Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 does not own Spider-Man or RWBY.
Chapter 29: Interview With Huntsmen Part 2.
At some point, Jaune realized that even though he complains about problems that always sets him up for failure, he's also thankful for others things in his life too. For starters, Jaune is in high school, a roof over his head, has a job, or jobs if you want to be technical, and he's also a freaking super hero!
Still, Jaune sometimes get's overwhelmed with so many tasks being thrown his way. Sure, he handled crime before and he had started to get a good rhythm going on that balances his social life with his hero one. But to be more precise, it started to get way more out of control ever since Jaune's sky blues met a girl with pure silver on that late night at Mr. Macarren's Dust shop.
"And that's why I'm here in Beacon, Mr. Arc. I wanted to make something of myself that isn't part of my father's business but still hold the family name in a different set to reach as a Huntress." The fourth member of team RWBY explained her backstory to the young reporter. She made sure to just give him the basic reason of her motivation to be in Beacon and not part of Atlas' own Huntsmen academy. Weiss also made sure that the watered-down version would be just enough for Jaune to write about for the first day. "I hope this little talk explained why I'm here and that the combined efforts of your assistance can help people know that we aren't reckless in our duty. Far from it, we're focused, skilled, and dedicated to out craft! Which is why I know you'll make it right by writing the article about me and my team."
"Huh?" Shaking out of his mind about meeting Ruby for the first time, Jaune quickly remembered the main reason for being here.
Wiess Schnee, the second oldest child of the Schnee family and soon to be overseer of the SDC. The largest company that produces a large portion of dust resources that almost makes them practically run everything in Remnant. How she talked made her show that not only does she have confidence and poise, but also has the charisma to back up her claims. Honestly, with how well she was communicating without any signs of struggling could make anyone rapt with attention from just listening to her.
"Um…" Jaune looked at Weiss and down to his blank page that had zero words on it. "Uh…. yeah. Yeah, I got some great stuff! Even more than the rest of your team, Weiss."
"I'm sure my teammates must have given you some good material, even though I'm positive you must have written many ideas after hearing about my life in Beacon."
"Yup." The blonde boy wrote 'Boring' on the paper and nothing else. 'Jeez. I know Whitley asked me to help his sister by making sure she stays in Beacon, but I didn't know it would be so dry!'
Ruby was easier to relate with making her a shoe in to the readers for her down to earth reasons. Her sister, Yang, is also viable for families to see that some Huntsmen do the job to protect their own family members too, giving the Huntsmen community a better image. As for Blake, she has the outside perspective of how both races act around each other while training for a greater cause. So, if she could just take off her bow and show her true self, her side of the story could hold even more weight to her logic that Faunus and Humans can work together if both sides reach an understanding.
Now, in comes Weiss and when Jaune asked her why she's here and what made her take this role as a Huntress seriously, Weiss told him her answer. For the rich huntress attending Beacon, in a broad sense, is not really something you could compare too any middle-class person. She's rich, crazy rich, lives in a very large mansion/castle, has a great education, a face that doesn't require make up or beauty life hacks, and she's an opera singer! All of these makes Jaune wonder one thing.
'How is any of that supposed to be a common thing with people that's not even a quarter of what she has? In my opinion, some would probably think she just got in cause she's famous and rich, not actually accepted due to her skills with a weapon.'
It was going to be hard for Jaune to spin it around with Weiss, he knew it immediately when Whitley came by and told him about his plans on trying- no, succeeding in taking over his father's business with Weiss being stuck here. Worst of all, he could swear that Weiss isn't telling the full story of why she's here, all she did is give a simple rundown of wanting to remain in Vale.
'Guess I'll just leave it for now,' Jaune thought glumly, not liking how the amount of limited knowledge he got from her wasn't the best compared to the rest of her team. 'I shouldn't expect anything close to home with a girl who is raised in a very high pedestal since birth. I should probably tell her some flattering words about her, so she doesn't think I'm just trying to get to the next person.'
"You'll be the opening to my story, I'm sure Mr. Stane and your brother would be happy to read about this!"
As if stepping on a land mine, Jaune saw Weiss's perfect complexion crack when he saw her smile dip down. She didn't immediately frown, the only reaction was her lips slightly going down to a neutral state.
'Gosh darn it! Did I just walk in to an event or something!' He kicked himself inside his mind for making Weiss start to show actual emotions regarding her close relatives. 'Oh, the heck with it! Weiss doesn't sign my check anyway! Plus, if I want to help Whitley, then I got to push a little into Weiss's personal life just a little.'
Choosing to make his grave a little bit deeper, Jaune asked Weiss more about her family and not about Beacon.
"I, uh," Jaune didn't feel like having his head torn of if what he might say next could lead to her getting aggressive. "I remember someone who looks like you, a boy, who was talking to your team from a different table. Whitley was his name, right? Ruby told me when I interviewed her."
Lying about the last part, Jaune watched as the heiress of the SDC dropped her mask from being polite and gentle to thoughtful and serious.
'Yeesh,' He inwardly grimaced. 'Does it really make her think that hard about what her little brother is to her? I know I only met him for just one night, and even a bit in the morning, but I think she's putting way too much thinking power into putting words to describe Whitley.'
"Yes, he's my little brother." Weiss confirmed who the boy was that day Jaune entered the café to meet with his boss.
"I'm the middle child of three, our oldest is Winter Schnee and she's part of the Atlas military." The part where she seemed the most prideful of her family was when she talked about her older sister, Winter, but before that, Weiss held a neutral tone.
'Man, I always knew that rich people have problems, but I didn't know Weiss's stem from family! No way I'm making a part with Weiss having family issues, that's the compete opposite of helping her stay here! Quickly! Divert it back to Whitley!'
"Your brother seemed really lively with your team, he seems really nice too!" Jaune wasn't lying. When he first saw the guy, Jaune didn't really see anything bad about him. Of course, 'don't judge a book by it's cover' could be applied to Whitley since it was his first time meeting the young rich Schnee. Yet, that book soon turned out to be a comic book hidden beneath the chapters since Jaune found out he has a brother in arms when it comes to crime fighting.
"He sure did seem to take a great liking to Vale," Somehow, Weiss made a thoughtful look when she started to remember how he interacted with people who aren't part of her family's usual wealthy hierarchy. "I haven't seen him since I left, but he's certainly changed more than I thought possible."
"Well, what can you expect?" Jaune chuckled, remember the days when his little sisters started to change as they grew older. "You can't always think they'll be your little siblings forever, they grow up even when you're no longer at home."
'Speaking about home, I wonder if I should message Whitley after this is over. Give him a rundown of how the first day went talking to his sister. I wonder if this violates patient confidentiality... yet again, I'm reminded that Weiss or her team doesn't wright my paycheck. Plus, I feel like the whole 'patient confidentiality' is more like a doctor thing than a reporter thing.'
Looking down to her feet, Weiss stayed silent for a moment before finally saying something about seeing her brother again.
"It's true that I shouldn't expect to see my brother as the same person as before. I mean, the last time I saw him was when I left my family to go to Beacon."
'When she left home to go to Beacon?' He tapped his writing utensil under his chin. 'That does seem like a pretty good gap for Weiss to see Whitley change. Though, I wonder why she seems like she still can't believe that her brother is so different?'
"Is your brother's personality that drastic of a change?"
Deciding that talking about just her brother was harmless, she told him how she felt when she saw Whitley again.
"My brother changed both personality and physically which was a surprise to me. He was still shorter than me by a few centimeters, yet now he's an inch or so taller." She recounted how he also didn't seem to act his usual self when meeting people with a lower status. "My team already likes him, Ruby being the friendliest since both are into those crazies wearing costumes, my brother liking this flying man that has started to pop around Atlas."
"A hero in Atlas now?" Jaune pretended he didn't know. "Is he like Spider-Man?"
"No, the one in Atlas is called: Iron Man and so far, he's seems to already hold influence in Atlas and in Mistral. I tried to know more, but he hasn't shown as much on the internet compared to Spider-Man." After she explained what she knew about Iron Man, she went back to the topic with Whitley.
"I'm not sure what or how he changed so quickly, but the results are for the better."
'The way he is now is better than before? Now I really want to know more about this.' He pushed further into Weiss's personal life. "What was he like before? Or can I get some details about your family as a whole?"
"I thought this was about me and why I'm in Beacon?" Weiss's thoughtful gaze soon changed to angry when asked about something not related to the topic at hand. "If this conversation veers off to something about my family and not by my merit of joining Beacon to train as a Huntress, then I think this conversation is over."
'Dang it,' Jaune winced at how cold her tone was while at the same time how her stare felt like it was burning a hole in the center of his forehead with how hard she was glaring at him. 'Guess I wasn't really tactful when I asked her that question. She's right, though, I feel like she won't tell me anything now with her acting like this. I should probably wrap this up and talk to the rest of group waiting outside.'
"You're right, Ms. Schnee," He agreed, not wanting to drag this on any longer and making her more angry. "What you gave me is enough for the first day and we can discuss this more in the future."
Standing up from his chair, Jaune walked to the door and opened it for her. "I apologize if I went too far for asking about more than just why you're here."
Just when Weiss was leaving out of the room, she stopped and looked back to Jaune still holding the door.
"I-" She wrestled with her emotions for a bit, not really getting used to dealing with things like this with other people. "- I'm sorry that this can't go any longer but thank you for agreeing to Mr. Stane's offer."
Leaving with that last sentence, Weiss left the room making Jaune close the door and get back to writing his thoughts with the young heiress.
'Very closed off when talking about her family.' Was the main thing Jaune thought of since that was the only time when Weiss showed actual emotions regarding something not related to Beacon. "Should I ask Whitley to fill in the blanks? No, I should stop poking my nose into this and just be grateful she just gave me her answer to why she wants to stay here. Even if it wasn't as interesting as the rest of her team, in my opinion at least."
The sound of the door opening gave the signal that another one is ready for the interview.
"I saw Weiss being a little colder than usual," The only male student Jaune met walked inside. "Are we going to be worried about this later?"
"Yeah, that was my bad," Jaune didn't hide his mistake to Ren. "Guess I pushed too far, and we ended it afterwards. I hope she doesn't hold a grudge from this."
"Don't worry, Jaune." Ren placed himself in the seat where Weiss once sat in. "Give her time and I'm sure she'll understand."
"Seems like the only thing I can put my faith in right now." Flipping to the next blank sheet of paper, Jaune went back to his job again. "Ok, Ren, let's start off with some simple questions."
[Lie Ren]
To say that there were boys that attend Beacon were good looking would be an understatement. Just like the female students, the boys who enrolled here were drop dead gorgeous. Don't get Jaune's sexual preference confused, he likes girls, but even he must admit that the guys here aren't half bad.
Take for instance the very confusingly attractive ebony haired boy known as Ren.
Guy has straight hair with the only thing colorful was a small streak of magenta that also matches his eyes, pale skin, androgynous features, plus his exotic clothing really does make Jaune mistake him for a girl.
'Seriously, if I didn't know he was a guy, I might have honestly said he looked really cute.'
'THUMP!'
"What the heck!?" Jaune suddenly jolted from surprise when he saw a section of the wall shuddered due to some unknown force hitting against it.
"Ignore that." The one who seemed less scared, even acting like it was normal thing, was Ren who still held his usual passive posture as he waited for Jaune's questions.
"Uh, sure," Jaune wearily eyed the wall just in case another surprise happened. "So, Ren, I would like to start off and ask if you're the leader of your team?"
"No, I'm not the team leader." Ren answered. "Pyrrha is out leader for our 3-man team."
"Just the three of you, huh?" The blonde spider imagined what of would be like to be in a team with only him and two other girls.
'Poor bastard. I know what it feels like to share a room with females, sisters specifically, so I'm sure it's absolute hell to try and get some time if your room only has one bathroom.'
"Ruby has three other teammates making that 4, is there a reason why her team is one member higher than yours?"
"I," Ren stopped talking and looked confused at Jaune. "I'm not sure if I'm the right person to answer that. Really, the one who can best answer that is our leader, Pyrrha."
"Ok," He written a small reminder to ask Pyrrha the same question he asked Ren. "Then, can you tell me what it's like in Beacon? The teachers? Or maybe what it's like before coming here?"
"Before coming here it was… difficult to say the least, but I never regretted taking the opportunity to enroll here. The teachers are very helpful and wise beyond their years, the school also provides us many benefits we couldn't get before, and the students are always interesting to meet."
'Jeez, buddy, rub it in why don't you.' The hero thought in envy. Afterall, the things Ren is telling him are all the great stuff his school doesn't provide. "I agree, everyone here looks like they enjoy this place."
Jaune's school doesn't really give out such privileges, only the basics were given from a public school to the students. Even then, the only learning center that can at least give some of the benefits Ren spoke about is when going to college and even then what most graduates get are deep college depts.
"Yes," Ren sounded grateful. "This place truly nurtures their students to become strong Huntsman. I'm glad me and Nora decided to go here."
'Him and Nora?' Hearing that ginger haired bomber made Jaune start scribbling down some theories between the two. 'Are they related, friends, or maybe more? I don't want to assume the worst, but the way he sounded kind of makes me think of the worst scenario. Lord knows I don't want to ask him if he and Nora are orphans.'
"I'm not sure if I should put that part about the school giving out such good gifts to the paper. It might send some mixed messages about you guys being really privileged compared to the average kids that aren't Huntsmen."
"Don't worry," The male Huntsmen gave a nod of understanding. "I might sound pessimistic, but I doubt the entirety of Vale will just drop their misconceptions of Huntsmen in one night. This is just a way to help Weiss stay in Beacon and we will always do what we have to for our friends."
'Spoken like a true protag in a hero book. If I ever said that to my friends or in school, I'm sure people would just look at me funny. But for Ren, I'm sure some of the girls in Midtown High would just swoon if he ever decided to visit.'
(THUMP! THUMP!)
Once more, Jaune felt the walls shake from some massive force, only for it to stop followed by several grunting that sounded familiar.
"Again?" This time, Jaune was more paranoid at whatever was causing then ever before.
"Just ignore it." Ren still gave his impassive look once more to where the thumping came from.
'Telling me to ignore it just makes me even more scared.' Seeing how much notes he written down from Ren conversation, Jaune flipped to another blank page.
"I feel like that is a sign to wrap things up for today. Thank you, Ren." The blonde sat up from where he was sitting and gave Ren a hand shake. "I liked our talk and would look forward to another if you decide to try this again."
"I enjoyed our talk too, Jaune." Leaving his chair, both boys walked to the door. "We may have met for just today, but I would enjoy talking to you again without the use of you needing to be a reporter."
"Sounds like a plan." Patting Ren's shoulder, Jaune opened the door for the young Huntsman and called out to the next person.
That is, Jaune tried to call out who was next before Nora barged in and went straight for the only chair in the room.
"Ok, I'm ready!" She said with all the energy that can only be matched by a puppy that's on drugs.
Not wanting to question what just happened a couple of seconds ago, Jaune simply closed the door and went about his job.
[Outside]
As the only male Huntsman exited the room, he was greeted with the sight of his other teammate waiting patiently for her turn followed by Blake who was keep her company.
"Where did the rest of your team go, Blake?" Ren asked the feline Faunus.
"Another team Ruby made friends with walked by and invited them to go get some food." Blake told him. "They weren't going out mind you, you know, on the account that we're still on thin ice, so they just went to the mess hall."
"You didn't want to go?"
"I told Blake that she didn't have to say to keep me company." The young champion explained to Ren. "Though, the reason she told me was cause she wanted to try and get some more time talking to Jaune."
"Don't phrase it like that, please." Blake gave the long-haired red head a flat look. "Don't even say that when Yang comes back. What she means, is that I still have some business with Jaune and I don't want to wait until next time. Do you know how long Nora will take with Jaune's interview?"
"If you're planning to wait," Ren put his hand under his chin. "Then I would say that you won't have to wait long if Nora will do all the talking. I'm sure by now Jaune already asked her just one question, so give or take five to eight minutes until Nora finally gives him a straight answer."
[Nora Valkyrie]
"And that's how me and my team found out about how Professor Port captures Grimm." Said the Huntress in pink as she also acts out what happened during her time in Professor Port's classroom. "It was really fun at first, but then it got out from it's cage, not my fault, and it also escaped the classroom too! I blame that part to our professor."
"Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh." The blonde reporter kept nodding his head and wrote down as much as he can from what the ginger was telling him.
"Anyway, we got it under control with the help from me, but sadly it didn't move after I slammed Magnhild, that the name of my awesome hammer. Either way, the end of this story is that you should never bring a pet to work and that learning here is fun when you bring a weapon to the classroom."
'Hmmm,' Jaune written the last statement from Nora's tale and when he re-read what he written Jaune quickly drew a line over that last sentence. 'Probably shouldn't put that in the article. Another side note to remember is that the faculty allows their students to bring weapons to classes that aren't related to sparring? Something to ask if I ever have the chance to talk to a teacher on a later time.'
Ruby was kind enough to give the full detail on sparring in Ms. Goodwitch's class, but Jaune had to wonder if other teachers can have their students carry weapons when they're not sparring.
'That will bring some bad messages to civilians, civilians with families especially.' Making a small task note on the carrying weapons policy for Beacon, Jaune looked at Nora to ask another question. 'Somehow she gave a long and crazy story and all I did to get that from her was ask how her day was? I'm really afraid to ask her what her entire week consists of.'
"Nora." Throwing a dart in the dark, the young spider chose to just make his mind decide what question he should ask her.
"Jaune." For some reason she became all serious out of nowhere.
"I have a question."
"I might have the answer." Nora replied back.
"How do you feel about what people, the ones who aren't Huntsmen and their comments about how they're starting to not trust you guys? Ever since the increase with Roman, the White Fang joining him, and the recent accident with the highway, I want to know how Huntsmen feel about those accidents that weren't part of all this."
If he decided to ask that to Ruby or the other girls, then he was sure to bring them down to a sour mood. Jaune knew it wasn't their fault, he was there, for crying out loud! Yet, he knew what it feels like to hold such heavy burdens and Jaune just didn't want to see them sad anymore.
"Hmm." Positioning herself in a thinking pose, Nora arched her right eyebrow and held that posture as Jaune looked at her in bewilderment. "Nothing."
"…Nothing?" Jaune repeated Nora's answer.
"Nothing~!" Nora raised her arms and legs and yelled with the same positive energy Jaune came to familiarize with.
Soon, that joy stopped just as it appeared as Nora went back to staying still and staring Jaune dead in the eyes.
"Because I feel nothing towards strangers talking bad stuff about us. We fight to the best of our abilities and save as many people as we can. Do they honestly expect us to be prepared to fight a renowned criminal piloting a giant robot!? It's sounds fun and I would have loved to be there, but people can't seriously expect us to handle that like it's a normal occurrence to us."
"..." Jaune was left speechless at how fast Nora expressed her feelings about Vale's current events, most importantly the effects that are showing within the Huntsmen. 'She's really letting out some strong points! I mean, the bad guys expect to fight the police or the occasional Huntsmen, not some guy wearing a red jumpsuit with a hoodie that has ripped sleeves. This is some good stuff I'm getting!'
"I cannot agree with you more about what you said, Nora. It sounds unfair that people are putting such expectations for Huntsmen to handle. Half of my family are Huntsmen and what they tell me is that above all their main enemies are the Grimm. Not giant robots and flamboyant crooks."
"Thank you!" She smiled at the blonde reporter. "Even though we have confidence in defending people from the Grimm, we still can't always expect the same kind of threat when involving our own species."
'It's scary how she can be so bubbly now and then serious the next. Does Ren know about this? Should I warn him?'
"Then, can you tell me if you heard any gossip among the students? How are they reacting to all this?"
"Same as any other school." Nora shrugged her shoulder. "They're just playing this all off and don't really worry about it since they weren't taking any part of this. I do hear some remarks regarding Ruby's team and their involvement, but there very far and few to be a problem."
'They don't gossip about how some students fought a group of terrorists and a robot! That's like… gossip girl level of things to talk about while you're in high school!'
"Really, the only thing I see people talk about is Spider-Man."
Hearing his hero person being talked among Huntsmen caused the young spider to take a detour away from talking about Beacon and more about what Beacon students say about him.
"What do they say about Spider-Man?" The secret hero said in a nonchalant manner.
"The usual stuff about how he's a weirdo, a guy who has too much time on his hands," Nora started to use her fingers to count how many different rumors she heard. "Spider-Man is crazy, he's the real criminal, not Huntsmen, the mask he wears looks creepy, and what I hear most of all is that he should also follow the law rather than be a vigilante."
"Oh, I see." Jaune too a sharp in hale of air. 'Why does it always sting when teens talk about me that way? Is it's like mid-town high, only the difference is that students of Beacon talk bad about Spider-Man and not Jaune Arc.'
"Do you share the same thoughts, Nora?" Jaune wanted to ask someone that was close to Ruby's team out of curiosity. Since he knows that Ruby's partner, Weiss, doesn't like what he does as Spider-man, he at least wants to know if any other friends of Ruby share the same feelings for the web head.
"Why would I be mad? I have no qualms with him." She started to cross her arms under her chest and tilted her head. "Not to mention, Ruby always talks about him, same for Blake only in some occasions, but I never once heard anything remotely bad about the guy or I have not seen him do anything note worthy to be considered a criminal."
'Wow, did Nora really say 'qualms'? Kind of had her pegged as the always happy kind, but I shouldn't always judge someone from first appearances. Still, scary how she can just jump from one emotion to the other.'
"Then, does that mean you've heard other students say positive things about Spider-Man? Cause if I can at least see one thing Huntsmen and citizens have in common is their interest in Spider-Man."
"It's somewhat of a mixed bag. But, what I usually guess is just jealousy for the web guy."
"Jealous? Of Spider-Man? Them, the students of Beacon?" He said in amazement. 'Oh my god! No ones ever been jealous of me before. I'm usually the one who holds the envy not eh other way around!'
"I mean, why not talk about him? He's big, like, pop culture deity level big." The hammer wielding Huntress raised her arms above her head to scale how large Spider-Man's popularity is.
"We may all back talk and say we like or hate him, but he's literally the first person who decided to dress up in a costume and fight crime! Before that, only Huntsmen were the closest thing compared to comics, but now that Spider-Man showed up people are really getting on the superhero craze!"
What Nora said was all too true. Jaune couldn't lie to himself when he can't walk a few feet without seeing Spider-Man on anyplace that wasn't reachable. It seems everyday people would talk about Spider-Man like it was a normal thing to do. Sure, there are still talk about celebrities, politics, fighting, and other topics that are thrown around Vale. Yet, almost everything gets back to the topic involving Vale's first superhero.
"I know for a fact that some want to become Huntsmen to either carry their family lineage," The roller derby like Huntress called out some reasons for some students wanting to be here. "And the other is to live out their childhood dreams of being a hero."
'Just like Ruby and me. Well, actually just Ruby since I'm not a student.' He had to remind himself that even if isn't part of their group he at least had another path to take. 'I didn't really have a choice in what I do per se. However, I can see how Nora would say that anyone who had a childhood can at least have common ground at wanting to be a hero.'
"I guess no matter how much we grow up, we all still hold on to some of our childhood wonder. Is that why you wanted to be a Huntress?" Wanting to go for a more light-hearted questions rather than a blunt approach. Jaune hoped that she can shed some light as to what her motives are for picking Beacon.
"Ren and I thought that this place is the best option!" Nora smiled. "Ren was the one who really thought that this will be the perfect place for us and I agreed! We get into great hijinks, (Sometimes) fun classes, and I totally get to fight with other students during sparring!"
'What was that last part about classes?' He couldn't understand if she said something before 'fun classes', like something was said but not at the same time. 'I wonder if I just imagined it. Oh well, that just makes me more worried about her and Ren are orphans. Cause not once did she say anything involving her or Ren's parents. I mean, I'm guessing there around my age, so there not a legal age to chose this line of work. Oh my god, now that I think about it, Blake never once talked about her parents. So, maybe she joined the Fang for not just equality, but also cause she's an orphan?'
Putting that thought aside, the reporter saw that he already filled enough notes from Nora that he's almost out of paper.
'Man, I can't believe I'm almost out of paper. Then again, I did buy this thing in a pharmacy store. Less pages, but dang the price was just too tempting for my broke self!'
Jaune remembered that he only has one person left and that even if Jaune couldn't get more out of Nora it doesn't mean he can't ask her if she wants to do this again.
"Say, Nora, I'm kind of running out of paper to take notes on and I want to save the rest for Pyrrha. So, is it ok if we can put a hold on this for now and next time we can talk again?"
"Sure, but before I leave, can I ask you a favor?"
"Ask a way, Nora."
"Even when you come and visit to do all this stuff, will there be times when you just want to hang out with us? My team always get into great shenanigans with Ruby's team and Ruby sometimes talks about another friend outside of Beacon." Nora was refereeing to him, since Jaune can only assume Ruby was mention him around her other friends enrolled in the school.
"What I'm trying to get at, is when you done doing this, does that mean you don't have a reason to be around here anymore? Cause I thought it would be fun if all of us spend time together rather then just having this as our only way as hang time."
Jaune had to stay silent to think about what Nora said to him. It's true, that he's mainly here just to write an article for helping team RWBY out of their jam involving the incident with the Paladin. Behind that veil was a favor from Whitley to make sure Jaune would do his best to make sure that Whitley's older sister, Weiss, would still be here for Whitley to have enough time to gain right to own their father's company.
"I liked that, Nora." Jaune smiled. "When all of this blows over, I would really enjoy knowing more about you guys."
Getting up from where he was sitting, Nora followed suit and tailed behind him as he opened the door for her.
"Hope Pyrrha is still here," He said as he tilted his head to give Nora the go a head to go out first. "I'm sure she must have walked away for a bit for waiting this long."
"She's not the only one waiting."
"Blake?" Looking out the hallway, he saw the bow wearing Faunus leaning on the wall across from the door. She was greeting the young hero with a flat stare and was accompanied by the crimson ponytailed Huntress who made a small wave of her hand.
"Hello!" Pyrrha spoke in a friendly tone. "I hope you're not leaving just yet."
"Nope, I was actually thinking you would be the one leaving."
"Well, I thought it would be impolite to just leave without saying anything."
'Speaking about leaving.' Jaune didn't fail to notice there are several missing faces that are no longer here. "What happened to everyone else? Did they decided to go somewhere else or something?"
"No," Blake was the one to answer Jaune's question. "Some students that are from Haven walked by and invited some of us to tag along to the cafeteria."
"Haven students?" The blonde had to raise an eyebrow at how odd that sounded. "Here? At Beacon?"
"For now, it's just Haven." Pyrrha joined in on the conversation. "The other kingdoms have already started to transfer their students into Beacon to get prepared for the Vytal festival. It's going to be quite large, so the other academies are moving their best here in advance to save time."
"Not to mention," Blake brought Jaune's attention back to her. "Ruby has always found a way to be fast friends with this team."
From the small twitch of her bow that Jaune saw, it seemed that Blake's hearing picked up something.
"Speaking about this team and our friends, they should be coming around the corner."
'Haven academy students. It would be really cool to see what other students from different academies are.'
"I wonder how long Jaune has today." Hearing a very familiar voice that was getting louder, Jaune could see a familiar shape emerging from the end of the hallway. "Hope he hasn't left- Hey, Jaune! Glad you're still here!"
"Hey, Ruby." Jaune smiled and waved his hand.
"Sup, Jaune." Yang was the next person to show up after Ruby. "Guess Blake's patience really did pay off. She really wanted to see you as soon as possible."
"Talk," Blake clarified Yang's statement. "I waited to 'talk' to Jaune again. Please, Yang, try to think what you say, I know it's hard, but I'm sure you'll develop your mental capacity if you continue to try."
The female Blonde didn't even try to talk back to her partner, she just stuck her tongue out at Blake.
"Oh! Jaune," Eyes filled with surprise at what she just thought of, Ruby stepped closer to jaune. "I'm so glad you out here right now and not in the middle of interviewing. I want you to meet some new friends I made here!"
'Man, she's really quick to make friends. I lucked out with Gwen and Harry, but Ruby has so many friends here I would think that she was starting her own clique.'
"The students from Haven, right?" Ruby looked surprised at how Jaune already knew that fact, so he told her how he got the information. "Blake told me before you walked around the hallway. I would love to see them, I mean, not only do I get to see Beacon student, but I also getting to know Haven academy too? Now that sounds like a good way to end today's visit."
"That's great! Hold on, I'll go tell them! There kind of staying stilling at the main hall talking to the rest of our group, but I'll go get them right now!"
Zooming back to the dorm's main hallway, the secret hero used the moment to talk to his last interviewee.
"Before she gets back, do you mind if we can hold off a little bit longer? Just a couple of minutes to indulge my curiosity about other Huntsmen academies."
"It's fine, Jaune." The bronze and gold armored Huntress gave Jaune a nof of understanding. "To be honest with myself as well, my team also haven't had time to know Ruby's new friends, so I'm perfectly fine to wait a little longer."
"He's right here, you guys." Jaune could here Ruby talking to her new friends.
"Looks like we get to see who Ruby's new friends are." Moving his body to make a proper introduction.
'Well, like mom always said: strangers are friends you haven't met yet.'
Smiling at the sight of Ruby, he can see she was motioning whoever was following her to pick up the ace. Wanting to get his introduction out of the way, Jaune walked forward with his smile still on his face and got ready to see who he was about to meet.
Jaune's smile soon morphed into one of shock when he caught sight of three very familiar faces. Though each one wore a façade of friendliness and harmlessness, they still couldn't hide who they truly are.
How could they, when the person they fought a few weeks back was standing right before them.
"I'm so happy we get to meet another of Ruby's friends." The girl with dark skin and green short hair spoke as if she was actually happy to meet him. Jaune feels the same way about her too, she did try to kill the first time they met so Jaune's resentment still lingers. "The name's Emerald, so happy to meet you."
Jaune instinctively moved an inch back as he saw Emerald raise her right arm, thinking that she might have pulled out a weapon if he wasn't careful. Sure, his spider sense wasn't picking up any serious threats, but the small pulses emanating from the back of his skull still warned him that the people in front of him were dangerous.
"S-sorry, I'm sorry!" His face began to blush from embarrassment when everyone noticed how he reacted to Emerald reaching out for a handshake. "I was just… caught off guard."
"From a handshake?" Emerald raised her right eyebrow. "Don't worry! I know we may look scary, but we here to fight Grimm, nor the people we're protecting!"
'Tell that to Tukson, the book store guy... or ME when you tried to shoot me!'
Having no choice but to shake her hand, Jaune grabbed Emerald's hand, gave it a single shake, and retracted his hand back to his side.
'Well, she's real and not one of her illusions. That's reassuring.'
"Here, let me introduce you to my team!" Moving to Jaune's left side, Emerald started with the only male in her team. "This guy over here, is Mercury."
"Yo," The grey-haired boy known as Mercury gave a two fingered salute to the Blonde boy. "Heard you're a reporter, does that mean I'll get famous if I'm in your little vlog?"
"It-it's an article about… Huntsmen and... stuff…" Jaune began to mumble, not up to the task of talking to the people who tried to kill him.
"Sorry if Mercury is being insensitive, Jaune." She gave him an apologetic look but glared at her partner. "We don't want to upset any of Ruby's friend's, right?"
Nodding his head to Jaune, the Huntsman-in-training from Haven apologized.
"Sorry if I disrespected you."
'Wish you said sorry when you literally kicked my head in to the floor'
"Don't worry about it, Mercury." The hero in secret shook his head to brush away any misunderstands between them. "I don't want anyone to kick someone in the head- Down! I mean, I don't want anyone to kick someone when they're down. So, you don't need to say sorry."
'You, Mercury, are the first criminal to ever apologize to me. Even if I still can't forget that you literally kicked my head into the floor.'
Satisfied that her teammate averted his mistake and almost making a scene, the criminal in hiding started to introduce her third member.
Though to everyone around Jaune, this will be officially the first time meeting her, cause the actual first time Jaune met this woman was thanks to Emerald using her semblance to distract him while Mercury and her escaped.
"And this is our team leader-" Emerald was about to speak her name, only to be stopped when their third member chose to speak on her behalf.
"It's nice to mean you, Jaune." Even though the hybrid hero was prepared to know who she was, he was still shaking at how smooth and gentle this girl-no, woman's voice sounded. "I hope you're enjoying Beacon, I know we are."
'Darn it,' Jaune begrudgingly started to get a bit anxious at how she was looking at him. 'I knew she was hot when she was just an illusion, but I kind of hoped she had the voice that didn't sound like those women you pay to hear when talking through the scroll.'
"Name's Cinder," The leader of those two crazy teens revealed her name. Going so far as to even lift her well-manicured hand in front of Jaune. "I can't wait to see what you'll talk about when you publish the next newspaper from the Bugle."
Suddenly, memories of Cinder, fire brimming from her eyes and hands as she commanded the power of flame to burn him came back into the front of his brain. Just so he was reminded that even if the Cinder he was fighting was a fake, the real one is standing right in front of him and wouldn't hesitate if he chose to tell his friends who these people really are.
"I hope my team and I get to become friends with you too." Jaune could have sworn her eyes gave just a flicker of flames, yet moving his sights around him only he seemed to notice.
Being as calm and collected as possible, the reporter reached to grab her hand and proceeded to shake. As he did so, he couldn't stop his thoughts from reminding him that she could use this moment to turn him to ash, now that he was within her grasp.
So, like usual, Jaune instinctively fell back on his defense mechanism when he gets involved with dangerous situations such as this.
Say the first thing that came to mind.
"You're hot." He said, yet what his mind was really talking about was this. 'Your hand is hot.'
It wasn't surprising what happened next.
[Pyrrha Nikos]
"Well," Jaune scribbled down her name on his notes, completely acting like nothing was out of the ordinary. "That was pretty wild back there, don't you agree?"
"Y-yes it was." The huntress still held some blush to her cheeks as her eyes met with Jaune's and quickly looked down. "I... I never expected that from happening. You are very vocal about things, Jaune."
'Oh don't mind my rambling that happened just a couple of minutes ago.' Jaune can still remember some of them RWBY and both of Cinder's cronies reacting to Jaune's so 'complement' to their boss. 'I usually do that when I'm literally staring death right in the face. Happy to see that others don't see that way.'
"Well, guess I can't help myself." Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "This place is practically a school for not just Huntsmen, but for those trying out to be the next top model. I can only count with one hand one non-super model in this school."
Jaune pointed his index finger right at him. "Me."
"Heh-Hmmf!" She stopped herself half way from Jaune's joke. "Really now, I never thought other people would think that."
"Pretty sure they wouldn't say that in front of you, but I guess that means I'm not most people." Jaune shrugged his shoulders, not really bothered by what he said in front of them.
How could he? When he's more concerned with the fact that Beacon has been infiltrated by killers pretending to be students.
'Seriously, I'm a good boy, I don't steal, kill, or litter and Beacon shuns me when I do the one bad thing which is forged papers. Yet, when actual bad people like Emerald, Mercury, and that fire lady do it, they get in? Where's the justice in that?'
For now, what Jaune can only do is just be a reporter. He knows who they are, but his friends don't and that makes him scared if Ruby or Blake decides to confront them about this.
'Ruby might not believe what I say, she would probably ask them straight up with no hesitation. Blake on the other hand will most likely stalk them just to keep tabs on them just to have enough evidence to give to the headmaster.'
A giant robot came to the forefront of his brain, that was soon changed with Blake and Sun running away from said robot.
'Yeah, I'm thinking too positive on Blake. She might just tell her team rather then the staff, would probably make things worst somehow. I don't want to think badly about her, but the best thing to do is keep it to myself. They're not hurting anyone, not yet, at least, so it's best to just act along for now.'
"Um, Jaune, is something the matter?" The reporter snapped out of his thinking when Pyrrha talked. "Your face has that serious look Blake usually gets when news talks about Spider-Man and crime involving Roman. Please don't tell her that! We always see her make that face, but we don't want to call her out and make her feel embarrassed!"
"No, no, no!" He shook his head. "I won't tell her, I promise!"
"I was just, trying to remember what question I was going to ask you." He flipped through his notes and found what he was looking for. "Ok, here it is. I asked this to Ren, but he said to ask you since he thought it was best to ask you directly. It's mostly about your team dynamic, I know Ruby has three other teammates, but you only have three. Can you explain why?"
"Well," The bright red head tapped her foot. "I guess it just has to do with who I am. I'm sure Ren or Nora must have told you who I am."
"No, not really." Jaune answered as he tapped the end of his writing tool on his notepad. "I just know your name and that's about it." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why? Is there something I should know."
"Oh-OH, um!" She looked surprised for some reason. "No, there's nothing really. What I meant is, um," Pyrrha looked like she was about to turn beat red with how she was struggling to tell Jaune something. "Cause I'm the only first year student without a partner!"
"Without a partner?" He gave her a quizzical look. "How come you don't have one?"
"It was cause I was able to finish the exams without needing help from someone." She frowned. "The staff was thinking about dropping me, but with my credentials showing my history in training they decided to give me a shot here."
'She's able to get in cause of how much she trained? That's impressive, yet I feel that there should be more. I mean, are the staff here in Beacon going to be that lenient on one student that didn't get a partner in the exams? Yes, yes they would, cause one of my friends outside is two years younger and was able to enroll in a school that have seniors old enough to drink.'
"That must make you the center of attention, huh? I mean, I'm sure Ruby gets her fair share of people talking about her since she skipped a grade or two. So, you guys have something in common, you know?"
"Yes, I agree." Her feet started to slow down from the tapping. "Though, I feel like she doesn't have to worry about that thanks to her partner and her sister being there for her. I don't want to sound ungrateful for all this though, cause if I decided to try next year then I wouldn't have met Nora and Ren. They're my best friends and I feel like I would be more miserable if the same thing happens a second time."
Writing some of his thoughts on paper, Jaune's mind kept getting more questions then answers coming from her.
'She's just like Ruby, both were given some privilege thanks to the headmaster. But, something bothers me about her not having a partner. Even if she's good, that doesn't mean that Beacon would break their rules that easily. I should ask someone about this, maybe Blake later today or some other time.'
"Let me guess, you're not very social around others?" He asked her. "Cause I strongly understand how you feel. This is my first time ever being in a major city in Vale, so when I got here I was overwhelmed with how many people live here. Most of my life I loved in Ansel, a small close knit village and you could already guess how a teen from the sticks felt like a fish out of water."
"Back to the main topic though, can you at least say that with the help of your team and friends that this place is starting to become bearable?"
"Yes, I have relied so much on my team for aid at times."
"You mean like training and studying?" Jaune could imagine that Ren was the smarts while Nora held the muscle. "It can't be helped, I'm sure the seniors of this school are way stronger and you all are still first years. It'll take time to get string and be on there level, I mean, everyone here starts off on even footing."
"Yeees," She dragged out the word. "As well as other things. However, for some small inconveniences I have come across, I stand my ground when I chose to partake in Beacon. This place is where every student from different kingdoms try their luck to enroll and I was just one of the few who made it in. My friends have come across criminals some veteran Huntsmen dare not even go against and stopped his acts of crime every chance they get. People lose sight on what matters when their life of comfort is at risk and their main action is to usually blame others who are part of whatever is causing them distress. I have no doubt in my mind that it could have been worse if Huntsmen didn't have a buffer to shield them even more bad rumors."
"Spider-Man." Jaune guessed, though he was sure he was right. "You're saying he's protecting Huntsmen? I find it hard to believe since more people are putting more favor on him then you guys."
"In one way of looking at it, but you also need to look at it in a different angle. People always likes a single person defying the odds and coming out on top, thinking that person could take on anyone and causing challengers to not even try to take their chances. Civilians are worried that Huntsmen can't keep them save and are now putting more stock into Spider-Man."
'Yeah, I can see how that works. Like booting some old model for something new and better.' The hero imagined him on top of a tall pedestal while being compared to some nameless Huntsman standing on a lower platform. "That's an odd way to look at that."
"W-well, one of my friends works for an agency that specializes in media and the like. I just hope that Spider-Man won't get complacent with where he's standing. The farther he goes up, the longer he falls down."
'That's not foreboding what so ever,' Flipping to the next page to write more, Jaune only stared at the backing of his notepad showing that it has no more blank pages. "Sorry, Pyrrha, I haven't really asked you questions and I'm already out of pages. You think we can try again next time?"
"I would like that, Jaune." Getting up from her chair, the leader of Nora and Ren gave the reporter her usual polite smile. "Talking to you was very enjoyable. I liked what we discussed and I hope you do well in your article."
'We just talked about some stuff that was kind of related to what I was hired to do. Does she mean she just liked that we just talked about Beacon? I do feel like I didn't really put much in asking more about her. Then again,' Memories played out involving Pyrrha fumbling with her words when talking about herself. 'Her name might be more than she's letting on. I should look in to that, oh! is this what reporters feel like when they have a scoop!? That's pretty cool!'
"You know, Nora asked me if ever I'm done with all this reporter stuff," The secret hero got on his feet from leaning on the desk. "That I might hang with you all afterwards. I would really enjoy knowing you guys more, if your ok with that."
"I think I would like that," She smiled. "Since we're done, then we should probably tell Ruby and her team that they can get back in their room now."
Jaune paused mid motion of opening the door for her, then quickly moved his hand to opened the exit door her Pyrrha to leave.
"Can you tell them to wait a bit longer?" He asked her a small favor. "I got to look over some of my notes. I know, I know, it's their room, but can you see if they can give, me some time?"
Choosing to help Jaune have some privacy, the leader of two excused herself leaving only Jaune to process the information he got today.
"MMFFFFF!" How he processed it was by clasping his two hands over his mouth and bellowed out a muffled scream. "Ok, I'm better now."
Taking a seat, the young spider placed his note taking gear in his bag and then focused on his other task as Spider-Man.
'I'm not sure how hard this will be without getting them involved. No, scratch that, what I mean is it's going to be harder when they get involved. The girls already have some unwanted attention on them, so I don't want to make it worse.' The web head rubbed both sides of his temples. 'Emerald and Mercury hit hard and fast, plus I'm sure if I fight the real Cinder then I'm positive it's going to be an uphill battle.'
(SIGH~) He let out a tired sigh, rubbing his eyes out of habit. "It's going to be one of those days it seems."
"Oh well, like Pyrrha said," Slapping his cheeks to snap him out if his mild funk, Jaune propped himself up and headed out to the hallway. As it stands, it was best to just let them act their part, for the small victory of knowing there at Beacon is still something to celebrate. "I'm not just protecting people nor I'm not just protecting Huntsmen either. I'm protecting my friends."
"And with the enemy literally unaware that I'm here," Pulling out his scroll, Jaune scrolled through his contacts and stopped when he found the name he was looking for. "There's no way I'm letting such an opportunity like this go to waste."
Bam! Here it is! The surprise twist of this chapter! Sure, you guys thought that this would just be some boring chapter of filler, but no! I just surprised you with new characters that aren't new to Jaune but can't tell that to his friends since that will cause trouble!
I'm sure most of you guys knew that this was coming, I mean, in Vol 2 Ruby encountered Cinder and her killer team, but before that it was Jaune who met them first! I wanted them to get introduced again since this is mainly focused on the plot of RWBY, so I hope this little cliff hanger will cause you guys to get more impatient when the next chapter gets out!
Also, when I thought of Ren and Nora talking to Jaune and why they wanted to be here, I felt that it would be too soon if they told him they are orphans. I feel like they will only tell him that when they truly trust him, but with how they answered Jaune's questions, Jaune can already connect the dots on the history of the two. He just doesn't want to bring it up or ask since that would be insensitive.
Weiss, yes, I kind of didn't put much progress for her, but like Jaune said he can't really compare her to everyday people. Out of everyone in team RWBY, Weiss's only relatable thing is her father prioritizing work over family. Plus, she knows how to talk to reporters due to her being so famous for the SDC, so of course she won't answer personal stuff not relating to why she's here. That's why she was starting to get angry when jaune was pushing for questions not about her.
Now, back to Ren and Nora, both I had planned as for them to mostly tell Jaune why there in Beacon and what it's like in class. Ren mostly told Jaune why both he and Nora chose Beacon, while Nora told Jaune how the staff in Beacon teaches their students. This is where Jaune sees the differences when dealing with normal students and Beacon students. Both are young and can't control their emotions, but normal teens usually have tailor made weapons on them the whole time their in school. I wanted to show that glaring flaw, that Beacon students could potentially lose it and would use their weapons, even if the school takes precautions, they don't really take into detail for the students semblance. I mean, we all see how even without weapons, student can still cause damage like the first episode in Vol 2.
As for the talk with Pyrrha, yes, some might thinks it's random and also not really on the mark with questions for the Bugle. But, don't forget, that Jaune is on his first day and is rather more reclined to his friends. I'm sure most of you were hoping for something more between the two, but they just met and she hasn't been fully honest since she's somewhat hesitant with reporters. Though, since Jaune said he doesn't know her, she can at least start trusting him, but she still holds her doubts.
For the introduction of Cinder and her crew, it was a long time coming and I thought it could change the pace for Jaune and his motivation to figure out what's happening in Vale. I felt like it was either show them now, since it would already be a likely chance he might see them on any other day, or at the dance arc which I thought would be too late in the story for them to finally show up.
Anyway, now that this has been out I think it's time to get the ball rolling for the next chapter, so I hope you guys will enjoy the next.
Hope you guys enjoyed this, I know most think that this wasn't worth the wait, but don't worry I'll make sure to get the ball rolling once more.
Like always, I like to thank my Beta reader who you guys should check, but before that make sure to like, fav, and comment on what you guys thought about this chapter. Thank you.
Omake: Happy Birthday Mankind!
The year... does not matter anymore, not after the fifth machine war that has ravaged the entirety of earth.
"Come on, sister!" A girl with straight red hair adorned with a flower on her right ear smiled at her sibling that looked just like her. "We don't want to miss this special day!"
"Yeah, yeah, you told me the same thing 2 minutes ago." Answered a girl that was identical to the first, but was sporting a more wilder hairstyle and the same flower on her left ear. Gave her other half a smile at understanding why her twin sister was acting so out of place.
"Besides, I'm the one carrying all this stuff back to camp." The one with the wild red hair motioned to their make shift cart that had sacks full of items they have scavenged from the surrounding ruins of some unknown city. "Maybe some help can make this go way faster, so we won't have to miss the important day?"
"Oh, sorry for letting you do all the work, Devola." Rushing to her twin's side, Devola's twin sister did her part and applied her own strength to push the crat faster.
"I can't blame you, Popola." Devola gave Popola a guilty look. "I'm also exited for today, I'm sure almost everyone in camp right now is getting ready for what's going to happen today!"
As the twins continued their treck down the broken road of an nameless street, the two could be considered so out of place considering everywhere around them is endless ruble of a dead city.
It has suffered many losses through out history, but humanity was not yet ready to experience strange creatures that came from the sky and bring death and disease upon man.
Yet, like always humans have found ways to adapt and overcome loss and hardship, finding ways to cope and move on with life. Some would say that their life was not as real as it was before the massive destruction happened, yet none could do anything knowing that life was already too small to consider more riskier options.
Still, what was left of humanity made the most out of it and for some time, humans were putting themselves back together.
"I see the camp!" Popola shouted with joy and used her right index finger to point at the location. "Let's go, Devola!"
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Following her sister's lead, both siblings doubled their speed and closed the distance between themselves and their home. "Finally we're back!"
"And not a moment too soon," Popola could already see some small shops vacant with their owner no longer in sight. "They must be crowding around to the only screen working right now. Bet the boss is barking out orders to get them all in line, so everyone can see it starting."
"Hmm-hm." Nodding her head, Devola scanned around to find their section of camp. Spotting where they usually sell their items, Devola and Popola parked their cart near their space and started to stop off their goods. "Hope the parts we got will be useful for everyone."
Letting out all the contents, what was shown was chips, circuits, wires, and other electronic based components used for machines.
"I think some of this will be nice for those who were damaged from patrols." Popala picked up a random chip and examined it. "This one should help with increasing one's strength, so we could get some more currency if we find more in this pile."
Indeed, humanity found ways to survive that dreaded sickness, yet a new crisis soon reared it's head in the form of extraterrestrial life. These enemies from space sent droves of machines to wipe out humanity, yet even with such numbers over whelming them mankind still adapted.
Their solution to the machines sent by their alien adversaries were androids, designed in humanity's image that battled the machines to a stalemate. The first war waged on for so long, it was hypothesized that it would last far longer then anticipated. Causing the last remnants of mankind to make one last effort of surviving was by leaving earth and living on the moon.
leaving their creations, Popola and Devola for example, to battle this never ending war with the machines. Earth is entirely inhabited by machines and androids now, with a few exceptions being animals that survived both the sickness that came from a different dimension and the multiple battles both sides clashed in.
"I don't want to sort them, I want to go and see if it's starting!" This time, it was Devola's turn to be impatient. "I don't want us to be in the back, we might not be able to see much."
"Then it's a good thing your getting a chance to be in the front row." That wasn't Popola that spoke, rather, it was a third figure standing in front of them.
"Anemone!" Devola and Popola said simultaneously.
"Come on you two!" She smiled, a very rare thing for the leader of the camp. Yet, for this day of the year, even a hardened veteran in the war of the machines can relax for a moment. "It's about to start. Hope you guys don't mind cramped spaces, cause everyone is jammed in to watch."
Leaving their belongings where they lay, the twins followed their leader to the main base of operations where they can see almost everyone from camp trying their best to make enough room for everyone to see.
"Follow me and stay close." Anemone told the two as she made her way to the front of the large crowd with both girls close behind her. Reaching the other side of the crowd, the boss of this camp asked one of her men an update. "How much longer?"
"Your in luck," Said a man who was tweaking some wires behind the semi large screen. He looked like everyone else around him, yet the one things most noticeable about him was his old leg showing rusted and almost broken android parts. "It's starting in 20 seconds."
Seeing the small window getting smaller, Anemone tilted her head at the twins to find a good place to sit down. "Ok! Everyone, shut up and calm down! It's starting!"
Not a single sound was made when all the androids were told that the screen was about to turn on. None of them dared to make another sound, lest they were forced out and not able to see such an important even about to unfold only once a year.
Moving her head to scan for anyone that could cause a disturbance, Anemone stepped out of the monitors way and took her seat next to the twins.
Just as the man with the old robotic leg said, 20 seconds were up and the screen flashed to life showing a very familiar symbol that was used by an elite group that defends the last humans living on the moon. YoRHa is that group and they alone are the one's who always release a video to earth for all androids to remind them why they fight.
What was shown on a screen was not the usual motivational speech, but rather it was showing a woman in white. Her appearance was that of a commander, riding crop in hand as she walked forward to gettinf the camera a closer look at her. The commander of YoRHa gave a presence of order and power, her uniform was clean and also showed the right places that complemented her body well.
"Fellow androids," The commander raised both arms the her sides. "Today, is a glorious day!"
No one in the camp said anything, yet everyone one can feel the excitement for what's about to happen.
"Every day, we fight our enemies, not knowing when it could be our last." The woman holding the riding crop sounded depressed, showing everyone that even the strongest of veterans have their ups and downs. Then, like it never happened, her face no longer held defeat, rather it held hope. "But, today is not those days! For today, we celebrate!"
Switching to a different camera, what was shown made every single android who was sitting in front of a screen clapped for joy.
For what was being shown was their reason to fight, to die, and to hope that their sacrifice will be one step closer for their creators to come home.
In the center of every camp's monitor scattered around the entire world was a human, a being that gave them a purpose for existing. That said human, wearing a party hat was sitting in front of a table that had a luscious cake signifying a most sacred human tradition.
A birthday.
"Happy birthday." Said the leader of YoRHa, her left hand flat on her chest and what came next out of her held firm belief and conviction. "Glory to mankind!"
"..Glory to mankind!" Shouted one of the androids within the large group. Like a trail of dominos, more and more androids soon chanted the same thing, chanting their creators as they celebrate the one day within the year to remember that this war was worth fighting for.
"Glory to mankind!"
"Glory to mankind!"
"GLORY TO MANKIND!"
[The Bunker; Unknown location]
"Glory to mankind!" Said one of the YoRHa androids as he watched with glee at the sight of what was displayed on the T.V.
"9S," A female's voice was heard from behind him. "Pay attention to what your doing."
"Oh!" The android known as 9S swiveled his head back to his current objective. "Sorry, Ma'am! Just got carried away! It is a special day, afterall."
"It's understandable," The Android 9S was making a scan on was a woman who laid on her bed as she stared at her ceiling and waited for her check up to be done. "It's only once a year."
"That's what makes human birthday's so special." The male android started to drone on about humanities culture. "They only do this once a year and never do the same thing! They constantly change and it's never by design!"
"All the more reason to get our feet on actual dirt to get rid of these machines." The woman said in the same tone of voice just a few seconds ago, neutral and lifeless. "Am I done?"
Doing one quick scan, the 9S model gave her a nod of approval and stepped away for his superior to start her day. "Your in peak performance."
"Good," Wasting no more time, the battle ready android lifted herself off her bed and walked out her room. "I'll be heading out soon, make sure you get your gear ready."
"But, but," 9S sounded distressed. "It's such a special day! The commander did say personal can take a moment to rest."
"It's already been a moment," She turned to look back at the scanner model. "The machines don't take holidays, so let's go."
"Yes, ma'am," He sighed in defeat, only to look straight at his superior with a stone cold look. Sticking out his chest, 9S placed his left hand flat on his torso and spoke YoRHa's signature phrase. "Glory to mankind."
Standing at attention, the battle model android placed her hand flat on her chest and spoke the same conviction and hope as the screen showing the human blowing out the candles.
"Glory to mankind."
A/N: I got a sudden idea from this after playing Nier: Automata and read several fanfics about this game, so I got curious and decided to make this an omake... or maybe more in the future.
