No excuse for being late for this one. As I have been for the last two years now, I was falling in and out of love with RWBY and writing for it, but I remember all of the people who read my stuff and like it, and that's enough to keep me giving this story the love you all have for it. Seriously, rock on y'all, you keep me writing.
He woke up and barely moved his head to look her way.
"Damn, I thought it was a nightmare," Qrow grumbled, glaring flatly at Ruby. She glared right back.
"Oh believe me," she shook her head as she stood and moved for the door, staring at him the whole time "it is."
Ruby leaned out from the door, looking around at everyone present. Fortunately, that only included her family and team. She wouldn't be able to bear it if Salem of all people were waiting to dote on her deadbeat father. As it were, Raven, Summer, Yang, and Whitley sat in a few comfortable chairs just outside of what Salem assured them was not a torture room.
"He's up—" she looked up for a moment before looking back at everyone, "Well, he's awake."
She stepped aside and let Raven and her mother go in. She didn't smirk at all when she closed the door and heard Summer start going off on him. Not at all and nobody could say otherwise.
She walked over and fell on to a plush chair letting her head fall back, sighing and staring at the ceiling.
"Rubes?" Yang sounded subdued, likely trying to keep her from going off, "you holding up okay?"
Was she? Ruby grunted. No, in retrospect, she really wasn't. Qrow was here, he hadn't been anything but terrible since she'd met him, her partner was off in the world doing who-knows-what, probably getting himself in way over his head, and they all just got conscripted— sorry— 'recruited' into this old-as-time war between two ancient wizards.
"I'm alive," Ruby sighed out.
"Alive isn't always enough," Whitley said sagely.
"Not the time," Ruby grumbled. He wisely chose not to keep pursuing that dialogue. Instead he changed the topic.
"So that's your father?" he mused aloud, "I expected someone far more... graceful? Poised? Respectable?"
Yang snorted and Ruby tried to keep the smile off her face. In his own snooty way, Whitley knew how to get a real smile out of her when she needed it. She finally lowered her head and looked at the younger half of her team.
"Yeah well," Ruby ran a hand through her hair, "I think I was hoping for that too, after all this time."
"Eh, you can't be blamed," Yang shrugged, walking over and sitting next to Ruby, "it's not like anyone in our family was ever gonna tell you about him."
True but that was beside the point. It wasn't about knowing beforehand. It was more personal. She didn't know what she'd been thinking when she followed Raven really. That she could make him see the error of his ways? That he'd come back? Technically he did, but was that what she had wanted? No, it had been a purely selfish move on her part. She wanted to know that he was real. She wasn't looking for validation or love from him, she had all of that and more from her friends and family. She had just wanted the consolation, maybe even just the personal victory, of saying that she finally got to see him.
That didn't make her feel any better, and it must have shown with the way Yang was suddenly on her. Ruby sighed and hugged the girl back, smiling slightly as she did.
"I'm fine Yang, I'll live."
Yang backed off and stared at her, humming. "Just cuz' you'll live doesn't mean you'll be okay."
"Look who suddenly turned philosophical," Whitley chimed. He squawked when a pillow from the chair smacked him in the face.
"Hush you," Yang stuck her tongue out, "I'm being serious! With everything going on, we can't just try and brute force our way through all the stuff in our heads."
"Okay, now I'm with Whitley. You not wanting to brute force things? That's like, your whole style," Ruby smirked at Yang's betrayed expression, shrugging in a 'just saying' motion.
"For both of your information, I happen to care about the people around me!" Yang huffed, turning her nose up and away from them in her best Whitley impression, "Unlike some people!"
"Oooh, sick burn," Ruby giggled, not offended in the least. Whitley just scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"You're a nuisance," he groused.
"And you're stuck with it, so tough titties!" Yang eloquently replied.
The three devolved into a spat as their team normally did, and while chaotic and annoying, Ruby found that it helped to feel normal again.
Beyond the threshold of the door, Raven and Summer were having a notably less entertaining time.
"I should stab you," Summer growled.
"Please, you'd be doing me a favor," Qrow grumbled.
Raven shook her head. She wasn't dealing with this. To the unknowing observer, it looked like the beginning of a fight, which it definitely was, but that was also how the two of them started fucking, and Raven did not need that in her life anymore than Qrow himself.
"Both of you quit the flirting," Raven hissed.
"We are not!" Summer nearly screamed.
"As if," Qrow barked.
"Oh sure you aren't! And I suppose that time you both started a fight in the middle of the woods and then 'got lost during the brawl' was nothing either?"
Both were notably silent. Telling, really. That might've been how Ruby was born, now that Raven thought about it more.
"What the hell were you thinking!?" Summer changed the subject abruptly, "Scratch that, I know the answer."
"Oh, so sharp," Qrow rolled his eyes.
Okay, this wasn't going anywhere. Raven always knew it'd be a bad day when these two reunited again, and so far she was only being proven correct on that assumption. She was just going to keep going and pretend like these two weren't a bomb waiting to go off.
"Qrow, I need you to listen here. I was serious when I said we were done with Ozpin's shit."
Qrow scoffed and threw his head back. "That bridge is ashes now, Ray. Done or not, I want nothing to do with all of this."
"That's not the point," Raven really wished she didn't have to do this, but it was her dumbass brother, so it fell on her to deal with him, "You're stuck here unless you wanna chance it out in the grimmlands."
Summer barked a laugh.
"With his luck? He wouldn't even make it out the door."
"Well at least I wouldn't have to hear your damn voice anymore woman!"
"You bastard—"
Raven probably shouldn't have left them alone, but she also didn't want to hear them anymore, so when the door closed behind her she didn't even feel a little bad. Ruby, Yang, and the pale kid were staring at her somewhat cynically.
"Didn't go well?" Yang deadpanned.
"I'm hoping they get it all out now so I can deal with it later."
Not the best way to deal with her problems, but it was what she was doing and nobody could stop her!
"Were they always like this?" Whitley asked. Raven grunted.
"Unfortunately, yes." She rubbed her temples, feeling the migraine coming on. "How did I deal with that for so long? That was only like five minutes and I already feel a migraine coming on."
Yang shrugged. "You also used to have Dad."
Oh right, how could she forget? Tai would always be there for her to hide behind while he dealt with their squabbles. She'd freely admit that his ability to keep her out of her brother's relationship problems was one of the things that kept her around. Damn she missed that man.
"So what do we do with him?" Ruby asked. Raven could see the hope in her eyes, but for what she couldn't tell. Hope that he'd change his ways? Maybe. Hope that they'd toss him out on his ass and let him fend for himself? Also maybe.
"For now he's no harm to us, regardless of what he does. He hates Oz, and it's not like he can make friends with the Grimm. Frankly, worst case scenario? He's here until we can fly his ass to the nearest kingdom and then he's not our problem anymore."
Yang idly kicked her leg up and down. "You're not afraid of him turning to Ozpin at all?"
Raven snorted. "Qrow would rather be set on fire than deal with Oz again. I think we're safe from that."
The shouting in the next room intensified and they all chose to ignore it.
"What's our next step then?" Whitley crossed his arms, "We can't just wait. As well as that may work for Salem and all her thousands of years ahead of her, we don't have that time. Surely a passive approach isn't the best one here?"
Yang groaned and slumped further into the couch. "Agreed. But we'd have to be able to convince her to actually do something, and that sounds harder than actually finding a plan."
"We could always talk to her agents," Ruby suggested. That earned a blegh from Yang.
"Cinder is weird, Watts is an ass, Tyrian is mean, and Gretchen..."
"Yeah?"
"... Actually, we could probably ask Gretchen, she seems the most likely to want to kill Ozpin!" Yang lit up as she said this.
"As true as that is," Raven interjected her daughter's murder plots, "The best thing we can do right now is settle in. If we keep trying to move like we have been, we'll be killed off for sure."
"But we can't just let Ozpin secretly rule the world! He'll get everyone killed if he gets all the relics!"
Raven gave a harsh sigh and shook her head. Yang was so much like her in her younger years and it showed. "I'm aware. I didn't say do nothing, I said take it slower. The difference between what you've been fighting and someone like Ozpin or Ironwood is giant. You'd be killed on the spot if you ran in."
Whitley hummed his agreement. "After seeing the general plow through so many people at once? I'm inclined to agree."
"What even was that?" Yang slammed her fist into the armrest. "He was totally invincible! It's like nothing fazed him!"
"That's because nothing can faze him, child."
They all held back their groans as Watts made his presence known. Raven turned to him with a glare.
"What do you mean?"
"James was a project created by myself and another great mind in Atlas, Pietro Polendina. The goal was to create the world's first fully autonomous man. A request from Ozpin directly."
"Wait, Ironwood is a robot!?" Yang scrambled up to lean in towards the doctor.
"And you built him willingly?" Whitley asked, scathingly. Watts nodded.
"In layman's terms, yes. Pietro's semblance allowed him to transfer his own aura into an object to give it life, however momentary or limited its intelligence was. Using that as a base, we made a machine that would be able to transfer aura into a battery that would act much the same as a heart. We were both far too blinded by such a prospect to consider what Ozpin wanted it for. We were naive to think it was for 'the betterment of humanity' or 'the war on Grimm' or some such"
"And I assume that's how the machine in Beacon's catacombs Pyrrha and Jaune told us about was formed?" Whitley mused. Watts nodded, eyes crinkling slightly at his quick thinking.
"Indeed, that was made by the same principle."
"And Ironwood?" Ruby asked.
"The original machine was a success. I volunteered to test it myself for the first aura transfer. It would take a little of mine, put it in the heart, and the heart would, in theory, be able to continue to produce aura."
Yang was listening with rapt attention, unlike most other times the doctor spoke, this was actually interesting! "Well clearly it did, right?"
Watts nodded. "It did. Unfortunately, we didn't account for just how much the machine would take. I was lucky Pietro was there to stop it or it would've likely killed me. That's how I ended up like this," he waved a hand at his legs and the chair that held him.
"But how did Ironwood become... Well, how he is now?" Ruby asked.
"We were asked to turn him into the perfect machine to combat Grimm. We programmed the most tactical mind, engineered some of the strongest, cutting edge warfare technology ever made, and built a body that could house it all. His artificial mind would always yearn to find the most efficient way to handle a situation; practically a supercomputer!"
Raven would admit, she'd been drawn in as well. "So where'd it all go wrong?"
Watts sighed, and for once, there was no bravado or smarm to his person. He looked tired and weak.
"We put it all together, and he came to life. It was one of the most memorable days of my life. Pietro and I had slaved to make everything perfect, and it had all worked! Miraculous in the world of science."
He shook his head and stared out the window.
"But Project Ironwood was flawed in a way we never expected. The drive for efficiency we had given him was too powerful. Combined with his aura, it manifested in a way we hadn't expected."
Whitley snapped. "A semblance!"
"That it was," Watts nodded. "He developed a semblance we dubbed 'Mettle' which would allow him to completely hone in on any situation and find the best way to optimize and conduct his way through it. We were ecstatic at first. It was unforeseen, yes, but that kind of development was beyond even my own and Pietro's calculations!"
Raven sighed. "But it all went ass backwards through the window."
"For lack of better words," Watts grit his teeth, slamming a fist on the arm of his chair. "Ozpin, the bastard, started introducing things to James that we hadn't ever accounted for. Things we wouldn't have even known about. I'm sure you're aware of what that could be, yes?"
The relics, magic, Salem. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happens when you introduce the concepts of gods, magical items, and an unkillable witch to a supercomputer that was programmed to find solutions.
Ruby chewed on her thumb for a moment. "But Ironwood couldn't possibly find a way to solve Ozpin's problems since you wouldn't have known anything about magic, right?"
"Yes, and that was the issue. Ozpin introduced new possibilities that James would have never been able to conceive on his own before. We didn't make him without emotions after all, and Ozpin was the first to make him feel something he hated."
"Fear."
Watts gave Raven an appraising look. He nodded slowly and took a breath.
"Yes. James had no clue how to respond to any of Ozpin's queries, and the more intense they got, the more James would submerge himself in trying to find a solution. When Ozpin finally showed him the relic of creation..." For a moment, Watts, the ever self absorbed and seemingly unflinching scientist, sounded hurt. "It broke him."
"... Broke him how?" Yang asked quietly.
"He was practically enamored with it! All of the time he'd spent trying to find a solution to any of Ozpin's lunacy and ravings had suddenly opened back up, because with the knowledge of magic, there were no fallacies anymore! Anything could be possible!"
It was quiet now as Watts regained his composure, taking a deep breath and letting it out with a sigh.
"And how did you learn all this?" Raven asked. Watts laughed but it lacked any mirth.
"James told me himself. Pietro had a daughter by this point, so it had been me who took the time to check in with our creation," Watts' stare was far away, clearly remembering a different time. "I had been there for all the times he threw himself at Ozpin's supposed 'scenarios', so he didn't think anything of it. When he told me this, I lost it. I told him he'd lead the world to an early death if he were to abuse the kind of power Ozpin was suggesting."
"He wanted to believe me, I could tell. But Ozpin is nothing if not brutally efficient at digging his claws into people. James didn't stand a chance, and before I knew it, he had 'somehow' been instated as the general for the whole bloody army and I was now a wanted man for 'treason'. Salem found me on my escape, and I offered to share everything I could if it meant stopping that despicable man."
It was strange, seeing Watts like this. It made him... More human. They all remained in silence for a while, but Yang was the one to break it.
"Why tell us this?"
Watts smiled coldly.
"I overheard your desire to take things to Ozpin directly, and your mother's subsequent warning of the people you'd be fighting. I felt the need to warn you just what you were up against for both of them."
Ironwood, an AI that had been built for combat and driven insane by the prospect of an even greater power, and Ozpin, who managed to make it all happen without hardly lifting a finger. It was chilling now that they really thought about it.
"We are short on allies in this war. I'd hate to lose some of the very few of our numbers to incompetence and false hope."
He said that, and it certainly sounded like his normally annoying remarks, but now, after that story, there was no doubt that he was worried for them, in his own way. Worried they'd make the same mistakes he did and rush headlong into a situation without considering just how poorly it could go.
Whitley bowed slightly. "We'll... Take that into consideration, Doctor."
Watts' mustache twitched and just like he'd appeared, he left, floating from the room without another word.
"Damn," Yang slumped backwards onto the cushions, "That was a lot."
"No kidding," Raven huffed. The shouting next door had stopped she realized and she turned to open the door and check on Summer and Qrow.
She cracked the door open slowly, peering inside.
Only to get an eyeful of Qrow tonguing Summer's throat.
"SHITBALLS!" Raven slammed the door shut just as quickly.
"What happened!?" The three youths were on their feet in an instant.
"Something that I knew would fucking happen!" Raven seethed. They all looked confused but there was shuffling before the door opened again and a very sheepish looking Summer Rose exited.
"Ahem. Ray that was... Uh," Summer pulled her white hood up to cover her neck. How inconspicuous. "... That was an interrogation technique."
"Can it, Summer," Raven spat. "I can't fucking believe you..."
"What happened?" Ruby asked, looking between them but letting her eye settle on her mom. Summer paled and her mouth flapped open and closed as she looked for an answer.
"Uh, I was—"
"She and my trash fire of a brother were necking," Raven growled. Summer turned to her with a betrayed look, but Raven wasn't letting this one slide. Tai wasn't around to cover for them anymore!
"Wha— mom!? Eugh! What the hell!?" Ruby looked disgusted, hurt, confused, and livid all at once and Raven couldn't blame her.
"It wasn't— We were just—!"
The door opened and Qrow stumbled out, not realizing that everyone would be on the other side.
"C'mon Sum, we both know you wanted another drink from the Qrow bar."
Summer notably said nothing, but it was hard to hide how red your face was when you wore a white cloak. Qrow seemed to notice they had an audience and blinked.
"Oh."
"That's all you have to say?" Raven drawled.
"... Did anyone wanna watch?"
"EWWWW!" Ruby shot out of the room fast as ever.
Whitley looked a little green and chased after. Yang flinched and followed her partner. Raven sighed.
"You're a failure."
Qrow shrugged, smirking to himself. He still had it.
"You're going soft old man."
Watts rolled his eyes and hardly even turned to give Cinder his attention.
"What gave you such an impression?"
Cinder hummed. "Your little cautionary tale. I don't recall getting any words of advice from you when I came along."
"Yes well, it'd be a real shame if we lost you out in the field, hm?"
"What happened to being short on allies?"
Watts actually laughed at that. "We're hardly allies."
Cinder walked beside him as they made their way towards the throne room. "What am I then, Doctor?"
The way she said his title made him scoff. No respect...
"You're an enigma, as you always will be."
"An enigma, hm? How so?"
Watts finally gave her more than just the corner of his eye. "Now now, are you actually interested in what I have to say?"
"When the subject is so stellar?" Cinder smirked. "Of course."
"Ah yes. How could I not take into account your conceit?"
"It takes one to know one, Arthur."
Well played girl. He'd give her that one. They rounded the corner and he hummed.
"You hold the powers of a maiden. You're a force of nature for all intents and purposes. Yet you ally yourself on the side of this war that seems to be at a disadvantage. That doesn't seem like your modus operandi."
Cinder let the words wash over her before she replied. "A disadvantage hardly means the losing side."
"But it could mean an early death."
She let out a little laugh. "It's either the possibility of an early death on this side, or an assured death on the other."
Watts said nothing to that, and they continued the rest of the way in silence. Upon reaching the throne room, Gretchen was there, waiting for them. The mountain of a woman nodded and opened the doors, allowing them in.
"About time," Tyrian sniffed, "Does punctuality mean nothing to you people?"
"Relax Tyrian," Salem waved him down placatingly, "It's not like we're short of time out here."
True. There was nothing but Grimm for miles upon miles. Not to mention that if anything did approach, they had the world's largest, deadliest alarm circling the tower. Speaking of which, the sky whale floated slowly by the window as he let out a loud hum. Ever the source of security, that Fluffykins.
"We have new allies," Salem started, "More than we've had in quite some time. They're a strong bunch too. Two silver eyed warriors, the ability to travel great distances in no time at all, even a cleric!"
"I don't think the boy counts as a cleric, Salem," Gretchen noted. Salem made a dismissive motion.
"He can heal and he glows bright white. That's what we called a cleric in my day."
"So what is our next step?" Watts asked, stopping any derailments before they could happen. Tyrian stood with his hands behind his back.
"We've got some momentum, believe it or not. While Ozma is likely the one premeditating these attacks on the kingdoms, it's as much a win for us as it is for him."
Gretchen growled at that. "How is the loss of so many innocent lives a win for anyone, exactly?"
Tyrian nodded. "Ozma is likely doing this as a way to rally the people. He'll claim it's some outside party and get the entire world to come together to kill her," he pointed at Salem, "all the Grimm gathered as a result is just a bonus to his growing army. All of this to say, he'll be nearly tripling the amount of hunters in the world in the next generation."
"And we gain from this how?" Watts asked.
"If Ozma believes his plan to be flawless, he's sorely mistaken," Tyrian went on, "in his attempts to bolster his forces he's forgetting something: the relics."
"We had thought before that we would be able to stave him off by just holding the relic of knowledge," Salem continued, "But it's clear now we need more."
"So which one?" Gretchen asked. "Destruction seems useless if we can't actually kill him forever with it. Choice would be the obvious... Well, choice."
"Don't forget Creation," Cinder added. Gretchen scowled.
"But then we'd have to drop Atlas on top of Mantle. That doesn't feel like the thing the supposed 'side of good' should do."
Watts eyebrows knitted together and he leaned back. "So which one then?"
Salem nodded to Tyrian, who sighed but responded for her.
"All of them."
It was silent.
Each of them waited to see if the other would say something first, but it never came. Cinder decided to be the one to speak up.
"I'm sorry, did you just say we should try and retain all of the relics?"
"Yes," Salem nodded.
More silence. It was crushing them all.
"That..." Watts searched for the words, "That sounds like madness!"
"I agree with the doctor," Gretchen shook her head, "don't we want to prevent the gods from returning to Remnant? If we gather all the relics, we're doing Ozpin's job for him!"
"No," Salem's voice was commanding, sending their arguments into the void in an instant, "we are at just as much of a disadvantage to finding the maidens as Ozpin, but that will change if he starts recruiting hunters and trainees en masse."
Realization dawned on all of them.
If Ozpin started tearing down the kingdoms, he had nothing to lose from it. He was almost exclusively benefiting from it. The more of a threat he could provide the more hunters would be under his thumb. Not only that, but he was also giving the people an enemy and solving the overpopulation at the same time, regardless of how inhumane it was. After all, he could control the Grimm, so if they suddenly started decreasing in numbers alongside the increasing hunter population, then the kingdoms could actually grow larger than before.
And he'd be able to make it happen because even if he died in one of these 'terrorist' attacks, he'd just reincarnate and keep the momentum going.
"That bastard!" Gretchen slammed the table hard enough to rattle it.
"Quite," Salem mused, "We need to redouble our efforts. Ozma is setting up all his pieces now, but he's leaving his greatest assets unattended as a result."
"Are we so sure he'd leave the relics so vulnerable?" Watts questioned.
"It's not that they'll be vulnerable, he'll undoubtedly keep them just as guarded. Rather, he is growing complacent that I will not make a move for them. That's where he's mistaken," Salem steepled her fingers.
"We have the fall maiden," Tyrian nodded towards Cinder, "and we may know the location of the winter maiden as well. We have no need for the spring maiden as we already have the relic of knowledge."
"So that just leaves the summer maiden," Gretchen grumbled, still visibly upset from before.
"Yes, but we may actually be able to draw her out," Tyrian claimed, gaining all of their attention.
"How?"
"We have reason to believe that Ozma will attack Vacuo next," Salem started, "He wouldn't attack Atlas since he needs Ironwood's support for the duration. He'll likely stab him in the back once he's managed to get through the other three kingdoms."
Unsurprising. James just didn't see the betrayal coming, not after Ozpin provided him with so much.
Cinder waved a hand in a circle. "Why Vacuo and not Mistral?"
"That's more of a guess, on our part," Tyrian relented, "We assume that he'll want to keep the economy relatively stable for as long as he can. Hitting Vale was a big deal, so he needs to balance it by hitting a less stable kingdom next."
And since Mistral was undeniably more wealthy than Vacuo, that made sense. All the wealth in Vacuo was focused in a few select places, but Mistral had far more exports and livable land. Vacuo would be easy to hit and easy to recover.
"So we're off to Vacuo then?" Watts sighed. Salem nodded.
"Indeed. Only a few of us though. The rest will be going back to Vale."
Vale? Then that meant...
"We're going after Choice?" Cinder sat straighter now.
"Yes. We are going to attempt to swipe two relics from Ozma at once. Cinder and a team will go and take Choice, while the rest will find and secure the maiden and Destruction."
And here Watts was earlier telling the kids not to bite off more than they could chew. Who was charging forward now?
"And you're sure of this course of action?" Gretchen gripped the edge of the table tightly in anticipation.
"Positive."
They all nodded.
"I want Watts going with Cinder. Tyrian and Gretchen, you will both be going to Vacuo. You may ask any of our new allies to join you," Salem commanded.
"Yes, Salem."
"Start your plans. We need to act quickly if we want to be in motion at the same time as Ozma. You are dismissed."
They all nodded and stood leaving the room to begin preparations.
Time to get to work.
Sorry for this one being so short. It was a good place to end and I didn't wanna oversaturate the chapter with too much.
We've got plans in motion now. Feels good to be getting towards the end of the story now.
While RT goes to shit, I'd like to say that I haven't really liked them or RWBY for quite some time now. What I do like are the writers and readers here who want nothing but the best and share their wellspring of ideas with others. I'll keep writing at my slow, annoying pace, but rest assured, I'm not going anywhere. You guys are too cool for that.
Remember to follow to stay updated, and drop a review to let me know what y'all think.
Stay healthy out there and have a wonderful time!
