RWBY Ship One shots

Team Metal Appendages (Gauntlets 'N Greaves)

Post Salem defeat

Summary- Mercury Black is taken prisoner after the defeat of Salem, but that doesn't stop him from having a conversation with Yang Xiao Long about metal appendages.

The ride in the Bullhead was relatively silent before Mercury Black grabbed Yang Xiao Long's prosthetic  arm.

"You know, I didn't notice it but now that I have a better look at it," He said while Yang blinked and got everyone's attention. Emerald Sustrai facepalmed in the corner. "The craftsmanship on this is amazing. State of the art, right?"

Yang blinked owlishly before smiling slightly. "Yeah. It was a personal gift from Ironwood as an apology from what happened at the Vytal Festival." she said, "you know, accusing me of crippling you."

Mercury snorted. "I put a good performance didn't I?" he asked in a bittersweet tone. He glanced back at the arm. "Classy stuff," he commented and noticed a button on her forearm. "What does this do?" he asked as he pressed a button and a grenade shot out of Yang's arm and landed in the middle of the Bullhead.

Jaune picked it up and tossed it out the door in a casual pace. Apparently this had happened a lot. Probably from the Valkyrie girl. She uses grenades still right?

"That's the grenade launcher," Yang remarked a false snappy tone as she closed the port.

"It was my idea!" Nora said proudly. Of course it was, Mercury thought. "I designed it!" Ruby Rose added pridefully.

"Cool," Mercury remarked. "Better than mine." He raised his leg and knocked on it with his knuckles.  "Though mine's all business, no style." He glanced at Emerald's direction briefly.

"Though I didn't have the luxury of having a team design it." He said. Emerald winced and looked at him apologetically.

"Well, I had a hand in upgrading mine," Yang winked and gave a finger gun to him. Everyone else groaned or rolled their eyes but Mercury actually chuckled in amusement.

Yang leaned back and looked at her arm. "It's hard to act normal after you experience something like this, isn't it?"

The silver-haired boy nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, I remember that," he said. "When I first joined Cinder and Emerald and I took them off for the first time, I felt so. . . helpless. I hated feeling like that and rarely took them off."

"I can agree with that," Yang stated as she herself rarely took off her arm. "Who built your legs?" she asked out mild curiosity.

Before the assassin could answer, Ruby sped over and appeared in front of him. "They look awesome! Are they guns or are you wearing shotguns on your greaves?" she asked excitedly before Oscar Pine and Weiss Schnee pulled her back.

"Please excuse her enthusiasm," Oscar said. "The dolt is a bit of a weapon's nut." Weiss added.

Mercury waved them off. "I knew that already," he said dismissively. "I've built them myself. And yeah, they're guns. Most of the legs are used for storing ammo."

Yang leaned in close. "Is it okay if I ask about the prosthetics?" she asked, "Like how do you do maintenance on them? And how was it when you first got them?" she paused at how personal the last question was. "Sorry if that's too much."

"Nah, it's fine. I'm happy to help a fellow amputee," Mercury dismissed. "Shit was terrifying when I first got them, but it had to be done." he sighed.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say my legs got really damaged to the point Aura couldn't heal them completely." Mercury replied looking at the ground bitterly.

The blonde turned to glance at Emerald who shook her head to not ask.

"They do ache sometimes," Mercury admitted. Yang looked at him surprised. "You too?!" she exclaimed before she pointed to Ruby, "I told you I wasn't the only one." She turned back to Mercury. "Hey, do you get creaky joints in the cold?"

"All the time," Mercury replied.

"How do you deal with?" she asked. "Stop using Schnee's brand of lubricant in cold weather," he replied. "It's meant for use in Vale and Menagerie. Places like that."

A metaphorical lightbulb popped above Mercury's head and he reached into his pocket and gave Yang a card. "Here, contact my supplier if you ever get back to Mistral." he said. "Tell them Mercury Black sent you and they'll give you a good deal."

The ride went back to silence before Mercury spoke again. "Do you get in trouble when you do maintenance? Because I get that a lot," he glanced at Emerald.

"Uhg, Yes! Weiss is the worst." Yang groaned.

"HEY!" Weiss said indignantly but the two ignored her while the rest of their friends snickered. "Apparently I make "too much noise" or my lamp is 'too bright,'" Yang held her hands, making quotations with her fingers.

The former SDC heiress crossed her arms and huffed. "It's the truth you brute."

"Gods damn princess," Both Mercury and Yang muttered in unison. The former sounding playful while the latter was exasperated.

"Hey, kids." Maria Calavera called from the front in the cockpit. "Sorry to cut in but we got some Grimm coming up."

"Alright then." Ruby stood up with an eager grin. "Lock and load guys."

"You do know some of us don't have guns right?" Oscar asked getting Ruby to stutter.

"Hey, mind if I tag along?" Mercury asked Yang as she stood up. The blonde brawler looked down at him for a moment before grinning with a shrug. "The more the merrier." she said and unlocked Mercury's handcuffs.

Mercury rubbed his wrists before he saw Emerald standing in front of him. The green haired woman held her hand out to him.

His gray eyes glanced at her eyes and her hand before he reached his hand up and grabbed her hand and stood up with a small grin on his lips.

With that, the door opened up and they all jumped into battle.