The Iron Knight
Somewhat of a crossover, but more a crossover of ideas than anything else, so its not going in the crossover section. Also, it's a little bit AU. Don't own any rights to Marvel or RWBY. Know that 'bad home life' is a bit of a Jaune cliché, but it opens up writing opportunities.
xxxx
"Sir, it's happened again."
"Again?! That's the third time this week."
"Leaving the device turned on overnight tends to result in 'it,' sir."
"Do I detect a hint of sass?"
"Of course not sir, merely observation."
"Right, well, where is it this time?"
"Just on the edge of-"
"The desk where I just knocked something into it. Damn. What did I just toss into the anomaly?"
"A flash drive sir."
"What was on it?"
"It contained the updated plans for the Mk XIII sir."
"Phew, that's no big loss then, I never would have used that design myself, plus it's all up here."
"Of course it is sir."
"You know, I swear I never programmed such a high level of sarcasm…"
xxxx
(South-East of Vale, a walled coastal town named Inspire.)
"Ow."
Jaune Arc looked down at the thing that had just bounced off his head. The fourteen year old blond looked at his bedroom ceiling, then back at the odd little device. There was nothing on his ceiling, begging the question of where the thing had come from.
Shrugging away the anomaly, Jaune turned his bedside lamp on to better inspect the object than by the light of his videogame.
It looked a little like a Scroll Card, or SC for short, the storage device for the all purpose mobile tool, though it was a little blockier and had a different connection than the SC.
Considering that, as far as he knew, all tech was standardised so most anything could work with anything, the appearance of a device that apparently wasn't and therefore didn't was rather odd.
Jaune was a teenager defined by an ambition, the desire to be a Huntsman. There were… obstacles, however, to reaching that goal.
Without guidance, he found himself pouring his focus into random things. The things he wanted to focus on were, unfortunately, out of his reach, such as physical training, lessons on Grimm, Aura and Dust usage for combat, as well as combat school enrolment.
Therefore, when an odd electronic device dropped in his lap, a spark of curiosity, fuelled by simmering frustration and desperation as deadlines drew ever closer for his desired life career, enveloped Jaune Arc.
Thankfully, he already knew a bit about electronics and tech, it came with being somewhat of an avid gamer and feeling highly restricted in life. When stuck indoors, it was fun to tinker with his scroll settings, and then with its insides, and so on.
So, Jaune opened his cupboard and retrieved his small tool kit. Using the tools, he was able to carefully pry the device apart and get a look at its internal workings.
Jaune pretty much knew what he was looking at when it came to electronics, and while most of the internals of the, what he assumed was a data storage device, were familiar enough, the fact that there was no Dust receptacle baffled him, not to mention he wasn't sure what some of it was actually made of.
However, despite the odd shape he was sure he could fashion a makeshift connection to his scroll, and it was as he was about to go to his box of 'stuff' at the end of his bed to retrieve the necessary parts that he was interrupted.
"Jaune, it's nearly one in the morning, you might wanna keep it down before you wake Kelly," a feminine voice whispered softly to him. Jaune turned to the only member of his family that he really got along with, Morrigan Arc, six years older than him and the third oldest sister of his female siblings.
The Arc family had a long and prestigious history as Huntsmen and Huntresses. Unfortunately, that had somewhat gone to his family's heads. James and Gail Arc, Jaune's parents, were… difficult to live with.
Gail married into the Arc family for the prestige, and far as Jaune was aware had only had so many kids because his father, James, couldn't keep it in his pants, or use protection.
Above him and Morrigan were the two oldest children, identical twins, Kelly and Jade Arc. Both had inherited the narcissistic nature of their mother and the arrogance of their father. Unfortunately, this meant that James and Gail trained them extensively, seeing themselves in the pair.
This also meant they were strong enough to abuse their younger siblings as much as they liked. Nothing overt, but none of the rest of the Arc family had the strength to stand up to them.
Next in line were Morrigan and himself. Both of them seemed the complete opposite of their parents. Morrigan was kind and caring, and after being rejected time and again from becoming a Huntress, owing to her kind nature making her unfit for the job (apparently), she had focused her efforts on becoming a nurse.
Jaune didn't think anyone could do a better job.
Likewise, Jaune was the only son, and being kind and not absurdly naturally talented was considered a disappointment. Better that he be blocked from doing anything that would put him in the spotlight, like attend a Hunter school, than suffer the shame of raising such a bleeding heart.
Below him were another set of twins. Nadia and Hannah were, to put it bluntly, weird. They kept to themselves, dyed their hair black, wore dark makeup, rings and piercings, and were almost never at home. Despite being thirteen, they could pass for seventeen, and often did.
Jaune and Morrigan had tried to be role models for them, Morrigan more than him, but the two were a mystery unto themselves, and by now Jaune and Morrigan just left them alone.
Then there was nine year old Freya and six year old Lisa. While Lisa still maintained some of her childish nature, the two of them took far too many cues from Kelly and Jade for Jaune and Morrigan to consider investing too much time in them.
"Shit, thanks Morri, goodnight."
"Goodnight Jaune."
xxxx
"Mr Arc! Pay attention."
Jaune snapped up, eyes focusing on the teacher standing at the front of the class. Miss Grant wasn't a bad teacher, but Jaune had had trouble focusing all day.
He had an endless desire to get back and begin delving into that odd data storage device, and it had consumed him all day.
"For the last time Mr Arc, I asked you to tell me what type of electromagnetic wave scrolls use for communication?"
"Oh," Jaune said, "that's radio waves," he answered, not even realising that he had been asked because no one else knew. Atlas was the centre of technology on Remnant, and few were those capable of telling you even the basics of how most lightning Dust based tech worked in that Kingdom, let alone on Vale.
There was a very large focus on fire Dust, culturally speaking, seeing as it was used primarily in weapons for fighting the Grimm, and vehicles for escaping the Grimm.
"Correct," the teacher said, looking somewhat surprised. Miss Grant looked at the rest of her bored class, and decided to see how much more Mr Arc knew, seeing as he answered so nonchalantly.
"Mr Arc, what are the other electromagnetic frequencies?"
"Oh um, in order, that's microwaves, infra-red light, visible light, ultraviolet light, x-rays and finally gamma rays," Jaune answered, not having any idea what lesson they were on and not even really focusing on his answers.
"How about something a little different?" A distracted nod of assent. Most of the class were now looking at Jaune, who before was somewhat of an outcast, like he had grown a second head.
"What can you tell me about lightning Dust and how scrolls work, including how their communication works?"
What followed was a concise and in-depth explanation of electronics and communication logistics that even went somewhat over Miss Grant's head.
"Wow! Mr Arc, how on Remnant do you know all that?"
It was only upon that exclamation from the teacher that Jaune finally reappeared in the here and now, and realised that he had just poked his head above the water.
One of the creeds Jaune kept to was to keep his head down. Don't attract attention. Attention leads to Kelly, Jade, James and Gail… disciplining him for drawing attention to his uselessness.
"Umm, lucky guess?"
Inspire is not a small village, and is in fact nearly a city in size and importance, being the main port onto the Vale continent from Mistral. As such, there is a lot of oversight in the civilian sector.
Miss Aisha Grant was not just a young teacher at a local comprehensive in an urban area, she was also a trained first aider, a first responder, and a counsellor.
As such, she had taken notice of the fact that Jaune Arc, of the prestigious Arc family, had very little presence, unlike the rest of his family. He always wore long sleeved shirts and jumpers, he wasn't very active physically, he sometimes didn't have lunch, he was rarely picked up from school, or dropped off, the list went on.
Those things, while red flags, together could all be coincidence. However, thanks to Jaune's distraction, he had revealed that he had advanced knowledge of a subject that should place him at the top of the school, and possibly in clubs and competitions on a national level.
The fact that he had, without question, purposefully hidden such knowledge, spoke of a pathological need to stay under the radar as opposed to most children's and teenager's desire to show off.
That, along with all of the other flags, was the final piece she needed to finally make a move.
xxxx
"Mr Arc, if you could stay after class."
It wasn't a question, that much was obvious, and yet Jaune felt like risking Miss Grant's wrath and booking it; he was still intensely curious about his new project.
Eventually however, he capitulated to his teacher's harsh stare.
"What's up miss?" Jaune asked with a smile. Morrigan always said that he just needed confidence.
"Are you aware that there is a science and technology club after school on Thursdays?" Aisha opened, knowing that these could be delicate situations for anyone, let alone young people who lacked the experience to really cope with some things.
"Yeah," Jaune answered, not really sure what the teacher was getting at.
"Have you ever thought of going to it? Why not?" Aisha asked upon Jaune shaking his head.
"Never really interested me," he lied through his teeth. Aisha wondered how he could tell such a straight-faced lie so effortlessly, considering the fact that nobody could answer like he did without being sufficiently interested in the subject.
"I see. Well why don't you give it some thought anyway, maybe give it a taster session. You might enjoy it, you might even get a mention in the school newspaper if you do as well as you did with me today."
And there it was! Despite what he might have thought Jaune was only fourteen and not as subtle as he liked to think. Aisha could clearly see what two thoughts went through Jaune's mind at those words; boredom and then fear.
The boredom was obvious; even the leader of the science and tech club wouldn't know as much about how scrolls work, so Jaune likely outclassed those people. The fear even more so, since it suggested her suspicions were correct.
Jaune was afraid of recognition, of attention. In anyone else it might have been innocuous, but for a member of the Arc family, it wasn't just a red flag, it was a blaring red light with sirens.
The Arcs were essentially the highest class family in Inspire; upper class both through breeding and achievement. Class structure meant much less in Vale than it did Atlas, but it still existed.
The Arcs were known socialites, so for their son to be afraid of attention was odd in and of itself. Add in the fact that Jaune could be a little clumsy, obviously held a high amount of supressed interest in a subject, and most importantly wasn't currently enrolled in a Hunter training school, meant Jaune was scared of earning his parents' attention.
"Enjoy the rest of your day."
Aisha watched as Jaune strolled out of the classroom, tripping over his own feet on the way; he had shot up in the last few months, and looked to still be growing.
xxxx
Jaune grabbed a sandwich and hid away in his room, finally able to get back to the storage device. He had been going over it in his head all day and had what he thought was a viable connection.
Hours passed as he tinkered away, until, finally, he had a way to access the device with his scroll.
The data was unreadable on basic Scroll functionality, but with a few handy programs he had downloaded he was able to piece together some of the data inside the device.
Jaune was gobsmacked at what he could decipher. The sheer amount of data on the device was huge, beyond anything a simple SC, which was almost as physically big, could possibly store, except maybe the most advanced military versions from Atlas.
Some of the data consisted of pictures, so Jaune decided to compile those first, since they would probably give him a good idea of what was on the device.
He watched the progress bar as the data for the first picture was compiled. Just as it hit 99% a voice rang outside his room which caused him to shut his Scroll and shove the device in his pocket.
Jade Arc opened the door a moment later. "You alright little bro?" She asked with a winning smile, walking towards Jaune with a relaxed air.
"What do you want?" Jaune asked her coldly, causing her faux warm persona to fade into her usual bitchy sneer.
"You didn't offer to make me any food when you made your sandwich, that's rather rude I think," she griped, staring at Jaune maliciously.
"I-" was all Jaune got out before, faster than he could blink, his sister's fist was nearly causing him to puke up the sandwich in question.
"Well, it was only a sandwich, so I guess that'll do for punishment," Jade hummed to herself as she walked out of the room.
"Bitch," Jaune muttered to himself as he got to his knees, only for his eyes to widen to see his sister's furious face in front of his.
The last thing he saw was his sister's foot coming for his head before he was knocked unconscious.
He came around to darkness, meaning he had been out for at least a few hours. A cold cloth dabbed at the side of his head, which throbbed painfully.
"Thanks Morri," Jaune croaked to the darkness, sipping at the water that was placed at his lips.
"You're welcome as always Jaune, but you need to watch your mouth, this one was quite bad," the kindest member of the Arc family whispered to him.
"I know, it's just…"
"I understand. Just a few more years, and then I'll have a full nursing license and be able to afford a place for both of us. Eyes on the prize Jaune," Morrigan advised him. That was her way of coping, Jaune knew, to keep looking to that moment of freedom.
For Jaune it was harder, since his way out was constantly and sometimes violently denied from him.
Once Morrigan was gone and the throbbing in his skull had subsided somewhat, Jaune remembered what he had been doing before Jade interrupted him.
To his glee, his Scroll's program had been running in sleep mode, having compiled more than just the one picture from the data.
Jaune opened the first picture, and couldn't believe his eyes. It was a design, a design for a set of armour he had never seen the likes of before. Rather than being made of plate metal, or lightweight metal fibres sewn into clothing, it was a full bodysuit with hundreds, if not thousands of interlocking parts, looking like a futuristic knight, all sharp edges and streamlined dynamics.
The next picture showed weapon designs, ways for the weapons to fit into the armour, and other utility designs. His eyes bugged out of his head when he saw that the designs would theoretically enable the thing to FLY!
What he didn't understand was how the suit was powered, or controlled. It would take an immense amount of processing power and data storage, not to mention lightning fast memory retrieval and processes, to control the suit as innately as it looked designed, that is basically to the pilot's will.
As for how it was powered, Jaune had a good idea that it was designed around the glowing circle in the middle of the armour, which to him just looked like a glaring weak point. Why put the power source there for everyone to attack?
Either way, there was still a lot of data to go through on this device. The answers would show themselves in time, he was sure.
He didn't even realise that the feeling in his chest was a resurgence of hope, for his dreams, and for his freedom.