STATUS REPORT

Information accessed by Pod 042 with additional information from Pod 153

In the year 5012 humanity was attacked by Aliens. Creatures from outer space launching an invasion of earth.

Most of mankind was wiped out by the Alien's use of "Machines" fighting in place of the aliens. The last remains of mankind fled to the moon, leaving only androids behind to fight for the humans.

The year 5204. Countermeasures were created in the form of YoRHa androids. Advanced models stationed in 12 satellite bases around the earth.

The year 11945. The 14th machine war is still active and in a deadlock. The 13th satellite base nicknamed "The Bunker" has been created and operational. Units 2B; referred to as "Jaune", and unit 9S; Referred to as "Ruby", have instructions to work together to investigate a disturbance at a factory nearby the android resistance camp. The following attachment is only to be accessed by Commander Weiss.

XXX

"Alert: Large enemy group detected."

"I know, Pod."

Jaune turned himself around to face the machines around him. Their eyes glowing that familiar red and small bodies shifting. After crashing his flight unit and almost missing the landing he was a little bothered. His entire team was wiped out on the way down meaning the rest of the mission was likely going to go until he got killed and his unit was reformed in the bunker. This area was a dead zone in terms of network connectivity though.

All of a sudden he felt one of the larger machines swing and slam into his chest. His shoes making a dent in the floor from the force as he refused to move and pulled out his sword. Cleanly slicing through the larger androids before moving onto the smaller ones. The almost toy design with round heads was the most common look for the machines to take. Those were typically the easiest to handle. His short sword made light work working itself through the metal with the various sounds the Machines continued to make.

XXX

Due to complications with connectivity in the area, few moments were left uncaptured. Left for Pod 042 to simply recall.

Units 2B and 9S interacted as 2B struggled against a weaponized digging crane used by the machines.

9S used her flight unit to destroy the machine, making a boastful claim that was recorded due to the increased black box activity it caused in 2B.

"Better make sure they're actually dead next time. That was dangerous sir."

Upon meeting, units 2B and 9S formulated a plan to explore the abandoned factory separately. After exploring the factory and finding the goliath class machine there was a combined effort to use the pods, flight units and 2B's combat abilities to neutralize the machine lifeform. This was successful at the cost of 9S's flight unit as she rammed into the goliath's arm to stop it from crushing unit 2B. Sending 9S on top of the dormant machine. Unit 2B disobeyed suggested orders to avoid combat and began climbing up the large machine. The following is the last remaining footage from this mission.

XXX

Goddamn it.

The entire build shook as Jaune tried to make his way up the machine. It wasn't dead and quickly became active once again. Though for now it seemed unaware of the androids on its body and lacked the ability for any kind of onboard security system. Though the machines Jaune was quickly slicing through as he ran seemed to act in that role. The small stubbies and bipeds swinging their arms around to desperately try and hit the speedy android.

Reaching the top of the machine Jaune saw her. Ruby laying there missing an arm and leg. Red fluid leaking out of both along with the sight of internal circuitry. Chunks of skin missing from her other leg and various dirtied parts on her face.

"Ruby!" Jaune shouted as he ran towards the girl laying there. Placing hands on her head as Ruby writhed in pain, "Pod get me staunching gel and logic vaccines, I need to access the—"

"Inadvisable. The subjects vital signs are too poor to attempt field repair in the current—"

"Just do what I say!" Jaune shouted as Ruby took his hand into her own.

"Jaune… Just go. We're… soldiers, we take pride in... our… service." Ruby said as Jaune watched the activity continue in her eyes. Nanites draining the fluid to let her speak clearly.

"Order 677 received, flight unit usage rights transferred to unit 2B. Requesting acknowledgement." The pod spoke as Jaune saw Ruby nod. He kept a determined look and walked towards the flight unit. Considering saying something to Ruby but flying off before he got the chance.

The sight of the massive goliath standing was a little absurd. The two massive crane-saw arms swinging in the air to try and hit the nimble flight unit as Jaune continued to shoot the body and head of the machine. Dents forming making the machine attack quicker. Various sounds escaping the goliath as it took damage.

*"Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill…"*

In the random assortment of creaks and mechanical sounds, there was a deep rumbling. Almost like a deep voice as it spoke… Wait, can machines speak? Before Jaune could do anything else his comms sprung to life with sound as Ruby spoke to him using the local communication.

"Jaune… I think I found a weak point!" Ruby exclaimed as Jaune dodged another swing. Bending and breaking the metal of the saw blades as Ruby continued. "I can hack into the machine's arm if you focus the joint."

"Just shut up and stay safe!" Jaune yelled back as he caught the sight of a dull arm rushing towards him. There wasn't any time to dodge! "Pod Boost thrusters!" Jaune shouted as he felt the small mech increase in speed towards the massive flying arm. The two clashing in spectacular fashion as Jaunes thrusters lost out sending him flying back.

"Control… of upper arm seized from enemy unit. Marking weak point." Ruby's voice was weaker this time leaving every bit of determination easily heard.

The blindfold's UI displayed the weak point on the colossal machine as Jaune set his boosters at max heading straight towards it. Firing every massive bullet he could into it's shoulder as the entire being's arm was blown off.

"Pod now!" Ruby shouted as her Pod quickly went through commands as the entire machine began to shake.

"Affirmative. Infiltrating enemy subunit. Behaviour table adjusted. Balance controls overridden. Sub-unit subjugation complete."

With every new command, Jaune watched as the massive arm stopped falling and a glowing ring formed around it signifying it under his control. Jaune wasted no time in pulling the arm back before uppercutting the machine with it. Fire and flames bursting out of the part he just destroyed as the machine continued making those sounds. Pulling it's own arm back for a swing just as Jaune got his. Slamming into the goliath's chest again as it continued to wither away. Refusing to die as Jaune felt himself get knocked in the air by the machine's own uppercut. He felt the mech around him start shutting down as error screens and sounds screamed in his ear. As the Mech began to fall Jaune ejected himself out. Screaming on the way down as he pulled out his sword mid-air and with intense weight slammed his sword into the machine's "face". Further explosions marked the death of this machine as Jaune was flung up by the blasts back onto the roof. Laying there in pain.

And then he felt a hand grab his blond hair. It was Ruby. She crawled a little closer as she spoke.

"Hahe... talk about bringing the fight to them huh?"

"Ruby… call for backup."

Ruby's smile faded she hesitated to speak. "No need,"

Almost on cue, the ground began shaking. Ruby holding Jaunes arm to keep her in place as he looked around in a dizzy.

"No…" Jaune cursed as he watched 3 more massive goliath class machines rise from the water. All of the same model as the one they just spent so long trying to kill. Turning his head back to Ruby he instantly knew what she intended. Her hand was reached into her velvet coat and she pulled out her black box. Jaune silently nodded and did the same.

"I don't think this is going to end well..." She ended with a cough as she sent a contact to her operator. The sound of the machines surrounding them getting louder as they closed in. "Requesting… destruction of enemy hostiles via black box reaction."

A fuzzy voice answered over the comms. Almost sad it spoke, "Request accepted."

"Ruby…" Jaune started.

"It was an honour to fight with you, sir," Ruby responded as they exchanged a silent look. Even with the blindfolds, Jaune knew exactly how she felt.

Wordlessly they touched black boxes together and the reaction began. The light instantly decimating their bodies and the ground around them as the explosion grew to destroy every machine lifeform in the area.

XXX

Due to the aforementioned events the bodies of 2B, 9S as well as support unit pod 042 and pod 153, were all lost.

The simultaneous destruction of all units meant the reprogramming of successor pods was not executed in time. Only one pod was instructed to upload and this should be noted as bad practice. Furthermore, due to complications in the communications zone, personal backups of both units failed. Only 2B's personal data was uploaded due to the 9S units' sacrificial nature. Leaving the respawned 9S unit with no memories of the events during this battle and no information about sacrificing her personal data to personally upload unit 2B's memories. This seems to have caused psychological damage to unit 2B. *Note: This is something that should be monitored closely.*

XXX

Weiss placed down the tablet she was using to read the report and stood up at the newest message from the humans on the moon. The rest of the units standing as they all shouted in unison. The message was familiar and always sounded the same. Words of encouragement, acknowledgement that everything happening is difficult. And the final words spoken first by the man speaking and then by every android in the room listening. Flat palms are placed on their chest as they shout.

"Glory to mankind!"

XXX

Jaune awoke to his system menus. Ruby's voice coming into his head as he realized he was laying in bed and being tuned up again.

"Welcome back," Ruby started, fairly chipper as she began her process, "You know for an android you rest more than you should Jaune," she jested as she clicked through menus to find various settings and tweak them perfectly to suit Jaunes combat functions.

"It's just 2B, nicknames are unnecessary," He spoke as Ruby paused her scrolling and went back to it. Nicknames weren't uncommon, certain aspects of android design are randomized to mimic the media left behind by humans. According to Jaunes operator, yellow hair was common and seen as desirable in some human cultures. The colour naming aspect becoming popular with the female scanner models after they recovered some human archive media. "Emotions are prohibited," Jaune repeated for what felt like the millionth time. Nowadays it seemed like he was the only one following that rule.

"Yeah…" Ruby said quietly as she finished up her work and exited out of those menus, Jaune's eyesight returning as he looked through the blindfold and saw his HUD. "Anyways the commander told me to bring you back down for some kind of assignment,"

Jaune nodded as he stood up and shifted around his arms to get a feel for the resistance. The short 9S model looking up with a mixed face of awe and terror at just how tall he was. Like she couldn't believe there were androids that big. Unlike hair colour, android height was consistently set up and Jaune could only make a blank expression in her direction as he gave a simple confirmation and walked. Exiting his room and seeing the vast space and earth below. The bunker is one of the few YoRHa bases that use rotation for gravity rather than the more difficult to produce generators. Making his way to command Jaune entered and saw the setup. The Commander on the lowest level in the center with levels of operators at workstations handling field units. On his way down the auditorium-like area, Jaune simply nodded to his overexcited operator as Marrow waved his arm around wildly. Meanwhile Ruby was wildly waving to her own relaxed operator. Jaune was unsure of their current nickname but the wild golden hair was hard to distinguish from others made it hard to forget. The small lift came to a stop as the duo stepped forward. Commander Weiss turning around with crossed arms as she stared at them.

"You did a decent job handling those machines, because of your efficiency I'm pairing both of you in the resistance camp to make sure everything there is good and to build a proper relationship between us YoRHa type androids and the androids on the ground."

"Understood Commander," Jaune replied quietly as he tensed and untensed his body. Nodding to his partner as Ruby beamed at him.

"This should be fun!"

Interlude

Phoenix story 1

Legends tell of a mighty warrior who had no equal in battle. Granted immortality by a phoenix, he wandered from war to war, forever searching for ways to prove his strength.

Phoenix story 2

Eventually, the man's immortal body proved too much for his spirit, and he ran himself through with his own spear again and again. But each time he did, the wound closed over itself, leaving not even a scar.

Phoenix story 3

He leapt from cliffs, threw himself into raging seas, and lit himself aflame, but nothing worked. Then, one day, he slipped mercifully into unconsciousness and awoke centuries later to find the immortal bird on his chest.

Phoenix story 4

"You have atoned for your sins," said the Phoenix. "If you wish me to free you from your solitary existence, I will gladly do so." The man wept tears of joy and whispered thanks to the gods before suddenly stomping the bird to death.

A/N

Hope you guys enjoyed. Shoutout to the Lancaster discord server.

Also, the ending interlude stories come in 4 parts and relate to the world and various RWBY characters. I won't always release them all at once so be on the lookout to combine em for the full mini stories.