Here we are at Chapter 81. Only a few more chapters left until we reach the finale. Also, for those that were asking about a prequel about how Dreadwing and Predaking came to be or get into the story, read twilightnite13's stories Transformers RWBY: the Light of Hope and Transformers RWBY: Chronicles of a Herald. They're connected to this story (and they're really great stories to read). Anyway, I do not own RWBY or Transformers. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 81. Enjoy.
Chapter 81: Creation
Atlas military airships continue to fight with the straggler Grimm that have been left behind since the destruction of the Monstra. As the fighting continues, a lone airship flies through the middle of it, making its way to Atlas academy. Inside the airship, Jaune, Ren, Nora, Predaking, and Dreadwing, await the hallowed moment, nervous expression on their faces.
"Alright, let's hope this works. Everything depends on it," Dreadwing mutters while readying his cannon.
At the front entrance of Atlas academy, Winter Schnee and Ironwood await. They earlier received a message from Ruby saying that Penny will come to them alone, conceding to their terms. However, Ironwood has his pistols together with a large cannon, and Winter has her sword, as a precaution.
As they wait for Penny to arrive, they receive a notice on their scrolls, "What is it, sir?' Winter asks.
"It's Qrow and Robyn. It looks like they're on their way to the hanger. Most likely to get to our bomb before we have a chance to drop it. Ace Ops, we cannot let them reach it. Understood?" Ironwood turns to the Ace Ops, minus Marrow.
"Yes, sir," Harriet replies and the three race down to the hanger to deal with the new problem.
Once they're gone, Winter glances at Ironwood, "Sir, this course of action-," Winter begins.
"I hope you're not going to try to talk me out of it," Ironwood shuts her down.
Winter looks him in the eye, "No sir... I believe that's impossible at this point,"
Just then, Penny flies in, alone, and lands in front of them.
Ironwood aims his cannon at her, "I didn't think you'd actually come alone," and then hands a pair of handcuffs to Winter. "I expected at least some resistance from your friends,"
Winter walks forth towards Penny, "I just don't want anyone else to get hurt... I must open the vault," she says as Winter puts her in handcuffs and then steps back with her sword out.
Ironwood eventually sighs and lowers his weapons before walking up to Penny and putting a hand on her shoulder.
"You've... done the right thing," Ironwood says.
Penny smirks, "I have..." only for her to disappear and Emerald reappear in her place, with Team JNR, Predaking, Dreadwing, and Oscar standing behind her in front of an airship thanks to her semblance. "Feels weird,"
Ironwood is shocked, only for Emerald to deal him a backflip kick to the chin, causing him to release his weapon. Emerald lands and catches his cannon before using her semblance on him to disappear. The others charge in to attack, with Jaune making the first move as he swings his sword at Ironwood. Ironwood dodges the first two swings and catches the third before throwing a punch, only to get blocked by Jaune's shield that knocks him back. Oscar comes in and makes a few swings with his cane, only for Ironwood to counter with an uppercut to the chest and then a punch to the face. Just then, Predaking breathes his flames at Ironwood, forcing him to jump back. Dreadwing fires his cannon at Ironwood, but as he jumps out of the way, his leg gets caught by one of Ren's pistol wires. Ren pulls him in close, but Ironwood slides back onto his feet and takes a few punches at him. As soon as he gets a kick in on Ren's chest to knock him away, he gets blindsided by a swing of Dreadwing's cannon. Ironwood rolls back onto his feet and glares at Dreadwing, but sudden screaming behind him makes him look back to see Nora in the air, with Winter using one of her glyphs to charge up her semblance.
Ironwood is too stunned by this obvious betrayal to dodge Nora's strike. Her hammer collides with his head, sending him flying across the ground. Predaking comes in and makes a few claw swings at Ironwood. Ironwood weaves around them before catching them with his hands, but Predaking breathes his flames point-blank, knocking Ironwood back. As Ironwood tries to collect himself after nearly getting roasted, Winter creates a glyph to fire off some ice shards to hit his back. Oscar jumps in with one swing of his cane across Ironwood's face, followed by a sword strike from Dreadwing. Predaking finishes it up by grabbing Ironwood by the throat and slams him into the ground with a powerful choke slam. When the dust clears, they see that Ironwood is still alive, but unconscious as his aura goes out.
With the fight over and Ironwood incapacitated, they holster their weapons. Emerald reappears and Winter takes the cuffs off of her and takes Ironwood's weapon.
"Go. Move to phase 2. I'll take care of Ironwood," Winter says, and the group move into the academy.
"I'll accompany you. We can't be too careless with him," Dreadwing offers to stay and help Winter, in which she nods.
"Well, so far everything is going as planned," Jaune notes as they race to their next destination.
...Flashback begins...
Nora holds Penny's shoulder, "Ironwood wants Penny to go to the vault to activate the relic. How do we stop that?"
While everyone else frowns, Megatron gets an idea, "Actually, that may be just what we need..." he starts smiling as a plan comes together.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asks.
"I believe I know what Megatron is suggesting. Right now, we can't see a way out of this predicament, so... Let us use the Staff of Creation to make our own path to salvation here," Shockwave says.
"And it might even be able to help us figure out a way to get everyone in Atlas and Mantle to safety!" Jaune is liking this idea more and more.
Just then, Weiss gets a message on her scroll, "And I now have more good news for us," she smiles.
Everyone decides to head back to the dining hall inside the manor before continuing the discussion on the plan.
"Okay so we got people trapped here in Atlas, and Ironwood has a bomb ready to drop down onto those down in Mantle, and the only way to get them all out is the Staff of Creation, which is inside the vault beneath the academy. And if Ironwood feels like something is wrong, he'll drop the bomb onto Mantle," Megatron goes back over the details.
"There's also something else to consider," Oscar takes over. "The Staff of Creation can only be used for one purpose at a time. Once we use it for anything else, Atlas will fall onto Mantle. Atlas has enough gravity Dust to keep it from plummeting immediately, but as soon as it runs out, no one will want to be here when it hits the surface,"
"Okay, so what if we use the staff itself to make a way to get everyone to safety? Like to another kingdom?" Dreadwing offers.
Oscar waves his hand, "We can't just wave it like a magic wand and make our problems go away. And we haven't even told you about... him,"
"Who's him?" Yang leans in.
Oscar gives Ozpin control, "The spirit in the staff, like Jinn. His name is Ambrosius, and he's, well... a character. He can build anything you want, but only if you can explain to him how. Like any craftsman, he'll need blueprints, some kind of reference to help him with his creations. One way to help would be to have real world examples that we can show him,"
"Great. Another spirit we have to deal with," Laserbeak shakes his head.
"I have something that can help with that," Shockwave hits a few buttons on his gauntlet before briging up schematics of the cybertronians former space bridge. "These are schematics for a space bridge, technology that our people created that allowed us to travel from one place to another light years away within only minutes. The concept can also work when travelling to different places on the same world, but in that instance, it's more preferable to call it a ground bridge. I've been working on creating my own version here, though this world's technology being less advanced than ours has made progress slow. These should help with the staff," Shockwave explains.
Megatron grunts in satisfaction, "Excellent work, Shockwave. I see you've certainly kept yourself busy,"
However, Ozpin gets serious again, "There's still James and his bomb go consider,"
Weiss smirks, "Luckily, I think I have just the plan for that," and then looks at Emerald.
…
Earlier in another location, Winter escorts Marrow into an elevator. When they all learned that Ironwood was serious about his threat to bomb Mantle, Marrow greatly voiced his arguments against it, but Ironwood wouldn't listen. When Marrow tried to walk away, Ironwood was about to shoot him, only for Winter to punch Marrow to the ground and cuff him before escorting him away. However, the second they're in the elevator, Winter frees him.
Marrow rubs his wrists, "So... You're not going to arrest me?"
Winter crosses her arms without looking, "...No. Megatron was right. Ironwood has to be stopped,"
"Then why did you hit me?!" Marrow exclaims.
Winter gets a finger in his face, "Because you were about to get KILLED if I didn't do something," she argues and then pulls out her scroll.
Marrow leans in to get a better look, "What are you doing?"
Winter sighs, "What I should've done ages ago; I'm getting in touch with my sister. Before, Megatron said that Ironwood would stop at nothing to get what he wants, and kill anyone to do so. He even mentioned Weiss, as you remember. I didn't think it would happen, but... Ironwood is prepared to kill hundreds, thousands of innocent people just to get to Penny and get what he wants. If he's willing to go that far... if he's fallen that low... then I can't say that Megatron's judgment is without merit. But, if we're going to stop Ironwood, then we're going to need some help," just then, the elevator stops and opens up to reveal a surprised Qrow and Robyn on the other side. Winter actually smiles, "Speaking of help..."
...Flashback ends...
In another airship that flies directly beneath Atlas, Team RWBY, Penny, Megatron, Shockwave, Soundwave, and Laserbeak along with the Schnees and Klein come up under the giant hole that Oscar made when he fell through the kingdom.
"Okay, with phase one out of the way, that leads us to phase 2: getting to the vault and reaching the Staff of Creation," Blake notes.
"I blasted a hole through the bottom of Atlas that leads right into the vault, and I doubt they've had the time to repair it. It should still be there. Of course, that's the easy part," Oscar notes.
The airship door opens up, and the group move. Ruby uses her semblance on her team while Megatron creates his jet-board for him and Soundwave to ride on while Laserbeak flies on his own. They all fly into the hole, heading straight to the vault while meeting no resistance. Once there, the group approach the vault doors.
"As soon as Penny opens the door, we move in, get the staff, and get Ambrosius to make us a path from Atlas and Mantle to Vacuo to get the civilians to safety," Dreadwing notes.
At the door, Weiss, Megatron, and Soundwave and Laserbeak stand guard while the others guide Penny to open the door. Penny engages her Maiden powers and puts her hand on the door. Just then, the door lights up before segments fall straight down, opening the way for them. The second it does, Ruby uses her semblance on all of them, and flies straight into the dimension that the relic is kept. She grabs the staff, and everything outside the vault freezes in place. Blue mist springs forth from the head of the staff and soon enough, a muscular man with gold chains around his body, and long white hair tied back in a ponytail appears before them. The Spirit in the staff, Ambrosius.
"Ahh, it seems someone has come to engage in my creative wiles!" Ambrosius exclaims, and then shows a look of minor annoyance. "All I'll say is that it had better be worth it after my last project. A floating city? How pedestrian," he notes about how Atlas was really formed.
"Hello, um, Mr. Ambrosius, we need your help," Ruby begins.
Megatron then steps up to explain, "This floating city you helped create is on the verge of being destroyed by the Grimm. However, our goal is not to save the city, but the people who live in it. They have nowhere else to go, and neither do the ones living in Mantle down beneath it. That's why we've come to you. We understand that whenever you create something new, the creation you made before will cease to function. Atlas will fall as soon as we make something new, but it does have enough gravity Dust to keep it in the air long enough for us to complete out task. A task that will require your expertise.
Ambrosius floats in to get a closer look at Megatron and his companions, "Hmm, you seem... different from the other humans. You look human, but your armor, while made from materials obviously from here, feels... not so much from here," he pops up a small monoscope in his hand to get a closer look at them. "Wow, very interesting... Your technology is something I've never seen before. I'd love to talk shop with you guys and how you made all this. It's very functional, but at the same time has a certain finesse to it," when his monoscope turns onto Penny, he gets a look at her robot body and is astounded. "My, oh my, now this is a treat. Girl, tell me, who did the work on your body?"
"Um, my father made my body. Pietro Polendina," Penny answers, though a bit uncomfortable at the spirit's gaze.
"Well, my dear, your father is a true artist. His work is splendid. I can see that he put a lot of love and care into bringing you to life. You are amazing!" Ambrosius' compliments for herself and her father actually make her smile a bit.
"Ahem, if you would please, we don't have much time," Megatron gets them back on track.
"We'll just give you the quick version. Can you make a bunch of doorways in Atlas that open up to a single spot in Vacuo?" Yang asks.
"Sure, I'll just need coordinates and schematics for each door, an explanation for bending space and time to account for the much greater traffic on one side and, a single point of exit on the other side," Ambrosius explains.
Weiss holds her head, "Okay, that's about what we expected,"
"Okay, the plan is to get everyone in Atlas and Mantle into a gateway, a funnel, into one middle ground. A centralized location that we can then use to get them to another gateway that will send them to Vacuo," Shockwave explains.
"Okay, but you're going to have to give me some more details on this central location, for starters. Such as... where is it?" Ambrosius asks.
"Right here," Yang looks around. "The central location is just like these vaults. Where they are, they exist outside of Remnant, in a space all on their own. You can only reach them if you know the right way to do so. That's what we need,"
Ambrosius smirks, "You kids are either smarter... or more foolish than you realize. *Sigh* Okay, I'm going to need a reference. I can assume that you have one,"
Shockwave walks up and brings up the space bridge schematics, "These are schematics for a space bridge that my people developed. A transport gate designed to connect to locations that are a long distance away from one another, thus allowing one to travel from one point to the next in a matter of seconds or minutes. We need to create a ground variant for the two kingdoms. I believe these should suffice,"
Ambrosius gawks at the schematics, "Incredible. You designed these?! This is amazing. You not only did your homework for this, but you did a whole lot of extra credit for this assignment. Oh, if only we had time to talk shop. The wonders we could create together,"
"Will these work for you?" Ruby asks.
"Oh, they'll work perfectly. Now then, prepare to witness... my artistry!"
Ambrosius waves his hands in the air as magic forms around them and creates an circular portal behind the group that looks like the opening of a ground bridge. In another space entirely, he also creates circular platforms that have portals of their own and different walkways that connect those platforms, all leading to one larger platform with a single large portal. In Atlas and Mantle, portals pop out all over in front of the people. Joana is the first down in Mantle to walk through one of the portals, and eventually smiles when she sees that a path to safety has opened up for her and her people.
"People enter from Atlas and Mantle on one side and make their way through the central location to the portal that opens up to Vacuo. A two-way entry and exit between the two kingdoms that will guide them to safety," Megatron says.
"Well, everything appears to be in order. You were quite thorough. Disappointingly so," Ambrosius lounges about in mid-air.
"So, they're all set now?" Blake asks.
"Yeah..." Ambrosius waves them off. The group nod and turn to leave, with Penny noticing her robot body dissipating into dust. "Oh, and one last point of clarification about this... central location of yours... Do not FALL," he warns them ominously. "Okay, and with that dire warning..." he then disappears.
Meanwhile, everyone else feels the kingdom itself shake, signaling the start of the next phase in the plan. The gravity Dust will keep Atlas afloat, but not for long. In one room, Team JNR along with Oscar, Emerald, and Predaking are working on one terminal.
"Okay, I guess that's the signal that everything went well down in the vault," Jaune starts typing away on a computer.
"If Atlas is moving, then we need to get the word out to everyone both here and in Mantle, preferably before they start panicking," Oscar says.
"So we must make haste," Predaking notes.
"I know, I know!" Jaune flips a little and types a few more buttons before the screen suddenly shows a live feed. "Um, well, that did, uh... something?"
"You're live. Everyone can see and hear you now," Ren notes.
"Oh," Jaune collects himself. "Citizens of Atlas and Mantle. Listen closely, because what we have to tell you is very important: Atlas is falling, but-," but then the signal cuts out suddenly. "Wait, what happened?"
"It's dead. The entire CCT system is down across Atlas and Mantle. But, we didn't get the message out yet. What just happened?" Ren looks over the terminal.
"The more important question is: What do we do now?" Oscar gets worried.
Back down in the vault, the group approach their portal, "We did it," Weiss says as she hands Penny the staff.
"What do we do now?" Penny asks.
Ruby steps up, "We go to Vacuo. All of us... and hope that we've thought of everything," she says, not knowing that within one crowd of civilians, Cinder is hidden in a cloak, smiling evilly as she eyes a portal, while the masked figure is in front of another portal, narrowing his eyes behind his mask.
And that's the chapter. The group stop Ironwood, and get Ambrosius to connect Atlas with Vacuo. But, will things go as they hoped? You may be a little surprised by what I have in store for the next remaining chapters. Until then, please Read and Review.