Chapter 48- Perusing The Archives

I wonder if some people didn't know that the entire Gettysburg address is put on the terminal screen that FILSS was in. To them me putting in the Gettysburg address would've seemed so random and bad.

"You're just lazy, if you don't read those extra little data entries or logs how are you going to get the full story?" Ruby asked.

"If a game has to rely on data entries and logs to tell a story it probably isn't a good story." Yang countered.

Jaune raised a hand, "Some games do rely on those for a reason, so that if people are curious about the story they have to explore."

Yang sighed, "I just don't like reading."

Weiss smirked, "You really are perpetuating the stereotype of a dumb blonde."

Yang growled, "Only while I'm playing a game, Ruby can attest to how much I read when we were younger."

Ruby giggled, "Every night I made her read me fairy tales."

"We know." Blake chuckled, "It's ok Yang, your reading level is locked on the children's book stage."

"And yours is locked at the porn stage." Yang shot back.

Blake's smug grin fell, "At least what I read has a larger vocabulary."

"Oh yeah! I would be thrilled to read books which such an eloquent verbose as 'Oh Yes, rip through my tight, craving, moist, virginity'" Yang mocked while holding her hands to her mouth.

Blake's face practically switched to red as she blushed.

Nora burst out laughing, "That's not a real line is it?"

"No!" Blake answered all too quickly.

"Yes!" Yang answered at the same time with a laugh.

Blake growled, "How would you know, did you read the book?"

Yang laughed as she shook her head, "No." she held up her scroll, "I looked up funny lines from Ninja's of Love."

Blake crossed her arms and huffed, "Just play the damn episode already."

Jaune nodded, glancing between the two before hitting play.

"Perusing The Archives" Appeared on the screen with the theme.

"Any deduction from the title miss Blake?" Yang smirked.

"They are going to peruse some archives." Blake huffed sarcastically.

"Very insightful." Yang huffed, equally sarcastic.

"Thanks." Blake chuckled.

Fade in to Church and Caboose wandering a hallway in the facility.

FILSS: "Please watch your step. Director, since you have a new visitor with you today, would you like me to run the tutorial program?"

Everyone chuckled, recalling the last time FILSS/Sheila offered the tutorial program.

Caboose: "Yes, always run that. No seriously you need to run that. No it's, really you need to, you need to turn that-"

Church: "Yeah okay shut up dude. Yes, please run the tutorial program."

"The callback jokes are some of my favorites in the show." Ren commented.

"They surprisingly never get old or boring." Jaune added.

Caboose: "Oh thank God."

Chime Sounds, and FILSS talks

FILSS: "Hello, and welcome to the Freelancer Off-site Storage Facility. Project Freelancer is a state of the art scientific endeavour, with one goal in mind:"

Ren pulled up his notepad and pencil, "This will be enlightening."

FILSS: "to ensure the security of humanity in a harsh and violent Galaxy."

"A fancy way of saying that it's a military project." Blake commented.

Ren nodded, "We already knew that."

FILSS: "This bunker has been constructed to guarantee the continued operation of our program, in the event of a primary facility loss. This storage area archives all the components of our Freelancer simulation bases."

"Simulation bases?" Nora asked.

Ren nodded, "Washington mentioned something like that in season six. It didn't sound like anyone really believed him."

Blake nodded as well, "Denial is a wonderful thing." She chuckled sarcastically.

FILSS: "These outposts test our agents in realistic training scenarios."

Caboose: "Yeah, we're on the Blue Team!"

FILSS: "I am sorry, I do not recognize that term."

Nora chuckled, "Sarge erased everything blue, she doesn't even know the word blue now."

As FILSS talks we see blue and red helmets on pallets, multiple shots of the tele-porters, and the whole room in general.

FILSS: "Our simulation outposts are categorized into Red, and [entry missing]. Hmm, it seems as though I have a corrupted database. I will correct that when I have more time."

"Sarge is great." Nora chuckled.

Pyrrha chuckled as well, "He certainly did a number on FILSS's Data banks...FILSS said that this storage facility was specifically for the Red and Blue simulation bases. See all the tele-porters?"

"Tucker would have a nightmare." Jaune chuckled.

Caboose: "Uheh- there's our old stuff! And there's a teleporter! Man, Tucker hates those."

"Old stuff? I thought all of this was extra?" Ruby frowned.

Church: "Don't interrupt. Come on. This way."

FILSS: "When the equipment is not being used, it is stored here until it can be repurposed for- oh. I guess we are moving on."

Church and Caboose come to a heavily secured door at the end of a hallway, all dramatically.

"That door is locked down tight." Ruby commented.

"When in doubt, smash all about." Nora chuckled.

Caboose: "Well what's this?"

"The question of the hour." Ren chuckled.

"It's obviously what Church is after, which what could that be?" Blake asked.

"You can't tell from whatever foreshadowing you've seen?" Weiss asked.

Blake nodded, "When a show does foreshadowing right you can't tell what will happen. You can only theorize until the event happens and then you understand the foreshadowing. If I can guess what will happen exactly because of foreshadowing it takes away from the reveal."

FILSS: "I am sorry, this area is restricted. Only the Director himself may access this entry. I am sure you understand. The nature of our experiments is such that-"

Church: "Open it."

FILSS: "Excuse me Director?"

"Why is she confused? He's the director apparently so he has access." Nora asked.

"Yeah but Caboose is there." Jaune explained.

"With the director." Nora continued.

Jaune sighed and made a gesture to Ren who chuckled, "I'm sure it'll be explained." Ren explained.

Church: "I want you to open it."

"Church is very determined." Ruby commented, "Blake you had theories what were they?"

Blake shrugged, "No theories worth noting, my guesses are that it's something that either relates to the Director and where Church came from, some memory of Alpha that Epsilon is remembering that could relate to...himself somehow-"

"I think it obviously relates to Tex." Yang shrugged.

"You're biased." Weiss pointed out.

Yang shrugged, "So? He had memory flashes of Tex before."

Blake nodded, "Good point, but he only decided to come here once he saw Washington. Which is my biggest theory, that somehow it relates to Washington."

"You're also biased." Weiss pointed out. "Both of you are biased and want it to somehow relate to your favorite character."

Yang chuckled, "Guess we'll just have to see who's right. Wanna bet on it?"

Blake shook her head, "No, you and Ren can gambled all you want."

"I'll bet on your behalf then." Ren pulled out some of his Lien.

"Does that mean I get a cut if you win?" Blake asked.

Ren nodded, "If you'd like, I don't bet for the money."

"You're in it to be right." Yang chuckled.

"That makes me sound narcissistic." Ren commented.

"So you deny it?" Yang asked.

"Not entirely." Ren chuckled.

FILSS: "Are you certain Director? You never bring visitors into this-"

Church: "I said, open it."

FILSS: "Alright. Unlocking."

The door unlocks and opens.

FILSS: "Would you like me to archive your ...personal project?"

"Even FILSS is uneasy with this." Pyrrha grimaced slightly.

Church: "No. Let's see everything."

FILSS: "If you say so Director."

Cut to the Reds at the outside the facility, hiding behind the tree FILSS is on.

Sarge: "Simmons, what's the status report?"

"If they made it, Tucker shouldn't be far behind." Jaune commented.

Simmons: "Gumball McJones and Caboose just went into that door."

Grif: "What door? All I see is a wall."

Simmons: "It's a secret door?"

Sarge: "Simmons, what did I tell you about using Dungeons and Dragons references in combat situations?"

"Dungeons and Dragons?" Nora asked.

"Another reference, sounds like a high fantasy show." Ren commented.

Simmons: "(sigh) Sorry Sir. It's a concealed door."

Sarge: "That's better."

Grif: "How did they open it?"

Simmons: "They talked to that computer. They got it to open the door by posing as members of Project Freelancer. If we pose as agents, it'll probably let us in too."

"I doubt FILSS will fall for that, she has all the red team records." Blake commented.

"And they didn't pose as agents." Ruby chuckled, "She thought Church was the director."

Grif: "Aren't agents like tough, and good at things?"

Blake and Yang burst out laughing.

"Yes they are." Blake continued to laugh, "Grif's cynicism is great."

Simmons: "We all just pick a State name and call ourselves by that. You know, like Agent Washington. Grif, name a State."

"There's only fifty of them, she will have data on all of them." Blake shook her head.

"This plan won't work." Weiss chuckled.

Grif: "What is this, a pop quiz? Uuh, let's see, uh the Manhattan. No? Uhh, Europe."

Ren wrote the names down.

Simmons: "Wow. Really?"

Ren frowned, "I'm guessing these are not states."

Grif: "Pacific Ocean?"

Ren sighed, "Definitely not state names."

"Well now you know about the spacific ocean." Nora pointed out.

"Pacific." Ren corrected.

"That's what I said?" Nora explained, confused at the correction.

Simmons: "Stop guessing. Just be Agent Alaska. How 'bout you Sarge?"

"Alaska." Ren noted down. "I trust Simmons to know the state names."

Sarge: "I'll be Secret Agent Double Ohio. License to be tall in the middle, and round on both ends."

"Double O's." Jaune frowned, "I remember a joke about that with Donut a long time ago."

"Long time ago? You mean a few days ago?" Nora asked.

Jaune waived her off, "Yeah I meant a few seasons ago, it's felt longer. Anyway Donut said something about double O' Donut for his and Grif's secret spy mission on the blues."

Ren nodded, "That was a long time ago, Double O's in reference to secret agents seems to be a common reference."

"Common? It's been references twice maybe, if you two are right." Ruby pointed out.

Ren and Jaune simply shrugged.

Simmons: "And I'll be Agent Denial. Yegethit's, because a state of denial, like the saying?"

Yang giggled, "That's clever."

"Really?" Ruby asked.

She received no answer, only giggles from Yang.

Simmons: "You know, it's like a, I was, you know, the whole State/state thing? You know it's a, joke."

"Aww I got it." Yang defended him to no avail. Obviously.

Grif: "No dude, jokes are funny."

"But it was funny." Yang pouted.

"No it wasn't." Several in the room chorused.

Simmons: "Hhh, let's just go."

Cut to Washington leading the Meta, who's dragging the cement wall with an embedded Doc through the desert

Nora pointed at the screen, "Ha ha, look.. it's Doc in the wall."

"He is strong enough to pull Doc and the wall but not break Doc out of the wall." Weiss commented shaking her head.

Washington: "The recovery beacon leads here. It's weak, but I can still pick it up. ...Here. Meta, dig."

"Recovery Beacon? Isn't that just for freelancers?" Ruby asked.

Jaune nodded, "For Freelancer equipment and A.I. So...this doesn't make much sense?"

Ren frowned, then a grin spread across his face as he glanced at Yang. "I think I have an idea of what happened."

"What is it?" Jaune asked.

Ren gestured for Jaune to hit play.

Meta: *Growls*

Washington: "Hey, I'm not gonna argue with you about this. You want a chance at that A.I.? I track, you dig. Otherwise, you can wander the desert by yourself, and see if you find him on your own."

"A chance at the A.I." Pyrrha commented, "They both can't have Epsilon, yet they both want him."

"Yeah, I wonder who'll betray the other first." Yang grinned at Ren.

"I have my bets on the Meta." Ren nodded.

"Mine are on Washington, he's smart. He'll know the right time to do it." Yang shrugged.

"I agree." Blake chuckled. "So this makes how many bets you two have going on?"

"Three." Yang answered.

"The Bet that is still undecided is whether C.T. And his crew were organized criminals or government operatives. I believe they were working for the government and Yang believes they were criminals." Ren explained.

Yang nodded.

Meta: *growls*

Washington: "Because I found the signal. You dig. We all have to pull our own weight."

The Mando looks back at Doc encased in frozen carbonite.

Meta: *growls questioningly*

"And Doc's weight." Ruby chuckled.

Washington: "Right, and other people's weight too. Just dig."

The Meta starts digging

Doc: "Man, some people just can't take orders. Am I right?"

"Doc is making the best out of being captured." Pyrrha smiled.

Washington: "Shut up, we're not friends."

Doc: "Can I at least get a drink of water?"

Washington: "Shut up. I already asked you if you were thirsty before we left."

"This sounds suspiciously like a conversation I've seen before." Yang snickered towards Ruby.

"I was a growing girl, I needed milk!" Ruby defended.

Yang burst out laughing, "You're still as short now, as you were then."

Ruby growled, "I grew in other places!"

Yang burst out laughing as the rest of the room blushed and/or coughed awkwardly.

Ruby realized what she had said, "I meant my muscles!" Ruby flexed to prove her point, "Get your heads out of the gutter!"

"Wait when was this?" Weiss asked.

"During our drive to the hotel we were staying at until it was time for me to leave for Beacon." Yang explained, "Until Ruby decided to beat up some thugs and skip two years."

Ruby blushed, "It was nothing."

Weiss frowned, "Wait so you... Never mind I honestly shouldn't be surprised you still had conversations like that at the age of fifteen."

Yang laughed, "Ruby maybe has matured slightly but around our dad she is still his little girl."

Ruby huffed, "Slightly?"

Yang mockingly groaned, "Fine a lot, you have matured a lot, by your standards."

"I'll take what I can get." Ruby laughed."

Doc: "Yeah we're in the desert! Thirsty should be assumed."

"That's another Vacuan saying, Thirst should be assumed." Blake commented.

Washington: "You can drink later."

Cut to the Meta digging more.

Doc: "Yeah, this might be a bad time to tell you that I'm sinking then."

Doc is indeed sinking into the sand.

Washington: "...I hate you."

Blake chuckled, "Doc is a burden to Washington."

Doc: "I know."

The Meta stops digging and begins to growl.

Doc: "Can we- what're you guys doing over there?"

Wash looks down into the Meta's hole and sees the helmet of C.T.

"C.T.? They're releasing the recovery beacon?" Jaune asked.

Yang's face fell, "C.T. is a freelancer?"

"Therefore making C.T. a Government operative." Ren grinned.

Yang shook her head, "Let's wait a bit, we might be getting ahead of ourselves."

Washington: "What the- is that C.T.? That's impossible, what's she doing out here?"

"She?" Yang and Ren repeated.

"A mistake?" Jaune suggested.

Pyrrha shook her head, "The show hasn't made mistakes in a while."

Doc: "What're you looking at?"

Meta: "(something)"

Washington: "Don't bother. She didn't get an A.I., remember?"

"Whoever they're talking about was a freelancer. But it's clearly not C.T." Yang grinned.

"Washington just called her- him C.T." Ren pointed out.

"But that doesn't make sense? C.T. Is a guy?" Yang asked.

"It could be a voice changer?" Jaune suggested, "Tex used it to sound like a guy remember?"

Yang hummed, "I don't know, I don't think we can be certain."

Ren chuckled, "Uncertainty means no winner of the bet."

"Exactly."

"Pay up."

Yang groaned, "Fine, here you go. But I want it noted that I could still be right...I'm serious write it down."

Ren chuckled and nodded.

Doc: "Down in front!"

Washington: "Scavenge her for equipment, see what you can..."

Cut to reveal the Aliens staring at them.

Washington: "...find."

Pyrrha and Ruby chuckled.

"Church's cult, I wonder if they know about Washington." Ruby commented.

Doc: "Well, this is just fuckin' great."

Cut to Church and Caboose walking down a hallway to a room full of extra suits of armor for Church.

"Woah look at all those." Ruby commented. "I can't tell what color they are."

"Cobalt." Blake answered, "Same as Church's armor."

"That can't be a coincidence can it?" Ruby asked.

Blake shrugged.

Caboose: "Oh my God! Look at all the yous! You're everywhere! Why this is like a Best Friend Store, and this is the greatest store ever! You can have your body back! Now which one do you want? I wanna buy one."

"Extra bodies for Church to inhabit, to keep Alpha safe." Jaune commented.

"That worked well." Weiss scoffed sarcastically.

Church: "I'm not looking for that."

A person-sized cryo chamber opens in front of Church

Church: "I'm looking, for this."

Caboose: "Oh"

Cut to black with a quiet boom.

"I knew it would be a cliffhanger." Blake groaned.

My favorite character to write dialogue for would probably have to be Yang. She's almost the only one that can be offensive and still in character. Meaning I can make the jokes I want to make. Ruby and Pyrrha are probably the second hardest for me, when I first started writing this fic, Ruby was like a child. I fell into the typical Fan version of Ruby. With Pyrrha I think I still fall into her constantly only talking when she supports a character's morals or believes they can do better and win. Nora has gotten easier to write for since I did a rewatch of RWBY, so have Blake and Weiss. Now I'm certain that the hardest characters for me to write are Ren, and Jaune.

Ren in volumes 1 and 2 was insightful but quiet most of the time. Can't really have a character that never talks so I made him insightful and possibly a little too insightful/smart. With Jaune it's just hard for reasons I can't quite put my finger on.

With that being said, let me ask you all a question I once did a while ago, which character do I write the best and/or the worst character, why?

With how many questions I ask I'm beginning to think I'm slowly unintentionally putting together a quiz chapter by chapter.