The Tiger H1 traveled slowly, deeper towards the forest of Forever Fall. It was now deep into the night. Unlike before, the city of Vale was wide awake from an explosion happening in the industrial district, a sharp contrast to the quiet night from yesterday.
As the tank steps on the brakes, Blake from the inside opens up the commander's hatch. Climbing on top and getting out of Hanns, she dusts herself off.
"Did you really have to use the dust-infused shell in the warehouse?"
It was pretty devastating, though Hanns didn't know the full extent of the damage, they still had to make their getaway from the city after all. The attention the shell's explosion brought would have an effect on the area, not just in terms of pure destruction.
"Yes, drawing heat for people to pay attention to would make the industrial zone a harder place to hide in."
Hanns literally killed multiple birds with a single shell. It made sure that the industrial district became a hotspot for reporters to come in. The authorities would be put on high alert and in return, Torchwick can't hide his stolen goods in warehouses anymore, at least for a long while.
"I can't believe the White Fang would stoop so low to work for Torchwick." A visible drop of her ears was on Blake.
Hanns didn't know what to do, he wasn't really the consoling type. Years of his life were filled with watching anime so the only reference to interacting with a depressed girl, or any girl for that matter, was seeing it in anime in those rom-coms.
He delved into his memories of the show. Blake wasn't this depressed when finding out about the White Fang's involvement. Perhaps this was because it was too early into the show. Blake has yet grown far from the White Fang and she still hasn't properly interacted much with her teammates.
'I mean it kind of makes sense, leaving the White Fang for a few days and later you find out they now rob innocent people would make anyone melancholic. She was practically born into the organization if I recall.'
'This is troublesome' Hanns thought.
Unlike in the show where she had month-long friends around her, right now Blake is just now adjusting to her new life. Where she meets a machine that talks, creates a dust round for him, then robs the most infamous thief in Vale, blows up their base of operations, and escapes.
It hasn't even been a week for Blake.
Hanns thought of something, maybe if he forced Blake to get her emo self to be with her teammates, then she should be able to bring them up to speed with his existence much easier. She couldn't do that if she wasn't interacting with them.
He needed to get help from a crew. The squad function was interesting, would he be able to get more SL and RP if others participated?
"You still have your teammates. You could always talk to them about it." Hanns suggested.
"But I don't think I can do that." Blake immediately replied she was once part of a terrorist organization. Not only that but she was a faunus, Weiss would end up in a turbulent situation and how would the others act? Could they give her a chance?
"You were White Fang, right? If today has shown me anything you already separated your ways with them. I mean blowing up their base was proof that you can redeem yourself if you tried." Blake stared at Hanns. He was right wasn't he, she rationed. Maybe she could convince the others of the same thing.
The look on her face was recognized by Hanns. He had implanted the idea that she could let her teammates in on what she was before. It was a start.
"If the time comes you show your past to your teammates, bring them to me. Until then I'll be going somewhere else." Hanns gave her time to let her sort herself out while he went away.
"You are leaving Vale? Already?"
Hanns has to go to the next step in derailing the immediate danger of Cinder. Somewhere where the plot needs to go before triggering a major event.
It also could serve as an excellent place to stay for Hanns. It was somewhere quiet and with no eyes that could observe his action.
"Yes, there is something I must do," Hanns replied.
"Where would that be?" Blake was curious, Hanns was after all killing grimm and going against Atlas. What would make Hanns move somewhere after stealing a lot of dust?
"Mountain Glenn"
It would be the perfect place to farm SL and RP. But he had a choice to make. Planes and airpower would be very beneficial to Hanns. He would be able to lob bombs everywhere and travel all over Remnant without needing to care about the terrain. Would he continue to rank up ground vehicles or start on planes?
Hopefully, once he gets back, Blake has already dealt with her personal problems with her team. Maybe team JNPR could also get their stuff together and help with the plot a lot faster.
If not, he may need to nudge them in the right direction. He still needed a crew to use for his experiments on his system.
The crew function didn't activate when Blake entered, but he assumes that it meant that crews had to be given a tank, apart from himself, to use just like warthunder.
He was acting chaperone for people going inside him. He would still need to ask the specifics on how to get a crew. The help page only showed what you could do after you get a crew, not how you get a crew in the first place.
He would get busy again, Mountain Glenn had more than just the regular beowolves, boarbatusks, ursaes and nevermores. There were more types in Mountain Glenn. Though it was his favorite type of terrain to fight in. Urban.
He still needed to get there though, but if he remembered it was a long way down in rough terrain and hard to pass mountains. But if he wanted any progress then, he'd need to work for it.
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