Chapter 6

?

?/?

?

The first thing Verdan was aware of was the ringing in his head. As this slowly drew him into self-awareness, he became aware of the darkness surrounding him. There was absolutely no light around him, it was the sort of darkness that made one imagine they could see. He rolled over from his side to his back and sat up, only to ram his head into a metal grate above him. He fell backwards, wincing in pain as he grasped at his head, putting pressure on his scalp to relieve the pain.

After several seconds, he tried to extend his arms and legs and only hit metal grids on every side of him. He realized that he was in a cage, and in a panic he began kicking at the metal, trying to break it. Nothing he did had any effect on the cage wall, and even his semblance was refusing to answer his commands. The combination of the effort and the fear forced him to stop and breathe, closing his eyes as he began thinking through the situation.

Δ Insert Scene Change Here Δ

Monday

7/6

0800

Yang slid down the bench to Blake, who had immersed herself in a notebook. "Whatcha doin'?" she asked the other girl cheerfully. Blake answered in a much more subdued voice as she closed the notebook. "Nothing, just going over notes from last semester." Yang playfully frowned at her as she caught some sort of food in her mouth. "Lame!"

Blake drew in breath to respond to Yang, but her plan to respond was cut short by a heavy-sounding "Thump!" She, along with Weiss and Yang, looked to the head of the table, to see Ruby and a six inch binder on the table in front of her. There appeared to be something written on the cover in Weiss's handwriting, but whatever it was had been obscured by Ruby crossing it out and writing "Best day ever activities" on top of it.

"Friend! Sister! Weiss," Ruby declared, ignoring Weiss's declaration of offense in favor of continuing delivering her plan for the day. "Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream. A dream that the four of us would come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone's ever had ever!"

Ruby stopped speaking for a moment to draw breath, and Weiss took advantage of the pause. "Did you steal my binder?" In a panic, Ruby said the first thing that came to mind. "I am not a crook!" she declared. She then continued speaking, but in a more serious tone. "Look, the school year's about to become very busy. The Vytal Festival is in a few months and exchange students are starting to arrive even now! The second semester is starting in a couple days, and that's probably going to increase our workload on its own, without the festival on top of it. I just want one day before it all gets crazy."

Weiss sighed, understanding where her partner was coming from. "Alright, Ruby. What are you talking about?" Ruby pointed at Weiss dramatically. "I'm talking about starting the semester off with a bang!" However, her dramatic and energetic delivery was quickly hijacked by her sister, who stated, "I always like to start things with a Yang!" Said girl looked around with an enormous grin on her face. "Eh? Get it?" The other three just shook their heads before an apple flew by their heads, one that Yang caught and threw back with a growl.

"I dunno. I'm not really feeling up to any group activities. I may just sit this out, guys," Blake said quietly. Weiss spoke up. "Whatever we do, whether it's fun activities or just relaxing, we need to do it as a team. I propose -" However, it would seem that Weiss's plan was destined to not be fulfilled, for at that moment she was interrupted by a scream from Nora – "I got it!" – and a pie to the face. Weiss froze, unable to believe that that sloth-obsessed girl had the temerity to throw a pie in her face! She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, attempting to calm down. After several more seconds and several more deep breaths, she raised her hands to eyes and wiped the pie off her face. Once she reopened her eyes, she witnessed a very different scene from the one that existed when she closed her eyes.

Somehow, in the few seconds she had closed her eyes, the cafeteria had been completely rearranged. Not only had nearly all the people present, students AND faculty, evacuated the room, but many of the tables had been piled up at the end, with several tables and vending machines stacked around the base. Nora had ascended the tower of tables, declaring in a menacing voice "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!" with the rest of her team arrayed around the base.

As Weiss attempted to process just what had happened, she saw her partner and leader stand up, pointing at JNPR, which Weiss realized was now temporarily her enemy, with a box of milk clutched in her other hand. "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful!" the young excitable girl retorted. "It will be," she finished, crushing the milk carton, "Delicious!" The other three girls of RWBY stood up behind her, their fists in the air and a cry of victory from their hearts. Weiss realized that this would not be a food fight, but an all-out war.

In the future, when biographers interviewed teams RWBY and JNPR, this would be one of their most important moments. Barring the fight against the Nevermore and Deathstalker in initiation, which was also a significant moment for biographers to write about, this was the first chance the two teams had a chance to actually fight as a team.

Unfortunately for said biographers, only three-fourths of RWBY remembered this battle of the buffet. For Weiss, everything was a blur, starting from the moment she declared her support to General Ruby, all the way to when she found herself flying through the air and hitting a pillar, hard. She was vaguely conscious of Ruby holding her, and was able to recover her faculties in time to see Ruby's big finish, where she created a shock wave and slammed JNPR into the wall.

Afterward, when all was said and done and Professor Goodwitch had restored the cafeteria to its proper state, the two teams cleaned up and adjourned to the library, for JNPR to read and study and for RWBY to play a board game. Most were having fun, except for Debbie Downer, Blake. Sun and his buddy showed up, and as if it was her cue in a play, Blake promptly left the library.

Δ Insert Scene Change Here Δ

?

?/?

?

Verdan was very uncomfortable. For starters, the cage was simply not big enough to lie down in comfortably, and sitting up all the time grew to be awkward. Secondly, for some odd reason, he had not been able to sleep. He felt tired, certainly, but he was unable to fall asleep. Finally, he was adrift in time. His watch would not light up, nor would the HUD of his goggles, so he was unable to check the time or have light. Every so often, he would hear a part of the cage being opened and would find food on the floor. However, the time between meals constantly varied. Some meals would come when he felt like he was about to die of hunger, others when he was still full from the previous meal.

With no idea of when he was or where he was, no comfortable position to rest in, and the terrifying absence of all light, Verdan was miserable. To compound it all, he was constantly kicking himself mentally for being captured. How could I have been so stupid, he would think. I should have been more aware, I should have realized something was going on. What an end to my short career as a trainee, captured and caged. Constantly beating himself up, he waited. For something, anything to happen.

Δ Insert Scene Change Here Δ

Monday

7/6

1730

Yang, Ruby, and Weiss entered their dorm room, Yang complaining about the game's outcome. "We should never have let him play!" Ruby just shook her head at her whining sister. "You're just mad cause the newbie beat you at our own game! If you had just followed my advice and attacked, we'd be the winners right now!"

Blake, who was sitting on her bed when the other three came in, tried to quietly slink out and avoid them. As soon as she touched the doorknob, however, the voice of Weiss Schnee rang out. "Hold on a minute, Blake!" Blake froze and turned to face her teammate. "Lately you've been introverted, antisocial, and moody!"

Yang interjected a comment of her own. "Have you met Blake, Weiss?"

Weiss turned to look at Yang, an irritated look on her face. "More than usual!" She turned back to Blake. "I understand that you're normally like that to a degree, but there is clearly something wrong with you. After the docks, we all agreed that we would share if something were wrong. So, Blake Belladonna, what is wrong?" Weiss finished in a loud, firm question. After several seconds, she realized that she had somehow wound up perched on a chair balancing on two legs. She quickly jumped down, restoring the chair to its proper position.

Blake sighed. "I just can't stop thinking about Torchwick and the White Fang. I don't understand how everyone can be so calm. Something big is going to happen, I'm sure of it!"

"I'm sure Ozpin's got a handle on it. Guy seems like he knows everything that goes on in Vale," Yang said. "Plus the police and Huntsmen are keeping a watch out."

"I'm not sure!" Blake cried out. "I know the White Fang, and everything is pointing to something very big and very bad happening! I want to be part of the investigation, I can help."

"Look, I'm sure you all think you're ready to go out and take down these ne'er-do-wells," Weiss began before being interrupted by Ruby. "Who?" Ignoring the interruption, Weiss finished her sentence. "but let me remind you that we are all students. First years. We literally haven't even started the second semester yet! We're just not ready!"

"And we may never be! They're not going to sit around, being nice and patient until we graduate!" Blake exclaimed. "We don't know what they're doing, and at this rate nobody does!"

Ruby perked up, a light bulb almost literally appearing over her head. "Alright then! All in favor of becoming the youngest academy graduates ever while single-handedly taking down a corrupt protest organization led by a notorious criminal, say aye!" she said, gesticulating wildly.

"Hahaha! Yes! I love stuff like this!" Yang chuckled.

"Could be fun. School's not very difficult, so I've got nothing better to do," Weiss mentioned.

"None of you said aye. . ." Ruby lamented.

"So we're all going to do this together?" Blake asked. Upon seeing the nods of her friends, she relaxed and smiled. "Thanks. This means a lot to me."

"What about Verdan? Are we going to include him in this?" Ruby asked, a sudden realization hitting her.

Weiss frowned. "I don't think he'd even want to be part of this. It sounds like he doesn't want to be around us or do things like this." The general mood of the room turned somber as everyone remembered what Verdan had let slip about his team. "We need to be careful, though. This could be dangerous."

Ruby nodded. "Maybe at least ask him when he gets back?" The other three just kinda looked at each other before Yang spoke up. "Sure, Ruby. We'll see if he wants to help when he gets back."

"Alright then! This Friday, we'll begin our investigation into Torchwick and the White Fang!" Ruby grinned as she looked around her friends, who all looked happy in their own way. This was going to be exciting!

Δ Insert Scene Change Here Δ

?

?/?

?

Motion. The first change in his environment in who knows how long. Verdan immediately broke out of his descending spiral of self-loathing, registering the motion in his inner ears. It did not feel like the cage was moving, but the innate sense of motion and balance that humans and Faunus have was telling him that he was.Okay, let's just think for a minute, Verdan, he thought. We're moving. That means that whoever has captured me as decided what they are going to do with me. That also means that wherever I was when I woke up, I was still there.

He tried to reach out with his Semblance, to feel any metal nearby or to give anything a magnetic field. As if his aura was never awakened, his Semblance simply refused to answer him. Okay, so something's blocking my Semblance. I know it's been postulated that Atlas is working on technology to do that. Could I have been stumbled into an Atlasian black site? That'd be just my luck, too. Although it would be proof of all that is said about them. A quiet crystalline cracking noise came into being before disappearing just as quickly, unheard by Verdan. His thoughts were cut short when he felt the cage bounce upward quickly, throwing him up. Hm. . . Whatever inertia-dampening tech they were using is clearly not perfect, I actually felt that instead of just feeling like we were moving.

So the black ops team is restricting my Semblance, dampening any momentum I have relative to the cage, and somehow absorbing any and all light in here. That's actually really advanced! But whatever they're going to do with me, they've clearly decided on it. I suppose I have to prepare for whatever happens.

Δ Insert Scene Change Here Δ

Friday

7/10

1600

After the first week of classes, RWBY prepared themselves to make good on their promises to Blake. "Alright, so here's the plan!" Ruby began. "Weiss and I will go to the CCT to check Schnee records." Weiss smirked as she planted a hand on her hip. "My access to the files will allow me to see if there are any other major Dust robberies in the other kingdoms."

Yang spoke up, reciting her own part of the plan. "I have some contacts on the shady side of town that know people. I'll talk to them, see if they can shake something out."

Blake finished the review with her own contribution. "The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and draw new recruits. I'll infiltrate, see what's going on."

Just before the four turned away to leave their dorm, they heard the voice of Sun from behind them. "Hey guys!" Startled, the four spun around to see Sun hanging upside down from. . . something out their window.

"Sun!" Ruby cried out in happiness at seeing her new friend. Weiss focused on more logical aspects of Sun's placement. "How. . . did you get up there?" Sun answered in a very nonchalant voice. "Oh, I do it all the time!" Weiss recoiled in shock and indignation. "You do what?" she questioned. "I climb trees all the time!" Sticking her head out the window, Weiss was able to confirm that Sun was, indeed, hanging from a limb by his tail.

Sun swung into the room, somersaulting and landing on his feet. "So whatcha guys doing? Can I help?" Blake shook her head. "Sorry, Sun. This is dangerous, I don't want to involve you."

Sun scoffed at her view. "Nah, you should always get friends involved! That's why I brought Neptune along, after all!" Sun gestured out the window as he spoke. The four girls of RWBY poked their heads out of the window and saw Neptune on the small ledge outside their room. "'Sup?" he asked, before chuckling nervously. "Can I come in now? It's really high. . ."

Once safely inside, Neptune asked the same question that Sun had asked just moments earlier. "So, how can we help?" Blake and Ruby considered their offer for a moment, looking at each other before shrugging. "Sure, you can help," Ruby said. "Sun, you go with Blake. Neptune, you can go with Yang," she said as she pushed the latter towards Yang.

"Well," Weiss slowly interrupted. "Why don't you go with your sister?" Ruby looked back at her partner. "Then who would Neptune go with?" Weiss looked to consider the question, before fake-nonchalantly answering, "He could go with me." Ruby broke out into laughter. "Nah."

Δ Insert Scene Change Here Δ

Blake and Sun peered around the corner of a dark alley in the warehouse district of the city. They had managed to follow the signals posted around the city to reach this particular warehouse. There was a White Fang member posted outside a door, one that several mask-bearing Faunus civilians were entering now.

Blake and Sun withdrew around the corner, placing their own masks on their faces. One of the last signals had also marked a cache of the masks for (possible) recruits to pick up and use at the meeting. As Sun wiggled the mask to make sure it was well-seated on his face, he spoke up with a question that had been bothering him for a while. "What's with the masks?"

Blake turned to look at him. "Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we beat them to the punch and donned the faces of monsters."

Sun winced slightly, not expecting an answer that grim. "Kinda dark, isn't it?" he asked. Blake looked up at him. "So was the guy who started it." She turned around to leave the corner and, sufficiently freaked out now, Sun followed her. The bouncer at the door let them in, seeing that their animal traits were on full display.

They walked into the cavernous inside of the warehouse. There was a sort of stage at the end, constructed of cargo containers laid side by side. There was something massive on the stage, covered up by a large tarp with the White Fang logo. The meeting attendees were divided into two groups, the regular members on one side and the recruits on the other. Sun and Blake drifted to the back of the attendees group, looking around.

An imposing man in a more decorative-styled mask walked onto the stage, gesturing for the group to quiet down with his hands. "Thank you all for coming! I know you lead busy lives, so I'll get right to it! We have a special guest to speak to you today, one who has been very helpful in our mission. Please give him a warm welcome!" The man stepped back and Roman Torchwick walked out from around the cloth-covered object, a small brown, white, and pink woman following him but staying in the background.

"Thank you, thank you!" Torchwick said almost pompously. He ignored the cries of outrage and confusion that filled the building at his appearance, for there were many. "What's a human doing here?" a woman behind Blake and Sun called out.

"I'm glad you asked, deerie!" Torchwick began cheerily. "Let me begin by saying, humans are the worst!" He gestured to himself and slightly bowed as he continued. "Case in point. But as bad as the ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill humans like myself are, we're not the heart of the problem. We're just the symptoms! We've been indoctrinated to view you as animals and monsters! The real problem is the people in charge! The schools, the councils, the Huntsmen academies, all of them! Any and everyone with power, they are the real cause of your problems! They're all insects, that need to be eradicated. Luckily for you all, I'm the best exterminator you'll find!" Torchwick caught himself, adding in, "No offense to any rodents in the room."

Regaining his momentum, Torchwick continued his little speech. "As a demonstration of just how sincere I am in wanting to help you, allow me to show off a little gift I've brought!" Torchwick turned to the side and gestured behind him, at the massive shape. The tarp came falling off, revealing a giant weaponized mech.

Sun was instantly glad for his mask, as his eyes likely showed so much more nervousness and fear than he was okay with. "Eh, well, that's a big robot," he said weakly. He began looking around at everyone else who was cheering wildly, their opinion of Torchwick having made a 180º turn. He leaned in towards Blake to hear her better. "That's a prototype, how did they get that?" Slightly shrugging his shoulders at her, he returned his attention to the stage.

"This behemoth behind me is the Atlesian Paladin, the newest device off of Atlas's assembly lines, designed to protect us all from the scary things in life! Thanks to our benefactor, we've managed to er, snag a few before they hit mass production. Now, we have a few job openings in the southeast. If you'd like to join your brethren in your crusade for freedom, we can use all the hands we can get! If you still want to remain in the city, that's okay, but this is what I can offer you."

The cheers got louder and louder, and the new recruits followed the signals of the fancy-mask man directing them to the front of the room. "This is bad, this is very bad!" Sun whispered to Blake beside him. "What should we do?" When Blake didn't immediately answer, Sun's anxiousness ramped up another notch. Sun opened his mouth to get her attention when Torchwick began speaking again, cutting him off.

"Now, like the generous man I am, I've brought you a gift! A teaser of what will come, an appetizer, if you will! Neo, if you would be so kind?" The small rainbow girl stepped forward and made a gesture, and a shattering noise erupted above everyone. Everyone looked up, to see a black cube hanging from a winch on the ceiling, revealed by what appeared to be shattering glass.

"Some mutual friends of ours managed to pick up a Huntsmen trainee poking his nose about where he shouldn't have been. They handed him over to me, so I brought him here as a gift to you all! And as a bonus, he comes with a free weapon! Who wants it?" Torchwick asked as Neo returned from behind the mech, bringing him a familiar-looking rifle tied to a satchel.

"Uh. . . Blake? Does that rifle look familiar to you?" Sun asked worriedly. "Yes. It does look familiar," Blake said with a tone of anxiety in her voice. She glanced up to the cube of black hanging from the ceiling. As everyone around them began cheering and holding their hand up, trying to get Torchwick to throw them the weapon, Blake and Sun raised their hands to blend in.

"Here! Catch!" Torchwick threw the rifle into the crowd, one of the recruits in front of Sun and Blake catching it. "And now to hand off the main course!" Torchwick raised his cane and the base flipped up, revealing the cane as a long launcher of some sort. He fired the launcher at one of the purple-outlined black spines emanating from the black cube. There was the noise of shattering crystal and every one of the spines exploded into shards, raining down on the crowd below. The black cube suddenly vanished, replaced by a cage containing one Verdan Allen.

Ω Chapter End Ω

AN: Here's chapter 6! This is when the first divergences from canon start to show up, bonus points if anyone can pinpoint the next major canon change coming from this! Yang, Neptune, Ruby, and Weiss's events were unchanged from the show, which is why I didn't show them. I did show the preparations, the confrontation with Blake, and describe the food fight and board game to provide a little bit of context and line up with the show for a last little bit.

I would have gone all the way to the Paladin battle, but that would have made this thing really, really, long, and I was running up against my self-deadline for time between chapters.

To answer New Universe Returns's review: Well, we'll just have to see if they're still going to help him, won't we? However, I can give you a hint: would I really have put OC and RWBY as the main characters if they weren't going to be working together? (No, I wouldn't have.)

I hope you enjoyed this, the early bird gets the worm, and God bless!

What could have caused the black field around Verdan's cage? Hm. . . I wonder. . .