Hunters of Justice (RWBY/DC)
Chapter 48: The Green Light of Will, Part 1
"Move in, move in! Go, go, go!" Hal Jordan yelled as he and hundreds of his fellow Green Lanterns soared through the vast reaches of space towards Brainiac's mothership.
They had been lying in wait for weeks in both this and nearby star systems, hiding among moons and asteroids, just waiting for their sensors to detect Brainiac's approach. With Brainiac's arrival, the culmination of months if not years of planning was finally underway. Never before had the Green Lantern Corp assembled such a force to go after just one individual. Then again, most individuals weren't Brainiac.
It unfortunately took the destruction of Remnant, and subsequent arrival of RWBY and JNPR onto Hal's home of Earth, to finally give the Guardians a lead on where Brainiac was. From there, it wasn't too difficult to find a pattern in Brainiac's madness. The Coluan cyborg liked to pride himself on being 'logical,' even though to Hal and everyone else he was a complete madman, so they used what they understood of Brainiac's twisted sense of logic to find out where he was going and why. After that, they identified the most at risk planets with the closest proximities to one another, and waited. Hal didn't know how many worlds Brainiac destroyed in the meantime, and he vowed to make the monster pay for each and every single one.
To do that, though, they would have to get to him first. Something that Brainiac clearly had no intention of allowing as dozens of support vessels, accompanied by thousands of drone fighters, were launched from the mothership's internal hangar bays. Each one shared the same general skull-and-tentacles design as the main vessel, only smaller. Within just a few moments, the Green Lanterns became outnumbered by at least a margin of ten-to-one, with more and more joining in with each passing second. Clearly Brainiac was pumping out drones as soon as he could manufacture them, but Hal wasn't too worried despite the vast numerical advantage Brainiac held. A single Green Lantern, even a novice, was worth hundreds of his drones at least, and the Lanterns joining Hal on this day were among the best in the entire Corp, with more set to arrive shortly. If anyone could take him down, it would be them.
"Kilowog, take a few dozen Lanterns and circle around to the back of Brainiac's ship," Hal ordered, continuing to fly closer to Brainiac's ship at a rate of thousands of miles per second. "Try to disable the engines if you can. If not, just keep the bastard contained."
"Already on it," Kilowog, a veteran Green Lantern who trained many of the people here today, replied before veering off. Dozens of Lanterns joined him, including Ke'Haan, Boodikka, B'dg, Jruk, Tomar-Re, and others that Hal didn't quite recognize or make out.
Watching them go, Hal then turned his head to his right and said, "Katma, have your forces head off Brainiac from the front. Do not let him get closer to the planet."
"Will do," Katma Tui replied.
Breaking away from Hal's group, Katma and a few other Lanterns flew between Brainiac's ship and the planet he was trying to invade. One by one, Hal and the rest of the assault's leadership organized their assigned Lanterns and directed them to specific locations around Brainiac's vessel, effectively boxing him in. Had Hal still been a novice, he might've suggested forming a wall in space between Brainiac and the planet, or even a massive box to contain the fight. But doing that would not only be monstrously ineffective, as Brainiac could just fly around a simple wall or break through any box they made, but it would also put too many Lanterns out of the fight just to keep up something that wouldn't work. No, it was better to have every available Lantern in the fight directly, keeping Brainiac contained through force of arms rather than physical barriers.
Their goals were simple: prevent Brainiac from reaching the planet and, if able, get inside his mothership to arrest Brainiac himself while securing his bottled cities. Obviously he was going to make them work for it, and Hal knew that many Lanterns were going to die just for a chance at success, but it was a risk they were all willing to take. Their oaths as Green Lanterns pledged to put themselves on the line to keep the universe, and its inhabitants, safe. Whether from natural disasters, or threats from the stars, all while ensuring that the planets themselves could still determine their own paths. It hadn't always worked out, and plenty of mistakes had been made along the way, both during and before Hal's time, but he vowed to ensure that this wouldn't be one of them.
"They're coming," Arisia Rrab spoke up, flying in formation alongside Hal and his fellow Earth Lanterns, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner. Part of Hal wished that John Stewart could've joined them, but he was needed on Earth to deal with their problems at the moment. It was almost funny how many problems and threats happened on a single world.
"Let the bastards come. I've been cooped up in that asteroid for weeks, so I'm dying for some action," Guy Gardner declared with an excited smile on his face. Hal wasn't surprised at Guy's demeanor. The former Baltimore police officer turned Earth's second Green Lantern was always hotblooded and aggressive, often to the point of confrontation, but in his heart Hal knew he was worthy of his ring. All of them were.
"Just stay focused," Kyle Raynor reminded, a stoic yet determined frown on his face. "We've only got one chance at this. If Brainiac gets away, I doubt we'll be able to find him again anytime soon."
Unlike the rest of Earth's veteran Lanterns, Kyle was an artist before being granted a ring. Yet, despite that, he had quickly proven his worth as one of the most dutiful Lanterns in the entire corps, and certainly one of the most creative. Hal tended to default to his time as a fighter pilot in the US Air Force, with Guy harkening back to his days as a college sports star and John being even simpler than Hal himself, but the stuff that Kyle came up with boggled the mind.
"Yeah, I know that," Guy reminded them, his smile turning into a scowl. "We're going to make that bastard pay."
"Yes, we are," Hal agreed with a firm nod, continuing to fly straight ahead. In front of them, they saw flashes of light as Lanterns began confronting Brainiac's forces, but Hal's group hadn't reached them yet. In a few moments, though, they would.
"Remember," he spoke up, forming an oval shield around himself in preparation for the battle to come, "once we get inside and find Brainiac, do not kill him. We don't know what will happen to the cities if he dies."
Arisia, Guy, and Kyle all frowned at the mention of that theory. They didn't know for certain if it was accurate, as until now it was impossible to tell. No Lantern had ever gotten inside Brainiac's ship and reported back alive. Hopefully it would just end up being a false assumption, but until it was ruled out Brainiac was to be left alive at all costs. They couldn't risk the chance of his death killing the trillions of innocent souls he had captured.
Several explosions went off just ahead of them, causing all conversation to cease. The Green Lanterns steeled themselves, instinctually clenching their bodies in anticipation. A moment later, the first of Brainiac's drones arrived, firing yellow-tinted lasers at the Green Lanterns and forcing them to scatter.
Only a few beams grazed off their shields, even as they each responded with their own attacks. Hal summoned a swarm of missiles, which lanced out to home in on individual drones in a rapid series of green explosions. Emulating the human she idolized, Arisia fired a single, massive rocket that exploded in the center of a cluster of drones, taking out dozens of them all at once. Kyle created a scintillating wave of bladed light which swept through the lines of machines like a snake, leaving nothing but shredded parts in its wake. And Guy, well, he formed a comically massive flyswatter, which he rapidly swung through entire groups of drones, smashing or cubing everything that got anywhere near him.
The first wave to reach them was decimated in seconds all together. But that was just a warmup to the army between them and their target.
Qrow was simply laying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with his hands crossed behind his head, when he felt the first tremor. At first, it was barely noticeable, to the point where Qrow wouldn't have even realized it happened had the hairs on the back of his neck not risen. Even then, he dismissed it as nothing more than a trick of the mind, or just his Semblance acting up again. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time Brainiac's ship groaned or creaked slightly.
When it happened again just a few moments later, however, it was much harder for Qrow to dismiss.
"What the Hell?" Qrow muttered as he sat upright. Looking around his tiny, cramped, windowless cell, he tried to ascertain the source of the tremor. While it was still faint and hard to make out, it was far more intense than anything he had felt before. Both made by his Semblance and from other sources outside of his control.
Then, out of nowhere, a third tremor shook the ship, this time with enough force to knock the veteran Huntsman off of his bed with a surprised yelp and onto the floor. Ceiling lights flickered or shut off entirely, and a load groan echoed across the walls. Quickly shooting up to his feet in alarm, Qrow breathed heavily in and out as he tried to figure out just what the Hell was going on. Was Brainiac doing some maintenance or updates onto his ship? Were they traveling through an asteroid belt?
After a few moments, Qrow's eyes widened as he remembered the last thing Ozpin told him before Raven sold him out. About a gut feeling he had where Qrow needed to be in a position to act. With his heartbeat increasing, Qrow slowly walked to the outside wall of his cell, each step heavy with trepidation. Putting his ear to the smooth, cold metal, Qrow strained his senses as far as he could to try and hear what was going on throughout the ship. While he wouldn't be able to hear what was going on in the vacuum of space, sound could travel through solid objects perfectly fine. You just had to know what to listen for.
It took a few moments for him to make anything out, but soon he could recognize the distinctive whines and twangs of laser batteries powering up then discharging. The sounds were coming from all over the ship, perhaps every single one that Brainiac had. Occasionally, he would hear then feel a thud, followed by one of the laser batteries going silent. His eyes widening, Qrow shot his head down to the floor, where he heard Brainiac's internal factories working on overdrive, pumping out as many drones as he possibly could.
They weren't going through an asteroid field, Qrow realized as his body slackened. Brainiac was under attack. By whom, Qrow didn't know, but it was clear that they were putting up a hell of a fight.
Knowing that he had to act now, Qrow shot over to his bed and ripped open the pillow he had hidden Ozpin's data in. He would have to use his Semblance to glitch out the cell door's computer, something that would be quite obvious to his captor, but right now he didn't much care if Brainiac figured out what he was doing. Either Qrow was going to do this now, or never at all. Stashing the thumb drive into his pocket, Qrow ran over to the door and placed both of his hands against the metal. Concentrating harder than he ever had in his entire life, Qrow reached out to the vulnerabilities he had detected in Brainiac's systems.
He closed his eyes and imagined the strain the ship's electrical systems must be going through in this battle, with Brainiac pushing the engines, defenses, weapon batteries, drone factories, and who knows what else to their limits all at the same time. Qrow couldn't even pretend to understand how such advanced technology worked, but it's not like his Semblance was a physical force that he needed to direct, or that he even had proper control of anyway. All it needed was a stress point to push on, a moment where something could go wrong, right before it did. The lights, already dangerously flickering from the battle outside, began to spark and shatter as the power in this block suddenly surged. The mechanisms in the door audibly whined as sparks shot out everywhere around Qrow, wires exploding outward from the walls and singeing Qrow's body. Letting his Aura take the damage, Qrow powered through it. He just kept focusing on his Semblance and the thought of the door breaking, almost like a prayer in a way.
The whole episode lasted only thirty seconds, and Qrow could feel that his Aura was diminished quite a bit. Yet he didn't care in the slightest as his cells' door retreated into the cell wall. Not completely, but enough to where he was able to pry the gap apart further through brute strength, allowing him to slip through into the hall outside. He took a moment to breathe in and out, overjoyed at the success he honestly didn't think would happen.
But he couldn't wait for long. While Qrow didn't hear anything like an alarm, if there was one undoubtedly Qrow's escape just triggered it. It was only a matter of time before a small army of Brainiac's drones came rushing after him. There was no telling how much time Qrow had, so he sprinted as fast as he could towards the room where he saw Harbinger being stored. While he could just run straight to Penny's cell, as Ozpin wanted him to do, Qrow was being pragmatic. If and when he came across resistance from Brainiac's forces, there was only so much he could do with just his fists. Which was a lot, admittedly, but not enough to get him all the way to Penny.
Luckily for him, Brainiac hadn't installed internal doors or bulkheads to seal off sections of the ship with him stuck inside. So he was able to move about freely. That being said, it wasn't long before the first group of Brainiac Drones emerged, numbering twelve in total. They were just as repulsive and infuriating to look at as the first time he had seen them on Remnant, a nightmarish combination of flesh, bone, and cybernetics under a skin of cobalt-blue armor. Upon seeing him, they raised their hand-mounted plasma cannons to fire at him, but Qrow was already moving.
Jumping into the air with a wordless roar of defiance, Qrow punched the nearest drone in its bony head. The blow carried enough force to shatter the skull into hundreds of pieces, which peppered the surrounding units. Without even missing a beat, the drones converged their aim onto Qrow and fired, but he was already gone in the blink of an eye. A few drones were caught in the crossfire, skewered with burning holes in their chassis that their bodies weren't able to support. As they collapsed into nothing more than smoldering scrap, Qrow added to the pile with a series of ruthless kicks, elbow strikes, and punches into the drones himself. Many of the 'experiments' that Brainiac subjected him to during the past few weeks involved pitting Qrow against his manufactured drones, which offered the Huntsman plenty of knowledge and experience in determining what, exactly, their weak points were and how to exploit them.
Knowledge he gleefully utilized as he chopped one of the arms off of a drone. Using his Semblance to make the plasma battery fire sporadically, Qrow aimed the makeshift weapon at the chest of another drone. It only lasted a few shots, but it was enough. He then wielded the severed arm as a club, which he used to brutally bash in the chest and skull of yet another. As it fell to the ground, along with the crumbled remains of the arm itself, Qrow felt the last three drones fire cables around his body. Electricity surged through them, and he couldn't help but let out an agonized scream.
Yet he refused to let that stop him as he focused his Semblance once again. For a brief moment, one of the drones had the flow of electricity reverse, sending it into itself rather than the intended target. The drone's internal wiring short circuited, leaving it a spastic mess. Fighting through the pain, Qrow gripped the now lifeless cables and swung it hard to his left, slamming the spasming yet unresponsive drone into the body of another. They both shattered into crumbled pieces of scrap. He then, with a wicked grin on his face, transformed into a crow, causing the cables around him to loosen. The simple artificial intelligence immediately shut off the electricity for a moment, giving Qrow just enough time to turn back into a human, grab the inert cable, then pull towards himself as hard as he could. His move had enough strength to pull the drone off the floor, and he caught it by the skull with the palm of his hand before slamming it down onto the ground with enough force to both shatter the bone and leave a small indent in the metal.
Breathing heavily, Qrow stood over the carnage he just wrought, then he spat and growled, "Fuck you."
With that declaration, Qrow turned around and ran off once again. A few more squads of drones interrupted him, attempting to either kill or capture the escapee, but Qrow dispatched them just as easily as the first group. Soon, he found himself standing before the room where he saw his weapon being taken into. Repeating the same actions he did to escape his cell, Qrow focused on getting the door open. Before long, however, he heard the sound of thunderous footsteps racing towards him. It didn't take a genius to realize that a small army of drones was being sent his way. Part of him was surprised that more weren't being sent after him, but then Qrow figured that the war going on outside of the ship was probably drawing most of Brainiac's attention. Was probably the only reason why he got this far anyway.
Working double-time, Qrow managed to jam open the door just enough so that he could squeeze through. With another quick application of his Semblance, the door slammed shut, then the locking mechanism short-circuited, preventing Brainiac's forces from opening the door. It didn't take long for them to start banging their fists against the metal, each impact sending tremors reverberating through it. But Qrow didn't focus on that as he instead scoured the room for his weapon.
"Brothers…" Qrow muttered as he beheld the arsenal inside.
There were hundreds of weapons laid out on tables and racks, with automated machines inspecting them. Some of the weapons he recognized from Remnant, including rifles used by Atlesian soldiers and even weapons that held that distinctive Huntsman flare. Others, however, were completely alien, their uses and modes of operation unknown to him. If he had more time, Qrow supposed he might be able to figure out what they were, perhaps even how to use them to his advantage in the fight ahead. But, as the drones began cutting their way through the door, he knew that wasn't an option.
Quickly finding Harbinger, Qrow bit back a curse as he noted its disassembled state. There also weren't any shotgun shells for him to use as ammunition. Clearly his run of bad luck hadn't quite run its course. Shaking his head, Qrow then began to reassemble his weapon, something he had so much experience in that he could practically do it in his sleep. As soon as he finished putting Harbinger back together, he gave the scythe-sword-shotgun hybrid a few practice swings and reconfigurations. Finding the weapon to be more than satisfactory, Qrow couldn't help but gently rub his hand across the smooth surface of its blade. It had been so long since he'd last seen it, he honestly feared he never would again. During all of Brainiac's experiments, the alien cyborg never gave him a proper weapon to use. The most he ever got was just a metal pole.
As the door was fully cut through and blasted down, Qrow decided now was a perfect time to show Brainiac why it was good idea to keep the Huntsman away from his weapon. Holding Harbinger out to the side, he reconfigured it into its two-handed scythe form, the blade curving upward above his head. Dozens of drones poured inside the room, targeting lasers pointed right at him, yet all Qrow could do was smirk.
"Alright," he muttered as he widened his stance. "Let's dance."
With a yell, Qrow raised Harbinger up high, then leapt into the fray. Volleys of plasmafire were already shooting towards him, but the veteran Huntsman was able to twist and turn in midair to avoid the blasts. Fresh holes were bored into the walls and ceiling behind him, smoking and sizzling from the intense heat, but Qrow ignored that as he landed in the middle of the group that was inside the room itself. Gripping Harbinger's long handle with both hands, he swung to the side and bisected each and every drone around him by the waist. Their remains clattered to the ground, some of which still had enough power to try and reach for his legs or aim their cannons at him, but Qrow twirled Harbinger around himself. His movements were so fast, they were a blur even to him, and like a blender he reduced the remains of the drones into an unidentifiable mess that covered the floor.
Refusing to rest on his laurels as the rest of the drones converged onto him, Qrow shot forward out of the room and into Brainiac's forces. Broken metallic bodies were hurled into the air as he used Harbinger as a battering ram, and many more were cut down in his wake. Briefly taking a glance around him, Qrow couldn't tell how many drones Brainiac had sent after him. At least four dozen, probably more.
Knowing that wouldn't be enough to contain him, Qrow began swinging and slashing Harbinger into the drones' bodies. Arms and heads were sliced off or bashed inward, their sparking bodies crumpling uselessly to the floor. He bashed one's head hard enough to where it became lodged inside its chest, and before it could fall down he kicked it as hard he could. The drone's body flew back, knocking over several drones that were in its path before it crashed into round, curved walls.
Without missing a beat, and not even having to look, Qrow blocked a volley of plasma with Harbinger's blade. He briefly winced at the strain and heat. Just because an attack didn't hit his body didn't mean his Aura wasn't affected. At the same time, though, he couldn't help but compare the attacks to what he felt back during Brainiac's invasion of Remnant. Those plasma shots hurt like hell, stripping much of his Aura away whenever he was hit or had to block. These, however, while still painful were much less intense. Qrow immediately knew the reason why, and he couldn't help but smirk.
"Still think you can catch and bring me back alive, ya bastard?" Qrow asked to no one in particular, although he knew Brainiac was most likely listening in. Even if his attention was otherwise preoccupied, something he was reminded of as yet another tremor shook through the ship, coming from the outside.
Determined to use his enemy's restraint to his advantage, Qrow immediately went back onto the offensive. Bobbing and weaving under thrown punches, launched cables, and plasma volleys, Qrow swung and stabbed Harbinger into the drones whenever he could. With the fighting much closer now, he shifted Harbinger back into its sword mode while continuing his swing's momentum. At the same time, he applied just the right amount of aura onto the blade's edge, and when the swing was complete a slice of compressed air shot forth. It cleaved through the chest of a drone from shoulder to waist, continuing on and through two more drones behind it before finally losing steam.
Qrow then stabbed Harbinger into the chest of a drone trying to grab him from behind. He then jumped up and used its body as a springboard, pulling Harbinger out with him as he soared through the air. Twirling like a corkscrew, he chopped heads and arms off of numerous drones in one fell swoop, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. Landing on his feet and turning on a dime to face the rest, he hastily blocked another volley of fire before retaliating with yet another aura slice.
There were only around a dozen now, the rest reduced to worthless scrap that cluttered the floor and banged against his feet as he moved. Yet the remaining drones didn't cease their efforts to capture Qrow, converging onto him like a pack of Beowolves. They ran over and kicked aside the scraps of drones as they moved, yet Qrow remained where he stood. Holding Harbinger out, he took a few deep breaths and concentrated. A moment later, one of the drones tripped on a severed leg, causing it to fall to the side. At the same time, it's plasma cannon discharged, firing a bolt straight through the back of another drone and striking its power cell. The drone stopped moving, frozen midstride as its body began to twitch, spasm, and spark. Knowing what was about to happen, Qrow smirked then ducked, stabbing Harbinger into the ground and shielding himself behind its blade.
The drone's ruptured power cell then violently exploded, sending smoke, fire, and debris outward in all directions. The drones right next to it were consumed by the blast, with the rest discombobulated. Taking advantage of their momentary disorientation, Qrow stood back up and slashed Harbinger once through the cloud of dark smoke, cutting it and the drones concealed inside in half in one fell swoop. As the smoke cleared, Qrow looked around and saw that he was utterly alone for the moment, with only the broken remains of Brainiac's forces to keep him company.
Noting that Harbinger's blade was covered in a thick, black, oily substance, he grimaced before wiping it off on his shirt. He then looked around and found a camera. Knowing that it was trained on him, Qrow smiled then raised a dismissive middle finger right towards it.
Smiling and bowing towards the camera as he waved his hand around in a lazy circle, he then turned around and ran off. While flipping the bird at his captor was more than a little cathartic, he had a job to do. Around and ahead of him, he could hear and sense more drones converging onto him from all sides. It didn't matter to Qrow Branwen. Brainiac could put a thousand drones between him and his destination, and it still wouldn't matter. He was going to see this through, and absolutely nothing would stop him.
Blocking a laser blast with a hastily erected wall, Hal Jordan then formed a massive fist which he used to knock away a flight of drones. The drones themselves reminded Hal of the fighter jets he used to fly back on Earth, with a similar size and a sleek, triangular profile almost like an arrowhead. An arrowhead powered by plasma jets and armed with laser cannons. As with the rest of Brainiac's forces, there weren't any organic pilots inside, so the Green Lanterns were free to go all out against them. While the Green Lantern Corp had been forced to drop their official No Killing policy following the rise of the other Lantern Corps, most significantly the Sinestro Corp, most Lanterns preferred to avoid killing whenever possible. They had no such compunctions against non-sapient robots, though, including the robots who were a part of the Corp.
Hal was reminded of that as he saw Stel, a sapient robot from the planet Grenda in Sector 3009, expertly snipe off the central processors of a passing flight of drones with thin beams of energy. So many were sent off at once, it was like he turned a sniper rifle into a minigun. For a brief moment, Stel regarded Hal after the human Green Lantern fired another barrage of homing rockets into a second flight of drones, then Stel nodded at him before flying off.
All across the surrounding expanse of space, explosive bursts of yellow and green light could be seen as the two forces fought each other. Brainiac's advance to the planet had been completely halted, stranding him in the middle of the system's dense asteroid belt. Just as they planned, Hal knew as he flashed a confident smirk. The asteroids provided the Lanterns with ample amounts of cover, allowing them to escape from pursuers in the floating rocks before either circling around them or other Lanterns, lying in wait, were able to assist. Some of them had even been converted into makeshift field hospitals, hollowed out and made accessible by tunnels bored into craters. Hal could see Lanterns flying in and out of those hospitals, either to recharge their power rings or to be treated for their injuries.
Beside him, he saw a large green explosion as Arisia fired another rocket into a cluster of drones. As she did, her ring flashed dangerously, and she spat, "Dammit! My ring needs a recharge!"
"Go, we'll cover you!" Hal barked as he formed a minigun and fired it into a cluster of drones. Other Lanterns who were nearby joined in on the assault, giving Arisia enough time to fly away and disappear into an asteroid. A few other Lanterns passed by her on their way out, and they immediately went back onto the offensive.
"Katma, give me status!" Hal requested as he flew off after a group of drones, forming a pair of F35 Lightning II jets to boost his speed. At the same time, he used the constructs' autocannons and missile launchers to take his targets out before moving onto the next.
"Brainiac's giving us everything he's got, but we're holding," Katma reported. From the corner of Hal's eye, he could see flashes of green light where Katma and her forces were concentrated, fighting Brainiac's drones and dodging the fire from Brainiac's ship itself.
"We can't do this forever, though! Several of my Lanterns have already been wounded and taken out of the fight!" she added, just as a large beam of yellow light erupted from one of the weapon batteries on the mothership, forcing Katma's forces to scatter.
"Just keep holding him off as long as you can!" Hal replied. "Focus on the drones; we'll take care of those batteries!"
"Hurry, Hal!"
Wordlessly nodding, Hal turned his attention to Guy Gardner and ordered, "Guy, take a few Lanterns and smash those laser cannons! They're chewing us up!"
"Thought you'd never ask! Was about to go do it myself!" Guy cheerfully replied as he zoomed off, flying straight towards Brainiac's ship. Around six other Green Lanterns joined him, and together they formed a massive sphere of green light to protect themselves from Brainiac's weapons. The yellow-tinted lasers were absorbed by the shield, protecting the Lanterns inside.
At the exact same time, however, Hal could see cracks already beginning to form in the barrier's surface, and he frowned. Even now, after all the improvements made to counteract the inherent weakness, yellow light still proved to be very effective against Green Lantern constructs. It would no longer simply pass through, as that was the first thing they changed after Sinestro went rogue and founded his own Corp who used the yellow light of fear as their main weapon, but it would still tear though it like nothing else. Clearly Brainiac knew that, hence why all of his weapons were using yellow light wavelengths and frequencies.
Seeing this, Hal and a few other Lanterns, including Two-Six and a returning Arisia, rushed in to alleviate the pressure off of Guy. They blasted apart the drones swarming them with missiles, laser blasts, rockets, and even giant swords and axes. Soon, Guy and his men were able to reach Brainiac's ship, where they immediately broke off and began smashing the laser batteries one by one. Guy in particular was going about it with glee, forming a comically oversized baseball bat which he used to smash the cannons apart like he was playing a game of Whack-A-Mole. The others were taking them out from a distance with laser blasts or even cutting them open with thin beams of concentrated energy, but either way it was getting the job done.
That didn't mean any of them were out of the woods yet, as more and more of Brainiac's forces were converging onto them, eager to fill in the gap in his defenses as the Lanterns were far too close for the laser batteries to be brought to bear on them. Immediately moving to intercept, Hal formed an anti-air gun battery which floated in the middle of space. Hopping into its seat, he aimed the four machine guns it was armed with and opened fire. Dark green bullets of hard light tore into the drones, which both scattered and returned fire with laser blasts of their own, forcing Hal to disperse his weapon and fly off. A few strikes managed to hit his back, making him wince in pain, but he was able to power through it.
Not all of the Lanterns, however, were so lucky. One Lantern was struck from multiple angles from passing drones, overwhelming his shields and making them break. The lasers continued through his body, which twitched and spasmed at the impacts. He luckily died near instantly, as his body, now exposed to the vacuum of space, experienced the inevitable freezing, swelling, and other such nasty effects from the sudden depressurization. The Lantern's ring promptly slid off the alien's finger, removing his uniform in the process, and it floated in front of his corpse for a moment before flying off to parts unknown, searching for its next wielder.
"Dammit!" Hal cursed at the loss of yet another valuable Green Lantern. They had already lost far too many this day, and the worst part was that Hal knew it was far from over. By the time they were done, no matter which way it ended, they were going to lose more.
Hal added his comrade's death to the crimes that Brainiac would have to answer for, and redoubled his efforts as he let out a primal scream and renewed his attack on Brainiac's forces.
Standing before Fria's bed, Penny stared out into the walls surrounding them. Every few moments, tremors could be heard and felt across the entire ship, making the devices inside the room shake with increasing intensity. Fria was sitting upright on her bed, with thin tubes and wires connecting her to devices embedded into the wall behind her bed. The atmosphere inside the room was tense, broken only by the faint, reverberating beeps of the devices monitoring Fria's condition.
"…We're in a fight right now, aren't we?" Fria finally asked, breaking the silence. Penny didn't answer at first, then nodded without even turning around to look at the elderly woman.
"I believe we are, yes," Penny answered, wringing her hands together nervously. Behind her, Fria pursed her lips then idly looked around the room as yet another tremor ran through the walls.
"Sounds intense," Fria noted. "Whoever Brainiac is fighting, they're certainly making him work for it."
Penny didn't say anything at first, then she nodded in agreement. After another moment of silence between them, Fria then asked, "Can you…tell what's going on out there?"
Releasing a deep breath, Penny turned around and looked at Fria with a nervous expression on her face, then nodded and replied, "I…think so. Back on Remnant, I was able to understand, connect, and interface with any computer system easily. My hardware was even designed for it, and by now I think I understand Brainiac's systems enough to interface with his as well."
To illustrate her point, Penny held up her right pointer finger, the top of which popped off and hinged back, revealing an adjustable USB-style port. Following her gaze, Fria turned to the devices connecting her to Brainiac's ship. While she couldn't begin to understand the intricacies of computers, especially now as her mind continued to fail, the connection that Penny was trying to make was clear even to her.
Penny's finger readjusted itself, then she sighed and hung her head before continuing, "But I don't know if I should. If I connect directly to Brainiac's systems, even for a moment…there's no telling what he might be able to do. Or find."
That was really the crux of the matter, and the only reason why Penny hadn't succumbed to her curiosity and checked already. When she was first taken onto his ship, Brainiac had conducted an extensive series of scans across all of Penny's systems. After that, though, Brainiac had remained content to simply stay back and watch Penny live with Fria without interacting with them in any meaningful way. The most he ever did during this time was simply ask her a series of increasingly complex equations, meant purely to test her cognitive abilities. Other than that, he hadn't done anything to them, which Penny was grateful for. But trying to interface with Brainiac's systems was tantamount to an open invitation for him to put his fingers into whatever part of her body that he wished. Her mind, her coding, everything would be open for the taking. There was no telling how much damage he could do, and Penny had no desire to give him any more of an opening.
Luckily, Fria seemed to understand where Penny was coming from immediately, then gave the gynoid a sympathetic nod. She couldn't help, though, but tighten her grip on the edge of the bed, pursing her lips even more as yet another tremor ran through the ship. This one was a tad bit more intense than the others, telling them that its source was closer to them than before. Likely the destruction of yet another laser battery.
When the tremor subsided, Fria quietly asked, "The people he's fighting…do you think they're friendly?"
Truth be told, Penny didn't know. Her and her people's perception of the greater universe had been irrevocably shattered upon Brainiac's arrival. That, more than anything, told them that the greater universe was a vast and dangerous place, filled with threats that made the ones they faced at home on a daily basis seem insignificant. And Brainiac, by his own admission, wasn't even the only one. The universe was big, and there were people and organizations that rivaled or even surpassed Brainiac's own power. Clearly whoever was fighting him at the moment was at least Brainiac's relative equal, but without knowing for certain who they were there was no telling if they would be friend or yet another foe.
But Penny knew she couldn't tell Fria that, and so with a faux smile on her face, Penny nodded and said, "I think they are. I don't know who they are, but if they're fighting Brainiac, that must mean they're our friends."
Fria smiled and sighed in relief before leaning back onto her bed, while Penny quickly held her hand up to her mouth as she hiccupped. For her part, Penny desperately hoped that the people fighting Brainiac were, in fact, their friends. But there was no way to know for sure. Even if she managed to tap into some of the mothership's sensors to see what was going on outside of this claustrophobic cell, there was simply no way to tell whether someone who looked friendly actually was and vice versa. How could she possibly make such a judgement on such limited information?
Then, much to Penny's surprise, Fria spoke up and said, "I think we should go meet them."
"What?" Penny asked, taken aback, to which Fria merely smiled warmly.
"I think we should go out there and meet them," Fria repeated. "They might be able to get yo—us out of here."
Missing Fria's slip of the tongue, Penny refuted, "Fria I…I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not?" Fria plainly asked, tilting her head. "Staying here certainly isn't a good one. Who knows what Brainiac will do to us, to you, once this is over. This is perhaps our best and only chance at escape, and I say we take it."
Penny pursed her lips. On the one hand, Fria was correct. If these attacks truly were from potential friends, taking this opportunity to escape would be the best course of action. On the other, there was no guarantee that would be the case. For all any of them knew, they'd be leaving one Ursa den just to walk into another.
The young gynoid moved to reply, opening up her mouth, but before any words could escape from her lips they heard a loud bang coming from the other side of the cell door. Both Penny and Fria's attention was drawn to the sound, which was undoubtedly coming from inside the ship. Penny's eyes widened, and she protectively stood in front of Fria as more bangs could be heard. The closer it got, the clearer the sounds became. She could hear metal being cut or crushed, along with plasma being fired. At the same time, the lights in the room began to flicker dangerously, prompting both Penny and Fria to look up at them in surprise.
Soon the sounds of combat coming from just outside their door subsided, and slowly both women's attention went back towards it. They then heard a series of booming impacts as the door itself began to strain, accompanied by metallic screeches from something big and sharp slamming into it. Realizing that something, or someone, was trying to break in, Penny adopted a battle ready stance as Floating Array emerged from the internal compartment in her back. Why Brainiac never removed it from her was unknown, but Penny was more than happy to take advantage of that lapse in judgement at this point in time.
She jumped despite herself as the tip of a large, curved blade punched through the edge of the doorframe, and slowly the door to their cell was pried open. Penny pointed all eight of her swords at the door and her vision switched to infrared. Prepared to attack as the intruder shimmied their way inside, she stopped herself once she recognized the distinctly human profile. One who was holding a large scythe in his hand.
The man, as Penny was quickly able to determine, promptly pulled out his impromptu crowbar and let the door slam closed behind him. Sparks then sprayed from the frame as the abused mechanism spontaneously gave up the ghost, and not a moment later they could hear the sound of more drones coming closer.
"That outta hold 'em for a bit," the man grunted in a gravelly voice. He turned around to face Penny and Fria just as the secondary lights turned back on, allowing Penny to properly see the man in her normal vision for the first time.
She recognized him immediately, and incredulously said, "Qrow? Qrow Branwen? You were captured, too?"
"Good, you know who I am. That makes this part easier," Qrow remarked as he walked over to her. His body was completely drenched in a black fluid, likely from all the drones he undoubtedly had to cut his way through on his way to them. When he noticed the sink in the room, he promptly adjusted his course and turned the sink on. Splashing water onto his face to clean the oil off of it, he turned around to look at Penny again. This time, however, he noticed Fria looking at him, and his eyes widened.
"Fria?" he incredulously asked. "You're still…? Nevermind."
Shaking his head, he went over to Penny and Fria as Penny retracted Floating Array back into her body. Noticing this, Qrow shook his head and said, "Yeah, you might want to keep those out, kid. I think you're gonna need them."
Narrowing her eyes slightly while keeping her swords retracted, Penny tilted her head then asked, "What do you mean?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to bust you out," Qrow answered, causing Penny's eyes to widen. Glancing at Fria, he then hastily added, "You too, Fria."
Fria didn't say anything, and other than a thankful nod she didn't respond. Penny, however, took a step back while saying, "Escape? You mean you want us to leave? Right now?"
"That's the plan, yeah," Qrow confirmed, nodding his head quickly while placing his left hand on his hip. After a moment, he then shrugged and added, "Granted, it's not much of a plan. I've kinda been making it up as I go along. Didn't know what I was gonna do once I got here, but winging it has worked out so far."
Incredulous, Penny shook her head fervently and replied, "I…I don't think that's a good idea."
"Probably isn't, but frankly we don't have much of a choice," Qrow admitted, his attention briefly shooting to the door as Brainiac's forces attempted to get in. Scowling heavily, he turned to Penny and said, "Look, Penny. I know you're scared, but we need to go now. We're not going to get a second chance at this."
When he stepped towards her, his arm outstretched, Penny fearfully took a step back and said, "We…we can't!"
"What do you mean, 'we can't?'" Qrow asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"I mean we can't leave!" Penny confirmed, raising her voice while shooting her clenched fists down. The cell grew quiet as the two adults regarded her, both of their eyes widening.
"Penny…" Fria sadly muttered under her breath, a heavy feeling pulling her down as she suspected the real reason why Penny was so reluctant. Qrow, however, didn't understand and incredulously shook his head and raised his arms to the side.
"Why can't we leave?" Qrow rhetorically asked. "Because Brainiac doesn't want us to? Personally, I think that's all the reason we need to get the Hell out of here."
"It…It isn't safe!" Penny hastily pointed out as she repeatedly glanced between Qrow and Fria. "We don't know who's out there, and-and they might try to hurt us!"
"Yeah, they could," Qrow admitted, his voice calm as he tried to placate the scared girl. Just because she was a robot didn't mean she didn't have human feelings, something he was more than able to recognize. "But they might not. They might legitimately be trying to help us."
"How can you know for sure?" Penny asked while rubbing her arm and glancing away, and Qrow shrugged.
"I can't, not until we meet them," he confirmed. "But we'll take care of that problem when we get there. Right now, our most pressing concern is getting you two out of here. It's a risk we're going to have to take."
"This does not sound like a good idea," Penny refuted, calming herself down slightly. "All of Brainiac's forces are autonomous, so we can't just hijack a ship and fly out of here. Even then, I'm Dust powered. I can't survive in the vacuum of space. My body isn't designed for it."
"Neither is mine," Qrow pointed out. "You're right, we can't just fly our way out of here. But the people Brainiac's at war with right now, they're trying to punch their way in. That's our ticket out of here. We find just one of them and hitch a ride out."
"And the fact that the Dust powering me will go inert, killing me, the second I leave Brainiac's ship?" Penny reiterated. Qrow moved to answer, but he had none to give. Pursing his lips in thought, he tried to come up with a solution to this dilemma, then Fria cleared her throat.
"The power of the Winter Maiden should be more than enough to keep you alive," she suggested. Both Penny and Qrow turned to look at her, then the veteran Huntsmen nodded and pointed at her with an outstretched hand.
"See, problem solved," Qrow replied. "All we gotta do is just find one of the guys trying to break in and get you out. If they're bastards, then we'll kick their ass and hijack whatever they used to get in to fly out ourselves."
Penny frowned. While Qrow's answers were somewhat logical, there was a glaring gap that he wasn't addressing. Lowering her voice slightly, she said, "And what about Fria?"
"Like I said, we'll get both of you out," Qrow answered, but Penny shook her head.
"When you came in here, you were expecting her to already be dead," she pointed out, and Qrow's eyes widened, telling her she was right. "In fact, you could've tried to escape on your own already, but you didn't. You came to this cell first, looking for me. Why?"
Qrow looked at both Penny and Fria, then sighed and shook his head. For a brief moment, he scrunched up his face in concentration, then each and every single recording device in the room short-circuited and exploded.
"Please tell me that was all of them?" Qrow desperately asked, his face flushed red from the exertion.
Taking a brief moment to look around the room, scanning the locations where Penny had previously found the devices in question, she nodded affirmatively. Qrow sighed in relief, then he lowered himself to look at Penny in the eyes while placing his sword to the side and both of his hands onto her shoulders.
"Okay, you're right. I wasn't expecting Fria to still be alive," he quietly admitted, glancing at Fria for a brief second who nodded in understanding. He then looked back at Penny and continued, "But it's not just that. Penny, do you know why Brainiac locked you in here with Fria? I need you to really think about it."
Penny looked at Qrow in surprise, then slowly looked at Fria. Fria looked back, then gave a soft, wistful smile and nod. Understanding began to blossom in Penny's mind, and she muttered quietly, "No…"
"I'm afraid so," Qrow confirmed with a slow nod. "Penny, Fria here is the Winter Maiden, a power that has been passed down by death for thousands of years. Whichever young girl is last in the Maiden's thoughts, whoever they might be, will be given the power whenever the previous Maiden passes on. Otherwise, it goes to someone randomly."
"Brainiac…He was…" Penny started but was unable to finish her sentence, and Qrow slowly nodded again.
"He put you in here purely to see how the Maiden Transfer worked," Qrow gently finished the thought for her. "He wanted you to grow close to Fria, just so that you'd become the next Winter Maiden."
Penny's breathing hastened, then she said, "But…but…but that's not enough to come get me. So what if I have the Winter Maiden powers? He already has the other three."
"But that's the thing," Qrow replied while shaking his head. "Being the Winter Maiden doesn't just mean you have true magic at your fingertips. It's…much more than that."
Qrow took a deep breath, then lowered his voice even more to where it was barely audible. With all the recording devices destroyed, there was no way for Brainiac to know what he was trying to say, but clearly Qrow thought it was important enough to warrant the overabundance of caution anyway.
"Underneath each academy," Qrow quietly explained, "there's a vault. A vault that can only be opened by each kingdom's specific Maiden. Each one houses an incredibly powerful relic, all of which are stronger than anything you can imagine."
"…How strong?" Penny whispered, her eyes widening.
"Strong enough to where, if Brainiac gets his hands on just one, it may be impossible to defeat him. If he gets all four, he would be," Qrow answered, and Penny's breath hitched. "There's more. Penny, the relic underneath Atlas, the one that's linked to the Winter Maiden, is what's keeping Atlas floating. If Brainiac learns of it, he won't hesitate to take it out for his own use. When that happens…"
"Atlas will fall, killing everyone in Atlas and Mantle. They won't have anywhere to run," Penny realized, her arms slackening. When Qrow sadly nodded, Penny shot her head over to Fria, silently begging her to refute what he was saying. To her dismay, however, Fria nodded back without saying a word. She might as well have been screaming.
"That's why Ozpin wanted me to get you out. If we can prevent him from getting just one, and keep Atlas alive, it's worth the risk," Qrow confirmed, raising his voice back to normal levels. He then reached into his pocket, pulling out a small thumb drive that he held up for Penny to see. "He also wanted me to give you this. It's a copy of every single scrap of information Ozpin was able to glean from Brainiac before I was captured. We need to get this to…someone who can use this against him. Maybe there's something that might suggest a weakness, a chink in his armor, or something. I don't know. That's why I came to get you. Do you understand now?"
Penny was silent at first, looking down at her feet despondently. After a moment, she nodded, and Qrow nodded back before slowly rising back up. He handed her the thumb drive, and without saying a word, Penny downloaded it into her systems.
"I'm sorry," he said, even though there was nothing for him to really apologize for.
Penny didn't respond, and Qrow sighed before beginning to walk over to the cell door. At the same time, Penny slowly walked over to her little corner of the cell, where she pulled out the metal painting that Fria had made her all those weeks ago. Gently rubbing her thumb across the surface, she released a sigh then slid it into her back compartment before turning to face the door. They could hear loud bangs as the drones attempted to break their way in, joined by sizzling as the metal was slowly cut through. So far, it was holding, but it wouldn't for much longer.
"We need to get going," Qrow remarked, holding Harbinger out to the side. "Once we get out, we're going to be in the fight of our lives. He is not just going to let us walk out of here easily."
Penny nodded, taking Floating Array out as she moved to join him. Before she could, however, she noticed Fria still laying in her bed. Her eyes widening, Penny then asked, "What about Fria? How are we going to get her out?"
Qrow glanced over at Fria, then muttered under his breath, "Shit."
"We can't just leave her here," Penny begged, and Qrow nodded.
"I wasn't going to do that," Qrow confirmed, then began to walk back and forth while stroking his chin. "Okay, maybe we could—No, I need both of my arms. Perhaps we—No, that wouldn't work. Where are we going to find wheels?"
"Qrow?!" Penny begged, and Qrow quickly shot his head over to the desperate gynoid.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking," he told her, then began to rub the side of his head. As he and Penny quickly fell into a hasty discussion on how best to get Fria out of the room in her condition, Fria herself could only look on sadly. After a few moments, with their backs turned to her, she moved her attention to the door. There were now noticeable dents in the metal, and the sounds of the impacts were growing louder and louder. It wouldn't be long now before they would rush in, and when that happened they would be done for.
Coming to a decision, and accepting the consequences, Fria scowled as she turned her body to face the door. For the first time in weeks, she hung her legs off the side of the bed, then began removing the tubes and wires connecting her to Brainiac's machines. Powering through the motions and the pain, she shakily stood up off the bed once the last tube was painstakingly pulled out of her nose, then she began shuffling towards the door. Only when she reached it did both Penny and Qrow take notice of her, and in alarm they began rushing over.
"Fria, what are you doing?!" Qrow said as he reached out to grab her. Fria, however, didn't respond as she closed her eyes for a split second, deep in concentration.
A moment later, her eyes shot open as light blue flames flared from her eyes. The air in the room began to swirl and cool rapidly, with large crystals of ice forming not too long after. Fria's body began to float upwards, her arms stretched out to the side as far as they could go.
"Brothers…" Qrow muttered as he beheld the sight of a fully trained and experienced Maiden at work, with Penny similarly stunned to silence.
Without saying a word, Fria shot her arms forward, and the swirling air in the room converged into a single vortex that shot through the door and pried it open from the inside out. The bulkhead was curved out, folding like it was made of wet cardboard rather than sturdy metal. Brainiac's small army of drones that were trying to break in were blown away, frozen solid nearly instantly and shattering against the floor, walls and ceiling. There must've nearly been a hundred of them, judging by the thick layer of frozen scrap left behind, yet Fria managed to take them out as though it was nothing.
Only then did Fria turn to face them, and she said, "You two were taking too long."
Not giving them time to reply, Fria floated out into the hallway. Qrow and Penny had no choice but to follow. Reinforcements were on them almost immediately as they went down the hallway as fast as they could, but just as soon as they arrived were they destroyed by Fria's magic. On and on they went, making their way through the ship while destroying anything in their path. Rather, Fria was, as by the time she was done with them there was nothing left.
The further they went on, the more applications of her magic she showed. Thick columns of fire melted entire squadrons of drones in an instant. Others were crushed as the metal hallways around them were manipulated, collapsing in on themselves. Penny could only watch in wonder as Fria continued to display her magical prowess without so much as breaking a sweat. It was both awe-inspiring, and terrifying, knowing that Brainiac desired to control this power for his own ends. Just another reason why they had to get out.
Eventually, they reached a crossroads of sorts, with three separate paths for them to take. One kept them roughly on the same level they were on. Another took them further up towards the top of the ship, and the last went down. Qrow quickly looked at all three, trying his best to ascertain which direction they should go.
Finally, after a few moments, Qrow pointed to the downward-sloping path and said, "That'll probably take us to the factories, which is the last place we want to be right now. Going up might take us to Brainiac, and as much as I would love to have a chat with him, for now we need to stay away and get you two out."
"So we stay on our level, then?" Penny surmised, and Qrow nodded. She nodded back, then said, "Alright. Fria, how are-?"
The words died in Penny's throat as she noticed that Fria, now breathing heavily while clutching her chest, was supporting herself on a nearby wall. Her eyes widened, then as Penny rushed over she shouted, "Fria, are you okay?!"
Caught off guard by Penny's shout, Qrow looked over to see what the commotion was about. His eyes widened as Penny tried her best to keep Fria standing, and he muttered, "Oh no…"
His arms slackening, he slowly walked over to the two women. Having overexerted herself, Fria was no longer able to keep standing. It was only thanks to Penny holding her up by her shoulders that she hadn't already collapsed onto the ground. The poor girl was crying, looking at Qrow desperately as her eyes shifted from mechanical to a desperate dark green.
"Qrow, she's…she's…!" Penny began through a thick, heavy sob, but was unable to finish her sentence. Qrow wasn't able to say anything either. He didn't need Penny's enhanced vision to understand what was going on. All he could do was clench his fist and grind his teeth, trying to ignore the lump in his throat.
"God…dammit…" he grunted.
Penny looked on at Qrow despondently for answers she knew he didn't have. Desperate, she went through every single medical procedure in her records, trying to find one that was most applicable to Fria's current bout of cardiac arrest. Quickly finding a somewhat relevant procedure that she could actually do, Penny gently lowered Fria onto her back, then held her palms out as they sparked briefly.
"Okay, this might hurt but it should help," Penny desperately said as she rubbed her palms together, but before she could press them to Fria's chest, the dying woman gently held out her arm and grabbed Penny's wrist.
"No," she quietly said, her voice weak. "It's okay, Penny."
Hardly ably to believe what she was hearing, Penny whispered, "But…the plan. We were…we were going to get out. All of us."
"This was the plan," Fria replied, shocking both Penny and Qrow. "All I would do…is just slow you down. My time has passed… What's important now…is getting you out."
Smiling weakly at Penny, Fria gently raised her hand to shakily wipe the tears off of Penny's face. As water dripped down onto the floor, Fria said, "You're going to do fine… You are the one…I know is worthy. Take this…gift. Use it…well…"
The last of Fria's strength left her, and her arm slackened as it fell onto the floor. Her eyes went blank, staring out into nothing as her last breath left her body. Penny saw and felt her heart stop beating, and could feel her body grow cold. For a moment, all the gynoid could do was stare at Fria's body, even as a brief flash of white light enveloped them both, then she closed her eyes and began to sob uncontrollably. Qrow silently stood over her, then walked to the nearest wall and angrily punched it as hard as he could, leaving a fist-sized indent.
At the same time, he could hear and feel more reinforcements from Brainiac making their way towards them. Clearing his throat, Qrow said, "Penny, we…we need to go. We can't stay here."
Penny continued to sob into her hands for a few moments more, then the crying began to subside. At first, it turned into a sniffle, then it disappeared entirely. The sound of the approaching drones increased, and Qrow turned himself towards it with Harbinger raised. To his alarm, the sounds were coming not just from one of the paths, but all of them, leaving them completely surrounded.
"Alright, on the count of three, we make a run for it," Qrow declared, but Penny didn't respond. In fact, she didn't look at him at all as she slowly walked past him. Seeing this, Qrow asked, "Penny, what are you doing? Penny?"
Again, Penny said nothing, completely ignoring Qrow's attempts to get her to flee. Then, as the drones converged onto them all at once, Penny shot her eyes open, glaring hatefully at all of the inhuman abominations. They were enhanced by neon-green flames shooting out of both, and with an uncharacteristic grimace Penny remained utterly silent in a tranquil fury. As soon as the drones arrived, they were blown back by hurricane force winds, buffeting them against each other and the walls of Brainiac's ship. They were quickly reduced to nothing more than scrap, leaving the two Remnantians all alone once again. For the moment at least.
Slowly, Penny turned back to face Qrow as the flames subsided. Qrow looked at her for a moment, then his face fell as he gently walked over and gave Penny a hug. She returned the gesture, sobbing into his chest as he comfortingly patted her back.
"Don't…don't leave… I…I can't lose anyone else," Penny begged, and Qrow nodded.
"Don't worry. I won't leave you. We're getting out of here, together," Qrow answered as he pulled away from Penny. The young girl looked up at Qrow, then sniffed and rubbed her eyes. While she couldn't physically cry like any other girl, now more than ever Penny wished that she could. She then looked at Fria's body, prompting Qrow to do the same.
Silently, Penny took a few deep breaths and walked over to where Fria was laid to rest. She kneeled and gently placed her hand onto Fria's body. A moment later, the body was consumed by an intense flame, one that reduced her body to nothing more than ash and soot.
"He's not going to touch her," Penny darkly declared, and Qrow nodded.
Without saying another world, the two of them ran off, taking their chosen path, hoping that it would lead them to their salvation.
[~][~]
Hello, everyone. We are finally here at the Green Lantern Ambush. It's been a long time coming, and more is yet to come. Special thanks to NaanContributor and Jesse K for their help in bringing this chapter to life.
Qrow and Penny have begun their escape attempt, but sadly Fria, who knew her time was short anyway, made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that Penny could get out. At the same time, the Green Lanterns are giving Brainiac everything they got, desperately trying to break their way in. Paths are rapidly converging, and what will happen when they do will be revealed shortly.
I see that a lot of you guys were interested in RWBYJNPR/Titans hunting trip to Texas. Believe me, as I live in Texas I am well aware of how nasty those things are. Am I using my writing to exact holy vengeance upon those pests? Yes, why do you ask? You guys will find out how it went, but ultimately the big thing we need to focus on is the Green Lantern Ambush. You know how it is.
Also, it's just the Green Lantern Corp assaulting Brainiac. Others do exist, though, and they'll be appearing in due time.
Yeah, ultimately Salem is the reason why things went so badly for Remnant. She kicked the hornets nest, despite not knowing that it was a hornets nest in the first place. You guys will find out more about what all went down eventually. Same with how the Mother Box got to Remnant in the first place.
It was intentional that this ambush happened so closely to Christmas. Given the time period of the story so far, we felt it made sense.
As I've mentioned before, while RWBY and JNPR will get new equipment and upgrades, they're not going to get DC power ups such as the Speed Force or outright magic. They already have super powers, so there's no real need to add onto it. Better to take what they already got and just move it in a different direction, so to speak.
Yep, Dust is finally getting close to being manufactured on Earth, something they've been working on ever since they arrived. Now, this isn't a case of "Earth is so much better" since Remnant was never able to figure it out. Remnant just didn't know about the Green, the Red, and the other Elemental Forces of Nature. Most people don't, so they can't really be blamed for never figuring it out. Besides, Dust was easy to mine out of the ground, so there wasn't as much need to make it themselves. Earth doesn't have that option, and some important people have the knowledge to connect Dust to the Elemental Forces. This means it's possible for them, and had Remnant known about the Forces, they could've done it as well.
Ren is definitely entering a similar state of development as to what he had in Vol 7 and 8. We like to echo the original canon story whenever possible while putting our own spin on things. This is our version of it.
The thing about Brainiac is that while he does have legitimate points, the way he goes about doing things makes his points moot. He uses those points to let himself become a monster. Ultimately, Brainiac is full of shit, and Ozpin and everyone else knows it. But not Brainiac. He's deluded himself into thinking he's in the right, and as history as shown, people who think of themselves as good or doing the right thing can and have justify doing horrific things to others.
Having a spell or something make RWBYJNPR go on a murder spree would be too much. They already got that lesson when Jaune and Ren were mind-controlled by Poison Ivy, and also witnessed Raven getting possessed by Trigon. As such, the danger of them being forced to do evil acts is well on their minds, as well as the value of having countermeasures to prevent that from occurring. That wasn't their problem with Batman. Their problem was that Batman went behind their backs to make them and started on day one. Had he been honest and upfront about his concerns, and didn't start on day one of meeting them, they would've understood. Especially after what happened to Raven.
Also, they have matured and are still maturing. They're not foolish and naïve. Rather, they're hopeful. Putting them through the wringer just because is not helpful to the overall story. In fact, it would probably be to its detriment. So, no. Unless the story absolutely needs that to happen, which right now it isn't, I will not be having that happen.
I want to take this opportunity to remind you all that I do not take requests. Either for elements/characters to be included in this story or for me to write stories for you guys. I do things in my stories because I want to or they are needed for the story I want to tell. Any requests will be ignored, so do not send them.
Please let me know what you guys all think. If any of you have a TV Tropes account, please feel free to help update it for this chapter. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
See you all next time!