A/N Here we go! My first original prompt and damn is it biggest story yet. Nearly 7,500 words! I'm extra excited for this one, I feel this is going to be the one-shot that can give people a real feel for what this AU will be. I pulled out all the stops for this one, so by all means enjoy the story!
I title this one "JNRZ vs The Machine"
~O~O~O~O~O~
"You're probably wondering why I've gathered you here today."
"Why we're gathered in the training room with our weapons and gear? Sure is a mystery, Jaune." Neon said with open sarcasm.
Team JNRZ was in fact standing in Bulwark Academy's training room, a large open area with a high ceiling filled with floodlights. The tall dark walls were filled with the glowing symbols of Atlas, and the training room floor itself was a dark slate with bright blue grid patterns, making the entire area look more like a laser-tag arena than an advanced military grade train facility.
"Ha. Ha. Fine, we're here to train." team leader Jaune dryly responded, before perking up. "But I bet you didn't expect I brought a surprise!"
The girls of the team suddenly became more interested, Reese excitedly raising her arm first. "Oh! Oh! I know! You finally discovered your semblance!"
"Nope, not yet."
"You're finally going to introduce us to your secret 'Swordmaster'?" guessed May.
"Pffft w-what?" Jaune tried playing off cool. "I don't even have- I mean where would I even meet one? That's just crazy talk May."
"I got it! You hooked up with Harriet, and now she's here to train with us?" Neon suggested, wiggling her eyebrows Jaune's way.
"I wish." Jaune mumbled to himself. "No, but on the right track. What I've actually done is convince one of our very own teachers to help train us today!" Jaune beamed, as the rest of JNRZ deflated.
"Ugh, you invited a teach to train with us?" Neon groaned. "That's just having class on a Saturday! Who did you even-?"
*BOOM*
A loud crash echoed throughout the room. In the center of the training field, kneeling down in a superhero landing was a shining white and black Android. With the sounds of whirring gears, the machine stood up on two legs, reaching its hulking arms around its back to retrieve a large minigun. It's artificial eyes glowed red as it trained it's sights on the four of them.
"Greetings, Team Juniors!" a voice boomed from above as a man in a scientist's lab coat descended down next to the iron giant on his hovering platform. The man had wild unkempt slate-gray hair, his beard and mustache ending at jagged points and was being stroked with his red metal arm. His left cybernetic eye was literally glowing as a smirk spread across his sharp face.
"I must say it's a surprise there were any student's here foolish enough to face me and my creations, but maybe, just maybe, you wish to seek enlightenment through ways of technology! Even if it's through the crushing despair of defeat by my hands, you'll gladly glimpse into what it means to evolve. Well I, Dr. Vincent Merlot, shall answer your call to battle, fulfill your death wish, and together we will build a better tomorrow!"
"Hey Gramps!"
Reese shouted as she happily waved her arm at her dear Grandpa Merlot, the most sinister looking man any of them have ever had as a teacher. How he even got a job at Bulwark Academy with these nefarious monologues remains a mystery to this day.
A grandfatherly smile appeared on the hardened professor's face as he kindly waved back. "Greetings, Spearmint! Are you and your friends ready for annihilation?"
"HA! Give it your best shot old man! Remnant belongs to the young!"
Jaune suddenly felt the hood of his jacket bunch up and pulled backwards, met with a forcefully calm smile on Neon's face.
"Blondie~, can I talk your ear off for a sec?"
Before he could answer, Neon led him away a short distance, suddenly pulling his face close to hers.
"You invited that psycho old man to help train with us?!" her voice was in a harsh whisper holding back a tremble of panic.
"Y-yeah… I thought we could shake things up a bit by going against his bots! Reese is always gushing over his latest designs!"
The two teenagers turned their heads to the towering hunk of metal, using its a tree trunk sized arms to effortlessly lug around a big, fuck-off minigun.
"Jaune, if you want to shake things up with a girl, you take her out to a new restaurant. You don't tell her to fight goddamn Schwarzen Jaeger!"
"How did you get him to agree to this anyways?" inquired May, suddenly appearing next to them. "Dr. Merlot only lets the Ace Ops train against his robots. Also he hates you, like a lot."
"H-he doesn't hate me!" Jaune defended. "We just got off on the wrong foot, that's all. He only gives me a harder time than others because I'm responsible for Reese now."
May looked unconvinced, "Jaune, I've seen Grimm give you friendlier looks than Doctor Merlot. Now suddenly he wants to help you train?"
"Ok sure, he didn't want to at first, but as soon as I explained to him that Reese and I were getting antsy to try out some new moves together, he seemed really eager to help!"
Jaune couldn't help smiling, thinking how sweet it was that despite the scientist's scary demeanor, simply bringing up Reese could sway him into doing anything for his precious granddaughter. He knew that he wasn't exactly close to Merlot, but after a friendly training session, the two of them could break the ice and eventually let bygones be bygones! He was confident that the Doctor only wanted what was best for Team Juniors!
The other two girls noticed Jaune was also blissfully unaware of the red dots roaming around his body as the 10 foot tall robot was calibrating it's aiming systems. The machine might have even tested its accuracy on his backside if it wasn't for a certain scrappy skater hovering over to him and wrapping her arm around his shoulder.
"Awwww yeah! I've always wanted to strike off 'Robo Boss Battle' on my bucket list! This gonna be rad as hell!"
"I am pleased to hear that you are all as excited about this as I am." stated Dr. Merlot. "But before we start, there's something I must confess. Even though Reese's safety and the polishing of her fighting skills is of utmost importance, there is another reason I agreed to this spar. A wager if you will."
Oh boy. A bet with Dr. Merlot of all people was practically unheard of, and the idea of the scientist coming here wanting something was worrying as well. Not to mention the raising red flag that had the word 'Spar' stitched on it.
Jaune originally planned for them to go up against his collection of Androids so that Team Juniors could test their new combo moves. He reasoned that with a greater variety of enemies they could see which situations their team tactics could work. He didn't plan on actually defeating one of his creations!
"What kind of wager…?" the young knight cautiously asked.
"No worries, just something to make the stakes more interesting. If team Juniors can't defeat my latest model, you'll have-!"
"No way." Reese quickly interrupted.
"I haven't even said what it is-"
"I'm not moving out of my team's dorm."
"Now hold on, I wasn't going to say you needed-"
"Neither is Jaune!"
"But he's a boy Reese!" the doctor exasperated, waving his arms towards said boy. " and that 'boy' in particular is a savage animal that would gladly prey on a sweet innocent girl like you!"
"H-hey!" Jaune loudly said taking offense to being equated to animals. "I may not be the best with girls, but don't make it sound like I'm some kind of roving sex pervert!"
"Could have fooled me. Jaune. Arc." Merlot said with such incredulity before he pointed an accusing finger towards the supposed 'Beast of Bulwark. "I may not be as young as I once was, but I'm still 'hip' to what my students are saying, and what they are saying is that you have turned your entire team into your own personal harem!"
…
*Slap*
Such scandalous accusations simply caused Jaune to facepalm, loudly sighing as Neon held back what would have been a bout of gut busting laughter. Ever since the scraggly boy was made leader of a group of girls, it's been a running joke among the student body, school staff, his sisters, and even his own teammates that he was in fact, as the Mistrali call it, a 'Harem Protagonist'.
It was admittedly funny at first, and sort of an ego booster in a way , but Dust damnit did it get old fast. Not to mention it had an effect on his social life. There were girls that brushed him off thinking he was just some player trying to get in their pants, while guys got jealous and tried to square up to him to stroke their own wounded egos.
Now it apparently had the effect of making incredibly dangerous people think you're banging their granddaughter.
"Sir, you can't possibly believe that the four of us are in a harem."
"W-what's wrong, stud?" Neon struggled through a giggling fit. "Y-you denying your love for us *snicker* after all we've been through? Are we just not enough women for you?!" She erupted into a burst of quick laughter before it was cut short with May pinching the joker's ear, pulling the faunus away with ease thanks to her roller skates.
Merlot ignored both of them, rather focusing his ire on the supposed ladies man. "No matter how exaggerated the truth may or may not be, every rumor starts with a seed of truth. And I intend to nip this in the bud before it blooms into a grotesque bouquet of debauchery!"
The doctor's metal arm slid it's way into his inside coat pocket, pulling out a shiny metal object. In a blur of red, May tackled Jaune down to the ground.
"LOOK OUT! HE'S GOT A GUN!" May shouted.
"... No. I don't Miss Zedong"
Jaune currently had his nose in his palms, having landed face first from a surprisingly rough tackle, so it was up to the ever vigilant May to look up from her huddled form over her leader to see Merlot holding what seemed to be a collar.
"... You're going to put Jaune on a leash?"
"Kinky~"
"Quiet Miss Katt." spat Merlot. "And not exactly, Miss Zedong. This here is a specialized shock collar that is set to deliver fifty thousand volts of electricity to the wearer every time it comes within five feet of Reese."
"WHAT?" Jaune shouted as he bolted off the floor, hiding behind Reese who let out a fat raspberry.
"Pffft! Good luck with that Gramps. Unless that thing has biometric sensors or something, there's no way I'm letting you put something on me to signal that collar."
"No need, Spearmint. I already have the collar tuned to sense the proximity of your microchip."
"..."
"..."
"YOU FUCKING CHIPPED ME?!"
"Language young lady! And no I didn't chip you… your mother did when you were three."
"What?!" Reese frantically started feeling her body for any strange bumps she hadn't noticed before.
"Oh calm down, it was only because you tended to run off so easily. You were very adventurous and easily distracted as a child."
The still adventurous and easily distracted young woman visibly shook with anger, and was about to speak her mind of where he could shove that collar before Neon rolled up and steered the conversation back on track.
"Either way, we can't just let you put a shock collar on Blondie. If Jaune gets shocked in the middle of a real fight, it could kill all of us, including your precious Spearmint."
"Of course I know that, that's why the collar deactivates after the wearer takes a certain amount of damage to their aura. And you won't have to worry about him having to wear it all four years at the Academy, he only has to wear it till his body develops a Pavlovian response of mind numbing pain when in proximity to my granddaughter!"
It was uncanny how unabashedly shameless Dr. Merlot seemed when he said the most bat shit insane things ever heard by human ears. The uncomfortable silence that Team Juniors were steeped in seemed to carry that sentiment as they all stared at the mad scientist, forcing the man to continue.
"I know my side of the wager may seem a bit grand, but I'm more than willing to let you four decide what you get if you happen to defeat my machine. Name your prize within reason, and I'll happily give it to you should this match end in your favor."
A lot can be said about Team Juniors. They were rebels, troublemakers, heroes of the people, and got detention way too often. But most of all, they were opportunists, and they could sense a really good opportunity when it presented itself.
With as simple of words as a 'Name your prize', they suddenly could ask anything of a man that was an important figure in Atlas Academy, a lab chock full of the latest experimental technology, and an army of robots. They could weasel insane profits out of this all at the risk of Jaune being tortured for indiscriminate amount of time, but only if they played this right.
"Group Huddle!"
With Jaune's order, Team Juniors gathered close together for an impromptu team meeting that lasted five minutes. Within that five minutes they quickly discussed what they wanted from Merlot and things that they actually needed. There were quick disputes, some insults shared, and some sound arguments that were made away from the prying ears of the scientist.
Eventually the group broke off and faced their teacher, their blonde leader stepped forward for negotiations.
"We want several things, ."
The oldman simply nodded for Jaune to continue.
"First, we want weapon upgrades. Seeing as your Android is lugging around something that could be strapped to a bullhead, it's safe to assume that you have more than enough resources to spare."
Merlot smiled, seemingly agreeing to Jaune's sentiment. "Easy enough, what else?"
"Secondly, we want a custom made recon drone. Something to help out in the field. May will help iron out the details of what the drone should be able to do since she will be in charge of it." Jaune said, waving a hand to the group's recon expert.
"A drone?" the scientist chuckled out. "I would have made Reese a machine of her own if she simply asked. Could have gotten it as a birthday present if she wished for it. I also accept this part of the wager. Will that be all?"
"Not quite yet, sir." He nodded towards Reese and she stepped forward.
"Lastly, you'll back off and give me some space, then apologize to Jaune for being a jerk." she stated.
Dr. Merlot's face took on a rather indignant expression. "What? No. Out of the question! I'm not going to apologize for caring for your well being, nor am I going to stop caring for you!"
"All you're doing is smothering me!" Reese stomped, literally putting her foot down, " I'm sick of you always scaring away friends! Jaune is the coolest and nicest dude I know, and he doesn't deserve having you on his case all the time! I'm a grown woman now and can choose who I hang out with!"
"Well what I see is a naive girl throwing a tantrum because she doesn't understand there's more to boys than 'bro fists' and skate boards. And I will not be forced down to your level and argue with a child!"
With a twirl of his lab coat, the scientist strolled away from the Juniors, leaving a seething young skater who let out a frustrated yell.
They knew that the last part of the wager was going to be a big ask. The man truly did love his granddaughter, but he took being overprotective to a whole new level when it came to relationships. That's why they thought of a contingency plan just in case negotiations went south.
With a shuddering sigh, steeling himself for what was surely to come next, Jaune looked to Neon, who nodded in understanding. She intertwined her fingers, popped her knuckles, and began to roll forward. There was no way Jaune was going to have the balls in order to throw this hail mary, so he placed his complete trust in the Disco Diva to do what she does best.
Being abrasive and not missing a beat.
"Hey!" the rainbow roller shouted "If you don't agree to the bet, then Jaune and Reese will go up to their dorm room right now and make her a woman!"
It was like someone pressed the pause button on Dr. Merlot as he was stopped mid step. One had to wonder if inside the cyborg's head there weren't literal error messages scrolling across his vision reading 'Merlot. exe has stopped working.'
"What did you just say?" Merlot seethed.
Merlot's voice was calculated, surgically precise in its venom. But that didn't seem to bother Neon one bit.
"You heard me! If you can't see Reese as her own woman, then she's just gonna have to find another way to prove it, right? And Jaune," Neon waved a hand towards their leader, purposefully directing attention to him," ever the gentleman, could never refuse a girl in need, would you, stud~?"
Dr. Merlot sputtered incoherently, his face red with either rage, embarrassment, or a mix of both. His eyes locked onto the knight in waiting. Jaune had to take a second to remember whether or not the cyborg's glass eye shot lasers, before concluding that it couldn't, for if it did, the six foot boy would have been six inches of ash by now.
Eventually the Doctor managed to form fuming words, "You wouldn't dare, Arc!"
Of course he wouldn't, they were bluffing out their assholes right now, but Doctor Merlot didn't need to know that. Team Juniors needed the professor to believe they would, if they could instigate him into a fight with the current stakes, it would help Reese out by giving her some much needed autonomy. Jaune really wished it didn't have to come to this. He knew that his original plans of getting on the Doctor's good side were dead in the water now. Part of him wondered if it wasn't too late to take it back, that was until took a quick glance to Reese, who in return gave him a soft smile and a pleading look.
Fuck it.
"Well, I don't know if you've heard sir," Jaune began shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly ", but there's been some rumors around school that I've got quite the appetite, and you've said so yourself that every rumor has a seed of truth to it…"
Dr. Merlot started fuming at, red faced. "I-i won't allow it! Y-you're students! And fraternization between student's is strictly prohibited-!"
"Whatever happens between consenting student's in the privacy of their own dorms is no concern of the school," May so helpfully chimed in, before a mischievous smile spread on her face "There's a reason the bathrooms here have condom dispensers."
The color drained from Merlot's face as he digested the information. Quickly turned towards his dear, innocent, granddaughter, arms reaching out for her.
"S-Spearmint, dear…" the Doctor said with desperation etched in his voice, "Y-you wouldn't do something so petty over a silly argument, right?!"
Reese stared pensively at her grandpa for a moment, then turned towards her leader "Hey J-man, after we're done, you wanna celebrate with pizza? I'm feeling something special is in order."
"Super Cheesey Cheese Deluxe?"
"Hell yeah dude! Read my mind!" Reese exclaimed while giving Jaune a high five.
"Alright, alright! Fine! I will agree to the bet on one condition!" Merlot's breath was heated as he boiled with anger. "When you all lose this spar, Jaune not only needs to wear this collar, he must also become my very own lab assistant for the next month! And trust me boy, I already have some ideas for some very interesting experiments best suited for someone like you."
As if to emphasize his threat, Merlot activated the shock collar, a bright red light on the thin metal glowed as it made a menacing high pitch whine like a defibrillator charging.
Jaune quietly gulped before steeling himself and making eye contact with the doctor.
"Deal."
~O~O~O~O~O~
The training field came alive, shifting and crafting a battlefield just for it's combatants. Blocks stacked and arranged themselves into various configurations of obstacles and cover, eventually setting in place, satisfied with it's configuration. On opposite sides of the field were two tall towers surrounded by small groupings of walls, pillars, and waist high cover. Such groupings became rarer the closer to the center the block came, creating an open field between the towers.
On the northside of the open field stood Merlot's champion, standing stoically like some kind of ancient guardian watching over its domain, it's creator hovering off to the side of the field with hard light screens and controls surrounding him. Across from the Android near the outskirts, Team Juniors was testing their comms.
"Jaune, reporting in. All read?"
"Neon, ready to party."
"Reese, loud and clear chief!"
"May, target in sight."
"I think we all see the giant robot, May." Neon quipped.
"Okay team," Jaune stated, "We'll start with the usual opener, May will test it's defenses, and I'll test it's attacks. Neon and Reese, you two head for opposite flanks and prepare to rush in on my signal."
As the team gave confirmations, an artificial voice buzzed to life over the room's intercom.
"Match is set to begin, is the challenger Dr. Merlot ready?"
"Indeed." Declared Merlot.
"Is the challenger Team JNRZ ready?"
"Yes." Confirmed Jaune.
"Then the match will begin in…"
"3…"
"2…"
"1…"
"Begin Match."
Before Team JNRZ could even move, the Android's minigun started spinning, it's red dot aiming right towards Jaune Arc with malicious intent.
"Watch out!" Jaune ordered.
A loud roar of gunfire filled the room as bullets poured over JNRZ's side of the field, tracer rounds lighting it up like fireworks. May took cover behind Jaune as he raised his shield just in time to catch a few rounds. Meanwhile Neon and Reese scattered for opposite sides of the field, dodging and weaving between stray bullets.
It wasn't too long before the spray of bullets turned into a steady stream as the Android zeroed in on Jaune's shield, causing it to violently vibrate as the knight tried to hold up his cover. The sheer force of the barrage forced Jaune to one knee, completely hiding behind the shield, May curling up tight behind him.
"Pew! Pew! Pew!"
A few green bolts of energy impacted against the Android, a personal shield flaring up as Reese fired her voice activated gun barrel on the front of her hoverboard. She always got weird looks for an odd choice of weapon system, but she always challenges naysayers to try and find another way to put firing triggers on a hoverboard that don't require you to move your carefully balanced feet. Plus it was fun to yell 'Pew, Pew.'
"Bots got an Aura generator!" The group's engineer reported between pews. "Might be the same kind Penny- WOAH!"
The Android had swung it's minigun straight for the hovering skater, rudely interrupting her, but helpfully reminding her that a stationary target is a dead target. With a twist of her legs she sped off to her left, leading the robots shots as Jaune took a second to stand up and shake his very sore shoulder having just blocked over a thousand rounds.
"You heard her," Jaune stated over comms, "Androids got Aura. May, start cracking that shield and mark it, I'll pop smokes, everyone else rush it when you get an opening!"
After May handed Jaune a smoke grenade from her belt, she activated her semblance, then with an eye trained through her scope she took her first shot. As soon as the round pinged off the Android's dome it's head swiveled over to them, swinging it's weapon back towards them. Jaune slowly marched forward with his shield already raised, tanking the barrage. May was following his footsteps close behind as she continually fired shots, counting five seconds. "one… two…three…four…"
On five, May's eyes flashed and the Android was suddenly engulfed in a bright magenta light. As soon as Jaune saw the color, he popped the smoke grenade, tossing it to their feet and crouched down behind his shield to weather the minigun's onslaught. Even as their vision began to fill with blinding gray smoke, May and Jaune could see the perfect magenta silhouette of the Android, the sniper's semblance, Hunter's Mark, having done its job. So while the metal gunner was blindly firing into the smoke screen, May could perfectly see her target and continued firing from behind the knight's cover.
After a few more sniper rounds impacted against the artificial Aura, the Android's firing stopped as it's back suddenly hissed, metal flaps opening up behind it like insect wings.
"Reese, rush it!" Neon yelled as she jumped out from behind some cubes and rocketed towards the vulnerable machine, her semblance, Rainbow Dash, leaving a colorful trail of light behind her. Before either huntress covered half the distance to the Android, it started emitting a loud buzzing as dozens of small discs flew out it's back.
"Drones!"
Said drones started swarming around the Android in a circle before they all formed a wall between their metal master and the JZ of JNRZ. All of a sudden the wall of flying machines glowed a bright blue as hexagons of hard-light the size of dinner plates appeared on each drone, flying tighter together to form a solid wall of energy blocking the sniper fire.
Reese stopped rushing forward on her board, deciding to use her elevated flanking position to attack from range. As green energy launched forward, a handful of hard-light drones detached from the main wall and manually intercept each shot.
Neon maintained her course and spun up her nunchaku with electric dust as she closed in. Right before she made it within swinging distance, the disco roller heard a loud thunk, followed by some cranking gears as the rotating barrel of the minigun slid back into the main part of the gun, replaced by a four foot piece of metal surrounded in chainsaw teeth.
"Oh you gotta be shitting-"
Brrrrrrrrrrr!
As the chainsaw swung towards Neon, she focused her semblance to the side of her body, propelling her right under the blade, her previous momentum carrying her right past the Android over to Reese's flank.
"Mecha shift! Oumdamnit, how many tricks does this washing machine have?!" Neon growled, before she bolted back into the fray, making sure to get right inside her opponent's guard. The faunus used her superior agility and semblance to dodge and weave between slashes, every once and a while getting a nunchuck strike that sent electricity coursing through metal, temporarily stunning the machine for a second before continuing it's onslaught. It would have been a great opportunity for the others to attack if it wasn't for the annoyingly persistent drones. With the smoke having soon dissipated and the thirty seconds up on Hunter's Mark, the rest of JNRZ would try to go in for a strike or take a shot, only for a wall of hard light to fly in and intercept.
Right when the rest of the team decided to just try to break down the hard light drones, a handful of them broke off from formation, their hard light hexagons spinning like circular saws as they raced towards Neon.
"Neon watch out!" Jaune barked, as they slashed right into Neon's Aura. The surprise attack gave the Android the perfect opening to bash the faunus in the face with the butt of it's chainsaw gun. The hit sent the roller skater to the ground a dozen feet away.
As Neon propped herself up on her elbow, the chainsaw shifted back into its minigun form and started spinning its barrel, aimed right towards her.
"Ollie go!" Reese yelled, activating her Semblance.
Flying like a comet, slipping right under the hardlight defenses, and slamming right in the side of the mini gun as it opened fire, Ollie the Spectral Manta Ray came to the rescue thanks to Reese's Semblance: Rail Kite. With happy bubbling noises, Ollie wrapped its tail around the gun and violently shook every which way, keeping the Android busy as Jaune ran in a curve around the center of the field to get to a still prone Neon.
On his way there, three hardlight drones broke off from their wall and flew straight towards Jaune, only for them to pop one at a time as May shot and aimed for their exposed underbellies. By the time the Android wrenched Ollie off it's gun, Jaune had already ran up and scooped Neon off the ground, making a run for the cube-constructed cover near the edge of the field, slightly running faster when he heard the gun spinning up.
In the hail of bullets that followed Jaune, only a few strays managed to hit him in the back as dove into cover with Neon in his arms, the two pressing up against the cubes to avoid getting hit.
"My hero~" Neon giggled "hehe- ow!" she hissed as the pain in her head reminded her that she recently got hit in the face with the equivalent of a car engine.
"Ditto…" Jaune groaned, feeling a few bruises already forming on his backside. "That minigun is no joke. Reese!" he called out on comms, "Got anything on those drones yet?"
"A LITTLE BUSY!" Reese yelled back as she was being chased in the air by a half a dozen hard light drones trying to knock her off her hoverboard. One of them popped in a small explosion as May's sniper round hit it, having moved out of the open field and behind some cubes of her own. Before she could get another one she was forced back into cover as the Android swung it's gun over her position.
"Busy as well," May interjected on the open comms, machine gun fire crackling over the static. "But I think I got something. It looks like is controlling the drones manually."
"Really?" Jaune asked as he peeked from cover over to the scientist. Sure enough it looked like he was orchestrating the drones through his platform's console, his hands swaying in parallel to the drones own flight patterns as they chased Reese.
"Take the shot!" Neon ordered.
"... you want me to shoot at an unarmed teacher while he spectates the match?"
"NO!" Jaune objected, giving Neon the stink eye. "We're not getting expelled over this. Even if he's manually controlling the drones, he's outside the ring. We can't openly attack him unless he physically gets into the fight."
"So what's the plan then?" Neon pouted "Unless we do something about those drones, you're gonna have to get fitted for a new collar-*gasp!* We could go twinsies! I can totally get you your own bell!"
The knight thought actually sounded kinda cute, if it weren't for the whole fifty thousand volts thing. Shit, if they can't get those drones out of commission, Jaune might as well consider Merlot's collar a new part of his wardrobe.
…
That's it!
"Reese! Go high five grandpa!" Jaune ordered.
"Huh?"
"Just get close to him!"
There were a few seconds of confused noises on the open comms before Reese loudly gasped and made a beeline for Merlot, her board's motors whining loudly as she pushed it to high speeds.
"I just made you think of something smart, didn't I~?" Neon grinned playfully and poked Jaune's cheek. "You can go ahead and thank me for being such an inspiration."
Jaune rolled his eyes with a slight smile. "I'll thank you after we actually win this."
"Say no more, chief!" Neon saluted and winked.
When Reese got closer to Dr. Merlot's platform, she swiveled her hips as if slowing down on a ski slope, her momentum still carrying her to her psychotic old relative as she held her arm out for a high five.
"Sorry Gramps!"
"Sorry for wh-" Merlot asked as he instinctively raised his arm towards Reese to receive the high five, but was rudely interrupted when the shock collar in his lab coat's pocket activated and started wracking the man's body in an intense electrical current.
Upon hearing the scientist collapse against his platform's console, the rest of JNRZ sprang into action, leaving their cover as they circled the machines in the field. May immediately observed that with Merlot at the controls the drones formations didn't follow their direction, testing it further by taking a single shot at the metal giant. A satisfying ping bouncing off it's aura. She quickly followed up with a smoke grenade thrown at the Android's feet, activating her Semblance, bathing the machine with magenta light just before it engulfed in smoke.
With a groan Dr. Merlot pushed himself off the computers, looking down at the field as JNRZ harassed his creations. May and Reese took shots at the Android as it sporadically sprayed gunfire out from the smoke cloud, meanwhile Neon and Jaune took the chance to run up and destroy some stationary drones.
"My work!" Merlot shouted. His hands swiped over the console's controls, ordering the drones to circle around the Android, pushing back the JNRZ as the created a cyclone, the smoke swirling and beginning to fade.
Reese noticed the swarm and shot off towards Dr. Merlot with a wide grin on her face. "Oh Grandpaaaa! Spearmint wants a HUG!"
"N-no thankyou dear!" Merlot panicked as he pressed down the controls, sending every hardlight drone after the skater punk in hot pursuit. As his granddaughter got closer and closer, the Doctor quickly reached into his coat pocket and frantically tried to turn the collar off. After some quick fidgeting, he was rewarded with a *beep*, letting out a sigh of relief.
Before Reese closed in on her grandpa however, she summoned Ollie and grabbed onto his tail, the manta ray then yanking downwards, pulling her along in an airtight turn to avoid colliding with the hover platform. When the mad scientist began to wonder what she was doing, the incoming swarm of drones helpfully reminded him that he currently had his hands off the controls.
By pure chance only a few drones collided with the platform, causing it to rock and sway, but bringing no harm to . The rest of the drones however could be seen ramming full speed into the stainless steel walls of the training room, each little machine shattering into tiny pieces.
While all that was happening, the rest of JNRZ made their move on the Android while there was still enough smoke for cover. May drew it's fire as Neon rushed into melee. The Android, barely seeing the faunus girl coming for it, activated it's mecha shift weapon to cut her down-
"No you don't!" shouted Jaune as he leapt through the smoke. He held his sheathed sword within it's collapsed shield in both hands, thrusting it down right into the shifting mechanism mid transformation. As soon as he felt metal caught between gears, he activated shield mode, bringing the Android's gun to a screeching halt as the sheath attempted to expand inside.
At this point, Jaune could hear the drones crashing against the training room walls, smirking to himself as the tides of battle were now in their favor, only for that smirk to be wiped clean as he felt Crocea Mors wrenched from his hand as the broken chain-minigun was cast aside. It was then followed by a basketball sized metal fist that slammed right into chest armor, sending him flying.
Jaune struggled to breathe as he scrambled back up onto his knees, in time to see the metal giant bound towards him. The boy barely got his hands up in time to catch the Android's hands as they went to grab for him. The large hands closed around Jaune's own, locking each other in a pushing match that Jaune was desperately losing.
"Jaune!" May shouted from behind, followed by a few audible clinks. As he spared a look back, he saw one of May's Dust rounds bouncing across the floor, glowing a bright electric yellow.
With one step backwards, Jaune stomped his boot down on the Dust round, a loud pop echoed through the training grounds as the bullet bursted with electrical energy. The knight's aura flared white as he imagined the energy washing over his aura like rippling waves, traveling from the bottom of his shoe all the way to the palms of his hand. The electrical current arced through Jaune into the metal giant's arms, causing the construct to jitter and shake as sparks flew off it's steel exoskeleton. It's red eyes dimmed and flared rapidly as whining sirens and screeching servos sung from inside it's hull.
Jaune, not wanting to let the robot get a chance to recover and finish their one sided wrestling match, he dumped his aura reserves into his arms. It was incredibly painful as lightning arced off the automaton snapping against Jaune's aura like whips. Knowing he wouldn't last long like this, he roared his next order.
"Beat-Drop! GO!"
The girls stepped into action, Reese bursting forth on her board as she made a dash for Neon who rolled forward to pick up momentum, jutting her hand out for the hover boarder to clasp their arms together. Reese held onto Neon tight as she flew up towards the ceiling above, with a simple shift of her legs, the two girls twirled around each other. Nearing the maximum height of the ceiling, Reese used their gathered momentum to swing her teammate right towards the ground, and as they let eachother go, Neon activated Rainbow Dash.
The Disco Diva shot straight down at near terminal velocity, a shining rainbow trailing her descent, her semblance propelling her towards the Android below. Letting out a roar of effort as she twisted in mid air, Neon slammed down an electricity infused Dust nunchaku baton straight onto the Androids metal skull.
The impact was thunderous and instantly shattered through the artificial aura, the force of the follow through yanking the robots head down with a resounding snap that nearly decapitated it, it's head now hanging on hyper extended wires and loose metal vertebrae.
Despite this the robot was still holding on to Jaunes hands in a crushing grip, until Ollie soared in right behind the it's legs, helping trip it as Reese swooped down and planted the hoverboard straight on the Android's chest, a sudden burst of energy blasting from the board knocking the construct onto it's back.
May was already in position behind it as it crashed to the floor, a perfect angle to shove the barrel of her rifle towards the opening in its neck. The sniper repeatedly pulled the trigger until she ran empty, each dust fuelled round echoing and ricocheting within the machine, bursts of electricity caused the Android to spasm and convulse until its circuits fried and its gears jittered to a stop.
As the remnants of the machine smoked and the last few sparks fizzled out, Team Juniors watched it cautiously, before an automated voice blared overhead.
"Match over. The victors are Team JNRZ."
Neon and Reese let out loud cheers as May helped Jaune to his feet as he let out a pained whoop of his own in celebration.
"Look at this total spazz!" Neon jeered as she kicked the metal pile.
"See you later fucker!" Reese shouted as she flipped the scrap heap the bird.
Dr. Merlot floated down on his platform with a resigned look on his face. "Six months of work, reduced to garbage…"
May decided to practice on her whistling as she hid her sniper rifle behind her back.
"He he… Sorry Gramps." Reese apologized. "Got a little heated there."
"No, I'm sorry Reese." sighed Dr. Merlot, "I've come to realize myself the fool for letting things go this far." He pulled out the deactivated shock collar. "After this gave me a good shock, I also realized that I made this collar for a student." he tossed it aside in disgust towards the metal heap. "I'm ashamed as a teacher to resort to violence and force to control my students. I'm a joke of a scientist using my creations for my own selfish gains." He then looked over to Reese.
"And I've been a horrible grandfather to you. I helped you get into Bulwark because you wanted to see the world, but I try to shelter you from it. I wanted us to be close again but I… I-"
Merlot was cut off when Reese flew over to him and wrapped him up in a warm hug. After a few moment's hesitation, Grandpa Merlot hugged his granddaughter back.
"I get it…" Reese whispered into his shoulder before pulling back. "I know you want the best for me. Just because I need some space doesn't mean we can't be there for each other. That's what family is for."
"You mean it..?"
Reese smiled and pulled back from a hug extending out a fist. "Fuck yeah, Gramps."
"You really need to watch your language." Merlot sighed, but returned her fist bump with his own.
They both felt a hand on their shoulders as Neon had strolled up between them, nodding in approval. "I'm super stoked we could all share this moment together."
"Yes, that was a moment for a second there, thankyou Miss Katt" Merlot huffed.
"You're welcome Gramps!" Neon grinned, "Anyways, I believe there was wager…"
"Right, I promised you all some new gear if you won, and it looks as though you've done just that."
"Annnd?" Reese nagged, cocking her head to the side towards Jaune.
"I'm sorry Jaune," Merlot apologized, giving a polite bow. "Reese was right to defend you. You're a fine young man for standing up to an old fool for the sake of your friends. I give you my blessing to date my granddaughter."
"That is not at all what we were fighting for, but thanks anyways?" Jaune faltered, before holding his hand out.
"Oh none of that Arc, bring it in for old grandpa Merlot!"
Before Jaune knew it, the old man wrapped him up into an aggressively tight hug, and then heard the man as he whispered into his ear. "If you do anything to ruin this good fortune by hurting Spearmint in any way, they will never find your body. Science has plenty of ways to ensure that. Am I understood?"
"Y-yes sir!"
"Fantastic!" Merlot exclaimed, giving Jaune a hard pat on the back. "Now I'll get to the four of you about your new gear later. Right now I need to stay and collect the remains of my work. I do recall someone saying something about a feast though." Merlot said as he fished a hand into his coat, pulling out a wallet tossing a credit card to Reese. "Have yourselves some pizza, courtesy of Merlot Industries!"
"Hell yeah!" Reese cheered as she caught the plastic card. "Thanks Gramps!"
The rest of JNRZ gave their thanks and bid some farewells to the scientist before making their way to the air docks to get their pizza fix.
"Well" May started, "There's certainly worse ways to start a Saturday morning. Commander wasn't lying about shaking things up a bit."
"Next time I suggest it, tell me to shut up." Jaune groaned, his hands still sore from the crushing grip of that automaton. "When we get to the restaurant can one of you feed me? I don't think I can move my hands for a couple more hours."
"Oh who could say no to that face." Neon teased, "Cheer up Blondie, it was a good idea in the end. Sometimes things need a shake up, keep things interesting you know?"
Jaune had a light chuckle. "I can assure you, there isn't an uninteresting day with you guys around."
"Awww!" Reese exclaimed. "Jaune said he loves us!" The skater sang out like a little kid teasing another for a playground crush.
"JNRZ harem confirmed?" Neon teased.
"Please no." May complained. "I'm tired of having to explain myself to Ilia about that damn rumor."
As Neon and Reese started joking around with May about her girl troubles, Jaune couldn't help but shake his head.
"Yep. Never a dull moment with Team JNRZ."