Chapter 51: And It Spins

Character Haggard

Haggard was certain he had died and gone to Heaven as he bit into the battered, deep fried, rib rack that was then coated in chocolate and powered sugar. In a word it was amazing. Arbiter was next to him also biting into a plate of the ribs. One of the local butchers had a challenge up that anyone who could eat a whole rack of his specialty in one sitting could have it for free. Haggard and Arbiter naturally took this as another opportunity to challenge each other in a food showdown. The chocolate was dark, the batter crispy and the ribs tender as Haggard tore into the ribs. Red, Sweets and Preston were with him but they opted for just a normal meal. Jr., Tucker, and Caboose were also there, mostly just to watch the competition, Jr. was grabbing dinner too.

"Hags you're slowing down already and you're only three ribs in," Preston said, "they are foot long ribs though."

That was the other reason that only he and Arbiter were eating the ribs, they came from some local livestock with really big ribs, as Preston said each one was a foot long and the rack had ten ribs in total. Once Haggard thought about the actual size of the meal he was eating it dawned on him that is was going to be a very long night.

"Hey you guys ready for the other half," the cook yelled from the back.

"Other half," Arbiter stated.

"Oh we've gone way past not stuffing ourselves," Hags said, "Power though it?"

Arbiter reached his fist towards Haggard who pounded it, "Iron will."

Three hours later they were regretting that decision. Haggard was laid out across the counter at John and Cortana's place while Arbiter had taken the floor.

"How, no why did you two think that eating twenty feet of ribs was a good idea," John asked.

"Blarg. You," Arbiter stated which caused the Spartan to chuckle.

"It was just so good," Hags said.

"Let me guess didn't read the find print again," Cortana said as she came in.

"Nope," Red said with a laugh, "They each had twenty feet of deep fried, chocolate covered ribs. Also I think your commodes are busted."

"Well that is John's problem," Cortana said as she flopped onto the couch, "AI remember, if you don't eat you don't poop."

"Huh yeah I guess not," Sweets said, "I wonder how much more time you have by not eating or taking dumps."

"Only about one percent more time," Cortana said, "I still sit with John when he is eating and since it is mostly with other DC members we can still get some work done. Like today Cinder, John, Terrador, and I had breakfast to discuss the building plans for FAUN. They are setting up a new residence section on the western end of Vale where it was once to restrictive to support a large population. Now though with the Ark delivering food from space we are testing to see if just about anywhere on Remnant is habitable, Grimm allowing of course."

"Wouldn't driving the Grimm out be a good thing," Hags asked.

"It would but they seem to have a connection to the planet itself," Cortana said, "Cinder discovered it by accident but the more space the Grimm have the less of the really large ones there are, the smaller the space the bigger and more dangerous they seem to become."

"How did she figure that out," Jr. asked.

"When she was trying to breed and tame her own Grimm," Cortana said. John came and sat down next to her. He had gotten out of his armor and was now in a camo outfit which blended in with the camoed couch. Sitting there he looked almost like a pair of floating hands and a bearded face were laying on the couch.

"Okay so I've got to ask who paid," John said.

"Oh we all just paid for our own," Tucker said, "Doug had exchanged various currencies for Lien and gave out portions of it to the DC crew."

"Not the whole crew apparently," John said, "But then again Cortana is pulling in some from constructing these new dwellings."

"Yeah this is supposed to be temporary," Preston said, "Seems K is intent on setting up here, so we may want to find work for ourselves, if only to have a little spending cash."

"Ah yeah what... uh what could we really do," Caboose said, "I mean it's not like we are cops or something."

"I could see that," Red said, "I'll bet Burnie and Joel would be glad to have us aboard."

"Oh you've got to be kidding," Hags said.

"You just worry about sleeping off that meal," Red said, "Leave the planning to me."

"It's moments like this when I'm glad I'm not officially in your squad," Arbiter said, "Have fun being cops."

"Yeah whatever," Haggard said, "I'm just going to sleep this off now." The next morning Haggard regretted not getting out of dodge while he could. Now though he was looking at a crisp police uniform and his squad mates who were all in their own uniforms.

"Come on Hags they are actually pretty comfortable," Preston said. Haggard picked up the jacket and looked his friends over. Preston was straightening out his sleeves, he actually seemed to like the suit. With a sigh Haggard took the cloths and got changed before they all headed out to get in a transport warthog and drive down to Vale PD. When they arrived there Burnie met them outside.

"Well you actually came back," Burnie said, "Must say I'm surprised you were able to get the whole day off to help us out."

"Well after hearing what you're concerned with we figured it would be worth it," Red said.

"Yeah about that what exactly are we going to be doing," Sweets asked.

"Well I don't know how many of you all have been told this yet but in that dimension that your leader just came back from they ran into a nasty version of Cinder and her crew," Burnie said, "Now they are not the same people as the ones we know, instead they sound worse. We know they are capable of inter-dimensional travel, have at least one entire planet of resources, that planet being a corrupted version of Remnant, and we know they have friends that we don't know about yet. So that is where you come in. The streets around here we can cover easy enough, but covering all of DC's ships and the Ark... mostly to get any more information on this shadow crew, that is much harder. I know K is looking into this matter, as the leader of an inter-dimensional inter-galactic organization something like this would be of concern to him. It is however of great concern to us as well since this other Cinder would no doubt want to enslave another Remnant. So you four go to DC, get us any information you can and do it in such a way that makes my point of keeping me informed."

"So you want us to not only pull information out of K but convince him that it is in his best interest to give up that information," Haggard asked.

"Uh yeah basically," Burnie agreed, "It just sounded better the way I said it."

"So where is K," Preston asked.

"Probably with Ozpin," Red said, "I'm sure those two are talking things over, I don't know why they wouldn't include you in such a discussion though."

"That's just it," Burnie said, "Ozpin would include me, K must not be letting him know anything either. In fact it was Ozpin who gave me what information I have."

"We'd better find K then," Sweets said, "He only seems to keep information to himself when he is really worried about it."

"Ozpin might know where K is or I believe I saw Roland in town somewhere," Burnie said.

"How did you manage to get to know everyone's name so fast," Hags asked.

"I'm the Chief of Vale PD," Burnie replied, "It's part of the job."

"Speaking of which we should start ours," Red said, "Come on lets move."

"Here take these scrolls you can send me any information you find through them," Burnie said.

"Right," Sweets acknowledged as they got back in their Hog and headed out to find Roland. As K's son it seemed likely that Roland would know where K was. They drove through the somewhat congested streets for what felt like hours despite the actual time it took them to find Roland being only about twenty minutes.

"Hey," Roland greeted the four as they pulled into a parking space and got out. Roland was standing outside a clothing store, no doubt waiting for Lily to get done shopping.

"Lily inside," Preston asked.

"What gave it away," Roland replied, "Yeah her, Weiss, Sureal, Marion and Nora."

"Whoa that is going to be one large bill when those five come out," Hags said, "Hey you wouldn't have seen K today have you?"

"I ran into him this morning on the Pestilence but didn't get a chance to speak with him," Roland said, "He seemed distracted and Lily was in a rush to go shopping."

"The Pestilence huh," Red remarked, "Okay that isn't hard to find him there, Doug would know where he is. Thanks Roland."

"Anytime, just a warning though if Dad seems distracted it is usually because he is worried," Roland said, "If you find out why, let me know will you."

"Can do," Sweets said as they pulled out of the store lot and headed for the airport at Beacon. They arrived around noon after having to leave the Hog and take an airship to the landing strip. Once there they started looking for anyone who could get them to the Pestilence. Hags was looking for Cortana or one of the commanders but alas they were on the western edge of Vale working on the construction there, as were many of the dragons. They did run across the Freelancer Florida. Florida was a very quite guy, keeping to himself mostly. Or at least that is what Hags thought about him as they walked up to ask if he knew of a way to get to the Pestilence.

"I most certainly do boys," Florida said in reply to Bad Co.'s inquiry to transportation. "In fact I was going to head there myself and figure out what this information K has been looking over for the past four hours is about. We were out there with you all in Shepard's universe, I think we deserve to know what we helped find."

"Wait you already can see what K is looking at," Sweets asked.

"Not in its entirety," Florida replied, "But it looks like something about a clone having control over some type of matter or energy. In either event I and Director Church would be very interested in it, as I am sure many parties on Remnant would be. This data you see seems to indicate that this person may be a duplicate of someone or multiple someones from here."

"We can tell you the clones are actually different dimensional versions of Cinder and her gang," Preston said, "Roman, Cleo, Marcus, Junior all of them. On their version of Remnant they took over and now can travel between dimensions in search of more power."

"They can," Florida stated, "This information is quite jarring, I think I will accompany you to see K and ask him about whatever I can think of regarding this matter."

"Sure why not," Hags said, "It seems everyone wants to know what K is looking at."

"It isn't just K," Florida added, "Liarra seems to be there as well."

"That would make sense," Red said, "She is the expert on dark matter, if that is what the shadow Cinder is looking to control..."

"Things could get very nasty very quickly," Florida said, "I'll call in a transport to take us to the Pestilence."

"Great," Hags said, "So what's your story, we rarely ever even see you."

"I'm Wyoming's spotter when he is on very long distance sniping missions," Florida said, "Then I was assigned to look after Church when he was in an unstable state. Now I help him out with commanding the ship."

"So you're like the behind the scenes guy," Sweets remarked, "No wonder we never see you."

"Yeah. In fact if I was not trying to get information for Church on these dimensional copies of Cinder and gang I would probably still be on the Invention. Speaking of which our ride will be here in three minutes."

"How long will it take to get to the Pestilence," Hags asked.

"Not long," Florida replied, "The Invention's teleporters are integrated into Doug's teleport wavelengths so we can just use one of those."

"Oh nice," Hags stated. Ten minutes later the five of them were being led by Doug through the Pestilence to a room where K, Liarra, Ozpin, Cinder, Mordin, and C were talking about the discovery of this dark version of Remnant and the threat it poised to the universes. Haggard never understood why but he liked the Pestilence the best out of the ships that were in DC, probably cause whenever he walked it squished due to Doug covering every surface with his warm biomass. The room they entered though dispelled that feeling instantly as the icy emotions of those present were practically freezing the air. "Um is this a bad time," Hags asked.

"Couldn't be worse," K snapped.

"Let me guess Burnie sent you," Ozpin remarked, "The uniforms are a bit of a give away."

"Our timing also couldn't be better," Florida stated, "Things just are, they are neither better nor worse."

"A fair statement but irrelevant," Mordin quickly countered, "Facing a dimensional crisis right now, can argue semantics later."

"You know we aren't going to leave until we know what this is about," Red stated, "you might as well clue us in and get this over with."

"Okay how about there is a clone of me running around out there with the resources of an entire planet or more who is solely intent on amassing more power because she is probably a Magog like I used to be," Cinder started, "Then add to that she might be able to control this dark energy, which puts her on K's level and can cross dimensions, are you 'Clued in' enough now or should I go on?"

"We already got that," Sweets said, "We're here to see what you intend to do about it."

"Well I believe we can counter the dark energy with Dust and our own abilities to control it," Liarra said, "In our universe many people can control the dark energy to various degrees, me more so than most and Jack is... unique as well."

"Additionally dark energy has an inherent weakness," Mordin said, "For all it's power it is unstable and can be repurposed very quickly. One of our AI friends would be more than capable of interacting with it through a bio-symbiotic device."

"Director Church could probably lend a hand with that," Florida mentioned.

"Indeed, Freelancers have many AI's any of them should work," Mordin said.

"The tower above Beacon is already set up with a replication protocol," Ozpin said, "Should anything happen to the school it would rebuild the main infrastructure automatically. We can also use it to focus Dust into more powerful forms of attacks enhanced by Semblance."

"So you're prepared for this then," Preston said, "Why all the icy stares?"

"Not as much as we would like," C said, "While the Normandy and Beacon are set up to repel attacks of this nature, the Ark, this vessel and most of DC's ships are not. If one of them were to crash into Remnant..."

"Most of them are large enough to cause an extinction level event," K stated, "We would have to send the ships away, especially the Ark, to where they would not crash back onto the planet."

"But that would mean that if the ships were attacked none of us would be on them to..." Haggard started before it clicked and he realized why everyone was angry. They were basically stuck between potentially; leaving the ships and crew to fend for themselves in space, land on the plant and risk nuclear explosions large enough to wipe out the world or crash into it and also wipe out the world. "Okay it's not an ideal situation but if we can take the cores offline on the ships then we can land them no problem," Haggard said.

"He has a point and we could take them offline on the Ark," Doug added, "It has the available facilities to preform such tasks."

"Then get a message out to the fleet," K said, "We're grounding ourselves, keep in mind that the Ark will have to move very far away once the ships are on it so we are still leaving the crews mostly undefended save for Doug."

"I do have massive tentacles that are capable of crushing any other ship," Doug said.

"True but what if the ship isn't in range," Florida asked.

"The grounded ships will still have weapons," Doug replied, "and the Ark is not without it's own defenses."

"With all of DC heading to Remnant will there be enough supplies with the Ark out of range," C asked.

"I could repurpose my organization's resources to help alleviate some of that," Cinder said.

"I think we can pull this off," K said, "I am just wary of the consequences that might follow."

"K when haven't there been consequences with you," Hags said, "Consequences are just what you do. You've always got us through them. You sucked me out of my time stream and still managed to find my squad again, same for a lot of us, Fenix, Jackson, John, Jinx, there is a long list. This is what your good at, so be good at it."

"A pep talk from you," K asked, "Really? Well okay then, Doug start everyone moving to the Ark, Ozpin get those defenses ready, Cinder contact your crew, Liarra, Mordin, get with Shepard and Harbinger see what you can get for Church to use with his AI friends. Also have Issac and Carver come meet with me, I have a feeling that we will be seeing the Necromorphs again."

"On it," Doug said.

"Looks like you have some work to do then," Red said, "Anything you want us to report to Burnie?"

"Yes but this will take some explaining," C said, "You may want to take a seat."

Haggard sighed as he sat down and settled in for the long wait ahead of him.

Character Ruby Rose

Ruby was speechless, she was an aunt. Yang and Junior had been approved to be Barry and Ellisa's parents. She had hope they would get approved but never really thought anyone in their right mind would let the two parent anyone. Though thinking about it Yang was very much like a parent to her as Ruby was growing up and Junior, for all his shady qualities, was indeed a good business man and strategist. Both skills would be handy for Barry and Ellisa right now as the two learned how to lead the White Fang.

"I'm so happy for you," Ruby yelled as she ran over to her sister, Junior, Barry and Ellisa and enveloped them in a rose petal hug that rivaled even Yang's bear hugs. Someone would have to sweep up the roses later but 'eh whatever.

"Ah sis," Yang coughed as she accidentally inhaled a rose petal, "You're going to kill someone with those roses one day."

"Nu-uh," Ruby retorted, "Roses forever!"

"Geezer excitable much," Ellisa asked.

"You've no idea," Blake said, "So I guess you two are the first grandkids then?"

"That they are," Summer confirmed.

"I guess this means you four will be living in Junior's place then," Weiss asked.

"That we are," Junior said, "Though Barry and Ellisa have dorms at beacon for now, during the breaks they will be at the penthouse on top of the club."

"I guess that leaves just Blake and me in this place," Sun said, "Yang with you, Weiss at her manor and Ruby going back to Lao's apartment, I kinda hate to see everyone leaving but that's life right?"

"Yeah," Ruby commented as she looked around the house that she and her team had shared for the last year or so. "Still we are only a few minutes away from each other thanks to DC's ships."

"True and it's not like we won't see each other everyday," Yang said, "We will still have plenty of time to drive each other crazy."

"I'm pretty sure you've already done that," Barry said, "no offense Ya... uh Mom. This will take some getting used to."

"It will," Lao agreed, "we have years of catching up to do, we missed out on seventeen and fifteen years of getting to know you two."

"Same here," Ellisa said, "Where would we even start?"

"With food," Weiss suggested, "see what you all like to eat and go from there."

"Good thought also it's about dinner time," Junior said, "What should we get?"

"Cookies," Ruby stated.

"I do like cookies," Ellisa said as she fiddled with one of her spikes.

"You need real food though," Barry said, "Jun... Dad, you said you've got a grill right?"

"A cook out huh," Junior commented as he rubbed his beard, "Okay we can do that."

"I can bring cookies," Ruby said.

"Sis as much as we would love to have you, why don't you let us get to know the kids first okay," Yang said, "You know give us one week at least okay?"

"Okay," Ruby said sadly, "Hey Weiss?"

"I've got to go meet Jayne for dinner at the Dust in the Wind," Weiss said, "Maybe you and Scooter can do something."

"No Scooter is fixing some stuff on the Hunter and won't be back until tomorrow," Ruby said, "and my room isn't even set up yet in the apartment."

"Well you can come with Sun and me," Blake said, "that way your parents can get your room set up for you."

"Yeah okay," Ruby said, "Where are we going?"

"Walking through Forever Fall," Sun said, "Figured we could use some time to relax after the past few days."

"That does sound wonderful," Summer said, "Go on Ruby we'll have your room ready when you get back and probably dinner."

"Thanks," Ruby said, "See you all later then."

"Later Aunty R," Ellisa said. Ruby was tempted to run back over and hug the spiky girl but she decided not to temp fate twice in the same hour and opted for a wave as she, Blake and Sun left the house. Midnight was waiting outside and greeted them with a quick bark followed by a purr.

"I never knew Beowolves purred," Ruby remarked, "but it is a little hard to find those things out when your usually being attacked by them."

"I admit it has been an adjustment," Blake said, "and you wouldn't believe some of the stuff he has dragged up... it was dead most of the time."

"Oh, Blake gross," Ruby exclaimed as the three got on the Beowolf alpha.

"Relax he gets washed off all the time, after he has been playing in the mud," Sun said with a laugh. Ruby just put her head in her hands.

"Midnight you know where we are going," Blake asked. She got a questioning growl in response. "Forever Fall, the red forest to the north." A happy yip followed Blake's declaration and Midnight took off for the forest. He was fast, faster than any Beowolf Ruby had ever encountered and that was with three of them on his back. Aurora must have enhanced his abilities when she made him friendly. They arrived at the forest as the afternoon was falling into evening. The sunlight flickered through the trees giving the whole area a red glow. Ruby loved that glow, red was her favorite color after all.

"I had almost forgotten how beautiful this place was," Ruby said, "you're right with all that's happened recently we all could use a break." In the distance some Beowolves howled, Midnight howled back but stayed with them as they walked through the trees.

"You keeping them off our back boy," Sun asked. Midnight yipped in reply.

"He really understands you doesn't he," Ruby stated, "That is scary actually, are all the Grimm this intelligent?"

"We don't know," Blake said, "Midnight is so different from the others, whatever Aurora did was unique. We don't know what the effects, aside from him being friendly, are."

"We do know the Grimm are intelligent," Sun said, "They can work together, they demonstrate that they can plan, even learn the fighting style of their opponents given time. What we don't know is how much more intelligent Midnight is compared with them."

"I think he is smarter than the others," Ruby remarked as she patted the Beowolf's side, "None of the others seem to understand what we say." Midnight purred and nuzzled Ruby's hand at that.

"He certainly seems to agree," Blake said, "Hey did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what," Ruby asked. Midnight seemed to have heard whatever Blake's sensitive ears had picked up as he turned towards the same direction she was looking and barred his teeth.

"Something is out there," Sun said, "Blake doesn't just hear things."

"Whatever it is, it is trying to stay out of sight," Blake said, "Stay here."

"Wait Blake," Ruby said but too late as Blake had already disappeared into the forest.

"I really hate it when she does that," Ruby and Sun said at the same time. Midnight cocked his head at them. "Yeah she does that a lot," Sun said. Midnight let out a low whine that caused Ruby's heart to flip flop with both sadness and joy for Midnight's concern over Blake.

"Hey you three what are you doing out," Fisher's voice called from behind them.

"Got you," Blake exclaimed followed by two grunts and some muffled yelling. Turning towards the commotion Ruby saw Blake getting off of Hawk and Fisher as the two picked themselves up and brushed off the leaves. "Oh sorry, I really get aggressive when people sneak up on me."

"Really," Hark remarked, "I wouldn't have been able to tell." Midnight growled at Hawk. "Whoa take it easy buddy, just some sarcasm."

"So what are you two doing sneaking around in the forest," Ruby asked.

"We weren't originally sneaking around," Fisher said, "But just a few minutes ago I thought I spotted someone tailing us, so we tried to get a view of it. Ended up running into you four though."

"This thing you saw," Sun asked, "you think it's still out here?"

"Pretty sure," Hawk said, "I think it may have magic abilities as well. Fisher and I's immunity sends shivers up our spines when we shrug off attacks, lets just say I've felt a few more shudders than I should."

Ruby had Crescent Rose drawn as soon as Hawk said 'sure.' Sun drew his weapons as well and Midnight's ears pivoted around to try and hear anyone or thing that might be approaching them. Ruby's first sign that there was trouble was Blake's bow twitching and her eyes narrowing. Ruby backed up against Midnight. "Guys," Ruby said as the now dusky forest started rustling, "I don't know if we want to be here."

"You have an almost unbreakable Aura and we have the two members that are immune to all magical attacks," Sun said confidently, "We're more than a match for anything that comes out of those trees. Ruby got the impression that Sun regretted that statement a moment later as a Necromorph infected King Taijitu pushed its way into the clearing. Even with the additional tentacles and spikes this wouldn't have been anything troublesome, the skittering, dark red ruins running all down it's body however were quite disconcerting however.

"Nobody move," Blake hissed, "I don't think it sees us."

"Or it doesn't care that we are here," Fisher whispered back, "That definitely is not what we saw but those glowing lines are what caught out attention originally."

"You don't think something is controlling it do you," Ruby asked.

"I would say it would have to be," Sun said, "Otherwise it would have attacked by now, Grimm see better in the dark than we do."

"We should take it out now then," Hawk said, "While it is occupied, those magic ruins won't protect it from us."

"It could do a lot of damage if it gets to the city," Blake stated, "Sun you and me will take out the other head, "Ruby you and Midnight can distract this head while Hawk and Fisher kill this thing."

"I'll go with you two," Fisher said as she joined Blake and Sun.

"Lets go then," Ruby said. She then fired herself towards the first head of the Grimm and slashed at it. To Ruby's surprise her attack went right through it, serving the head clean off. The Necromorph limbs struck out at her causing Ruby to back peddle. "Blake it is really weak, just chop it... why is it glowing, oh!"

"It's a bomb," Sun yelled as Blake, he and Fisher ran past the three and away from the dead Taijitu that was glowing brighter by the second as the lines heated up. Ruby and Hawk hopped on Midnight and followed the others overtaking them and stopping long enough to let them one before continuing away from the bomb. After about a minute they stopped behind a hill to catch their breath and get better situated on Midnight, that is when the shock wave hit them. Midnight was knocked to his knees for a few seconds, Ruby was knocked into a tree, Blake and Sun were knocked into each other before falling to the ground but Hawk and Fisher were completely unaffected.

"It must have been magic," Hawk stated, "Figures really with the glowing ruins and such, only question now is, what type? We have your native Dust, Semblance and Aura, the Force, the magic from Sanctuary and the dark matter manipulation from the same universe, K's type of magic, magic from our own world, Gandalf's magic, we have a large list to cover to figure out which side we are being attacked from this time."

"That we do," Ruby agreed, "We should get K or C out here as soon as we can so they can try and track the magic."

"Oddly enough," Fisher said, "I don't think K and C really do that, we would probably be better off with one of the Riders, Arya and Varok maybe?"

"Sure, I'll call and see if any of them are available," Ruby said as she opened both her scroll and omni-tool.

"Multitask much," Sun asked jokingly.

Ruby let out an exasperated scoff at Sun's teasing as she messaged Ozpin and Glynda on her scroll to see if either of them knew where any of the Riders were. Ruby also called EDI on her omni-tool see if the AI could get in contact with any of the Riders.

"Hello Ruby," EDI greeted as she picked up the call, "How might I be of assistance?"

"Hey EDI you wouldn't happen to know where any of the Riders are would you," Ruby asked.

"Murtagh and Thorn just left the Invention, which we are currently docked in," EDI replied, "I can try to get a message to them if you would like."

Ruby looked at Fisher who nodded before replying, "That would be great, thanks EDI."

"Of course," EDI responded. After a few minutes of silence in which Ozpin and Glynda replied to Ruby's message with negatives EDI asked, "Where are you so they can find you?"

"Forever Fall," Ruby said, "Almost due north of Beacon, there should be a crater near by."

"Understood," EDI said, "Murtagh and Thorn should be with you shortly."

"Great, thanks EDI," Ruby said.

"You welcome," EDI replied as she ended the call.

"How long until they get here," Blake asked.

"Probably not long, Thorn flies pretty fast," Hawk said.

"Hey guys come look at this," Sun called from the top of the hill. They walked up to Sun to see a crater where the King Taijitu had been and the last rays of the sunset flickering through the trees making it look like the forest was a rippling reflection off a pool of water.

"Oh wow," Ruby breathed. She then snapped a picture of it to send to Weiss.

"That is oddly beautiful," Fisher said, "considering the explosion that made that crater would have really roughed you four up had we not been behind that hill."

Ruby was going to say something but the flapping of wings caught her attention first. Thorn was approaching them from the west, he circled around once before landing in the crater. "Come on lets go see what they can find out," Ruby said. The six made their way down the slope of the crater. It was somewhat difficult due to the loose dirt and the layer of leaves that had already started to gather. When they made it to the bottom Murtagh got up from studying the ground and walked over to them.

"Good evening," Murtagh said, "Might I ask what you all did to cause an explosion of such force?"

"We killed some modified version of an infected Taijitu," Sun said, "The big snake like Grimm."

"We are familiar with them," Thorn said, "by modified do you mean a Force adapt?"

"What like Star and Qui-gon's Force," Fisher asked.

"Exactly," Murtagh confirmed, "There are traces of it left all over this crater and to a lesser extent this forest. You said the Grimm was infected, by Necromorphs I assume?"

"Yup," Ruby said, "How could the Necromorphs or Grimm use the force though?"

"I overheard Issac and Qui-gon the other day talking about some super powerful Necromorph, a moon or something like that that they thought might have been influenced by the dark side," Sun said, "We should go talk with them and tell them what we found."

"We can talk with them in the morning," Blake said, "right now we should probably go get dinner."

"We've already eaten," Thorn said, "We can go find them if you six need to go."

"We've had dinner as well," Fisher added, "We will go with you to help explain what we found."

"Thanks guys," Ruby said, "Blake, Sun what are you going to do for dinner?"

"Probably just head back to the house and grab something," Sun said.

"Why don't you come over to my place," Ruby said, "Mom and Dad would be glad to have you."

"And Midnight," Blake asked.

"So long as he wipes his feet on the way in," Ruby said. Midnight yipped at that.

"Okay thanks Ruby," Blake said, "Should you call ahead to tell you parents that they are having a few more visitors?"

"I will," Ruby said, "Hey Murtagh, you'll tell us what you find out right?"

"We will," Murtagh replied as he, Hawk, Fisher and Thorn took off.

"Well back on Midnight then," Sun said, "You sure are getting your exercise today aren't you boy?" Midnight huffed at Sun as the three climbed back onto his back. "Ruby you'll have to tell him how to get to you place, he's never been there."

"I'll give him directions once we get back to Vale," Ruby said, "Now I've got to call and let Mom and Dad know you two are going to be joining us."

They bantered on the way back to Vale, mostly talking about what they thought Issac and Qui-gon would have to say about the Force enhanced Necromorph Grimm. They settled on deciding that they had no idea. Once they got to Vale Ruby took over and guided Midnight to her home. They got many different looks while they rode through the city, most were a mix of fear and awe at Midnight's size and apparent friendliness, some of curiosity and a few of hate. The three riders' own steely looks turned away anyone who would want to harm Midnight and they arrived at Ruby's place about thirty after seven.

"Oh dear I don't think he is going to fit through the door," Blake said, "Ruby is there another way into Lao's flat?"

"There are stairs around the side that go up to the roof," Ruby said after thinking for a moment, "I can get the doors open for you once you're up there."

"Okay we'll see you up there," Blake said. Ruby nodded and slid off of Midnight. She patted him on the side before heading into the building. Julie was at the front of the main lobby, the elderly woman did own the building complex after all.

"Ruby my dear I'm so glad to hear you're coming beck to stay a while," Julie said as she greeted the girl she had watched grow up from a baby into the Huntress that Ruby was now.

"Yeah it will be nice to be home for a bit," Ruby said, "Speaking of that I need to let Blake and Sun in from the roof, is the key in it's usual place?"

"It sure is," Julie said, "Just make sure you lock the doors behind you and put the key back."

"I will," Ruby assured Julie. A few minutes later and Ruby had made it to the roof access for the equipment that ran the air conditioners and other large appliances for the building. She opened it with a key card that was hidden behind a wall panel. Blake, Sun and Midnight were waiting on the other side and stepped through once the doors were open.

"This is a maintenance bay I assume," Sun remarked.

"Yup," Ruby said, "Yang and I use to come in and out this way when we wanted to avoid interactions with the other residences of the building. Here help me close the doors." Sun helped her close the doors and then the four made their way to Ruby's quarter of the building. Midnight was barely able to fit through the door into the flat but once in he was able to stand up if he wanted.

"Hey Mom, Dad, I'm home," Ruby called. Even though Lao only rented a quarter of the building the place might as well be a full sized house. "Sun, Blake and Midnight are with me! … Mom? Dad? Hello?"

"Maybe they are on their way back with food," Sun suggested.

"Oh right they did mention something about going out to get the food," Ruby said as she remembered her conversation with Summer on the way home. They were all draw off from their thoughts at the sound of a thunk and an 'ah how did that happen?'

"Who is," Blake started, but Ruby recognized Scooter's voice instantly and ran towards where she heard the sound.

"Scooter you're back," Ruby yelled as she rounded a corner and sprinted down the hall to her room. Inside Scooter was pinned under one of her dressers. "What did you do to my room?"

"Hey Ruby," Scooter grunted as cheerfully as he could, "Sorry about the mess I was looking to try and find what size ring you wear, uh could you help me get this off of me?"

"Not very subtle," Blake remarked as she and Sun came up behind Ruby. Ruby shot her a glare that said leave him alone before she moved to help Scooter out from under her dresser and the to force him to clean up the mess he had made of her room. Ruby didn't get much farther than helping Scooter up and getting the dresser placed back up right however as when she turned to Scooter her eyes were draw to a glint that was in the palm of his opened hand. That glint was a diamond encrusted gold ring.

"I hope it fits," Scooter said.

"Is... is this, are you," Ruby was breathing quite rapidly now as she started to comprehend what Scooter was holding out to her.

"Yeah I wanted to get it fitted just right before I asked you but guess that isn't going to happen now," Scooter said, "Ruby I want to marry you and I mean actually marry you not the hang around for a few years sort of stuff that mom did. Even being on the Hunter seems lonely without you, so what do you say?"
Ruby's brain locked up for a moment with all the thoughts that were zipping through it like, "am I ready for this, what will happen to team RWBY, would Scooter become a Hunter, would we have children, Mom and Dad will be so happy, I am so happy," and most importantly, "Scooter I love you."

"So is that a yes then," Scooter asked. Ruby realized that she had been thinking out loud while having wrapped Scooter in a hug that left him holding her up off the ground.

"He-he that's a yes," Ruby said as she squeezed him tighter before dropping back to the ground and letting Scooter put the ring on her hand, amazingly it fit perfectly.

"Congratulations you two," Blake said, "I guess that leaves only Weiss without a husband or soon to be husband.

"I have a feeling that Jayne may be taking care of that," Lao said. He and Summer had apparently gotten back, "But for right now my little Rose is engaged I could not be happier."

"Come here you two," Summer said as she hugged them, "To be able to see this moment, it's more than I could have ever asked for."

"Well lets not just stand around here then," Lao said, "We have to celebrate and there are plenty of hungry mouths to feed here, I'll go start up the oven."

"Uh, I had better go help him," Summer said, "You know how he cooks."

"Yeah...," Ruby said remembering all the 'cooked' meals Lao had made. He is the main reason that Ruby and Yang taught themselves to cook. Midnight whined from the kitchen as the sounds of crashing pots and pans echoed through the house. The four remaining in Ruby's room looked between each other. "Dinner intervention," Ruby asked.

"We'll go keep the food edible," Sun said, "You should probably call Yang and Weiss to let them know, and anyone else you can think of."

"Yeah I'll call the guys on the Hunter," Scooter said, "You can tell your friends and we should be done by dinner time."

"Already on it," Ruby said as she typed away at her scroll. This was definitely one of the greatest days of her life.

Character Weiss

"That was wonderful," Weiss complimented Jayne as they left the Dust in the Wind, "I honestly didn't think you capable of being so mannered, I am sorry for underestimating you. Also you look good in a suit."

"Does a well mannered, suit wearing me make you horny," Jayne asked.

Weiss scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Pig," she stated. "No but I am more inclined to cuddle with the well mannered man who was here a second ago instead of the brute that usually has his arm across my shoulders."

"You like me being blunt and you know it," Jayne replied with a grin as Weiss leaned into him and they continued to walk down the street to the car.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't appreciate it," Weiss consented. She sighed and after a moment asked, "Jayne why are you still with me?"

"Because you are driving," Jayne said.

"No you dolt," Weiss corrected, "I mean why are you still dating me, there are plenty of single women in DC most of which I'm sure are more sexually attractive than me."

"It's not about sex," Jayne said, "Sure it's fun, but like I told you before I've been with women before and they are all dead now thanks to the Reavers. I know I've had Badger and Harken try and locate any of them and they found nothing. My family don't need me anymore, Mal could get anyone in DC to replace me if he needed to... I don't have a reason to be here, except for you. Sure you scoff and roll your eyes and we insult each other but we still come back to one another. Now that don't make no sense unless we need each other more than we think."

"Jayne, that is deep for you," Weiss said, "I really hope your right."

"Yeah and about you not being sexy, don't think for a second your aren't," Jayne said, "Your attitude, skills, body, and money are all sexier than anyone else in DC."

"You really think so," Weiss asked.

"Know so," Jayne replied.

"Well that is something to think about," Weiss commented as they arrived at the car and she got her keys out of her belt. "I don't guess you've got a ring hidden in that suit of yours?"

"Oh you mean something like this," Jayne stated as he held out his hand and a felt covered box materialized in it. He then opened the box to reveal a platinum ring with Dust crystals embedded in it. Weiss caught her breath as she comprehended what was happening. Jayne got down on one knee and held out the magic box to her. "Weiss Schnee will you marry me?"

Weiss never even blinked, "Yes, Jayne Cobb, Yes I will," She stated as she took the ring and tried it on. "Now three questions: One how did you know my size, two how did you get Dust crystals embedded in the ring and three where did the box come from?"

"Your parents helped me with sizing it, Coris helped with the crystals and Daemon over there had it vanished for the last hour and a half waiting for this," Jayne said as he pointed towards Daemon who was leaning against a tree in the corner of the parking lot with Janell. The two waved at them before vanishing from sight as they traveled along the energy lines of Remnant.

"Figures," Weiss remarked as she pulled Jayne up into a kiss.

"I love those lips," Jayne said as they broke the kiss, "I love all of you but those lips are something special."

"I love you too," Weiss said, "I guess Father and Mother already know about your plan?"

"Yeah they know," Jayne said, "You should probably let them know you accepted."

"How about I drive us home and you let them know on the way," Weiss said, "Get in the car you heart stealing brute."

Jayne laughed as they got in the convertible. Weiss handed him her scroll as she pushed in the clutch and started up the car. With a quick glance over her shoulder Weiss backed the car out and got them moving down the highway towards her mansion.

"Your parents say they are glad to hear we're together," Jayne said after a few minutes, "Pyrrha sends her congratulations to us as does Yang... Well now isn't that something."

"What is it," Weiss asked.

"Scooter just asked Ruby to marry him," Jayne said, "She is calling you how do you get these things to do speaker phone?" Weiss reached over and pressed the button to turn on the scroll's speaker function.

"Weiss I'm getting married," Ruby exclaimed. Her voice was piercing even through the scroll.

"That makes two of us then," Weiss replied, "Scooter asked you I take it?"

"Yup," Ruby said, "Wait two of us, Jayne asked you?"

"Yes I did," Jayne replied.

"Oh hey Jayne," Ruby said, "Sorry if I am a bit excited at the moment, I start to miss things when I am excited and am I breathing too fast?"

"Ruby slow deep breaths," Weiss advised, "Clear your head so you don't faint."

Ruby took a couple of seconds to heed Weiss' advice before saying, "Right thanks Weiss. Hey if you two are getting married and Scooter and I are getting married do you think we could..."

"No," Weiss cut Ruby off.

"Oh come on think of all the planning that would go into it," Ruby begged, "Weiss please?"

Weiss was going to deny her partner again but stopped to think about just how much planning it would take to pull of Ruby's idea. "Okay fine we can do a joint wedding," Weiss said, "Jayne I hope you bought that suit and didn't rent it."

"Yeah it's bought," Jayne said, "How did you know what she wanted."

"We're partners," Ruby said, "Not all of the missions we go on are exciting or even actually missions, we've spent a lot of time running hypothetical situations."

"And several of those have been about marriage," Weiss added, "There have been plenty about funerals, best worst super powers, food, gravity, the meaning of life and why we are here as well."

"So you two are philosophers then," Jayne remarked, "So why are we here?"

"Because driving back is faster than walking, or even running and you took me out to eat," Weiss stated, "any other questions?" Ruby laughed at that as Jayne just scratched his head in confusion.

"Ruby we're glad to hear the news about you and Scooter," Weiss continued, "You can tell us all about it tomorrow okay?"

"I will at that," Ruby replied, "We're happy for you two as well, see you tomorrow, drive safely."

"That dunce is going to hyperventilate," Weiss commented after Jayne closed the scroll.

"I was half expecting her to fall over during the conversation," Jayne said.

"Ha Ruby once talked for a full hour straight at a speed that rivals my corporate disclaimer speed and only turned the slightest shade of blue," Weiss said, "Even I have to admit it was very impressive."

"That doesn't seem physically possible," Jayne stated, "So this joint wedding thing?"

"It's an old idea that we've speculated on for many a mission," Weiss said, "The original situation was if we were getting married what would we want it to be like."

"What like if you and Ruby," Jayne started.

"No don't be perverse," Weiss said, "If we married pigs like you and Scooter what would we want the ceremony to be like, the reception, the decorations, etc. Turned out we would like mostly the same things though for different reasons and of course the colors would be different for our respective ornaments."

"Right your white she is red," Jayne said, "did you talk about food?"

"Mostly I argued for not having a cookie cake," Weiss said, "We settled that with just having two cakes, apart from cookies Ruby is pretty good when it comes to food. I think her list of favorites goes cookies number one and all other food number ten. We also talked about how to incorporate our weapons and fighting styles into the arrangements."

"Okay now I'm interested," Jayne said, "Tell me more about what you would do with the weapons."

They spent the remainder of the trip back talking about what the wedding would be like, well Weiss talked Jayne listened and occasionally asked questions. Inevitably they got off topic however and upon arriving were engaged in a deep discussion over whether Xarle or Tom would win in a duel. How they got to this point, Weiss had no idea but she liked the direction the conversation was going.

"I'd still have to say Xarle would win, the man's part demon," Jayne countered Weiss' latest point.

"Sure but eventually Tom's horde of undead would overwhelm him," Weiss said.

"What if Xarle turned them all into paper, then what would they do," Jayne stated.

"Two words," Weiss said as she opened the door to her mansion, "Paper cuts."

"Paper," Jayne started, "Well crap I've got to give you that those things hurt something gorrham awful."

"Father, Mother, we're home," Weiss said, "Hey Jayne they did say they would meet us here right?"

"They said they would see us when we got home," Jayne said, "This is home right?"

"It's mine yes," Weiss said as she got out her scroll and started messaging her parents, "They could have meant their house though."

"Wait this isn't their house," Jayne asked, "But they were living here right?"

"For the past few months yes," Weiss said, "but we have other houses, the main estate is about an hour outside of Atlas. Don't worry about it it has plenty of security there and remember mother is a Huntress."

"If they meant that house wouldn't they have told you," Jayne said.

"Hmm that is odd, it is unlike Father to miss a message on his scroll, especially from me," Weiss said after a few moments, "let me see if I can pull up their position." After a few moments she had it pulled up, it looked like they were in the middle of an intersection in Vale.

"That's kinda an odd place to stop," Jayne said. Weiss studied the scroll something was off about where it showed her parents.

"I know those roads," Weiss said, "if Father was driving here he would have been on the road heading east, but it looks like he is on the side heading west, we don't have any houses out west... they've been hit. Jayne get us some flying transportation the roads will be backed up due to the crash and I need to be there."

"Calling Mal now," Jayne said as he ran out to get Vera out of the car. Weiss ran and grabbed a first aid kit along with a few vials of Dust she thought would be useful before meeting Jayne outside. "Mal says he can't get us there but he has got those Freelancer friends of his to lend us a Hornet, hope you don't mind flying on the outside of a helicopter."

"Depends on who is driving," Weiss replied, "When will it be here?"

"Should be any second now," Jayne said, "I believe Delta is piloting it." His statement was proved correct a few moments later as the VTOL landed outside the house.

"Hello," Delta said, "I understand time is of the essence, get on." Weiss got on one of the side platforms and Jayne got on the other. "Miss Schnee I will need coordinates of our destination." Weiss relayed the navigational info from her scroll to Delta and they took off. Flying on the Hornet was nothing like flying on one of the dragons, it was much more stable for passengers than dragon back. They came in sight of the crash after a few minutes, the emergency responders were already on on the scene blocking off people from getting near the crash. Weiss spotted her parents as they got closer, they seemed okay even if the car was totaled.

"Delta get me up above it," Weiss yelled over the noise of the twin jets that propelled the aircraft, "Then go land somewhere so Jayne can get off."

"What are you going to do," Jayne yelled back.

"Landing strategy," Weiss replied, "Meet me on the ground."

"We are directly above the crash," Delta said, "You should be able to land right next to your parents."

"You're jumping are you insane," Jayne yelled as Weiss hopped off the platform and fell towards the crash.

"This must be how Ruby thinks all the time," Weiss realized, "My parents seem fine and I'm being irrational, Summer's death must have really impacted Ruby." Weiss bounced off of a series of glyphs to land safely next to her parents.

"Weiss," Ivy exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"When Father didn't answer my message I looked up where you were and figured out that you must have been hit," Weiss said. "Are you two okay?"

"My back will be killing me in the morning," Abrams stated, "But for now I'm fine."

"Miss we are going to have to ask you to step out of the crash site," one of the Vale police officers said as she ran over to Weiss.

"It's okay officer she is our daughter," Ivy said, "She can stay with us."

"Be that as it may legally we can't allow anyone into the crash site unless they have either a medical or legal purpose to be here until we get the report finished," the green eyed, blond haired, officer stated.

"I brought medical supplies and Dust to help with any injuries," Weiss said, "Surely someone has need of them."

"The hospital responders have the medical supplies covered, but if you have Dust that could come in handy," the officer consented, "Go see the medical team they are over by the other party in this collision. Be warned they did not fare as well as your parents."

Weiss nodded and headed for the other car, taking in the situation it looked like her parents were hit from the side by the person she was now going over to help. Weiss saw the Hornet land just outside the police lines and gave a wave to Jayne and Delta as the two got out. Weiss identified the leader of the medical team and moved over to speak with him.

"Yes may I help you," the medical leader, an older man with a graying beard and bald head asked.

"Actually it may be the other way around," Weiss said, "I've got some Dust that has been formulated for medical use, the officer overseeing this case thought you might be able to use it."

"Can it mend shattered bones and stop internal bleeding," the medical chief asked. Weiss pulled two bottles from her belt and handed them to him, "The green one if for the bleeding the reddish orange is for the bones," Weiss said.

"Remarkable I've only seen these in the very high end Schnee funded clinics," the medical chief exclaimed, "Stay here I'll be right back." He ran over to the ambulance where Weiss caught a glimpse of the other driver. It was hard to tell much other than the driver was young and female. Weiss waited around for a few minutes while the medical team used the dust in their portable treatment machines to stabilize the girl. The medical chief returned with a relived look on his face. "Miss you have my thanks for showing up when you did, if it were not for that Dust that young lady might very well be dead right now."

"So do you know what caused her to crash," Weiss asked.

"Runaway engine," the medic said, "That is what the officer says anyways and I am inclined to believe it no one goes ramming into a car that fast if they can help it."

"How fast was she going," Weiss asked.

"It must have been above a hundred to cause such damage to her ribs," the medic said, "Looks like the steering wheel smashed them all to pieces."

"Well that Dust should fix even that level of damage in a week or two," Weiss said.

"Indeed," the medic agreed, "How is it you had such a rare Dust on you anyway?"

"I am Weiss Schnee," Weiss stated, "Those are my parents that this girl crashed into, I had brought the Dust to help them if they needed it."

"Of course I should have know by the emblem on your jacket," the medic said, "I am Mark, Mark Eng, head of the first responder division at Vale." Weiss and Mark shook hands.

"Well Mark it is goo to meet you, though I would rather it not be in such a dramatic fashion," Weiss said.

"Agreed," Mark said, "I don't suppose you could make arrangements for some of that Dust to be delivered to my hospital, Verdant Rehab?"

"Sorry you've got to be a partner with the Schnee Corporation," Weiss said, "But I could help you to get that status."

"Of course," Mark said, "You wouldn't want to undermine those who have the reputation of being partners with you. I just might take you up on that offer to get partnership though, Cross Bearer knows we could use the help."

"I can send the information you need to your scroll," Weiss said, "give me your number and I'll forward it to you."

"Sure thing," Mark said as he wrote down his number and handed it to Weiss, "Now I've got to go keep watch over our patient while we move her to the hospital."

"Drive safely," Weiss said as they parted ways and she walked back over to her parents, "Well this night has been far more intense than I would like it to be."

"That makes two of us," Abrams said, "Runaway engine, talk about the wrong place at the wrong time."

"For us maybe," Weiss said, "Fort that girl... maybe we were right where we needed to be."

"She survived," Ivy asked, "I thought she had died on impact, the officers wouldn't let us go over to help."

"She is alive, I brought some or our healing Dusts with me," Weiss said, "Speaking of which, Father what do you think about adding Verdant Rehab to the list of our partner non-profits?"

"They were the responders tonight were they," Abrams said, "I've been watching them for a while now. They welcomed DC in to help with Yang if I am not mistaken, I think they have potential if you have a contact with them go ahead and send them the paperwork they will need."

"I will send it in the morning," Weiss said.

"And Weiss," Abrams added, "I've been running this company for thirty five years now, I wasn't much older than you are now when I took over for my Father, soon you won't be needing my approval for decisions. I am proud to see your making good ones already. Beacon, RWBY, Jayne and Verdant, just to name a few."

"Well you taught me pretty well," Weiss said, "both of you."

"Yes and you taught yourself a good bit as well," Ivy said as she walked over from talking with the officer. "Okay we can go, the wrecker will come in to clean up this mess."

"Well we have a Hornet that can make a trip from here to the mansion in four minutes," Weiss said. "It can only carry two passengers at a time though."

"I'll bet we can get four of us on it," Ivy said as she looked towards the aircraft with a smirk.

"Oh no we're not," Abrams started. "I guess we are," he said a few minutes later as he held onto the Hornet behind Weiss. "Next time bring a five seater vehicle."

"I guess we can count this as one of the less thought out decisions," Weiss agreed as she clung to the Hornet, "We're about half way home though it's not much longer."

"Good," Abrams replied. Three minutes later they had gotten off the Hornet and Delta had started his return to the Invention. "Ivy, never do that again," Abrams said.

"Oh come on it was fun," Ivy stated as she straightened her hair.

"This is your idea of fun," Jayne asked, "I've got me a whole different set of ideas about fun that don't involve the possibility of falling to my death."

"It's Mother's idea of fun at least," Weiss said, "I'm fine with falling once I'm prepared to fall, but suddenly falling off of something is not an experience I want to repeat."

"When did you fall off of something," Ivy asked.

"Look lets just say that Ruby will sometimes act before she thinks," Weiss said and left the conversation at that. "It's ten thirty already, how time seems to fly. Tomorrow Doug should have that Marker dug up so we can smash it and start hunting down the moon that was sending signals to it."

"I still have trouble believing that the controlling force of the Necromorphs is an entire moon," Abrams said, "The scope of such a creature is simply mind blowing."

"Doug is very similar," Weiss said, "He inhabits the entire structure of the Ark."

Character Adam Taurus

Adam was meeting with the Sith Lords that had bowed to his leadership, Darth Maven, Yishi, and Falion. Their topic of conversation the Dark side controlling Necromorphs.

"It would seem you are correct," Maven grunted as he studied the chart that Adam had overlaid on the holoprojection of Remnant. "These scans show many Force sensitive units active on the planet, some of which are as strong as some of our most powerful agents."

"I believe those extremely powerful ones to be the objects called Markers," Adam said, "They are the relays for many Necromorph minds and thus would appear as if they were extremely powerful."

"If the markers are relays then where is the mind that controls them," Yishi asked as she studied the projection.

"Off world of course," Falion said, "There is supposed to be a moon sized Necromorph that controls the others correct?"

"That is what my experts tell me," Adam replied, "It is actually a collection of these moons that control the Necromorphs."

"Then if one of them was force sensitive and was on either Korriban or Malachor V it could have received much training directly from the Dark side," Yishi said, "If these Moons went to both planets..."

"They could be quite adept with the Force," Maven finished.

"My thoughts exactly," Adam said, "I suspect they are just testing the capabilities of the Force now but once they see it's power they will not hesitate to attack."

"But if we beat them to it and strike them down first," Falion said, "We could draw in all their power."

"So I have your fleets," Adam asked.

"You have control of the fleets," Maven said, "We'll show them there is no power in the galaxy stronger than the Sith!"

"I assume these Moons are nearby," Yishi said.

"If they were in the same system I doubt they would need the Markers," Adam said, "At least that seems to be the trend."

"So we are hunting them down," Falion asked.

"We are going to them yes," Adam said, "Hunting is not the correct word though, it implies the chance of failure we are going killing. Get to your ships, Falion I will be commanding the Raven."

"Of course my lord," Falion said. Adam and Falion headed out from the strategy room of the Raven to head for the bridge. Yishi and Maven headed for their transports to return to their ships.

"Doug," Adam said over the communication screen on the bridge.

"I'm here," Doug replied, "You've decided to go after them?"

"We are, do you have the Moons' location," Adam asked.

"I'll plot the locations on your maps now," Doug said, "Adam these Necromorphs are not to be underestimated, I calculate that by the time you arrive they will have increased their proficiency with the Force by five hundred percent and their total mass by ten thousand percent."

"Good," Adam said, "The more powerful they become the more power we can siphon from them when they die."

"Ten thousand percent," Falion stated, "Where would they find that many bodies?"

"Londonium," Adam stated, "The dead there must number in the trillions, even after Harbinger converted as many as he could carry."

"You are correct that was their last location," Doug said, "I predict that they are heading to Persephany next."

"How sure are you," Adam asked.

"One hundred percent," Doug said, "It is the only planet in the Verse system with a Marker on it."

"Then that is where we are headed," Adam said, "Doug keep the others from coming after us."

"I understand," Doug said, "You don't want her to see this side of you do you?"

"I don't want anyone else to know about this side of me," Adam replied, "If we are not back within the week expect trouble." He cut off the comms and walked to Falion who was overseeing the entries of navigational data into the ship.

"We are ready to depart," Falion said, "Hemorrhage and Domination are ready as well."

"Then why are we still here," Adam snarled, "Go!"

The three super star destroyer class ships warped out of Remnant's orbit and were above Persephany in two hours. What they were not expecting to find were the six fleshy moons of the Necromorphs already attacking the planet.

"The amount of power radiating from those creatures is unheard of," Falion said, "It's like they are each echoing..."

"Echoing Korriban and Malachor V," Adam stated.

"We will feast upon you all," the Moons thoughts echoed as the Raven's scanners picked up a wave of objects being fired from them.

"Those must be Necromorphs," Falion commented, "We should strike off their head while we have the chance!"

"Intercept the ones headed to the planet," Adam said as he glared at the Moons which were beginning to glow with a pale green light, "We will have another day when we can claim the Moon's power for ourselves." As he finished speaking the Moons warped out of orbit leaving their army to descend upon Persephany.

"They travel through hyper space," Falion said as he checked the tracking data. "It looks like they are headed out of the system to an isolated planet."

"Of course, Miranda," Adam stated, "Where the Reavers were born, their stop there should give us time to get back to Remnant once we destroy this invasion. This is Revan to all ships, deploy forces to intercept and destroy the Necromorphs, I will be attending to the Hive-minds and the Markers personally, Darth Maven, Darth Yishi meet with Darth Falion once your forces are deployed and he will direct you all to me."

"What do you plan my lord," Falion asked after Adam's broadcast.

"I'm going to finish this fight one way or another," Adam said as he headed for the armory to get an EVA combat suit, "I'll be riding as many of their corpses down to the planet as I can kill."

"We will meet you on the ground then," Falion acknowledged. Adam suited up and headed to a hanger where he could get a good approach to the descending Necromorphs. He lined up his trajectory and then dashed out of the Raven.

Adam channeled his Aura and the Force to direct his path and speed towards the Necromorphs. The Hive-mind was Adam's target but that didn't stop him from slicing and dicing any of the smaller forms that got in his way with each kill he charged himself with the Force energy of the slain Necromorphs. As he drew near to the Hive-mind he realized just how massive a fully formed one was. The creature would take up the space of a city with it's main bulk not to mention the myriad of giant tentacles coming off of it. One of said tentacles went by him as Adam got closer to the Hive-mind, a few moments later and he was on the surface of the massive creature. Upon landing several Necromorph Slashers were spewed forth from the spawner mouths on the Hive-mind.

Adam sliced and shot his way through the Slashers as he moved towards the head of the beast. In front of him Adam saw the explosions of Persephany's planetary defense cannons as the Necromorphs came into range. Yishi's Domination was still in orbit and was laying down fire on the Necromorphs as well. Despite this vicious assault there were far more Necromorphs than the defenses could eliminate before they touched down. Adam reached the head of the Hive-mind leaving a trail of dead Necromorphs in his wake. He was glowing with spastic red energy by this time, causing his EVA suit to start to malfunction. Adam channeled as much power into Wilt and Blush as he could then jumped up above the head of the Hive-mind before reversing his direction with the Force, plummeting into the massive head. Wilt hit first slicing open a massive hole as Adam poured power from himself into the strike, he fired Blush so that he would spin around for another hit as he continued to fall through the hole that he was drilling into the Hive-mind's head. It took Adam seven full rotations to burst out the other side.

Looking back he saw the Hive-mind spasm and thrash before becoming limp and sill as it fell towards the planet below. Looking towards Persephany Adam saw a shell from one of the planetary defense guns explode just a few feet in front of him. With a well timed Force dash Adam propelled himself back through the hole he had made in the Hive-mind to land on the other side of the monster, effectively using it as a meat shield against the bombardment. Looking around as he descended Adam saw the ranks of the Necromorphs dissolve into chaos as the Raven's, Hemorrhage's, and Domination's fighter squadrons laid into the still falling creatures.

"Impressive," Maven said over the comms, "I felt that creature die all the way from the surface, Did you really pull in all of it's energy?"

"You will see for yourself when I get down there," Adam said before the EVA suit disintegrated around him allowing for the supercharged Adam's Aura of red power to arc across him. Using the Force and Aura, Adam protected himself from the vacuum of space and the searing heat of entering the atmosphere. He had made his way to the back of the Hive-mind's corpse so that when it hit the ground and splattered out in a huge radius Adam was able to absorb the shock of the landing with nothing more than a grunt. "Falion I'm planet side you can find me at the impact of the Hive-mind."

"We are on our way," Falion replied via the Force, "loose your suit I take it."

"Correct," Adam confirmed as he jumped to the ground that was fifteen feet below him. Looking around Adam saw nothing but Necromorph flesh splattered out in a huge radius around him. Farther out towards the horizon was a city which was being rained on. Adam assumed the 'rain' was the corpses of the Necromorphs as they fell through the sky some of them burning up in the process making it look like a metier shower. Adam soon realized that he was hovering above the ground due to the amount of energy that was arcing across him. Adam didn't ever want Blake to see him like this in his warlord state, but he knew it would be good for his potentially treacherous Sith followers to see the true amount of power he could unleash. After all he was a fragment of K, the former Sith lord Revan, and now the Fanus merc and mentor of the only person he cared about.

Adam was pulled from his meditation by the sound of speeders heading his direction, Falion, Maven and Yishi no doubt. He turned towards the sound to see the three expected arrivals dismount their transports and approach him. Adam couldn't see their faces due to the masks each wore but he could read their Force energy and tell that they were excited to see the kind of power that even a Hive-mind would bestow upon them once defeated.

"We should not hesitate," Yishi exclaimed, "If even one of the Moons' emissaries grant this much power we should hunt them down right now!"

"And we would if they had not already left the system," Maven said, "As it is their stop on Miranda was very brief, only a few minutes ago my scanners reported that they along with some unknown crafts left."

"How many," Adam asked.

"Two as far as I could tell," Maven said, "One seemed to be more normal than the other though, had a relatively normal configuration. The second seemed to have a much more organic structure."

"Could they have found allies already," Falion remarked, "It seems unlikely unless they are allied with another group that shares their goals."

"Even we Sith don't share the goal of destroying everything," Yishi said, "Accumulate power and rule certainly, but destruction is used only when it is necessary."

"I think I know who might align with them," Adam said, "Magog."

"You think it has returned already," Maven asked.

"Luciver told K it was on the move already," Adam replied, "If it has teamed up with the Necromorphs that would explain the other organic object that left with them."

"What about the last ship," Maven asked.

Adam looked off into the sky, he was searching for traces of a familiar Aura hoping that he didn't find it. Unfortunately Adam didn't have to search long before he felt it, the echo of Cinder Fall's Aura only it was different than the Cinder that he knew. "Cinder," Adam whispered, "So there is a Remnant that has fallen into shadow and chaos."

"Then we can bring light and order to it," Yishi said as she placed a hand on Adam's shoulder, "You've not met the leader of our forces nor the members of my circle..."

"True," Adam agreed, "Who is your circle anyway?"

Yishi reached up and took her mask off. Adam was shocked when he found himself staring into a much older version of Blake. Falion then reached up and took his mask off revealing Sun and Maven followed revealing the dark side version of Jaune. "Adam, Cinder gained control of Remnant because she convinced all of us to help her do so," Falion said, "We gave up the names of the teams and people you know long ago, we are different from them but we will help them reclaim the planet."

"We can't call it home anymore," Maven said, "Once Cinder took over she threw all of us out, discovering that she could warp between dimensions in the process."

"So that is how you ended up following the Cinder we know," Adam said, "You didn't learn a whole lot did you?"

"To be fair we didn't have you," Yishi said, "I've seen how you act towards Blake. Had I known you as she has perhaps we would have resisted Cinder."

"I take it your leader is, or was your Ruby," Adam stated still disconcerted by this new knowledge.

"Yes she is," Yishi confirmed, "Shade has taken this harder than any of us."

"So that is the name she chose,"Adam said.

"It is the life she chose after realizing what we had done," Falion said, "That is why you've never met her she is shade, shadows."

"We must never tell them about this," Shade said as she materialized out of the shadow of the dead Hive-mind. "Don't ever let the RWBYs know about us."

Shade was much more imposing than Adam would have imagined. She was seven feet tall cloaked in black with a mask that only allowed the silver glow from her eyes to bleed through. Adam was surprised to see her eyes were still silver, silver meant that the person had a good soul. He wondered if it was possible for these fallen versions of his friends to become who they once were.

"You have my word," Adam said, "This knowledge will not pass from me to any other."

"Thank you Adam," Shade said before she disappeared.

"Are you okay," Maven asked as the three put their masks back on.

"Not yet," Adam said, "But perhaps I will be given time... I need to think but more importantly I need to introduce myself to this Cinder that destroyed you all!" The red energy around Adam vanished inside him as he found the rage fueled capacity to store it.

"We will not let Cinder destroy another Remnant," Yishi said, "Come on we need to head back."