Strange Ones: Volume 3

Delta Heroes Academy

"Why would I show you my arm?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Before I left, Justin told me that some jock told him that you had a metal arm because you lost it on Strange Island while trying to help Delta fight the Dark Ones. He also wants me to take a picture of it so he can see that it was not some dumb rumor."

"Dumb rumor?" She repeated. "Why would it be a dumb rumor?"

"Come on, Als!" Ren said. "Just show her the arm!

"Okay. Okay."

After everyone stopped walking, Alex started to talk off her red jacket. Meanwhile, Carly reached into her pants pockets for her cell phone. After she grabbed her phone, Alex had already taken her jacket off to reveal her right arm, which was covered with a long white glove. As soon as Carly readied the camera on her cell phone, Alex grabbed the fingers of her glove and carefully slipped it off to reveal her metal arm. Carly gasped at the sight of it before she finally took the picture of her and her arm. Meanwhile, a car came to a stop and a voice was heard from within it.

"I'm just going to pretend that what is happening right in front of me is not the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

The group flinched and turned around to see a silver car behind them. Inside the car was Qrow Branwen, a crow Morpher who is the uncle of half-sisters Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. The man had a raised eyebrow on his face.

"Hey, Qrow." Michael awkwardly said with a wave. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you guys that question." Qrow replied.

"Oh!" Alex slipped the glove back onto her arm. "Well, we were just taking our friend, Carly, to the school because she wanted to see that place for the school newspaper."

"What about you?" Jonas asked.

"Toriel called me over because some group of executives are coming to have a tour of the school today." Qrow answered. "I only stopped because I saw you guys."

"We took a bus here." Clarissa crossed her arms.

"Sometimes, a bus is not enough to take you anywhere." He pointed his thumb behind himself. "Everyone, get in the car."

After the group got into Qrow's car, he started driving them to the academy. Soon enough, they have finally arrived at their destination. From the beginning, the school started off as a factory that has been destroyed by a fire. But then, construction workers, human and Strange One, started rebuilding the factory as the Delta Heroes Academy everyone soul in Camena knows today. 

Right now, the group was standing in front of a humongous building that was painted white and the Delta Rune symbol was on the front of the tallest part of it. The windows resembled mirrors on the outside. Students in white and purple uniforms, each ranging from eleven to fifteen, were walking around the concrete campus, some by themselves or in groups. Some were humans, others were Strange Ones. As the group walked by students with Qrow by their side, Carly started taking photos of students with a camera she had brought.

"Since all of us are here," Qrow said, getting attention from the others. "I should go to Toriel's office and meet her there."

"You know where to go, right?" Alex asked.

"Of course. I know exactly where to go."

The group of humans watched as Qrow walked away from the group, disappearing in the sea of students that were roaming the campus. The group felt quiet despite hearing the sound of clicking from Carly's camera. That is until they heard voices from far away.

"Hey, you guys!" One voice shouted. "Over here!"

"Hey! Look this way!" Another yelled.

The humans turned their heads to the right. Far away, they were seeing the faces of red-caped Aero Ruby Rose and her older half-sister, blonde Lifter Yang Xiao Long. Both of them were waving at the group, making them approach the sisters. As soon as they got closer, Ruby suddenly noticed Carly.

"Um, who's your friend?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby, Yang," Alex put a hand on Carly's shoulder. "This is Carly. She is our dear friend from high school who wanted to come here and look around the place for the school newspaper."

"Hi." Carly said with a small wave of her hand.

"Oh, yeah!" Ruby exclaimed. "Ren told us about you before! It's a pleasure to finally meet you!"

"Did he?"

"I did." Ren said with a shrug. "So, how are things going around here?"

"Things were going alright." Yang said. "Well, having the role of teacher's assistant is hard, but it's working out for both of us."

"Also, I have a favorite student in Dad's hand-in-hand combat class." Ruby said. "Her name's Robin!"

Carly gasped. "That's a great place to start my research! Can you girls take me there?"

"Sure!" Ruby and Yang nodded.

After the group was brought into the school, Ruby and Yang guided them through the bottom floor, which is the Physical Combat Floor. The humans were taken to the hand-in-hand combat class, which was being taught by Ruby and Yang's father, Taiyang Xiao Long. When they all went in, the humans jumped from the moment they saw a boy about twelve being slammed onto the purple mat by a girl with light brown hair and orange eyes. Each student was wearing a white shirt with the Delta Rune and purple shorts. The other students, who were sitting on bleachers, clapped and so did Taiyang, who was standing in the corner of the room.

"Good job, Robin." Taiyang said after he stopped clapping. "You keep getting better every single day."

Grinning, Yang knocked on the door. As a result, she got attention from Taiyang and the other students. Everything was silent before one the students stood up from the bleachers.

"Hey! It's them!" That student exclaimed, pointing to five of the humans. 

Soon, all of the students got up from the bleachers. Some of them were cheering, waving their arms or jumping up and down to get their attention. Suddenly, Taiyang blew his whistle and the students became quiet. Taiyang turned to his daughters and the humans before he noticed Carly. So, Alex stepped up and cleared her throat.

"Tai, everyone," Alex made a gesture to Carly. "This is our friend, Carly. She will be researching this school for the Newspaper Club at her high school."

"Hi, everyone." Carly waved before she turned to Taiyang. "Hello there. Oh, where to begin? I have come to ask some questions about this school. You wouldn't know where to find the right person to ask, would you?"

"Of course!" Taiyang put on a grin. "There's the headmaster, Toriel Dreemurr. She's on the top floor of the school."

"I'll take you to her office if you don't mind." Ruby said.

"Okay." Carly nodded. "Lead the way."

"Hey, sis." The caped-girl looked at Yang. "You would be okay without me here, would you?"

"Pfft. Nah." Yang said, putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I'll be okay."

"Great! Let's go!" Ruby grabbed Carly's wrist and ran out of the room with her.

Before the rest of the humans could follow, one of the students jumped off the bleachers and ran to Alex. Once he looked up at her, he pulled out a spiral notebook and a pen asking, "Can I have your autograph?"

Alex grinned. Going on one knee, she took the pen from the boy before writing her name on the front of the notebook. After she was done signing, she stood back up and waved at the other students, causing all of them to cheer and jump again.