(EDIT: Apparently, my earlier file upload messed up, so here's the hopefully fixed version. Sorry for the deletion and wait, I was away from my computer and had to use the mobile app to delete the chapter so I didn't get a dozen reviews about the chapter being glitched.)
A/N:
Hello everyone! Back again with another chapter. Before I get into things, there's been a bit of debate on the power scaling in the reviews; so, before I start, I'm going to lay out how I see everything before I begin this chapter. This is the final overarching "RWBY versus Destiny" debate I'm going to indulge in unless I massively screw up somewhere (because dick measuring is absolutely not the focus of this story), so here we go.
The main concern seems to be the Light versus RWBY magic, with a focus on what the main character in the games has achieved; yes, this is the Young Wolf, Rivensbane, and however many hundred other titles can be applied. Everything that dropped in Destiny before Season of the Chosen, this Guardian has been through it, got the T-shirt, and went home with the god-rolled weapons. There seems to be a bit of confusion, probably because of what I said last chapter, so let me clarify: in a straight-up fair fight, or even most unfair ones, the Guardian would wipe the floor with pretty much every RWBY character. However, magic in RWBY is vastly different to the Light or the Darkness. Yes, Kyle has killed Oryx, Crota, Atheon, Riven, and so many others his kill list is more of a roll call for Destiny's bad guys. But, not only did he not do it alone, he didn't do it easily; unlike the game, he couldn't just wipe and retry if someone messed up, so luck played a massive factor in getting him through his biggest fights. Plus, I'd say Oryx and Salem are vastly different fights; yes, Oryx is undeniably more powerful, but he lacks the versatility that RWBY magic users (such as the Maidens) have shown. You can shoot Taken to death, it's pretty hard to kill the elements when they decide to turn against you. Hell, Oryx pretty much just sat around watching you during King's Fall, unless you were pulled into his little arena thing, and he did that quick fist slam on the plates every once in a while; in comparison to other bosses, the dude barely did anything (of course, if Oryx was in RWBY he could absolutely Take a Maiden or two with little to no difficulty, which would obviously make this point a bit moot, but it still stands for now). Plus, Salem's curse of immortality has no real weak point (except for the Relics most likely, but she hasn't exactly died yet so we don't know) to target, so while the paracausal effects of the Light could overpower it given enough time, that's time Kyle has to spend fighting through waves of Grimm, Salem's minions, and Salem herself, while surrounded by enough Darkness to count as a, at the very least, Strike-tier Darkness Zone. So, yes, Kyle is powerful, but he isn't a god. Against Salem in a one-on-one? Doable. Against her and all of her forces, Grimm and otherwise, with only his Ghost? Extremely unlikely.
Also, his strength and weapons. When I compared his strength to Nora, I was referring to his base, unaugmented strength. So, his strength after being stripped of the Light by Ghaul's forces was comparable to Nora's while using her Aura (after all, you can still melee enemies to death just as easily during those few early missions in D2, so he's easily strong enough to crush a Legionary's skull with his bare hands). When actively channeling the Light, especially into something like Fist of Havoc or Thundercrash, he could overpower all but the absolute strongest in RWBY, and he'd stagger even them (for instance, Hazel while roided up on several Dust injections, or that one Kaiju Grimm). As for weapons, I stand by what I said about their power: all but the best Legendaries are comparable to RWBY, while Exotics (and special Legendaries like Felwinter's Lie, or Pinnacles) outstrip anything RWBY has outside of magic. The reason I stand by this, is because a lot of people are forgetting about Dust; you know, crystallized magic? The stuff that can make your bullets hit much harder with Gravity, ignite targets with Fire, or freeze them with Ice? I'd say that higher-end RWBY weapons would be comparable to Destiny ones, if only because of their sheer versatility (also, even if Destiny guns shoot bullets much larger than conventional modern ammunition, it's pretty likely that RWBY guns do the same, seeing as how some Grimm are completely covered in thick bone plating and are bigger than a school bus).
Oh, also, a side note: absolutely nothing on Remnant, outside of possibly the Relic of Destruction or Creation (but probably not) would be able to interrupt Kyle's connection to the Light. Unless he falls into the Grimm pits (you know, concentrated Darkness), there will be no magical macguffin bullshit where Salem suddenly creates a Grimm that can eat the Light or something, or any of that "main character loses their powers" stuff. The only real examples (that I remember) we have in game of a Guardian losing their Light (not being corrupted or dying to the Darkness, but actually having their connection cut off) is when Ghaul did his thing, and when the Vex managed to kill Saint-14. For the first, that was the result of years of hard work by a galactic empire with a leader fixated on stealing the Traveler's power, and the Guardians losing their powers was more of a side effect than anything. For the second, the Vex spent centuries, possibly millenia, trying different strategies and tailoring a Mind to Saint-14's specific Light signature, only for the entire thing to fall apart when a second Guardian showed up using Osiris's magical Sundial machine. So, the Light is pretty hard to take away, but Darkness Zones can absolutely weaken that connection, or at the very least put a strain on the Guardian, forcing them to use part of their Light in order to stave off the Darkness instead of being able to put their entire power into things.
Anyway, that's all I'm going to say about the topic for now. From now on, I'm not going to argue over balancing because I want to keep the main character challenged, not just stomping across the map with no danger at all. After his team shows up, then the gratuitous violence can commence, but for now this is how the story will go. If I need to make corrections later, I'll post them at the end of the chapter like I did for the last two, but I needed to get this off my chest.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own either of these franchises, if that comes as a shock to you I'm not sure what to say.
-{O}-
{ASBEL VILLAGE, MENAGERIE}
-{O}-
Kyle looked over the gathered militiamen, taking in their haggard and disorganized appearances and gear, before sighing inwardly. 'This… is going to take a while.'
{"I mean, they're not the worst you've dealt with before. After all, Hawthorne's group of survivors didn't have this magical 'Aura' thing people have here."}
'Yes, but they also had space-capable ships and at least rudimentary firearms. These people have neither; by the Traveler, some are even using pitchforks and rakes!' Kyle retorted, his stoic form revealing nothing of his inner thoughts.
The recruits, seeing their instructor simply staring silently at them, began to shift nervously, some leaning on their 'weapons' while others began to fidget lightly. Shaking off his thoughts, Kyle stepped forward, his speech amplified through his helmet's speaker. "Alright, recruits. The mayor has asked me to whip all of you into fighting shape; I won't lie, it'll be difficult, and you'll likely be cursing my name long before we finish. But, if you stick with it, I'll turn all of you into the best defensive force on this planet. Any questions?"
Most of them simply looked at each other fearfully, but one (a woman with canine ears of some sort, Kyle noted idly) found the courage to speak up, "How? We don't have any real weapons or armor, and we only have our Auras unlocked thanks to old man Jenkins, the retired Huntsman living here. None of us have any training or Semblance to rely on, and the only reason we're anywhere near in good shape for this is because we've spent our whole lives farming; hell, the only weapon I've even touched before is my sickles!"
A round of nods backed up her statement, and Kyle found himself somewhat impressed with her accurate assessment, if annoyed at her defeatism. But, then again, this wasn't the Last City; the situation, while dire, wasn't quite at the level where the only options for people were to help out or die. While it would be demoralizing and dangerous, these people still had the option to simply leave and move elsewhere, somewhere that they could start again.
That didn't mean, however, that he was going to let that happen without a fight.
With a mental command to his Ghost, a weapon appeared in his hand: a basic auto rifle of Suros make, nothing fancy, but relatively accurate and with a fair amount of damage potential even in unskilled hands. In his other hand, a sidearm, made by Häkke, small and robust, a good holdout weapon that could still do a large amount of damage to Grimm flesh even if the bullets would be stopped by their bone plating. "You say you have no weapons; I shall provide those. Armor as well, and I will teach you to utilize cover and dodge around enemy attacks, as even the greatest shield eventually falters. Your Aura will be put to the test, until you have met your limits and then surpassed them; attacks that can be avoided or stopped by your armor are attacks that need not drain your Aura. You may or may not discover your Semblances, but you will find that a good weapon is worth more than a powerful but limited ability nine times out of ten. As for your physical state, and your training? I will put you through your paces, and you shall learn as all new Guardians learn: trial by fire, through the rigors of combat. And, when your training is complete, you will be worthy of the title of Guardian, and we shall part ways as equals."
Apparently, his impromptu speech had, as Cayde once put it, 'lit a fire under their asses'; each one of them had a determined look on their face, and the woman who had originally questioned him stepped forward, giving an enthusiastic, if sloppy, salute. "Trainee Silver, reporting for duty, sir!"
Kyle looked around the group once more, the image of another group overlaying them in his mind; a group of young Guardians, fresh out of the grave and wearing what little they could find on their way to the Last City. A proud smile crossed his face, before it suddenly turned sadistic. "Very well then, recruits. Let's begin a bit lightly today; ten laps around the village! March!"
He pretended he didn't see their horrified looks; after all, he really was beginning lightly. Hell, the first group of Guardians he had trained found themselves facing against him in the Crucible on their first day. Shaxx still had the recording stashed somewhere, and the two of them had gotten quite the kick out of watching it after the fact; who knew all of a Hunter's bones could be broken at once by shoving them through a wall via Arc-enhanced shoulder charge?
-{O}-
{THE TOWER, EARTH}
-{O}-
Liam threw another useless datapad to the side, ignoring the sound of it shattering on the floor as he continued to pound away at the keyboard in front of him. The computer system that said keyboard was connected to contained all of the information that he and Houston-7 had managed to retrieve from the Glassway after Kyle had disappeared. As of right now, it was less than useless; oh, the information was there, but it was hidden behind thirteen different layers of Golden Age AI-enhanced encryption, and more than half of the information was corrupted anyway. Even the encryption data was corrupted in places!
In short, Liam wasn't having a very fun time, and it was only made worse when someone walked up behind him and interrupted his work, "Hello Liam. Any luck so far?"
"What does it look like, you insufferable simpleton-?!" Liam started, spinning around to chew the intruder out, only to come face to face with the Warlock Vanguard, "… I apologize, Vanguard Ikora. No, these thrice-damned encryption systems are keeping me out, made even worse by their anti-AI measures; Sara is still defragging her drives after her attempt at cracking them."
Indeed, his Ghost was carefully sat off to the side of the desk, the light representing her 'eye' turned off as if she was sleeping. Liam paid it no mind, knowing she would be fine after a few more minutes, and kept his attention on Ikora.
"… That is troubling news. Trust me, Liam, I understand what you're going through. Honestly, Kyle… it hurts to lose him, even temporarily. After… Cayde… he was the one who did what I couldn't, and killed that son of a bitch Uldren Sov. Even before that, he felt like a ray of hope after so long without it. The Black Garden, the Vault of Glass, Crota, Oryx, the whole issue with SIVA, the Red War... honestly, it felt like, even if it was difficult, we were finally winning. Even with the recent conflict with the House of Salvation, this is apparently the first timeline where we've actually managed to resist the Darkness, using Stasis without falling to its temptation… and now this. Our best Guardian, our biggest hope, gone in the wind, with barely any leads," she sighed, shaking herself out of her thoughts, "I'm sorry, I'll let you get back to things. Just… I'm receiving reports about movement amongst the Cabal forces. I'm not sure what exactly is happening, but if things take a turn for the worse, as much as I hate it, we might need to postpone this project to deal with the issue. In other words, if we don't finish this soon…"
Never let it be said that Liam was slow. Shortsighted, a bit full of himself, perhaps. But he was certainly no fool. "… Then we might lose Kyle forever. That… I'll get it done. Even if I have to spend the next month locked in this room, I'll fix this. Dammit, if only I hadn't been so careless…!"
Ikora placed her hand on his shoulder. "Listen, Guardian. You are no more at fault for this than anyone else; if anything, this is all the fault of the Vex and Clovis Bray's hubris. We will find Kyle, we will get him back, and I promise… he will forgive you."
Liam simply looked at her for a moment, before bowing his head and turning back to the computer. Despite his abrasive personality, despite the issues he had with other Guardians, even other Warlocks, Ikora had always seen through him; honestly, she was almost like the big sister he'd never had.
He quickly shook off those thoughts, however, pouring his energy into deciphering the impossible code before him. Because despite his shortcomings, one more thing could be said about Liam; he was shortsighted, narcissistic, abrasive, and so many other things… but he truly did care for his friends, and he was willing to do whatever it took to help them.
-{O}-
{CHARON'S CROSSING, EUROPA}
-{O}-
Variks stiffened as he felt a gun barrel press into his back, shocking him from his sleep. All four of his eyes shot open, but before he could move, a voice spoke up from behind him. "Now, now, traitor… I can't be held accountable for what I'll do if you start to move. We wouldn't want any accidents to happen, now would we?"
Very carefully, the Eliksni forced his muscles to relax, breathing a small sigh of relief when the gun moved away slightly, just enough to allow him to turn around and view his assailant. The intruder was a Hunter, or at least wearing the armor of one, all blacks and dark greys with glowing orange lights across the outfit, with the most noticeable one being the brightly glowing orange visor currently gazing down at him expressionlessly. Of course, most of Variks's attention was focused on the revolver in said Guardian's hand; a bleak hand cannon, covered in spiked grey plating with a sinister green glow.
Variks had heard of the gun, mostly through stories told by other Guardians; while he was no expert, even he knew enough to recognize the Thorn in all its unholy glory.
His attention was drawn away from the gun and back to the Guardian as he began to speak again. "Alright, Fallen, here's how this is going to go. I'm going to ask you some questions, and if I don't like your answers… well, I'm sure you can make a few more prosthetics if you manage to survive. So, first question; what do you know about the disappearance of the Guardian known as Kyle Void?"
"Variks… Variks knows nothing, beyond what he has been told by-" the answer was cut off by a bloodcurdling scream as a massive spike pierced one of his elbows, causing him to writhe in agony as he tried to remove the spike before the poison could take effect.
Finally managing it, the pain fell back to manageable levels just in time for him to notice the gun had moved once more, this time pointed directly at his outer left eye. "Now, let's try this again… what, do you know, about Kyle Void's disappearance? If that's too hard, let's get a bit more specific: what do you know about the Glassway? I know you've had your little friends messing with the technology whenever we clear the place out, so what have you discovered about the portal?"
Terrified of losing an eye (and likely even more) to the evil weapon in the Guardian's hand, Variks pointed at a datapad sitting on a makeshift table near the center of the room with trembling fingers. "This… this has all the data Eliksni have collected, yes? Now you will leave Variks alone, to heal, yes…?"
His hope was dashed by the Guardian's cruel laughter. "Now, when did I ever give you that impression? No, my friend, we've only just begun… Next question: what do you know about alternate realities, and Vex simulations? Come now, don't be shy…"
-{O}-
As he placed the Thorn back on his hip, Houston-7 could honestly say he was satisfied with the way the conversation had gone; sure, he had left Variks a crying wreck on the floor, but the Fallen had still survived, and in the Hunter's opinion he deserved far worse for his part in the death of Cayde. Now, however, he had terrabytes of data on the Glassway, ranging from physical composition all the way to an actual instruction manual that one of the original Golden Age workers had apparently put together. Of course, the Hunter knew he wasn't quite smart enough to understand any of it, but he knew exactly who was…
Movement in the corner of his vision caught his eye, and he turned, only to see a Fallen Vandal wearing the colors of the House of Salvation. The Vandal saw him almost at the exact same time, letting out a shout in Eliksni as it raised its wire rifle in preparation to kill the Hunter.
All it received for its troubles was a bullet to the brain as Houston drew the hand cannon on his other hip, the Sunshot, and pulled the trigger. The resulting explosion as the Vandal was forcibly combusted managed to take out one of the Dregs following it, while the other two drew their own weapons and rushed him.
Priming a tripmine in his free hand, Houston hid the tube in a snowbank, only the very tip poking out as he dodged behind a different pile of snow. A split second later, he heard the detonation, peeking his head over his makeshift cover and firing off two more shots at the two grievously injured Fallen. All in all, the fight took less than ten seconds from start to finish, and Houston hadn't even broken a sweat (not that he really could, being an Exo, but it was the principal of the thing).
"Heh… yet another disappointment, eh Austin?"
His Ghost appeared, wearing a standard Ghost shell, painted a metallic grey, with a rather ridiculous cowboy hat placed on top. "Let's just stop wasting time; you and I both know we need to get Kyle back. That man is the only thing holding half the Guardian forces together; hell, he's practically the only person besides Liam who can stand to be in the same room as you. Certainly doesn't help that you openly carry that on your waist…"
"Yea, yea, all you do is nag… fine, let's go. Hope you can get a signal to our ship through this snowstorm, because there's no way in hell I'm walking several miles to the edge of this storm."
Unfortunately for the robotic cowboy, the weather was too harsh for the signal to reach properly, so it was only after an hour of marching and cursing anything and everything that he managed to get off-world.
-{O}-
{ASBEL VILLAGE, MENAGERIE}
-{O}-
Kyle sighed as he watched Silver miss the target with her sidearm yet again, before stepping forward and carefully prying the gun from her hands. "No, no, not like that… It's a pistol, a tool, it's not going to suddenly bite you if you stop looking at it. Look, you hold it like this, aim down the sights, then…"
His finger barely moved as he pressed the hair trigger, firing off the remaining six rounds in the magazine and hitting six separate cans before smoothly ejecting the mag, loading a fresh one and resetting the slide in one quick move. Handing the newly-reloaded sidearm back to the Faunus, he stayed with her for a moment to ensure her stance had been corrected before moving on to the next trainee.
All of the firearms had been outfitted with the best silencers that Ghost could create, mostly due to the massively improved hearing that Faunus had; the first time he had fired a pistol as a demonstration, at least half of the recruits had ended up cringing and covering their ears, while the other half were still clearly uncomfortable with the noise. The silencers, while not perfect, certainly helped; at the very least, it kept them from handicapping themselves with earmuffs or something else that would have ended terribly in a real fight (that was not to say, however, that they weren't wearing ear protection on the range; Kyle was pragmatic, not stupid).
Looking around the impromptu firing range (made mostly of wood scraps and old bottles and cans), Kyle nodded slightly when he realized the Faunus had taken to his training well; almost all of them were competent with their firearm, while the others were at least decent (by normal standards anyway; they wouldn't be defeating a Guardian or Huntsman anytime soon, but killing a Grimm wasn't out of the realm of possibility). Some had even progressed from their sidearm to the rifle, and the lower fire rate of Suros weapons was certainly helping them get the hang of an assault-class weapon.
{"It's a good thing you didn't give them a Häkke auto rifle to match that sidearm; I doubt any of them could handle something like the Arminius-D…"}
"Wait, you still have those schematics?" Kyle asked his Ghost, surprised, "I thought those were lost when the Tower fell."
{"Kyle, I'm a hyper-advanced sentient artificial intelligence, created by the dying breath of a being that could easily be considered a god and given the power to resurrect people as superpowered undying warriors of the Light. I can store a few extra schematics inside my memory banks, yes."}
"Alright, alright, no need to be so touchy…" he grumbled, "So, do you still have the schematics for, say, the Raze Lighter? Shaxx borrowed mine when the Tower fell, and the bastard says he lost it after Ghaul did his thing."
{"Of course. Do you have a spare piece of Willbreaker lying around anywhere?"} Ghost asked sarcastically.
"… No, must've left it in my other pants," Kyle's response was just as sarcastic, "So I suppose you'd need some Exotic Shards, or at least the equivalent, for any of the good gear?"
{"Pretty much."}
Deciding to shelve that thought for later, Kyle turned back to watching the trainees. The firing range had been set up outside of the main town (for obvious reasons), and because of that it had none of the protections that Asbel had. Other than the few barely-competent trainees wielding basic pistols and rifles, he was the only one keeping them safe from the Grimm.
Of course, it's not that difficult, he shrugged, firing a shot from the Borealis into another Grimm that had appeared on the horizon. The round impacted the beast directly between the eyes, the Solar Light infused into the bullet causing it to burn through the bone plating protecting the Beowolf's skull and the rest of the head with it. The loud sound barely even fazed the Faunus with him, as they'd heard the sharp retort of the sniper rifle dozens of times at that point.
{"You're starting to run low on ammunition, Guardian."}
"I see that Ghost, but that's what Glimmer is for."
His Ghost sighed, {"If you keep wasting it, we won't have any Glimmer left soon. We've already burned through five percent of our reserves in the past few days between everything we needed to do, and if it continues we'll run completely dry before the year ends. And I can't make more, not without resources that this planet doesn't seem to have."}
"What about this… Dust? Honestly, it seems like crystallized Light, surely we could do something with it…"
{"Doubtful. It would require months of research, not to mention we'd have to buy vast quantities of it in the first place, along with preparing a lab that was even close to what the Tower has. Without that lab, it would be years at best before we find any real use for it other than what Remnant already knows, and even then we'd have to ensure we didn't just blow the whole thing up anyway. No, right now we're stuck using what we already had, at least until we find a way to restock. Luckily for you, this world's weapons use similar calibers to your own, except for your more Exotic or advanced weapons; infuse a bit of Light into them and you're good to go."}
Sighing, Kyle acknowledged that his Ghost was right. He wouldn't be able to keep throwing around weapons and equipment if he wanted to keep enough Glimmer to swap out his arsenal, so he needed to purchase actual weapons and ammunition from this world to keep Asbel supplied.
Luckily for us, he thought, looking down at one of his mark's pockets, which contained only a single piece of signed paper, I have just the thing…
And, as his trainees kept practicing, he and Ghost began to make their plans.
-{O}-
{KUO KUANA, MENAGERIE}
-{O}-
Walking into Kuo Kuana the second time was almost exactly the same as the first, suspicious gate guards and overt racism included. The only real difference was the guards' apparent disappointment at his survival; apparently, they had expected him to bite off more than he could chew.
Honestly, Kyle thought, amused, if I had died even once to those things, I'd never have been able to live it down. Hell, it'd be even worse than the time I drove my Sparrow off a cliff because I was drunk off my ass… hah, I still say I beat Houston in that drinking contest.
{"Can we focus, please? I'd rather us not have to reveal our resurrection ability because you got stabbed in the back by a random racist."}
"If their weapon manages to pierce through both my shield and armor in one blow, I'd be incredibly impressed." Despite his words, however, Kyle turned his attention back to the city around him; luckily, he was already at the bounty office, so his distraction had been a good way to pass the time.
Walking inside, the person at the counter (a different Faunus this time, Kyle idly noticed) looked up and saw the massive, almost seven-feet tall human covered in incredibly heavy armor and carrying a massive machine gun on his back. Visibly swallowing his fear, the Faunus cleared his throat, before weakly speaking up. "H-Hello, sir… H-How may I h-help you today…?"
Kyle simply reached into his mark's pocket, causing the man to flinch a bit, before retrieving the bounty notice and handing it over. "I've come to claim the bounty posted by Asbel village; I've spoken with the mayor, his signature is on that paper. If there's nothing else, I'll simply collect my earnings and leave."
The man quickly checked over the paper, noting the signature before nodding frantically, scribbling out a check before practically shoving it into Kyle's hands. "Yes, yes, everything seems to be in order, that's all sir, have a good day…"
Forcibly keeping the amused smile from showing on his face, Kyle took the check and nodded to the receptionist before turning and walking out the door. Not two seconds later, his Ghost spoke up.
{"Honestly, I'm surprised it took this long to find someone who was too afraid of you to be racist. You'd figure most people would have enough survival instincts or common sense not to provoke the heavily-armored super soldier."}
"You'd think so, but the stupidity of humanity is limitless. Apparently, that extends to Faunus as well. For now, however, we need to grab some ammunition and weapons, and order some materials to build better protections in Asbel. Got a location for me?"
{"Yes, actually. There's a place two blocks to your right, called "Jerry's Ammo Shack"; despite the name, it's a large gun store, selling all sorts of weaponry and ammunition. Five blocks to your left is a store, "Defense Depot", that has contracts with the other kingdoms, allowing them to sell the high-strength metal and defensive emplacements we need. All told, this will probably cost you three times the money you just received just for the materials, not counting the equipment and turrets; the mayor gave us a budget, which can cover most of the remainder, but you'll have to do another few bounties if we want to make this town into the fortress it needs to be."}
"Is there any way we can substitute the materials for cheaper ones, while keeping the defense?"
{"Unless you want large parts of the wall to have the consistency of cardboard, no. The materials we need to buy are the same as those used to make the walls around the four Kingdoms, which have stood for generations throughout countless Grimm incursions. Luckily we don't have to cover anywhere near that amount of area, but it'll still cost an easy million Lien if we want to cover the area, and that's if we build it ourselves with help from the village."}
Kyle sighed, already feeling the financial drain, before a thought hit him. "What if we sold blueprints to our more advanced weaponry? Not the Exotics, obviously, but things like fusion rifles or their linear version would likely fetch a pretty penny…"
He was left in silence for several minutes as his Ghost thought about it, likely calculating the feasibility of the idea, before finally responding. {"… If we do this, you'll lose a lot of your advantage in this world. Those weapons are something this world has no real equivalent to, and therefore no real defense against. Fusion rifles can burn straight through several inches of solid steel easily, so if you take a direct hit you'd die like everyone else."}
"Yes, but they'll do the same to Grimm," Kyle countered, "and this world could use all the help it can get. Besides, I'll still have my Exotics, and it's not like they'll instantly be able to start producing these things. It'll take months of research into the materials, and a lot of money to even get prototypes working. I figured we could patent it, then lease the blueprint out to arms manufacturers. Maybe use one of our weapons as an example, we could even explain away having one already as me using my Semblance."
{"That… I see your reasoning. This could easily earn us millions, if not billions, if we provide the blueprints to a Kingdom like Atlas, but that would obviously sour our relations with Menagerie. Unfortunately, Menagerie's economy is nowhere near large enough to pay us that amount of money, and they likely wouldn't trust a human anyway, if the citizens are anything to judge by. Though… perhaps we're overthinking this. The chieftain of Menagerie has an open-door policy, where important matters can be brought to him and his wife to discuss. From what history I can find on them, they seem to strive for equality between humans and Faunus, but it seems they mean true equality, not the vengeful "eye for an eye" policy the current White Fang has…"}
Turning to look into the distance, Kyle could see the large mansion housing the chieftain and his family. "Well then, I suppose we have our destination… Next stop, the Belladonnas' house."
O
A/N:
So, I know I promised a chapter for Careful What You Wish For next, but unfortunately I'm having difficulties writing the next chapter. Nothing bad, just having issues with expressing my ideas in writing, so it'll be a minute before it comes out. In exchange, I'm releasing this chapter a bit early, so the wait isn't quite as long. Other than that, I covered everything in the first A/N, so I'll leave you with a bit of a teaser; next chapter, you'll get some more of Liam and Houston-7 in their attempts to find Kyle during Caiatl's appearance. You'll also get some interesting scenes with a duo that I've teased before, but I'll leave it at that for now.
Until next time, this is AWDTB, signing off; have a good one.