51 Operation Citadel

Forever Fall was bathed in the red light of dusk, the motionless and resting Hanns sat nearby. He fell asleep while waiting for team RWBY to come down from Beacon. Torchwick had already arrived half an hour ago.

Torchwick flicks up his bowler hat and groans profusely. He stretched his back and yawned after his short nap, he started to get off the branch he slept on and landed on the ground.

With a tap of his cane, he gently wakens the resting Hanns nearby. "When are those brats going to arrive?! They've never been this late to your operations, Lunchbox."

Neo appears nearby as she groggily opens her eyes and rubs them. Sleeping on the floor was never good, but at this point, they had nothing to do while waiting for team RWBY to arrive.

Hanns entirely comes back to consciousness and felt the cane tapping his side armor.

"Well, good timing that they're arriving just now."

In the treelines were the four members of team RWBY who was still acting as if they weren't late for almost an hour from the agreed-upon meeting time.

"Alright, now that we're all here I can convene our second operation against Cinder." Torchwick takes his scroll and taps it. Looking through the notes that he listed down after his interrogation with Hei Xiong.

"Let's get straight to the point so we don't waste any more time. Cinder plans on making a breach on Vale and infiltrating Beacon. I couldn't get more out but it looks like Hei was not informed of more."

Hanns already expected this since he had watched the show. Though team RWBY were feeling their skin creep up as they heard the news.

"Infiltrate Beacon? But why?"

Hanns looked at the rest of the team digesting the information with mixed emotions. Most of those who were already in Beacon looked with horror which Hanns noticed.

"Torchwick, did Hei tell you who were supposed to infiltrate Beacon?"

Torchwick swipes at the device he had opened and skimmed through the contents. "Not directly but Hei thinks it's the two teens that were always accompanying her. Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, and one of the twins were going to be foreign exchange students."

"Mercury is the one with grey hair and eyes, Marcus Black's son if I recall. Emerald is some street rat I don't recognize but Hei described her with brown skin and green hair and red eyes."

Torchwick hands out sketches he had made to let team RWBY know who they were looking for. Hanns checked the sketches and was impressed.

"I never knew you drew that good, Torchiwick."

Torchwick smiles, "Get used to me being good, Lunchbox. I saw one of my police sketches and it was horrible back when I was still a small-time thief. Decided to make one that's better for my image but they still used the old ones. I still resent that police officer to this day."

Ruby takes the two pieces of paper detailing the faces of Mercury and Emerald. "Hey! I recognize these two! They were in Vale when we tested out our own tank!"

Weiss peeks over her shoulder and squints as she too remembers the two faces. "So, these are the two we need to catch" she looks toward Hanns.

"Yes, preferably without Ozpin interfering at all."

"How did they get accepted? I doubt Ozpin would overlook something like this." Blake questions.

To everyone's surprise, it was Torchwick who replied instead of Hanns. "Either Ozpin is more incompetent than I thought, or Leonardo Lionheart is in on it."

Ruby had some doubts about Torchwick's suggestion. "How'd you come to that solution? Maybe they're just that good in infiltration."

"Red, two are criminals you could easily look up if you were a headmaster of a huntsman academy. Marcus Black was infamous in the underworld, his son was already known in specific circles. Someone like a headmaster would be listening closely to that kind of information. The twins are the same."

"Cinder would barely pass as being a teenager, I don't think she'd be the kind of student you would expect to be normal. Emerald would only be the one who could fit in as a student without too much suspicion."

"Why would anyone do this." Ruby clutches the sketches.

Torchwick takes a deep breath, "Lunchbox probably knows why." he points to Hanns.

They all knew who they were talking about. Ever since Hanns had revealed somewhat the existence of a higher authority to Cinder, they all could guess what kind of motivation Cinder would have.

"What else?" Hanns inquires more.

"Right, there are going to be fleets of bullheads relocating to the south." Torchwick lifts his scroll and opens a map of Vale. He pointed to the south, where it showed the image of Mountain Glenn.

"Cinder has a tight deadline, which is why Hei was pressured into personally attending robberies and a more dangerous but profitable job. We don't know for sure if Cinder is going to board what specific bullhead."

Hanns nods his gun in understanding.

'So we need for them to transport everything to Mountain Glenn to take them all out at once. We know that they plan on infiltrating Beacon and Cinder is in a rush. It's a bit of a risk but splitting ourselves up to deal with each problem separately would be fine.'

"Alright, we know where to go, who to target, and when we will strike."

"Team RWBY, see to it that when Emerald and Mercury arrive, they will discreetly disappear. I trust you can do that in your own school. Torchwick, Neo, and I will wait for Cinder at Mountain Glenn tomorrow to give Cinder enough time to move everything in there."

They all nod their heads in agreement, it was a decent plan of action but they digressed. It was hard to pin down exactly where Cinder would be but based on the information Torchwick got out of Hei Xiong but it was a plan they could hold on to.

'Hmm, though I still want some more preparations in place before we do strike at Cinder.'

"Hold on, I may have something more. Ruby, you will come along with Torchwick and me to collaborate on something important. While Neo will arrive in Mountain Glenn in the city itself, she should make it possible to confirm Cinder's presence with her semblance."

Hanns looked around the group to see them accept his decision, only to see Merlot standing among the crowd of team members.

"Why is he still here?" He points his barrel toward the out-of-place mad scientist listening in closely to the conversation.

Neo raises her parasol and starts unsheathing her blade.

Merlot extends his hands in submission. "Hold on! Let me work with you!"

Hanns looked at the crazed man looking at him with a glow in his cybernetic eye. Merlot smiles, confident that Hanns would want his genius in order to help Hanns. It was going to be a benefit, he thought, Merlot wanted to work on the next superior being and Hanns would appreciate his help.

"Kill him." Hanns bluntly said.

Neo begins to let out the blade and thrusts the tip into the Merlot's back. "Nonono- wait! I know you want to use that generator! I can create one that would fit you perfectly!"

Hanns considered the offer but denies it anyway, "Ruby could do that."

Merlot gets insulted at being compared to a little girl that was more cookie and milk than his self-proclaimed mega genius. He turned to the girl in question, ignoring the pain of a blade digging into his skin.

"What?! No, she can not! I'll finish the designs before this little girl even finishes planning it!" he declares.

Ruby in turn feels like she was also insulted by Merlot's sudden aggression toward her. "Is that a challenge?"

Merlot scoffs. "It wouldn't be one when you're involved."

Ruby narrows her eyes, "You're on! Hanns, pleeeease let this old fart in on the plan."

Hanns saw the undying fire of enthusiasm in Ruby's expression. Knowing fully well, that no one could stop her from making a weapon or new tech. "You know what?... Fine. Torchwick, if he does anything weird cave his head in."

"With pleasure."

Blake raises her hand, "Hanns, who is this anyway?". Hanns realizes that nobody even heard Merlot's name being called out. Instead of Hanns answering the question, Merlot interrupts by waving around his hands in his own unrestrained monologuing.

"I thought you'd never ask! Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Doctor Merlot the founder of Merlot Industries! I was once a believer in grimm but now thanks to my eyes being opened, I was wrong in my ways because the true answer is in him!"

Blake's cat ears twitch in recognition. "Merlot industries? The one that fell in Mountain Glenn?"

"The same one! I missed how many experiments I'd done in that old lab but that was now in the past since I have moved on to bigger things."

"You… were the one that caused it to collapse… didn't you?" Blake pieced together his statements on experimentation and grimm.

Merlot laughs. "No, I already saw the signs, I merely accelerated the natural process."

Weiss lowers her head and crosses her arms. "Great, we have a criminal and a mentally compromised psychopath on our team. Now we have a mass murderer as well, how wonderful."

Hanns waves off their concerns. "Alright enough on that, we are going to somewhere secluded. Torchwick and I will be the ones obtaining the materials needed while you work on something."

Ruby looks with curiosity. "What are we going to make? I forgot to ask a while ago."

Hanns grins from within, "Apart from the shield that you guys want to build, let's just say it's a present for Cinder."

The team closes, listening in for what Hanns had in mind.

"We are going to make gas bombs."

Weiss draws back in mild shock. "Isn't that a bit much?"

"Don't worry, it's only gas that will paralyze. I got the idea when I raided an island a while ago."

Ruby felt her mouth frown at what they were going to make. "I don't think I know anything about chemistry."

Merlot chuckles. "Hah! See? Little red can't even make something simple as that!"

Ruby clenches her fist and stomps her foot on the ground at the taunting. "Why you! Hanns, Let me make it! Not just paralyzing… I'll- I'll- I'll...make it corrosive! No! I'll make it suppress aura too!"

"Ruby… are you suggesting we start violating the Geneva Conventions?"

Ruby looked confused. "Geneva what now?"

'Do they not have something similar in Remnant yet? I mean they did have a war but nothing in RWBY can compare to what we had on earth.'

"Well maybe leave out the other stuff for now, though... do you realize that we're using these on people. I don't think you'd want them to experience whatever you plan on putting."

Ruby lowers her shoulders, she deflates under the realization. "Oh- oh…"

Hanns saw her sad look and tried to alleviate her sudden unhappiness. "Well uh… at the end of the day, they are still weapons and are aimed at enemy combatants… so cheer up?"

Hanns didn't see a change in her feelings. "Paralyzing bombs it is."

Blake spoke up from the side. "Are we going to name this operation too?"

Hanns thought about it and guessed what kind of name they would take inspiration from. "I have a feeling you already have one in mind, right?"

Ruby recovers from her dismay and raises her hand. "Oh, let's call this one… Operation Citadel!"

'I knew it. I wonder if that's just a passive effect from my system. I'll have to ask the moderator later on if it becomes a problem.'

"Okay, now that we all know what we're going to do, get some sleep. Rest your nerves, it'll be important to relax about what we do for the next few days. We need everyone in top shape until we finish Cinder off."