It has been a week since Hanns, Torchwick, and Neo had created their new uneasy alliance with each other. With nothing to do and a few more days of laying low, Torchwick killed time by helping out and assisting Hanns with killing grimm.
Neo was all too eager to help out and whenever Hanns allowed her to, He gave him control over the gun. Hanns was still worried that the two were going to bail on him so he still kept his guard up while they fought.
They were getting used to each other's company over time but Torchwick's loyalty was still put into question.Hanns needed a show of force to topple whoever he was scared of to make him trust and fear Hanns completely.
It was long and difficult but he had almost cleared the above ground. He had gone through days of constant grinding. All the while making RP tick up in number, he was close to being airborne.
Hanns looked at his balance, through the morning until night he had been powering through his mental exhaustion by sheer determination alone. He needed to reach 1 million RP fast so he worked hard to grind out as much as he could mentally handle.
The dust he used was also dwindling, the fight with the merged taijitu took out a lot of dust. He also had met some mutant deathstalkers that needed to get hit with dust round to kill so he needed a refill.
Goliaths also sprung up here and there, usually in smaller numbers now that Neo had basically killed an entire column of them last time. They were worth it though since it sped up Hanns' acquisition of SL and RP.
SL = 2, 583,021 → 5,168,291 SL
VEHICLE RP = 741, 738 → 999,544 RP
CONVERTIBLE RP = 752,192 → 978,423 RP
The two death stalkers in front of Hanns were now eyeing the group. Their stinger glinted as they prepared to fight. They had been plowed their way through a bunch of grimm before coming across the deathstalkers which Hanns hoped was enough to finally unlock aircrafts.
Neo and Torchwick were by his side casually leaning on Hanns while Hanns thought of how to deal with the heavily armored grimm.
"So Lunchbox, you want to take the last hit again?"
Hanns had made Neo and Torchwick not kill the grimm if they could help it. He needed the last hit to get the SL and RP. It was going to be his final kill to reach the first bi-plane in the German tree.
He could use other planes, though Hanns wants to focus on one tree at a time.
"Of course, Roman."
In response, Torchwick and Neo go for the deathstalkers while Hanns awaits their signals. Deathstalkers were harder to kill for Hanns since he needed a window of opportunity to hit it at a better angle or find the chance to sneak in an HE shell underneath it.
Torchwick sends flare shots towards the grimm which it shrugs off and responds by striking with its claws. Torchwick dodges over it while discharging the handle of his cane to wrap around one of its claws.
The deathstalker wrestles control by trying to go backward as Torchwick does his best to wrangle the deathstalker. The tug of war makes the deathstalker stay still for a few precious seconds. He turns to Hanns and yells.
"Take the shot!"
Hanns immediately aims for the deathstalker to be kept still by Torchwick. He aims at the side of the deathstalker and fires. The shot goes through its non-angled side and dies right then and there as Torchwick dusts himself off from the fight.
Neo meanwhile kept using her semblance to constantly trick her opposing deathstalker. The deathstalker tries to skewer Neo with its stinger before the illusion shatters and Neo jumps towards the tail and stabs it with her hidden blade.
The deathstalker wails in pain as Neo recognizes the opportunity and signals Hanns to take the shot at the distracted deathstalker.
The shot impacts the deathstalker and kills it instantly.
'Yes!'
SL = 5,168,291 → 5,194,203 SL
VEHICLE RP = 999,544 → 1,004,532 RP
CONVERTIBLE RP = 978,423 → 982,192 RP
Maniacal laughter once again takes over the inner thoughts of Hanns as he could now finally enter the air and control the skies.
Hanns went for his tech tree and took a look at that old message he had seen ever since the beginning of the game. The one thing that taunted him all this time was when he was traveling on tracks.
[Aviation Tree: Locked]
[Pay 1,000,000 SL and RP to unlock]
[Notice: Purchase?]
He confirmed the purchase and shed a single imaginary tear at the sight of his RP dropping down to negligible numbers.
SL = 5,194,203 → 4,194,203 SL
VEHICLE RP = 1,004,532 → 4,532 RP
Hanns took a look at the new He 51 A-1 received from the aviation tree and stared at it for a solid few seconds. Looking through the horrible stats for a plane and the munitions it had. All of it was terrible compared to WWII-era planes but it didn't matter. Hanns could fly and he wasn't going to complain anymore.
'God it looks so ugly but so beautiful at the same time.'
Taking notice of a straight road, he guessed that it could work as a way to land and take off if he was careful enough at flying. It was a highway that connected to the street they fought in. It was clear enough that he could have enough space to land or take off in it.
He couldn't stop feeling excited when a sudden knock made him stop. He turns around to see both Neo and Torchwick nearby, who were the ones the banged on his armor.
"Lunchbox. What is this?"
When the bodies of the deathstalkers decayed, Torchwick spotted something shiny where the body once was. He slowly strolled up to it before seeing a strange metal-like object with a silver lion etched on the corner with a "15%" right in the center.
'Is that a booster?!' Hanns reacted.
Hanns rechecked the notifications for anything and saw the message that he missed because he was too focused on the plane he got.
[Booster Drops]
It was another reward that greatly benefitted Hanns. A booster usually is given to the player after logging in. There was a distinct lack of that when Hanns came to this world. The store had them but he didn't have any currency for the shop so he ignored the store altogether.
"Hand it over to me."
Torchwick raises an eyebrow.
"How exactly?"
Hanns starts to speak before Neo just grabs the thing on Torchwick's hand and climbs up the turret. Hanns opens the hatch for her and she tosses it inside.
Hanns checked his inventory and lo and behold the booster was there sitting in one of the boxes that his inventory had. He could more efficiently farm by using boosters when fighting a large boss grimm, like what the moderator dropped on him.
He could use it when defeating Salem or taking a trip to Atlas. The SL and RP alone could let him finish an entire tree if he times using the booster right.
It was a lot to deal with at the moment but he needed to focus on the bi-plane he just received.
'I'll deal with that later, for now, let's test this out.'
Neo drags Torchwick away from Hanns and stands nearby on the sidewalk. Torchwick questioned the sudden relocation but Neo only smiles in return and pointed at Hanns.
Hanns' armor shrank before forming itself into wings, the thick armor that Hanns had was formed into a bi-plane right in front of the now stunned Torchwick.
'Oh, did he not see me transform yet?'
Hanns tested out the controls and thought to himself if he could transform while in mid-air.
'If I was out of combat could I technically transform in the air?' Hanns pondered.
He needed more info on the specifics but if he could then it would be very good. Bombers were slow but if he could be out of combat and transform into a fighter first, then the problem of being slow would be neutered by the existence of changing vehicle mid-air.
There were many ways he could exploit this if it were ever to be proven but for now, Hanns needed to get to the air.
Torchwick tried to ask Neo if she knew.
"Neo…" Torchwick spoke up only for Neo's finger to silence what he was about to say. She wanders over to the cockpit of the plane and goes in. Torchwick recovers from the shock and stares at the newly formed airplane.
Seeing the situation, Torchwick could only assume that Hanns had achieved his goal by getting the plane. He was ready to leave and Torchwcik couldn't help but confirm his exit from Mountain Glenn.
"So you leaving, Lunchbox?" He asks.
Hanns was done with the airplane, he had no problem returning back to Vale to see how Blake was doing with her friends. He didn't intend to find the final crew member here in Mountain Glenn of all places so now he had a full crew to work with.
"I've got a trip towards Vale," Hanns replies.
Torchwick considered the prospect of Neo leaving him alone in Mountain Glenn. The entirety of the upper area was already cleared of grimm. He still needed a few days to cool down the heat from leaving Cinder.
There was going to be a very small chance that Torchwick would be in danger. Neo on the other hand was risking meeting with Cinder. Still, she could disguise herself unlike him who was pretty well known throughout Vale.
'She can handle it, besides Lunchbox can take care of her when she does get spotted.' Torchwick determined.
"Neo, make sure you don't get the attention of Cinder. It's not like I can stop you from going with Lunchbox anyways." Torchwick gives off a wave as a goodbye to Neo who waved back.
Hanns could begin to take off. He felt the engine turning on and the propellers spinning around. The entire plane starts to move forward, slowly moving in the wide open street. The propellers get louder and louder as the whole plane starts to pick up speed.
Hanns starts to feel getring lifted up into the air, relishing the feeling it gave when the wind rushed around him. He went airborne and got off into the atmospher as the altitude went higher and higher. He eventually, after a few minutes, had done it.
He had the skies in his grasp.
'Time to send a message to Blake.'
Hanns had a good assumption on what part of canon he should be at. He made Blake speed up the whole reconciliation story with her team and so they were also done with their trip to Forever Fall.
Hanns didn't know if Jaune would still have his moment because Hanns basically executed every living grimm in the area. Though he could finally move into the canon properly. Qrow would return with a message for Ozpin in the coming days while Cinder was going to be more active.
The lack of a Torchwick and the early involvement in team RWBY in unknowingly foiling her schemes would make her directly participate in her own plans earlier, Hanns predicted.
He got enough firepower behind his Tiger H1 but that doesn't stop him from discovering more of his untapped potential in the form of his other features that he hadn't explored yet.
It was time to get a crew.