Author notes:

I own nothing but this fanfiction

OneShot was created by Future Cat LLC and RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth Animation

Niko searches for the truth, V experiences the emotion happiness, and my army receives a trial by fire.

Niko was getting suspicious.

Suspicious of whom you ask? Why yours truly of course.

Now their suspicion is pretty justified, with the tremors occurring around my house recently. Coupled with me constantly stumbling to them looking so tired and weak that a small breeze would've been enough to knock me down.

Niko trusted me, but they didn't like that whatever I was doing was hurting me. Their suspicions only grew when they pressed me about it and I kept on dodging the question, stating that what I was working on was a "secret."

All of this eventually drove them into a search for what I was working on and why I thought it was worth damaging myself over it.

Meanwhile… 50 feet below ground

'Getting an underground bunker, was definitely worth all that trouble.' I thought to myself as I relaxed in the rec room. The excavation was a bit tricky as I had no idea what to do other than toss around a few explosives. But it went better than I had expected it to go, I only got crushed a minimal number of times after all. The ceiling didn't cave in on top of me either so that was a win.

I sighed as I looked around at the room's other occupants. The robots around me all doing their own thing. There were currently about a dozen in the room with me and they all looked like metallic and human-sized versions of the wooden figure models that artists use. Some of them were talking amongst themselves, their t-shaped visors all emanated a soft neon blue light that blinked with each spoken syllable. The ones that weren't talking were either reading or huddled together on a sofa watching Netflix.

Even though they all looked similar, it was clear that there were four different types, distinguished by their equipment and voice. Some robots looked like generic soldiers, with them being decked out in modern military equipment. These ones were each outfitted with a Kevlar vest and helmet, their titanium frames did a good enough job at deflecting and stopping small arms fire but didn't do much in the way of rifle rounds, so a little extra protection was always helpful. Their current weaponry consisted of a m4 carbine, a Glock 19 and a combat knife. These were the aptly named 'Grunts.' They're basically just the regular infantry of my army, and their duties in the bunker usually just consisted of guard duty.

Next up were the robots that carried a Dragunov sniper rifle instead of the grunts' assault rifles. Their attire was similar to the grunts', but they had swapped out the Kevlar helmet for a ushanka and were also wearing a winter coat for extra style points, and to also complete the Russian look. These bad boys were the designated marksmen of my army. The 'Marxmen'.

I am fucking hilarious.

Anyways next up were the engineers, hard hat wearing eggheads packing various tools, grenades and above all else, a Mossberg 500. These guys were crucial around here, with there tasks ranging from making sure the bunker is up and running, fixing and maintaining the other robots, and even coming up with ideas and designs for new robots.

Last up were the medics, their gear was near identical to the grunts, except they threw on a doctor's coat over their Kevlar vest. They were equipped with first aid kits and various other medical instruments. Even though they were healers, it was clear to all that they were firm believers of the universal law: 'stay strapped or get clapped', evidenced by the FN Five-seveN that each of them carried. In all honesty the medics didn't really do much here in the bunker. While it was true that they have extensive medical knowledge, they specialized in treating organic patients. Something that the bunker had a severe lack of with its primary occupants being robots. So for now, they were content with just hanging out around the bunker, spending their days reading medical books, or acting as extra firepower for the guard details.

I leaned back in my chair as I thought of the laws that I had implemented into my robots. Several test runs where they had woken up and attempted to murder the closest living being, (i.e. me) taught me that robots didn't really come equipped with a moral compass. This complication required me to create my very own three laws of robotics. I originally planned on being lazy by just copy pasting Asimov's three laws, but instantly realized that that came with a few glaring issues.

First of all, a robot army incapable of injuring any human being would be quite ineffective. Second, a robot army that would follow orders from any bum off the streets was going to be a danger to everyone. Third, a robot army incapable of self-defense could probably be taken down by an 8-year-old. In conclusion? Implementing Asimov's laws of robotics into a robotic military force would be incredibly fucking dumb.

Therefore, I just came up with my own 3 laws. First, a robot may not harm friendlies and non-combatants, or through inaction, allow them to come to harm. Second, a robot must only obey the orders given to them by either me or other high-ranking members, unless they conflict with the first law. Third, a robot must protect their own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law. You may have noticed that these laws were quite similar to the originals, but I made enough adjustments so that y'know… my army could actually do shit, and to ensure a yes-man situation didn't occur. If there's one thing New Vegas taught me, it was how exploitable that shit was. Like seriously, I admit that I myself am a complete dumbass. But Benny was near platinum (heh) levels of stupid creating a robot integral to his plans, that couldn't say no, to ANYONE.

Anyways, getting back on track…

I got up from the table I was sitting at and started walking towards a group of engineers huddled around a table covered with various blueprints.

"Howdy boss," one of the engineer's greeted me with their Texan accent.

"What's the progress with the crusader and cloaker models?" I questioned them as I looked over the blueprints that detailed the two new robot models. One of them looked like a hulking suit of armor paired with a great helm, giving them a crusader-esque look. The two MK 19 grenade launchers, one mounted on each shoulder, also served to give everyone a pretty good idea as to how much firepower this robot was carrying.

The other robot looked like… well… the cloakers from Payday 2, except they were noticeably more metallic than their in-game counterpart. While they were not as tall or wide and didn't carry the same amount of firepower as the crusader models, they were still decked out in tactical gear and the ominous glowing green dots of their NVGs made them no less intimidating.

"They're almost complete boss." Another engineer answered, "We're just refining them now, you can begin mass producing them in about three days."

I nodded in approval at their words as my eyes drifted to another blueprint, this one detailed an A-10 warthog. The aircraft looked pretty normal, save for the two streaks on the sides and near the front of the canopy, making the aircraft seem like it had eyes. These were the drones; these UAVs were capable of doing things on their own but could also be remotely controlled. Though they were still capable of being piloted manually.

"What about the drones?" I questioned the engineers again.

"We currently have a dozen A-10 drones sitting in the hanger, ready for testing."

Yeah, that was going to be a bit of a problem. I was still searching for a good spot to test them. Testing them near the town was definitely a bad idea, the townsfolk didn't need to start asking why there were strange aircraft in the skies. Besides, buzzing the town was just plain rude.

"Alright, amazing work guys, keep it up!" The engineers seemed to perk up a little at my praise before quickly getting back to work. With the chat over, I let out a small smile as I began walking away from their table and back to mine. On my way back, I was greeted by the other types of robots.

"Greetings comrade!" A marxman said in greeting with a Russian accent, while cleaning their gun. I acknowledged their greeting with nod before continuing onwards.

"eY b0ss!" A voice that sounded like it would belong to someone who ran around in a pink body suit, greeted me as I walked by. Tracing the origin of the voice I saw that it's owner was a grunt currently playing cards at a table with a medic.

"What's up?" The medic greeted as I walked by, their voice sounding suspiciously like a certain doctor who was formerly a member of a fascist paramilitary organization forged from the remnants of a post-nuclear war US government.

…anyways, moving on.

I gave both robots a wave as I walked past them and finally sat back down at my table. 'These guys sure have come a long way.' I thought back to my robots' progress just a week ago.

One week ago…

Play song: Portal 2 OST – Robot Waiting Room #4 by Valve – Mike Morasky

'Alright then… let's hope this works.'

At this point in time, I didn't have my bunker yet, so I just settled for the next best thing, the shed. Sitting in the dark and stuffy environment, I began to flip some switches, and soon enough the dim room was bathed in a neon blue glow emanating from the T-shaped visor of the grunt sitting on the table.

Slowly the head of the grunt lifted up and turned to face me.

"eY b0ss!" The grunt said in greeting.

'Things are looking good so far, the grunt hasn't tried to kill me on sight, unlike the previous trials where they didn't have the 3 laws implemented into them.' I mused before continuing on with the test.

"Alright, I'm going to check if your processors are working, by having you identify some images, okay?"

"Okay b0ss," the grunt agreed enthusiastically, as I pulled out a stack of pictures. This test was to determine if my robots could identify various things and situations.

"Let's start off easy, can you tell me what this is?" I asked the grunt as I held up a picture of an apple.

"An apple," their voice had changed when they spoke up again, it was raspy, had dropped several octaves, and sounded like it belonged to a 40-year-old chain-smoker. I nodded in approval before holding up another picture.

"How about this one?" I held up another picture, this one was just a stock image of a random family.

"Civilians, non-combatants." I nodded at their answer before asking them another question.

"Let's say hypothetically, you saw them in a combat zone, what should be done?"

"Have them escorted out of the area until they are out of harm's way."

"Good answer," I praised them before continuing on with the test. The remainder of the test went smoothly, with the grunt being able to successfully identify the content of the photos. After about 10 minutes only two pictures remained to be identified.

"What is this?" I asked holding up the second-last picture.

"A crime against humanity." The grunt answered as they processed the sight before them. The picture I was holding up was of a slice of pizza being boiled in a pot of water.

"Accurate." I mumbled as I pulled out the last picture, stifling my laughter as I saw it's contents. After a few seconds I composed myself and continued with the test. "Okay, this is the last and possibly most important question." I turned the photograph around revealing it to be a photo of Niko.

"What is this?" pleasesaycatpleasesaycatpleasesaycat

"A cat."

"LET'S FUCKING GOOO-" I cheered as I pumped a fist into the air in celebration, whilst the grunt stared at me in what seemed to be bewilderment.

Back to the present…

Niko narrowed their eyes. For some unknown reason, they couldn't shake the feeling that somewhere, somehow, I was making fun of them for being a cat. SOMETHING THAT THEY CLEARLY WEREN'T (in their own opinion).

They were currently still looking for me, their search now bringing them into my living room, and while they still haven't found much, that previous feeling they had just motivated them to try even harder.

They were in the middle of looking under the carpet for trapdoors when the room seemed to drop several degrees in temperature. They stopped what they were doing and listened closely, their feline ears turning. They heard the gentle whooshing of an indoor breeze blowing around them accompanied by an ethereal yet haunting cry.

Most people would've pissed their pants and ran the fuck away after hearing that noise, but Niko just perked up and moved towards it recognizing the sound.

Following the direction of the breeze and cry to the source, they found V heading to the front door.

"Oh, hello there Niko." The nano-spectre turned to greet them.

"Hey V, do you know where Zhong is?"

"Yes," V nodded. "I believe he is currently in his… I think he called it: 'the super-secret underground bunker'." Niko's eyes widened in shock at this revelation.

"WHAT?! WHY DOES HE HAVE A BUNKER?!" V tilted their head at Niko's shouting.

"To build his 'super-secret robot army' of course." V said, as if it were a well-known fact. Niko sputtered in surprise and took a few more seconds to calm down before asking V another question.

"Okay, I guess I should have a little chat with him," Niko said, still sounding a little shocked. "Do you know how to get into the bunker?"

"Of course, follow me." V directed Niko, floating towards the bookshelf in the living room. After a brief scan, the spectre found what they were looking for and grabbed it. Pulling on the book, a click sounded and the wall next to the bookshelf opened up, revealing an elevator. Leaning closer Niko read the title of the book.

"Eromanga Sensei?" They read out in a confused tone before looking at the cover. They then suddenly started blushing, their face turning bright red from embarrassment, after seeing what the cover of the book 'detailed'. V stared in slight bemusement as Niko rubbed their eyes and tried their hardest to purge the image from their mind. "Why… did Zhong choose this… book in particular, for the hidden switch?" They questioned V, still sounding quite shaken.

"Zhongdonian said that for the switch, he needed to use something that no one wanted to touch or even look at." They regarded Niko with the bottomless black pits that acted as their eyes, "Judging by your reaction, I believe he was successful in that regard."

"Yeah…" Niko agreed as they pushed the book back into place, whilst making a mental note to wash their hands as soon as possible.

"Anyways… this elevator leads to the bunker." V gestured towards it, "I trust that you are able to reach it on your own."

"You're not coming with?" Niko asked, confused.

"No, Zhongdonian has given me permission to visit the town, and I am excited at the opportunity to experience it firsthand."

"Oh, well have fun!" Niko bid V farewell and waved goodbye to them, V awkwardly attempted to return the gesture before saying a quick goodbye and speeding out of the front door. Niko just chuckled good naturedly at V's clumsy attempt before stepping into the elevator.

50 feet below ground in the 'Super Secret Bunker'…

The elevator doors opened, and out stepped Niko. Looking around the room they saw what looked to be a vault door in the shape of a gear and an intercom in front of them. Not seeing any other way, Niko pressed the intercom's button.

"Ummm… hello?" They spoke into the intercom.

"…" Niko waited for several seconds but no response came from the intercom. They began to walk away when it suddenly crackled to life.

"Hello comrade! Please step back to the intercom's camera." A accented voice called out from the intercom's speaker. Niko walked back to the intercom while trying to figure out what the voice's accent was. They noticed that a bulbous section of the intercom had opened up revealing a fisheye camera lens that seemed to be tracking their movements.

"Uh… hello?" Niko greeted as they stared warily at the lens before the accented voice spoke up again.

"Huh? How did a cat get down here?" Niko face reddened in anger and embarrassment at the voice's remark.

"I'm not a cat!" They quickly defended.

"…you have cat ears." The accented voice pointed out.

"The rest of the townsfolk have them as well!" Niko countered.

"You also have cat eyes." The voice pointed out again.

"Everyone has those as well!"

"So, you're not a cat?"

"I'm not!" Niko exclaimed exasperatedly.

"…are you a dog then?" The voice asked innocently.

"WHA- NO I-" Niko tried to explain before just groaning in frustration. They took a few deep breathes before getting back on track and remembering what they came down here for. "Look I just need to enter the bunker and talk with Zhong." Niko explained to the voice.

"Ah yes, the comrade general." The voice confirmed. "Yes, he is currently in the bunker."

"Great! May I go in and speak with him?" Niko politely requested.

"Well… I am currently under orders to guard this bunker from threats…" Niko saw the camera scrutinizing them. "…But you do not seem like one. So, welcome comrade!"

The gear shaped door in front of Niko made a hissing sound as it retracted, the door then rolled to the left whilst accompanied by the sounds of machinery operating. They stared in awe and wonder at the technology before peeking inside. On the right, they saw a terminal being operated by a gray metal robot, wearing a winter coat and a funny looking hat. The big gun they had holstered was also worth noting as Niko eyed it carefully.

"Welcome to the Super-Secret bunker, comrade cat!"

Although their new nickname caused some annoyance to bubble up it was washed away by the wonder and curiosity they were feeling from their surroundings. The bunker was completely made of metal and emitted a low fluorescent humming from all directions. Niko's footsteps echoed through the long hallway as their feet stomped on the floor grates beneath them. The hallways were bathed in a soft neon blue glow by 2 lines that ran on both side walls. Looking up, Niko also noted that the ceilings of the hallways were lined with pipes and electrical cables.

As Niko walked down the hallway they nearly stumbled when the ground began rumbling and shaking lightly. Deciding to investigate, they followed the rumbling that got louder and louder as they walked down the hallway and towards a window. Pressing their hands against the glass, they stared down at the testing chamber below them, and gaped once they saw the source of the rumbling.

Inside the testing chamber was what seemed to be a large knight in a hulking suit of armor, similar to the ones they've seen in picture books. The main difference between the two being, this knight was currently unleashing it's salvo downrange with the two grenade launchers mounted on both it's shoulders. Looking downrange Niko saw what had once been dummy targets and vehicles. The dummies had been utterly annihilated with only small bits and pieces of them remaining. The only remaining traces of the vehicles where chunks of scrap metal that were either on fire or smoldering.

Movement caught Niko's eye, and they shifted their gaze to see what seemed to be a robotic construction worker, stand up from behind a protective barrier and give the knight a thumbs up of approval. The knight mimicked the gesture before the other robot seemed to shout something at the knight. The glass prevented Niko from hearing what they said, but it wasn't important as the knight made it clear to all what it's orders were.

A section of the knight's forearm opened up. As the armored casing on the forearm moved back, a nozzle came forth and spouted out a stream of fire at the dummies' remains. The flames encompassed the remains, turning them into ash, and bathed the testing chamber in a warm orange glow.

Niko's pupils dilated as they stared at the flames. The inferno in the testing chamber casted a soft yellow glow through the window onto both their face, and the wall behind them. They basked in the inferno's warm glow finding the roaring flames and soft yellow light comforting and soothing.

They were broken out of their trance when the robotic construction worker moved again, giving the knight another thumbs up, as the other robot returned the gesture. Niko rapidly shook their head to clear their thoughts. Stepping away from the window, they got back on track and began walking further down the hallway.

As they walked through the hallway, they came across another window. Deciding to take a peek, they walked up to the window and peered through the glass. It appeared to be another testing chamber. However, unlike the previous, there were now markings along the walls and floor at one half of the room, effectively making that half a giant ruler.

Looking at the center of the room, Niko saw what seemed to be a very realistic looking dummy, standing at the beginning of the ruler half room. The dummy could have been mistaken as a real person, if it weren't for the lack of clothes, emotionless expression and the permanent standing pose the dummy was stuck in.

It's gel-like transparent skin putting it's organs on display probably didn't help either.

Niko looked a little queasy at the sight of the dummy's fake internals, which were visible through the transparent gel skin. They suddenly jumped in shock, when a black blur with two glowing green light trails, rushed in from the unmarked half of the room and gave the ballistic dummy an absolutely VICIOUS dropkick to the chest. The dummy sailed across the ruler half of the room, before landing and sliding across the floor. As the dummy slid across the floor it left a trail of fake blood before slowly coming to a stop.

Niko searched the room, looking for the black blur, when their eyes landed upon a robot dressed in black tactical gear and wearing googles that had menacing glowing green lenses. They walked over to where the dummy had landed, seemingly inspecting their handiwork. Niko noticed from the markings of the ruler half-room, that the dummy had apparently traveled 12 meters, 9 from the dropkick, and based on the blood trail, it slid for another 3 before stopping.

Bringing their attention back to the rest of the room, Niko noticed another robot walking up to the scary robot and mutilated dummy. This other robot had the regular protective gear they've seen soldiers wear on TV, but the robot also wore a white doctor's coat over it.

Niko turned a little green, when they brought their attention back to the now mutilated dummy and noticed all the horrific internal injuries it had suffered, which were all clearly visible through the transparent skin.

They gagged when they looked closer and saw that the dummy's chest cavity was completely wrecked. Most of the internal organs located there now bore a close resemblance to strawberry smoothies, and the shattered ribcage sent bone shrapnel tearing into the organs that didn't.

They weren't a medical expert by any means, but Niko was just going to go ahead and pronounce the dummy dead.

Trying their best to avert their gaze, Niko focused on the two robots standing next to the bloody mess. Even with the lack of both sound and facial features, Niko could tell from the robot doctor's body language that they were giving off an air of annoyance. They gestured to the dummy, before facing the scary robot to give them a glare. Scary robot seemed to be confused at why doctor robot was annoyed, giving them a 'what?' gesture with their hands. The doctor robot just face-palmed before making a lowering gesture with their other hand.

Still watching from the window, Niko was correct in interpreting this as doctor robot telling the other robot to use less force. Scary robot nodded, before they both returned to the unmarked half of the room.

Niko noticed the entrance to the testing chamber open as 3 robots dressed like generic soldiers walked in. One wasn't carrying anything, the second one had a replacement ballistic dummy, and the third was carrying various cleaning equipment. The soldier robot not carrying anything, walked over to the mutilated dummy, and dragged it out of the room, leaving a red trail. The second robot placed the replacement dummy in the middle of the room, at it's predecessor's original position, before following the first robot out. The third and final robot just mopped up the fake blood on the floor, and promptly left.

As soon as the door to the chamber closed, the doctor robot nodded at the scary robot who got into a stance. Niko realized that another test was about to commence, so they wisely moved away from the window as to prevent further traumatization.

After taking a deep breath to clear their head, they exhaled slowly, and continued walking down the hallway. Sighing, they wondered what I was up to now.

Meanwhile, in the rec room…

"Well, the name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."

Click

I stared at the paused screen, my mind reeling and attempting to process… whatever the fuck I just heard. I currently looked like I was calmy thinking to myself about something. My hands were clasped together and used to prop up my head. To any outside observer, I seemed to be a sea of tranquility.

My inner thoughts, however, were a different story.

Internally…

'AHHAHAHAHAHA-HOLY SHIT-HAHAHA HE FUCKING BELIEVES IT AS WELL! WHAT A FUCKING LEGEND-AHHAHAHAHA!' My mirth then somehow managed to turn into a sort of genuine respect for the dude. 'SUCH CONFIDENCE! SUCH FINESSE!' I internally praised.

Rec room…

Back at the rec room, my façade of calmness slowly faded, starting with poorly suppressed chuckles, before turning into full blown guffawing. I stood up from my chair, and gave a furious round of applause while laughing, before praising the boy… no… the MAN, Jaune "MOTHERFUCKING" Arc, once more.

"WHAT A FUCKING CHAD!" I cheered, while throwing a punch through the air in celebration. The robots around me, having already grown used to my random outbursts, just tuned me out as I continued laughing and cheering.

Meanwhile…

'Yeah, I'm lost.' Niko finally admitted in defeat. They couldn't find they way they came, so their only option now was to just continue wandering and hope for the best. As they walked down another hallway, they noticed an offshoot in the path that led to a metal door. As Niko walked closer, they noticed a sign next to the door that read: 'Portal Hub.'

Curiosity winning over caution they decided to check out what exactly was beyond the door. The metal door automatically slid open with a hiss when Niko approached. Peeking inside, they first noticed how all the lights were off. Comparing how dark this room was to others in the bunker, gave Niko the impression that this room wasn't used often, if ever.

When their eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, they saw that the room contained rows upon rows of white doors. Walking up to one, they twisted the doorknob and slowly swung the door open.

When they did, they were immediately blinded by the light from the other side. Niko rubbed their eyes and blinked, letting them to now adjust to the sudden brightness. Once they were no longer being blinded, they finally saw what was beyond the door.

The door led to a lush emerald green forest. Blinking in surprise, they closed the door and opened it again. Looking through it again they confirmed that, yes, this door somehow led to a whole ass forest, despite not being attached to a room. Walking to the other side of the door, they saw the same forest but from that side's angle.

Against their better judgement, Niko decided to investigate further and walked through the door. When they passed through, their senses picked up what they usually did when in a forest. They closed their eyes and took in the serene environment. They felt a soft cool breeze blowing on their face, their feline ears twitched when they heard the sound of birds chirping, they took a deep breath and took in the smell of nature and something burning… wait what?

Niko's eyes shot open, just in time to see a trail of fire blaze past them. They jumped in shock when the fire trail hit a tree they were standing next to, causing it to burst up into flames. All of it's leaves had been burned away in an instant, leaving Niko standing next to the smoldering remains of the tree burned black.

"I should probably head back." Niko wisely decided, they turned around to head back through the door when their heart skipped a beat.

The door was gone.

"WHAT?!"

At the initiation launch pads…

Ozpin took a sip from his mug of hot cocoa as he observed this 'newcomer'. Approximately a minute ago, sensors in the Emerald Forest picked up a spike of anomalous energy. After triangulating the location of the energy spike, Ozpin accessed the security feed of the cameras around the position on his scroll.

Viewing through one of the many cameras scattered around the forest, he discovered what, or rather, who, was the cause of the energy spike. Ozpin raised a brow in interest, at the sight of an unknown individual next to a white door.

At first glance, one would be forgiven if they assumed the individual was a faunus. However, unlike the faunus, this person had more than one animal trait. From what Ozpin could see, they seemed to possess feline eyes, ears, and nose.

Ozpin then observed the door that they supposedly came from. The structure was a white door that looked quite out of place in the middle of a forest. It also didn't make any sense, as it seemed to lead to a dark room, despite it clearly not being attached to it. These observations led Ozpin to believe that the white door was a portal of some sort.

The not-faunus, seemed to be curious about their surroundings, before the stray fire blast from Miss Schnee's diverted strike, narrowly missed them. Thoroughly spooked, they turned around, likely to retreat through the door they came from. They stopped in their tracks, however, when they noticed that the door was gone. Rewinding the footage, Ozpin blinked in surprise when the door seemed to just pop out of existence, causing their interest in this newcomer to grow even further.

The newcomer now seemed to be panicking at their predicament, pacing around, head in their hands, and an anxious look on their face. They continued like this for a few seconds before they seemingly managed to compose themselves. The camera then captured them muttering to themselves before they placed a hand on the lightbulb amulet they wore around their neck. A yellow light enveloped the newcomer before disappearing in a flash, some remnants wafting away as tiny light particles in the air.

After the flash, Ozpin took note of the newcomer's new appearance. Armor plating now covered their sleeves, and they were now wearing a cuirass. Their hat also gained armor plating, along with a strange feather that glowed yellow. They now also wore gauntlets on their hands, Ozpin noted how the left one contained a black clover sealed in amber, which was situated on the back hand portion of the gauntlet. Whether the amber served a purpose, or was just purely ornamental, remained to be seen. It was also worth noting that, like the feather, the amber also emitted a soft yellow glow. The final worthy thing of note was the newcomer's supposed weapon of choice. They held in their right hand, a metal telescopic baton with a hand guard. The bottom of the grip had a die charm, connected via string, and just like both the feather and amber, the dots on the die emitted a soft yellow glow.

Making sure their armor fit them correctly, and after adjusting their purple scarf. The newcomer finally set off, walking towards the origin of the fire trail.

Back at the launch pads, Ozpin took another sip from his mug, as he continued to watch them through the cameras.

'This is shaping up to be an interesting year indeed.'

Back at the town…

'Yes, this is true happiness.'

V was currently surrounded by cats and was petting each of them in rapid succession. The town's local population of cats were originally wary of the floating dark spectre, but after the discovery that the spectre was able to emit warmth, and also gave out pets, the furballs quickly warmed up to them. It was honestly an adorable sight, the terrifying ghostly figure sitting down cross-legged, and turning solid enough for the cats to nuzzle and dog(cat)pile them.

V was busy experiencing the emotion happiness when they noticed something strange. Niko seemed to have crossed through the void, and into another world. They were sad to leave their newfound furry friends so soon, but they felt like they should tell Zhong about this new development.

Giving out one last pet as goodbye, V began to levitate before flying back to my house. After going down the elevator, and navigating through the bunker's hallways, they finally arrived at the rec room. Floating in, they saw me sitting at a table watching something with my headphones in.

"Greetings Zhong."

"Hmmm?" I paused my video and took off my headphones as I turned my attention towards V. "You're back earlier than I expected, did you run into any trouble?" I was pretty nervous when I asked that, because on one hand, V probably wouldn't attack anyone without provocation. On the other hand, when working together, the nanobots that V possessed have shown to be capable of ripping off limbs with ease, and in the right conditions, even tear through tank armor.

"No, I'm here to tell you about something else." Oh, thank fuck. "I was in the middle of petting the town's cats when something was brought to my attention." Okay that I need to see, the mere thought of a deadly nano-swarm possessed by a primordial being petting kittens was enough to start melting my heart.

"What was important enough to warrant an interruption in petting-time?"

"I sensed that Niko had travelled to another world."

…

"WHAT!?"

"They seemed to have crossed over using one of your door portals." V elaborated as I tried to not panic.

"Shit, ok do you know where they are?"

"Not exactly."

OKAY PANIC TIME

"FUCK." I screamed as I held my head in my hands, V just tilted their head at me before explaining.

"Apologies, I should have elaborated further," I looked up at them with new hope in my eyes, "I am able to locate the world they entered, but I do not know where exactly they are in the world, nor do I know what the world contains." I looked disheartened at that before V continued. "However, I believe that you are actually capable of narrowing down their possible location in that world."

"B-but how?"

"The way your door portals work, you have both entry and exit points, when you think of a location while an entry point is in existence, then an exit point will spawn at the location you thought of." I nodded at their explanation to show that I was following along before they continued. "The exit point however is both intangible and invisible, until someone comes in contact with the entry point."

"Okay so you're saying that Niko is currently in the last place I thought of?" V confirmed my question with a small nod. "Alright so that means Niko is at…" I was in the process of trying to remember what locations I thought about in the last 5 minutes, when my gaze fell upon my computer and I paused, remembering what I was watching.

"…the Emerald Forest." I finished my sentence with growing dread.

I'm going to have a fucking aneurysm.

…

"ATTENTION ALL AVAILABLE UNITS, PREPARE FOR COMBAT, REPORT TO THE PORTAL HUB FOR DEPLOYMENT."

Finishing my announcement on the bunker's PA system, I started to sprint towards the armory to gear up. V is acting as my nano suit again, while an engineer was keeping pace beside me.

"Are you sure we should use the A-10s, boss? They haven't even gone through a test flight yet."

"We're doing a trial by fire then." I said through gritted teeth as I ran into the armory. 'Need my guns, where the fuck are my guns?!' I questioned internally as, I shifted through a chest filled to the brim with my personal weapons. Guns, knives, and various explosives sailed through the air behind me as I vigorously dug through my miniature armory inside of an armory.

-Y. WHERE COTTON'S KING AND MEN ARE CHATTELS, UNION BOYS WILL WIN THE BATTLES-

I had grabbed ahold of that 19th century musket, and once again my ears were assaulted with the deafening song. But even though I was shocked and disorientated, I ignored it and tossed the musket aside in favor of continuing my search. As I got near the bottom of the pile, I finally found them.

Play song: Metro 2033 OST #26 – The Tower – By Anthesteria

Walking out of the armory, the neon blue lights of the hallways bounced off the glossy black surface of my katana's sheath. As I continued my walk towards the portal hub, I loaded magazines full of live rounds into my USP match and M16a1.

No rubber bullets this time, we were gonna shoot some bitches where we're going.

I walked into the portal hub and looked over the robotic crowd crammed into the room.

"What's our headcount?" I asked the engineer next to me.

"92, 40 grunts, 25 marxmen, 15 medics, and 10 engineers, the cloaker and the crusader protypes are joining us too." I looked over at the crusader who was checking his M60 machine gun, and the cloaker who was doing… push-ups? I found that kind of redundant because y'know… they're a robot? "The A-10s are currently warming up their engines in the hanger."

"Good." I nodded as I did some last-minute check-ups on my weapons.

"Uh… boss?" The engineer began their question, "What if the other world's local population ask us why we're here?"

"Just tell them we're preforming a military training exercise." I answered as I walked up to a door portal and turned towards the crowd. "The ROE is simple; you all will be fighting Grimm." I announced as I pulled out a picture of a beowolf.

"We're fighting puppies?" A grunt questioned innocently.

"Wha- NO, they are black creatures with glowing red or yellow eyes and have bone masks and armor with red markings." I clarified, pulling out pictures of other Grimm as the robotic crowd nodded to show their understanding. "If any of you encounter civilians, you are to protect them if they are in danger until the threat to them is eliminated." I continued. "The main mission is to search and rescue the messiah." I said while pulling out a picture of Niko.

"The cat?" The grunt questioned once again.

"…yes, the cat." I said smirking behind my helm. "Alright, any questions?" When no one spoke up I took that as a sign to start the mission. "Each of you, stand in front of one of these white doors, going through them will take you to the Emerald Forest, the mission zone." I turned towards the door portal behind me as the robots complied. Letting out a breath I thought about what I was going to do.

I was about to throw myself into a world, that was filled to the brim with "creatures of darkness" that want to turbo-murder everyone. And humanity's last line of defense against them are anime characters, and hormonal super-powered teenagers.

"Are you ready?" V asked in slight concern.

"No." I answered honestly. "But Niko is a friend, and friends don't leave each other behind."

"I see." V nodded, still getting the basics of friendship down.

And with that, I brought up my latest memory of the Emerald Forest, as I twisted the doorknob and walked through the portal, right into what can be basically considered a warzone.

As the robots followed me through, I realized that we weren't really lying. This basically was a military training exercise.

We're still breaking so many international laws right now though…

Author Notes:

As the old saying goes… curiosity sent the cat to another world.

Once again, a huge thank you and an apology for the cringe you just went through. Pretty sure this is the longest chapter I've written so far. Sorry about the New Vegas rant halfway through, I'm pretty sure I have an addiction.

Clarifications:

Buzzing = To fly an aircraft low and fast over buildings, people etc. primarily used by the military to annoy the fuck out of the local populace.

ROE = Rules of engagement

After 5 minutes of intense research about Niko's dialogue on the OneShot wiki. I can confidently diagnose them as a pyromaniac.

If it wasn't obvious enough the grunts are capable of sounding like either Pink Guy or Filthy Frank, the engineers sound like the engineer from TF2, and the medics sound like Arcade Gannon from Fallout: New Vegas.

Thank you all once again for reading!