Chapter 27: "Judgement Day" Pt. 6
Sup everyone, here's a new chapter for you all. So many loved the last one, thank the gods because that one took more effort than I thought… So much research T-T… And it payed off, almost 950,000 views! Anyway, you know the drill: Reviews!
Gamelover41592: Thank you, glad you liked it.
Nliochristou: Not sure, plenty of people said it was awful so probably not. Haven't watched Transformers since the second movie, thought it was a bit boring to be honest (which is weird since there were so many explosions and shootings going on…maybe that was it?). I've never played Call of Duty beyond Nazi Zombies, and I know plenty of people did COD before. "Into the Arc-hive" by animegamer89 has 3 chapters for COD, "Arcs of the Multiverse" by King-Mac-11 has a few sprinkled around (136 chapters and counting), and "RWBY Watches Modern Warfare Trilogy" by blaszczu2500 is dedicated solely to the games (it's pretty good to read to be honest). Again, haven't played the games myself beyond head shooting zombies, so I won't be the best to react to the games' storylines.
Steamruby: I do have one, I mean I try to post a chapter every Monday, but sometimes I have to wait a day or two. But yes, every Monday is what I aim for. Used to be on Fridays-Saturdays, but that didn't work.
Kasix-K: I'm glad you enjoyed the previous chapter. I actually do have another in store. Three actually. One is where Jaune celebrates his initiation (I'm actually surprised he didn't do so since he escaped death several times [4: launch into forest, scorpion launch, ruins collapsing, fight against Deathstalker] in that test). He and the gang heads to Junior's Bar, but only he and Yang stay around to drink while the others left for one reason or another. They are then joined by a surprise visitor and hilarity ensues. The second one is actually pretty dark. MUCH darker than "Revenge of the Arcs". I'm keeping that one close to the chest, but I have left some hints of what the inspiration of the scenes could be in the end of "Revenge of the Arcs". The third is actually a scenario of what the future, if they hadn't arrived in the Nexus, would've been like. Now, while Penny's reactions may be a bit over the top, the others almost always had clean deaths in that future. RWBY saw themselves killed in a recording after they already saw their dead bodies so they were prepared to see their final moments (and their wounds were cauterized so there's no rivers of blood), NPR died off-screen (yes, they know Jaune killed them, but knowing and seeing are different), and no one knows what really happened to CFVY except for Velvet, and she died quickly. Even the villains didn't suffer much except for the fear Jaune instilled in them. Only Qrow, Glynda, and Cardin suffered before their deaths. The first two being riddled with bullets, while the latter had to fight over the corpses of his team. Even James and Oz died quickly (getting blown up and stabbed). At least all their deaths were quick and didn't leave them horribly mutilated as a result. Penny on the other hand: she had to learn what became of Humanity and Faunus kind after Skynet achieved sentience (even parts of the future war), witnessed Jaune rip his skin off to show 'bones', learned what Skynet did to its own android soldiers, saw his 'brain' get picked apart (and nearly destroyed by a crazy Winter), and seeing an android killing innocent people. Penny was an android too, and they have the capability to learn like her. She's upset because she knows that she could end up like them. We even see this when Penny questions herself on whether she should continue to fight for her creators when she didn't even have a choice to begin with. Compared to that carnival of horror, the others had it easy.
KAPfan9876: That's a yes.
keybladelight: I think someone else did, don't know if they reacted to the whole movie but I do remember them reacting to the beginning where Jaune and Pyrrha are married, and postman Port high-fived him for the size of his wife's bra after that deer rampaged through the house. I also remember the girls shouting, "death to the deer!" or something after Pyrrha's daughter cried when her doll was getting ripped apart… Found it! "Reacting to Alternate Arc's" by humenwrecker. So they did do the beginning, but not the whole movie. Really funny, great story overall too, really recommend it XD
Legion 5173: Funny you mention the son thing, that's gonna happen in the next universe. However, like Finch, he won't arrive in the nexus since the universe isn't a possible future (remember, the other children who arrived only did so through the gifts chapter). I'll have him show up later, but for now he's staying in that universe.
RedDragonRevan: Haven't played the games to be honest, so I can't comment on whether Mass Effect is a good suggestion or not. More of a Halo fan myself, and I'm trying to make a Halo Reach reaction for those who want me to react to games. And yes, I'm going to cover the whole thing. Tried to make one for the game Overlord. Would've been funny to see a fat Ruby (trust me, it would've made sense), but that one was lost in the crash. Still trying, but it's not a priority right now. Making one for Destiny with the help of another author, but that one is slow going as I'm not knowledgeable about that one either.
The Poarter: Ah, but the audience don't know that. For all they know, the van shot up by the Joker and the one shot by the T-1000 are the same model, they don't have any idea that the universes are nearly 2 decades apart from each other (dark knight came out in 2008 while Terminator 2 came out in 1991). And if it's standard practice for police cruisers to have their own mini armories, wouldn't that make having the SWAT van carrying extra weapons a waste of space?
warrior of six blades: Same. And man, Penny sure picked a great time to wake up.
penmaster cole: I think the article says that that's a misconception. That to stop a fire you typically need to remove one the three: ignition, fuel, or oxygen. Halon adds a fourth component rather than stopping any of the first three, thus breaking the chain reaction. It stops the three from coming together by chemically reacting with them. So basically it adds onto the fire and stops it without removing the air.
ClashofC: Never thought of it, no. Haven't played any of the God of War games, so I can't really try.
HAIL KING DELIRIOUS: Actually had that thought. Won't do the whole movie, most of it is walking anyway, but the beginning of it. The storming of the beaches with Vale, Arcadia, Menagerie, and Vacuo battling Atlas and Mistral (3 guesses on who their version of Hitler is). It'll be like a Second Great War, which is interesting because the movie takes place during WW2 while Remnant has only had one Great War and this one would be a second one with the same players as the first which for the most part happened in WW2.
Wolfang21: Funny you should say that, I'm thinking of an AU/maybe possible future, haven't decided which yet, where Jaune is expelled from Beacon (transcripts), and wallows around in the deserts of Vacuo (still thinking how he got there). There he gathers up a following of thieves and gangsters (he's still got Aura and some training from Pyrrha, so he'll be more than effective against common thugs) due to the Kingdom being rife with roving gangs, and uses vehicles to roam the desert and pillage what they could while outrunning any Grimm they may have chasing them, and eventually having the numbers to basically form a mobile army. Boom: Fury Road! (or at least something like that)
Perseus12: Already got an idea for their children: JxC- Azula (yes, like AtLA)- hair like her mom, eyes like her dad but glows similarly like her mom. Extremely powerful, unlocked Shikai (name should hint what it centers around). Will be coming up later. JxW- Juniper- named after a tree native to Southern France and his team name (seeing as Willow is a tree as well). White hair like her mom, blue eyes like her dad but can become like her mom's color if angered. Hasn't unlocked Shikai for reasons that will become apparent when she arrives. JxP: Alexander (the Man who conquered Persia)- hair like his dad, eyes of his mom. Lean built, unlocked Shikai (mom's Pyrrha for heaven's sake). I try to make children following RWBY's character creation: similar to people found in real life/other media, but with their own flair and designs so that they are unique enough that no one sues RT.
WearyCurmudgeon: Remnant does seem to be more advanced in some ways but not in others. I do agree that in some areas, we come out on top, which is why I had the Arcs use some of our tech along with others. Though Atlas does have laser turrets like the Beam Turret, which was developed by Atlas after the Fall of Beacon, and I think the Burrow Gun (I mean, I don't think it fires projectiles since I don't see a magazine showing and a barrel that big would need big bullets). But I don't know whether having bigger lasers is really worth it in their case. Penny can shoot lasers (which when combined can take out multiple Bullheads with a single shot), so I don't know why Atlas would bother with making bigger versions. Their only enemy at the moment are the Grimm; and they are the only Kingdom with an active military so what can big lasers really shoot down? Developing larger lasers seems like a waste when flack cannons can do the job more quickly and with less strain on their Dust reserves. It is cool that Earth is advancing though, the folding cellphone sounds awesome (and holograms are a thing apparently, with claims of people making hard light). I'm not sure whether the two created Aura or not, but I do think they created the Faunus since they have similar traits in their 'human' forms, and they seemed to just pop into existence with no evolutionary backing that explains how. My theory is that they were created by the idiots to test Humanity. To know whether the humans can live in peace with beings that look like them without physically being there to monitor their progress. Something that they failed at constantly with a Great War, Faunus Revolution, slavery, racism, and so on.
Now, on with the show!
Disclaimer in the prologue.
At the van, Finch and Jaune are seen carrying Winter out of the wreck. Jaune has the M-79 slung over his shoulder, a bandolier of grenades, and his .45 stuck in his waistband. Finch 'borrowed' a 12-gauge riot gun from the van.
The pickup they pass seconds earlier pulls up to them. The driver, a Hispanic guy in his 50's, is getting out to help them. Jaune and Finch hear a crash and look back as the helicopter wreckage is knocked aside by the accelerating tanker truck.
"Holy shit. Come on, Mom... we gotta keep moving... come on." Finch said.
Jaune looks to the pickup owner and says, "We need your truck."
The guy seems to know better than to try and stop him as Jaune slides Winter into the front seat and climbs in behind the wheel. Finch runs to the passenger side. (Roman: "Smart man.")
The tanker roars, spewing smoke from its chrome stacks as it shifts up through the gears.
Jaune slams the pickup in gear, checking the rear-view. The tanker is a hundred feet behind them now, and really moving. Jaune puts the throttle down, but the pickup is an old slug loaded down by a heavy home-made wooden camper-shell. It accelerates slowly.
The tanker slams into one end of the wrecked SWAT van, spinning it out of the way with a roar and screech of twisting metal. The 18-wheeler shifts to a higher gear, still accelerating.
With the tanker right behind them, Jaune cuts the wheel, swerving the pickup back and forth across the lanes. The big rig stays right on them, its tanker whiplashing violently.
"Faster! He's right on us!" Finch shouts to Jaune.
Jaune looking at the speedometer see's that it is going 60 miles per hour. "This is the vehicles top speed." He said.
Winter and Qrow flinched at that.
The other heroes silently cursed at the van's slow speed, the villains wishing there was another car to escape in.
The tractor-trailer whirls as it roars right up to the screen, filling the frame with chrome and lights. K-WHAM! It rams the backs of the pickup, sending it skidding. Then Cardin pulls the tractor trailer up alongside the pickup and crabs over, sandwiching it against the center divider. The spinning chrome hubs tear into the passenger side door and the guard rail screeches along the other side.
The pickup bucks and shakes insanely. It ricochets violently between the big-rig and the divider; a horrible screech erupts from the tortured steel, causing the Faunus to flinch. Sparks pour in sheets of fire from both sides. The windshield shatters as the door-posts buckle in. Metal and glass shower in through the side windows. The frame twists and buckles. Finch feels like the fillings in his teeth are being shaken right out.
The wooden camper disintegrates, falling away as kindling behind them.
Cardin holds the wheel hard over, mercilessly grinding the pickup. The whole rig jerks and shakes with the violence of the sustained hammering.
Jaune slides toward the passenger side. Keeping his foot on the gas he lifts Finch over him and puts him in the driver's seat.
"Drive a minute." Jaune said.
"Where you going?!" Finch said.
"Yeah, where you going?" Yang asks, raising an eyebrow. "He's in the middle of the highway. Unless he's willing to jump his toned ass onto oncoming traffic, I don't see how letting Finch drive is going to accomplish anything."
Meanwhile, Penny finally started to wake up from all the noise everyone was making.
Jaune slams the shattered windshield with the palm of his hand. Held together by the plastic laminate, the windshield flops out of its frame. It flies over the top of the truck. Jaune pushes his upper body out over the dashboard and stands up. He turns and aims the M-79 one-handed. POOM! The grenade misses Cardin by less than a foot. It explodes against the front bulkhead of the tanker, almost at the top. Liquid nitrogen pours from the opening, swept back by the 60-mph Windstream.
"Oh, now I get it." Yang nods with a grin, high-fiving Nora as they both cheered for Jaune to blow Cardin's ass for good. Both Blakes blushed at the wording they used for that.
The explosion did it, and Penny was fully awake. "What happened?" She sat up from her laying position with a groan, cutely rubbing her eyelids. "What's going on?" She looked at the car chase happening and deadpanned. "Seriously? Another chase scene?"
She was distracted when Ruby yelled "Penny, you're alright!" and choked a bit as her friend clung to her neck a bit too tightly. "Why~?"
The big-rig swerves as Cardin regains control. The tanker swings like a pendulum behind the cab. The pickup accelerates, getting back out in front by a few yards. Behind it the big-rig is trailing a swirling comet-tail of nitrogen vapor. Then it is gaining again.
Jaune, still standing, opens the breech and starts to reload. Finch cuts across the highway and takes an off ramp. Cardin swerves the smoking behemoth across the lanes and down the ramp after him, still accelerating. It is twenty feet behind them and closing when Jaune closes the breech and fires. The grenade hits the front grill and explodes. The radiator is destroyed, along with half the hood in the explosion. Steam blasts out, obscuring the whole front of the truck.
As Nora and Yang cheered again, with Coco joining in, Terra hums, "The smoke is a great way to obscure one's vision, but I don't know if that would do much good against a machine."
Penny, after assuring Ruby that she was ok, replied to Terra's statement, "Actually, it's more effective than you would think." Seeing she got the woman's attention, she continued with "My previous sight was based off of 'cameras' for 'normal' vision when I was a gynoid, but could be switched to thermal vision for a more combat-ready level. And so far the Terminators have shown to have a red tinted vision overlaid with informatics concerning background data, potential dialog choices, and threat assessments." She smiles as the woman looks impressed at her. "As such, smoke can be extremely effective against them since the Terminators don't seem to be equipped with thermal vision."
The area became silent, before Terra hugged Saphron close to her and said, "You know, I wouldn't mind if Jaune picked you." Her sudden announcement had many gaping at her, mostly the other girls who have crushes on Jaune. "Oum knows our," she squeezed her pouting wife, "Arcs could use our smarts."
The girls with crushes gasped at that, 'No, I'm losing the war for Family Approval!', while Penny blushed as she beamed with happiness. Not feeling the weight of the glares, nor the look of betrayal from Ruby, she asked "Really?"
Terra nodded, "Oh yeah, and as a bonus, I get an intelligent and cute little sister!" She grinned as the younger woman fiddled with her skirt in slight embarrassment, but mostly happiness. "Oh, aren't you just precious!"
Saphron looked at her wife indignantly, "Wait, what about my sisters?"
Terra grinned, "Oh they're cute too, buuut…" she laughed when Saphron punched her shoulder.
Penny was happy, 'Do I… Is this my chance to have a real b-b-boyfriend?' She blushed at the title, giggling as she swooned a bit. 'Ooh, this feeling is so sensational!' She looked at the different orbs laying around, and concluded that her chances were pretty high. "And from what I've seen thus far, Jaune would make a great boyfriend." She didn't know she said that out loud, not that she would've cared if she did.
James paled, not knowing how to deal with this. 'I don't know if Adrian would be happy that his little angel is thinking of such things so early in her development.' He blinked. 'Who am I kidding, he'd probably just be happy with the knowledge that his daughter is fully human now.'
Winter wanted to feel something negative towards Penny, but she just didn't have the heart to do so. 'Look at her, she looks so happy right now.' Some of the others felt the confliction too, knowing that the girl was made human just recently, and they couldn't hold it against her to pursue love so quickly.
Maria cooed at the girl, while holding Klein close. "Ah, young love~." Klein chuckled a bit with a nod.
After a bit, everyone settled back down, and the scene continued.
The semi rams the back of the pickup again. Spewing smoke and vapor like some demon locomotive, the tractor-trailer pounds into the back of the pickup. Driving it right through the intersection at the bottom of the ramp, and straight toward an area of heavy industry.
The gates are blasted off their hinges as the semi rams the pickup right through them. Jaune struggles to reload amid the chaos and impacts. He has three grenades left on the bandolier. Finch isn't even steering anymore, they are just being pushed. There's nothing he can do. They are rocketing down the broad thoroughfare which leads directly to the main building of the plant. Jaune pulls himself onto the roof of the pickup. He leaps to the bed, takes two powerful strides and Leaps onto the semi. He climbs rapidly onto the hood, and fires point blank through the windshield. Right into Cardin's face.
Velvet laughed at the impact, taking delight in Cardin's face deforming like that. She knew that it probably didn't do any good in the long run, but the sight made her feel better.
Yang just shouted how awesome that was, prompting her dad to tell her that he doesn't want her to even think of doing a stunt like that or else she'd be grounded 'till she reached 60.
Penny grinned, "Yes! Take that, you sorry excuse for an android!"
The explosion blows out all the glass and fills the cab with smoke and fire. Jaune grabs onto the wheel and jerks it with all his might. As the truck starts to shudder, in an almost dream-slow motion, the cab begins to swing sideways, until its tires are shrieking over the pavement. The tractor is smashed back at right-angles to the tanker-trailer which begins to slide broadside. The juggernaut bucks and shudders as the tires and smoke sideways across the pavement. It begins to topple. Jaune hold on as the side of cab becomes the top. With an unholy scream, like the unoiled hubs of Hell, the whole rig slides on its side at 60 mph toward the steel mill. A sheet of sparks sixty feet wide trails behind it on the pavement.
Finch sees what's behind him, then snaps around to see the building looming right in front. The huge rolling doors are partly open. No choice. He steers right through them into the mill, as Jaune, with one second to go, leaps from the cab. He flies through the open doors as the tanker hits the building. Jaune slams to the floor of the mill and rolls, as the tanker-trailer smashed into a massive concrete support at one side of the doors. A thunderous carnage of twisting metal splits it wide open. A river of liquid nitrogen pours out at -230.
Everyone blinked in surprise at just how cold the liquid actually was.
Finch hits the brakes, sliding out of control. He slows almost to a stop but hits a steel support column head-on. He and Winter are slammed forward, hard.
Jaune, still clutching the M-79 blooper, rolls and slides across the floor. He smashes through a railing and slams up against the base of a massive machine.
The semi cab swings about the trailer wreckage, into the building, and shudders to a stop. Liquid nitrogen sprays over the cab, flooding out around it in a hissing wave front of ultracold. Freezing vapor swirls everywhere, obscuring the wreck.
Jaune lies still. A beat. Then he rolls weakly, rising on one elbow to survey the scene. (Nora: "He lives!")
In the wrecked pickup, Finch stirs. He is stunned, and blood is running down his nose. Dazed, he realizes that he's in a steel mill. There are sirens, and he can see men running... shouting. He turns and sees what they are running from...
The wall of nitrogen vapor spreads from the demolished tanker. It is a strange vista of fire and ice. The huge smelters pour out orange light and fire from the sides of the huge galley, while the freezing vapor rolls down the center.
Tight on the wreck, a billowing gray clouds the vapor. Deep inside, the shape of the cab is visible. A figure emerges, pulling itself out. It drops to the floor. The hissing, boiling river of liquid nitrogen flows around its feet.
Many of the people gasped, not expecting the machine to fall down like that. They never saw the thing do so before any other time it got hurt. 'Did something finally damage it?' They grew giddy, wondering what happened to finally slow down this seemingly unstoppable killing machine.
Cardin staggers, moving slowly, painfully. It has finally been affected by something. Its feet are freezing to the ground as it walks. CLINK! One of its feet breaks off at a glassy angle.
"H-How?" James asked, "How did-" He remembered the liquid, and how cold it was. "The liquid." He whispers as a grin started to grow.
Nora cheered as the robot Cardin kept losing parts of itself, with Yang and Coco soon joining. Velvet was the loudest though.
It stumbles forward, and its other foot snaps off. As it catches its balance on the stump of its other ankle, the whole lower leg shatters at the impact. It topples forward to its knees. It manages to catch itself on one hand, liquid nitrogen flowing around the appendage. Now the hand is stuck to the pavement. Cardin pulls and... CLINK! The hand snaps off at the wrist. It looks stupidly at the glassy stump of a wrist. For the first time we see an expression on its face everyone knows to be a true one... Pain. Agony. Its mouth opens in a soundless scream as the hoar-frost races up its legs, across its body. And that's the position it freezes in. It has become a statue, kneeling in the frozen vapor, that surprised look of agony frozen on its face.
"Hahahaha!" Velvet, sweet innocent Velvet, cackled at the face of agony on her bully's face as she grabbed her partner's scroll to take a few photos for keepsakes.
Coco just grinned, especially when Velvet let her inner sadist out.
Penny was over the moon. Seeing the machine who had killed so many people so brutally show such pain felt like justice for the innocent. 'How does it feel? To be the one who's in pain for a change?' She took a deep breath, knowing that soon this nightmare would come to an end.
Eve was confused by her fellow Faunus's behavior, but chalked it up to either her being insane, or there is a version of the machine in their world that is racist. 'Most likely both.' Either way, she has a new person on her list.
Back in their own universe, Cardin felt a shiver of fear crawling up his spine. 'Why does it feel like someone's dancing over my grave?'
The liquid nitrogen stops flowing and begins to evaporate. Jaune, just beyond the boundary of the cold, can see Cardin clearly. He draws his .45 and aims.
"Hasta la vista, baby." Jaune said. K-POW! The single shot blows Cardin into a million diamonds spraying up into the air.
Yang fist pumped, "That's another awesome one-liner!" She pulled out her scroll. "I gotta start making a list of these so I don't forget!"
Coco took her own scroll back from a now pouting Velvet who was recording that, "Way ahead of you, Yang!"
They shimmer across the ground for twenty feet in all directions. Jaune lowers the gun, satisfied. He looks like he needs a vacation.
Finch and Winter have seen it from the pickup. She is in bad shape, conscious but very weak. He tries the door. It's jammed. He kicks it open.
Winter was just glad that her other was still alive after that stunt Jaune pulled.
"Okay, Mom, we gotta get out now, come on. That's it." Finch said.
He helps her slide down from the seat of the truck. Her knees give way, so he had to take a lot of her weight for support. He reaches in and picks up the riot gun off the seat. They hobble toward Jaune. On his knees, he looks into the dissipating cloud of vapor. The heat of the furnaces has evaporated all the liquid nitrogen.
The heroes were cheering at the scene. A few asking for some refreshments to celebrate.
The T-1000 shards are melting, liquefying. Hundreds of drops of mercury spattered across the floor. Orange light from the enormous black furnaces dances on liquid metal.
Jaune struggles to rise. some leg-servos are damaged. He can barely stand. Finch and Winter arrive.
A few winced at Jaune's battered form, but took solace in the fact that his role as Finch's protector would soon come to an end.
Roman raised a cup of apple juice to toast, "Woah, take it easy there, Tinman. It's nothing but smooth sailing after this." He chuckled as a few others nodded, agreeing that with the T-1000 dead and scattered, nothing can stop the group from stopping Judgement Day.
"We don't have much time." Jaune said.
"What?" Finch asked.
"Wait what?" Sienna asked as she and the others stopped in their celebrations in response to what Jaune said.
Jaune points. Finch and Winter watch as the T-1000 droplets are creeping together. Fusing into larger blobs. These pools shiver and run together, soon forming a central mass.
Finch and Winter pale, realizing that it's not over.
"Come on! Let's go!" Finch said.
Yang gaped, "Are you kidding me?!" she shouts as the others dropped back to their seats in shock.
Nora gripped her hair in frustration, "Blowing it to pieces doesn't work, freezing it doesn't work! Just how do you stop this thing?!"
The others paled. They didn't think the Terminator survived that. If it could reform after being blown to hell, then how does one stop it?
Penny on the other hand, narrowed her eyes. Ignoring the shouts of the others, she looked around the group's surroundings. 'Let's see, they're in an industrial zone, and there's active furnaces around them. That means that there's cauldrons filled with melted metals to potentially use.' She glared at the T-1000. 'If extreme cold has an effect on it, even if it's only pain, then I wonder how it would fare against extreme heat…' She grinned, thinking of an idea that just might work.
Jaune gets one of Winter's arms over his shoulder and they go. Behind them, something is moving. A head is forming up out of a pool mercury (Garnet: "And hello, nightmare fuel."). It rises, as shoulders begin to form, hunching up from the liquid mass. Half-formed, it turns to look straight at them.
The children shivered, not liking the form the machine was currently.
Finch looks back in new terror as the T-1000 rises to man-height. It is still in its mercury form, but its features are forming rapidly. It takes its first step after them. Winter stumbles and they pull her up. Jaune himself has a pronounces limp, dragging one leg with a shattered ankle joint. Finch is the one pulling, straining, driving them forward.
Seeing how beat up the two are, the heroes feared their chances of survival.
The T-1000 steps into frame, fully formed into that of Cardin. The hell-fire light glints on its impassive cop face. It walks forward. At first it seems unaffected by its crystallization (Nora: "Hax! I call Hax!").
But as it touches a railing in passing, the railing that is covered with O.S.H.A., yellow-and-black safety tape, the hand turns yellow and black, the color fading to normal by about the elbow. It looks down at his hand, and with narrowed eyes, rips the hand from the railing with difficulty. There is a sound like adhesive tape ripping off the surface. Cardin looks at its yellow-and-black striped hand. It wills the hand back to normal. The audience can see ripples of "static" or system noise moving subtly over the surface of its body. It's starting to "glitch".
Salem blinked, wondering what they just saw. Hazel rubbed his chin, "I guess being blown up did leave some damage after all."
The heroes breathed a sigh of relief. Sure, Cardin was still chasing after the three, but with it damaged like Winter and Jaune, they felt the group's chances improved a bit.
They move around another corner into a maze of monstrous machinery. The heat is tremendous, the two humans already sweating. The air shivers with a pounding roar.
Winter cries out in pain and stumbles again.
"Come on, Mom, you can do it! Come on!" Finch said.
They drag her up, and stagger on. Her leg is bathed in blood and she is deathly pale.
James looked on in sadness, memories of soldiers bleeding out under his command coming to him as he sees Winter so close to death.
The Schnee's were worried. Winter didn't like seeing her other losing so much blood, their son still needed her. Whitley and Weiss never saw their strong sister brought so low before. And Willow teared up at her daughter so hurt.
Klein's back stiffened, and started to breath heavily. Maria hugged him close in an effort to help.
Weiss' friends wanted to help too, but didn't know how in this case.
Eve felt conflicted. On one hand, she got to see a Schnee dying. On the other, this Schnee was inconsequential to the SDC. 'And I suppose being the mother to the savior of my race counts for something.' The fact that it was a human, let alone one of Schnee blood, who was the savior of Faunus kind greatly pissed her off.
Tracking with Cardin's feet. The people could see that with each step, the pattern on the tile floor "invades" its lower legs, fading as the foot is lifted and returns as it is set down. Its feet are trying to meld with the floor. The chameleonic function is out of control, Cardin is losing it. It moves forward, searching. It rounds the corner, entering the aisle between the furnaces.
Penny grinned. "Good. With its ability to shapeshift now gone, it has no way to trick the others." She said.
Ruby nods, " Yeah, and it's slower now that its ability is working against it."
Jaune sees a silhouette closing on them through the smoky gleam. The T-1000 breaks into a loping run when it sees them, Jaune turns to Winter over with Finch.
"Keep going." Jaune said.
Finch shakes his head no. "No, we got to stick together."
Winter and James smiled at the boy's resolve to leave no one behind.
The T-1000 is almost on them.
"Finch, you got to go now. GO!" Jaune said.
Jaune's friends and family hoped that he is strong enough to hold Cardin off.
Finch runs, dragging, half-carrying Winter as best he can. She can barely stay conscious.
Jaune looks back and prepares himself for battle. He slowly moves forward, cautiously, his eyes scanning for the hostile. Suddenly from the shadows Cardin smacks the weapon out of his hands. It clatters on the floor and off the hallway before landing on a platform. Jaune lunges, slamming the T-1000 against a wall with all his weight.
Lucy and her sisters cheered their papa on, hoping that he would win. Meanwhile Robin shouted, "Kick that asshole's ass dad!" with Altani trying to reprimand her for her language.
Yang yelled "No mercy, Jaune!" at the same time as Nora shouted, "Break his legs, big brother!"
The other students cheered him on as well. Both Blakes even waved small signs that had the face of Jaune printed on them, with Chibi-Jaune's face for Chibi-Blake's sign.
Meanwhile, Finch and Winter had just reached the back of the aisle. It is a cul-de-sac, blocked on the end by the base of an immense smelter crucible. They turn to watch the titans battle in silhouette, backlit by the molten sparks falling from the furnaces above.
Jaune grabs Cardin and hurls it with incredible force against the opposite wall of the narrow alley.
Despite knowing him to be bad, a few of the heroes winced at the impact Cardin made, seeing the indent on the metal. "Ow." Ozpin mutters.
In less time than it would take to turn, Cardin morphs through itself, front to back... face emerging from the back of its head.
And now they didn't care anymore. Penny's eye twitched a bit in jealousy at the advanced machine.
The other students felt creeped out by the move, shivering a bit in disgust from the sounds it made.
Cardin comes off the wall straight at Jaune, who smashes his good fist into its face. The pile-driver blow buries Jaune's fist almost to the elbow.
But Cardin's head morphs in a split-second into a hand which grip Jaune's wrist, and the head "emerges" somewhere else, the geometry shifting faster than the audience could follow.
"That's just wrong." Emerald says, holding her children close as Mercury and Cinder felt a bit sick at the image.
Cardin slams Jaune into a large machine, jamming his arm into the moving works. A massive sliding bar scissors his arm, smashing it into junk at the elbow, pinning him in the machine.
Yang winced, and held her own arm as she felt some sort of phantom pain seeing that. 'Ow, the hell was that?'
"Oh no, Jaune!" Penny shouts as she sees her new crush pinned down.
Saphron gasped at her brother having his arm crushed by the gears. Terra holding her hand in support as she sees her wife's distraught face.
Winter grippes the sides of her seat in worry, knowing that with Jaune out of the fight, then nothing would stop the Terminator from completing its mission.
Jaune strains against the machine pinning him. The audience winces as they hear the arm's servos whining in overload. The T-1000 smirks, then turns around and heads in search for Winter and Finch (Yang: "Even as a machine, Cardin's still a prick!"). Jaune strains to reach a 6-foot steel bar lying near him.
Weiss scratched her head, "Why is there a bar there anyway?"
Penny, whilst stilling looking at the screen, says "Steel workers use them to move red-hot ingots around."
The heiress blinks, then nods. "I suppose that makes sense."
He gets hold of the end and uses it as a lever. With titanic effort he spreads the massive components which are holding him, and withdraws him arm, which is severed at the elbow, dangling junk hangs from the crushed joint.
Penny shivers as she sees the bits hanging off his arm. That was like seeing flesh sticking to bone after escaping a meatgrinder for her.
Winter, seeing Cardin behind them, cursed and hurls Finch into a gap between the machines. He falls into a maze of pipes and girders. Finch turns to see her in the entrance of the narrow gap. She could follow him, but she doesn't. Suddenly a dark mass moves towards him. Finch gasps as a huge steel counterweight, driven by a chain 6 inches thick, slides toward him. He rolls out of the way, but when he looks back, he cannot see the opening.
"Mom! MOMMM!" Finch shouted.
"Oh no!" Ruby places her hands over her mouth as she stifles a gasp.
Winter has lost sight of Finch. It is much of a goodbye as they will have. She turns as Cardin closes in on her. She is half-slumped against the sooty machines, looking barely conscious. She struggles to load a shell into the empty weapon. At the last instant she whips up the riot gun and fires.
James and Penny gave a small salute for the mother's sacrifice.
The parents held their children, knowing that they would do the same to protect their angels.
Cardin's face is blown open, but quickly reforms as it closes on her. She fumbles to get another shell into the magazine but -THUNK! A steel needle slams through her shoulder, pinning her to the metal behind her and causing Winter's family to gasp in horror. The polymorphic killer cocks back its other hand. The index finger extends as a gleaming needle towards her eye.
"Call to Finch now." Cardin demanded.
"Fuck you." Winter said.
Winter nods, narrowing her eyes towards the machine for even thinking that she'd surrender her child to the thing. Her family clinging to her after they gasped, much to her slight embarrassment- 'I really don't know how I should feel at Whitley clinging to me'- as they felt her other was going to die now.
Maria scoffed. "Dumbass," she said as she tried to calm Klein down again, "why would she do that when she clearly intended to buy her kid time to escape?"
Penny glared, not just for the threat he made, but because he didn't piece together the mother's plan like she did. 'Apparently this T-1000 isn't as intelligent as I presumed.' For some reason, that made her feel a bit better. (1)
Everyone expected for the Terminator to just kill her, when-
WHAM! Something whistles down on Cardin with such force that is cleaves it head and body in two down to the naval. A 6-foot steel bar is seen imbedded in its body.
Everyone jumps in surprise. "Holy shit!" Coco, Yang, and Neo shouts as they tried to calm their rapidly beating hearts.
As the two pieces separated, they could see Jaune there, one arm gone, and glaring with determination.
Weiss, Whitley, and Willow silently thanked any god who would listen for the timely save.
Klein thanked the heavens for the young man's arrival.
Cardin, reacting to the strike, kicks Jaune away from him. He then turns around, pulls the steel shaft out of itself and attacks Jaune with surprising fury. Swinging again and again, he's hammering Jaune's back. From the continued assault, Jaune falls back against the wall.
Every strike had the children wincing back. Robin and Altani making death threats towards the evil machine for hurting their dad.
Behind Cardin is an enormous I-beam, hanging from two chains and used to lift ingots into the smelters. From what the audience could see, it runs on a linear track.
Cardin grabs the I-beam and rolls it down the track. Straight at Jaune. The two-ton girder smashes into his chest, crushing the armor. Everyone flinched at the sound of metal crushing and breaking inside him.
Jaune tries to grip the wall, but as he turns around...
The second blow slams into his back, smashing his spine and pelvis. We hear servos ratcheting and failing. He drops to his knees, crucified on a wall of machinery.
Many people threw up at the noise, thinking of how much suffering they, without Aura, would be under if they were subjected to what Jaune is now. 'I think my body would've shut down after the first blow.'
The last blow was centered between his shoulder blades, with more sound of crushing metal being heard. They could see his skull partially caved in. He soon slides to the floor, his body can't take much more.
As he slides down, the heroes could only tear up.
Ozpin bows his head. "It's over, he's done." He whispers. He knows that the body can only take so much before finally succumbing to the pain; and even though Jaune's a machine, the sound of crushing metal is proof that he can't go on.
Lucy clung to her mom as she cried, her sisters doing the same. 'I wish I could do something.' She grips Neo's sleeve tighter as she glares hatefully at the image. 'If I ever see that person…' She blinks hard, doing her best to memorize the facial features through her tears. 'I will do to him what dad did to that investor. He. Will. Burn.' As she made her promise, her eyes turned red with the whites of her eyes bleeding black. Then she blinked again, and the changes were gone. (2)
Cardin, emotionless, walks forward.
Jaune is a pathetic shape on the floor. He is trying to crawl, feebly. Dragging his malfunctioning legs behind the crushed spine. His arm stump screeches on the tile floor as he inches himself forward. His exposed machine eye burns red with determination within the exposed skeletal machinery.
The screen pans out a bit to show his prize. He has the M-79, fully loaded, in his sight.
Penny and the other students cried as they saw that despite his injuries, he's still willing to continue the fight.
Pyrrha smiled a bit as she wipes her tears away. "That's just like Jaune, he never gives up." Her friends nodded.
Oz smiles a bit in pride, seeing a glimpse of his younger self in Mr. Arc. 'I was just as strongheaded at that age, when I went by Ozma.' He sighed, thinking of the good and the bad times during that age.
Salem smiled too, seeing the same as Oz did.
Winter looks on sadly. 'His determination is truly inspiring. Program or not, this man is determined to keep my son safe.' She sighs, 'I truly wish Finch was yours too.'
His metal fingers reach out for it as Cardin raises the heavy steel bar over his head and stabs it down with unbelievable force.
It punches into Jaune's back, through a gap in the shattered armor. Cardin levers it back and forth, widening the hole. Then it raises the pointed bar again and slams it down. It punches right through, emerging from Jaune's chest, and into the floor. He is pinned down.
"No." Ruby whispers, as she felt her heart shatter.
The children could only hold onto their moms as they begged for their papa to get back up, to fight the evil machine and save the boy.
Jaune sags face down and slowly stops moving, the red light slowly going out of his eye.
Jaune's family cried, turning away to no longer see his death.
His friends looked down in sadness. It was like watching Soldier Jaune all over again.
Winter and James snapped a salute, tears in their eyes, as did the other adults. Even Raven and Vernal did so, if only to hide their own tears.
Mercury and Hazel bowed their head in respect, while Roman tipped his hat. The latter feeling like shit after the whole toast thing he did earlier.
Tyrian sighed in disappointment. He hoped this version of his boy would survive.
Salem and Oz felt terrible. For Salem it was like watching her love die again, while Oz could only think of all the people he had led to their deaths in his pursuit to complete his damned mission.
Winter, still on the walkway, slowly but surely begins to reload the shotgun to its max. She is on the lookout for Cardin.
The screen goes back to Jaune to see his unmoving body (Yang: "Why are we seeing this, he's already dead!"). Within his robotic eye, the light slowly comes back.
Yang was pissed, seeing Jaune's body after they saw his death so soon made her and her friends mad at the screen. Then they saw the light slowly coming back, and they all gasped in wonder and hope.
From Jaune's perspective, they could see that a secondary power unit was coming online and running. Jaune looks around with a raised eyebrow, before remembering what was happening. He grabs the beam from underneath him and begins pulling downward to release himself. Now done with that, he grabs the M-79 and slowly brings it to himself.
"He's alive." It started out as a whisper from Nora, but once she saw Jaune beginning to move, she grinned in joy and jumped from her seat. "He's alive!"
After she shouted that, the others started cheering. That was enough to get his family to look back at the screen, and seeing that they were right, the children began cheering while Saphron hugged Terra tight as she cried out, "By the Pillars, he's really alive!"
Maria chuckled as she playfully bonked the side her head with a grin, "I forgot, never underestimate an Arc."
Oz and Salem breathed a sigh of relief.
Jack, deciding they needed this, paused the viewing for a bit. After seeing everyone calmed down, he continued.
Above Finch, vast machines churn untended. He hears a voice... Winter's calling low and urgent to him. "Finch? Finch? Can you hear me? Where are you?" Winter said.
He crawls out of the shadows and onto a landing next to one of the smelter crucibles. Molten steel glows a bright orange in the crucible of the furnace. Heat shimmers the air, giving everything a hallucinatory quality. Finch sees Winter nearby, limping toward him. She can barely move, her leg bathed in blood. He runs toward her.
Whitley narrowed his eyes. "Wait, where did Winter get that injury, wasn't she only," he paused to gulp nervously, "stabbed in the shoulder?" He tilted his head, "And where is her weapon?"
After he pointed that out, everyone narrowed their eyes, feeling like something was wrong with that picture.
Gasping in pain, Winter said "Help me, honey."
Nora gasped, and stood up from her chair as she points to the screen. "That's not the real Winter! She would never call her son such a sweet nickname."
Winter felt like she was slapped in the face, especially when her sweet younger sister nodded in agreement! 'Though I suppose I can't deny that my other never did call our son any endearing names throughout this viewing.'
She bowed her head in shame, though that went away when Qrow decided to laugh at the girl's declaration. 'Perhaps another kick should calm him down.'
Tight on Winter, her stoic face as she hobbles forward, reaching out to him. Something rises behind her, out of focus. Another, identical Winter... but this one has a shotgun.
Aimed right at the screen.
"Oh, there she is!" Nora shouts as she sits back down after some prompting from Ren.
Winter sighed in relief- 'I've been doing that a lot lately'- as she sees her real other about to save their son.
Finch freezes. 'Which is which?' He looks down. The first Winter's feet are melded with the floor, sucking and fusing with the tiles as she walks. They have the color and pattern of the tiles up to the knee.
"Well, there's your proof." Roman points to the screen as the others nod.
"Finch, get out of the way!" Winter said.
"SHOOT!" Finch shouted.
Finch dives aside. The Winter-form spins, quickly changing back into Cardin. Winter starts unloading the shotgun into it. BOOM! It staggers back. K-CHAK. She chambers another round. BOOM! It staggers again. K-CHAK. BOOM! And again. And again. Cardin is blown back a step as Winter advances with each shot. The craters in Cardin's body "heal" slowly. Its power is waning. She fires again. And again. Her eyes blazing with feral intensity. She walks it back, right to the edge of the pit of molten steel.
With every shot, the heroes cheered.
Cinder smirked as she sees where the ledge leads to. "Checkmate."
Penny noticed too, and smiled as she sees her idea coming to fruition.
K-CHAK... CLICK. She looks down at her gun in horror. She's empty. And Cardin is right at the edge. In a second it will recover its composure, as its crater hits slowly closes. She has failed.
Cardin now healed, slowly lifts a finger and waves it left and right as if to say "no no no".
"Still a prick." Yang says with narrowed eyes as everyone grew worried again.
"Damnit, so close!" Tai growled, not liking the condescending attitude the Terminator had after escaping death. 'Yang's right, this guy's a total prick.'
Penny slams her hand on an armrest, angry that they were so close to getting rid of the machine, only to fail at the very end. 'This is so frustrating!' She glared as Cardin waves his finger. 'Yang is correct, this android is indeed a prick.' She blushed a bit, wondering how her father would feel if he knew what she just thought.
Knowing it will kill them both, they turn around to try to escape. They take a few steps forward only to stop.
Coming out of the smoke, the two sees Jaune, riding up a gear, as he aims his launcher carefully. Finch and Winter dive to the ground. Jaune, with his half human flesh, half chrome steel showing, his red eye gazing right at the audience, fires.
Cardin takes the round in the belly. Looking at the impact, Cardin looks up in shock. The grenade then explodes inside its body. A huge hole is blown clean through it, and it is ripped open and peeled back, half inside-out. Warped.
The people cheered, while Velvet quickly takes a picture of Cardin's face before detonation as she laughs.
The thing pauses, as if it couldn't comprehend its predicament. It then groans a bit, sounding like tearing metal coming from its lips. Finally, after taking too much damage, it topples into the molten steel.
Penny jumps into the air with a fist pump. "Woohoo!" She then sits back down as she blushes in embarrassment.
Terra grins and leans over to her wife. "Definitely a good match for Jaune." Saphron nods as she giggles, causing Penny's blush to worsen as the other girls with crushes glare at the poor girl.
Cardin's head and upper body reappears above the molten steel with a scream. A terrifying, inhuman siren of a scream, causing more than a few to hug themselves in fear. It then starts changing. Morphing. Transforming into anything and everything it's ever been so rapidly the eye can barely follow it. The audience catches a glimpse of Cinder checkered with the linoleum tile colors. Lewis the Guard, with knives exploding from his face. Then to other faces, switching at a stroboscopic rate now... a different face every two seconds trying to rip free from the main mass until they all merge into one face. Cardin screams and slips beneath the surface of the molten steel, liquid silver running in dissipating whorls over the superheated surface... until it vanishes, swirling into nothing.
The audience is silent, terrified over what they just saw. Their faces all pale.
Qrow got up and went to Penny, quickly grabbing his flask back and taking a huge gulp of the liquid in an effort to forget the nightmare fuel he just endured watching. Only to curse up a storm when he couldn't feel a buzz.
That broke the spell, and everyone turned around to lean over the back of their seats and threw up in unison.
Jack sighed, allowing his little droid to clean up the mess again. When everyone was ok, by the loosest definition anyway, he let the screen continue.
Finch runs to Winter, with her leaning over the ledge and staring into the pit (Weiss: "Please step away from the ledge."). The empty shotgun slips from her fingers and clatters to the floor. He sees that she's okay and he runs to the fallen Jaune.
The crippled cyborg is trying to rise. His servos whine and stutter. He, rather pathetically, lifts himself to a kneeling position, collapses... and tries again. Finch helps lift him up for all he's worth.
Winter smiles, "Such a good boy." She whispers as she nurses a cup with ginger tea.
"Get up. Come on." Finch said as he helps the crippled machine get on its feet. He can barely stand.
"Holy shit." Finch said as he saw badly messed up Jaune look in his current condition.
Jaune now finally composed, simply said "I need a vacation."
Yang and Nora laughs, and soon the other heroes join in. The tension finally leaves, and they can all breath easily again.
"Man, it'll all be over soon." Ruby says, as her friends nod in happiness.
Though Penny doesn't. She instead frowns as her mind comes up with a different outcome than the others. She looks down at her teacup, the tea's reflection of her looking back as she sighs in sadness. 'It's over now, but there' still one more thing to do.' She looks back up to her cheering friends and the happy children. 'And it will destroy them.' A single tear runs down her face.
They walk to the edge of the pit. Jaune looks down and sees that it is over.
Finch looks to Jaune and asks, "Is it dead?"
"Terminated." Jaune answers with a nod.
Finch unzips Winter's backpack and takes out the hand of the first Terminator.
"Will it melt in there?" Finch asked.
"Yes. Throw it in." Jaune said.
He does. It sinks into the lava, vanishing into the liquid.
"And the chip." Jaune said.
Finch takes it out of his pocket. He looks at it, then tosses it into the smelter.
"It's finally over." Winter said in relief.
The heroes smiled.
"It's over." Tai sighs as he sags into his seat in relief. His friends nodding as they relax.
"No." Jaune said.
Oz and the others straighten their spines in alert, wondering and dreading if they missed something.
Qrow groans, "Please tell me it's not another Terminator."
Glynda shakes her head. "Impossible, Skynet only sent the one Terminator back in time."
Penny sniffled, catching the attention of Ruby and Winter. "Penny, what's wrong?" Ruby asks, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.
She shakes her head, not wanting to answer her friend.
Winter goes over to her. "Penny, what is it?" Their questions getting the attention of everyone else.
Penny bites her bottom lip, then looks up with sad eyes. "Skynet…" She tears up a bit, worrying Ruby and Winter as the others listen in. "Skynet wasn't the only one to send a Terminator."
Winter turns to look at Jaune as he slowly turns to look at her. "There is one more chip." Jaune said.
He touches a metal finger to the side of his head. "And it must be destroyed also."
At that, everyone gasps.
Weiss shakes her head, whispering "No" over and over.
Yang and the two Blakes tear up as they all realized what Penny meant.
Jaune's children cried harder as they clung to their moms again, even Robin and Altani weren't immune to the devastating feelings of despair.
Jaune turns to a mechanism and hands it to Winter. It's a control that lifts and lowers objects. "Here, I cannot self-Terminate. You must lower me into the smelter."
Finch suddenly understands what he means. Jaune looks at Winter. They both know what must be done. Finch shakes his head.
"No." Finch said.
"I'm sorry, Finch. I'm sorry." Jaune apologized.
"No, no no! It'll be OK. Stay with us! It'll be OK." Finch exclaimed.
Winter cries. 'It's not fair. And he had just wormed into Finch's heart.' She saw how her son saw Jaune. In his young mind, Jaune is his father. And now, the father that Finch so desperately wanted and needed is about to die by her other's hands. 'It's not fair.'
The parents went to hold their children close again, wishing that there was another way. But they knew that so long as Jaune lived on, Judgment Day would always be inevitable.
"I have to go away, Finch." Jaune said.
"Don't do it. Please... don't go." Finch said as the tears are streaming down his face.
Tight closeup on Jaune, turning toward Finch. The human side of his face is in shadow, so he mostly sees the chrome skull and the red eye.
"It must end here... or I am the future." Jaune said.
"I order you not to!" Finch said.
Winter felt like her heart was breaking. Her baby boy's order, plea, it hurt. "Why couldn't there be another way?" She whispers, looking at her son's tearful expression.
Jaune puts his hand on Finch's shoulder. He moves slightly and the human side of his face comes into the light. He reaches toward Finch's face. His metal finger touches the tear trickling down his cheek.
"I know now why you cry, but it is something I can never do." Jaune says in a sad tone.
That sentence was like a punch to the gut for many of them. Even the more heartless of the villains couldn't help a tears leaking out; proving that as bad as they were, they could still cry.
Winter looks at Jaune. Reaches out her hand to shake it. They lock eyes. Warriors. Comrades.
"Are you afraid?" Winter questioned Jaune.
"Yes." Jaune answered. For the first time ever, he felt afraid.
Ren hugs a devastated Nora, looking at the screen. "Fear. Such a human emotion." He looks down as he clenches his eyes shut. "Why does my brother's first emotion in this universe have to be such a negative one?"
He turns and steps off the edge, onto the chain.
"Goodbye." Jaune said.
Winter pushes the button and they watch him sink slowly into the lava. He slowly disappears...his head, arm, and the metal hand sinking last... and at the last second it forms into a fist with the thumb extended... a final thumbs up. Then it is gone.
Penny bows her head, hoping that Jaune would find some measure of peace in the beyond.
The children couldn't help but throw a thumbs up back. One of the first lessons Finch taught their dad to become human. To them, it felt an appropriate sendoff.
Finch and Winter, watching through the heat ripples. Winter then hugs a mourning Finch as she thinks on this.
The screen then changes to that of pavement rushing at us, lit by headlights. Beyond, darkness. Then Winter's voice is heard one last time.
"The unknown future moves toward us. I face it for the first time with a sense of hope. Because if a machine, a Terminator, can learn the value of human life… maybe we can too."
As the screen darkens, and the orb come out, no one said a word. They all mourned the loss of a person created as a machine, but in the end died as a Human.
END
Whew, finally done! Man, that took a while. This last part really hurt to write, the heartache. RIP T-Jaune, may you find peace.
Now before I end this, I do need to point something out. For some reason, I can't seem to read any new reviews after the 25th. Don't know why, but I can't (used my phone to see what your reviews were about, but that failed), so for those who reviewed after that date, I do apologize for not answering back but it's not my fault. Hopefully, I'll be able to see them after this chapter is posted. Now, if you guys are hoping for a chipper chapter next, boy are you gonna be disappointed. Prepare your tears, for we are gonna kill your feelings with "The Kelvin Incident", by hazeleyes180!
1. No one likes the feeling of being replaced; and Penny, though an advanced gynoid, falls a bit behind in comparison to the T-1000 and later T-X models. She feels better knowing that despite how advanced the infiltrator is, it still has a few bugs to work out... Though it is still a prototype, and it was malfunctioning by that point... Best not to burst her bubble, let her have her moment.
2. Oh dear, looks like the Blood of the Arcs is manifesting inside little Lucy. What could this mean? Nothing good, that's what.