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3:32 PM, Wednesday
City of Vale, Warehouse District, Unit 210
(Afternoon of Day 2)
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The rusty metal door had never had good reason to give any protest before today, but when the ginger-haired man burst through it in a huff, it decided to whine rather loudly. It then slammed shut behind the shorter pink-and-brown-haired girl who followed close behind him. It had nothing more to say on the matter.
"Stupid… freaking… smelly… animals…" Roman was in a less-than-cheerful mood, something Neo had gotten rather used to by now. This was the third time in a row they'd been kicked out of a White Fang meeting and the taller man's mood was growing ever more sour after each one. The henchwoman was maintaining a greater distance from her boss as the day progressed – out of his reach, in other words. She absently pulled a banana peel from her shoulder as they walked. She considered pulling the splattered tomato from his back, but she decided it would just as soon fall off on it's own.
Although their relationship had begun as a purely professional one, the girl called Neopolitan wanted to think that she and Roman Torchwick were becoming closer. More like actual partners. She knew there was nothing to fear from either Emerald or Mercury – as it was now, those two were only a few screw-ups away from being tossed out on their asses. That Cinder woman was currently acting as Roman's boss, but both he and Neo were well aware of the fact that she was just a figurehead for the real force working behind the scenes. She didn't want to think about that person.
She sighed. Everything had gone screwy ever since the day they first met Cinder Fall. How Neo wished she could just go back in time and prevent that meeting… she missed the good ol' days of robbing banks and running from the cops…
"Whatever you're thinking about, knock it off. We've still got work to do." Roman was looking at her over his shoulder, clearly annoyed at the delay but less angry than before. That was a plus, at least. Neo wiped off whatever stupid grin she'd been wearing and hopped a bit closer, giving her handmade umbrella a twirl as she did.
The short girl found she had a sudden urge to hold Roman's hand as they walked, startling her just a bit. Seriously, where'd that come from? Their relationship was 'purely professional.'
Right?
Roman's scroll rang, jarring the girl out of her thoughts as he answered with a gruff, "Hello? … … …Yes, we were just… Gee, what do you think? I told you they'd… … … … … no… … …"
Neo sighed. Cinder again. She didn't think she'd ever find a way to get along with that woman.
"…Right… … … understood… yes, I know… … …" The ginger-haired man sighed deeply, rolling his eyes as he continued listening. That, at least, he could do without fear of repercussion. He glanced at his watch. "Well, we've got one more meeting to crash today, then Neo and I will be hitting the closest ice cream shop…" He abruptly hung up on Cinder, then added, "…and no, I'm not getting you one."
Neo giggled. That man had such a fun sense of humor some… times… Whoa, …what the hell was that…?
A sudden chill hit both Neo and Roman at the same time, causing the taller man to let out a sharp groan as his whole body shook. He very nearly dropped his scroll, it was so strong. The girl had a sudden sensation of …darkness. Of cold, empty, darkness. Somewhere in the city.
Neo frowned. She had a sudden feeling that the trip to the ice cream shop had just been cancelled.
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Chapter 8:
The Shadow Returns
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3:30 PM, Same Day
Beacon Academy, CCT Tower, Headmaster's Office
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"Simply preposterous," Doctor Oobleck exclaimed with his usual rapid caffeine-fueled tempo. "Why, none of that makes any sense! There is simply no possible way such an outlandish story could be true."
Ozpin sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his free hand as he cradled his coffee with the other. "I admit much of the tale this Carmine has told is rather… hard to believe, yet the current situation has provided her with overwhelming evidence to support her theory. After all, you can't ignore our …newest visitors so easily." The four people in the room knew exactly who the headmaster was talking about.
"These 'visitors' as you call them… who's to say they aren't all merely normal teenagers and young adults that have been paid to dress themselves in these rather… specific ways? No, no, Professor Ozpin, I know what you're going to say… but the simple fact is that this Carmine person's theory about multiple timelines is utter nonsense. If each and every one of these worlds is spawned from each and every individual person's daily choices, why… there would be billions upon billions! Exponentially uncountable worlds that no mortal mind could even hope to conceive of, never mind the idea that anyone could find a way to travel between them…"
"The good doctor's point aside," a calmer voice cut in, "my experts have assured me that the technical part of her story, at least, checks out. There was evidence of a powerful virus program that she 'claimed' to have removed." General James Ironwood stood just to one side of Ozpin's desk, his single gloved hand holding his own mug. He sipped it carefully, then continued, "I've put the entire CCT on alert and managed to lock down all access outside of the physical terminals within the tower itself. No one but authorized personnel will be allowed to set foot in the facility until we know it's clean."
Neither Oobleck nor Ironwood had any more to add. Glynda Goodwitch also stood beside Ozpin's desk, albeit on the other side from Ironwood. The four occupants of the room quietly pondered the information that had been given over the last several days, along with all the new input from each other. Oobleck did have a valid point, really. This was all simply too good… too convenient in some ways… to be true.
"While the other so-called 'look-alikes' can take care of themselves," Ozpin finally said. "My primary concerns are with just two: Carmine and the one who calls herself Rain. Claim what you like about the others, miss Rain is almost identical to Ruby Rose in nearly every way."
He pulled up an image of Rain taken from a security camera, then placed it next to Ruby's school photo. There was almost no difference in detail between the two girls.
This time Glynda spoke up, adding, "Other than the way she seems to be looking a hundred years into the distance…"
Oobleck had nothing to say to that. The green-haired professor hadn't actually met Rain yet, but even a casual observation of her face was enough to drive home Ozpin's point. The similarity between her and Ruby Rose was downright eerie.
Ironwood's scroll beeped a call. A man with thinning hair and a thick mustache gave his report. "Everything checks out, sir. The system is as secure as can be. Will there be anything else?"
"No, Doctor Watts. Thank you for your assistance."
The man smiled, his facial hair bending a little too far, and said, "My pleasure, General."
Ironwood sighed as he hung up, "Engineers." He looked the room over and asked, "Where is Carmine now?"
Ozpin took another drink and said, "She and a few of the other students are in town right about now… although I don't know what… what… …" but he found his words locking up in his throat as his body gave a violent shiver. All three other people in the room were also shaking.
Professor Ozpin, a man who had faced more than his fair share of demons, monsters, and pure evil, was in familiar territory. The chill was the same. Even Ironwood had some inkling as to what it was, but his time as General of the Atlas Military was not long enough to give him the needed experience to know it the way the headmaster knew it. This was the rare sort of evil that took great delight in causing death and destruction.
The chill was the same. The evil was the same. Ozpin could feel it from here.
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3:25 PM, Same Day
City of Vale, Central Square Shopping Plaza
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Their day started innocently enough. Just nine teenagers and three adults wandering around downtown Vale, looking for fun things to occupy their time.
The teenagers included five who actually had to be there, and four who just kind of… showed up anyway. Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc and Coco Adel were present as the leaders of their respective teams. Coco was by herself, but Yang tagged along with Ruby and …well, pretty much all of team JNPR came with Jaune. Pyrrha walked right next to Jaune. Ren tagged along out of sheer boredom, which meant that Nora came along as well. Naturally.
The adults included Carmine the Mad Scientist, Sapphire the Atlesian Specialist, and the girl simply called Ku (she was actually in her twenties). The final two teenagers were Red (the male Ruby) and Rose (the, uh, …buff Ruby). Sapphire, Red, and Rose made up the most important trio – the Ruby's who needed to save the world. Or worlds. Whatever.
It was a lot to take in, and honestly most of the ones involved still didn't get it.
"All I'm saying is that for a game that pays so much attention to details, it's a bit odd they'd call them dragons. In technical terms, a dragon has four legs and two wings – the creatures in the game are all wyverns. Two legs and two wings. They're not the same." Yang as busy trying to drive home her point about one of the many video games she played in her free time that wasn't of the fighting genre.
Pyrrha and Jaune were only half-listening (they weren't familiar with the game Yang was referring to), but the blonde had Ruby, Nora and Red's full attention. Ruby said, "I guess for the development team, anything large and reptilian is just a dragon. They think they're all the same."
Red spoke next, doing an admirable job of keeping his voice steady while walking next to Nora, "That's like saying all Grimm are the same. Anyone who's fought a few knows about the d-different kinds."
"I wanna see a dragon Grimm! That would be so cool! And it'd probably be all big and scary… Oh man…" Nora's eyes were alight with glee at the prospect of battling something as awesome-sounding as a dragon Grimm. She was practically dancing in the street.
"There have been no reports of any dragon-type Grimm in any historical record in all of Remnant." A new, chipper voice spoke up next to them. "However, with the rate of new Grimm being discovered each year, it's only a matter of time before such a creature makes itself known, if it exists at all."
"Penny! Hey there!" Ruby waved happily, making her way over the her ginger-haired friend.
"Sal-u-tations, friend Ruby," Penny greeted in her usual over-enunciated hello. "You have more people with you today, I see. I don't believe we've met. I am Penny Polendina," the girl waved at the various members of the Ruby Squad.
Ruby quickly made the rounds, giving Penny everyone's names and a brief explanation that the ones who 'looked like her' were distant relatives that showed up for the Festival. In truth, the redhead simply didn't want to have to explain everything all over again, even if Penny believed her. Ruby suspected the ginger-haired girl would believe anything she said.
As Yang and Nora continued their conversation about dragons off to one side, Penny began staring at Red with a curious look on her face. "She says you are a distant relation… but your biometric data indicates you are a 75% match with Friend Ruby. That should only be possible with identical twins, or at least blood relatives…"
Ku appeared behind Penny with a star-struck look on her face, saying, "Ooh… 'biometric data' …are you a robot? That's so cool!"
Both Penny and Ruby flinched. The explanations came flying out in a tumble.
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Meanwhile, on the other side of the plaza…
Coco eyed the others in her group with a mixture of wariness and curiosity. It was a hard story to swallow, obviously, but she was never one to pursue the details. All she needed was the short-term. Jaune had bought it all, but she knew he was more gullible then most. It was also clear that nothing else would be explained until she gave her answer.
She took a whole minute to finish her coffee in silence. She found it hard not to grin as they fidgeted in their seats.
"Okay… I'm in." Both Rose and Carmine's shoulders slumped with relief. Now Coco did grin, "…on the condition that I get Rose completely for the entire time. She sleeps in our room."
The muscular teen paled. Coco fought off the urge to laugh maniacally.
"Well that means we're all taken care of," Carmine said as she finished her now-cold mug of coffee. "That just leaves the matter of Ku."
This time Jaune spoke, "Yeah, what is her deal anyway? She seems harmless enough…"
The group gazed over to the other side, watching the younger members of their party as they spoke in excited tones about this and that. Ku was right there with them, just as excited. It was like watching a little child that's gotten too big to deal with.
Carmine started, "According to the data I've managed to collect, that one suffered a severe trauma when she was very young, say 5 or 6. She soon developed a form of multiple personality disorder, keeping all of her innocence and joy on one side while forcing all of her pain and rage onto the other. The problem was that no one caught it until the twisted side had grown far too strong."
There was a pause as the mad scientist let this information sink in. No one was smiling anymore.
Carmine continued, "I still don't know how, but her dark side was somehow connected to that hood she's wearing. When the hood is down, she's happy-go-lucky… but when the hood goes up…"
She intended to let their imagination do the work, but to her horror that turned out to be unnecessary. She just managed to catch the moment when Nora, in complete innocence, tossed Ku's hood up in a playful manner.
The change was instantaneous.
Several things happened in rapid succession: the two dozen or so civilians in the square all stopped and flinched due to the sudden, severe chill; Ku's hand shot out at an impossible speed and grabbed Nora by the neck without so much as a pause; there was a scream off to one side; Coco dropped her empty mug onto the concrete, shattering it.
Everyone heard the dull snap …then saw Nora drop to the ground like a rag doll.
The face under the hood smiled.
Then the screaming began.
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Author's Note: Just an FYI – I did not kill Nora. To my knowledge, people can survive getting their neck broken. Especially Nora.
=^w^=