Chapter 24: "Judgement Day" Pt. 3
Hello again! Everyone loved the last chapter, yay! Nothing to add here, so onto the reviews!
OurShephard1999: I never really was a fan of that movie, sorry. It just never appealed to me for some reason.
Argus456: Glad you liked it, and yes the swearing will be kept to a minimum due to the children. And you're right, the swearing so far isn't really that bad, it's mostly just another way to say "poop". He won't see any problem with explaining that.
Wolfang21: Glad you liked the chapter. No chance for Robocop, though I did not know the two were canon.
Colossus Bridger: You and me both.
WearyCurmudgeon: *Raises hands in surrender* I'm not the one who gifted her with a human body, that was someone else (speaking of which, yes the next presents will be during December). And I agree, that would've been cute to see. I understand why the machines wish to deny humanity a very important resource. Dogs are not only used for smelling out infiltrators, but also for coping mechanisms like therapy dogs. I suspect that anyone who lived through an apocalypse would need some form of comfort after losing everything they knew. As for breeding, maybe that's why we've only seen German Shepherds, the machines were slaughtering the other breeds and those were some of the last ones left that could be bred. Glad you liked Whitley's theory. Though his other children were skeptical, not seeing any sort of resemblance between the two. Hmm, I gotta give it to you on them possibly getting hammered. Forgot about the "Drunken Marriage" challenge. Though Winter would have to be extremely unhappy, or pissed, to want to drown herself in alcohol seeing she saw how drinking affected her mother all those years (I can't see her getting drunk while celebrating, maybe a glass or two of wine as to be polite). But who knows, anything is possible in the infinite multiverse!
ValstraxGolden: I actually do, both in English and Celtic. Some will be love songs, some sad (but that one's for a concert and it doesn't personally impact him).
guillermocejas767: Thank you!
Periclod5941: Glad you enjoyed. I don't really read those kinds comics to be honest, so I can't do this request. I'm more of a Calvin & Hobbs or Foxtrot reader. More laughs than action is my shtick for reading, sorry for any disappointment.
RTNK: I always loved Friends growing up, and I still watch it on tv occasionally. But as I got older, I began to notice some very major problems with the characters. I'm not going to say much but if you analyze them closely, they're not good people, or even really friends. So no, great idea, but no.
Vorel213: I have, and that's actually an interesting idea. Little Nicky was a really funny film, and I can already see some of the characters in the RWBY crew like Sun and Neptune as the two Rock & Roll idiots who bought a plane but forgot to hire a pilot XD.
Zathol: They're mostly projecting their anger of their own Cinder and Mercury towards their others. The reason everyone's taking the information so well is because they are still skeptical that he's really a machine. By this point, he's only been shot at in his back, but they haven't seen any wires yet. Once the skin's cut off, then the real reactions begin. Oh my god, the images of Penny protesting are just soo cute! "Creators are our friends!" So precious! *Gasp* I could put it in the Chibi chapter I'm planning for later (Chibi-Blake needs some time on the spotlight too). Nora will definitely be happy, especially when he justifies it by saying that the guy will live. Ren will just have a headache, same with Frigga, when Nora and Odin try to do that.
warrior of six blades: 100% agree with you. My cousin had a dog once, named shadow (after his coat), and he was just a delight when he would visit us. Never growled, never caused any problems. Actually, he was kind of a lazy butt, but we loved him. The day he passed, everyone was deeply saddened, but we all knew he had a good life. Dogs are precious animals and deserve to be loved by us. If anyone tried to hurt Shadow, my cousin would knock them the fuck out (guy's pretty strong). That's why I had Ruby and Weiss react like that, Zwei is such a good boy, and seeing a dog killed off like that would not be welcomed.
Loknload1: Sort of. The people are more scattered into different hidden cities throughout the 4 Kingdoms so as to not have them kept in one location. That way, if one city falls from wars or Grimm, the Arcs aren't in danger of becoming extinct. Not going to spoil it, but I'm already working on some cities and locations so have for a future chapter. Remnant is still a mystery to the people due to the Grimm and the lack of global satellite network, and Magic more alive and well than what everyone thinks.
Roktoof: Plenty of things. Stargate, Iron Man, Death Battle: Joker vs Sweet Tooth, Halo Reach. The ideas are everywhere! :D
animecollecter: … I don't know what any of those are. But I am planning on having Jaune having an animal in a possible future as he goes to Beacon. A cute little canine that when fully grown is about the size of a horse. Hint, hint.
I'm very happy that so many of you loved the reactions, especially with Ruby and Penny. Now, since they're going to be brought up, I'm going to place a list at the end of each chapter of Jaune's current children so that you guys don't have to go back and forth.
Disclaimer in the prologue.
It took about half an hour before everyone calmed down completely. Once they did, they nodded to Jack to continue.
Close on a black & white photograph. The image is a nightmare from the past (Yang: "Seriously?! Can't we get something less bleak here?!"). It is a surveillance camera still-frame from the L.A. police station where the first Terminator made such an impression in 1984. We see the blurry forms of the cop frozen in the emergency lights of a burning corridor. A black-clad figure stands at the end of the corridor. The guy has short-cropped hair and dark glasses. An AR-80 assault rifle in one hand, and a 12-gauge in the other - holding them both like toy pistols. Another photo is slapped on top of the first. Another still-frame blow-up is placed over the last. Terminator looms in closeup.
The images shown distressed everyone. Seeing what was clearly shown as Jaune mowing down police officers, the images sparked unwanted memories of what he and his armies did to everyone in that horrible future. (1)
A Detective Weathersby said, "These were taken at the West Highland police station in 1984. You were there." He tells Winter.
The photos are lying on the table in front of Winter, placed there by Detective Weathersby. His partner Det. Mosssberg, and Dr. Oobleck, sit at the table as well. Two uniformed cops, plus Douglas, stand by the door. Winter stares listlessly at the top photo. She's withdrawn, haggard... drugged looking.
Winter felt sick, seeing her other look like that. It really hurt her.
Weiss and Whitley teared up a bit, one more subconsciously than the other, as they saw their normally calm, collected, strong older sister in such a state. Weiss wanted to go over there and skewer those quacks with something. 'Maybe go the Nora route and break their legs'. Whitley on the other hand wanted to go and sue those people for everything they owned for hurting his sister like that.
Willow was beyond pissed. This was her eldest child, her first attempt as a mother, and seeing her like this made her want to hang those monsters by their neckties! 'I hope Mr. Arc kills them all!'
James felt like throwing up. 'This isn't right.' His greatest Specialist shouldn't look like this. He started to shake in rage, wanting to go over there and bust some heads.
Klein's eyes turned red, and he began clenching and unclenching his fists, wanting to murder those bastards for harming the closest thing he had as a daughter. Maria, glancing at him, felt her cheeks burn at the man's fatherly instincts.
The other heroes glared hard at the people. Those who knew Bart knew that the man wouldn't condone this and would kick the ass of his other, so they didn't feel too bad for wanting the same thing to happen.
The villains though didn't seem to care, and Eve actually smirked at seeing a Schnee brought so low.
"He killed seventeen police officers that night. Recognize him?" Mossberg asked.
Weathersby slaps another black-and-white eight-by-ten on the table. A closeup of Jaune taken by the Japanese tourist at the mall. It's the same face.
"This one was taken by a Japanese tourist today." Mossberg said.
Winter doesn't react. It's hard to tell what she's thinking. Whether she's given up hope or is just in a drugged stupor.
Those who knew her felt sick to their stomachs.
"Ms. Schnee, we know you know who this guy is. Look, I just sat here and told you that your son's missing. His foster parents have been murdered, and we know this guy's involved. Doesn't that mean anything to you. Don't you care?" Weathersby asked.
Winter stares up at him. A cold and empty stare. He glances at Oobleck. Then at his partner.
"We're wasting our time." Mossberg said.
One of the uniformed cops opens the door and Mossberg strides into the hall. Weathersby and the two uniforms follow him out, with Oobleck right behind.
"Sorry, gentleman." Oobleck apologized.
Tight on Winter, slumped under the bright lights. Totally out of it. Then we see her hand, creeping along the edge of the table toward the stack of photos. She slips off the paper clip binding the stills together and hides it between her fingers. Douglas jerks her up by the arms and leads her out.
*Gasp* "She was faking it!" Nora shouts, pointing to where Winter swiped the clip.
The others' eyes widen at the woman's clever deception, feeling relief that she could still escape.
James sagged back in his seat, relieved that Winter was faking it. 'Oh thank Oum.'
"See. We spent a lot of time in Nicaragua... places like that." Finch says to Jaune as they rest by the motorcycle.
"For a while she was with this crazy ex-Green Beret guy, running guns. Then there were some other guys. She'd shack up with anybody she could learn from. So, then she could teach me how to be this great military leader. Then she gets busted and it's like...sorry kid, your mom's a psycho. Didn't you know? It's like everything I'd been brought up to believe was just made-up bullshit. I hated her for that!" He looks up, "But everything she said was true. She knew. And nobody believed her. Not even me." He stands up, "Listen, we gotta get her out of there."
"Yeah, rescue mission!" Peridot and Garnet raise their arms up in the air as their sisters cheered on.
Robin looks to Altani in confusion. "Are those girls really our sisters?" Her sister shrugged back.
Winter smiled at the sight, especially when her sister joined in. She was happy to see Weiss growing out of the shadow of her name. She glanced over to Whitley, 'Now if only I could get Whitley out of it as well.'
"Negative. The T-1000's highest probability for success now would be to copy Winter Schnee and wait for you to make contact with her." Jaune said.
"Aww…" The same two slumped in their seats while Robin facepalmed.
The students stood up to argue over that decision, but Winter's voice stopped them.
Winter, though saddened that Jaune would stop her son from reuniting with her other, felt that he was making the smart decision. "He's right." She said, gaining the students' attention, "If the T-1000 plans to kill Finch, then copying my other would be his best chance. My life just isn't worth the risk."
Penny nodded solemnly, "If I were still in my old body, I could calculate the exact odds of him going to Miss Schnee. However, I would still say that it is a very high probability." At that, everyone sat back in their seats with a dejected look on their faces.
"Great. What happens to her?" Finch asked sarcastically.
Jaune, as always, replies it matter-of-factly. "Typically, the subject being copied is terminated."
Winter flinched but stood by her decision. Her son was just too important to the future war to risk going there.
"Shit! Why didn't you tell me? We gotta go right now!" Finch shouted.
"Negative. She is not a mission priority." Jaune said.
"Well fuck you, she's a priority to me!" Finch yelled.
The Schnees smiled at the young boy's courage and love for his mother. *Sniff* 'That's my baby boy.'
The children nodded, knowing they would do anything to protect their family.
"Yeah, no one hurts my mommy." Lucy says with Amber nodding with crossed arms, earning hugs from Neo and Vernal.
Amber shouts, "Anyone tries, gets a swift kick in the ass!" The twins yelled in agreement, causing Vernal and Emerald to tear up a bit at their words.
Altani nods, "That answer your question, dear sister?" Robin nods in satisfaction. Weak they may be, but any Arc worth their salt would fiercely burn through the heavens and Remnant for their loved ones.
Finch strides away. Jaune goes after him and grabs him arm. Finch struggles against the grip. Which doesn't do him much good.
"Hey, goddammit! What's your problem?" Finch yelled.
Jaune starts dragging Finch back to the bike. Finch spots a couple of college-age slab-o-meat jock-types across the street and starts yelling to them.
"Help! HELP! I'm being kidnapped! Get this psycho off of me!" Finch shouted, begging for help.
"Oh, that's not gonna end well…" A few mutter, they can see how bad the situation could be seen to people.
Roman growled at the kid for making it harder for the big guy to do his job. 'He's only trying to keep you safe, you ungrateful little-' he huffed and crossed his arms, wanting desperately to smoke one of his cigars to take the edge off.
Even Winter sighed at this. Don't get her wrong, she's pissed at Jaune for dragging her son away like that, but Finch calling for help will only create more problems for the two.
The two jocks start toward him.
"Let go of me!" Finch yelled at Jaune in outrage.
To his surprise, Jaune's hand opens so fast Finch falls right on his butt. He looks up at the open hand.
Many in the audience blinked, confused that he listened to Finch's order in the first place.
"Why the hell did you do that?" Finch asked
"Because you told me to." Jaune said.
"What?" Finch asked as he stand up and stares at him in amazement as he realizes. "You have to do what I say, huh?!" He asks smugly.
Winter groaned, placing her head in her hands. "He shouldn't be so arrogant. I shudder to think what he could possibly order Jaune to do."
"That's one of my mission parameters." Jaune said.
"Prove it. Stand on one foot." Finch ordered.
His mother facepalmed while Qrow snickered.
Jaune expressionlessly lifts one leg. Finch grins.
"Cool! My own Terminator. This is great!"
Ruby grinned, thinking of all the cool things she'd have robo-Jaune do for her. 'I could have him rub my feet after a long day at school, service me like a butler, give me a back rub like what Yang got… Oh, so many possibilities~.' A giggle escaped her lips as she went to lala land.
For some odd reason, Penny felt like smacking Ruby upside the head (2).
Several had thought of what they could do with their own ex-Terminator, but other than a bodyguard or factory worker, they couldn't really think of anything without the work being demeaning towards the advanced robot. For some though, that was enough.
Watts smirked, 'Perhaps I can use them, downgraded though they may be, for my own personal usage.'
The two guys, one of them a gorilla Faunus, get there and look at Jaune standing there calmly with one leg up in the air. This big guy in black leather and dark glasses, standing like a statue.
"You okay, kid?" First Jock asked.
Finch turns to him. No longer needing to be rescued.
"Take a hike, bozo." Finch said.
"Wow, what a dick move." Mercury points out, " He's only responding to the help you asked for, you little shit."
Winter couldn't really refute that. Finch did scream for help, the least he could do was be polite in his refusal. 'Where did my other go wrong?'
"See, let's get out of here." Second Jock said.
"What?" First Jock asked as he turned to Finch. "Fuck you, you little dipshit!"
"Dipshit?" Finch asked as he whispered to Jaune. "Put your leg down."
Jaune put his leg down as Finch turned his attention back to the Jocks.
"Did you call moi a dipshit?!" He turns to Jaune, "Grab this guy." Finch said.
Jaune complies instantly, hoisting him one-handed by the guys hair. The guy's legs are pinwheeling.
"Now who's the dipshit, you jock douchebag?" Finch asked smugly.
Penny frowns, "Miss Schnee, your son is being very inconsiderate to him."
Winter groans, "I know. They only wished to help, and yet he's treating them like trash." The image of her perfect son was getting chipped away piece by piece.
Penny's eye twitched, "I meant to Jaune."
Immediately, things get out of hand. The guy's friend jumps behind Jaune and tries to grab him in a full nelson. Jaune throws the first guy across the hood of a car, grabs the second by the hand, whips out his .45 in a quick blur, and aims the muzzle at the guy's forehead.
Unlike the bikers at that bar, the heroes didn't want this guy to get hurt like his friend.
Finch pushes Jaune's arm with a yell as he pulls the trigger. Finch's weight is just enough to deflect the gun a few inches. The guy flinched, stunned by the K-BOOM next to his ear. He stares, shocked. Pissing himself. Finch is freaking out, too.
He screams at Jaune. "Put the gun down NOW!"
Jaune sets the .45 on the sidewalk. Finch scoops it up fast then turns to the shocked civilians, who can't believe what just happened.
"Get out of here!" Finch demanded.
They do. Fast. Finch grabs Jaune by the arm and tugs him toward the bike. Finch still holds the gun, reluctant to give it back.
"Monty Oum, you were gonna kill that guy!" Finch said.
"Of course he was, he's a Terminator!" Weiss shouted, upset and disappointed over the actions of her nephew.
"Of course. I'm a Terminator." Jaune simply said.
Now Weiss blushed as her words were repeated by the muscular Jaune while her friends laugh.
Finch stares at him. Having your own Terminator just became a little bit less fun to him. (Blake: "It's not supposed to be fun.")
"Listen to me very carefully, okay? You're not a Terminator anymore, alright? You got that? You can't just go around killing people!" Finch said.
"Why?" Jaune asked.
"Whattaya mean, why? Cause you can't!" Finch exclaimed.
"Why?"
"You just can't, okay? Trust me on this." Finch said.
Yang sighs, "It's like talking to a child."
Jack raises an eyebrow, "What'd you expect? He was built to be a killer, that's his whole purpose. At least you had a choice. If someone were to come up to you and ordered you that you shouldn't kill Grimm, or protect innocent people, wouldn't you question it?"
Many of the heroes opened their mouths to argue that that was different, but they stopped. He was right. At the end of the day, they chose to protect the innocent, Jaune didn't. He was built in a factory, programmed to kill, not knowing whether it was right or wrong. Yang bowed her head in shame.
Penny sniffled at the sad reality, feeling a bit of kinship with the robo-Jaune. She knew that while she did want to protect the people, like Jaune she didn't have a choice. 'I was created, and this is what I am.' She looked down at her human hands, wondering if she truly wished to continue as a Huntress. 'After all, shouldn't I have a say too?' She thought as she clenched her hands into fists.
Jaune doesn't get it. Finch just stares at him, frightened at what just almost happened. He gets a glimpse of the responsibility that comes with power.
"Look, I'm gonna go get my mom, and I order you to help me." Finch ordered as he hands the .45 back to Jaune, who puts it away.
At a guard shack, A bored security guard glances up as an LAPD black-and-white pulls up. He raises the barricade and nods at the T-1000/Cardin as it passes.
Velvet and both Blakes growled at him, while Ruby and Weiss glared hatefully at the puppy killer.
Douglas inches up the last of Winter's restraints. Then he leans over her... looking down. Even wrecked as she is, we see the beauty in her face. He bends down and we think he's going to kiss her.
James glared, "He is lucky I'm not there, otherwise I'd tear out his spine." He growls out as Winter and Weiss shivered in disgust.
Instead he runs his tongue across her face like a dog would. She seems not to even see him. Her dull eyes past him. He can't provoke a reaction. Even here, strapped down, the two of them alone, she gives him no superiority. He smirks and leaves. We hear the sound of his night-stick tapping its way down the corridor, growing fainter.
The adults glared at the man's retreating back as the students recoiled in revulsion, wanting to go over there and- "I wanna break his legs, Renny." Nora's voice sliced through the adults' thoughts as they looked at the girl glaring at the screen with clenching fists. 'Huh.' they all thought, 'You know, that's not such a bad idea.'
Winter's eyes snap suddenly alert. There is intensity and resolve in them. She slips the paper clip out from between her fingers and awkwardly spreads it open into a straight piece of wire. With slow, painful concentration she moves it toward the lock of the restraints that bind her wrists to the bed at her sides.
"Well done Miss Schnee" Ozpin compliments.
Outside the screen focuses on the restraint lock as it unlatches... successfully picked by Winter's paper clip (Weiss: "That is incredible, sister."). This is not an easy thing to do but Winter taught herself a lot of things in her years of hiding. Winter, her hands free, sits up and releases the Velcro straps on her feet. She rolls off the bed and we see her in a whole new light. She is totally alert, almost feral in her movements.
A night nurse types at a desk nearby. She looks up at the sound of footsteps and sees Cardin walking toward her.
"You have a Winter Schnee here?" Cardin asks the night nurse.
"Oh no, Jaune was right, he's coming for her." Ruby gasps as Winter's family look on in horror.
She assumes he's with the other cops, so she smiles.
"Running late, aren't you? Your friends are on their way out now..." The night nurse said as she looks at a monitor showing Cardin and the other cops. When she turns back to the window, Cardin's no longer there. She goes to the counter and leans out to see if he's at the coffee machine or someplace. No. Reception is empty. And so is the long corridor beyond. She frowns. Weird.
Weiss starts to breath a bit heavily, her sister had just escaped, and now the Terminator wanting to kill her was in the same building and nowhere in sight.
Winter looks to her sister, and seeing her distress, goes over to hug her. She begins rubbing her back to try to sooth her nerves, which works but only just.
Oobleck comes through the solenoid door with Mossberg and Weathersby, the two uniformed cops, and the hospital security guard. The guard retrieves his 9mm pistol from a lock-out box behind the night desk.
Oobleck faces him and said, "Lewis, see these gentlemen out and then lock up for the night."
The security guard nods. Oobleck goes back into the secure area of the hospital and the cops walk down the long corridor to the main doors. No sign of Cardin. Mossberg and the other cops exit, and the guard locks the door behind them.
The guard walks slowly back along the long corridor. The hall is dark, with the light at the night desk far ahead like a sanctuary. His footsteps ring hollowly on the tile floor while His keys jingle. As he takes a step on a single tile, the guard's feet continue forward. An instant later the floor starts to move.
Everyone couldn't believe what they're seeing. Yes, they knew that the Terminator could shapeshift thanks to Jaune's explanation, but they didn't know he could shape his entire being to such an extent as to spread itself so finely to replicate a floor without anyone noticing any irregular bulges.
It shivers and bulges upward like a liquid mass, still retaining the two-tone checkerboard of the tile. It hunches up silently into a quivering shadow in the darkness past the guard. Up ahead we hear typing. The night nurse has her back to us, working. The guard stops at a coffee machine and makes himself a cup
"Hey, Gwen, you want some coffee?" Lewis asked.
"No, thanks. How 'bout a beer?" She asks jokingly.
"Yeah, right!" Lewis said.
Behind him the fluid mass as reaches six feet of height and begins to resolve rapidly into a human figure. It loses the color and texture of the tile and becomes... Lewis.
The students paled, knowing what's coming next.
The teachers could only pray that it will be a quick death.
Mercury gulps, while Cinder hums in thought. Both remembering the way Cardin replicated her and killed him.
The guard, now finished with making it, looks at the cup to see if he won a prize from the cup's promo.
"Hey, I got a full house!" Lewis said to Gwen.
"That's good, Lewis." Gwen said.
"Must be my lucky day." Lewis said to himself. (Roman: "Oh, and he wins the lottery before the end. Really universe? Fuck you, you coldhearted piece of shit!")
The T-1000/Lewis's feet are the last to form, the last of the "liquid floor" pulling in to form shiny black guard shoes. The shoes detach with a faint sucking sound from the real floor as the T-1000/Lewis takes its first step.
The real Lewis spins at the sound of footsteps to see... himself. He has one deeply disturbing moment to consider the ramifications of that. Then he sees his double calmly raise its hand and, inexplicably, points his right index finger directly at the real guard's face, about a foot away. In a split second, the finger spears out, elongating into a thin steel rod which snaps out like a stiletto, slamming into the guard's eye.
Everyone flinched back from the move. They knew it was coming, and yet they were still unprepared by the action.
Mercury grabbed his throat, thinking of how similar his other went to the security guard.
Roman and Neo stood up and gave a salute to the poor guard. Everyone looked at them like they were crazy. Roman looked back, and seeing the stares said "Hey, the guy just won a jackpot only to die 5 seconds later. Show some respect."
The heroes did, along with the thieves, Hazel, and the children. The other villains couldn't care less, however.
It punches into the corner of the eye, past the eyeball like a trans- orbital lobotomy tool, and emerges from the back of the guard's skull (Ruby: "The poor guy."). Life quietly empties from the guard's face. He is dead weight, hanging from the rod/finger with suddenly reacts - SSSNICK. As the guard slumps, the T-1000 takes his weight easily with one hand and walks him, like it's carrying a suit on a hanger, back toward the night desk. The wounds are so tiny, no blood drips onto the floor.
The efficiency of the Terminator made many shiver in fear. Even Watts was terrified, 'Maybe creating one of those things isn't such a great idea.'
Cardin moves past, dragging the unseen guard toward a closet down the hall from the night receiving station. T-1000/Lewis removes the Browning High-Power pistol and the keys from the real guard's belt, then stuffs the body into the utility closet.
Douglas the attendant is tapping his stick along the wall like he does every night on his rounds. He shines a little mag-light in the windows of the cells as he passes, barely slowing. He rounds the corner. His footsteps echo in the dark hallway. The tip of the stick hits the wall. Tap, tap, tap... getting closer to Winter's cell. He stops at the door.
The women growled at him, while the men wanted to beat the shit out of him.
He is about to shine his light in when he notices that a utility closet across the hall is open. He goes to shut it, absently flicking his light into the dark closet. He notices something strange among the buckets and cleaning supplies. A mop lies on the floor, with its handle snapped off about halfway up. The other half is missing.
Douglas ponders this for half a second, then hears a sound behind him and spins around. The sound he heard was Winter's cell door. The missing two feet of the mop handle fill his vision as it CRACKS viciously across the bridge of his nose.
The nexus was filled with the sound of vicious laughter. "Revenge!" Nora and Yang shouts as Coco goes over to raise the hand of a chuckling Winter, "And the knockout goes to: Winter Schnee!" The students cheer while the teachers congratulates her.
250 pounds of doughy attendant hit the floor like a sack of cement. Winter slams the makeshift baton down expertly across the back of his head, bouncing him off the linoleum ("Hit him again!"). Lights out, Douglas. She drags him into her cell and locks him in with his own keys. Then swaps her mop-handle for his nice heavy night-stick.
Winter moves down the dark corridor, cat-stepping in her bare feet. She holds the baton like a pro, laid back along the forearm, police- style. She looks dangerous.
Winter felt really good about her other's fighting spirit. She also hoped the two blow would help shake the man's brain cells a bit and change his attitude.
The guard walks down a simple corridor continuing his search. He looks at the doors and the camera moves to show the numbers of the inmate doors. When the camera moves back, it shows Cardin, having changed back to his original form.
And like that, the good mood ended, and everyone was on edge once more.
Cuts to show Jaune and Finch on their motorcycle, like two men on a mission. One of them being a child and the other a killer robot.
Moving toward the nurse's station. We hear Oobleck's voice, reviewing medication with the night attendant. Oobleck, yawning, looks at his watch. He turns to go but Winter is there. She tosses the keys to the attendant. Due to reflexes, he caught the keys, however that left him open to Winter beating him down with the baton WHAP-WHAP-WHAP! You can barely see the thing she's swinging it so fast. The guys goes down.
Winter smirks, "Try and keep me from my son will you?"
Her family smiled at her words, vicious they may be.
Oobleck lunges for the alarm button and she cracks down hard on his arm. He cries out and grabs his wrist. She then smacks him behind the knees expertly with the baton. His legs buckle and he drops to his knees with his chin on the desk.
Moving rapidly, she whips open a medication drawer and grabs a syringe. She jams it into the orderly's butt and fires the whole shot. Still holding the empty syringe, she sees what she needs next. They keep the toxic cleaning supplies in here to keep the inmates from drinking Drano.
"You broke my arm!" Oobleck said.
Those who knew the man felt a bit bad for his other, but also felt that he's getting off lucky. At least he's not the one with a Terminator after his ass.
"There're 215 bones in the human body, motherfucker. That's one. Now don't move!" Winter shouted.
"Uh, that's not right." Penny says, scratching her a head in confusion. Nora nods, "Yeah, there's only 206, excluding Faunus of course."
Winter blushed in embarrassment.
Glynda looked shocked. "That is correct, Ms. Valkyrie." She gulped a bit, "I dread to ask this, but how did you know the correct number?"
Nora grinned while Ren groaned and placed his head in his hands, not helping to alleviate Glynda's worry. "Well I gotta know which bones deal the most pain while not making it too permanent." Near the end, her grin turned a bit feral, leading others to scoot back at the sight of it. Her papa didn't mind though, and instead wrapped his little warrior princess up in a bear hug as he expressed his joy at her power for all to hear.
James leaned over to Ozpin, "Oz, are you sure hav-" "James, it's fine." Oz interrupted him. "So long as the recipient is a Grimm," 'Or if the person truly deserves it' "then it's allowed." The General didn't really like that answer, but since he's not Beacon's Headmaster, he knew he couldn't force the issue any further.
She grabs a plastic jug of Liquid Plum'r and slams it down on the desk inches from Oobleck's eyes. She jams the empty syringe into the plastic jug, then draws back the plunger. The syringe fills with blue liquid.
"What are you gonna do?" Oobleck asked in pain.
No one knew what the liquid was, but Oobleck's friends and students didn't want Winter to jam it into his veins.
Jaune and Finch are approaching the guard gate on the Harley. They can see the guard inside looks up at the sound of the engine.
"Now remember, you're not gonna kill anyone, right?" Finch asked.
"Right." Jaune said.
Finch looks at him. He's not convinced.
"Swear." Finch said.
"What?" Jaune asked.
"Just put up your hand and say, "'I swear I won't kill anyone.'" Finch said as he holds his hand up, like he's being sworn in.
Jaune stares at Finch. Then he mimics the gesture.
"I swear I will not kill anyone." Jaune sworn.
Pyrrha smiled, "Now that's just precious." Quickly, she took out her scroll and took a picture to remember the moment. She wasn't the only one.
Finch, feeling better, allows Jaune to go forward. Jaune stops the bike and gets off. The guard, sensing trouble, has his gun drawn as he comes out of the shack.
Jaune walks toward him drawing his .45 smoothly. BLAM! He shoots the guard accurately in the thigh. The guy drops, screaming and clutching his leg.
"What the hell are you doing?" Finch asked.
"What the hell dude?!" Yang and Coco yells while Velvet looks away from the guard writhing in pain.
Nora starts to cackle at Jaune shooting his leg, knowing that he'll live so long as he gets medical attention. Ren just sighs as he's starting to get memories of Nora breaking so many legs when they were younger.
"You promised not to kill anyone Jaune!" Ruby shouts.
"You son of a bitch! You shot me!" Guard shouted in pain but is ignored.
Jaune kicks the guard's gun away, then smashes the phone in the shack with his fist. He break the window with his elbow and pushes the button to raise the gate and bend down to get few magazines from the guard and walks back to the bike.
"He'll live." Jaune tells Finch.
Nora, after hearing this, laughs harder. Her father joining her as Jaune's friends look shocked by his cold words. "Woohoo, you're right, Fearless Leader. So go on and break all the legs!"
Penny giggles, "Well, he's not wrong." Winter and James looks at her with wide eyes, but the ex-gynoid just looks at them with an innocent smile.
Jaune climbs onto the bike. They drive toward the hospital, heading down an ambulance ramp to an underground receiving area.
The attendants at the security checkpoint look up at the monitor as someone enter the corridor. They see Winter, holding Oobleck at syringe-point.
"Son of a Bitch!" The female Rabbit Faunus exclaims as they watch Winter moving forward.
Winter speaks to them through an intercom on the wall. Her voice comes through the speaker. "Open it! Or he'll be dead before he hits the floor."
The teachers gulped, hoping Oobleck or his attendants won't make any rash moves.
The attendants' adrenaline levels just went off the scale. The first attendant shakes his head no. The amperage here is really high. The Woman keys the intercom switch.
"There's no way out, Schnee. Let him go." The Rabbit Faunus said.
Oobleck's face is the color of suet.
"It won't work, Winter. You're no killer. I don't believe you'd do it." Oobleck said.
The teachers all breathed a sigh of relief, calming down after hearing his reasoning. That was until Yang decided to open her big mouth.
"Dude, she was trained by killers, at least that's what I got from Finch's story. What do you mean 'I don't believe you'd do it'?!"
Neo nods, "Yeah, and didn't you lock her up in the first place because she believed the world was going to end? Why would she even care about being a killer if she really believed that? You think you'd know that after spending so much time dissecting her brain." Lucy and her sisters agreed with her mom.
Now they became worried again. Oz thought, 'Those two are right, what's to stop her from killing him if they don't release her? If she knows the world's doomed, then why bother caring what other's think?'
"You're already dead, Oobleck. Everybody here dies. You know I believe that. So, don't fuck with me!" she says, her voice in a deadly cold hiss.
Oobleck, now scared, yelled "Open the goddamn door!"
The attendants look at one another. One of them hits the solenoid button. The far door unlocks. Winter pushes Oobleck ahead of her. The nearer, barred door must be unlocked manually.
"Step back!" She exclaims
They do, and she faces both of them.
"Get in the office, Down on the floor! Now!" She ordered.
They comply.
"Not you, open the door." She commands one of them as they move forward.
She comes through with Oobleck, giving them a wide berth. Starts backing down the hall away from them, still holding her hostage. She's actually pulling this off.
Weiss, Whitley, and Willow pray that Winter could escape this place while not meeting the Terminator.
But she can't see, it a third orderly waiting just around the corner. He's poised, ready to jump her when she comes abreast of him.
"Oh no." Weiss whispers.
On Winter backing up, she reaches the corner. The third attendant lunges, grabbing her syringe-hand. Winter spins on the orderly and catches him across the throat with the nightstick. He loses interest fast, dropping to his knees and gagging.
Oobleck pulls away, screaming at the top of his lungs "Get her!"
They scramble up as Winter takes off like a shot around the corner. One of them hits the panic button and alarms begin to sound.
"Oh," Lucy flinched at the alarms going off as her mom gulps, "that's not good."
In the isolation ward, the T-1000 is looking in at a very stoned attendant inside the nurses' station when the alarms shriek through the halls. It reaches into its chest and pulls out the 9mm pistol. Heads for the security entrance.
In another corridor in the maze of the vast hospital, Winter flies on past, her bare feet slapping on the cold tiles. The orderlies charge after her. She's like an animal trapped in a maze. She turns the corner, glancing off the wall, and sprints on without slowing. She reaches a steel door. She tries it. Locked. Footsteps like a drum solo behind her. She fumbles with Douglas' keys, breathing hard. Jams the master in. The orderlies are bearing down on her at full tilt. Winter gets the door open, and dives through. She then slams it shut and turns a deadbolt knob just as the first orderly grabs the latch on the other side. He's too late.
The heroes sigh in relief. Winter's still trapped there, but with her keys, they hope that she's one step closer to escaping.
Winter sees them beyond the window, fumbling with their keys. Winter is in another sally-port corridor. A jail-cell type barred door is between her and the corridors of the ward beyond. She sprints to the walls of bars, jams her key into the door. She unlocks and pulls open this door just as she hears the latch of the one she just came through being unlocked. She flings herself frantically through the barred door as the first orderly comes through behind her. She slams the bars shut. CLANG. Her keys are dangling from the lock on the other side from her. The orderly is racing at her, white-lipped with rage.
*Whistle* "Damn, he looks pissed." Robin says, her mother nodding as she snuggles closer to her, earning another glare from Yang. 'Ok seriously, who is that girl and why is she glaring at me?'
She reaches back through the bars, turns the key, and purposefully snaps it off in the lock. An instant later the big orderly slams against the door, grabbing through the bars for her as she dances back just out of reach. He lunges against the steel bars, unbelievably pissed off.
Winter takes off running, looking back at the frustrated orderlies. They're shouting at each other, unable to fit their keys into the lock.
Oobleck shouts at them "Go around, goddamn it! Go around!"
A lot of people facepalmed at this, the stupidity shown by those orderlies getting to them. Cinder even felt sorry for the man.
On Winter as she sees the elevators ahead. She's home free. She presses the elevator button and waits, trying to calm her beating heart. A ding down the corridor signals to the elevator there. At a full-tilt sprint, she's nearly there, but when the elevator doors part... Jaune steps out... his head swivels to face her.
The heroes cheered. "Jaune to the rescue!" and "He made it!" could be heard, though Winter's reaction to her savior there shocked them all to silence.
Winter stumbles, stricken by the image from her worst nightmares. Her eyes go wide as momentum carries her forward. Her bare feet slip on the slick tile. She slams to the floor, staring up at the leather-clad figure with the shotgun.
She loses all semblance of courage and some of her sanity. She's not even aware that she is screaming, or what would be screaming if she could get the breath to do it. In slowed-down dreamtime, Winter scrambles back along the floor like a crab, spinning and clawing her way to her feet along the wall. She runs like the wind, like in her nightmare. If she looked back, she would have seen Finch step warily out of the corridor behind Jaune. Finch, however, catches a glimpse of the fleeing Winter and figures out instantly what happened.
"Mom! Wait!" He calls out
Winter doesn't hear. She has clicked fully into her own nightmare. They take off running after her.
Weiss found her voice, "What the hell was that?!" She yelled, all form of decorum gone as she watched her sister flee like a Manticore or Sabyr was after her (3).
Winter was beside herself, trying to think of reasons as to why her other reacted that way.
Penny hummed, "If I remember correctly," She looked to Jack, "Skynet," and she growled out the name as if it were a curse, "had sent a Terminator back to terminate Miss Schnee. And before her escape, they were discussing a previous encounter she had with Jaune, or at least a similar model. One that did not end well."
Everyone paused to consider her words, and a few paled at the implications.
Jack nods in agreement, "That's correct. Skynet had tried to send a Jaune model back to a younger Winter, but through the sacrifice of Qrow managed to survive." As they all processed that, with Ruby and Yang hugging a pale Qrow, they turned back to the screen in the hopes that Finch could get his mother to see reason.
She is pelting down the long corridor, back the way she came. As she reaches an intersection with a cross-corridor a white-clad figure blurs from that corridor. The orderly hits her in a flying tackle. She skids across the floor, shrieking and struggling. The other two orderlies leap into the fray.
"Well that's just great, as if the situation can't get any worse!" Roman shouts.
"No! Help me! Goddamn it, it's gonna kill us all!" Winter yelled in fear.
"Help her!" Finch shouted at Jaune.
"Wait here." Jaune said.
She is shouting, pleading, trying to get them to understand what is coming. They grab her thrashing arms and legs. They don't even look where the out-of-control woman is pointing... back along the corridor.
"Help, hold her Down!" They cry out, and the Rabbit Faunus comes in to help restrain her as well. They have pinned her to the cold tiles, a ring of faces above her. Oobleck leans down to her, holding a syringe with a heavy dose of trank. Winter cranes her neck and sees the dark silhouette of Jaune coming up behind them. It is exactly her nightmare. She screams in utter hopelessness.
Winter's family couldn't take this for much longer, the sight of her being so scared, like a frightened child had their hearts clench in agony.
Jaune, holding the shotgun in one hand, reaches down and grabs one of the orderlies with his other hand. He hurls the 200-pound guys against the window of safety glass and is caught before a two-story fall by the outer steel bars. SMACK! He drops to the floor. Jaune grab the second orderlies and throw at the office door, shattering the glass and knocking him out. The third orderlies try to hit the intruder but Jaune hit him in the stomach with the shotgun and push him to the wall, knocking him out as well.
Winter sighs in relief, glad to see Jaune helping her other. 'Now hurry up and get them out of there before the other Terminator comes around the corner.'
The Security woman seeing this, strikes a right cross across Jaune's face, breaking his sunglasses in the process.
Jaune, not affected by it, slowly moves his head back.
"Huh," Altani tilts her head a bi to the side, "is it me or does robo-dad look pissed at her?"
Robin rose an eyebrow at her, "'Robo-dad?'" Then she looks at the screen, "And he kind of does, like someone broke his toy."
Coco and Nora glared at the orderly. 'No one breaks the sunglasses! Kick her ass robo-Jaune!'
He grabs the woman's face and lightly pushes her away. Although 'lightly' is relative, as she sailed back 20 feet and got knocked out from her head hitting the tile floors.
Now the two were snickering at what she felt was cosmic payback.
Eve wanted to feel angered at this machine knocking out her fellow Faunus… but she really couldn't. Not since her White Fang mask has sentimental value to her. So she felt the knockout was payment for his destroyed sunglasses. 'Would've done worse myself honestly.'
Oobleck looks into Jaune's expressionless face as he took off his broken sunglasses and look at Winter on the floor. And it hit him. Winter was right... this guy isn't human. He feels the fabric of reality crumbling.
"Oh sure, now you choose to believe her!" Neo growls.
Winter blinks, staring up at the figure looming over her. Finch kneels next to her.
"Mom, are you okay? Mom?!" Finch asks her.
She looks from Jaune to Finch. Back to Jaune. Is this a nightmare? Or has she finally gone truly mad?
Incredibly, Jaune politely reaches his hand down to her, offering to help her up. The last thing she ever expected to see.
"Come with me if you want to live." Jaune said.
"That's such an awesome quote!" Nora and Ruby squealed, while the women with crushes swooned at the image of him offering a fair maiden his hand.
Winter blushed as she caught herself raising her hand as if she were taking the one offered by the man on screen.
"It's okay, Mom. He's here to help. It okay." Finch said to calm her down.
Winter, is a daze, takes the huge hand in her shaking fingers. Jaune lifts her to her feet.
Jaune turns and sees Cardin standing thirty feet away on the other side of the walls of bars. The other turns to follow Jaune's gaze.
"Oh look, chrome dome's back." Yang says.
Penny frowns, "I feel like I should be insulted." She lightly glares at a now nervous Yang.
The T-1000 walks forward, reaching the bars. It stops for just a second, and then it's body divides like jello around the bars. As it squeezes itself through like metal playdough, its surface reforms perfectly on our side. We see it deform and squeeze through like a viscous paste forced past an obstacle (Coco: "Gross, is the sound effect really necessary?").
There is a CLANK and the screen shows that the guard's gun has caught against the bars... the only solid object. The T-1000 turns its wrist and tries again, slipping the gun endwise through the gap.
The sight of Cardin getting stopped by the pistol was hilarious to the students, and his face as he twists his wrist was priceless.
Jaune grabs Finch and pushes him behind him towards Winter.
"Go! Run!" Jaune said.
Cardin walks toward them, opening fire with the Browning Hi-Power. Jaune straight-arms the 12-guage like a pistol and fires. Jaune is hammered by several slugs, and Cardin is cratered by three buckshot's hits. It staggers but comes on. In the craters we see bright mercury before they close and reseal, disappearing in a second.
Nora and Yang grumbles at the bullshit abilities of the T-1000 while the others are worried if Jaune bought the mother and son enough time to escape.
Jaune turns around and breaks into a run. Ahead, Winter is already at the elevator. Jaune piles in and Finch slaps the button for "Garage Level". The doors start to close. Cardin charges at them, rapid firing the Browning. The rounds hit the steel doors as they close. Cardin keeps pumping them at the closing gap. Inside, they see the backside of the doors denting with the hits that are punching holes in the other side. The Browning locks open, empty. Cardin drops it without a glance back. The doors close. K-WHAM! The T-1000 hits them a split second later.
"Bwahahaha!" Yang and Coco laughed at the sound Cardin made as he faceplanted hard on the doors. Their friends also chuckled or guffawed at the sound. Velvet and both Blakes felt a bit vengeful and smiled a bit too evilly.
The elevator hasn't moved yet. SSWWIKK! A sword-like blade rams through in between the doors. Winter grab Finch and move away from the doors as the blade then slowly morphs into 2 crow bars, forcing them open.
The laughter died a cold death as many paled at the door opening.
Penny was taking deep breathes, hoping that Jaune kills the evil robot already. 'That thing is a threat to all future human-cyborg relations! Terminate it Jaune and be done with it!' She really didn't like seeing a fellow, or former fellow, machine trying so hard to terminate an innocent family, and wanted Jaune to put out of its misery.
Jaune jams the shotgun through the widening gap. Punches the muzzle right into Cardin's face and - BOOM! We get a glimpse of the T-1000's head blown apart by the blast. It is hurtled back. The doors close. The car descends.
"Shoot him again Jaune!" Velvet shouts out as Coco does a doubletake. "Bun-Bun?" "Ms. Scarlatina?!" She and Glynda cried out in shock, causing Velvet to remember where she was and blushed heavily while trying to hide her face with her ears.
Her other friends were just as shocked as the other two, they never expected sweet, timid, Velvet to go off the handle like that.
"What is this, what the fucks going on?" Winter asked as she is just outright confused now.
On Cardin, outside the elevator. Its head, which is blown apart into two doughy masses lying on the shoulders, reforms quickly (Qrow: "Oh come on, even headshots can't kill this prick?!"). Soon there is no trace of the injury. It sees the closed door and jams its hands between them, its fingertips becoming pry-bars. It pulls the doors apart with inhuman strength and leaps into the open shaft.
"Man," Yang says, looking at Weiss as she comes out of the shock from earlier, "that version of Cardin is just determined to kill your sister."
Weiss gulps, praying for jaune to protect her favorite sibling. Whitley felt a bit sad for some reason, though the feeling's overshadowed by indignation.
In the elevator. Our trio hears a loud thump on the roof. Jaune, reloading the shotgun, looks up. Winter grabs the .45 from his waistband and aims it at the ceiling (Nora: "Go, supermom!"). CLANGG! a sword like shaft punches through the ceiling and spears down four feet into the elevator car. It is inches from Winter's face.
"Holy!" Ruby shouts at the near hit, her partner shaking as she almost watched her sister die in front of her.
She opens fire, BAM-BAM-BAM - right through the roof. Lightning-fast the lance withdraws and thrusts down again, slashing Jaune's jacket, and missing Finch by inches. Jaune chambers a round and K-BOOM! the 12-guage opens a hole in the ceiling.
Jaune rocks out in a fury of firing/cocking/firing as the metal shafts slash down again and again. Winter yells in pain as one of them slices open her upper arm ("Winter, no!").
The doors open. Winter pulls Finch out as soon as the gap is wide enough. They emerge into the basement. We see a blue-and-white hospital security car coming towards them, screeching down the parking lot. Without breaking stride Winter runs right at the car. It skids to a shrieking halt. She's in the guy's face with the .45 in both hands.
"Out of the car!" Winter shouted.
The patrol guy is thinking what he can try when BLAM! she puts a round through the glass next to his head.
"RIGHT NOW!"
Nora cheered at the woman's grand theft auto, while Ren and Pyrrha were trying their hardest to convince her that no, they weren't stealing a security car when they returned home.
The door opens and the guy is coming out with his hands up as Jaune arrives. The cyborg flings the rent-a-cop out of the way and slides behind the wheel.
We see Cardin moving like playdough down into the elevator and open the doors as it slowly forms back to its normal shape (Emerald: "It's like a creepy silver snake."). Winter gets Finch into the back seat and dives into the front passenger seat as Jaune slams the car into reverse and punches it, lighting up the tires on the slick ramp. Jaune hands the shotgun over his shoulder to Finch and tells him to reload. Finch pulls some shells from the pocket of his army jacket and starts feeding them in. Jaune powers backward up the ramp, scraping along one wall, barely in control. Cardin is gaining.
James was proud of the young man, preparing for a fight despite his age. 'He's nearly ready for the war to come, all he needs now is battlefield experience.' He looks at the chase scene and sighs in sadness. 'And it looks like he's about to get that experience.'
Winter was gripping onto the sides of her seat as she watches yet another chase scene happening that her son was a part of. 'I just know this is that drunk's fault, him and his damn luck.'
Jaune hands Winter another magazine for the .45. She snatches it, drops the other out, and slaps in the new one. She cocks the slide. The car backs along the service driveway toward the security gate. Finch hands the shot gun back to Jaune. He leans out the window and takes aim at the pursuer. Cardin's face is right in the headlights. Jaune fires, blowing a hole in its shoulder. Shiny liquid metal visible in the hole, which then closes. Winter, half out the passenger window, opens fire. The car crashes backward through the security barricade.
By this point Nora, Coco, Yang, and the children were munching on popcorn that poofed into existence as they watched the chase unfold.
"Hang on." Jaune said calmly as he cuts the wheel hard. The car slews into a reverse 180, swapping ends with a screech. Cardin is almost on them. Jaune punches it, the car accelerating forward. Cardin leaps, and lands on the trunk. Its hand, shaped as a metal crowbar, slams down through the trunk lid. Feet dragging on the pavement, it slams its other hand down, punching another metal hook into the trunk lid, pulling itself up.
A few chuckled at the sight of the Terminator hanging on like an ornament as his ass is being dragged all along the pavement.
"Man, all that friction must be a drag on his feet, eh~?" Yang grins as she sees Cardin just holding on, Tai laughing at her pun.
Her teammates simultaneously groaned "Gods damn it, Yang". Nora booed, giving it a thumbs down while Ren, Coco, Velvet, and Pyrrha cringed at bit.
Robin snickered a bit, earning looks of horror from her mom and Yang's friends, and one of surprise from the girl herself. Looking at everyone staring at her, she shrugged. "What, dad loves his puns." The looks returned tenfold, this time with the teachers joining the others.
Yang just grinned, thinking of ideas to pun her way to Jaune's heart.
Jaune turns to Winter and simply said, "Drive."
Jaune heaves himself half out the driver's window. Winter slaps her foot down on the throttle and steers from the passenger side. Cardin, fully on the car now, holds on with one hook-hand while it slams the other into the back window, sweeping away the glass and missing Finch by inches as he ducks. It draws back for another swing, lunging forward as Jaune whips the shotgun over the roof of the car. Fires point-blank and hits Cardin's arm just above the "hand" which anchors it to the car. The 12-guage blows the arm apart, severing the hook-hand. Cardin tumbles backward off the accelerating car, earning laughs from the students. Finch looks out the back window, his eyes wide. He sees the T-1000 roll to his feet and continue running (Mercury: "Dude, just give it up."). But he's dropping way behind now. Winter has the car floored and the liquid-metal killer won't catch them on foot. Finch watches, in awe, as the "crowbar hand", stuck into the trunk right in front of him reverting to the neutral polyalloy. The gray metal then slides off the trunk of the car and falls onto the road to lie there in a quivering blob. The car speeds off into the night.
As the car speeds off, everyone relaxes. For now, Finch was safe. 'He's safe,' Winter thought, looking at the scene as her heartrate lowers a bit.
Cardin, walking now, coming right up into closeup, watching the taillights recede. It looks down on the liquid metal blob. Next to it is the T-1000's shiny cop shoe. The mercury blob crawls and rejoins the main mass, disappearing into the "shoe".
A ghost car blasts out of the darkness on a long stretch of moonlight highway. Headlights off, the hospital security car punches a hole in the wind.
Inside the speeding car, the energy is still high. The air is blowing in the shattered windows as Jaune drives the car. Winter looks at Jaune, still not quite believing this is happening. But this is a different Winter than the waitress of 1984. She spends only a second or two dealing with the unbelievable. Then she turns to Finch in the back seat.
"You okay?" Winter asks Finch.
Her other's concern over their son had Winter smiling. 'I knew I would be a good mother.' She puffs up in pride, thinking of how well she raised her sister before she left to join the military.
He nods.
"Can you see anything?" Finch asks Jaune.
Jaune's POV. A monochrome image of the highway lit bright as day.
"I can see everything." Jaune replies in a matter-of-fact tone.
"The way he says that just sounds all kinds of weird." Mercury says, with Emerald agreeing. Not like he'd know of course.
Finch simply responds with "Cool."
Winter reaches for Finch and everyone thinks she's going to hug him (Velvet: "Aww, that's so sweet.").
She starts to rub her hands over him, and they realize she's checking for injuries, very clinically the way a vet checks a dog for broken bones. He pulls away from her. He hates her always checking him, treating him like he might break, like some piece of rare china.
"I said I was okay." Finch said.
Winter looks at him, exasperated and stern.
Winter "Finch, it was stupid of you to go there."
Now Winter felt like someone slapped her. 'Why is my other so cold? They just risked life and limb to rescue you, you ungrateful bitch!'
Not everyone kept their opinions to themselves though, and many were calling the other Winter out on her cold response.
Again, it was Penny who was the voice of reason. As the voices were starting to grow louder, Penny stands up and says, "Everyone, please listen." Everyone stops, and she sees that everyone's attention is focused on her. "While true, what they had done to rescue Miss Schnee is commendable and should at least be acknowledged by her, objectively their actions were idiotic."
She raises a hand as she sees a few wanting to argue. "Listen, Jaune had already explained as much: the T-1000 was after Finch. The most probable solution he could think of to terminate him was to located Miss Schnee first. They could've been walking into a trap, they were only lucky that they didn't this time." She stops and sees everyone still wanting to disagree, but really couldn't think of a good argument so they quieted down.
Finch stares at her, surprised.
"Goddamnit, Finch, you have to be smarter than that. You almost got yourself killed. What were you thinking! You can't risk yourself, not even for me, do you understand? Your too important!" Winter lectures.
As she says this, proving Penny right, the truth still hurt. They could feel it in their hearts and see it in the young boy's face.
His chin quivers. He's a tough kid, but all he really wants is for her to love him. He hasn't had enough years on the planet yet to be the man of steel she demands.
"I... had to get you out of the place." Finch said.
"I can take care of myself." Winter said.
His face crumples. He starts to cry.
The tears broke the hearts of every parent. Those who could gently hugged their children close to them.
Jaune turns and sees the water leaking from his eyes. It doesn't make any sense to him.
"What wrong with your eyes?" Jaune asked.
"Nothing." Finch answered as he turns away, ashamed. Winter lets her breath out, realizing how keyed up she is. She turns to Jaune, giving him a wary once over.
"So, what's your story?" She asks him.
"Wow, she just breeze past her son's pain." Coco glares at the woman, Velvet in tears at the unfairness of it all. 'The poor boy.'
Winter just bows her head in shame, all sense of pride leaving her. As the quote goes, 'Pride cometh before the Fall', and she feels like she can't feel any lower after seeing her baby boy cry because of her. 'Perhaps I'm not a good mother.' She feels a hand resting over her shoulder. She moves her head to see Willow there, smiling softly as she rubs her shoulder gently.
Willow, seeing the doubt creeping up on her eldest daughter, felt she had to do something. So she placed a hand over her shoulder, a silent gesture of faith. As her child raises her head to look at her, the older woman only smiled softly as she rubs her shoulder, trying to help raise her spirits back up. By the small smile on her lips, Willow felt she succeeded.
Back at the medical asylum, Cardin walks towards the scene. As he gets closer, a Bike cop about to leave sees him.
"Hey, Everything okay?" Bike cop asked.
Cardin seeing him said, "Everything's fine. Thanks for checking." As he is about to leave, he looks at the bike and says to the cop "Say, that's a nice bike."
After he said that, all the heroes felt a shiver of fear creeping up their spines. They bowed their heads in solemn respect for the innocent cop, knowing that chances were he'd be dead soon.
END
Yay, another chapter, and one step closer to finishing the movie! Should be about 2 more parts (the thing's long, ok?). You know, funny enough when I agreed with the author's request for reacting to his story, I didn't expect it to cover the whole movie. But I really can't say that I regret it, this was a ton of fun writing!
List of current Jaune's children in the Nexus:
Neo: Lucy
Emerald: Peridot & Garnet
Vernal: Amber
Raven: Robin
Sienna: Altani
Glynda: Alice
Oh man, really wished I thought of putting this list up earlier. Ah well, what's done is done. Until next time, peace everyone!
1. "Revenge of the Arcs" timeline.
2. The way Ruby described her thoughts, it sounded like she'd treat Jaune more like a servant than a friend, and since Penny used to be a gynoid, she felt a bit insulted for Jaune's behalf.
3. Grimm whose habitat is in the continent Solitas (where Atlas is located).