"Jack…"
"Yeah?"
"You ever wonder why we're here?" Nora asked.
"You know, Nora, I used to not care. I just went along with orders and hoped that everything would work out for me," Jack said as he scratched at his face, thinking back to the time he spent behind a bone-white mask. "But after all that's happened, you know what I've learned? It's not about hating the guy on the other side because someone told you to. I mean, you should hate someone because they're an asshole or a pervert or a snob, or they're lazy or arrogant or an idiot or a know-it-all. Those are reasons to dislike somebody. You don't hate someone because someone told you to; you have to despise people on a personal level, not because they're Human, or because they're Faunus, but because you know them and you see them every single day, and you can't stand them because they're a complete and total fucking douchebag," he spoke, somehow blending sagely words with a crass tongue, the Faunus slowly angling his head to the side until he was looking Jaune dead in the eye.
'Fuck you too, asshole,' Jaune huffed as he flipped Jack the bird from under the table, only for the Faunus to use his ludicrous pedal dexterity to grab the offending finger and bend it backwards.
" . . . I meant, why are we out here in the sun when we could be eating over there in the shade?" Nora asked with a tilt of her head, Jaune biting a knuckle on the opposite hand so he wouldn't scream out like "some girl".
"Oh. Yeah, okay," Jack hummed as he slid his foot back into his sandal. "Let's go eat in the shade," he finished, grabbing his tray and moving over to an outdoor table in the shade with the ginger-haired girl, leaving Jaune to nurse his injured hand.
"You should probably avoid flipping people the bird under perforated tables," Pyrrha chastised as she gestured to the rubber-laminated wire-mesh table they were eating on.
" . . . Am I the only one who's noticed that all normal breakfast conversation has completely abandoned us?" Weiss asked after a brief pause.
"Meh. Normal is boring," Yang shrugged as she ate some sausage.
"Yah. Bowing."
"Ruby, don't talk with your mouth full," Weiss groaned as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.
*GIANT-SLAYER*
After a rather uneventful breakfast, Teams RWBBY and JNPR reconvened to the common room in their dorm, the space largely to themselves for the time being. Nora was animatedly playing a game of ping pong, zipping from side to side with grandiose movements whereas Ren simply stood in place and coolly returned every shot fired. Pyrrha was striking up conversation with Jaune who, due to the quote-unquote "altercation" that morning at breakfast, was icing his finger with a bag of frozen peas. Blake and Jack was sitting in the corner reading while Yang was pestering the raven-haired girl over her taste in literature, whereas Ruby was on the couch with Weiss, forcing her to watch a TV show coming up in the next couple minutes.
"So… What exactly is it you're forcing me to sit through?" Weiss asked as the after-show commercials for the previous time-slot were ending.
"Only the first episode of my favorite series ever!" Ruby squealed with a smile as she shut off her Scroll, a TV guide vanishing moments later. "Now hush, it's staring," she said as the screen went to black.
The screen suddenly lighting up, a massive cityscape came into view, green-tinged skyscrapers with their sides speckled by golden lit windows came into focus. Slowly the camera panned upward toward a jet-black skyline, the great spires tipped with red lights that pierced the darkness.
"It is the near future. A growing psychic population threatens the status quo…" the opening scene's narrator intoned with a captivating voice.
The scene then shifted to a far-off shot of the city, the once-massive skyscrapers resembling children's toys before a monstrous monolith, whose girth was so great it not only eclipsed the buildings at its heels, but also pierced the very heavens forcing the clouds to bend around it. At the monolith's sides ere two massive wings giving it an almost god-like presence, radiant light coming from a cross-shaped glean that bathed everything in a green-tinged hue.
"But order is maintained under a giant conglomerate: the Sumeragi Group."
Cue Azure Striker Gunvolt OST - Infiltration
"The hero is a fourteen year-old boy who goes by GV, a psychic with the power of lightning who works for the anti-Sumeragi resistance group, Quill," the narrator continued as a prompt labeled Azure Striker Gunvolt appeared on the screen, a blue-eyed teen with spiky blond hair with a long braided ponytail, clad in a futuristic bodysuit and coat colored varying shades of blue with black accents appearing on the right side of the screen, the left side dominated by a sub-screen showing "GV" running around a building and firing darts at dangerous-looking robots, discharging arcs of blue lightning in every direction.
"These are the members of Quill. Together with GV they fight against Sumeragi for the freedom of all psychics," the narrator continued as a series of screenshots appeared. The first screenshot had a prompt labeled Asimov; featured in it was a tall silver-haired man with a blue visor on his face and a green sniper rifle in his hands, his attire consisting of a futuristic tactical bodysuit colored shades of black and gray, the small gold and silver accents on his chest and shoulders respectively denoting rank.
The second screenshot had a prompt labeled Zino; the so-named Zino was a lanky young man with golden eyes, lightly-tanned skin, and spiky dark-burgundy hair with a brightly-colored fringe on top, a black assault rifle thrown over his right shoulder while in his right hand he held up a brown-colored pistol. His attire consisted of a black skin-tight suit underneath a futuristic looking blue jacket with an upturned collar, black chaps, and black forearm guards and fingerless black gloves on his arms.
The final prompt was labeled Moniqa; she was a beautiful young woman with a heart-shaped face, bright green eyes, and hazel colored hair pulled back in a ponytail, her attire consisting of a gray-colored business suit and skirt with a white black-accented streak running down the center, the neck and shoulders of the attire and the fingerless gloves on her hands colored black. In her left hand she held a tablet, while numerous holographic screens floated around her.
Each screenshot featured the three of them in their varying fields of expertise. Asimov blew the heads off enemy robots from a mile away, Zino gave ground-based cover fire, while Monica provided minute-to-minute updates on battlefield logistics.
Cue Azure Striker Gunvolt OST – Eternal Blue
The next moment the scene changed to another screenshot. Set in a dark room, sleeping within a glass-lidded coffin against the black wall was a small child with half-lidded red eyes, lavender-colored hair with two darker-colored "antennae" drooping down, and clad in a light blue blouse with three dark-blue zippers running down from the collar, small silver cuffs on each wrist. Floating a short distance in front of the sleeping child was a beautiful blond-haired woman with green eyes, two long pink-colored antennae-like strands of hair, and a black butterfly-like hair bow with glowing blue accents. Her attire was reminiscent to that of a shrine maiden, albeit with an incredibly short skirt instead of hakama and a diamond-shaped cleavage window, her sleeves colored black and separated from the torso with glowing accents to resemble butterfly wings, and white thigh-length socks with electric blue and black accents. Sprouting out of her sides were a pair of ephemeral butterfly wings with digital cores at the base.
"GV meets the young girl Joule, and her psychic avatar, Lumen, whose songs instill GV with greater powers."
The following scenes portrayed Gunvolt squaring off against multiple powerful enemies. A massive bio-mechanical plant spitting out hundreds of mechanical bees, a red quadrupedal robot with gun-arms shooting out countless missiles, and an insect-like robot firing a powerful laser beam at a moving train as Gunvolt dodged it.
"Even as he faces these threats, GV holds the key to the world's future."
Moments later the screen faded to white, then to blue, the show's named –AZURE STRIKER- GUNVOLT appearing on-screen, Gunvolt standing in the front, Joule and Lumen over his shoulder, Quill's members on the right side of the screen, while the left was dominated by who Weiss could only assume were high-ranking members of the Sumeragi Group. Moments later the screen faded to black, a passing quote hewn in blue letters striking out against the darkness.
When lightning strikes, a new legend will be born.
"I love this show!" Ruby squealed with her hands in front of her face, fidgeting like mad in her seat as the opening sequence came to an end.
*BZAP!*
The screen immediately opened to an all-metal room following the sound of an electric discharge. Sitting with his arms tied behind his back was the show's titular character, Gunvolt, head hung low and face shadowed. Standing over him was a tall man clad in a black gold-accented military uniform and blue rubber gloves, his hair a light shade of blue, dark blue lipstick on his lips, and thick eyeliner giving him an effeminate look.
*BZAP!*
Once more the sound of an electric discharge pierced the air, the cause being that the makeup-wearing man had just lashed Gunvolt across the chest with what was clearly an electrified whip.
"Huph…" Gunvolt huffed.
"Well, terrorist? Are you ready to admit it?" the blue-haired man asked, a vein bulging in his forehead. "Or shall I loosen your lips with another crack of the Electroscourge?" he asked as he drew the whip taut in his hands. "Quill sent you here to destroy the Muse. To silence her… Am I right? Well, the Sumeragi Group is smarter than you scum."
"So the show's titular character… is a terrorist," Weiss huffed as she crossed her arms.
"Shush. It's not that black-and-white," Ruby shushed.
"We've already moved our little virtual canary to safety," the man went on to say, the screen transitioning to a still of the butterfly-like woman from the opening sequence, her eyes closed and her hands clasped in prayer as dozens of butterflies of light danced around her. "In other words… you've wasted your time. What do you think of that?"
Gunvolt's only answer was that of silent defiance.
"How old are you, boy? Did Quill promise to pay you big vig for the job? A shame you won't ever hear the Muse's Anthem again- You'll never feel the ecstasy as her music laps at your auditory cortex…" he went on to say with an almost orgasmic glee. "Truly a drug for the mind. Anyway… she's on a freight train out of here as we speak. And you, boy, will die in the silence."
"Man, your lips are way looser than mine…" Gunvolt smirked, the music beginning to pick up.
"Wha-?! You can still move?" the blue-haired man gaped. "But that's impossible! The Scourge pumped enough electricity into you to-"
"I am electricity," the golden-haired teen said cryptically. The next moment arcs of azure lightning danced across his form, the chains shackling him shattering into molten bits that released smoke into the air, the camera panning up his body as he stood, a futuristic-looking gun held down in his left hand, while his right was raised, the source of the electricity dancing over his form.
"This lightning… It's Septimal power! Y-Y-You're an Adept?" the blue-haired man gawped as he fell backwards onto his ass in fear.
"Ding ding. Thanks for the whipping. I needed a good recharge," Gunvolt shrugged off as he walked past his would-be interrogator, the grown man too frightened to move from his spot or intervene.
"Azure light… You're Gunvolt… The Azure Striker!" the man said as a look of realization crossed his face.
"Now, time to hunt down the Muse," Gunvolt said as he left the room, his finger going to his ear. "GV to Base. Open the line," he ordered.
"We read you, Gunvolt. Nice to hear you're not dead," a woman's voice replied, the scene changing to show Moniqa in a darkened room looking at security footage of Gunvolt running down the hallway.
"Not the time. Update the mission params. Sumeragi has moved the target. They put the Muse on a freight train out of the facility. I'm in pursuit."
"Negative. We should vet the intel to make sure it's not a trap."
"Judgment overruled. Gunvolt, you are clear to pursue," a mature-sounding voice interjected, Asimov walking forward to stand behind Moniqa's seat. "He can handle himself, Moniqa. Just keep scanning for changes."
"Yes, sir. Play nice out there, GV," Moniqa advised, the scene transitioning to an over-the-shoulder look at GV as he fired metallic barbs into a mounted turret. The barbs didn't seem to do any kind of damage, but that immediately changed as Gunvolt loosed a torrent of electricity, causing it to detonate moments later.
"Zino, are you patched in?" Asimov asked.
"Affirmative, boss man. I caught it all. Moving into support position," a third voice said over the comms. "You know, in case Geeves actually decides to let me help. Right, Geeves?"
"I'll take it under advisement," the blond-haired teen returned as he continued to flee the facility, shooting barbs into multiple hovering robots and short-circuiting them as he dodged energy bullets.
"Advisement? Gee, thanks. I feel loved now," Zino sighed.
"Alright, enough. You've got a Muse to deprogram. Asimov out."
The scenes that followed were rather light on dialogue. When Gunvolt reached a deactivated elevator, the Narrator revealed that Gunvolt's weapon, the Dart Leader, fired stands of his hair coated with a highly-conductive metal, which allowed his power, his Septima, to direct its energy at specified targets instead of radiating indiscriminately around him. Super-charging the elevator until it slammed into the top of the shaft, Gunvolt was soon met with a falling shutter, a series of guns folding out and firing at him, the teen dodging as he "Tagged" it before activating his "Flashfield". He then super-charged his body with electricity, afterimages trailing in his wake as he tore down the hallway, passing under the falling shutters before they could obstruct his path and flying over any mechanical opposition that got in his way.
The final scene was Gunvolt running sidelong down a hallway lined with floor-to-ceiling windows, and down below it was a freight train pulling out of the station. The teen pouring on the heat, he fired multiple barbs into the window at the corner of the building, weakening its structural integrity before he threw himself through the weakened glass, soaring through the air before landing on the last cart of the freight train in a heroic fashion.
After that the show cut to commercial.
"So… What do you think so far?" Ruby asked excitedly.
"It's… interesting," the heiress admitted in an uncertain tone.
"Well, what did you watch in Atlas on Saturday mornings?" Ruby asked with a huff.
"Nothing. My father didn't let me watch TV growing up," Weiss returned. Trying to watch high-def TV on a smuggled-in Scroll while trying to hide the use of occupied bandwidth was "a bitch and a half" to hide from her father.
" . . . You poor, deprived child," Ruby said patting the heiress on the head.
"Don't you take that tone with me!" the heiress snapped as she slapped the girl's condescending hand away.
"It's so weird seeing Weiss pitied by someone else," Jack whispered.
"I know, right? Normally Weiss is the one looking down on everyone else, but now we've got Ruby offering her condolences," Yang returned.
"Yeah… Let's keep watching," Jack said as he and Yang moved to one of the nearby sofas, Blake trailing behind them out of curiosity, while Team Juniper followed behind out of a piqued interest for what Ruby and Weiss were watching.
*GIANT-SLAYER*
When the show resumed, Gunvolt had hit the ground running, his braided ponytail and the lapels of his coat flapping in the wind. Firing shots out of his signature weapon at anything that moved, robots and armed troopers alike fell to Gunvolt's psychokinetic power, brilliant streaks of azure lightning shearing across the night sky in the backdrop. The machines that barred the Azure Striker's path rose and fell like dutiful mechanical pawns, while those that were human praised the Muse even as they were thrown over the side of the freight cars.
A rumbling sound following the *clickity-clack* of the freight train on the tracks at his feet, Gunvolt looked over his shoulder to see a massive quadrupedal robot with green armor, two gun-arms, and a silver face-plate with golden visor tearing down the neighboring set of tracks after him. Briefly stopping abreast beside him, its visor glinted before it leapt up onto the open area in front of him, skids folding down over the wheels and a large heat sink jutting out of its back to vent heat as the face plate opened, a mechanical hiss-like scream accompanying the cloud of steam as Gunvolt fell into its crosshairs.
Gun-arms opening up in a salvo of gunfire, Gunvolt zig-zagged around the freight cart to dodge the gunfire. The blond-haired hero leaping over and around the nearby crates, Ruby squealed in delight with stars in her eyes as the show's titular hero displayed super-human feats of speed. Rounding on the machine once the salvo ended, Gunvolt fired a volley of darts into its face, the projectiles lodging themselves into the faceplate while bouncing off its visor. The large shoulder pads opening, a large bank filled with silver red-tipped missiles was revealed.
"Flashfield!" the Azure Striker shouted as he threw out his hands, a massive sphere of lightning in shades of blue, black, and every color in-between filling the air around him. As arcs of white lightning spilled out of him and struck the machine in the face, the missiles themselves harmlessly detonated against the field surrounding him, the shrapnel and even the smoke repelled by the Adept's electromagnetic field.
Moments later the thing's visor went dark and it collapsed onto its belly, legs seemingly giving out behind it and heat sink popping out of its back. Gunvolt scoffing at the ease with which he beat that thing, he ran past it towards the front of the train, only for the machine's visor to light back up. Skids retracting and the thing spinning a 180 on now-exposed wheels, Gunvolt looked over his shoulder in time to see the muzzles flashing from both gun-arms. Without any cover to use, though Gunvolt dodged, a few rounds still tore into him in non-vital areas, the wounds in his flesh and tears in his clothes slowly mending as tiny sparks of electricity danced off his form. Missile banks opening once again, Gunvolt huffed irritably as sparks danced across his frame.
Gunvolt summoning his Flashfield and repelling the missiles as easily as the first, he raised his sidearm and launched another volley of darts into its face, arcs of lightning trailing behind them before they found home. The Adept pouring out his Septimal power until the thing collapsed once again, Gunvolt ran forward, using the machine's face like a ladder before he landed on its back, leveling his weapon and pumping the exposed heat sink full of metal. Flashfield spilling out around him, not only did the arcs of electricity spilling out of his body grind into the exposed tech, but the very energy field itself whittled away at its durability. Sparks not the Adept's own beginning to dance across the frame, Gunvolt jumped off of its back as he continued to run to the front of the freight train, plumes of fire and smoke belching out of the thing's frame before it violently exploded, its pieces scattering onto the platform or over the side.
The closer he got to the front of the train, the more-intense the opposition became. Where once aerial drones barred his way, what now barred his path were bulky machines wielding massive chainsaws. Where once the Sumeragi soldiers wielded only blasters, they now wielded rocket launchers and grenades. Gunvolt electrocuted the chainsaw-wielding robots from a distance, while summoning his Flashfield to nullify the Sumeragi soldiers' missiles before getting right in their faces and electrocuting them. The Sumeragi soldiers that had the foresight to bear energy shields assumed they were safe, only for the Azure Striker to leap high over their heads, blindly firing his weapon behind him and electrocuting them into paralysis as he passed.
Nearing the front of the train, Gunvolt quirked a brow as he saw Sumeragi soldiers pushing whatever crates they could over the side of the train, while those they couldn't push they destroyed with bombs. Gunvolt super-charging himself with electricity and running into the middle of the lot, the world tinted to blue and his perception of time accelerated, the soldiers moving in slow motion as he fired off his Dart Leader, afterimages left in his wake as he tagged each and every one of them, before simultaneously defeating the bunch with his Flashfield.
Checking those that hadn't been thrown over the side of the train, the hairs on the back of Gunvolt's neck stood on end and he threw himself to the ground, a massive energy beam shearing through the air he once stood. Looking up, he saw another quadrupedal mech like the one from before, the source of the massive energy beam being the emitter in its then-exposed face plate. Missile banks opening up, the Azure Striker let his Flashfield fill the air around him with electricity, numerous missiles harmlessly splashing against the sphere of Septimal power. However, the missiles continued coming, Gunvolt realizing that the missile banks on this second machine were much larger too late as he ran out of Septimal power, a single missile bypassing his defenses and slamming into his chest, throwing him over the side of the freight car and out of view.
"Well… that was certainly something…" Weiss said as the show cut to commercial.
While as a child the bulk of her time had been spent studying or practicing, always being told that her best was "never good enough", at times her father would take her out to see the live weapons testings whenever his company had completed a new weapon to sell to the country's military. At one point she'd seen the early iteration of the quadrupedal weapons platform aptly nicknamed "Spider Droid", so she had seen similar weapons to that of the green-armored mech from the show she'd just watched. Looking at it analytically, dodging a beam-based weapon that fired charged energy at the speed of light was actually quite impressive, and probably extremely terrifying someone fighting on foot.
That Gunvolt could face such weapons without any backup, "Septimal power" or not, even as a fictional character she could admit had piqued her interest. While she wasn't fidgeting in her seat like Ruby was, Weiss too was anxious to see how the episode would be concluded.
*GIANT-SLAYER*
One more commercial break and the show eventually returned to what Weiss assumed to be its final segment, the end of the half-hour slot drawing near.
The large quadrupedal weapon stomping towards the edge of the freight car where Gunvolt had disappeared over behind a cloud of smoke, telescopic eyes peered down the tracks running in parallel, sensors scanning for any type of remains that would confirm termination of its primary target. The camera panning down, it revealed that Gunvolt had his back pressed to the underside of the previous cart, arcs of electricity dancing between the soles of his feet and his fingertips as he held himself in place with electromagnetism, the train tracks blurring by in front of him.
Moments later, Gunvolt threw his legs out in what was contextually a back flip, throwing himself over the forward lip of the cart he was hiding under as he soared through the air, Dart Leader unloading a volley of superconductive projectiles into the face of the caught-unaware mech. Weapons lining up, Gunvolt let out a yell as he summoned a smaller Flashfield around himself, larger bolts of electricity spilling out of him and into the thing's face, circuits overloading before its visor dimmed and it collapsed, heat sink leaping out of its back.
Not wasting any time, Gunvolt ran forward, vaulting up onto the thing's back with parkour before drawing back his fist. Arcs of electricity dancing around the limb as the machine's visor lit up and it bucked under his feet, the electrified fist slammed into the casing of the heat sink, glass cracking before the thing suddenly shattered and was blown in two. Angry sparks dancing across the machine's frame as its visor flickered, the two were engulfed in a flaming mushroom cloud that could be seen across the city. After a few seconds, a slightly-singed Gunvolt leapt up out of the smoke and onto the freight cart, brushing his spiky blond lochs out of his face as he looked back at the now-smoldering wreckage of the quadrupedal weapons platform behind him.
Looking around and satisfied that no more opposition lied between him and his objective, Gunvolt holstered his weapon as he walked forward, the front compartment of the freight train closer than he had initially realized.
The scene transitioning to the inside of a darkened room, a futuristic door suddenly opened, green-tinted light from the surrounding city spilling into the room as Gunvolt entered, the whipping of his hair and coat in the wind ceasing as the door closed behind him.
"This is the last car. Sumeragi must've hidden the Muse Program here…"
A few errant beeps and clicks sounded followed by the sound of fans spooling up, tiny lights on computer banks spanning the walls multiplying as the room began to light up.
"What the gack?! Where's the server?" Gunvolt asked as the room continued to light up. "Are you telling me that... No. No way!"
The screen then transitioned to a small girl, Joule, from the opening sequence. This screenshot was much closer to the subject, showing the frail girl now enclosed in a metal cocoon with a pained look on her face. The girl was little more than a child, wrists, ankles, and neck shackled by silver restraints, numerous wires connected to her. Sitting atop her head like a perverse crown was a blue metal apparatus that wrapped around the top and the back of her head, the largest of wires connected to it as though she were some kind of power source.
"Wh-Who are… you?" a tiny voice suddenly asked, though the girl's lips did not move. "Are you… new here? You don't look… like a scientist…"
"She's talking to me telepathically. Is she also an Adept?" Gunvolt asked in response to the voice that probed his mind, though sensed no further intrusion than that.
The next moment a mote of light flew out of the metallic sarcophagus, only for it to explode in a flash of light. Moments later the white gave way to the dimmed room, though now there were numerous motes of blue-colored light dancing like fireflies, and in the center like their queens hovered the phantasmal avatar, Joule. Though her shoulders, part of her chest, and bits of her thighs were bare, enough was covered to remain tasteful, though by the woman's shape she was definitely more "mature" than the sleeping child.
"My name is Lumen. They call me the Muse," the butterfly-priestess-like woman spoke into the Azure Striker's mind. "But I'm just a projection. A manifestation of this girl's Septimal power. You're not with Sumeragi, are you? If that is so, then free her. Free us both!" she pleaded.
" . . . Moniqa, do you read?" Gunvolt asked into his earpiece. "Update the params. I've engaged the target… But the Muse isn't a program at all. She's a human girl. An Adept."
"What?!" the woman asked in shock.
"She's not hostile. Sumeragi has been holding her against her will," Gunvolt clarified.
"That sounds like their style for sure," Zino piped in.
"New objective: I'm going to extract the girl and-"
"Negative. Your primary objective stands," Asimov cut in. "Eliminate her."
"What?!" Weiss gawped.
"Asimov! She's just a kid!" Gunvolt pleaded, displaying a compassion completely absent as he laid waste to the countless Sumeragi troopers he'd torn through on his way to that place.
"And so are you. Doesn't matter. She's still a threat," Asimov said firmly. "There's no way to help her, anyway. How will you get her past the reinforcements closing in on you? Where will she live? With us? Surrounded by guns?"
"You don't… It's not that simple!" Gunvolt argued.
"It's okay…" the child, Joule, replied, a small frown tugging at her face. "I'd rather die… than stay here," she said, words no child should ever be put in the position to say. "I'm tired of Sumeragi using my Anthem to hurt people. I deserve to be silenced. Do it… please…"
'I won't…' Gunvolt thought to himself. 'When Asimov pulled me out of that hellhole… I thought I deserved to die too… But he gave me a purpose,' he said as he clenched his fist. "Look, don't give up! You're alive for a reason! And if you need someone to help you find it, I'll be your compass. Pretend you can have anything you want. What would you wish for?" he asked as he stepped forward.
Cue Azure Striker Gunvolt OST – The Muse's Tears
"Anything? Well…" Joule thought, the music beginning to take an upbeat tone. "I want to be free… I want to stand at the top of the world and see it all!" she asked, tears spilling down her slumbering face.
"The top of the world… Alright. Then that's where I'll take you," Gunvolt said walking through the hologram of Lumen. Placing his hand upon the metal sarcophagus, small sparks danced around his fingertips and into the machine "Hey Asimov… I'm done. I've decided to leave Quill," he said as the lights on the restraints blinked out before suddenly snapping open. "You pulled me out of a bad place and made something out of me. I won't forget that. But now, I want to do the same for this girl. I want to give her a chance," he said as the sides of the glass casing in front of the girl began to hiss.
"What chance? You can't free her until we free the world," Asimov argued.
"That's your opinion," Gunvolt countered.
"Fine. We don't run a democracy here. Quill has no room for dissenters," the commander returned, his words causing Weiss to shift uncomfortably in her seat. "You're off the roster. So long, Gunvolt."
"What?! Oh come on! Both of you!" Moniqa shouted.
"Yeah, what's with all the drama?" Zino asked.
"No drama, this is just something I have to do. Moniqa, Zino- I'm gonna miss you."
" . . . Take the girl and go. Quill will hold off Sumeragi's reinforcements," Asimov said after a few moments. " . . . Good luck kid."
"You too… Asimov," Gunvolt said with a smile as a small split appeared in the glass casing, cold air beginning to spill out as the door folded out to the sides. Reaching in and removing the mechanical crown from the girl's head, Gunvolt gently took her into his arms, a hand behind her back and beneath her legs. As her eyes began to open, she looked up at the face of her savior, the sparks from his body mingling with the surrounding light…
'They're like feathers…' the girl thought, the boy that had saved her resembling a guardian angel as he carried her out of Sumeragi's clutches. "Are you an angel?" she asked aloud.
"Definitely not… The name's Gunvolt. What's yours?"
"I'm Joule," the girl replied, a small smile on her face as she leaned her head onto the boy's left shoulder as the screen faded to black. "Sparks rose from him like azure feathers. For a moment, I really thought he had wings," she narrated through the darkness. "I'll never forget that day we met- My first taste of a freedom that couldn't last."
Cue Azure Striker Gunvolt OST – Beginning of a Long Night
A few moments later the screen changed to the glowing-green cityscape, the music suddenly becoming more ominous as the screen panned upwards.
"It's only been a few decades since the first Adepts showed up- Them and the supernatural powers that came to be known as Septima. Didn't take long for someone to find a way to capitalize on it," Gunvolt then narrated. "That someone was an energy syndicate called Sumeragi. The Sumeragi Group is old- real old. Its roots go back to the Middle Ages, maybe earlier. Today they own every power company, and with them, the nation. And a "threat" like the Adepts was the perfect excuse to take over."
At this, Weiss shifted uncomfortably on her seat, realizing what the idea of a complete and total monopoly on something so vital to the world sounded like from the outside.
"True, they delivered on the peace they promised… But some of us believe the cost was too high- too many Adepts shipped off to "Protection Camps". Too many sick experiments gussied up as "Clinical Energy Trials". Sumeragi's PR machine was as slick as a sinner's row dancer. But some didn't buy it. They resisted. And that's basically how Quill got started. The Quorum for Unrestricted Information, Law, and Liberty. Nice name, right? Has the ring of justice? Two can play the PR game. Anyway, Quill paid my bills right up until the day I met Joule. And to be honest, not much changed after I went freelance."
"So… What did you think?" Ruby asked as the screen faded to black, and the credits began to roll.
"I'm… confused," Weiss hummed with crossed arms.
"About what?" Ruby asked exasperatedly.
"Why didn't any of the Sumeragi Group use their Aura?"
"That world doesn't have Aura. It only has Humans, and Adepts which are a subtype of Human that possess the power of Septima."
"Well…" Weiss said as she nervously cast a glance at Jack. "What about Faunus?"
"Oh, in that world Human and Faunus are all called Humans because on a genetic level both sides are perfectly compatible with one another," Ruby explained with a wave of her hand.
"Those writers sound like a bunch of damn geniuses," Jack shrugged.
"I agree," Pyrrha said with a small nod. It really was hypocritical that humans would espouse equal rights despite things like differences in skin color, but as soon as animal features came into the mix, all bets were off.
"And Septima is…?" Wiss asked.
"Well, the Lifewave is the force of nature which connects all living things in that world, and is known to have six different stages from the Primordial, or first stage, up to the Senary, or the sixth stage. Depending on which stage of the Lifewave living beings are attached to when they are born, they are granted varying levels of cognitive and physical capabilities," Ruby began. "The average Human being or animal will be born attached to the first or third stage of the Lifewave, but there are many exceptions to this such as mystics, soothsayers, or psychics; all people who possess supernatural powers and are almost always born attached to the Tetrad, or fourth stage of the Lifewave. The most-powerful people among this group of supernaturals are sometimes born attached to the Quinary or fifth wave, but these are quite rare. When someone is born attached to the Senary wave, however, it's considered nothing short of a miracle, and those people and animals are viewed by society as being sacred; no different from a holy person like Jesus Christ or demigods of polytheistic faiths," she continued with the same if not greater amount of zeal she had when talking about weapons. "However, in the world's recent history, new discoveries had been made about the Lifewave, including the existence of the Septima, or seventh stage of the Lifewave, which defied all earlier concepts. Children born attached to the Septimal stage possessed amazing abilities such as creating and controlling fire, running at blinding speeds, and generally defying the laws of nature. The group of people who possess these abilities are referred to as Adepts."
"Ruby really likes that show," Yang whispered to Jack. "Growing up, she'd re-enact scenes from the show in an attempt to wake up her own 'Septima'."
"That sounds totally adorable," Jack admitted with a small smile, imagining a chibi-Ruby LARPing in the backyard with the dog she told him about. She said that Zwei would love him, but at times animals got super-edgy around him.
They tended to be more-sensitive to blood-stained hands even when the stuff had long-since been washed away.
"Oh trust me, that level of cuteness could give you a heart attack," Yang said with a beaming grin.
" . . . Why are we whispering?"
"Weiss is getting interested in something that isn't high-society. I wouldn't want to intrude."
"And… how does the Sumeragi Group benefit from controlling Adepts with the Muse?" Weiss asked. That she could so easily compare the real-world Schnee Dust Company to a fictional power-distributing company which was clearly antagonistic in nature to anyone not aligned of their own interests, was a bit disconcerting.
"Well, if you want to know that you'll just have to keep watching," Ruby groaned as she bobbed her head. "I mean seriously, I went through so much world-building exposition, you know. It's really insulting to die-hard Volties that you ask all these questions yet don't want to watch the series," she said exasperatedly.
"I-I still do," Weiss found herself admitting. "I just feel like I need the necessary context otherwise I won't be able to enjoy it, that's all…"
"Volties?" Jack asked.
"Fans of the series," Yang answered. "Basically anyone willing to cosplay for the anime conventions that come to town a few times each year. Ruby would always dress up like Joule, and she'd have me dress up like Lumen 'cause I was taller than her and I had blond hair," she said thinking back to her days with "Supermom" where she'd make their costumes from scratch. It was a pain having to straighten her hair, but it was always worth it to see Ruby's beaming smile as everyone complimented them on their costumes. "You knooow… I think I still have my Lumen costume, if you wanted to re-enact a few scenes of our own," she said waggling her eyebrows with a cheesy grin on her face. "I'd like to see your lightning bolt~"
"Actually, when I took Jill and the other hospital kids around to the hospital staff to pester them for free candy on Halloween, I'd always dress like Carrera, and she'd dress up like Elise," Jack returned.
"W-Wait, you cosplay?" Yang gawped, trying to imagine Jack all dressed-up like an anime character.
"Unlike all the other kids, I don't need to use money from a stipend for prescription contacts," Jack said shifting his eyes to golden amber.
"Why not buy regular colored cosplay contacts?"
"Because non-perscription contacts can scratch the retina and cause long-term ocular damage."
" . . . Huh…" Yang hummed after a few moments.
"Well, all things considered… that was actually pretty fun to watch," Weiss found herself admitting. Normally she watched things like sitcoms, educational programs, musicals, or historical documentaries; never anything like cartoons or anime.
"I know, right?" Ruby said with a beaming smile. "Oh, you're going to love the rest of the series! As far as sequels go, Azure Striker Gunvolt: Second Strike is pretty good too. The ending's a little bittersweet, but it wraps things up so well you can't help but love it! Plus, they leave such a huge backdoor for a sequel in the secret epilogue that all the true Volties know a sequel's in the-"
"Alright, I get it," Weiss said putting a hand on Ruby's mouth so she'd stop talking.
"Oh! You know what? I think I actually saw a DVD for the first season of Azure Striker Gunvolt in the school store!" the girl realized. "Wait here! I'm going to run over and see if they still have it in stock. I'll be right back!"
Rose petals fluttering through the air, one of which Weiss almost gagged on, and the girl was gone.
"So… What now?" Yang asked.
"We could make small talk," Ren suggested.
"Like what?" Yang asked.
"We could talk about that porno Ren told me you were in," Nora said looking at Jack.
"PORNO!?" everyone gawped.
"It wasn't a porno, it was an adult movie," Jack corrected without batting an eye.
"What's the difference?" Nora asked inquisitively.
"In a porno, sexual intercourse is often the only scene in the film, and from a narrative standpoint it's shoved down your throat. In an adult movie, there's a prologue, climax-not like that," he said as Yang was about to make a joke, "and epilogue, while intercourse and otherwise-adult situations are supplementary to an actual plot," Jack explained. "That and the working conditions are way better," he added as an afterthought.
"Wait wait wait, shut the front door…" Yang said trying to wrap her head around what she was hearing. "You had sex? On camera?"
"That is what being in an adult film sometimes entails, yes," Jack answered.
"Have you no shame!?" Weiss squawked, completely red-faced at the scandalous nature of the topic.
"If it was a porno, maybe I'd be ashamed. But since adult films are completely different, I am not," Jack shrugged.
" . . . What kinda budget we talking?" Nora asked after a few moments.
"That's what you're curious about?!" Weiss squawked.
"Mid-budget I guess," Jack shrugged. "The franchise was a book series to start, and this was their first foray into film. They filmed on-location, so they didn't have to spend a ton on sets and props."
"So how did you get involved in this… adult film?" Weiss bit out. "I mean, did you have any previous credentials in acting that would prompt you to be cast for any kind of roll in film?"
"A friend of mine got cast for the female lead, and she said the only one she'd work with in that regard was me, or she'd walk," Jack answered. "Now, like most people in the movie business, the director considered himself an artist, which I can't really say he wasn't, so since he was pretty dead-set on having her as the lead, by extension, that means he had to have me in it too. I was between contracts at the time and the pay seemed worth the work, so I went along with my friend's request."
"Why was the director so dead set on this friend of yours as the lead?" Yang asked with a twitching brow. This happened before they'd met, and she and Jack weren't in a relationship or anything so she didn't have a reason to be jealous, but for some reason a very green knot of ire was forming in her stomach.
"The most I could get out of the guy was that he did it on a whim because the Gods of Film told him 'she was the one'," Jack answered with a dismissive shrug. "It probably helped her case that when he was scouting for talent for the female lead in Mistral's capital, she just so happened to be wearing a kimono for her work and happened to wear the look better than the local ladies."
"What kind of work does your friend do?" Pyrrha asked curiously. "Museum curator? Teahouse attendant? . . . Kimono saleswoman?" she said listing all the things she assumed would require one to wear a kimono on the job.
"Exterminator."
" . . . Huh?" Pyrrha asked.
"Hey, Ren?"
"Yes, Nora?"
"Is the word exterminator code for "hired killer"?" she asked making air quotes, causing the others to flinch at the thought.
"What on Remnant would cause you to think along those lines?!" Weiss squawked.
"Well, exterminators who kill bugs or rodents are basically under-glorified hit-men, so by that logic, exterminator is just another word for hired killer," Nora shrugged with a cute bob of the head.
"She isn't wrong you know," Jack said causing everyone's head to snap towards him. "I do a bit of exterminator work myself. That's how I met Rushia in the first place."
"Wait, you're serious? A hired killer?" Blake asked as she tried to imagine what kind of friend Jack had. "How come this has never come up?"
"No one ever asked. That and she works predominantly out of Mistral. Eighty-thousand yen for each mark that is terminated," Jack answered.
"How-How much is that in Lien?" Jaune asked nervously.
"In Lien…" Jack said making counting motions with his fingers. "Probably seven-hundred twenty a head."
"That cheap?!" the blond gawped.
"Life if cheap," the Faunus shrugged.
"No it isn't!" Pyrrha argued, believing strongly in the sanctity of Human and Faunus life.
" . . . Water: Thirty-five liters, carbon: twenty kilograms, ammonia: four liters, lime: one-point-five kilograms, phosphorous: eight-hundred grams, salt: two-hundred fifty grams, saltpeter: one-hundred grams, and various other trace elements," Jack listed off after a brief pause, prompting confused looks to overcome everyone's face. "That list catalogues the complete chemical makeup of a human body for the average adult. Down at the market, a kid could buy every one of them for the spare change in his pocket. As it turns out, humans are pretty cheap."
"Why… do you know a Human body's chemical composition?" Blake found herself asking.
"When you work as a bounty hunter or a sweeper or even an exterminator, anatomy is a prerequisite to doing a decent job of bringing someone back alive, or on the inverse, killing them in the most cost-effective way possible."
"So… you kill people for money?" Weiss asked with a glare.
"Allegedly," Jack winked as he waggled his finger. "No body, no crime."
"I think I saw that on a T-shirt once," Nora hummed.
"Moving back onto the conversation at hand…" Weiss said trying to keep her emotions level. "This woman… Rushia… Do you love her?"
That question of course, caused everyone to go silent at the massive shift in tone.
"Love?" Jack asked, pausing for several seconds as he looked up at the ceiling, the eyes of everyone in the room dead on him. "Hard to say," he said with a dismissive shrug, much to their shock. "Look, it isn't like one of those fairy tale love stories you grew up on if that's what you're talking about. Our upbringings were pretty similar, and when we stopped trying to kill one another after the first time we met, something just… clicked, and we started meeting up whenever we were both in town."
"Wait, she tried to kill you when you two first me?!" Yang gawked.
"To be fair, a client had tried to make us off each other so he could collect on both our bounties in the criminal underworld," Jack elaborated. "Apart from a little blood lust, and the regular kind, Rushia's actually a pretty cool chick. A chronic smoker and a late sleeper, sure, but a pretty cool chick nonetheless."
"You meet… the strangest people," Blake stated after a brief pause.
"Normal is boring," Jack retorted with a shrug.
"You said the two of you had similar upbringings… What did you mean by that?" Weiss asked, causing Yang to flinch in the background.
"Oh…" Jack sighed tiredly. "Rushia and I are just a couple good-for-nothings the world threw away," he chuckled tiredly before pulling a smile across his face. An act that caused Yang to shift uncomfortably in her seat because she knew the deeper context of what he was alluding to. "But hey, you don't get far in the world without making enemies. Just goes to show I've lived a life well lived."
"Not for long if you have enemies after your head," Weiss said crossing her arms, ignoring Jack being as cryptic-as-always.
"Says the girl whose entire family has a bulls-eye on their back since her old man took over the SDC," Jack quipped.
" . . . Touché," the heiress returned.
"Wow… Who ever thought we'd be having this sort of conversation today?" Jaune asked, blushing at the mere thought of having sex on camera for money.
"Question."
"Yes, Nora?" Jack asked.
"You have a copy of the movie?"
Were anyone drinking anything at that moment, that would've almost assuredly caused them to spit-take.
"Not on me if that's what you're asking. I didn't bring a lot of my loot to Beacon for a reason, so I've still got odds-and-ends here-and-there," Jack answered. "Now that I think about it, since I have a stable team to fall back on now, I should probably see about sending out letters and getting some of my loot back."
"What reason is-ooooooh," Blake said before realizing what Jack was talking about, remembering the sorts of assholes that his old Team used to be, and why he might not have wanted to keep a lot of personal items around.
"Right on the money," Jack quipped.
"Where could I buy the movie?" Nora asked.
"You seriously want to watch Jack have sex on camera?!" Yang gawped.
"Says the girl who got caught at his bedside with a flashlight and a ruler," Ren commented idly.
"How does everyone keep finding out about that?!" Weiss squawked, red in the face.
"To answer your question-"
"Please don't," Weiss groaned.
"The movie was only ever distributed through Mistral and never made it overseas," Jack answered. "I could probably pull some strings if it's that important to you, but you'll have to settle for subtitles since there wasn't an English voiceover made."
"Sure. I'm always looking to add to the spank bank," Nora replied without an ounce of shame.
"Nora…" Ren grumbled while everyone stared at the ginger girl slack-jawed.
"Hey guys! What're we talking about?" Ruby asked skipping in with DVD in one hand, a bag of snacks in the other.
"NOTHING!" everyone shouted as they scrambled to cover either Jack's or Nora's mouths.
*GIANT-SLAYER*
Suffice it to say, anything relating to Jack's acting career would have to be put on hold until Ruby wasn't around. That was something all of them agreed on, though in Nora's case, Ren had to act as her vocal filter and physically keep her from blurting the fact out. Something about Ruby's whole "incorruptible purity vibe" that they wanted to protect on account of the girl being so heart-crushingly adorkable; sociopathic tendencies aside of course.
So you know… The usual.
"Why's everyone so fidgety?" Ruby asked as both Teams ate their snacks in awkward silence.
Except for Jack. He wasn't awkward in the slightest.
"Oh… nothing…" Weiss bit out as she ate some cookies.
"Really?" Ruby asked with a cute tilt of the head and a finger to her chin.
"Yes! Nothing!" Yang squawked. "Right… Jack?" she bit out turning her head mechanically.
"Sure, sure," Jack shrugged.
"So… Who's up for more Gunvolt?" the girl asked.
"We are!" almost everyone said unanimously, looking for some excuse to forget the awkward tension from before.
Though in retrospect, their curiosity in regards to Jack's past had prevented their common sense from telling them to cut off Nora at the pass and prevent them from opening the proverbial Pandora's Box. And… you know… hearing something they could never un-hear.
At the very least, Weiss was thankful Jack had chosen to only talk about that sort of thing when no-one else was around. Who knows what that sort of thing could do to her reputation by proximity.
"You brought it on yourseeellllves~" Jack sing-song-said as Ruby got to the DVD's top menu.
"Hush, you," Weiss bit out.
*GIANT-SLAYER*
The rest of the afternoon was spent watching Azure Striker Gunvolt and special features on the DVD Ruby had somehow been able to find at the school store before some of the upperclassmen returned from club activities and asked to use the TV. After that both Teams went back to their respective rooms and wiled the time away until dinner, which for the most-part was uneventful.
It was later that evening that Jack was standing in one of the communal shower stalls, rivulets of hot water running down scarred flesh as he let his hair flow back freely. Because every room had its own ensuite, the communal showers were once again largely unoccupied, just the way Jack liked it, taking the opportunity for a little solitude from the certain… eccentricities of his teammates.
The Faunus wasn't unused to living co-ed, he'd been doing so for years during the White Fang's formative years after it underwent its militant expansion. However, while back then everyone had the mission on their minds, weapons within arm's reach in case the Circle of Man decided to attack them at what was perceived to be a moment of weakness (*cough-cough* General Legume *cough*), at Beacon that kind of tension didn't exist, and therefore everyone was able to act freely. They had their secrets, sure, but with all their openness, sometimes Jack just needed a little time to himself. He was still a guy in a room full of hot teenage girls after all.
Working the cricks out of his neck before rubbing soap onto the more-recent scar on his face, Jack's weasel-like ears perked up slightly as he caught the sound of bare feet on linoleum tiles. Those footsteps only continued to increase in speed, the progenitor of the sound drawing ever close to his stall at the end of the steamy room.
"Jack! Open up!" Yang shouted as she banged on the door.
"Yang, I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"NOW!"
"Alright, alright. Sheesh," Jack grumbled as he pulled away the curtain and undid the latch.
The moment he did Yang burst in without a word, tossing her clothes onto the dry bench on the right. Her hand going to his chest, under normal circumstances she would've made some kind of pervy comment about him baring everything for her to see, or vice versa. Now however, her face was completely serious, maybe a little angry, as she pushed him back through the curtain until his back hit the opposite wall.
"Jack… We need to talk," she said in a no-nonsense tone, her lilac eyes one errant thought away from going crimson.
" . . . Alright," Jack sighed, knowing Yang was going to get her way, one way or another.
And not in the way that was a turn-on.
"Who is Rushia?"
"She's someone I met on a job after a client had tried to make us off each other so he could-"
"Not like that!" Yang growled. "What is Rushia to you?"
"What do you mean?" Jack asked with a tilt of his head.
"Don't dodge the question!" she said jabbing a finger up at his face. "Friends don't have sex with one another on camera just because one asks the other to. Now tell me. What is this Rushia girl to you? Is she your girlfriend? Your lover? What?!"
" . . . Tell me, Yang," Jack said as he looked her in the eye. "What do you think happens to women, young girls in particular, who are circulated through the slave trade like I was?"
"Well obviously they'd be…" the blond said before the color began to drain from her face. "Oh my god…" she shuddered as she thought back to every movie she'd watched where the slave trade was part of the plot.
"Based on that horrified look on your face, I'd say you came to the correct conclusion," Jack said as he leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. "Sure, I may've had things rough as a slave, but Rushia? She had it far, far worse than I did, and if I'd been born a girl, I don't doubt I'd have gone through the same," he said with a flicker of blood-red eyes. "That's why to me, Rushia is one of the strongest people in the world. She went through a hell even worse than mine and still came out of it alive. She may not've come out of it completely intact, but she still came out of it, and that mutual respect became the foundation for our friendship."
" . . . Jack," Yang said after a few moments, unable to imagine the horrors a girl would go through as a slave.
Okay, maybe she could imagine it, she'd heard the stories from her father and her uncle when she came of age. About the kinds of things that Huntresses were at risk of and why this line of work wasn't for the faint of heart… But she couldn't imagine going through a hell like that and not wanting to just roll over and die at the end of it.
"I know that you and I… that you and I aren't dating or anything…" she said resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes. "I mean sure, there's this sexual tension between us, and we flirt, and this isn't the first time we've seen each other naked," she said as she chuckled weakly. "But… We aren't officially a thing, so it's not like I have any claim over you… yet hearing about you and this Rushia chick… about how the two of you had sex, and how you have the kind of relationship where you could do it on camera as a favor to one another… It tears me up inside, and I don't know why…"
Of course, that was a bald-faced lie and she knew it. She knew why hearing about Jack and his past with other girls hurt so much when they weren't "a thing". She just…
After her mother, her biological mother, left, she just couldn't imagine herself saying a certain word to anyone outside of family. Yet… after meeting Jack… after getting to know him… after the two of them bore their souls to one another… She had these feelings growing deep inside her, and yet…
Raven leaving her dad the way she did… leaving her… It made her wonder if she was capable of the same. Leaving the love of her life for one reason or another and never looking back.
Maybe that was why she started pushing Weiss towards Jack once the heiress started showing any kind of romantic interest in him. Because she didn't want to have Jack fall in love with her back, only to someday walk out on him without a word and leave him broken-hearted. Not Jack. Not after what he'd already been through. Not after what he went through every single day, living with what he did in the Killing Bites, or wondering if Jill would wake up the next morning.
"Yang… You can do so much better than me," Jack said piercing the chaotic haze in her mind.
'What…? No, that isn't true,' she said shaking her head, mouth opening to refute his words, only for no sound to come out.
"I…" he paused. "I can say that I have 'my fair share of baggage' as much as I want... Make as many excuses as there are stars in the night sky… But in the end… I'm garbage."
'No…'
"I'm selfish. I kill. I hate others beyond measure when it'd be easier to just let it go and forgive them… I'm not good enough for someone like you."
'That isn't true…'
"We can still be teammates, the comrades that Ruby deserves… but you're better off forgetting about me and finding someone else… Someone that you deserve."
"NO!" Yang shouted as she suddenly snapped her head up at him.
"Yang?"
"You are not garbage! You're not!" she said resolutely. "You lived through a hell no-one else but you could have… You have every excuse to hate the world and want to burn it to the ground… But instead you chose to be a loving older brother to Jill, and to Ruby. Yeah, sure, you drew a bad lot in life, and maybe you didn't always make the most virtuous decisions once things started getting better… But you're still an amazing person, so don't go calling yourself trash, because you're anything but! Do you understand me?!" she demanded as she pushed him against the wall, eyes now red.
For a moment Jack didn't speak. He opened his mouth to refuse. To refute her praises of him. To tell her he'd only drag her down and disappoint her in the end.
But in the end, after looking into her eyes, and seeing how much she cared about him… even after learning every bad thing about him she had… how she could still look up at him with those same eyes she had when they'd first met…
"Alright…" Jack relented. "I understand."
"Good…" Yang said tiredly as her crimson eyes faded to lilac and she leaned forward, resting her forehead against his chest.
" . . . I'm sorry you got saddled with such a good-for-nothing like me," Jack sighed as he pat her head.
"You aren't a good-for-nothing either," the blond grumbled. "You're an amazing person. Even if you don't want to admit it 'cause you think you're not, I still think you are, and nothing's going to change that."
"Yang…"
"Jack… These words I want to say to you… Even if someone beats me to the punch and says them before I do," she said making a pun, grinning brightly as she looked back up at him. "Someday I will say them to you, so you better be ready to take responsibility when that happens," she said wagging a finger at him.
"Yang Xiao Long… you truly are one of a kind," Jack said with a smile.
"I know," Yang said with a megawatt smile. " . . . You ever notice we tend to have these heart-to-heart moments in the shower?"
"More like two-out-of-three. One of our moments was up on the roof."
"Heheh, you're such a dork," Yang giggled at how he'd actually kept count.
*GIANT-SLAYER*
Originally this chapter was going to be a "whole lotta nothing". Maybe some nonsensical character elaboration, a bunch of malarkey, but in the end I wound up putting more than I would've thought. Still, it was less action-centric than I would've gone for, but even though it was still MORE, I decided to stick with the title I originally I intended for this piece of filler.
Since RWBY is all about color, I figured an interesting TV show for Ruby to watch as a kid would be one inspired by Azure Striker Gunvolt, cause you know… colors.
I should probably point out that the Gunvolt-related section reads LIKE one of those "RWBY Reads" or "RWBY Watches" stories, only in this case I'm "transcribing" the contents of a hand-held game into a Saturday morning cartoon, so it's understandable that not everything "translates" properly.
All that being said, I hope you leave lots of Reviews now and in the future, tell me your thoughts, ask your questions. And for those of you who have combed over my chapters with a fine-toothed comb, I challenge you to guess just who Rushia is.