Volume I: Episode 7: Aftermath
Yang felt her steps very heavily as she plodded through the halls of Beacon. She had just managed to get into her dorm and change into her uniform... her school uniform, that is; her Autobot uniform was with Bumblebee after she had changed into the casual outfit she had used for the ruse at Maple's. She would have to start keeping a spare school uniform either with Bumblebee or in one of the caches her family had hidden around the city.
The Autobots' mission to Site 13 was still ongoing, but she had been sent back with the first convoy out as soon as the Aerialbots had appeared. She had wanted to stay on and continue helping to break down the base, but after being awake for over twenty-four hours, she was starting to run on adrenaline herself. She had gotten some sleep on the drive back, but that had been interrupted.
Still, at least she had gotten to see the Aerialbots arrive. They were… they were…
The growling of her stomach interrupted her thoughts, and she clutched her stomach instinctively. Of course, she had forgotten to pack food, and so in addition to being awake for the last thirty-one hours, she also hadn't eaten anything in over twenty-four hours. She might have been trained to survive that, but it was still poor planning on her part. On the plus side, it meant she didn't have anything in her stomach to throw up when they'd found…
Still, if her dad could see her now, she would be given such a dressing down, and she would deserve it too. It was a thought that brought her a strange sort of comfort as she entered the classroom for Botany, which they had after lunch. Perhaps if she was lucky, today Professor Thumbelina Peach would teach them how to brew a stew from plants found in the wild that would keep you filled and active for days on end. Wouldn't that be ironic?
She sat down in her chair and almost immediately felt herself nodding off. Suddenly, she wasn't on Remnant anymore, she was on a broken and devastated world made of metal. She was running alongside her team, shooting at shapes they couldn't see, and then they found who they were there to rescue, the Vacuans from Site 13... only they were dead, lying haphazardly in a ditch, looking up at her with empty, pleading eyes.
Before she could react, the ground itself became hot, so hot it glowed. They were running, trying to get away, but there was nowhere to run to. Her boots melted off, and then she could feel her feet burning away. She dropped to the superheated floor, but it only made things worse. Ruby tried to get her up.
"Yang? Yang!"
The blonde's eyes shot open with a start, and red bloodshot orbs began looking around the room in a panic. It was filled with students now. Some of them were looking at her, and none moreso than the other members of her team. Ruby looked worried most of all, Weiss appeared concerned, and even Blake was looking at her with sympathy, as if she somehow understood.
"Yang, are you alright?" asked Weiss. "You look like you've seen death itself."
Yeah, and your family was responsible for it, she thought. She blinked and shook her head. "No, I just was out all night with some friends from back at Signal. Ran into them after visiting Maple's. We lost track of time, and well, here I am," she said.
Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Your friends kept you occupied until after noon the next day? Is that normal?"
"No," replied Ruby. "No, it is not. I might not have had many friends in my time on this world, but I know that's not normal."
"Uh huh," Weiss said. She looked over at the last member of the team. "Blake?"
"Don't look at me," she said. "I kinda grew up with a… rough crowd. This? This'd be almost normal for them, but... like I said, rough crowd, one I left and never looked back to."
"Well, I've never really had any friends, so you're both ahead of me there, but going by Blake's expert opinion, I guess it's true then. They're a bunch of delinquents, and they're clearly a bad influence on you, as we can all see," Weiss commented.
Blake raised an eyebrow before adding, "Weiss's ever depressing childhood aside…"
"Hey!"
"...it really isn't like you to do this," the ink-haired girl finished. "You've always been the most responsible of us, but over the last two weeks, you've been really riding close to the edge. Is something going on?"
Before Yang could formulate a response, Professor Peach interrupted. It was time for class to begin. After that, it was time for class. Then classes came around. Amazingly, they didn't find any time to talk during or between those classes.
All too soon, the quartet worked their way back to their dorm. Yang tried to prepare herself for what she was going to say, what she wanted to say, and what she had to say, but her thoughts were interrupted when the world turned upside down.
Suddenly finding herself hanging by her ankle, Yang blinked in befuddlement at the rest of her team now being reversed in vertical orientation. "Ah, Miss Xiao Long." That was Professor Ann Greene's voice, and the rest of Team RWBY parted to let her approach.
"Um, hello, Professor," Yang greeted, giving a small wave as she struggled to ignore the blood rushing to her head.
"Now, Miss Xiao Long," Professor Greene said, leaning down to look Yang in the eyes, "had you shown up to class this morning, perhaps you would have been able to avoid this simple snare."
"I have been out of it today," the student observed dryly.
Professor Greene raised a single eyebrow at that. "Indeed. And what, praytell, were you doing that has you so 'out of it,' as you say?"
"Out with friends and lost track of time," answered Yang. The lie came as easily as breathing to her, possibly because she had already done it, and possibly because it wasn't technically a lie this time. It's just that her friends were all from… out of town.
"Hmm, so that's what you're going with?" Professor Greene asked rhetorically. "Very well, we have ways of making you talk."
"I don't think that will be necessary," came the voice of Professor Goodwitch as she walked into Yang's increasingly red field of view.
"Are you sure?" asked Greene curiously. "Because I've got some fresh bamboo ready to go. We just need a secluded room."
"No," Goodwitch answered firmly. "No more interrogations. I think that Ms. Xiao Long will tell us what's going on in her own time."
"Ah, the old 'sweat them out' gambit," Greene realized. "Classic. Very well. Yang, three hours of detention, this Sunday, hmm, say one o'clock, since I'm feeling generous. That way you can even sleep in. And I want a five thousand word essay on proper infiltration and trap avoidance by then."
Goodwitch turned to look at Yang herself. "Two hours remedial combat training on Saturday morning, eight sharp. You'll be facing off against me. Be there, or… Professor Greene, can you cut her down already? I'd rather she didn't pass out before we're finished here."
Professor Greene rolled her eyes and went somewhere unseen to untie the snare. Yang knew she had done it when she hit the ground with a thud. It was there, staring up at the ceiling with her vision slowly returning to normal, that she received the rest of her just desserts.
It was Goodwitch that appeared first, her face concerned. "Honestly, Miss Xiao Long, you have one of the quickest minds and stoutest hearts of your year. Don't squander all that potential on shortsighted gallivanting. You, and the world, deserve better. I'll see you tomorrow morning; get some rest in the meantime."
Greene leaned into view even as Goodwitch began walking away. "Should go without saying, Miss Xiao Long, but terrible things will befall you and your dorm doorway if you miss tomorrow's class."
"Got it, ma'am," Yang said as she attempted to give a thumbs up, but laying on her back like this, she honestly wasn't sure which way to angle her hand.
"Good, don't forget now."
Professor Greene left then too, and no sooner had she done so then had the rest of Yang's team rushed in to check on her.
"Yang, are you hurt?" asked Ruby.
"Just my pride," Yang replied, a small smile coming to her lips as she remembered that she was echoing Torchwick.
"Are you going to get up?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I dunno," Yang replied. "'Skinda comfy here, actually. Might just lie here for a bit."
"Oh, for-" Weiss cut herself off before reaching down, grabbing Yang's hand, and attempting to pull her up. Without Yang offering any assistance, she wasn't particularly successful, even when Ruby came and tried to help, the two leaning back, each tugging on one of Yang's hands. They just lacked the mass and leverage.
"This calls for drastic measures," Weiss declared, drawing Myrtenaster. She tapped the tip of the rapier to the floor, and ice spread along it.
Yang's eyes widened as the cold seeped into her back, and she bolted off the ground. "Weiss!" she shrieked.
"If you're going to lie down, at least wait until you get in bed," the heiress said primly. "Lying about on the floor in a public… it's unseemly."
"Right, right," Yang muttered, stifling a yawn, and Team Ruby continued their trek to their dormitory… only to be interrupted in the hallway just outside said dormitory.
"Hey, Ruby, ready to do the thing?" asked Jaune as he and the rest of Team JNPR came up behind them.
Ruby's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, yeah, right! The thing! I almost forgot about it."
Nora blinked in surprise. "You forgot about the thing? How could you forget about the thing. It's the thing."
"'Almost,'" Ruby insisted defiantly before turning back to Yang. "Hey, sis? JNPR invited us to go to this thing. It's pretty big, but they only had three spare seats, and well…"
Yang held up a hand. "Can I sleep now?"
Her sister was momentarily stunned, but replied easily, "Oh yeah! Go ahead. You look terrible right now, Yang. Get some beauty sleep."
"Cool," Yang replied before slumping into the dorm.
The rest of her team followed, but only long enough to get changed into their battle dress. They left Yang keeled over on her bed, the snare still wrapped around her ankle. Again though, she twitched as the horrors of the past reasserted themselves.
"Thank you again for taking the time to fly us out here," Pyrrha said.
Team RWB and Team JNPR were aboard the Ocean Swan, an independently owned and operated transport airship. Pyrrha's contact had turned out to be a Vale air traffic controller ("She's just a bit of a fan," Pyrrha had said, her face as red as her hair) who had noticed some unusual sensor ghosts in this area. Low altitude, so nothing could be confirmed, but enough to stick in her memory.
"Not a problem," the pilot - a big man named Bear, another one of Pyrrha's contacts - replied jovially. "I can always use an excuse for more stick time anyway. Thank you for the autograph. I can't wait to see little Molly's face when I give it to her at her birthday party next week."
"Oh, when next week?" Pyrrha asked. "Maybe I should drop by."
Bear chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, man, you really like piling up those favors, don't you, Miss Nikos?"
"What?" Pyrrha sputtered, her face heating up. "I don't- I mean-" she stammered, flustered.
"It would make her day, Miss Nikos, but I couldn't ask that of ya," he said.
"Oh, no," she insisted, "it would be no trouble at all!"
Jaune looked studiously turned his attention away from the front of the airship, not wanting to see Pyrrha dig herself in any deeper. "What're you looking up, Ren?" he asked.
"Local news," the other male on the team answered, holding up his scroll. "There have been reports of strange lights and sounds in the sky in the area. Someone even took a video of it."
Jaune leaned over. It showed a family out camping; from the audio, the father was the one holding the camera. Then, suddenly, a bright light flashed from behind the hills in the distance; actually, "bright light" did it an injustice, considering it practically turned night into day. The terrain was briefly highlighted as dark silhouettes, as if cast upon by the world's biggest spotlight. The family was taken aback and were still staring toward the hills when a sound like a thousand lightning bolts all at once thundered, still loud even through the scroll's tiny speakers.
"That… what was that?"
"I suspect we are about to find out shortly," Ren pointed out.
Across the cargo bay, a certain heiress's patience was wearing thin.
"What is it, Nora?" Weiss asked irritably, drawing attention from her teammates. "You've been staring at me since we took off." The redhead had been unusually quiet the whole trip, and doing just what Weiss was accusing her of.
"Are you sure you can do this, Weiss?" Nora asked in a strange, un-Nora-like, tone. "I mean… the fight we're picking here, it's not just a dangerous enemy, it's… they're your people, Weiss. Are you- are you sure about this?"
Weiss could feel her eyes narrowing slightly. "If they're enslaving people, they're not my people. They're evil."
"So you're going to kill them then?" asked Nora pointedly. "People who might not know everything that's going on, people just doing their jobs?"
Weiss froze, realizing the implications of what she had just said. Before she could elaborate her statement further, Blake spoke.
"Don't think like that, Weiss. Don't go down that road," she said with evident experience and firm conviction. "I've seen people I care about walk that path before, and… and it changed them, twisted them. They weren't who I remembered anymore."
Nora shifted her attention then. "So, if one of these SDC guards had their gun to the head of a slave, you won't be willing to pull the trigger to stop them from pulling their trigger?"
Blake bristled. "I won't hesitate when the time comes. Believe me, I've-" she broke off. "No, I won't hesitate. Trust me on that."
Nora looked over at Ruby. "And what about you, Ruby?"
Ruby's knuckles whitened on her grip on Crescent Rose. "You're not asking anything I haven't been asking myself since we got on this airship, Nora," she answered quietly.
"And?" asked Nora.
"And… I'll do what I have to, but not one bit more. I signed up to be a Huntress, to save lives, and that's that. I've made my peace with that, I think."
Nora gave a small nod. "Well said."
Ruby had her own follow-up though. "Fair's fair. What's up with you, Nora?"
"I'm just trying to see if you guys know what you're getting into," the redhead said with a shrug. "Me and Ren? We've seen and done some pretty wild things in our time, and we've already talked it over with Pyrrha and Jaune, but you three are an unknown. We're going to be hot-dropping into an SDC facility, possibly getting into house-to-house fighting, with civilians running around. That's a pretty nasty situation, no matter how you smash it."
"We're coming up on the valley now!" Bear announced. "Get ready!"
The two teams of Huntsmen (in training) did just that, doing one final check of their weapons and gear. Of this, they included an extra step that they did not normally engage in. At Weiss's advice they had decided to gather video evidence of the SDC's wrongdoing, so that none could say they were innocent. To this end, they had procured a set of headbands that held their scrolls in video capture mode upon their brows.
"We look ridiculous," commented Ren dryly.
"But effective," pointed out Pyrrha.
Suddenly, as if thrown by a switch, all banter stopped. The Ocean Swan crested over the ridge, and they found a sight that none of them had ever expected to see. It was a possibility for sure, but this?
"Someone already hit it," Jaune whispered as he looked out and saw wisps of smoke drifting up from the facility and the signs of battle that littered the valley.
"Whoever they were, they were throwing around a lot of firepower," Ruby realized as her eyes traced over the glassed patches of ground, gigantic tracks, and the wrecks of the turrets on the battlements. A central spire topped with what looked like a gigantic cannon had toppled over, breaching the outer wall.
"And somehow, I doubt it was those guys," mused Nora as she pointed at the group of Beowolves and other Grimm closing in on the facility to join with the collection already there.
"Bear," Ruby called, "can you please bring us in to the facility now? There could be people injured in there, and I don't want to delay."
"You got it, Miss Rose," Bear replied. "I'll orbit the place and provide air support where I can. Don't forget to call with those things on your head."
Ruby tapped her ear with a confident smile, moving her thin fingers over the comms set mounted in it. "That's what these are for. Don't worry, we'll call if we need help, but right now, I think we need more CAP than CAS."
Bear smiled in turn. "Sounds good to me, like a proper operation, in fact."
The small airship flew over the facility, and they could see now over the walls to find that there were more than a few Grimm inside the walls already. A great black and white host had risen up to claim this facility, scratching at the walls of the buildings and trying to find their way in. With the groups outside, Ruby estimated at least five hundred of the fell beasts stood against them.
"That's a lot of Grimm," Jaune observed.
Ruby's reply was soft, resolute, and challenging. "You're right. Are we gonna let that stand in our way?"
Jaune cocked what he hoped would be a confident grin. "No. Not tonight."
Ruby nodded and jumped into the fray with Crescent Rose deploying on the way down.
Beneath her stood a Nightmare, tall and sickly. It neighed in defiance and reached to bite her. Deftly, Ruby twirled her scythe at such an angle that it caught the demonic equine on the neck. Just as the blade dug in, she fired a gravity round from Crescent Rose, driving her feet onto the ground to land beside the Grimm's severed head.
Jaune followed shortly after, crashing shield-first into a Boarbatusk; a quick stab with Crocea Mors below his shield impaled it, and he sprang back before charging forward at another Boarbatusk, Crocea Mors arcing lethally in a well-practiced pattern of thrusts and slashes.
From the airship above, Pyrrha smiled proudly and followed after Jaune, Miló in rifle mode firing as she went down, picking off some of the weaker Grimm. Shifting Miló into spear form as she landed, she impaled an Ursa before vaulting over it. Slinging Akoúo̱ out into the crowd of Grimm, she spun and brought Miló around to face the wounded Ursa as it turned to track her. As Akoúo̱ bounced between Grimm around and behind the Ursa, she charged and leapt at the last second, catching Akoúo̱ and jamming it into the Ursa's roaring mouth before bringing Miló down point-first into its head.
Blake leaped down, landing in the middle of a pack of Beowolves. As one, the lupine Grimm pounced on her… only for her to fade beneath their claws as the real Blake landed atop them, Gambol Shroud's scabbard glinting keenly in the fading light as it came down to hack the head of one in twain with a meaty thwack. Even as that was happening, the variable ballistic chain scythe had shifted into a pistol that was rending the skulls of the other Grimm of the group apart with powerful explosive dust rounds. The pack faded, and Gambol Shroud shifted into its sword form to meet the next Grimm to face her and die like their fellows.
Ren ran across the walls of the building, StormFlower blazing into the crowd of Grimm below, and as gravity slowly arced his path down, he pushed off the wall, somersaulting over a Beringel, sending rounds stitching into its back.
Weiss lowered herself elegantly on one of her glyphs, the ethereal platform freezing the Grimm beneath her as it passed through them. Giving Myrtenaster a flourish and switching chambers, she darted forward past the frozen Grimm and dove into the fray, her blade now trailing fire.
BOOM!
That was Nora. Of course.
As one, the fellowship of seven found themselves together against the raging horde. Seven young warriors of the light and life stood against the still mighty host of darkness death and did not falter or bend. The slavering monsters felt no fear or compassion, and so charged with reckless hate against the small candles that dared to insult them with their presence.
The battle was long and hard, but at the end, the seven shining stars had burned the shadows away.
"Woo! Can you believe we finished that before sunset? That was exhausting!" Nora commented as she scraped some of the evaporating remains of a Boarbatusk off her heel.
"We should check to see if anyone is inside," said Ruby seriously as she ran towards the nearest door. "They might need our help."
"The SDC, or their slaves?" asked Jaune as he and the rest of the group followed.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," was Ruby's simple reply.
The door was enormous, a good forty feet high and twice as wide, decorated simply with a purple, almost facelike icon. They approached, but it did not respond, and if there was any sort of access panel, it wasn't visible.
"Perhaps a lockdown or a power outage?" Ren suggested.
"There's got to be some other access point somewhere," Jaune said.
"Right," Ruby agreed. "Let's keep looking."
It didn't take long to find another door - much smaller, but still sizable - around the corner, half-open.
"Lights on," ordered Ruby. "Weapons out. There could still be Grimm inside." Unspoken, of course, was the possibility of enemies of a more… human persuasion. As one, they all complied, flicking on the flashlight modes of their scrolls to light the hallway they found themselves in with seven bright beams.
They came across another, similar door, and passed on through to find… a large empty room. There were few Schnee Dust Company shipping crates stacked by the side, but they were empty as well. The only indications that there had been anything at all were the marks on the floor where large objects had been placed and the scattered metallic-smelling stains on the floor.
"Looks like whoever was here before us stripped this place bare," observed Blake as the group spread out.
"I don't think we're going to find anyone alive here," Jaune realized.
"Don't focus on that," said Ren, his voice hard.
"Okay," Jaune said, and then after a few seconds he noted something. "You know, this kind of reminds me of when they get to the village in Huntsmen Hunted."
Weiss shivered. "Don't remind me."
Pyrrha raised a finger. "Um, what's Huntsmen Hunted?"
"An old horror movie that gets way more credit than it deserves," replied Nora.
"Oh, come on, it's a classic!" Jaune protested.
Silently and unseen, Pyrrha made a note to look up the title when they got back to civilization.
"Pfft!" Nora waved him off. "It relies far too much on fake jump scares."
"It was a pioneer in the field!" Jaune argued. "The fake jump scares are key set up for when the Grimm first appear. Remember that scene? It wasn't until halfway through the movie, and with that set up, it sold it."
"Okayyy," Nora relented, "it had some good points, I'll admit, but-"
"Can we please stop talking about it?" Weiss interrupted through clenched teeth.
"Yeah, come on, guys," Ruby said. "Focus!"
"Okay. Can we comment on the blood stains on the floor instead?" asked Nora. "Because these seem like they've been here for a while."
"Probably from limbs caught in the machinery," Blake theorized.
Weiss looked like she was about to throw up. "And they didn't even bother to clean up the blood? That's…"
"Atypical?" finished Blake clinically. "Yes, it is."
"I was going to say 'disturbing'," corrected Weiss. "I also would have settled for 'disgusting,' 'dishonorable,' 'unconscionable,' or 'beyond the pale.'"
"Don't take it so personally, Weiss," Ren interjected. "You're not responsible for this."
"Why not?" she asked sharply. "I've actually seen someone try to bring up accident reports to my father. He stopped them mid-sentence and told them to skip to the part about how it affects profitability or PR. He doesn't care, and he won't accept responsibility. But someone has to, so why not me?"
Nora looked in worry at the heiress, then at Ren, then back to Weiss. "Uh, because you didn't do anything and can't do anything?"
Weiss glared at her with such force that the redhead felt taken aback, but then just as quickly, the emotion was gone and her focus was elsewhere. "Let's just find out what happened here and where everyone is."
"Yeah, about that?" Ruby called out from the side of the gigantic room. "Does anyone know what the door here says?"
The rest of the group turned as one to look at what their compatriot had discovered, and almost as uniformly balked. It was another door, smaller than the others, but with a very noticeable feature. It had a handle built into it which was as tall as Jaune, and placed far enough off the ground that two of them would have to stand on top of each other to have a hope of reaching it.
"So, Ruby," Weiss began, her voice vexxed, "quick question about priorities. Since when does wall gibberish rate higher on your list of information that needs to be known than the fact that this door is made for giants?"
"I dunno," the team leader replied with a shrug, her eyes still on the angular and jagged script painted on the door. "It's just odd. Back when she decided to travel the world, Yang started studying a bunch of languages. I peered over her shoulder a lot, and I picked up a few things. One of those things was what those languages look like written out, and none of them look like that. I don't even recognize the alphabet at all."
"So, we've come across a door made for giants, with a sign on it written in an alien language, night is coming fast, and we're in an abandoned slave labor camp that was just attacked by Grimm. I think we know where this is going, Snow Angel," Jaune said with a cheesy smile.
"Oh, shut up," moaned Weiss. "And if you say something stupid like, 'I'll protect you,' I will stab you."
"Thought never even crossed my mind, Snow Angel."
"Whatever the case, we need to explore this location, and the best way through is through that door. If the metal it's made out of is magnetic, I should be able to get us through," Pyrrha reasoned.
"Go ahead," Ruby replied.
And with that, Pyrrha stretched forth her right hand towards the door. Almost suddenly, the latch was sprung open, and the door dragged silently open along with it. A shadow flickered on the far side of the door.
"Movement!" Jaune warned. "We've got movement!"
Crescent Rose snapped level and barked, and the Creep exploded.
"Well, that was anticlimactic," Nora grumbled. "What did I say about fake jump scares?"
"And I told you that it's just set up for the real scare later," Jaune shot back.
"Please don't tempt fate like that, you two," Ren told them.
"This place is huge," Ruby mused. "It'll take us all night to go over everything if we stick together. We should split up."
"NO!" chorused four voices.
She blinked at Jaune, Weiss, Nora, and Ren. "Why not?"
"Did you not just hear us compare this whole setup to a horror movie?" Jaune asked.
"We've tempted fate enough tonight," added Ren.
Ruby shrugged. "Okay. Then let's double time, Team Name-Pending!"
Weiss blinked. "Really, Ruby? That's what you're going with?"
"It's pending!" Ruby defended as the seven made their way into the passage.
Running, it took them but a few seconds to reach an intersection. In the lead, Ruby considered her options, and with a mental shrug, veered left. One way was as good another, at this point. After a while, the hallway ended in another door.
"Pyrrha?"
"Right."
As Pyrrha used her semblance to unlatch the door, the rest of the team prepared themselves for whatever might be waiting on the other side. Which turned out to be another dark, cavernously huge room. Luckily, their lights were still working, and they were able to see much of what was inside it.
Seeing what was inside, though, they didn't know what to make of it.
"So, uh, speaking of horror movies, has anyone seen Deer, I Miniaturized Our Offspring?" asked Ruby nervously.
"Wasn't that a comedy?" asked Pyrrha.
"No, it was definitely a horror film," Ruby insisted defiantly.
They had found themselves inside a what could only be described as a break room, complete with table and chairs. The difference here was that there was simply no way any human could use the furniture in the room, for even the smallest of the strong steel chairs was so large that Ruby would have to leap ten feet into the air just to land on its edge.
Most uniquely, there were a series of cubicles on the wall, though what their purpose was unclear. Indeed, the purpose of all of the devices eluded them. The only thing they knew for certain was that they were exceedingly large compared to the Beacon students, a fact made all the clearer as they walked through the room.
"Okay, I admit it," said Nora, "this is weird even by my standards."
"Why would the SDC build something like this?" asked Pyrrha curiously.
Jaune's light moved across another sign written in the alien script. "Are we sure they made it? I mean, except for those crates on what we can assume to be the factory floor, we haven't seen any evidence that this place was made by human hands at all."
"Come on," Blake said incredulously. "What are you suggesting? That it was actually faunus that made this place?"
"No, I'm saying that we seriously need to look at the possibility of alien intervention here," Jaune replied seriously.
Weiss paused. "Aliens? Jaune, I looked at the data myself. The SDC had to have been involved in building this. The idea of including extraterrestrial life in this is just… It's so crazy I don't even know how to respond to that."
"Involved, but not entirely responsible," Jaune said with one finger pointed from the hand holding his sword. "That same data said that the SDC had some mysterious partners, right? We don't know who they are, but it makes sense that they would be directly involved in the production of energon if they came up with the idea, right?"
"...right," admitted Weiss. "That doesn't mean they're aliens though, even if the writing in this place is strange, and the furniture looks like it was made for someone five times the average human height."
"Which, you got to admit, is pretty weird," Nora repeated.
As the argument continued in the background, Ruby found herself staring up at the symbol on the wall. It was the same as what was on the door they had seen when they first arrived, that stern angled face, and seemed to rest in the same position an especially patriotic person would put their kingdom's banner inside their home. She felt something stir within her, and as she burned every line and corner of its shape into her mind, the whole world seemed to go dead around her.
She didn't know how, she didn't know why, but she knew that this symbol was important. She knew somehow that if she saw this symbol again, it would mean she was on the right track to finding the people who did this.
Then, just as suddenly, the feeling was gone, and she was back in the present.
"Guys, let's move on," Ruby ordered sternly. "We're wasting time here."
They did one final sweep of the building, then headed back to the intersection of the tunnels, from where they headed off in another direction. When they reached the end of that path, they found themselves in what was once likely a warehouse, but now was empty. Except for more of the strange writing and symbols, they found nothing of note there.
Another turn back to the intersection, and they found themselves on another path. This one was much longer, and soon, they found themselves passing a door that was open. With little debate, they decided to slide into the room to see what they could find.
What they found was a lone Ursa prowling around. Against the seven warriors of light, the beast of foul darkness stood no chance. When it had been dispatched, they were free to explore the room.
They soon wished they weren't.
"God, help us," Ruby half prayed, half exclaimed as the full weight and fury of the room's sights and smells hit her.
The room was full of cells, cages really, and behind those bars the putrid stench of old urine and fecal matter wafted for all to consume. Blood and death mixed themselves in to become a truly horrifying stench. A gigantic door that led to the outside was at one end of the room, torn part way open by the terrifying muscles of some horrendous Grimm which likely was killed in their initial assault on the facility, but the gap was too small to allow for proper ventilation.
"This…" Pyrrha began, but words failed her and she merely shook her head in shock.
Nora looked back at her teammate, then at Ren and frowned. "This... is about what we expected to find."
"Monsters…" whispered Weiss, and then she repeated it with much greater volume and vigor. "Monsters!"
"Weiss, calm down," Ren said softly as he put his hand on the heiress still trembling with rage and despair.
Amazingly, as she felt Ren's touch, she also felt a feeling of total calm spread throughout her body. The emotions that had torn so recklessly at her soul now had passed. Only peace remained.
Weiss turned her head and smiled thinly at Ren. "Thanks. You've got some semblance there. I can see why Nora likes you so much."
Ren smiled, but it was Nora that replied, "Yeah, likes, but not like-like. Like, you know?"
Jaune ignored the banter as he looked around the room. Like the other rooms, the prison was built on a massive scale to accommodate things so big they defied comprehension, with two levels of cells - no, cages - to contain creatures of normal size. The cages had all been opened, and no living thing dwelt in them any more. Scattered about the center of the room were pieces of Atlesian Knights, specifically the -130 model, all having been sliced or blasted apart before being broken down for spare parts.
"I think we found out where at least some of the AKs went," observed Blake with grim stoicism as she crouched down to examine the cut in one android's armor. As she ran her finger across it, the memory of a red blade came unbidden to her mind. She considered the thought, then filed it away as unlikely. Another detail, though, caught her attention. "Their dust cores are missing."
Beside and above her, Jaune nodded. "Yeah, and it looks like we found out where the prisoners Yang rescued came from too."
He looked around before continuing. "Do you think they got out okay?"
Blake glanced at the cage beside her and saw the dark red color of the tattered blankets on what passed for a bed, and she shook her head. "No, but they might have survived. At least, some of them might have survived."
The group of seven spread throughout the room and found much that they then documented. More than once, they found find themselves thankful that their scrolls were recording everything, because they could not bear to describe what they were seeing. Some, of course, took it harder than others.
Weiss was staring at the inside of one of her cages, at the moldy floor and stained blankets, a haunted look in her eyes. It was Pyrrha that first took action on this. She walked up beside the heiress, and in a clear calm voice tried her best to offer gentle words of kindness.
"This doesn't end here," she began, and the white-haired girl turned to face her. "I know that things seem hopeless right now, but it'll pass. We'll find the ones who've sown this misery, and they shall reap the whirlwind."
Weiss exhaled heavily and nodded. "You're right, this- this isn't over."
"All right, everyone," called out Ruby. "Let's get a move on. We still got a lot of facility to cover and not a lot of time to do it in."
The group exited back into the tunnels, and turned down to continue the path. When they exited they found the site of a fierce battle. There were a few Atlesian Knight remains that had been stripped of any dust they had, yes, but the main evidence of battle came from the multiplicity of holes in the hall, along with the door that had been sliced in two at the other end.
"Looks like someone had quite the party," observed Jaune casually.
"Really?" asked Weiss. "We just came from a place so putrid the only thing that kept me from vomiting is not wanting to add to the… examples already on the floor, and now you're cracking jokes?"
"Maybe you should be doing the same, Ice Queen. It's a classic coping maneuver for a reason," pointed out Nora.
Weiss huffed, while the others went about their business. Pyrrha and Jaune examined an open room, finding naught but giant empty weapon racks and the small torn remains of a poster's corners. Like everything else in the facility, the items in that room were all ridiculously oversized, even the tape that had once held up the poster.
Ruby, following her instincts, had begun reading the holes in the floors and walls.
"I've never seen weapons damage like this before," she noted from her analysis. "It doesn't match any type of dust I've ever seen or read about. High rate of fire, decent accuracy, but only at short-range. Either whatever it fired leans toward that, or it's got pretty loose tolerances, designed for mass production and use with minimal training. Probably for second-line garrison troops, which makes me wonder what the really good stuff is like."
The rest of the group turned and looked at Ruby like she had grown a second head that had in turn started belting out Vacuan opera in Spruce Willis's voice.
"You got all that… from a bunch of bullet holes?" asked Jaune disbelievingly.
"Yeah, except I'm pretty sure they're not actually bullet holes. It's just simple battlefield forensics, after all," Ruby said with a shrug. "Relatively easy to guess stuff like that. The really tricky part was figuring out that whoever was shooting was pretty tall - like, 'sits on those chairs we saw' tall - and aiming at human-sized targets moving down the hall."
The group shrugged and continued on down the line, eventually coming to another open room and the outside where the last glimmers of sunlight were beginning to disappear. The room was yet another affair that took their breath away, for it appeared to be a security station, complete with a computer. However, the computer was powered off, and even if it wasn't it was doubtful they could have used it, for each of the buttons on its keyboard was at least half their size in addition to being on top of a giant desk.
"It's really crazy just how comically large everything is here," Nora once more observed. "I mean, isn't this just nuts, Ren?"
"Completely insane," concurred the long-haired boy.
Blake once more found herself running her hands over the bisected door, finding something familiar about it, like a distant echo of something best left forgotten. She was interrupted in thought and deed by Weiss approaching from behind. The heiress looked disquieted, though that summarized her entire mood that night.
"What's up?" asked the black-haired girl, the bow upon her head twitching in the wind.
"It's…" the heiress paused, considering her words carefully, even as her own hair gently fluttered in the breeze. "Am I a bad person?"
Blake blinked, a little taken aback, and looked around. "That… I am not the person you should be asking that question," she answered emphatically.
Weiss's curious pondering at the bitterness in her teammate's reply was interrupted by Nora slapping her on the shoulder. "Buck up, Weiss. It's not your fault your evil dad is collaborating with giant aliens."
Blake looked at her strangely. "Are we really going with that theory?"
Nora shrugged. "Well, I was going to suggest a race of subterranean mole men, but someone shot that idea down," she said, sending a meaningful glare at Ren.
Ren gave a smile and a nod, which Nora grumbled at.
"Cut it out, you two," interrupted Jaune. "We're going to take a look at that tower, and then we're calling for pick up."
And with that, they did as the blond leader bid. As they made their way over to the massive toppled structure, they all formed their own theories on what would be found there. Many expected Ruby to give them a very detailed answer, given her previous performance in the hall.
Things did not exactly work out as such.
"Well, it's a big gun," the crimson-themed sniper said aloud after examining the massive cannon mounted to the top of the tower, now horizontal and outside the walls after the tower it was perched atop had fallen over.
"That's it?" Blake asked disbelievingly.
Ruby rolled her eyes. "Okay, it's a large-scale multi-function transforming weapon with a surprisingly large amount of both depression and elevation. If I would have to guess at its function, it would be to take out large airborne targets like Wyverns and Atlesian battlecruisers, with enough traverse to target Behemoths. However, I cannot say for certain what it actually does beyond saying that it appears to be primarily an energy weapon, with some secondary functions for channeling dust. It is… really beyond me, actually."
Blake smiled despite that though. "That's better than the rest of us would have gotten. Let's call for pickup now though. We don't want to stick around too much now that it's really night out."
At their word, the Ocean Swan descended to pick them up, and they boarded it with little fuss. Once onboard, however, Bear had some disturbing information to tell them.
"I recorded some of my own footage while out in the valley, and it's really the sort of thing you should see," he said, his voice uncharacteristically sober.
The teams crowded around one of the MFDs in the cockpit's navigator station behind the co-pilot's seat to view the images. As they flipped through the images, different angles of the base and more curious features of the valley, one image flipped by that no one seemed to notice. Jaune wouldn't have made any particular note of it either if he hadn't noticed Ren and Nora's reactions to it, but the two had stayed silent.
They asked Bear for copies of the footage, and he was glad to oblige them. That achieved, the two teams retired to the back to discuss what they'd seen.
"Ren, Nora," Jaune said quietly, as Ruby took center stage, "what was up with that one image?"
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Nora asked, offering an unconvincing laugh.
"You know the one," he pressed. "The big mound of dirt."
"I, uh-" Nora hedged.
"It's a mass grave," Ren answered simply. "You see them a lot near fallen villages."
It struck Jaune, then, how little he really knew about his team. When had Ren and Nora had the occasion to visit enough fallen villages to recognize a mass grave? Then again, despite how much Nora talked, neither she nor Ren were particularly forthcoming about their shared past, and Pyrrha valued her privacy to the point that she seemed to actively appreciate how little he knew about her. While it was fairly obvious she was hiding something, it just didn't seem right to intrude, and he supposed that respect for privacy had extended to the rest of Team JNPR.
"Please don't tell Weiss," Nora said, shaking her head. "I don't know how she'd take it right now."
Jaune nodded. "Agreed."
"And that's when you decided to flee?" Starscream prodded gleefully. It was a familiar location, a familiar scene, with a new addition to the cast under the spotlight.
"Affirmative," Onslaught confirmed. "With Site Thirteen's anti-orbital cannon under Autobot control, the battle was lost. Even merged into Bruticus, we wouldn't be able to survive more than a few hits and remain battleworthy. I deemed it better to retreat in good order and minimize injury."
"An anti-orbital cannon," Starscream repeated. "Why, pray tell, was an anti-orbital cannon - which, correct me if I'm wrong, is meant for shooting down starships in high orbit, hence the name - articulated to fire at ground targets?"
"I will have to defer that question to Lugnut," Onslaught replied, "as it was a pre-existing installation before we arrived."
"Lugnut?" Starscream prompted.
"Hail Megatron!" Lugnut belted out reflexively. "It was for Grimm," he answered. "You know, the really big ones, like the one that attacked the Nemesis last solar cycle. After what happened with the escape, I wanted to make sure none of them would ever get close enough to cause another security breach again."
Starscream turned and looked at Soundwave. "Excuse after excuse! First, Grimm; then, a Prime; now, Mini-Con infiltrators! What next? Is Unicron going to show up and sabotage things in Vale?"
"Situation unacceptable," Soundwave acknowledged. "Starscream, since you believe yourself more capable, you will take over the Vale Theater."
Finally, my genius will be recognized! Starscream thought, smiling triumphantly. "Of course, Soundwave," he said. "I will begin preparations for my departure immediately."
As Starscream left, Soundwave turned his visored gaze to the Combaticon leader. "Onslaught, Lord Megatron wishes to speak with you… personally."
"Of course, sir." Onslaught squared his shoulders and marched through the door behind Soundwave. There were consequences for failure, and he would not shy away from them.
There were Decepticons who feared those consequences more than death itself. Indeed, it could be argued that Onslaught was one of them, as he had little fear of death.
"Our lives are meant to be spent."
But he stood by his decision to call for a retreat. With the Autobots in control of Site 13's fixed defenses, especially the anti-orbital cannon, all staying and fighting would have accomplished was getting him and his men killed, and that was… unacceptable. He could never - would never - allow that to happen, not on his watch.
"'Spent'. Not wasted."
As the door slid shut behind him, he stood at attention, bracing himself.
"Lord Megatron."
"You disappoint me, Onslaught." From his throne in the darkened back of the room, Megatron's voice was deceptively calm and level. A bad sign.
"I accept full responsibility for our failure."
"I know you do, Onslaught," Megatron crooned softly as he rose from his throne and walked down to his subordinate.
That was when the pain began.
Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Huntsman Academy, was silent for those first few seconds after the footage gathered by the seven students in front of him, in particular Ren, finished playing. Professor Glynda Goodwitch, his chief lieutenant and combat instructor, was silent as well. The tension between them and the students was so great those with bladed weapons felt they could slice it apart.
As was his prerogative though, Ozpin broke the silence with his characteristic calm. "You seven have indeed been very active in your free time."
"Yes, sir," Jaune and Ruby answered for their teams in near unison.
"What I'm wondering is, why did you choose to being this to me now?"
"We wanted to wait until we had evidence linking the SDC to it," Jaune answered, "but after what we saw… this is way bigger than any of us thought."
"I see," Ozpin said, hands clasped in front of him with his elbows on his desk. "I'm glad you brought this to my attention. Please, keep us apprised of your investigation."
"Headmaster!" a scandalized Glynda protested, her head whipping around to stare at Ozpin. "You can't be serious!"
Ruby blinked. "You… aren't going to tell us to stop?"
"Would you listen if I did?" Ozpin asked reasonably.
"Um, well…" Ruby hemmed and hawed, toeing the floor awkwardly.
"No," Jaune declared bluntly.
"At the beginning of the semester, you asked me for any tips on how to be a leader," Ozpin said, looking at the caped youngster. "Here's one: Never give an order you know won't be obeyed. I knew your mother, Miss Rose, and you are very much like her. An injustice such as this? I might as well try asking a river to stop flowing to the sea. At least this way, we can provide you with support and help when you need it."
"With all due respect, sir," Glynda said, drawing his attention. "They're children."
"An hour ago, I would have agreed with you, Glynda," the headmaster replied. "But after seeing this? The fire I see in their eyes? The monumental task they've taken on? No, Glynda. They aren't children, not anymore. They're Huntsmen now."
He looked over the seven teenagers, looking each one in the eye.
"You aren't in combat school anymore," he declared. "There, you likely experienced a certain degree of… overprotectiveness from the faculty. But among the many lessons we teach here at Beacon is to shoulder the responsibilities of your choices. Consider this… an accelerated course."
The teenagers considered that for a long moment.
Then Weiss raised her hand.
"Does this mean we'll be getting extra credit?"
The medical bay was as dimly lit as the rest of the ship, and currently, the only medic out of stasis was performing a routine examination. Cybertronian physiology didn't typically need it very often, but these were decidedly atypical circumstances.
He was just finishing up with his patient when the door slid open.
"Thundercracker, Ambulon," Starscream said, offering both patient and medic nods of greeting.
Thundercracker snapped to his feet. "Commander Starscream!"
"Commander." Ambulon's reply nod was much more sedate.
"So, how's our patient?" Starscream asked. "Is he having any issues interfacing with the prototype? Headaches, disorientation, energon fluctuations?"
"No, sir," Thundercracker replied. Starscream ignored him.
"His optics and reflexes are responding normally, and there's no detectable interference with his T-cog or other functions," Ambulon said. "Clean bill of health."
Starscream leaned back. "Excellent. I was worried there might be issues integrating the humans' primitive technology. Speaking of the humans, they insist the prototype is ready for live-fire trials. Would you concur?"
Concern crossed the purple and white medic's face. "I must caution-"
"Absolutely, Commander!" interrupted Thundercracker.
"Excellent!" Starscream repeated. "We've already selected an appropriate venue: the humans' Vytal Festival. I will be traveling ahead to make preparations as I take command of the Vale Theater, but you should be ready to depart at a moment's notice."
"Yes, Commander."
Satisfied, Starscream spun on his heel and departed, leaving the two of them staring at the door after him.
"Someone's happy," Ambulon noted. He glanced at Thundercracker. "And you seem awfully eager."
"Yeah, well…" Thundercracker stalled, before admitting, "I miss flying. And the prototype..."
"He's using you, you know," Ambulon pressed on. "As a test bed so he can take advantage of the technology himself if it succeeds."
"Because I'm expendable, I know." The Seeker sighed. "But… I'm kind of glad he chose me for this, even with the risks."
The other Decepticon raised a surprised eyebrow. "Getting attached, are you?"
Rather than answer, Thundercracker asked, "So, am I good to go?"
He got a long-suffering sigh in response. "Yes, yes, you're free to go. Like I told Starscream, clean bill of health."
"Thanks, Doc," Thundercracker said, heading out.
Shaking his head, Ambulon moved on down to the next medical cubicle. As the door slid open, he peered inside at his remaining patient.
"Onslaught, old friend," he said, shaking his head, "looks like that Prime really did quite a number on you."
"Not. The Prime," the Combaticon leader ground out.
Realization dawned on the medic. "Ahh, of course."
Author's Note 1 (Cyclone):
I'm sure there's nothing to worry about with that ending, nothing at all. Anyway, we know Weiss hasn't ever shown the ability to do what we have her do here, but darn it, the mental image looked so cool, we had to go with it anyway. Sorry the battle sequence got summarized so much, but fight scenes are hard. Finally, damn it, Onslaught, stop trying to hijack the story!
Author's Note 2 (Cody MacArthur Fett):
During this chapter Weiss asks if they'll be getting extra credit for this, and the answer to that question is yes. It will be filed under "Special Assignments." That was going to be included in the chapter, but it was edited out for comedic timing purposes.
Also, this was another chapter that ended up being split. Though, interestingly, it wasn't ex post facto like the previous chapter. Instead what happened was that we were happily writing along with rapidity when we realized we were closing in on 25 pages.
Also, if you're rapidly reaching the point where you need a chart to keep track of who knows what and who is concealing what from whom you're not alone.