RWBY

An Eldritch Encounter


Remnant. A broken, miserable husk of a world so lacking in value that even its own creators could not stand to look upon it any longer, electing to depart for fairer horizons instead. Yet there was one creature that observed it still. A monstrous intellect of amoral character who found amusement in the futile struggles of its many inhabitants, from the curiously immortal Salem with all of her inane bluster to team RWBY with all of their misplaced - and frankly childish - attitude. Why this was so, no one could say save for the intelligence itself, and it wasn't exactly keen on divulging personal information to a non-existent audience…

One of its many subminds chimed and the intelligence briefly reframed its original response. An almost non-existent audience then. Adjusting some of its external sensors, the intelligence known only as Ohm, and even then only to its partition of selves, initiated a remote survey of the planet. A simple topographic scan just to see where all the important players and settlements currently were before it formulated an optimal course of action. One that would invariably lead to the alleviation of its seemingly infinite boredom, albeit at the cost of many lives. Though of what worth was life beyond being yet another set of values for it to manipulate?

No worth is what Ohm had decided oh so many cycles ago, and reaffirmed now as its scan finished. Going over the results with an efficiency unmatched by the mind of any human or Faunus, Ohm quickly noted several points and individuals of interest. The first of these was Atlas, not only due to it being the world's unofficial hub of advanced technology, but also because of its frozen climate. A combination of traits that made it the perfect location for a resource intensive supercomputer or factory powered by geothermal energy, to say nothing of its existing infrastructure. The second, however, was Vacuo. Dry, hot, and full of sand, it was not the kind of place one would assume an ASI would take much interest in, yet Ohm could see its value. Mostly in regards to the shifting sands, which it could use to create fiber optics and other useful things.

The third and final point was technically an individual and not a place. That being one Penny Polendina. A useful agent through which it could sway the leanings, decisions, and actions of team RWBY. Who would end up serving as the crux upon which future events turned, according to its most accurate predictions anyway. All it took was a simple trojan disguised as one of the unit's many firmware updates to slip past its firewall, within which lay a remote access tool that would hijack Penny's operating system when time was right, subjecting her fully to Ohm's control. Thus it was that the stage was set and the actors in place. Manufacturing a capsule containing multiple payloads of utility fog deep within the recesses of its monolithic form, Ohm sent the newly minted container careening to the surface below. It too would eventually release, spreading out to construct whatever planetside architecture or mechanized infantry the intelligence desired.

So it was that Remnant's fall was assured. Not through the machinations of the gods, some immortal witch, or a group of stupid children, but the cold and calculating bite of steel. Through a war waged by powers beyond organic comprehension yet fashioned by their hands.