A/N: I don't own any of the characters associated with the RWBY series. All rights belong to Rooster Teeth.
Setting: Agradia
The next morning, Bolt awoke first. Due to his past daily training, he was used to waking up earlier than normal people would. He made his way out of his bed, looking over to see Aaron sprawled out on his bed. Bolt shook his head as he walked to the bathroom. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he lifted up his shirt. He looked at the bandage on his chest. Bolt slowly pulled the bandage off, throwing it away after it was off. Bolt scanned his scar, seeing that it was fully healed. He still felt sore from the new stitches he gained from reopening it, though.
Bolt looked at the scar more, remembering exactly how he got it. It wasn't pretty, like the most of the others. It was the biggest scar, while the others were small and unnoticeable, the only way to see them being if they're pointed out. Luckily, he can leave that in the past now. Bolt left the bathroom, walking out to see that Aaron was still asleep. Bolt ignored the snoring pyro and walked over to their weapon rack, grabbing Vorpal and Rosé off. Bolt, with everything ready and secure, left the bedroom and headed towards the training area.
Setting: Training Area
Once Bolt arrived in the training room, he found it to be empty. He proceeded to make his way to the small simulation section, to train against simple stuff. He set Rosé down on a table near him, decided to train sword fighting this time. He took a fighting stance, sword in hand.
"Sim Start." The area changed from a glowing floor a gray square-patterned floor. Bolt remembered this floor, he just didn't know why.
Bolt was ripped out of his thoughts as he dodged an ice pillar that rose from the ground. Bolt looked at the pillar in confusion. The simulation was build to be the realest looking training simulation ever built, but this was way too real. This wasn't just a random map programmed into the simulation, he remembered this. The floor, the circular room the simulation turned the room into.
"Hey! Beta!" A familiar voice said, causing Bolt to freeze. "Concentrate on me will ya?"
For some reason, Bolt knew exactly what to say. "Y-Yeah, my bad."
Bolt turned, seeing something he thought he'd never see. He saw the Alpha... no. He saw what the Alpha was before he became the Alpha. Akiri, the person behind the Alpha. He wore a simple T-shirt and sweat pants. He looked exactly the same, just more human than robot.
"You just gonna stand there? I thought you wanted advice."
Again, Bolt knew exactly what to say. "Sorry... What the hell is happening?"
"What do yo mean? We're training. Well, we're standing currently."
"No shit, but... I... How are you so good? At fighting. I mean, you're the Alpha for a reason and I want to know why." The words suddenly came out of Bolt's mouth.
"Well, I'll tell you something simple." Akiri said, hand resting on his hip. "It's not about ranks and power. It's about skill and intelligence. Remember that."
"Huh, so that's were I got that from." Bolt said as the simulation suddenly ended.
"Bolt! Bolt!" Bolt turned to the sound of Sierra's voice as she ran to him, a bag over her shoulder. "Are you okay?!"
"Yeah, yeah... I'm fine." Bolt said, softly.
"I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean for the simulation do to that!" Sierra apologized sadly.
"What... What was that?" Bolt asked, looking towards the direction of the simulated Akiri.
"It's...It's an upgrade for the simulation. It's so you don't need to program it each time you want to train. It creates a simulation based on a random memory. I haven't tested it yet, but it looks like it works." Sierra explained, looking back and forth between Bolt and what he was looking towards. "It was supposed to help with potential investigations involving memory. But, it could also be used for trauma, reliving your memories."
"Right."
"What did you see?" Sierra asked, causing Bolt to look to her.
"Nothing important." Bolt said quickly, walking over to the table his pistols were. "Why are you up so early?"
"Oh, I actually came to talk to you." Sierra said sitting down as Bolt examined one of his pistols, putting the bag on the table.
"Yeah? What about?"
"Well, I know you've been dealing with Cinder, and her accomplices..." Bolt nodded in response as Sierra trailed off. She grabbed his other pistol of the table, causing Bolt to look up at her. "So, I thought that you, and the others, could use upgrades. You know, since Cinder's from the future, I think that you should at least have some upgrades to help."
"Okay, that sounds cool." Bolt agreed with a smile, but it fell as he saw Sierra's face. "Why do I feel a "but" coming?"
"But, I don't have the supplies that I need for the upgrades I have planned for you four." Sierra said with a sad smile. "And the only place that has the items I need is in Mantle."
"Damn. That's not gonna be a joyous time." Bolt said flatly, looking to his pistol once again.
"I was also wondering if you would come with me...?" Sierra said, causing Bolt to look back up at her. "I mean, I know you just went through a fight with the Twins and their Grimm, and Cinder has been a huge pain, but I thought we could-"
"Doc, I understand." Bolt chuckled. "And, yeah, I'll come. You do need assistance if you're going to Mantle, anything could happen."
"R-Right." Sierra blushed in embarrassment. "Let's go!"
Bolt grabbed his weapons as Sierra stood. "It's gonna take a while. We can't go by airship, Atlas is in array and will arrest anyone, not of Atlas, in their airspace."
"Yeah, I heard about that. So, how are we getting to Mantle then?" Bolt asked, attaching his pistols to his waist.
"With my latest invention."
Setting: Grassland
"This thing's amazing!"
The two were speeding through a grassland in Vale, riding on Sierra's newest invention. It was the first vehicle Sierra ever thought to make. It was an all black hover-cycle with small amber accents. It didn't have proper wheels, being that it could hover. The wheels were hollowed out, and flipped on their sides. The front wheel was slightly wider than the rear.
Bolt drove the vehicle while Sierra rode passenger, holding onto Bolt as they sped off.
"And it's so fast!" Bolt said ecstatically. "Well, not as fast as me, but... you know?"
"Yeah! The main body is made out of reinforced carbon fiber while the rest is lightweight reinforced metal." Sierra explained proudly. "The reinforced metals were used to make the cycle aerodynamic and shock absorbent, to keep it in the air."
"This is insane. When did you have time to make this?" Bolt asked, as he weaved through a forest.
"Well, you're not the only one who's been busy." Sierra smiled as Bolt drove, checking his Scroll. "We don't have much time, let's hurry before it gets too late. I have a dinner date with Autumn tomorrow, and I need to prepare for it."
"Never thought you'd be the type to go out to dinner." Bolt smirked, accelerating as they hit a clear space.
"Yeah, well, I couldn't say no to Autumn when she does ask me the way she did." Sierra smiled to herself, remembering Autumn's proposal.
"Oh yeah? Did she use her classic smirk, or did she seduce you? Or both?" Bolt joked, earning a slap on the head from Sierra.
"Shut up and drive." She commanded, a light blush on her face. Bolt laughed as he headed straight for Mantle, pushing the hover-cycle to it's limits.
Setting: Mantle
When Bolt and Sierra arrived at Mantle, Bolt was amazed. He thought the city looked beautiful, even though it looked dense and plain compared to Atlas. Bolt parked the hover-cycle in a dark corner, hiding the hover bike as the two made their way into the city, grabbing a bag off of it. It was raining heavily in the city, causing Sierra to grab her umbrella from her bag. Bolt didn't mind the rain, deciding to put his hood up. Bolt followed Sierra as she headed towards their destination. As they walked, Bolt could see the chains tethered to flying city above, even through the gray fog. He also saw that some people stared at him as they walked by.
Bolt was so distracted with the stares that he didn't notice that Sierra had stopped and turned to him, causing Bolt to bump into her. "Put your hood on. You're kind of wanted here, remember?"
"Oh! Right!" Bolt said as he let Sierra put his hood on.
"Besides, I don't want you catching a cold." Sierra added motherly, continuing on their path.
Bolt chuckled to himself as he continued to follow Sierra to their destination, looking around at what Mantle had to offer. He saw the signs and billboards on the buildings as they walked. On the billboards, he saw that an election was going on between Jacques Schnee and a light-blonde haired woman. Bolt was confused by this. Who would vote for Jacques willingly? Bolt watched as Atlesian Knights patrolled around, which made him cover his face as they past. Bolt looked up to see a screen that displayed Specialist Winter Schnee, causing him to stop. He could tell she looked tired.
"A reminder: failure to cooperate with Atlas military personnel is a punishable offense. If your sector is under military lock-down, please ask and report to the city for guidelines. We are here for your safety. Thank you for your cooperation."
The broadcast ended with it quickly being displayed again. It was on repeat. With how the people around him responded to it, he guessed that it had been playing for a while.
"Bolt!" Bolt turned to see that Sierra was a few feet ahead of him, standing in front of a building, making him realize that he stopped moving.
"Sorry!" Bolt ran to caught up with the woman, apologizing as he caught up. "I never asked, where are we going anyways."
"We're going to visit a friend of mine. One of the greatest minds of Atlas." Sierra answered as she continued to lead the way. "Most of Atlas' technology was designed by him."
"Oh. That's cool." Bolt said as they came up on a building with a green door, facing towards the road, at the end of the path.
Bolt noticed the posters near the door of the same light-blonde haired woman from the election on it. He guessed that the people of Mantle really wanted some change for the city.
"And here it is." Sierra said as she opened the door.
The two walked into the building, entering a small, one-room clinic. Bolt looked around the room, seeing that it was slightly messy. He also was that the balls were blue and the floor boards were very distressed. He looked over to the desk to the left, seeing a flashes of an old man behind books that were stacked on top of the desk. Sierra walked up to the desk, lightly knocking on it.
"Excuse me." She said politely, as she moved a stacks of books over.
"Uh?" The old man looked up at Sierra, his eyes comically. "Caroline! You made it!"
"Hello, Pietro." The man walked out from behind his desk, revealing that he was in a white, green and yellow chair with four movable legs.
Sierra hugged the old man, smiling as she pulled back. "It's been awhile. How have you been?"
"I've been wonderful." Sierra smiled, turning back to Bolt. "Bolt, I'd like to introduce you to Pietro Polendina, the man behind most of Atlas' tech. Pietro, this is-"
"Bolt Rai." Pietro interrupted, moving towards Bolt. "The "B" of Team AMBR. The former Beta."
"You know me?" Bolt questioned, before remembering where he was.
"Of course. I watched your fight at the Vytal Festival." The man smiled. "And Caroline likes to talk about you when we're able to talk."
"Oh... I thought it would be for the other reason." Bolt chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
"You mean that you're wanting by the military?" Pietro asked with a chuckle.
"Yeah... that one."
"Well, that doesn't matter to me." He said, surprising Bolt. "I know who you really are. Claret created you, you can't be a bad person."
"T-Thank you." Bolt was lost for words. He never thought anyone from Atlas would think of him like this. "Wait... Polendina? As in-"
"Yes. Penny Polendina is my daughter."
"Right..." Bolt was speechless.
"Okay," Sierra said, bringing attention to her. "Pietro, you remember why I called."
"Yes! You called about some blueprints you'd like to go over with me." Pietro nodding, moving towards the table in the room.
"Exactly." Sierra followed him to the table, taking the blueprints out of her bag and spreading them across the table, while also taking her tools out. "I came up with these weapon schematics for a... problem we have, and you have the parts I need for some of them. I was wondering if you'd help?"
"Claret, I'd be glad to help." Pietro said with a smile. "You don't need to ask."
"Thank you..."
Bolt's attention detoured from their conversation and went to a highly advance chair a few feet from him. He walked over to the chair, amazed by the area it was in. It looked out of place in this nice little space. It reminded Bolt of a lab. Bolt was so distracted by the chair that he didn't hear Sierra call for him.
"Bolt!"
"Hmm?" Bolt turned to look at the two adults, realizing that Sierra had been calling for a while.
"Can you hand me the weapons? Me and Pietro are gonna start upgrading." Sierra said, smiling at Bolt to make him feel less embarrassed.
"Right! Sorry." Bolt handed her the bag with the other's weapons while placing his sword and pistols on the table.
He walked over to sit down on the advanced chair as the two scientists got to work. Sierra turned slightly, checking on Bolt who was starting to get bored. "It won't take us long. Maybe forty minutes to an hour."
"Okay." Bolt nodded, waiting on the chair.
A few minutes later, the two were still working on the weapons. Bolt thought that he could handle the wait, but he was starting to get very bored. They had started with Rae's weapons, her's being the easiest to upgrade. Bolt heard that all Rae wanted was a higher fire rate for her weapons, which Bolt understood. He knew that Rae didn't exactly care for incredible upgrades for her weapon like Aaron did, she liked things simple. So, they moved onto Mystic's.
Bolt heard Sierra say that she wanted to find a way to have the blade of Mystic's weapon in axe form to transfer over to it's bow form. While they were working on that, Bolt's interest in the work faded. He closed his eyes, focusing on anything else. As he did so, he picked up on some yelling coming from outside. He couldn't tell what the yelling was about, but it couldn't be good.
Bolt suddenly got up, walking towards and out the door, causing both Sierra and Pietro to look at him in confusion. Bolt walked out the door, seeing where the yelling was coming from. He saw a young Faunus girl, pinned against a wall, as man yelled at her. Bolt didn't need a reason to help but as he went to move, he felt something pull him back. He turned to see Sierra pulling him back by his arm with a worried look.
"What're doing? I gotta help." Bolt questioned, confused at Sierra's actions. "Do you not want me to help?"
"I was going to tell you to make it quick." She responded.
"Oh... right." Bolt nodded, feeling embarrassed again. "...So Claret, huh?"
"Shut up and help that girl." Bolt quickly went to help the Faunus girl.
"Watch yourself, you filthy faunus! You piss me off just by looking at you." The man, clearly drunk, swung his fist back, aiming to punch the girl.
Before his fist could collide with the girl, Bolt caught it, grabbing onto his wrist. The man didn't have aura, which brought Bolt to slowly break his wrist by squeezing it. The man cried out in pain while the Faunus girl looked in disbelief.
"What the hell are you doing?" Bolt asked sarcastically as he applied more force on the man's wrist. "Get the hell out of here."
Bolt pushed the man away, resulting in him running as fast as he could. Bolt turned towards the Faunus girl, seeing that she was a Snake Faunus. He could tell by her eyes and the scales on her face and neck. Bolt extended his hand out, offering it to the girl.
"Here. You're safe." The girl gasped as she looked at Bolt, but Bolt knew better. She was looking past him.
Bolt pulled his hand back as he quickly formed his lightning blade, whipping around to slice whatever was behind him. Bolt saw that he had sliced an Atlesian Knight in half. He sighed as the robot fell to the ground. Bolt turned to the Faunus girl running away, which was probably for the best. "Damn."
Bolt shook his head as he went to walk inside, leaving the robot solider in the middle of the road. Suddenly, Bolt was thrusted off of his feet, landing back in the road. Bolt quickly stood to see a young woman standing on the opposite side of the road.
She had platinum blonde and brown hair that was shaved on the sides with bright violet eyes. She wore a short-sleeved uniform that consisted of a sleeveless white vest, along with a rolled up blue shirt, a red tie and white shorts.
She stood against Bolt with a smirk, like she had already won a fight that had barely started. "Dammit."
Coming up: Bolt vs the Ace-Ops
