Chapter 61

A few hours later, the team had traced the laptop's signal to a forested area in Vacuo and flew out to investigate. Once they landed, Ruby saw Raven stretch her arms as she exited the Manta, letting out an audible yawn as she did.

"Are you feeling okay?" Ruby asked out of concern.

"Yes, thank you," Raven declared with a smile, having woken up some time ago. "I really needed that nap."

"Glad to hear that," Ruby said with a nod, before looking towards the others. "What about you guys? Are you all doing okay after what just happened?"

"Well, I'm likely going to go broke after all these lawsuits have been settled, but otherwise, I'm good, I suppose," Yang remarked with a frown as she looked over the legal papers that she'd received.

"I told you activating the Temple of Procreation was a bad idea," Jaune declared with a scoff.

"Yeah, yeah: don't rub it in."

"Hey, guys, I think I saw some movement in the distance." Blake called out as she momentarily put down her binoculars she'd been using to see if she could spot any other surprises.

"That's good to hear." Jaune remarked. "After all, one way or another, they might be able to tell us about who had set up that laptop that we had found."

"So, any thoughts on who could be out here and why?" Dew asked some time later.

"Don't know about 'who', but as to 'why', well, it could be a number of reasons, I suppose," Yang said with a slight shrug. "They could be survivors of the tragedy that struck here without any way out of here, or some folks who were investigating something of their own, or even…"

"Oh, hey! We're back at Beacon!" Ruby suddenly announced.

"Wait, what?" Yang blinked as she scanned the building. Much to her surprise, her sister was right; the mansion looked like an exact replica of their old school. "Okay, this is weird."

"Hmm, I knew something was up." Raven scowled. "This has 'trap' written all over it. Whoever planted that laptop on that island obviously wanted us to trace the signal to this building."

"Easy there, Ms. Branwen." Blake soothed. "You're starting to sound like that conspiracy theorist podcast Ruby listens to."

"Oh, that reminds me; I need to record this week's podcast!" Ruby took out her scroll and set it to record Magenta Man's latest story on Krasnaya.

"All I know is that someone wanted us out here, and that they wouldn't have arranged all of this just to arrange a lawsuit on my daughter," Raven remarked.

"I agree with Mom." Yang declared. "We should error on the side of caution."

"You mean 'err on the side of caution.'" Pyrrha corrected.

"'Err?'" Yang scoffed. "Err is not a word."

"Sure it is. Here, I'll use it in a sentence." Pyrrha smirked. "Yang was forced to pay for an entire elementary school worth of bastards after making an err in judgement!"

"I get it: I messed up: let's just be careful," Yang said with a low growl.

"Agreed," Weiss remarked even as she and Blake continued to survey the area. "Who knows what we'll run into while we're out here."

"What the…?" Blake couldn't help but call out all of a sudden, narrowing her eyes to try and track the movement that she had seen. "I think I saw something move out there."

"HELLO!" Ruby shouted from atop a large boulder. "IS! ANY! BODY! THERE?!"

Much to everyone's surprise, someone shouted back. "NOT! OVER! HERE!"

"Whoa." Nora blinked. "The echoes in this place are weird."

"That wasn't an echo." Weiss remarked, uneasily. "Someone else is here."

"Ask them if they're alone." Yang instructed her sister.

"No! Find out if it's an ambush!" Raven ordered.

Ruby was conflicted between the two requests, so she decided to make a compromise. "ARE! YOU! A! BUSH?!"

"NO!" Suddenly, a young woman about Ruby's age ran out from behind a rock across the field. She was wearing an outfit similar to Ruby's but with a white corset over black under armour, white thigh-high boots, matching white fingerless gloves, a dark blue combat skirt, and a matching blue hood to complete the outfit. "I AM NOT A BUSH!" She shouted back.

Everyone stared in stunned silence as Ruby hopped off of the rock and slowly made her way to the newcomer. Nebula turned to Dew. "Please, tell me you're getting this."

"Hell! Yeah!" Dew replied, excitedly, pointing her camera at the fascinating scene. "And I just discovered the anamorphics setting on my camera! This is gonna be epic!"

Ruby silently strode across the sand, never taking her eyes off of the blue-accented woman across from her as she also moved closer to her. At last, the two huntresses met in the middle of the canyon, Ruby's silver eyes locked with the other girl's golden eyes. "Hello." She said, at last. "I'm Ruby Rose."

"Hi!" The other girl smiled. "I'm Sapphire Violet!"

"Hmm, I'm sorry, but have we met before? You seem really familiar."

"Ah! I was about to ask you the same thing!"

"Hmmm…" Ruby rubbed her chin in thought, as did Sapphire. "Oh! I know; why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

"Okay!" Sapphire smiled. "Well, uh, I really like walnut cookies and tinkering with my tools. Ah, and I have a husbando who gets mad pretty easily, but he's a good guy."

"Okay, okay." Ruby nodded. "And where do you see yourself in five years?"

"Ruby, this isn't a job interview!" Nora shouted. "Ask her why she looks like you!"

"No! Ask her if she's alone!" Yang added.

Again, Ruby decided to compromise. "Why do you look alone?"

"Oh, a few of my friends and me are throwing you a surprise party!" Sapphire replied, happily. "They're still hiding!"

"Dammit, Sapphire! You ruined it!"

"Oh… surprise!" Sapphire whispered, sheepishly.

"We are coming out! Don't shoot!" A woman's voice called out.

Everyone stared in shocked silence as seven more people who were nearly identical to teams RWBY and JNPR and Raven Branwen stepped out from behind the cliffs. Raven was speechless as the woman who had called out removed a carbon-copy of her own helmet.

"Hello: my name is Cardinal," the newcomer proclaimed as she removed her helmet. Her hair was dark red with streaks of black, highlighted by her pale skin. "Cardinal Smith. Our CO would like a word with you all."

"Gathered friends!" Everyone looked up to one of the smaller cliffs. A young man in a clean white and blue suit with white hair and a beard smiled down at the small crowd beneath him. "It is an absolute pleasure to-!"

"You're not Penny." Ruby interrupted, disappointed.

"Uh, I'm sorry?" The white haired man blinked in confusion as Ruby used her semblance to rush up to him.

"Who are you? What're you doing here? Where's Penny? Have you seen her?"

"Perimeter breach!" Cardinal shouted, aiming her rifle-sword at the hooded huntress.

"Hey!" Yang aimed Ember Silica at Cardinal's head. "Don't point that thing at my sister!"

"Put your weapons down or I'll break your legs!" A redhead girl in pink threatened, aiming her grenade launcher at Yang.

"Nora?! What're you doing?!" Yang spluttered.

"That-that's not me!" Nora shook her head and held her hands up. "I'm right here!"

Yang blinked as she looked back and forth between the two pink girls. "...huh: I didn't know that Nora had a twin."

"I don't!" Nora called out before looking at her doppelganger. "...at least, I don't think I do. Any chance that your last name is 'Valkyrie'?"

"Not likely," the new girl remarked. "My name is Sara Amazon, thank you very much."

"Yeah, and she's got an itchy trigger finger, or my name's not Ecru Bronze." The yellow-clad man next to Sara remarked. "So how about we all just calm down and discuss this like rational people?"

"Right. Thank you, Ecru." The white-haired man nodded. "We were all huntsmen and huntresses in training up until last month. A group of mercenaries attacked us; said they were looking for Teams RWBY and JNPR. Naturally, we fought them off and retreated to this place for sanctuary."

"Forget all of that: where's Penny?!" Ruby demanded.

"Sorry to tell you this, but whomever this 'Penny' is, she's not here," the white-haired man replied. "That message had been pre-recorded. We assumed the mercenaries were using it as bait, so we had Sapphire turn the tables on that. She set it up on loop so that the mercs would think we'd found it."

"Wait, back up: you set up that message?" Raven couldn't help but ask the white haired man. "Without any knowledge of who Penny even is or how she got mixed up in all of this?"

"Um, yes?"

Raven groaned in response. "Welp, you definitely have the same luck as us...but if you don't mind my asking, who are you?"

"Well, you've already met Sapphire Violet." He nodded. "My name is Ivan White. The blonde girl behind me is Fang Huang-Se. And the cat faunus is Russet Onyx. We call ourselves 'Team SFIR.'"

Ruby looked back at Sapphire. "Does that ever get confusing?"

"Oh, like you would not believe." The blue girl replied.

Ruby smiled. "Oh, good: it's not just me, then."

"You have a team name that matches with your name?" Sapphire asked.

"Yeah: Weiss, Blake, Yang, and I all form Team RWBY, which causes as much confusion as you think it would." Ruby said with a grin.

"Glad to know that I'm not the only one then," Sapphire declared with a smile.

Here, Jaune cleared his throat. "In any event, it sounds like you all have gotten wrapped up in some of our problems by accident."

"What do you mean?"

"Long story short, we saved the world, and the mercenaries that had been threatening it likely wanted revenge on us, but ended up targeting you by accident," Jaune explained. "I mean, you do look a lot like us."

"Yeah, I don't see it," Ecru remarked.

"Is...is he serious?" Yang asked.

"No: his name is Ecru." Fang declared with a shit-eating grin, earning a groan from just about everyone in the area.

"In any case, we'd be happy to try and help you out," Raven remarked. "After all, we were already out here looking for our friend: might as well kill two birds with one stone."

"What did the birds ever do to you?" Sapphire said with a gasp, getting an eye roll from Weiss and Ivan.

"It's a metaphor, you dunce." Ivan corrected. "But in any case, we could certainly use the extra firepower. Especially from the famous Team RWBY."

"Oh, so you have heard of us." Weiss smiled, proudly.

"Yes, but, and I mean no offence, but weren't you accompanied by two members of Project Guardsman?"

"They're currently elsewhere, hopefully getting us reinforcements," Pyrrha explained. "After all, Penny had some ties to Project Guardsmen as well, so hopefully they'll be able to gather some assistance."

Meanwhile with Qrow and Winter...

"So, this isn't what I had in mind when we came out here looking for Agent Green," Qrow remarked even as he took out a couple of mercenaries.

"Me neither, though I probably should have at least suspected it." Winter snorted as she too dispatched some of the goons that had come after them. "Agent Green was always getting us into trouble in the past: why should now be any different?"

"Well, either way, one thing is for certain: we likely won't be getting any assistance any time soon," Agent Gray said with a groan.

Agent White merely rolled her eyes in response. "Less complaining, more fighting."

"Yeah, yeah: I hear you."

Back with Team RWBY and company…

"Well, that's good to hear, I suppose," Ivan said with a slight frown.

"You sound… disappointed?" Weiss noted, suspiciously.

"Oh, uh, it's just that those mercenaries also mentioned having killed some Guardsmen in their searches." Ivan explained. "If they stray away for too long, they could get into serious trouble."

"Oh, we know that," Ruby replied with a smile. "Which is why they'll be checking in with us at a later time along with the others to get a progress report: at times like these, it's important to stay in contact, after all."

"Still, the fact that these mercenaries killed Guardsmen makes it clear that we aren't dealing with amateurs here," Jaune declared with a slight frown. "We'll need to be careful moving forward."

"Don't worry, cutie: I won't let anything happen to you."

Jaune just blushed in reply. "Uh, thanks Pyrhha, but….you aren't Pyrrha, are you?"

"Nope."

"...alright then: who are you then?"

"My name's Amethyst Vatika, handsome," the woman, sporting purple hair and gold armor, replied with a flirtatious wink. "And like I said earlier, I won't let anything happen to you or your little friends."

"Fair enough, but I've got my eye on you," Pyrrha remarked, sounding more than a little jealous that her doppelganger had been flirting with Jaune just now.

"You do that, but in the meantime, seeing how you're likely going to be here for a while, go ahead and make yourselves at home," Russet declared with a smile.

"Thanks, we will, but if you don't mind, I'd like to talk with my friend," Blake said with a nod before pulling Pyrrha over to the side away from the others, frowning and lowering her voice as she did. "I don't like it."

Pyrrha blinked at Blake's declaration. "What do you mean? They seem harmless enough."

Blake shook her head. "Even ignoring how they all look almost exactly like us and how that Ivan character reminds me a bit too much of Weiss - the cold-hearted Weiss I ran into when I first came to Beacon, not the caring Tsundere that Weiss ended up becoming after she had officially joined Team RWBY and whom I've come to befriend - you can't deny that it's a bit suspicious that they show up in the exact same place as where we were investigating that broadcast that was supposedly from Penny."

Pyrrha frowned. "You don't think…?"

Blake just sighed in reply. "I don't want to assume the worst of these guys, but I can't shake the feeling that this is all a part of that hypothetical trap that we were worried about."

Pyrrha nodded. "I see your point. I'll go ahead and keep an eye out...and keep my doppelganger from flirting too much with Jaune while I'm at it."

Despite her suspicions, Blake couldn't help but snicker. "Well, I suppose there would be some differences between us."

Pyrrha blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, I suppose," Blake said with a shrug. "It's just that while Jaune might not be as oblivious to your feelings for him as you might think, unlike your clone, you've never really made a move on him, now have you? Seems to me that you'll need to do so before he moves on due to thinking that those feelings aren't genuine."

"That's fair, I suppose," Pyrrha said with a sigh, before giving a frown. "...but I'm not recreating any scenes from your Ninjas of Love books."

"Ah, come on: this was just like issue number 7: 'Mirror of My Heart'!"

Meanwhile, Sapphire listened with interest as she led Ruby to the building's basement. "So then, just when the pirates were about to kill us all, Winter and Penny swooped in and saved the day!"

"Magical ghosts? Immortal witches? Pirates?! This is the best story ever!" Sapphire cheered. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, the blue hooded huntress flipped a switch on the wall, activating the lights.

"Whoa!" Ruby marveled at the elaborate workshop in the manor's basement. The walls were lined with custom-built weapons, engineering tools, and battle-ready vehicles. "You built all of this stuff by yourself?!"

"Yep!" Sapphire smiled, proudly, happy to show off her accomplishments to a fellow weapons enthusiast. "Ivan's willing to give me whatever I want as long as it promises results! Everything you see here that isn't a tool was handmade by me!"

"Wow, you must be really smart to do all this by yourself!" Ruby complimented.

"Eh, not really." Sapphire shrugged as she fiddled with a socket wrench she had picked up. "I owe most of it to my semblance. See, I kinda just… imagine things. And then my semblance tells me how to build it."

"Oh. So, you didn't go to school, or anything?"

"Nope. I was raised by wolves." Sapphire confessed, casually, as she slid under one of the warthogs for a tune-up. "They were pretty nice. But that's all boring! Keep going with your story! I hope it has a happy ending!"

"Oh, well, there's not much to tell." Ruby shrugged. "After Penny died to power up the Fall Maiden suit, we beat the rest of Salem's people and saved the day."

The hooded huntress waited for Sapphire to respond, only to be met with the sound of a socket wrench falling to the floor. The blue mechanic slid out from under the warthog and bolted upright. "... your best friend died?!"

"Yeah." Ruby nodded, sadly. "I didn't even know until the suit stopped working and my Silver Eyes helped Holly kill Salem."

"That… that is the saddest ending I have ever heard." Sapphire replied. "Did you at least get to say goodbye?"

"No. I guess she thought I'd try to stop her or something. But that's why we're following the signal on that laptop to find her!" Ruby's bright smile quickly returned, but Sapphire frowned, looking almost ashamed of something.

"Mmm. You deserve to say goodbye to your friend." She shifted, uncomfortably. The blue mechanic rubbed her chin, deep in thought. At last, her eyes lit up. "Oh! What if I could show you a door?"

"Oh, you want me to leave?"

"No, no, no!" Sapphire shook her head. "Not a door-door. I mean, like, a dooooor."

"Uuuuuuh, I don't get it." Ruby scratched her head.

"Oh, well, let me explain." Sapphire pulled Ruby by the hand towards the back of her workshop until they came upon something covered with a tarp. She removed the tarp, revealing a bizarre-looking machine. "You see, Ivan needs this for something else, but, if I can make a few adjustments to the chrono-generator, and tweek the gyro-spheres, I can open a temporal rift that will allow us to look sideways in the timeline, and focus on a specific point that will be inconsequential to history!"

Ruby only smiled in response. "That sounds kind of awesome, actually: I'll be sure to keep it in mind in case this business with Penny turns out to have only been a trap to lure us in."

"Ah, come on: what are the odds of that happening?" Sapphire asked with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Ruby merely gave a flat look in reply as various scenarios she and her friends had gone through flashed through her mind. "Knowing our luck, pretty good, actually."

Meanwhile, Nora was trying to get to know her doppelganger better. "So, uh…" Nora scratched the back of her head in discomfort. "Do you… ever wonder why we're here?"

"Pfft, no." Sara scoffed. "Only lazy weirdos care about philosophical crap like that. Shame; I had you pegged as a fellow leg-breaker."

"Oh, I am!" Nora insisted. "I was just wondering because that's a stupid question Ren is asking me all the time."

Sara's eyebrow arched. "Who's Ren?"

"Huh…?" Nora scanned the other copycats before the realization hit her. "Oh… oh, yeah. You guys don't have a green guy on your team."

"Uh…" Sara's eyes darted around, trying to avoid contact with her new friends. "Nope. No, we don't."

"Well… good!" Nora nodded. "Take it from me; you're far better off without any back-stabbing, heart-breaking, worthless green in your life! So… how do you feel about pancakes?"

"Oh, we've got some mix in the kitchen!" Sara squealed, happily, making Nora cringe. "But all we've got is the gluten-free kind."

As all of this was going on, Raven watched as Yang practiced her katas with her sword. "It's been a while since you've taken your swordplay so seriously," she remarked.

"Yeah, well, Fang asked me to spar with her later on, and and I'm hoping to make sure I'm on my A-game, especially seeing how she reminds me of a bit of myself a few years back: cocky and not putting too much time into strategy," Yang explained. "Besides, a true swordswoman knows that one must never let her skillset become dulled."

Raven simply nodded in reply. "That's my girl," she declared, a look of pride in her eyes.

"And a fine girl, at that." Cardinal agreed. "Almost reminds me of the cadets I trained in my troupe."

"Really? That's funny, I was about to say your daughter reminds me of the younger initiates of my tribe!"

"Huh?" Cardinal blinked. "Oh, Fang's not my daughter. Don't really have kids of my own. Never had the time nor the desire, really. But then again, I always used to say a good mother is just a better commander!"

"Incredible!" Raven beamed. "I always used to say a sharp wit is as good as a sharp sword!"

"Brilliant!" Cardinal commented. "I always say the only cure for incompetence is discipline!"

"Outstanding!" Raven's grin grew wider. "I always say the best made plans are doomed to fail unless it involves stabbing someone!"

"Hmm!"

"Hmm!"

"Hmm-hmm!"

Across the room, Yang stared in bafflement at the unorthodox method in which her mother got along with her copycat. "I have no idea what the fuck I just saw."

"You and me both, sister." Nora added, having just walked up.

"So, how do you like your twin?" Yang chuckled.

"Ugh, she's so obnoxious!" Nora complained. "I mean, have you heard her voice? It's so annoying! And she's so over the top with fighting and hurting people!"

"Uh… you just described yourself." Yang blinked, bemused at how oblivious her friend was to the similarities.

"What?!" Nora sounded offended as she stormed off, muttering to herself. "She's… she's nothing like me!"

The blonde brawler shook her head just as she thought she saw Fang head down a corridor. "Hey, Fang, are you there? If so, could I talk to you for a second?" Yang called out as she looked around the area, having lost track of her doppelganger. "I was curious to know if you and Russet have a kid somewhere, what with how similar the two of us…"

She gasped as she came across a sealed off area of the mansion, which contained multiple photos of her team's exploits, almost like someone had been stalking them.

"... this is officially fucking wierd." Yang declared to herself.

Meanwhile, on an isle on the other side of Remnant...

Having finished dealing with all of the mercenaries some time ago, Winter stood watch by the Manta, waiting for Qrow to finish inspecting the bamboo hut. After a few minutes, Qrow stepped back outside, giving her a thumbs up to indicate all was well. Winter soon made her way inside and arched an eyebrow as she saw what was in his hand. "Where'd you get whiskey?"

"The place is stocked." Qrow replied after a swig. "No sign of Green, but this is definitely his place."

"How do you know?"

Qrow pointed towards a picture on the wall. The picture showed Agent Green taking a selfie with a group of his fellow agents, Qrow, Winter, and Maria included. "Really takes you back, huh? You two look cozy." Qrow teased, motioning to the image of Maria kissing a visibly uncomfortable Winter on the cheek.

Winter blushed. "Pretty sure, I hit her for that…"

"But seriously, I don't think those mercenaries were just out for revenge." Qrow made his way to a computer desk. "I also read a few of his most recent emails, and it looks like he was in contact with Agent Hazelnut. She sent him a few warnings about someone hunting down former members of Project Guardsman. This whole situation just got a whole lot more complicated, eh, Winter? Winter?"

Qrow turned around to see that his ally was still staring at the picture. "What do you remember about Green?"

Qrow furrowed his brow as he contemplated. "Uh, demolition expert. Not really top tier, but a crack shot with a rifle and-"

"I meant outside of Guardsman." Winter interrupted.

"Oh. Uh, I... I never knew him." Qrow admitted.

"Green was... different." Winter sighed. "He didn't fight for a Maiden fragment or screw over his friends to get a better rank. He said that he was just doing a job for a simple goal; to live alone on an empty island with a red sailboat, a nice hut, and a pantry full of spiced rum... he did it."

Qrow was taken aback by the vulnerable tone in his friend's voice. "I... I didn't realize you two were close."

Winter shook her head. "We weren't. He and Silver were drinking buddies."

Qrow frowned. "He chose her over me? That's insulting."

"The point is, he planned a life after being a Guardsman. He was able to move on. And I'm wondering what I've done to deserve the life I have now." Winter hugged herself and slowly made her way out to the beach. Qrow put down the bottle and followed after her.

"Hey, come on Ice Queen. Don't be like that. Look at all the good you've done."

Winter scoffed, bitterly. "I've gone from a dishonorable killing machine to an honorable killing machine. Some difference."

"Well, yeah, but no one said that it's too late to change. Don't let your past define whether or not you deserve a better future."

Winter stared out at the sun setting over the horizon before tearfully turning to her friend. "... you really believe that?

Qrow bit his lip in discomfort. "Well... I'm not sure being a rock singer is a good career choice for you, but... yeah."

Winter reached into her pocket and pulled out Maria's switchblade. "This is all I have left of Maria... of Project Guardsman…" Winter almost threw the switchblade into the ocean, but Qrow gently grabbed her by the wrist.

"You don't have to do that." He told her.

"What about not letting the past define me?" Winter asked, taking comfort in his touch.

Qrow slowly threaded his fingers with Winter's, smiling at the fact that she was starting to feel better. "You don't need to destroy the past, either…" The duo silently held hands in comfortable silence, staring at the sunset before Qrow spoke up again. "Take off your clothes."

"What?" Winter let go of his hands, eyes wide at what he had said.

"Take off your clothes, I got an idea!"

"Oh, ho ho ho kay!" Winter gripped the color of her jacket with one hand and the hilt of her sword with the other. "That's a little forward!"

"No, no, no! Not like that!" Qrow explained. "Every huntsman suit was special. It had a homing beacon in it to track us if we were ever in distress. Personally, I didn't like the idea of having a GPS in my clothes all the time-"

Winter quickly caught on. "So you turned ours off! Which explains why we haven't been found yet! So if we turn them back on, we can lead whoever's behind them to a trap! That might work!"

"Yeah!" An awkward silence fell over them as Qrow kept staring at Winter. "So... are you gonna take your clothes off?"

Winter glared at him. "Are you going to turn around?"

"Oh, right! Right. Sorry."

To Be Continued

Epilogue: Somewhere is Vale

The convenient store clerk could only stare in silence at the latest customer to stumble into his store. His green outfit had been nearly torn to shreds, he was covered from head to toe in bruises, his hair was a mess, and the five o' clock shadow on his face indicated that he hadn't showered or shaved in quite a while. He was carrying two custom-built weapons, so the clerk assumed he was some kind of huntsman, but kept an eye on him just in case. At last, the unkempt man made his way to the counter and placed his purchases down to be rung up. The clerk scanned a bottle of maple syrup, a box of pancake mix, a package of markers, and a bag of multi-colored balloons. After paying, the customer hugged everything to his chest and opened the bag of balloons.

"Thank you. Have a nice day." Ren smiled, faintly, as he began blowing up one of the pink balloons.