See Authors Note
Pouring out the tea into a cup, Iroh sat down happily opposite Ironwood as they both drank deeply. In spite of the man's previously cold demeanour, the two of them had warmed up greatly to one another as they shared their life experiences.
"I was only 20 years old when I had my first position as an officer." Ironwood continued, holding the cup of tea as he remembered the days well. "Second lieutenant of the 2nd Platoon, B Company, 443rd Infantry Regiment, 12th Division. Spent some time deployed at a small port town on the southern end of Solitas. Simple protection detail, very little Grimm presence, supporting a huntsman as a show of force by Atlas. Everything was fine until one day there's a Grimm attack, bigger than normal and coming from multiple sides. No big cause for it, just sheer bad luck. Huntsman goes to deal with one side, I lead my platoon to cover a few others as everyone evacuates to the shelters. When the evacuation is complete, I know we're spread too thin, the wall is simply built and hard to defend. So instead, I have us pull inwards, send an order to the Huntsman to do the same. He doesn't. Keeps fighting outside the walls, while I lead my men to positions at some key chokepoints. It's Beowolves mostly, some Ursa's too. All creatures that are stuck on the ground and up close. Trapped them in some alleys and cut them to shreds, they were tripping over each other trying to get us."
He paused, remembering the sight of the small horde bearing down at him from the alley as he fired his rifle into them. "Terrifying sight, but we held. Eventually they stop, we cut them down. Spread out, check for any that remain, and we find the Huntsman dead at the wall. He'd pulled back eventually, but too slow, died before he could get inside. My superiors at the time said I'd done an excellent job. An attack big enough to kill a Huntsman but I kept all of my men and all of the people safe. They promoted me, moved me up, but I knew it could have been better. If that man had listened to me he could have survived too. My first piece of combat, and already there was someone I could have saved if only they had listened."
Iroh nodded back solemnly. "I am certainly no stranger to the loss of those under my command. Every operation, every attack, there was almost never a time that we did not lose someone. Our medical knowledge was not as advanced as you have here, so many men who would pass on afterwards to disease. But the worst were always those that seemed preventable. If we'd had more resources, if I had ordered the reinforcements in earlier, if I hadn't ordered in a second wave and pulled the men out. My siege of Ba Sing Se was what ended my career, but one of my worst victories was Wulai Island, a small island off the mainland which had been turned into a fortress by the time we attacked. The navy had bombarded the fortifications there until we were sure the enemy were defeated. I sent troops ashore, but in my inexperience, I sent a force of new recruits, certain that they would face little resistance. Instead, they were massacred. A force of earth benders had taken effective cover beneath the ground and pulled the division inside, cut them off from support and isolated them. The benders were few, and their ambush failed to prevent any of our progress, but the divisions casualties were enormous. Easily preventable, had I chosen the right men for the mission."
Iroh did not hold his military career in the same proud light he once had, but he held himself accountable all the same. Wulai Island would have fallen regardless, but if he'd been a better general at the time, he could have saved the lives of those poor fire nation soldiers.
"But I do not dwell on what I could have done. My life is full of regrets, those which will haunt me until my passing, but life continues on. I once longed to know the correct answer, but such lessons are often learned too late." He refilled his cup, slowly making sure to delicately refill his tea without spilling a drop. "The secret to true wisdom, like with tea, is proper aging."
Ironwood grunted. "I've only felt older and older since I became an officer. I feel aged twice over, and yet there seems to be no end in sight to it all."
"One day it shall end, as all things do."
"Not all things…" Ironwood grimaced. Salem, the un-aging master of the Grimm. Ozpin had told her of her ability to never age, that she had long been the ruler of the Grimm since unknown times. It had been many years since he had been brought into Ozma's inner circle, and still he struggled to accept it. Ironwood grimaced and grabbed his cup, swallowing down his nerves. "Tell me, is there any way to become truly wise without being old? I could use some more wisdom now and not later."
Iroh laughed, smiling into his cup. "Sadly, I'm not so sure. But, I have known those who were wise beyond their years."
"Your nephew?"
Iroh pulled a face at Ironwood's suggestion. "In some ways, perhaps. Zuko is a brilliant boy at many things, but wisdom and patience are aspects of him I dearly wish were stronger sometimes."
~RWBYZ~
Zuko was getting impatient. Holding himself underneath the truck bed was hurting his muscles and he had no idea where he was going.
"I'm moving, I can't wait here anymore."
"Don't! The others are on their way!"
Blake had called Yang, Ruby, and Weiss with an update on their slight predicament. Despite some arguments about what exactly Blake and Zuko had been thinking, they were on their way and trying to help. Blake had apparently gotten a taxi to pick her up and was trailing behind as she tracked Zuko's scroll. This was apparently a thing that she could do, and Zuko only had a million more questions about this world's strange technology.
Zuko began to shuffle his way across the underside of the truck bed, finding what few handholds he could that weren't moving with the wheels. As he crawled around, he managed to find a slight opening through the truck bed itself and into the cargo area. Though it was a simple flat bed trailer, it had been covered with a sheet and a few pieces of a wooden frame that disguised the cargo somewhat.
Poking his head up, he saw the "mech" and climbed up inside. It was tied down thoroughly, not about to move at all in spite of the truck's own movements through the streets. Briefly, he thought about the audacity of it all that they were moving such large and dangerous cargo through the city with only a tarp to hide it.
As he climbed through the gap and into the back of the truck, he was suddenly greeted by the confused expression of a White Fang grunt who had stepped into view from the other side of the mech. The two stared at each other in complete stunned shock for several moments before Zuko lashed out just before the man reached for the handgun by his side.
Zuko grappled with him briefly before flipping him over and delivering a series of blows that knocked the man out. Unfortunately, in the process of doing so the man's gun let off a single gunshot that ripped through the tarp and towards the front cabin.
The truck slammed on its breaks, slamming Zuko and the unconscious White Fang man into the front cab.
"Uh oh. I think they heard me."
"Damn it!"
~RWBYZ~
"Damn it!" Blake fumbled with her scroll as she checked how much further there was before she caught back up with Zuko. She muttered a curse to herself and leaned from the back seat of her taxi to the driver in front. "I need you to drive faster now!"
"Whoa, no can do miss. We're already at the speed limit here."
She sighed angrily at the driver's obstinate refusal to break the law. She didn't understand it, she'd broken the law hundreds of times. Always with good intentions of course, just like now.
"I'm a huntress, it's really important that you catch up to this truck right now!" She flashed her ID, hoping she'd done so quick enough that he missed the part of it that stated 'student'.
"This something dangerous? I'll be honest, that sounds like even less reason for me to get involved."
Blake groaned and clenched her fists. She didn't want to do this, but she had to turn to her last resort. She pulled out every bit of Lien that she had on hand and held it out to him. Blake was not a rich girl by any means, and she'd been hoping to make her meagre savings last quite a bit longer than a single taxi ride.
Sadly, the man looked at the wad of money she held out to him and took it. Her heart broke as he slammed on the accelerator. The taxi raced down the freeway, the roar of the engine drowning out her small cries at the loss of all her money.
~RWBYZ~
"What the hell was that!?" Torchwick looked back at the bullet that had punched through the back window and narrowly missed his head. Granted, his aura would have protected him, but it would have ruined his hat. The animals he worked with just had no respect for fashion. "Neo, go and check it out."
His mute sidekick rolled her eyes and looked at him with annoyance. For all of her martial ability, she could be an exceptionally lazy person sometimes. Unfortunately for her, Torchwick had just had a busy night of speeches and dealing with animals, so it was her turn to do some actual manual labour for once. He jerked a thumb and told her again to move.
"If that idiot back there just shot at me by accident, you can deal with him. We'll tell Cinder he slipped and shot himself by accident."
Now thoroughly incentivised, Neo let out a merciless grin and hopped out of the truck. Torchwick tapped the wheel in frustration as he waited. He was stopped still in the middle of the road with a piece of very valuable cargo in the back. Dead of night as it may have been, he didn't want to wait any longer than he had to and attract undue attention.
Waiting, he glanced around in every direction out of paranoia. Checking his mirrors, he was perplexed to see a taxi come hurtling around the corner and racing towards him. His anxiety rose, and then the back of his truck exploded in a fireball.
"The hell!?" From one of his mirrors, he saw and recognised the culprit. It was the damn scar faced brat he'd seen at the docks, and the one that Cinder had taken oh so much of an interest in. He was locking blades with Neo's umbrella and sending fire everywhere. And of course, as the taxi came to a screeching halt, the little kitty kat that caused him such trouble in the first place came racing out of it. "Oh, not again…"
He slammed on the gas and sped away, or as fast as a truck carrying a heavy load could do.
~RWBYZ~
Blake sprinted out of the taxi and leapt onto the back of the truck where Zuko was busy fighting with a short yet extremely agile woman. Zuko's blades were working overtime to parry away her relentless speed as she stabbed at him. The end of her umbrella had a thin blade poking out that had already found its way to jab at his aura several times.
As Blake raised Gambol Shroud, the woman abruptly pivoted and struck at her instead. In spite of being surrounded on both sides, she was ducking and weaving with no issue and striking out with her blade at the same time. It was manageable though. Their skill on the defence kept them from taking further damage, and the mix of attacks kept the woman her from being able to move.
Sadly for the duo, a swerve of the truck gave the woman the break to leap out from between them and towards the front cab. She rapped a fist against the metal and Torchwick poked his head out.
"Neo I can't lend a hand, I have to drive the damn truck! Hurry up and deal with them!"
Neo rolled her eyes, but grinned as she pointed the blade of her umbrella towards them.
She was waiting, letting them make their first move. It was insulting, and oh so painfully familiar to Zuko. Why oh why did this world hold so many annoying little acrobats that reminded him of the Avatar.
"Blake, we need to keep her pinned."
"On it." She shifted her weapon from sword to gun and began opening fire. Neo of course began to dodge and weave, only to be met with plumes of fire blocking her off from going around. The bullets went through the back window of the cab, angry swears coming from inside as Torchwick tried to avoid the gunfire despite being rooted to his seat.
Neo's eyes narrowed, and she suddenly burst apart as one of Blakes bullets shattered her form into pieces. Zuko froze in shock, and then was immediately kicked in the side of the head. Using her distraction, she had swung around the mech and was pressing her attack yet again, this time making sure to focus on them one at a time.
With Zuko in the line of fire, Blake couldn't shoot, and instead was forced to leap into action as well. It went poorly. As Zuko was busy being kicked around, Neo promptly put him in between her and Blake. With little room to manoeuvre, Blake was left stuck on the outside as Zuko fought on his own. Small bursts of fire had Blake leaping backwards, and suddenly Neo was on her as well.
Blake's shadows didn't faze Neo at all as she blitzed through each of them. As Zuko tried to assist however, the two of them were too close together for him to fight without risking hitting Blake as well. He hesitated, unsure of how to help, before Blake was abruptly kicked off the truck.
He watched her soar, only to suddenly stop as she landed on a glyph that had appeared flying alongside the truck.
"White Rose!"
Ruby's voice squealed the order, as Zuko turned to see that Ruby and Weiss had managed to catch up to the truck somewhat literally. Weiss was using her speed glyphs to sprint alongside whilst Ruby was flying as a cloud of rose petals on the other side of the truck. The two rocketed onto the rear, and slammed into Neo, one going high and the other going low. Neo was sent into a spin that Zuko found all too satisfying to see, landing with a stumble that ended with her flat on her butt.
Four members of Team RWBYZ surrounded the prone woman, who sneered angrily at them. She banged a fist down onto the truck, and then Torchwick suddenly began to swerve. Not just once, but repeatedly, jerking from one way to the other and back again. Weiss froze herself in place, but she was the only one to keep her balance as the others were tossed from side to side.
Neo leapt up and at them again, stabbing and knocking them off the back of the truck where she could. To the woman's annoyance, any person who was knocked off only landed on a glowing glyph courtesy of Weiss. Neo turned her attention to the heiress, and dove towards her as she was focused on a glyph for Blake. Zuko intercepted at the last minute, locking blades before sweeping his legs to create plumes of fire that forced her back.
It was the last chance he had for doing it however, as Neo immediately began to entangle herself with Ruby. Ruby was exceptionally vulnerable to Neo's attacks, her large weapon too unwieldy to use without space for movement. So instead, she leapt off the truck voluntarily. With Crescent Rose in sniper form, she fired a shot towards the ground and launched herself high up into the air, raining down gunfire from above at Neo.
"There's no room to fight here!" Blake complained, joining in with shots of her own.
An idea crossed Zuko's mind. "Blake, into the cabin!"
He moved to the edge of the truck and Blake ran past him, jumping off the side with the ribbon in Zuko's hands. He swung her around and into the front of the cabin, smashing through the passenger side window and feet first into Torchwick.
There was another jarring swerve that had the truck scraping along the barrier of the freeway. Sparks flew up into people's faces as Blake and Torchwick wrestled with each other for controls.
"Let go of the damn wheel kitty cat! You're gonna kill us both!"
Instead, Blake hit him again. Without proper room to fight or use her weapon, Blake had resorted to repeatedly punching him in the face. When that didn't work, she leaned back and kicked him instead. Despite his shouts of pain and anger, she didn't relent until she saw something up ahead.
Yang raced around the corner on Bumblebee before screeching to a halt. Off the motorbike, she ran to meet the truck head on as her hair began to glow.
"Everybody off!" Blake cried as she leapt out of the window. Zuko saw what was about to happen and tackled Weiss off the back of the truck. Wrapping himself around her to absorb the damage as they hit the ground and tumbled. From up in the air, Ruby got a perfect view as Yang activated her semblance and punched the truck as it hit her.
The vehicle collapsed upon itself. Yang became an immovable force against a very stoppable object, as the truck crumpled under Yang's empowered strength. The mech in the back snapped free from its restraints and smashed into the front of the truck, flipping the truck up and over Yang in a squashed mess of metal and glass debris.
The wreckage bounced along the concrete and tore up the ground before sliding to a halt with an ear-piercing screech.
Ruby fired off another shot to slow her descent, before landing softly and safely in awe of the carnage. Blake had dived clear of the damage and dusted herself off from the landing roll she'd performed in her escape. Zuko groaned as he rolled off Weiss, holding out a hand to help her to her feet.
"Are you okay?" She looked relatively unharmed compared to him, who was wincing even as he stood.
"I'm fine. Thank you." She blushed slightly and dusted his shoulders, wiping away some shards of glass and dirt he'd managed to pick up.
"I'm fine too guys, thanks for asking." Yang grinned as she rolled her neck and cracked her knuckles.
"Yang, did you have to make such a mess? You could have hit us."
"What can I say Blake, a girls gotta make an entrance." She beamed with unabashed pride as she beheld the destruction she'd wrought. "I think this might be a new record for biggest thing I've smashed."
"Dad hates that record Yang."
"Oh please, Dad's not here."
"Uh, I think he'll know." Blake pointed over at the flashing lights that were racing towards them, as well as the aircraft flying in the sky with news reporter logos plastered on their sides.
"Oh… oh no."
"We have a bigger problem." Zuko called out from near the wreck. "They're not here."
"WHAT!?"
~RWBYZ~
Roman and Neo both supported one another as they limped down the alleyway, hobbling as fast as they could away from the closing sirens. Both were a mess. Neo may have been fighting longer, but Roman had been sandwiched between a glowing girls punch that had stopped a moving truck, and an Atlesian Robot smashing into him from behind.
Needless to say, his clothes were ruined. There was a beeping on his scroll and he pulled it out, the cracked and glitching screen showing the words 'Big Bitch' alongside a picture of Cinder. He looked at it, and promptly rejected the call.
"Nope… No way." He limped along with a moan. "Not dealing with that right now. We're going back home, getting some ice packs, some whiskey for me and ice cream for you."
Neo poked him in the side, something that hurt far more than it should have. "Okay okay. Alcohol for you too. Or what, you want rum and raisin? Whatever you want, it's in stock and you can have it. I'm going to get drunk, and just sleep this night off."