7: Changing Priorities

"Shit just got real," O'Reilly had said over the phone during a conference call.

Though Iverson would not have phrased it that way, he agreed with the sentiment. Over the past week, the atmosphere at Gemstone had shifted drastically. What they dealt with was no longer a tightly guarded secret restricted to the small task force and a few officials, but one with the attention of the highest levels of military, government, and intelligence across half a dozen nations.

"I just got off the phone with the American National Security Advisor," he announced to the two dozen or so personnel in the Vancouver office. "Our mandate has changed. Rather dramatically."

"How so?" one of the men- their RCMP liaison, Iverson recalled- asked.

"Searching for new arrivals is no longer in our purview," he began, confirming the suspicions of many in the room. "It is now coordinated at a higher level, with more direct involvement from the relevant agencies. Similarly, scientific research is now between DARPA and the United States government."

"So, are we getting cut out now?" one of the analysts asked, disappointed. They'd told her Gemstone would be on the front lines, the first to face the unknown, and from what she had heard they had no mission at all.

"No," Iverson replied firmly. "Our mission is now to focus on the ones that are here- Team RWBY and Team JNPR. They are our responsibility. Our superiors want intelligence and possibly assistance from them, and it's our job to provide it."

Another analyst asked, "Well, what does that mean, exactly?"

"We do not know, exactly," he admitted. "Team JNPR still has not been debriefed, and we can probably gain more information from Team RWBY. The National Security Advisor implied, but did not state, that she expected reports of such within a reasonable timeframe."

"What about assistance?" Emma Walker, the sole Australian in the room, asked. "Are we talking lending them to the military for training and evaluation?"

"I believe so," he answered. "We have discussed it in this office, but our plans have been turned over to the United States military and as far as I know also the Canadian and British. They'll be developing tactics and strategies, and I'm sure they want the input of even students from Remnant if nothing else."

"So, where are our visitors now?"

"The teams? In Washington," Iverson answered. "The Washington office figures it would be best for them to stay there for the moment, and I concur."

"How are they doing?" Emma asked quietly.

"As well as could be expected," he replied. "Keeping them on our side is still our top priority. If- when something happens, we want them firmly on our side."


Cliff smiled as his friends shuffled into the restaurant. After finishing the year, they'd all gone their separate ways, with most of them staying in Vancouver. He didn't see the point, and instead returned to Vancouver Island. Isaac had also come back, but that had less to do with finishing for the year and more to do with getting kicked out from what he had heard.

The bearded young man waved them to an empty booth in the corner. "Hey guys. Guess you did manage to make it out to the Island."

"I'm surprised you went back."

"Yeah, why didn't you stay?"

"Three words," he answered. "Because Vancouver fucking sucks."

"That's four words, Cliff," Ben pointed out.

"Only if you count the because. I don't count because."

Sam made a show of surveying his surroundings."Hey, why are we in a fucking Pizza Hut, anyway? Was there really nowhere better?"

"This is the Island, we don't have any fancy metropolitan hipster eateries," Cliff countered. "Besides, Pizza Hut is-"

"Hi, are you ready to order?" the waiter interrupted.

They ordered their usual- despite Sam's complaint, it was far from the first time they'd been in the restaurant. During their high school years, the pizza place had been a frequent dinner destination.

"So, I've been thinking of ways of exploiting our unique experiences," Cliff mentioned. "Isaac?"

"We're making a game," Isaac announced. "Or, mostly Cliff is making a game and I'm providing moral support."

"What, is it like the RWBY fighting game?"

"No, it's about a trio of stereotypical nerds- there's a programmer, a weeb, and a token geeky girl who's also black- who suddenly encounter their favourite fictional character and have to travel the world to get them all back home."

"Won't you get sued?" Ben pointed out.

Cliff snapped his fingers. "See, that's the brilliant part. I'm going to file the serial numbers off just enough so that it's obviously a cheap knockoff of RWBY, but isn't actually RWBY."

"What's the point of ripping off something nobody knows about?"

He leaned forward before giving the answer in hushed tones. "How long do you think it's going to be something nobody knows about? Sooner or later, it's going to get out and people are going to want as much RWBY as they can get. That's when we strike."

"That's fucked."

"You mean brilliant," Isaac countered.

Cliff leaned back, crossing his arms. "So, that's what we've been up to. What about you guys?"

"I might make meat manager next month," Ben said. "The job sucks but the pay is good."

Jen shrugged. "Summer school."

Sam was silent. Isaac pushed him, "Did you get a job?"

"Nope," he admitted. "I almost got one at General Paint, but then they got bought up and shut down."

Isaac winced at that. "Ouch."

Ben muttered, "Bullshit."

Sam cracked a smile. "But it's not all bad news." He reached into his jacket and took out an envelope, dumping its contents on the table. "Who wants to go to RTX next month?"

"Okay, how the hell can you afford those when you're unemployed?" Ben asked, eyeing the tickets suspiciously.

"I didn't buy them."

Ben pushed away the tickets. "Called it."

Sam's smirk didn't disappear, but instead grew. "I was given them. Got them in the mail, along with an autographed poster."

"Son of a bitch!"

"Didn't we spend a bunch of their money?" Isaac reminded them. "I mean, I'm not complaining, but shouldn't we be reimbursing them?"

There was no opportunity to answer. Their waiter showed up, placing a large pizza, a basket of breadsticks, and a plate of spicy boneless chicken on the table.

"So, have you heard about that fucked-up exercise the Americans had?" Sam mentioned. He took the tickets back and dumped half the boneless chicken on his plate.

"The one that almost made the Russians nuke everyone?" Isaac asked.

Cliff glared at him, pizza comically in one hand. "It wasn't that fucked up."

"I wonder if it has something to do with, well, you know..."

"It wouldn't surprise me either way," Cliff answered. "Maybe someone like Cinder showed up and they chased them down and caught them, any nobody knows. Or maybe they really did just do a strategic exercise at a really bad time."

"What if the bad guys, or even the creatures of Grimm came here?" Isaac asked, tone light but concerned. "What if it really happens?"

"Well, we're not going to fight them like in that shitty fanfic you wrote," Cliff snarked, deflecting the question.

"I hope I'm on the other side of the world," Sam said darkly. After a pause, he reassured, "Relax, guys, it's not gonna happen, and if it does, it'll be taken care of. What we went through was a once only."

Cliff pondered it for a moment, then nodded. He asked, "How are they doing, by the way?"

"I haven't heard from them since last week," Sam responded. "I wonder how they're doing?"

"Eh, I'm sure they're fine."


"So... what about us?" Jaune asked, interrupting the FBI agent on his cellphone. "I mean, this is great, but we've been stuck here for days."

O'Reilly held up a finger. "...okay, thanks." He hung up and stuffed the phone in his pocket. "They're working on identities for you, but it looks like you're not going to get the same kind of latitude RWBY did, and you're all going to be pretty busy."

"Why not?" Ruby blurted out from the other side of the room, burrito halfway to her mouth.

"Things have changed," he replied carefully. "When you came through, there was no imminent threat. You were our top priority. Now, we have a probable threat that has a lot of people worried, and that is their top priority."

"So what are we going to do?" the blonde asked. "I mean, what do you want us to do?"

"There'll be people asking you questions- people from the government and military. They might want to conduct exercises with you- you may be students but you're the closest thing to combatants from your world that we have."

"Do we have to?" Nora half-asked, half-whined.

"Technically, no, but I don't know what will happen if you refuse." He reassured them, "We're on the same side, here. We both want to stop Cinder if she shows up. You're being given more responsibility than you probably asked for, but I know you're up for it."

"We're up for it," Ruby replied enthusiastically. She crumpled up her burrito wrapper and tossed it into the trash.

"Good." He checked his watch. "I trust you can take care of yourselves?"

He received a few nods before departing. In fact, there was a plainclothes agent outside, and the apartment was well watched. It was an exercise in building trust more than an exercise in trust itself.

Jaune plopped down on the couch beside his partner. "So, now what?"

"I'm bored," Nora complained.

"We're all bored, Nora," Ruby reminded her. She felt a buzz in her pocket and immediately reached in and checked her phone. "Aw, Weiss and Blake got delayed."

"Delayed," Yang joked, putting air quotes around the word. "Sure."

"Yaaaaaaang!"

She quickly changed topics. "You guys haven't actually seen the show, have you?"

"We haven't had the chance," Pyrrha answered with a nod.

"It's a really surreal experience," Yang told them. "But you've really got to do it some time, and we've got nothing better to do."

"It was weird..." Ruby quietly concurred. She quickly added, "But fun!"

Jaune shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"It'll be worthwhile," Ren agreed.

"Let's do it!" Nora shouted.

"Okay, we're watching RWBY!" Ruby said excitedly. She picked up her bag and swung it in a wide arc as she dashed toward the TV in the living room.

"Did you remember the HDMI cable?"

Ruby responded by waving the item in the air. She found a free port on the TV and spooled out the cable, pushing the other end into her laptop before moving on to the power cable.

"What's that?" Jaune asked.

"That's my laptop," Ruby replied, booting the machine. "It also flips over into a tablet."

"It looks kind of archaic," Ren commented.

Ruby disagreed. "They're actually really cool. A lot of the tech on Earth is really underassuming, but actually does a lot of stuff. It's boring but practical."

"Huh."

"Just wait until you see their military hardware." Yang snapped her fingers. "We've got to watch Transformers after this."

"Why are you only now thinking of stuff to do?" Pyrrha asked, slightly irritated. "We've been stuck here for days."

Ruby poked her index fingers together. "Well, we kind of got caught up seeing you guys again, then we had to, um, borrow some movies and stuff, and we kind of wanted to surprise you with something really cool that Blake and Weiss are-"

She was cut off by the door being wrenched open.

Yang grinned. "Blakey! Weissy! You're back! Did you get it?"

Blake held up a large bag. "We did. I'd just like to say that I don't want to buy anything on Craigslist again."

The blonde threw her hands into the air. "It's not my fault we don't have enough money to buy an Xbone!"

The faunus girl glared at her. "Actually, it kind of is."

"Guys, quiet," Ruby shushed. "We can show them Halo after."

"Oh, you're watching the show?" Weiss observed, noticing the image on the TV. "Well, you're going to find it pretty fucked up. Especially the second volume."


Interlude chapters will follow a very different format from main story ones, though you've probably figured that out by now. There will be three more interlude chapters before the second act. I'm hoping to release Act II alongside Volume 3, but it's doubtful that's going to happen.

XavenCain: I don't believe Neo is capable of teleportation, only Raven. My headcanon is that Neo uses her Semblance to appear to be in one place while moving to another in an otherwise normal manner. Of course, we have no confirmation either way. Travelling between worlds is not directly possible for a teleporter.

Epic Zealot Productions 2.0: Either between the second and third acts or during the third act.

Gamer: Most likely, it'll be special forces units being trained. Given that the United States is not the only country in the know, it'll be probably involve JTF2, SAS, and SASR as well as the usual Delta and DEVGRU. Although, if you recall the events of Stolen Flame, DEVGRU is iffy. Suffice it to say that in combat, a Remnan on the level of Cinder or even Roman would be treated as a threat far greater than any normal human and would be exterminated with as much prejudice as conditions allow.

linkthetoaoftime: Heracles and Joan of Arc as one example of mythological and historical each. I'm not well versed in mythology and only somewhat more knowledgeable about history older than the Age of Discovery, so nothing firm yet. I should also mention that there are tales on Remnant of people who seemed to lack Aura...

dark habit: Contrary to popular belief, controlling a terrorist group is less about force and more about social engineering. Cinder and Roman do have experience in this area, but cultural barriers between them and, say, ISIS, would greatly hinder their efforts. Could they seriously disrupt a terrorist group and possibly win some to their side? Yes. Could they fully subvert one? No.

GreatWyrmGold: Future fiction is a definition foreign to us but it's really just a subgenre of science-fiction and would be considered such on our world. Religious missionaries would be far more likely than non-religious ones, but groups already on the road to radicalism might adopt Terran ideology of their own accord. Faunus Marxism, anyone?

mastermind: A war is costly, and for Remnant even more so. For Earth, it's going to cost a lot of lives and resources. For Remnant, it could potentially cost a Kingdom. I think it's pretty well established that not everyone is Hunter level. The best counter for the enemy combatants that are is a whole lot of overkill. I don't think this is unrealistic- the Americans have levelled entire buildings to eliminate snipers in the past. In normal army-versus-army combat, which is heavily mechanized at least on our side, the physical advantages of the Remanns matter less. As for winning, don't underestimate your own planet. Kick the United States- or, for that matter, Russia- into war mode, and they could systematically destroy any of the Kingdoms in a torrent of men and materiel, even without resorting to WMDs.

luhar 1997: The analogy is pretty good. However, I'd compare Earth not to the WWII Soviets but WWII America. Germany had a lot of equipment that was excellent but also very difficult to reproduce, and they were heavily disadvantaged in terms of resources. In contrast, the United States had very effective if boring equipment, a massive resource pool, and a few wunderwaffe that actually worked.

Queenfan27: This one is more difficult. WWII Earth retains most of the manpower and resource advantages, but is very far behind technologically and can't make up for their disadvantages the way we can. While modern Earth could crush the Kingdoms if it really wanted to, WWII Earth may only be able to stalemate. And it's going to be incredibly bloody.

To me, the more interesting spinoff would not be WWII Earth but mid-Cold War Earth, and in fact I considered writing this at one point. Open war is far less likely, but political disruptions, proxy wars and both blocs backing factions on Remnant would make things very interesting. It was also a time of great technological advances- in fact, many of the ones that would put us ahead of Remnant- and social change.

goverstreetboy: Yang is fiercely protective of her sister and had abandonment issues of her own. I don't see her giving up a child, not at any cost. Allowing someone she trusts- perhaps Taiyang- to take care of them, maybe, but not handing them over to a government body, especially if it's explicitly for experimentation.

I should also point out that I am a Canadian of mixed ancestry, not an African-American.

Fallout24: A war would be disastrous. Without proper intelligence, skewed by prejudice, the Remnans would likely seriously underestimate us. In a way, that's actually worse for us, because they're much less likely to invade if they know we're sitting behind a missile shield. Ignorance is bliss, and they'd be able to invade cities before we could launch a serious response. At this point, things have already escalated; they've invaded cities and there are civilian casualties. In reply, we escalate to striking their cities directly. I'd like to stress that while this is an interesting scenario, it's not a pleasant one for anyone involved.

Mr Fizz: Just because they are strong doesn't mean they destroy everything they come in contact with. It just means they have to be careful, as a bodybuilder might handle a porcelain cup.

Unkown: Not all Aura users are as powerful as the main characters we've seen on the show, and not all are mentally unstable sociopaths. Still, it is a valid concern. How to deal with them on Earth is a question with no good answer. Forcing Remnans to wear identifying badges has been mentioned, but has very negative connotations. The best we can reasonably do is tighter monitoring of known individuals coupled with specialized, rapid response forces. Perhaps more important than the actual countermeasures is the impression management. Convince the Terrans on Earth that they are safe from Remnans and the Remnans on Earth that if they step out of line they will be crushed.

revolversolid4: We live in an era where governments are trusted less and less and the militarization of police is a serious concern for many. It won't go over well. Otherwise, see my response to Unkown above.

Mastermind: Terrans and Remnans have a lot more in common than dogs and cats. Would they be shunned? Maybe. I think it would depend on who, where, and when. Finally, maybe we'll see one or both, but not in Convergence.

AMEN PRAISE THEE: I'm not sure if you're trolling or not, but I guess I'll take this opportunity to bring up something about the sexuality of all the characters. Most Remnans in the Emergence-verse have a sort of fluid sexuality bordering on demisexuality. They feel sexual attraction with those they feel a strong emotional bond with. I threw this to differentiate them from Terrans, and because I'd read and liked a lot of ship fics and figured it didn't make sense statistically for everyone to be homo/bisexual. The Watsonian justification is that because Aura is based on the soul, it's partly tied to emotion, and love really is a powerful force on Remnant. Because of this, it's evolutionarily advantageous to be able to take emotional connections to the highest level possible, even if it may not produce offspring. This is one thing that has shaped Remnan culture into something very different from our own (which is a direction that seems to sadly be diverging from canon).

COD532: The language in the 14th Amendment is "all persons." While I believe it would be hard to argue Remnans are not persons, at some points women and non-whites were not considered persons in various contexts. I believe that Remnans and Terran-Remnan hybrids would eventually be ruled as persons, but it would be more hotly contested than it should.