RWBYFanon v5
RPG World of Remnant => The Vale Region => Topic started by: Xarias Fury on February 21, 2018, 07:35:35 AM
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Sometimes to tell the best lies, you have to believe in them just a little bit.
Today Kei was a conductor. A master of tickets, a local of the locomotive, and a champion of steam. Wait. Trains didn’t run on steam nowadays. Or did they ever? It’s hard to tell when studying different things for a role. Well, as long as nobody asked, Kei was a conductor, and a darned handsome one at that.
Donning her signature faux moustache and a pretty small sized uniform to fit her light frame, Kei neatly placed the hat on her slickly combed hair and proceeded out to collecting tickets for the day. That’s what conductors did, didn’t they? Except...there were no real passengers on board except for typical train staff and some oddly militarized robots. Well, there were the students and the professor but maybe they already got covered. Damn this job was tricky.
Instead of going ahead to the on passenger cart on the dust filled train, Kei just made her way out to the corridor connections and rested her back across the door in between the trains, staring out into the red leafy mess that was Forever Fall. Taking a moment to appreciate the view, Kei silently judged the streets of her memories to the mellow cascade of leaves that painted the forest red. From barely functional streets, to hard concrete jungles, and then one lair to another,and then finally a school, she had made quite a ruckus in every place she was ever in and nobody even knew who she was. A bittersweet smile arose on her lips, past the bushy moustache, and she sneezed as the prickly hairs tickled her nose and sent the thing flying off past the car.
That was fine, she guessed, she wasn’t going to miss it anyways. Besides, why can’t a girl be a conductor for once? What name should she go for? Red? Ruby? Crimson? Damned these leaves she couldn’t think of anything but red...Fine. Red it is. Red…Bark...Not exactly a good name, a rather dumb one at that, but it was probably not gonna be much of a problem since nobody asked conductors for names. Though why she was on a train was another story all together, something she had yet to confirm before acting.
"Ali, just what are you planning this time..."
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In the passenger car of the Crimson Express, Professor William Nox, Illustrious dust genius extraordinaire, was busy giving tweaks to one of his many odd bots, that he so conveniently named 0ddB0ts, while four other students were promptly sitting across him as well. Next to him were several machines and gadgets that even he didn’t need at the time, but there were so many that they practically filled his side of the train. Unlike the passenger dedicated ones, the car he was currently on had no dedicated rooms and all seats were in the same open space with a bit of walking space in between. On his side he pretty much hogged them all with one set of seats holding his massive wrench, while the others hand whirring machines that seemed like they might fall apart at any moment.
The train just arrived in forever fall not too long ago and he was tasked to chaperone four huntsmen-in-training from Beacon and Atlas. Given his previous dabbles in the latter Academy, and the fact that saying no would just get people up in airs and ruin his precious work time, he agreed to taking in no more than 4 students from both schools.
The students weren’t really given a briefing though save for the rather generic message on their scrolls reading:
Mission XXXXXXXX
Escort
Task: Guard Porter Train Crimson Express to its Destination
Date: XX_XX_XX
Several smaller details were listed below the message with the train name and destination, the cargo, that being dust and some weapons of sorts, and local possible grimm types they might encounter. Nothing seemed to out of the ordinary for a plain escort mission for their year levels though couldn’t they have relied on their defenses for that? Perhaps they were just being paranoid or maybe they had some info they weren’t sharing. Whatever it was Professor Nox didn’t seem to care and continued tweaking his odd spider-shaped robot as a single propeller drone ran itself into a corner.
“Biscuits, I need to fix the depth sensors on that one.” he groaned, dropping a screw and then scrambling after it with an extendable doohickey. He blabbered on to himself regarding sensors and screws and all sorts of incoherent technobabble which even the most advanced dust and mechanic student would have trouble comprehending before dropping the spider bot to the floor and walking over to the dead drone.
“But first...coffee.”
Wrenching his...well, wrench off the seat beside him, he plopped the thing rightside up and began dispensing some rich dark liquid from a small compartment on the side. One sip. Ugh, too greasy, but it should do. And then he downed the thing in one go, going back to working on the oddbot on the ground.
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Trains are pretty boring, most of them are old and don't have anything particularly interesting inside them save for dust or raw materials. Sometimes more interesting things, but the worst part about trains is how they love to shake around a bunch. Topaz only accepted the job to get out of Atlas for a short while and the stupid train was just a sucky part of it, almost made her reconsider. She figured that if nothing else it did pass some lovely scenery she could watch to take her mind off the shaking of the cars and how close it felt like they came to rolling off the tracks. Lucky for when she boarded who else did she find but the infamous William Nox?! Turns out he was the professor in charge of the mission! His 0ddB0ts had been a source of awe and inspiration for her for ages, quite frankly she had to fight every fiber of her being from dissembling them to see how a professional create bots.
At first, she pretended to understand what he was saying sitting forward listening intensely, but pretending to understand someone can become very very boring very very quickly forcing Topazs initial position of interest to slide into indifference, and then boredom. After a short while of resting her head on her hands, she sat up and stretched, turning towards the left to look at the other students on the train.
"So, uh, where are you guys from, or, maybe we should start with names... Yeah, I think that's a better place to start. My names Taylor, She said placing her hand on her chest to emphazie she was talking about herself.
"third-year Atlas student. Really can't wait to be done with school to be honest."She finished lowering her hand back down.
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Growing up, Airi had rather severe motion sickness. It didn't matter the vehicle - car, ship, train, or airplane - she had difficulty avoiding the dizziness and nausea that so often accompanied such trips. As a result, Airi's eyes were closed. While Airi had outgrown most manners of motion sickness, except for the kind that came with travel by boat, she still kept her eyes closed and put herself into a sort of half-sleep - a holdover from when she was still affected by motion sickness. When Taylor introduced herself to the group, Airi, still eyes closed, responded, "My name is Airi, also a third year."
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Vivian sat slouched in her seat as the first two introduced themselves, her attention divided by the view outside the window. Her tall faunus ears tilted in their general direction to catch what they were saying while her eyes remained locked on the gorgeous crimson landscape. It wasn't often that she passed through this area. For the moment, she wanted to enjoy the scenery. But at the same time, she realized it would probably be rude to ignore the others. After Airi had finished, she turned back to face the group, giving them a warm smile before speaking up.
"I'm Vivian, I go to Beacon. Same year as you guys." She slumped down further in her seat in an atempt to get comfier, her hands moving to the pockets of her jacket. "And you're not the only one that can't wait to get out... Gettin' a little tired of these missions where nothing happens." Perhaps it was a good thing if an assignment to protect something ended up being uneventful, but knowing that didn't make it any more exciting.
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Sheer was looking out the window when they started introducing to each other. Turning his head to face his partners for this mission, well technically his senior but he's sure they won't mind, and guess it's his turn to introduce himself so "I'm Sheer and one year junior of you at second year! Aren't the view outside breathtaking? It'd be a shame if something happened to it... eh unironically! So maybe no news is good news?" The view outside is nice but a chat is more interesting even if it's just small talk, so he now turns his attention full among themselves and reached forward. "Vivian is it? Can you help me with that tray?"
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Professor William Nox, dust genius, was not too fond of company to say the least. Even among students who showed interest in his work he couldn’t help but try to avoid conversation straying from his line of work. One of the students in the passenger car showed such interest in his 0ddb0ts for a fraction of a second before getting lost in his thoughts. It wasn’t at all uncommon for that to happen but the other teachers did say he needed to interact with the kids more.
Pondering on how to start a conversation he opened his mouth to speak only to be interrupted by a sudden message on the intercoms. In the corner of the passenger car, a corner speaker seemingly newly added for the purposes of the people, -regular staff having messages relayed on scrolls- chimed in:
Attention all Passengers. A small group of grimm have been spotted mounting the train’s supply cars. For your safety please remain indoors and avoid changing cars while local security handle the situation. Thank you for your patience.
A friendly reminder for staff of the Crimson Express. Please do not leave tools and luggage lying around the passenger cars to avoid accidents and firmly store them in the overhead compartments. Thank You.
“Dust be damned.” The professor swore, dropping a smaller wrench as the train jostled from the back. “If you young ladies and gentlemen would kindly deal with the threat nearby, that would be great. Don’t mind the announcements, those are for rusting fools who underestimate huntresses and huntsmen in training.” Did that sound praiseworthy? He groaned for a second, bending down to reach the wrench. Whoever said programming a mech was like a conversation with the machine was a rusting idiot.
People were way harder to talk to.
Instead of sending a few 0ddb0ts to deal with the threat, William let them sit by just in case something attacked the car. If needed he’d shoot some of the blasted things themselves if it came down to it but at the moment he needed to continue maintenance. A small drone flying into your face in the middle of combat due to a faulty sensor would ruin anyone’s day.
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Kei heard the announcement as she peeked into the passenger car from outside, noticing the professor preferring to stick with his machinations, and started climbing the car’s ladder. While on top she spotted several small sized nevermore harassing a couple of Atlesian knights, not numbering even a dozen, while a dozen Beowolves clawed at the side of a dust car. The distance was roughly 3 train cars away and wouldn’t take more than a moment to reach but for some reason the Grimm preferred the back. It was odd but not exactly unheard of when Grimm attacked transport vehicles so maybe this was an isolated case.
Everyone else seemed used to the small-scale attacks and seemingly didn’t care if some stupid Grimm were right on the train. The train itself seemed pretty new for train standards but the occasional scratch marks barely covered by a new coat of paint showed that it had been running quite a few trips already.
Kei decided to leave the grimm to the robots and proceeded to start climbing down before spotting an ursa major rushing a the car’s side. The thing was pretty large for ursa standards and shrugged off quite a number of blows before crashing into the Atlesian knights, sweeping them off a flat crate ladden car with a quick swipe of its paw. As much as she wanted to get rid of the thing herself she had to keep her identity hidden, and climbed down the car and back into the conductor’s quarters. A few engineers gave her a glance but otherwise were a bit shaken by the roars of the grimm to ask about her and went back to work.
Were the knights really enough for the grimm? That would be impressive in its own right but she hasn’t once seen them take on larger ones without massive losses and there wasn’t a paladin in sight. Whatever, there were other students on board and they could handle it. She had more important matters to attend to.
Not too long after her little clash with Ali a few weeks back Kei had been doing some digging. It took time away from her thieving but she managed to gather some info about a possible White Fang operation in foreverfall. There were some minor clashes outside the kingdom but she did gather enough info to track the next operation here.
Whether it be covert or something larger, she wanted to be here when something happened. Maybe she could get some answers and maybe get a chance to talk with Ali again. Who knows. But hopefully she wouldn’t have to fight. She glanced back as another roar echoed through her body. Hopefully.
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"Well then, looks like we got something to do!" Topaz said before rushing down the train towards the source of the commotion. The closer she got the Grimm the louder the noises got and the faster she went until she got to the last door. Just as she was about to fling it open a loud roar that practically vibrated the train cart made her stop and consider the situation. If she got knocked off she doubted there would be much of a chance to get back on the train and she doubt it would well good either, taking this into account she put Lithium into bow configuration and notched an arrow before slamming open the door with her foot. The sight of the large Ursa major made her freeze for a half a second before her body started moving again, aiming and shooting the arrow before charging in behind.
Outside the protection of the previous cart the winds buffeted Topaz causing her to momentarily lose her footing before she quickly righted herself. Taking in the full size of the Ursa she decided that since he already lost her momentum the best plan would be back a little bit before trying again. Loading another arrow she sent it flying towards the large Grimm while backing up to where she assumed the rest of the team was.
"That's a pretty good sized one huh. Make sure not to get knocked off." She said before charging back towards it.
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Jostled into alertness, Airi opened her eyes and immediately stood to her feet. Following the other students, she climbed the train ladder. The large Ursa Major was the first to catch her attention, for obvious reasons, but she couldn't help but notice the Beowolves attacking the Dust car. "We need to protect the Dust car from sustaining too much damage," she shouted over the commotion, Grimm roars, and howling of the wind. "If the Grimm critically damage it, the Dust might explode and take the train with it." Looking back at the Ursa major, which was much too big to ignore, she suggested, "We might be able to have three of us on the Ursa Major and peel off one to protect the Dust carriage."
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Before Vivian could respond to Sheer, her attention was robbed by the loudspeaker as well as the subsequent roars that shook the passenger car. Along with the others she went, entirely disregarding the advice that came from the intercom. All the while, she had to wonder if her wish of having something interesting happen was partially responsible for the current attack... Next time, she would be sure to ask the universe for something involving less imminent danger.
Strolling up beside Airi, the faunus girl brought one metallic hand to her chin, humming to herself as she assessed the situation. The Ursa was definitely an issue that had to be dealt with, but if the train was blown to bits, they wouldn't have anything to protect. While she could assist in taking down the big dude, her guns wouldn't do much for her there, and her fists would only really hurt it if she could get up high enough to bash his head. Her weapons would be much more efficient at dispatching groups of smaller Grimm. Once Vivian reached her conclusion, she nodded, her hand returning to her side to draw her pistol.
"If you three wanna take him, I'll try and protect the dust. I'll shout if I need help." She looked over at the others, at least, those that had yet to charge into battle. It might be a good idea to wait for some sort of approval before she would run off. "Everybody cool with that?"
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So much for snacks. With a bit of guesswork, Sheer responded with his own assessment.
"I'm not sure which is the bigger threat, the Major or the dozen Beowolves aiming for the Dust. I'd suggest an even split instead. Sweep them out in short order then focus on the Ursa. Sound's good? I volunteer for the Ursa." He had the firepower to take it out and should be able to utilize his semblance more effectively. Who knows, we should just try blasting it and if anything fails, he could just watch his seniors show off their superiority.
With that in mind Sheer climbed up and out of the hatch following whoever else.
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The train shook violently as Ursa roared in response to Topaz's attacks, slamming its paws into the ground. The arrows were mere annoyances as they hit hard bone instead of flesh and seemed to anger it rather than do much damage. That was good though, it stopped flinging robots and crates off and turned instead to the students, some of the nevermore following suit while a few dropped to a barrage of bullets from the back. The large bear-shaped grimm scrambled towards the kids with fire in its eyes while flinging a dust cart with a massive swipe of its paw right at the archer girl.
Some of the Atlesian knights leaped onto the top of the earlier train car and began firing at the small fry, dropping beowolves and flying grimm like gnats, but occasionally got knocked down as well. The amount of grimm was quickly being diminished but the Ursa remained along with several small flying nevermore which darted towards the students like vultures at a carcass, one of the birds getting knocked out of the sky by the flying crate that headed towards the dust car while a few others attacked Sheer as he popped out of his hatch.
Nox was busy scrambling to fix his bots as the mess outside happened and an audible curse could be heard as the shaking car dropped a few of his tools on the ground.
* * *
As the fight went on Kei continued her prying, looking for hints as to what would cause the White Fang to target this particular train. It didn't seem to have more than the standard amount of dust, from what she researched, but it was quite heavily armed with robots for a simple train. Were they upping security for the dust? Or was there another reason...perhaps having something to do with the number of grimm attacking...She needed more info.
Kei watched as the students continued their fight, a look of boredom on her face. Grimm were boring and predictable to say the least but at least the train proved to be a tricky environment. Dust carts here and there, limited space, the chance of falling off and tumbling to the side like a log down a hill, maybe even a derailing. She had to get to the car at the back but the grimm blocked her way. She wouldn't want to join the fight just yet, being as crammed as it was now, so she held back but not without keeping a hand nestled near her yo-yo.
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"I've already called the Ursa! " Topaz yellowed out in response to her group making battle plans, at the best of time with her own team she would try to coordinate attacks but with a bunch of strangers on a train she figured trying to do her own thing first might be more beneficial. That thought quickly evacuated her mind as both her arrows bounced off the Ursa and it began charging towards her flinging a dust canister in her direction. Acting quickly she dropped to the ground and slide barely missing the cart taking off her head.
Once again Topaz found herself without momentum but this time she decided she was too close to run away to charge. Instead, she swapped Lithium into his staff mode while getting back on her feet before swinging her weapon at the nearest leg of the Ursa. The second the blade left its leg she aggressively changed the direction of her swing and crouched down a little bit attacking the same leg.
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With all the chaos, it seemed that actually coming up with a proper plan wasn't working out. The Grimm she had planned on engaging had just been gunned down by Atlesian Knights. Perhaps playing things by ear would be more appropriate for the situation. Her eyes darted around until they landed on the group of small Nevermore headed for Sheer.
"Heads up!" Not having much time to act, her semblance activated, no movement required on her part to create the translucent, glowing sphere that floated about a foot above the ground in front of her. Hopping up and stomping on it, the aura-bubble compressed before bouncing back and sending her straight up into the air. They were approaching fast, but she could spike at least one of the flying bastards, hopefully buying Sheer a little more time. She lifted her arms above her head, swinging both fists down at the top of one incoming Nevermore's skull as gravity pulled her back down towards the train.
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Airi watched the fighting going on, though her attention was primarily focused on the Ursa, with it being the largest, most obvious threat. Seeing Topaz target the Ursa, she decided she would assist, disregarding Topaz's claim of having already called the Ursa. It was an Ursa, after all - not something to be trifle with. Since Topaz was targeting one of the Ursa's legs, Airi targeted the other. She got into a running start, charging at the Ursa before sliding beneath it between its legs. Right before she did so, however, she used her semblance to release a time fragment. Then, as she did slid between its legs, Airi released Timeweaver's spool and clasp mechanism, throwing the ultra-thin wire so that it caught around the other Ursa leg. She pulled hard so that it, combined with Topaz's assault on its other leg, would cause the Grimm beast to fall under its weight.
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Sheer poked his head out of the train and is immediately confronted by the howling wind and then a batch of Nevermores. Sheer points his gun at them before being pelted in the face by a piece of leaf which reminded him to climb out completely.
Standing up Sheer stumbled a bit which makes him wonder just how can so much of the Grimm land on top before noticing the scratch marks on the top of the train and answered this question.
Um, Nevermore, you're dumb, don't you know piercing attacks are super effective against soft targets? Well they don't because they're young. And now they don't get to because they're getting blasted out of the sky. What Sheer didn't notice, however, is that in the time he took to get up, aim and fire at the incoming group of nevermore the rest of them is already dealing with many more Grimm than he is and getting more things done.
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The Ursa whimpered as both of its legs got attacked from the sides, one by Topaz and another by Airi. With a large crash, the beast fell onto some crates, knocking them aside while struggling against the wire wrapped around its leg. Whilst still tied, the beast struggled under its own weight and lack of support from its now smoking leg and roared in defiance as it tried yanking against Airi's wire to free itself.
Almost wriggling free, the Ursa yanked one more time with enough force to knock Airi off balance if she wouldn't let go, and managed to plant the wire caught leg back up. It took a swipe at Topaz, missing completely as it stumbled on one injured leg, and tried again, only to get a face full of nevermore from above while Vivian landed towards its head. Several more flying grimm were taken down by Sheer's burst with a joint barrage by the remaining Atlesian Knights and the birds dispersed leaving but a few stragglers and one very angry ursa on the ground.
Peeking out from one of the cars near the back of the train, a man in a white cropped suit with red hair observed the fight with interest and shooed away a small nevermore with a small slap of his hand. He pulled out a scroll not a moment later and deactivated the remaining Atlesian Knights, prompting them to curl down after marching back into the car, despite some of them still getting assaulted by small grimm.
"Good good. That's what you huntsmen are for. Though I do have to say your efficiency leaves some...area for improvement." He said, arms set back as he strutted towards the ursa. Spotting Vivian in the air, he took a few steps back and checked his watch. Almost as if he were timing the end of the encounter.
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Professor William Nox observed the rather coincidentally coordinated attempt by the quad of huntsmen-in-training and grumbled something about his tools lying all over the train car. There wasn't much left for him to do but tidy up as the kids would probably take care of the ursa any moment now, though that left him to wonder what started the grimm attack in the first place. Whatever it was it wasn't exactly his area of expertise so he started browsing his scroll for more info about the train while several of his 0ddb0ts started cleaning up, one of the drone versions sparking at the joints as it moved.
Crimson Express. Yadda yadda, same stuff as before. Unfortunately digging deeper into the databases wasn't his speciality so he gave up the search and instead have a bot fly out the window to sirvey the train.
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Ducking back behind the car Kei hid as the white-suited man appeared. He looked important enough to be familiar with the people on board and observant enough to see through a disguise. She cursed her luck as she siddled back into the engineering section of the train and could hear murmurs about an odd fast moving object coming from the front of the train. It was still a ways away but no further info was spoken as some engineers scrambled back to their stations as a large mechanical groaning echoed through the car.
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Topaz dodged the weak excuse for an attack by the Ursa while watching it fall to the ground now with one less leg but even with its rapid weight loss it wasn't quite done yet. Not giving the Grimm any more time to react she raced forward towards and this time went for the neck of the beast. As she approached she did notice that the guards around her who were just firing their guns had all gone mysterious quiet for no apparent reason.
This little nugget of information was enough for Topaz to decide to abort her current course of action as she quickly changed direction to be in front of the Ursa. Sliding to a stop she swung Lithium down carelessly onto the Ursas face while scanning the rest of the cart and seeing now that the guards were deactivated for some reason.
"Hey! Whats going on with the robots!?" She yelled out to the rest of the students.
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Vivian dropped from the sky a moment later, slamming her elbow down on the Ursa's upper back as it lay there stunned. She was pretty sure her rabbit ears picked up the sound of cracking bone, but that didn't mean it couldn't still get back up. Even after Topaz struck it on the face, she figured it would be best to make absolutely sure. From her spot atop the weakened beast's back, she kneeled down and pulled both her arms back before beginning a rapid barrage of steel punches. Her arms moved at an unnaturally fast rate, absolutely pummeling the Ursa's skull from behind like two jackhammers. Both arms let out the whir of spinning motors, showing no signs of tiring out. Despite the furiousness of her fists, Vivian herself looked rather calm. Her head tilted as she observed the Ursa curiously, trying to figure out if it was still alive.
"Hmm..." The assault of metal slowed down, giving the monster a few more solid hooks before she finally stopped. "... Yep." If it hadn't been already, it was definitely dead now. The lack of movement from the monster as well as the dark steam emanating from its now partially flattened head just about confirmed it.
Somewhat distracted by her own attack, Vivian didn't realize what exactly Topaz was talking about until after she hopped off of the Ursa and took a look around. The Atlesian Knights were abandoning them. That was... odd? Definitely not what was supposed to be happening. "Maaaybe they're leaving the rest to us? Those bots are probably expensive." It seemed unlikely, but she was unable to come up with any other reasoning.
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Airi regained her balance after being pulled by the Ursa shortly before its demise. Straightening out her outfit, she looked towards the deactivating Knights in response to the exclamations by the other students. "Hmm, that's strange indeed. But forget about it for now, let's secure the area quickly and move on." With that, she brandished her blade and swung at several small Grimm that were harassing the deactivating Knights.
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"Expensive indeed, miss Xanthia. Though not nearly as important as our cargo." The man in the white suit stated, fixing his tie as he approached the young fighters. "Having intervened when not asked was appreciated but not required."
With a quick swipe on his scroll the deactivated Atlesian Knights marched towards the back of the train and took out any straggling grimm with short bursts of machine gun fire. "Jonathan Crimson, if you wish to address me but please don't use any frivolous nicknames. Now where were we?"
Studying the students with a cool gaze, Jonathan - not much older than Professor Nox himself - audibly clicked his tongue as he noticed the small wreckage and now-deceased Ursa. "No need for introductions, I have your files on my scroll right here. But since I'm here I suppose I could entertain any questions for the time being." Jonathan said, glancing every now and then at the back of the train. "But before I do I must ask," he paused, raising what seemed to be a faux moustache
"Have any of you lost a moustache?"
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"Oh! Oh! Me!" One of Vivian's hands shot up, waving a bunch at the strange moustache man as she jumped a couple of times. After a moment, she snickered, bringing the arm back down. "Nah, just kidding. No clue who lost it. But, like, I'll definitely take that off your hands if you don't want it." What purpose for a fake moustache could she possibly have? Vivian herself didn't even know, but that was totally only because she didn't have one.
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"What?" Topaz quietly muttered to herself as she was confused by the man who called himself Jonathan Crimson. She assumed this person was the one who put the request for the job up but, why was he intervening? And why does he care about a fake mustache? It could have been left over from a previous rider. With these thoughts swirling around her head Topaz spoke up, "I can't say it's mine either but I think there are more pressing matters at hand. For instance, who are you?". She continued to maintain eye contact with the man and did not lower her weapon, after all strangers that suddenly appear on a train usually are not too trust worthy.
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Tossing the mustache with an almost devil-may-care flick of his wrist, Jonathan seceded the prop and stared back at Topaz with an equally leering gaze only to soften as he realized just how stupid the kid might be. "You don't read much, do you?" he claimed, pulling his scroll out and barely giving Topaz any acknowledgement.
It should have been obvious from his surname alone. He owned the train, or rather the company in which it did services for, a somewhat new face in the bustling and demanding delivery services which seemed to explode onto the scene not too long back. Two swipes on his scroll and he sent the aforementioned details to the kids, disappointed that his hired help was so incompetent.
"This is why I prefer robots and mechs, they don't raise guns at those who bought them." he muttered, turning away. "Coincidentally, where is your professor? I'm guessing back with his drones as usual? There's something I need to ask of him if he's not too busy."
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While Topaz was confronting this Jonathan Sheer Gold was already looking up with his scroll searching for the name but then the man just sent his detail over. Seems legit. Although it would be best to confirm with Professor Nox.
Professor Nox,
Is this person our employee? Just checking for impostors with you to be safe. Also, he is asking to talk to you. Should I direct him to you?
Sheer
Sheer attached file sent by Jonathan and sent it the professor's way. Sheer decided he should get a response before actually talking anything important, though talking something else could do.
"Robots and mechs aren't a tenth as versatile or resourceful as a human with relevant training, say us. At least for the foreseeable five, ten years... but by the time the robots can think as well as we do the 'don't raise gun' would kind of be nullified. For now, you're better off installing turrets for exterior defenses if blind obedience is what you wanted."
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Jonathan scoffed at Sheer's reply and bit back, sneering. "Robots," He said, "DO NOT disobey orders and can do much more than be stationary dummy's. I don't know what they teach you at Beacon but obviously discipline is not one of them. A waste of potential, a waste of money, a waste or resources, it's all pointless if you do not do as needed! What if you brats damaged the rear cars? What then? The 'robots' are at least easily programmed, but a sassy little kid wouldn't mind as long as it looked 'COOL'!" The man's face twisted as he spoke but just as quickly as it came, it was gone. "Besides, if I lose an Atlesian Knight all I need to do is replace them. Isn't that right, Professor Nox?"
"I share some of your sentiments, Jonathan, but not to the same extents." The wild-haired professor replied, "For one I believe all things have a place. As complicated as they may act." Not once did he look up from his scroll until a drone flew by and flew straight to the back car. Jonathan's eye's widened but a knight quickly grabbed the bot out of mid-air, bringing it over to Nox a moment later.
"Now, now, Professor, you know better than to send your contraptions flying about wildly." He said.
"yes, yes. Now, what is it that you needed me for?" William asked,
Jonathan smiled, "Just a little project you worked on a while back. See, I have people interested in your past dabbling in semblance-aiding machines, Project Facad- Let's take this talk elsewhere. Children, you may return to your quarters." Professor Nox's eyes darted from his scroll to Jonathan, sizing up the smile with an almost suspicious gaze but with nothing more than a nod to the huntsmen-in-training, he followed Jonathan to the rear trains, his drone flying beside him as he did.
As Jonathan and William disappeared behind a car door, Kei entered the Students' common room, or car, or whatever they called the damned things, and noted the mess the professor left. It was in disarray as always but had a bit of a hint of organization to it, albeit ugly. She needed to know what was in the cars at the back and figure out why the White Fang were so interested in this train. Something was fishy, and from the little she overheard, it may have to do with some weird project.
Clicking her tongue as the students started walking back, she adopted her Conductor persona while sighing upon seeing her mustache in the hands of some random girl.
-
Sheer considers Jonathan's rebuttal and concedes one of the points when he sees professor's drone being grabbed out of the air. If only they were that good when actually fighting...
Also now Sheer kind of wants to take a peek at the rear car, but out of professionalism he kind of isn't supposed to. So he put that thought behind his mind and went the ladder meeting mis...ter conductor.
"Hello Mr. conductor! Having a good day investigating the car?"
-
While the others spoke amongst themselves, Vivian simply stared at the newly acquired mustache that she held in her hand, giggling to herself. Even as Jonathan ripped into the students, she held it up to her face, looking over at Airi for a moment to show off her new accessory. Unbeknownst to her, she was almost perfectly proving his point on discipline. It took the arrival of the professor for her to realize that she should probably be paying attention. Apparently, it was too late, as she was already totally lost. Something about a semblance doohickey? Before she could ask, they were on their way out. Her rabbit ears drooped a little, but she quickly shrugged it off.
Along with the others, she made her way back towards their car, slipping the fake mustache into one of her front pockets. "That guy was totally weird... I see why him and the professor get along."
Upon their return to the passenger area, the faunus went to her seat and slumped in the chair once again. Rather than stare out the window, she kept a curious eye on the conductor of indeterminable gender. While she wasn't attentive enough to be even a bit suspicious about them being there, she definitely had to wonder if this person was looking for their mustache, as it wouldn't look too out of place on them...
-
Crap, with all the earlier commotion Kei didn't expect to have to deal with the kids so soon. Sure, some are just a year younger than her, but she was never good at playing the upperclassman bit. Would they recognize her? Probably not. Her disguise was too good for even herself! Proper uniform, proper posture...accent? Typical Valian should be okay, but mannerisms should reflect her current character. Meticulous to a fault, a little green on the ears to reflect age and inexperience; should cover for whatever screw up she'll have when acting, and maybe a bit of enthusiasm in recognizing young passengers.
Disguise and persona ready? Well, ready as she'll ever be.
"Good day, passengers. We don't really take people as cargo but I guess strapping you all to the cars is out of the question, eh?" Kei spoke, her voice a little lower to reflect a young man's but not too low as to be out of place. "The car...seems to be in a bit of a mess but I trust you are enjoying your ride? A little exercise with that Ursa back there limber your limbs up? Haha."
Going through what seemed to be at least proper inspection procedures, Kei took off he hat, revealing her dog ears and a black lace on her ponytail, with swept back hair slick to the touch and shiny as if set, and began checking the car for...stuff.
"All comfortable I'm guessing? No problems save for the little mess Professor Nox left behind?" Kei slipped, why would she know the professor?! She's just the conductor! Quick...an excuse...an exc- Ah, "He and the boss there go way back, I think. Was really expected given the cargo being dust and all!"
Nice save. Now for small talk. What did these kids know? The car rumbled in annoyance as if pressing her for time, but she knew she had to get as much as she can. "How did you find the boss so far? A bit stingy? It's okay, I won't tell." Kei added, winking as she did.
-
"He's got the mindset for a boss for sure. When I think about robotic guards I think about their utility and adaptability, but he thinks in terms of cost to produce and ease of deployment." Sheer watches the conductor's inspection with interest. "The boss must also pretty approachable huh? Considering he told you about his buddy. Well, so would I probably, but I suppose having a nice boss is good?"
Not to us though. I suppose hired guards and regular employees are different enough?
-
Returning to her seat, Airi agreed with Sheer's comment on the boss, about his mindset being on cost and efficiencies rather than flexibility of usage. She took a quick glance at the conductor speaking to them, before laying her head back against the headrest. With her eyes closed out of habit on long-distance travels, she added, "his faith in his robots is misplaced. They lack intuition, but I suppose he's unlikely to think of that as a meaningful drawback. However, I don't think I can call him eccentric quite yet like I would the Professor."
-
I know right? Professor Nox sure is an odd one. Kei voiced in her head. Much as she'd like to gossip about their teacher she knew that she had another objective in mind.
Engaging the students with small talk, Kei wondered what was taking the professor so long. It had been roughly an hour since he left and there was no sign of him coming back. So much for questioning him, though something told Kei that Professor Nox wouldn't be much of a conversationalist anyways. A few more minutes passed and Kei decided to do some more investigating. Resisting the urge to pick up a shiny, probably expensive, piece of machinery, she left the door open and motioned for the other students to follow her outside. "How bout a little free roaming. Not like the boss is anywhere in sight. Besides, the car smells like grease and...burnt hair..."
The train continued speeding on through Forever Fall's lush red brush. Petals scattered here and about as the train approached and the sun began its descent from its place in the sky, indicating that it was just a few minutes since noon.
Kei missed lunch, apparently, having been investigating the trains here and there, and after the grimm attack earlier she completely forgot that there was a supposed to be a food trolley coming by soon. She was used to hunger, though, and she'd steel her resolve through this missed lunch. She wondered, however if the students would follow. Surely they'd be a nuisance, but they also provided more than one person to start shooting at if things went awry. Tilting her head at her schoolmates, Kei blew her whistle in a sharp rising tone and motioned for them to follow.
Dust crates littered the flatcar she was standing on. Thrown about and some of them leaked vials and raw dust. Luckily a few clean up drones were already at work, picking up vials and sweeping up dust. One even had a vacuum and froze when it accidentally sucked up too much ice dust much too quickly.
There was roughly several thousands worth of Lien on this car alone, and Kei wondered why they wouldn't care about losing this much cargo. As she walked, she stubbed her foot on one of the medium sized crates, and to her surprise, it just lightly slid away.
"Empty." She murmured, kicking it again for good measure, then tapping it to confirm it was hollow. "Why would they be carrying empty crates along with some full ones?"
The door to the next car was just a few feet away now, and Kei had a headstart ahead of the students. It would be locked for sure, so she had to be quick with her picks.
Despite her getup, she didn't get to swipe any important looking keys from the engineers back at the front. The ones at her waist opened the passenger cars easily, some of the engine cars, but something told her she'd need a bit more than a key to open the high tech looking one in front of her. Palm scanners and heavy bolted locks in place of a simple keyhole. Atlesians, always the geeks. It was simple enough, she thought. All she needed was some talcum powder and something smooth and flat. She had some laminated papers, part of her getup, all she needed was some powder.
"Hey, you kids don't happen to have some powder on you right now, do you?" She asked, skipping back to nearest one, "I'm building up a bit of a sweat and a lil powder always helps lower the stickiness a ton."
-
Forever Fall Forest really is beautiful, and the just made sure for the passengers it only that and nothing else. Feels good. The conductor is great company too. he brings up all sorts of cool topics.
The Dust cart sure is messy after being roughed up by the Grimm. According to Mr. conductor's kicking sound, one of them is even emptied.
"I don't, so ask one of them I guess?" And then he asks for some powder despite being in the air-conditioned cars, I guess he have to go out pretty soon?.
-
Airi followed the other students throughout the train cars. However, she didn't say anything. Kei did raise a good point as to why there were empty crates, but Airi still did not comment on it, because she figured that the nutty Professor Nox was going to collect something at one point in their trip. When the students came to the car sealed behind the more advanced security, Airi's interest was indeed piqued. Surely there was something much more valuable than mere dust in this car. She wondered about all the various things that could be behind the doors - prototype robots, advanced weapons, strange technologies, or maybe even a captive Grimm. Ok maybe not the last thing, but she was still interested. When Kei interrupted Airi's thoughts to ask for some powder, Airi simply shrugged. Who carried around powder on missions?
-
It took a while but Kei finally managed to get through the lock, having the other students look for one piece of junk or another or for her key that she supposedly dropped. In one swift motion, the thief spread some of the dust on the floor on the lock, pressed a laminated document she snagged a while back against the scanner, then pressed her palm against it.
The door opened with a mechanical whir and the simple yet annoying obstacle slid away to allow the students in. Sorry guys, Kei thought, but there are more important things at stake than their silly mission. She slipped in, wondering if the door closed automatically or not, but it stood open while the others were busy doing...well nothing. If they saw her walk in they wouldn't be none the wiser anyways. She- er - he was an employee here. At least on the outside.
As Kei stalked through the suspicious caboose she heard muffled sounds of arguing just ahead. The room was lined with sheets of steel way too heavy to be moved individually and had a few deactivated Atlesian Knights just standing at ready on the sides. An alert would probably cause them to hop back into action but as it was they seemed content with just staying stiff as statues. Kei thanked her luck that the lock worked, otherwise she would have to deal with getting caught on top of being shot at by the train's security detail. Another door barred the way and it was just as locked as the previous one. Another splash of dust and the same trick later she got through and walked in to sounds of...was Professor Nox yelling?
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"I will NOT participate any further in this project, Jonathan!" Despite his wiry frame the Professor stood firm and slammed a fist against a large white pod behind him. It looked like an egg flattened on one side, resting on the floor supported by several mechanical arms, wires, and large amounts of tubes feeding fluid and power into the device.
"A theory does not give right for experimentation of living, breathing subjects!" Nox continued, "We don't know what would happen if a person's aura can handle such strain, nor can we measure without further research. I dropped this years ago because of that and even you supported my decision!"
Jonathan smiled. "See now, William. That's where you're wrong"
"What? This is clearly an aura pod, that means you have someone inside!"
"Some thing, William. A vegetable has no emotions nor can it feel pain. Not that it was a person to begin with anyways. Nobody is going to miss a Faunus-" Jonathan practically spat the word, "Not to mention White Fang scum. Just because you're desperate to feel the same way as them, to feel emotions the same way, doesn't mean you should get in the way of progress William, not when you've contributed so much to this endeavor. Perhaps in the future we can even create devices capable of enhancing conscious, living souls. Think of the possibilities! Every person has the potential to no longer fully rely on mechanical weaponry to fight Grimm and terrorists alike. All it would take is a simple machine-"
"And huge amounts of dust." Nox cut in, "Just give me the plans, I need to see everything before I make my decision..."
Jonathan's thin lips stretched into a smile once more, "Now that's the William I know. Professor Ovid would be glad to hear you've come on board."
"I haven't agreed yet, Jonathan. I'm merely interested in the schematics."
"Of course."
A loud crash echoed throughout the chamber, and Jonathan pulled out his scroll. Atlesian Knights all throughout the car sprang to life and and started marching towards the source.
Jonathan stood straight, raising an eyebrow at Professor Nox. "I'm sure it's nothing. But we can't be too sure."
Nox could only scrunch his eyebrows at the words, taking his hands away from the machine before pulling out his own scroll.
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