Took me long enough to put this out, just in time for Chris-[REDACTED]-Nondescript Winter Holiday!
Now comes the action, and the shit hitting the fan!
Chapter 21: Paint the Town... Khorne Red!
"I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day."—Vincent Van Gogh
The evening sky was beginning to dim, though once again no true dynamic shadows could be seen thanks to the effect the world still had—Jacob began to honestly wonder if he'd ever see realistic lighting again—in Poser. The street lamps had only just lit up, but their lights were dim and hardly lighting up the way while the sun's light still illuminated the path in a maroon light.
But the light was the least of Jacob's concerns.
No, it was the fact that he was now walking alongside one half of Team RWBY, and two people similar to 40k characters.
His mind was running on all cylinders as he desperately tried to bring some sense back to the situation. When it was just Vulkan he was able to write it off as a one-time fluke. When he saw the effigy of Malcador when he was inducted into The Inquisition he felt his stomach leap a little in abject horror.
Now he was walking astride a man with the name of the greatest Commissar to ever be put in Warhammer 40k, not counting the awesome Sebastian Yarrick of course.
Jacob glanced nervously at—God, he could even really think about it—Professor Ciaphas Cain, who was currently in the middle of a discussion with Vulkan of something they had done in the past together; something about a pack of Beowolves attacking a minor CCT Tower in Southern Sanus or something like that. The five members of their company of merry misfits were strolling down the sidewalk towards Vulkan and... Cain's destination, the two men taking point, Ruby and Weiss taking up the flank of the group, and Jacob sandwiched in between them. He hugged his arms closer to his torso than normal, wanting to retreat into a ball of confusion and just wait out the night as he tried to untangle the maddening mess of a day that had already formed.
Ruby and he now were the only two—rather than Ruby be the only one—privy to Penny's secret. That was something he was anticipating to earn once he came along with Ruby.
But now he was on the way to meet with Vulkan's team, whom by all account sounded like nice people while at the same time sounded like they may also bear the names of characters from Warhammer 40k.
"This is like the punchline of a very bad fanfiction," Jacob muttered.
"What was that, Mr. Muller?" Commissar—no, Professor Cain said as he glanced back with a kind smile.
"Oh, uh, nothing, Sir." Jacob was sweating artillery shells as he hunched forward, the agitation and discomfort making him want to rub a tag or twiddle his thumbs or do something to quell his desire to fidget.
The Atlesian professor laughed. "Somehow, I really doubt that," he said cheerfully. He laughed again, this time joined by Vulkan with his own quick and hearty laugh.
"So, Ruby," Weiss began from behind and to the left of him, "when were you going to tell me you were on a first-name basis with the best weaponsmith in Vale? Friend of the family, I presume?"
Jacob glanced over his shoulder as Ruby replied, "Oh, uh, yeah, Vulkan and his team were classmates with my parents and their team. Even after their team broke apart Vulkan still kept in touch with us; he's the reason I was able to make Crescent Rose in the first place!"
Jacob blinked at that. "Wait," he began, "I thought you built and trained with Crescent Rose under your uncle Qrow."
"Oh, well Uncle Qrow gave me the blueprints for his," Ruby began, "but Vulkan showed me how to forge a weapon in the first place."
"Yes, yes," Vulkan replied from up front, "I remember it like it was only yesterday; the first thing she ever made was a crooked broadsword when she was only 8 years old; it was so big that the first time she took it off the anvil she immediately dropped it!" He broke out in a fit of laughter, Professor Cain joining in as well. The image of a little 8-year-old Ruby essentially trying to emulate Cloud from Final Fantasy forced a big smile out of Jacob, only for the smile to become full-fledged laughter as Ruby protested and turned a bright red right as Jacob turned his head around to look at her.
"I mean, it was pretty heavy," she muttered under her breath. "Wait," she began, "how did you know about me training under my uncle?"
The smile faded like breath-fog on a cold window as it sunk in. Shit, he cursed mentally, she hasn't told anyone in the group about Qrow!
"Oh, come now, Ms. Rose," the Commissar lookalike interrupted, "Your friend seems the smart type. I'd imagine that he was quick to put two and two together if he's familiar with your family. God knows Ozpin could never stop talking about them..." Listening to him, Jacob only now noticed the distinct but faint British accent he was carrying in every syllable of his somewhat husky voice that seemed to echo the tones of Liam Neeson, albeit perhaps an overall note higher in pitch.
"Yeah, yeah," Jacob quickly grabbed the lead the professor offered him, "Ozpin mentioned your uncle in passing a couple of times and I figured since Mr. Branwen reportedly also uses a scythe... well, they say 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree' for a reason."
Ruby didn't respond for a second before she gave an acceptant huff. "Hey," she then began with a surprised tone, "when were you going to tell me you were friends with a Professor from Atlas?!"
Weiss replied with a scoff and said, "I wasn't, I had no need or reason to tell you that! Besides, Professor Cain is—was, technically—my instructor in fencing just as he was my sister's instructor."
Professor Cain hummed in thought. "Speaking of which," he said, "have you heard anything from your sister as of late?"
Silence reigned for a few seconds. "Uh... no," she finally admitted.
Jacob looked forwards at the professor, a noticeable downturn in his posture seeming to present itself. Meanwhile, his head was performing all of the circus acrobatics to justify this all; this was beyond non-canonical, and it was putting him on edge. Things seemed to have the image of canonical adherence on the surface, but there was something beginning to reveal itself from underneath.
Suddenly, the professor cleared his throat. "So, do we know who else is attending tonight Vulkan?"
Vulkan hummed in confusion before realizing what had been said. "Oh, the whole of my team is here tonight; Titus, Mira and Gabriel as I mentioned; Logan's also coming tonight, and I received a call from our black-clad friend from out Vacuo-way."
"Any word from anyone else?"
Vulkan shook his head in denial. Meanwhile, Jacob swallowed a lump in his throat; another name, Logan, was added to the list. Jacob's stride faltered and slowed, putting him right between Ruby and Weiss, who were watching the adults with curiosity.
"Who are they talking about?" Ruby asked.
"Sounds like some of their colleagues," Weiss replied. " I knew that Professor Cain and General Ironwood were on good terms, but he only spoke of a few others in passing, hardly footnotes. Mr. He'Stan was mentioned in passing a few times too, but Professor Cain mostly stayed to himself with his wife."
Jacob absorbed every bit of information thrown within hearing range by Weiss, trying to crunch it as fast as he could. But now the info being sent his way was also having to take a backseat to the other info sent from this Ciaphas Cain imposter—really that's what he had to be, an imposter! —and the backlog of processing was starting to become physically agonizing. A low-boil headache was building throughout the whole his skull; a mild thrumming along his temples, an ache along the muscles in the back, pressure from behind his eyes. For the first time in two years, Jacob was working on a migraine.
How delightful.
They continued their walk through the streets, Jacob practically watching his Scroll in preparation for the moment when Blake and Sun would make the call when Roman started chasing them in the stolen Paladin. For now, however, he was in Vulkan's company with the girls and at least he could be somewhat pleasant.
For the rest of the walk there was mostly small-talk between everyone, mainly Vulkan and Cain of course as the younger trio sat back and listened. A few questions were asked from Ruby to Cain and back; How was Taiyang, what was it like being a professor at Atlas, so on and so forth. As much as Jacob wanted to pay attention, he was busy with one ear to the accursed Scroll at all times—metaphorically of course.
Before long, another half-hour had come and gone and they were almost to their destination. By now Jacob's feet were beginning to ache after walking and running around Vale for the better half of two hours or so with little time to rest. Around them the clean and quaint chic of the Commercial District had given way to a far colder and more ominous appearance. Even in the limited lighting of Poser there was a tinge of malice to everything in the area, a sense or wear and tear permeating as well; Jacob felt as though at any given moment a mugger or a drugged-up hobo would appear out of an alleyway and hit them up. Reminds me of Downtown back home, he thought to himself with a huff. Some things never change.
"Ah, here we are," Vulkan said from about four paces ahead of them.
"Oh, thank God," Ruby said exasperatedly, "my belly's all angry with me for skipping dinner."
"I told you we should have gotten dinner first," Weiss replied with a roll of her eyes.
They rounded the street corner and were greeted with the sight of a large steel-framed restaurant, a one-story building nestled in tightly amongst the concrete apartments and offices at the point where the Industrial, Commercial and Residential Districts met. Across the way from their side of the road there was a medium river, no wider across than the Rio Grande or the Colorado River respectively, though Jacob had a funny feeling that it was far deeper than either of those two. Focusing back of the restaurant, it was clearly something akin to an old Quonset hut from World War 2, albeit somewhat larger than most and trying its damnedest to look inviting and just reaching that aesthetic threshold. The paint coat on the outside was fresh, a muted green with a white and red stripe just along the long side of the building. A simple wood and glass door led to the inside, as warm yellow light filed out from within via the aforementioned door and a few windows along the long sides. Atop the doorway, painted in white in a stenciled font, was obviously name of the place: Grannie's.
"Glad to see the old watering hole is still around," the Cain lookalike said with a chuckle. "I was worried that the thing would eventually collapse."
"Been open since the Great War," Vulkan responded in kind, "I doubt it'll fall anytime soon if it's held on this long."
Off to Jacob's left, Ruby lit up with a spark of recollection. "Oh! How did I not realize we were headed to Grannie's!?"
Jacob and Weiss turned and looked at one another before converging their gazes on Ruby. "Wait," Jacob said in confusion, "you've been here before?"
Ruby turned and replied, "Yeah, Dad took me and Yang by here a couple of times when we came into Vale for an occasion or two! Oooh, I love the cookies here!" Before either of her cohorts could comment, she ran for the front entrance with her usual reckless abandon.
"Of course you do—"
"Of course you do—"
Weiss and Jacob turned and stared at one another for a good long second before the both of them let out a small chuckle. They closed the distance to Ruby at a leisurely walk, Jacob and Weiss now taking point instead of the two 40K facsimiles. Just as Ruby reached the door and opened it, a howling laugh—literally howling—rushed to their ears. While other laughs also reached them, none were as loud as that booming, thunderous laughter.
"Sounds like Logan's telling another of his jokes," Vulkan said, a pleasant smile across his face.
Jacob didn't feel like he could share that sentiment at the moment as his stomach felt like a Six Flags rollercoaster, flipping too much to give him an opportunity to think. Now was not the time to back out; he honestly didn't have that luxury anymore.
Time to meet these people.
He reached the door and held it open for Weiss, receiving a smile and "thank you" in response before rounding the doorframe himself.
He found the inside of the restaurant to be simple enough in decorum that it wouldn't have been out of place back on Earth in comparison. A faux-roof of chestnut-wood panels lined the curvature of the roof with a noticeable skylight in the center. The lamps and lights inside the restaurant were small, warm-lighted things with the tacky stained-glass shades you see in bars and mom-and-pop cafés. The floor was a simple pattern of grey tiles splashed with faint spray patterns of black here and there. There were few free-standing tables, mostly it was booths along the walls looking out towards the street and a long counter with about a dozen and a half red and steel bar stools lined up against it. The general feel of the restaurant was... homely, in a positive sense of the phrase. Jacob felt a smile cross his face for a few seconds; five months ago, this place on cursory glance would have fit right in along Central back home, right along with the other myriad stores and shops and restaurants that lined his city's little stretch of Route 66.
"Vulkan! Cain! You're late!"
Jacob's ears caught the tones of a mighty, baritone British voice from across the room. Across the way from the door there was a massive booth in the back corner, filled with—four, five, six he counted—six people sitting around conversing and laughing. Before Jacob could respond or even react, Vulkan had grabbed Jacob by the shoulder along with Weiss, gently but strongly moving them towards that table.
"Sorry about that," Vulkan replied, the faint Jamaican accent contending with the British. "I was caught up in a bit of an interesting situation when I bumped into these kids."
With Weiss and Ruby at his side, Jacob was led to the table by Vulkan's firm grip on his shoulder. He rounded the table to the entry side and found his heart somewhere back by the door.
On the left, "Gabe" sat with a margarita glass on the table in front of him, wearing a surprised look on his face that quickly gave way to humor, still clad in that same outfit he had first seen him in at the docks. Everyone else was new to him though... but not entirely.
Sitting in the center of the lot was a guy nearly if not the same size and build as Vulkan, sporting long dirty-blonde locks, solid beard-stache much like his own and strong features, giving him a Thor-like appearance. He wore a grey and white fur-lined jacket and sported a pendant around his neck that chillingly reminded Jacob of the Wolf Between the Stars, the mark of the First Great Company of the Space Wolves. Jacob would have thought nothing of it were it not for the fact that if you removed the metaphorical anime filter from the world of Remnant he would look pretty damn similar to the Primarch of the Sixth Legion, Leman Russ.
"Oi," the Leman Russ lookalike began—a thick Scottish-Scandinavian accent rolling through his gravelly, bass voice—"This wouldn't happen to be the Muller boy you were talkin' about, would it?"
Vulkan gave him no response but a nod and a smile.
The Russ-lookalike laughed as Jacob noted the other two people at the table. A man and a woman, both brunettes and fair-skinned sat, smiling at the newcomers. The man was leaner than the other two gentlemen at the table but still sported broad shoulders and the features one would expect in a warrior. His comb-over was well-groomed and the blue polo and tan cargo pants he wore gave him a casual but orderly demeanor. The woman sitting beside was clad in a molted green—no, Castellan Green—sweater and khaki pants, her hair was up in a ponytail that cascaded down to the small of her back. Two pairs of chocolate brown eyes stared back at him with intense curioisity. The man seemed to be in his mid to late 30s—maybe early 40s—the woman around the late 20s or early 30s if Jacob had to take a wild guess.
"The pleasure is all ours, Mr. Muller," the man replied, offering his hand to shake. Jacob returned the gesture in earnest, his stomach roiling as the gears clicked in his head.
All the while, the white, upside-down omega of the Ultramarines stared back at him.
"I'm Titus Ultramar," the man said as he let go of the handshake, "and this is my wife, Miranda."
"Just Mira, please. The pleasure's ours," "Mira" replied earnestly, offering and receiving a handshake as well.
Jacob felt the blood leave his face and pool in his feet, though he at least kept the composure to return the handshake. "Believe me," he began shakily, "the pleasure is all mine..."
Blake's fingers traced the three scratches in the concrete of the wall next to her. She knew this marking well; Hell, she was the one to come up with it in the first place. A mark to represent the "wild animals" that they had been called by some people? What seemed clever once upon a time sickened her now more than ever.
She leaned out from behind the wall and down into the alleyway. Sure enough, a pair of White Fang were standing guard in front of a large steel door into the warehouse. A pair of Faunus—both sporting small horns of some kind of animal—were being admitted in.
She took a deep breath as the situation fully processed in her head. "This is it," she said after a moment.
"You sure?"
She turned and glared at Sun Wukong, the monkey Faunus starting to irk her. For the last 2 or so hours it had been nothing but questions from him; at first it had been charming and well-appreciated that he would be so curious and considerate, but after some time it grated on her nerves.
"Y'know, I'm just gonna take your word for it," he said after a second, holding his hands up in acceptance and surrender.
Blake rolled her eyes and moved to remove her bow for the third time in the last few weeks; At this point in time, she was beginning to think maybe the bow was becoming superfluous considering how many people knew by now and how frequently she was starting to remove it. The two Huntsmen followed the couple's entry, easily gaining access; it wasn't that hard really, the Vale branch wasn't that familiar with her to begin with since she stuck to Adam's vanguard force from Menagerie while she was here. They were handed a pair of the standard issue masks that she had once thought to be so brave but now too soured her stomach.
She could practically remember the conversation with him as if it had only happened days ago...
"You see where I am going with this, Right Blake?"
"Adam, these are brilliant!"
He smiles. "They think us monsters? Then we'll show them what true monsters are like..."
"I don't get it."
Sun's comment slapped her out of her meander down Memory Lane.
"If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"
Blake sighed as the echoes of that memory lingered. "The masks are a symbol," she explained somberly. "Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters."
"Grimm masks," Sun realized quickly. "That's kind of dark."
"So was the guy who started it," she replied, Adam's angered visage slicing its way through her mind's eye. They donned their masks and quickly entered the building.
Blake found herself relieved once she entered, though perhaps for the wrong reasons. Within the building's interior, a small army's worth of White Fang members had formed up into rows not unlike soldiers, easily numbering 100-plus or more. Though that was far from the source of her relief; by comparison, the count of new recruits maybe numbered only three or four dozen in comparison to the hundred or so she would sometimes see for monthly recruitment meetings back on Menagerie or in Mistral on the few occasions she journeyed with Adam to recruit there. Adam's grasp here is weak, she thought to herself, but why?
"Thank you all for coming," began the Lieutenant—Blake recognized him from Adam's vanguard, a guy with a particular affinity for chainsaws—as he stood atop a platform in front of them all. "For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!"
Blake and Sun shared a look. Who could he be talking about?
And as if he had heard their thoughts, Roman Torchwick rounded the corner of the... thing standing behind the Lieutenant. A chorus of angry retorts and cries lashed out at him.
"Thank you, thank you," he replied to the abyssal responses, "Please, hold your applause!"
A deer Faunus in front of them pointed angrily and cried out, "What's a human doing here?!"
Roman never let his smile and cool demeanor down as he replied, "I'm glad you asked, 'Deerie'! Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans... are the worst. Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed!"
The chorus' tune changed, suddenly finding itself in harmony with its new composer. Sun leaned over and whispered, "So, is he going somewhere with this?"
"But, before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!" Another outcry, this time in his favor. Blake felt a pit growing in her stomach. "Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life!" Another cry, this time a cheer of agreement. "And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around... No offense to any rodent Faunus in the room."
"And he is not the only one," boomed another voice.
Another figure rounded the same corner, and Blake felt a harrowing feeling of dread coursed through her.
He was titanic, easily Yatsuhashi's height if not potentially larger, though whether or not that was due to the massive, bulky armor he wore was up to debate. They couldn't see his face as it was hiding beneath a menacing helmet, its visor in the shape of a T as it was flanked by four long, spindly horns atop and along the sides of the helmet and a pair of small tusks along the bottom of the jawline. Various spines and horns adorned the armor, painted in a maroon-red color and rimmed with a silver that seemed perhaps too polished as they glimmered and gleamed in the dim lights of the warehouse. On his back, a black cape adorned with a fur collar fluttered behind him, tattered and yet ominous. A symbol adorned each shoulder; on the right, it was a terrifying image of a horned demon's head resting atop a book of scribbles, the demon's head also flaming furiously.
But the symbol on the left grabbed her attention even quicker: A silver wheel permeated by eight spikes, a skull resting in the center.
The Mark of the Eightfold Path.
This is bigger than I thought, she worryingly thought. Adam's working with a gang of mass-murderers!?
The crowd of new initiates immediately shut up, the fear practically palpable in the air.
"Fear not, dear friends," the smooth, baritone voice of the newcomer intoned across the room, his voice amplified by some built-in speaker, "I mean you know harm; I have come to help you on your... Crusade." He walked forward, a massive cudgel in hand that seemed to tower as its spiked visage hid beneath the horrifying remains of a human skull. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Eliphas, Bearer of the Word, and I come before you with a message of peace and cooperation."
The room remained silent as Blake watched this Eliphas with concern and intrigue. Something about this character seemed... Blake really couldn't describe it as anything other than, well... ancient.
The giant warrior chuckled darkly as he continued. "Now, of course, peace is no option for our enemies. Master Torchwick has already done a fine job of pointing out your oppressors and foes already, but I come to you to bring The Word. Not the Word of My Father, blessed is He, but The Word of our enemies' fate. Death, Death cries out for their corpses, Death cries out for their obliteration! I would see the Faunus-kind rise above their masters, rise above their inferior brethren! Even the Huntsmen Academies shoulder as much blame; for it was a young brother, new to the ways of the Fang, who was mercilessly slaughtered by the Lone Wolf Huntsman whom now resides at Beacon Academy!"
Blake felt her heart stop for a second. Jacob...
The crowd began to reply back to his—well, this was honestly what she thought it was—sermon, a hint of bloodthirst in their collective tone. This madman was already working them into a fervor, as if he knew just how to get their attention and hold tightly to it.
Eliphas made his way back to the tarp, passing by a tiny girl with pink and black hair whom stood astride Roman. "Humanity has long made you to be its servants, long made you lay beneath their boots in the muck and the filth of the world! No more, I beg of thee, brothers and sisters of the White Fang, no more!"
As his voice reached a climax of ecstatic fervor, the giant warrior-priest threw back the tarp with little effort, revealing what laid beneath:
A brand new Atlesian Paladin. The paint had already begun to be scraped off by force, the mark of Atlas' military painted over with the claw marks and wolf's head of the White Fang.
Sun was visibly shocked by the appearance of the massive machine. "Whoa, that's a big robot," he said worryingly.
"How did they get that," Blake asked rhetorically, eyeing the entire machine.
Now it was Roman's turn to talk again. "As some of you may have heard, this right here is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to our "employer", we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, "hit the shelves". Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine...
"But," the giant began again, his smooth baritone starting to worm its way into Blake's skull, "if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, we shall show you the way to victory. Any questions?"
A cacophony of cheers and roars met their ears. The crowd of newcomers had been worked into a frenzy by the oration; it shouldn't have been that easy, and yet he swayed them with a fairly weak oration! How!? "We should get out of here," Blake decided, fearing for her teammates and their cohort.
"Will all new recruits, please come forward!"
The crowd surged forwards at the Lieutenant's command. Now the escape was compromised.
Shit.
Sun was starting to panic. "What are we going to do?!"
Her mind was going a mile a minute at the moment. "I'm thinking," was all she could reply with.
Just then, her gaze wandered over Roman and the warrior-priest Eliphas.
At that point she realized that they were staring directly at her and Sun.
"They see us," Sun hissed in terror as Roman pointed the giant in their direction.
Her escape routes began to come to her: Out the back door? No, they'd be spotted and be fired upon. Blend in? No way, the façade was gone. About that time, she noticed a fuse box in the back of the room, just above the giant's head. "They can't see in the dark," she offered, unsheathing Gambol Shroud and squeezing off a shot.
The room was plunged into darkness and a chorus of screams.
Fortunately, most Faunus had extra-powerful night vision in comparison to humans, case in point Blake: It took less than a few seconds for her eyes to immediately adjust for the practically nonexistant light.
Unfortunately, everyone in the room except the giant and Roman were also Faunus.
"Don't let them get away!" A Fang member cried out as he lunged for them. Both Sun and her ducked out of the way before charging through the initiates. Gunfire rang out as Faunus around them hit the deck. Another Fang member charged her with a sword, Gambol Shroud returning to its sword form as she locked blades and proceeded to deck the clearly-new Fang grunt in the temple. He fell over with no more than a small "oomph".
"Sun! The window!" She pointed up towards the top of the warehouse, a few medium windows letting in the tiniest bit of light from the moon.
The giant's cry of "Stop them!" Rang out, but the two agile and well-trained Faunus Huntsmen quickly ascended the wall and crashed through the windows, sprinting for their lives away from the warehouse.
But just as Blake predicted, Torchwick wouldn't have them escaping so easily.
The sound of concrete sundering and breaking heralded the Paladin's charge after them, the massive mech plodding along at nearly the same speeds as they were running. Even with sacrificing some of their Aura reserves to boost their speed they could barely outrun the mechanized suit.
"So, you wouldn't happen to have," Sun began as he followed beside her, flipping and sprinting his way across the rooftops, "oh, I don't know... some form of backup?!"
"On it!" She reached back into her pocket and latched onto her Scroll, dialing up the whole team of a group-chat.
Come on, come on, pick up!
"...and then, Ragnar got the bright idea to chase the beast back to its cave, only to find the mother wolf had just recovered and was even bigger!"
A wall of laughter pounded Jacob's ears, mostly coming from Ruby and... and Titus.
Maybe I need to stop praying to my God, Jacob half-jokingly remarked in his head, and maybe start making prayers to The Emperor at this point.
It had been thirty minutes since they had sat down and already everyone had put down orders for meals and for the most part consumed them. T-bones salads, warm plates of potatoes and country-fried steaks, a burger and even a half slab of ribs had been devoured at a leisurely pace. Ironically, getting a warm meal in his stomach was enough to start to settle his stomach, although it did little to help his mental concerns.
As—God, Jacob couldn't even believe he was saying this—Logan Grimnar finished his story, a couple of people drew their attention towards Ruby and Weiss. "So," began Vulkan, "most of you know by now of Ms. Schnee's weapon, but I don't think anyone's seen Ruby's weapon, have they?"
There was a collective shake of "no" in response.
Jacob turned to find a very bright and beaming Ruby Rose bouncing up out of her seat on the end—they were seated from one end of the horseshoe booth to the other as such: from left to right it was Ruby, Jacob, Weiss, Vulkan, Cain, Gabriel, Logan, Titus, Mira—and unsheathed Crescent Rose with a spinning dervish as she held it up, doing what she could to avoid damaging the restaurant. A collective cry of surprise and delight left the table, though all but one voice had responded.
"The Death Guard called," "Gabe" said with a snarky laugh, "They want their Manreaper back."
Jacob felt his heart freeze up at that. That was an outright reference to Warhammer 40k, unless there was a gang out there who called themselves "The Death Guard" and also used giant "Manreaper" scythes in battle.
Jacob glanced at Gabe just in time to see "Cain" lightly elbow him in the ribs. "Really, Angelos?"
Cain's dry tone and impacting elbow seemed to make Gabe wince in response. "Sorry," he said in a hiss, "Just saying..."
Jacob forced his attention away and focused back on Ruby, whom was now beaming brightly as she explained, "...it's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle." She demonstrated her point with a quick spinning flourish, the blade retreating into the frame and the sniper form taking its place.
"Mira" whistled in impress. "Very nice," she said—Jacob only now noticed the faintest tinge of a British accent on her too—before chuckling with "Titus". "Never was one for sniper rifles, I'll admit, but I did have an affinity with standard range rifles."
Ruby gave her a puzzled look. "Were you in the military?"
Mira smiled knowingly. "Something like that," she replied with a chuckle. Jacob felt his stomach roil again, a very unpleasant feeling when it was already full of food.
"Ah, a battle scythe," "Logan" sighed wistfully, "Just like your mother's. And your Uncle Qrow as well."
Jacob's gazed locked on Ruby again as she gained nostalgic smile and hugged Crescent Rose closer to her. Jacob felt a smile cross his face; he couldn't lie that there were moments when Ruby was cute as a button.
"Speaking of the old bird," Titus mentioned, "How is he?"
"Oh, uhm, Uncle Qrow's been out on a lot of missions lately, and I haven't heard much from some of the others at Haven. They said he's been out a lot and they've been getting substitutes a lot, but other than that I haven't heard anything else."
"The Grimm have been getting more restless as of late," Gabe replied, staring down at his plate. "A fair number of colonies on the outskirts of Vacuo and Mistral have been getting attacked more and more frequently. Something's spurring them on..."
Everyone stared at him with looks of fear, concern and annoyance. Jacob himself felt the middle-most of those three; where was that calm and content fellow he met on the docks those few weeks ago? Had that been a façade?
"Mood-killer as always, Gabe," Titus said as he patted the blonde Huntsman on the shoulder.
Just then, two Scrolls rang out in unison. Jacob felt his vibrate and looked down as Ruby and Weiss did on theirs.
A group call from Blake.
Showtime.
Blake's voice rang out. "Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-"
"HEEEELLLLP!" Sun cried out.
Jacob sprung up, absentmindedly slapping a couple of Lien bills on the table for the trio's meals. "Sounds like they're in trouble," he said as he stretched and continued to listen their message.
"Big robot! And it's big! Really big!"
Ruby gained an excited smile. "Oh, I am not missing this!" And like that she took off for the entrance.
"Ruby, wait!" Weiss cried, taking off after her partner. Jacob entered the call group as the Faunus duo continued.
"That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something!"
Vulkan and the rest of the 40k facsimiles were on their feet by the time Weiss had left, all six of them crowding around Jacob. He couldn't lie how much he was about ready to start sweating bullets at this point. "What is going on?" Vulkan asked urgently, grabbing Jacob by the shoulder.
"Where are you guys?" Yang asked over the group call.
All Sun let out in response was a panicked "HURRYYYY!"
"We're drawing him towards the highways, try to get a height advantage from the overpasses!" Blake called out, a few pants leaving her side of the communique.
"Roger!"
"You got it!"
"Right behind you, Kitty-Cat!"
"Yang!"
Jacob picked up. "I'll be right there," he replied. "Damnit," he hissed after he turned off the system, "How the Hell am I gonna catch up!?"
"Jacob!" Vulkan cried out, making Jacob wince in surprise. "What. Is. Going. On?"
Jacob was struggling to answer him as all six of them had crowded around him, the visages of heroes of The Grimdark Future baring down on him with worry and confusion. After a few seconds of composing himself, he answered quickly, "Uh, Blake wanted to investigate what the White Fang have been doing since she let them, so team RWBY decided to split up and get info on them, but Ruby and I got sidetracked with another friend of ours and now it sounds like Blake's in trouble!"
Silence held sway for a few seconds. Jacob felt like it was the kind of silence leading up to some manner of punchline in a movie.
"Uh-huh," the Logan facsimile replied in a deadpan tone.
"Huh," Cain said with a laugh. "Like mother, like daughter, it seems Ms. Rose is getting tangled in all kinds of trouble."
"I agree," Vulkan said, though the calm demeanor had been replaced with a steely cool that screamed "soldier" to Jacob. "They said something about a 'big robot', then that means they'll need all the help they can get."
"But, like I said, how are we gonna catch up to them?"
Vulkan laughed. "It shouldn't be too hard," he replied, "The main highway overpasses are only about three miles southwards into the Industrial District. Come on!"
And like that, they were out the door and charging down the street. Jacob had to blink and process how quickly they had taken off before charging after them, shouting, "Jeez, wait for me!"
They hadn't even been running for long when they caught sight of the overpasses. Finally, something Jacob was familiar with structurally; back home his commute to the store for groceries or to see friends or whatever had him constantly crossing under and over and through the myriad of overpasses and bypasses lining the highways that passed through the city.
The majority of the group was already way ahead of Jacob by now, Cain and Gabe hanging back beside him. Jacob was straining to keep up, his lungs once again burning for the second time today.
"How do we know if they've gotten here?" Vulkan asked from out in front as the group of seven caught up.
Jacob felt a desire to roll his eyes in exasperation. "Okay," he wheezed as he caught up, "First thing Vulkan, is this... never ask a question like that... unless you can expect—"
CRASH!
Jacob and the six others leapt in surprise as cars—full-on cars—fell out of the sky and crumpled against the cold, hard ground. One, two, three... nine, ten, eleven cars had gone careening off the side of the overpass.
"Jesus Christ!" Jacob screamed as he recoiled.
The others, however, remained unfazed. "Logan," Vulkan began, issuing orders as if he had been doing it all his life—as expected from a team leader. "You and I are on Collateral. Gabriel, Titus, you two help out Ruby and her team, provide fire support and distractions."
A collective call of "Yes, sir" rang out as they set to work, Vulkan and Logan running towards the now-flaming wreckages to save as many civilians as they could. Their Auras flared to life without even a second to concentrate; Jacob usually had to take a few minutes to fully awaken his Aura for combat, hence how he fucked up at the Docks that night. In his wait for Roman's arrival he had only taken a fraction of that time, giving his Aura little chance to prepare for as much combat as he should have. While an activated Aura was always somewhat latent, it took a moment or more of concentration to bring it to full combat mode.
Speaking of which...
Jacob collected his thoughts and tried to focus through the din of battle. He focused again on that tiny flame he had seen so long ago when Pyrrha first helped him. That little image filled his mind's eye as he reached out for it, remembering what Pyrrha had first told him and Jaune when starting up their Auras...
"When you activate your Aura, the fastest way to do so is to find that image you first saw when it was activated the first time; everyone has an image of some kind that they come across. Mine was... well, mine was a candle-flame too, actually."
"Really?"
"Yes. That is your mind conjuring an idea of what your Aura is to you. It's a bit different for everybody."
"Okay then... how do I use that image?"
"Close your eyes... and picture that candle."
Jacob's mind focused on that image of a candlelight, the flame flickering in his mind.
"Alright, what now?"
"Imagine it growing stronger, brighter, larger..."
The flame grew in size, slowly engulfing the candle. It grew and grew—first a small blaze, then the size of a campfire, then a bonfire, then—
He felt the rush in his body. His senses were alert and he felt perhaps a bit more energized than usual. There we go, he thought to himself. He opened his eyes and looked around. Perhaps a minute or so had passed since he started, maybe even 40 or 50 seconds; he was already getting faster he realized to himself.
"Well come on," Mira said to him as she began after her husband, "Took you long enough!"
"Right, right, sorry." He took off after them, the burning in his lungs having tapered off. With his Aura active he was already feeling stronger and faster than before, as if his body had been supercharged. Granted, he was still lagging a bit behind the other four that charged off after Roman, but now he didn't feel like he needed a tank of oxygen after that sprint.
"I could get use to this," he said to himself as he charged after them, following the path of the stolen Atlesian Paladin.
He followed for a good solid minute from ground level, the sight of the Atlesian Paladin popping in and out of sight in short intervals from above as it ducked and weaved. Eventually he saw Neptune jump onto the automaton's back only to be tossed about like a ragdoll.
Don't do it, Sun, he thought to himself as he remembered the monkey Faunus' next move.
Sun didn't get the memo as he jumped at the mech, his golden Semblance constructs jumping at Roman as well. Just like in canon, he saw Neptune get tossed ahead and into Sun with enough force to send them flying over the side. Only this time, it was off to the right and towards him rather than off to the left.
Jacob found himself on autopilot as he snaked off towards them, hoping those two meatheads were alright. Sure enough, he came to a stop in front of the two Mistrali students whom had landed in a thick bush in a tangle of limbs.
"Are you guys alright," Jacob asked, well aware that he was hardly winded.
"We're fine, don't worry about us! Just help Blake," Sun said with an edge of concern.
Jacob nodded and charged after them. Just then he spotted something a pure white color drop down from the highest overpass. Weiss, he realized quickly. There was a flash of white as Weiss laid down her ice patch, sending Roman skidding and stumbling over the side to the ground below.
Another blur zoomed by him, the smell of fresh roses in its wake. Ruby skidded to a stop directly in front of him, forcing him to come to a stop as well. Titus, Gabe and Mira had taken up positions to Ruby's left while he stood on the right. Without a second's hesitation the rest of Team RWBY dropped beside Jacob, setting up their battle stances. Jacob unholstered Titan and Cadia, spinning them as he loaded up Lightning Dust magazines.
"Twin pistols? I didn't take you for a long-range fighter," Cain said with a laugh.
"Believe me Ciaphas," Gabe replied, "the bigger gun has a few tricks up its sleeves."
Jacob didn't reply. He was focused on how this fight would now go: rather than 4 on 1, it was now 9 on 1. It was doubtful that Roman would escape this time.
The Paladin began walking towards them, but it stopped as something landed directly in front of it.
Something rather large and metal.
Something covered in spikes.
It stood up and revealed itself in fullness, and Jacob felt the world spin on its head.
Spiky features to the armor, maroon-blood red armor, silver edges, about seven feet tall give or take...
The legion badge of the Word Bearers on the cartoonily-massive right shoulderpad.
And a four-horned helmet her recognized from one too many playthroughs of the Dark Crusade campaign.
"Ah, I see you have company, Ms. Belladonna," said Eliphas the Inheritor—that was really all Jacob could call him though his body armor wasn't quite like that which the Word Bearer Apostle wore in-game—the cool, smooth voice of Paul Dobson leaking out from the obvious speakers on his helmet with the faintest reverb behind it. "Well, well, well, it appears all of Team RWBY is present. How delightful." He reached behind him and produced a spiked pair of rings that had hung by his belt. Tapping it once, twice, three times, a long bar exited the base of the rings as they rotated and became the spiky skeleton of a ball. Spinning it a few times in his hand, he smashed the weapon into the ground, fracturing the concrete beneath it.
"An Accursed Crozius," Jacob breathed in fear, his voice hardly reaching above a whisper. The badge of a Dark Apostle and their main weapon. Despite the dizzying image presented, some terrified part of Jacob's mind muttered, please don't have a meltagun, please don't have a meltagun...
"And—Oh my Gods, Gabriel Angelos, is that you!? My word, it's been far too long," Eliphas said as if seeing a longtime friend.
"Eliphas, you treacherous cur," Gabriel Angelos seethed as he unsheathed his mighty hammer. It gleamed even in the moonlight, golden-trimmed and of some form of steel beneath. One side was spiked like a meat tenderizer and the other flat like a standard war hammer.
"Still as vindictive as ever," "Eliphas" said as coolly as ever. "The falsehoods you have been taught here only amplify your ignorance as ever, Loyalist." He glanced over towards Titus and Mira and chuckled, the two bristling at the sound. "At last, I return to a worthy fight! Whoever wins here, the Gods will be delighted either way. Have at thee!" at that, he spun the Crozius a few times again, swinging it back behind himself, his chin tilting up as he beckoned them forth in challenge.
Neither member of the couple replied, only glaring daggers. Titus hauled out a massive rifle—a Bolter if it was also hit with the Remnant Stick, as what was clearly covered in many more buttons and switches, as well as also sported a curved bayonet blade beneath the gun. Beside him Mira unholstered—well, there was no denying it—a Cadian Kantrael M36 Lasrifle, albeit clearly modified to sport conventional rounds if the cocking handle he spotted said anything about that.
Jacob turned and looked at the members of RWBY, a clamminess spreading across his face.
They looked back at him with apprehension and fear. This was far from "according to plan".
"I hate to break up this little reunion," came the annoyed voice of Roman Torchwick over the Paladin's intercom, "but can we shut up and kill them already!?"
Jacob braced for what he imagined would be a ferocious battle before Gabriel cried out, "You kids deal with the man in the mech, we'll handle Eliphas!"
Jacob and Ruby looked at one another. Ruby nodded in agreement; the fight with this Eliphas was too risky in comparison to dealing with Torchwick.
Jacob sighed in resignment. "He's right," he said as he and RWBY circled around Eliphas and back towards Roman, all the while Jacob thought to himself, at least we can adhere to canon.
And then the fighting began.
"Freezer Burn!" Ruby cried out as she suddenly leapt back away from Roman's stolen mech, Weiss charging forwards and jabbing Myrtenaster into the ground beneath her to conjure up a field of ice before darting backwards. At the same time, Yang launched herself high into the sky and immediately reversed course, slamming back down onto the ice just as Weiss got out of the way with an earthshaking punch from Ember Celica. The ice met Yang's Fire Dust-infused punch and summoned forth a tremendous cloud of fog, obscuring the Paladin's optics. Jacob himself was also caught in the edge of the blast, tossing him into a wall of white steam. In the warm summer air still cooling down for the night, it was far from refreshing. He made out the figures of Blake and Yang beginning to circle the behemoth machine as said mech activated several laser optics in an attempt to catch them off and let loose into them; the massive guns on the damnable thing would probably just as easily shred all five of them to bits as a Tau Battlesuit would shred Guardsmen apart in the Shooting Phase.
The mech spotted the two dashing ladies but couldn't land a shot on them, only managing to hit their general area. One shot zoomed past Jacob by a few feet, prompting him to go to ground and begin letting loose on the mech; maybe if she shot out the joints it could cause the mech to crash to the ground, allowing them to capture Roman much easier than in canon.
No, stupid! You need it to go as canon, remember!?
Regardless, if he at least took out one joint it could make the girls' fight easier.
Ruby suddenly charged out of the fog, her cute battle cry escaping into the night air as she collided scythe-first with the mech, sending it stumbling backwards."Checkmate!"
This time, Blake and Weiss zoomed forwards, striking at the legs with only the intent to distract; hardly any of their blows could break the outer exoskeleton. That didn't matter though as Weiss suddenly jumped up and stabbed her rapier deep into one of the sensors before kicking off of one of her own white glyphs.
Watching the girls fight was like watching a dance in motion; a dance of life and death to be sure, but a dance nonetheless. "God and The Emperor bless you, Monty," Jacob said with a weak but happy chuckle.
But then he had to turn around and stare at the other battle.
Right there beside him, within hearing distance, was Mira.
She was staring at him like he had just proclaimed allegiance to Chaos in front of the Ecclesiarchy, the shock mirroring how he was feeling.
"...What did you say?"
Jacob felt an icy chill grip his heart.
The way she reacted to that was no coincidence.
"I-uh, I was just saying—"
The next words out of her mouth, relinquished in a worried and urgent tone, sent him into the final dizzying spin to end all dizzying spins.
"What was that you said about The Emperor?"
The way she said it, the reverence that dripped from the word "Emperor"... there was no mistake...
This was Lieutenant Miranda Nero, the Cadian, the Ork-Slayer.
He was in the presence of a real, honest-to-God Imperial Guardsman.
And that meant...
His eye was drawn to the other battle.
By comparison, it was hardly as flashy, though he could not deny the intricate combat techniques presented. Rifle and hammer met... met accursed crozius in melee, the weapons spinning as the three combatants danced their thousand-year-old dance of war.
Titus Ultramar, the Second Company Captain of the Ultramarines was dueling the Dark Apostle Eliphas the Inheritor alongside the Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens, Gabriel Angelos.
Nothing made sense anymore. He wanted to scream and laugh, to lose his mind in the now-never-ending madness that just wanted to break his mind like an egg. He wanted to—
Jacob's Aura screamed for him to duck. He complied and saw a massive round slam into the Lieutenant's side. Under normal circumstances, Jacob would have expected her side to disappear in a puff of gore and smoke.
Imagine his surprise when she instead recoiled back a few feet physically unscathed, her body flaring up with a deep violet Aura. She groaned and shook her head, blinking heavily as she recovered. "Okay," she said, "Well talk about this later." Just then, a barrage of missiles exploded in mid-air behind them; Weiss had just hit Blake with that weird time-dilation Glyph, giving her the extra speed to destroy the missiles before they reached their targets.
"I wholeheartedly agree!" Ciaphas Cain—the Ciaphas Cain—roared as he dodged a monumental swing from Eliphas. He backed off and produced from beneath his jacket his own weapon; A black and silver double-edged chainsword, though there was no clear evidence that it could transform as most Remnant weapons could. "Come on!" Mira nodded and began to pour shots out from her Lasgun, the red contrails following her every shot alluding to a Fire Dust payload.
"R-right," Jacob stuttered, deciding to jump back into the fight between RWBY and Roman.
He couldn't have timed it better as he saw the Paladin send Yang into a support column with a humongous punch. He felt a sudden burst of protectiveness envelop him. "Yang!" He cried out in synch with Blake as he started to run towards her.
"Don't worry," Ruby cried out, "With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's her Semblance!"
Jacob's gaze bounced back between her and Yang, only to notice Yang wasn't getting up. She was barely even stirring.
And Roman was right on top of her.
Canon be damned, he panicked, leveling Cadia and Titan in unison and squeezing of a few shots to get his attention.
The Paladin stopped. Its torso turned slowly.
"Hey Torchwick! Looking for someone to kick!? Try this asshole here!"
"Well well," Roman began through the intercom, "If it isn't Mr. Lone Wolf. If you so insist, I'll kill you first."
Jacob breathed in and out, the back of his mind imagining the flame becoming a roaring inferno in hopes that it would boost him enough to withstand any attacks he couldn't dodge. With a flick of his wrist, Cadia transformed from hellpistol to chainsword as he roared, "Bring it on, asshole! Let's dance!"
There was about 60 feet between them; the Paladin could probably take about eight or so steps and it would be in range to pummel his face in. It started walking towards and shooting at the ground in front of him in an attempt to scare him off. He refused to yield.
With a growl, he began to charge, screaming at the top of his lungs, "GLORY TO THE FIRST MAN TO DIE!"
Torchwick was far from a good shot, as every shot from the arm cannon missed its mark by at least a half-foot as Jacob closed in. The gun returned to fist mode, throwing a swing down towards Jacob's head. Jacob jumped forwards, the fist clipping the back of his hiking shoes by a hair's breadth. Jacob rolled beneath the legs, hoping to find an opening: There, he saw directly ahead of him, An open spot in the knee joint! He didn't hesitate as he spun to his feet, snapping off three rounds into the left knee joint before Roman could have a chance to react. Two pinged off the armor beside it, but one made it in, metal rending to Dust-infused metal. The knee joint began to fail, but it wasn't enough. He heard Ruby cry out his name in fear but he refused to back down. He began to swing Cadia, looking to introduce the bladed teeth to the machine's knee.
He didn't anticipate the mech to suddenly be blown off its feet by something from above, sending his swing off-balance and introducing the chainsword to the center of the machine's calf. It pinged off effortlessly, sending Jacob flailing backwards to the ground. He looked up to what hat hit the Paladin.
He was dumbstruck.
Her eyes were a blood red now, her hair glowing gold and her Aura flaring furiously.
Yang was in full Rage Mode.
She landed on the ground beside Jacob in a Three-Point Landing, the air around her making him feel like he was sitting inside a broiler.
Without a sound, she fired Ember Celica behind her, propelling her forwards at Roman's mech with the force of a hurricane gale. She slammed into it, fist-first, sending the mech backwards.
In desperation, Roman kicked out with the mech's left foot, managing to catch Yang in the chest and send her tumbling backwards.
Ruby called out another combo attack: "Bumblebee!"
And the shippers rejoiced, Jacob spat in humor as Blake launched Gambol Shroud towards Yang, holding on to the whip while Yang caught the gun itself. The two began to spin like a top, gaining momentum to launch Yang like a discus.
Jacob hung low to the ground as the whip passed overhead. "Ruby," he cried out, "You need to slow the bastard down so Yang can get a good shot!"
"And how do you suppose we do that!?" Weiss cried out.
"Like so!"
Jacob whipped around to see Mira down on one knee, lining up her lasgun with the Paladin. She fired once, twice, three times, the red contrail now a blue-white color, the color of Ice Dust. He whipped around to see the shots hit their mark, ice covering the on-board cameras and blocking Roman's view of the fight.
Jacob looked back in confusion as the Blake's whip continued to circle over him. "I thought you said you didn't like snipers!"
"I said I don't like snipers," she retorted back, continuing to fire at the Paladin, "but the marksmanship is fine; I don't like how they hide away from the fight! If you're going to fight your enemies..." she paused as she overcharged a shot, the resulting impact forming a humongous wall of ice over the last arm that froze it solid, "Don't play dirty."
"Imperial logic at its finest," Jacob muttered to himself as Ruby and Weiss joined in, pelting Roman with their "Ice Flower" attack. Jacob splayed out and began to open fire too, aiming at the same spot he had originally attacked in hopes of destroying the joint. He saw flashes of his shots impact everywhere around the joint but never directly in it. Still, the mech became frozen in place as the ice built up on it more and more.
Finally, Blake and Yang decided that they had built enough momentum. She swung her partner around in a circle one more time, Yang's fists glowing with raw energy.
Roman had nowhere to run.
Yang collided with the Paladin fist-to-face, and the several-ton machine flew through the air like a limp ragdoll before crashing down in a hundred pieces and one defeated and embarrassed criminal.
Slowly and with a few groans of pain Roman toddled to his feet, brushing himself off and muttering, "I just got this thing cleaned..." All five of the combatants converged on him, Jacob changing Cadia back into her chainsword form and revving her in an attempt to intimidate Roman into submission.
He looked up just in time to see Yang, still burning with her absorbed power, fire a single shot at him.
A blur of pink, white and brown zoomed down in front of Roman.
The shot from Ember Celica harmlessly collided with a pink parasol, opened to reveal the frilly print on it.
The little psychopath, Neopolitan, smiled back at them as she raised her parasol up on her shoulder with an intentionally innocent smile on her face.
Jacob expected them to now beat a hasty retreat with Neo's Semblance, cackling away like all cartoon villains.
He did not however, expect Eliphas to come crashing down beside them, groaning in tire and pain as he slowly returned to his feet. Titus, Cain and Gabriel joined the fray, the four Imperials to Jacob's left and Team RWBY to his right, putting him in the center.
Eliphas laughed, a faint reverbing echo behind his every sound and syllable. "By the Gods, I haven't had a fight that good in years!"
"The jig is up, for all of you," Jacob offered, falling back on the old movie clichés. "Surrender now and we'll spare you a trip to the hospital before you head to The Clink."
The Word Bearer chuckled darkly. "No, I think not."
Jacob felt a nagging feeling from his Aura that something was—
Suddenly, Jacob felt something slam headlong into his chest, sending him flying backwards several feet. He hit the ground hard and rolled, the world becoming a kaleidoscope of pain and moonlight and the smell of gunpowder. He felt his Aura drain away; more than half disappeared with that one shot. It felt like a minute had passed before he crawled up onto his knees. He looked up and found Eliphas standing ten feet in front of him, the fluttering of his cape telling him that the warrior hadn't even needed but a second to reach him. Way in the back he saw Roman with Melodic Cudgel raised, the barrel end smoking; Roman had shot him with an overcharged shot, and he had ignored his Aura's warnings.
Eliphas reached behind his back and produced a gun. Jacob felt the blood rush from his face for the second time tonight.
Of course it's a fucking meltagun, he whimpered mentally, the tank-buster weapon's spikes and rims maliciously shining in the moonlight.
The others tried to reach him, only to be blocked by Roman and Neo as they flipped over their heads and began firing, forcing everyone else on the defensive.
"You fight well, Lone Wolf," Eliphas began, leveling the rifle at Jacob, "But your vigor to fight will not save you... or that which you cherish."
Jacob saw everything flash before him—his family, his life, his memories both on Earth and on Remnant, all the friends he had once had and now had, Pyrrha, Penny, Jaune, Ruby, Weiss, Yang—as he saw the weapon power up.
He stared Eliphas down, some glimmer of hope desiring that he would be intimidated or even impressed by Jacob's refusal to go quietly.
Jacob's mind decided that if these were his last words, he would make them memorable.
His brother's favorite Successor chapter had just the thing.
"For those I cherish... I die in glory."
The humming hit a fever pitch.
He flinched as he heard the sound of the gun fire, a shotgun blast to rival a jet engine.
He heard Yang and Ruby scream his name in terror.
He heard the sharp clang of metal meeting something else metal.
Everything was quiet.
Am I dead?
He peaked open his eyes and was shocked once again.
Standing in front of him was another tall warrior, clad in a brown longcoat and blue jean pants. He wielded a massive shield, far too large to not be incredibly heavy, and in his other hand an equally massive hammer, on par with Magnhilde. The shield had blocked the meltagun's shot, the red vaporous contrails dissipating into the night sky telling Jacob all he needed to know about what the Marine was going to shoot him with.
But his eyes were too focused on the hammer in the man's hand.
A hammer that was topped with a clenched fist holding the hammer's head.
The man made no sound, even as Eliphas cried out, "You! Perfidious—"
Eliphas had no time to react as the man slammed the hammer into him, sending him tumbling into Neo and Roman like a bowling ball.
Two more figures dropped down beside him, both women if the hips and waists were any indication. Jacob hauled himself to his feet, watching them all.
The smaller woman turned around, to look at Jacob, and Jacob found himself taken aback by her looks; peroxide-blonde hair done up in bangs and a ponytail, sapphire blue eyes, a dusting of freckles across her cheeks and her nose bridge. "What are you waiting for," she hissed, "Get your damn guns! You call yourself a Lone Wolf!?"
Jacob shook his head as the adrenaline surge wore out. "Right, right," he said as he shakily picked up Cadia and Titan.
"Ladies, Gents," Roman said as he and the other two rose and dusted themselves off. "Ice Queen—"
"Hey!"
"Always a pleasure! Neo, if you would..."
Neopolitan curtsied low as Eliphas let out another menacing chuckle, even in defeat clearly having too much fun. "It's been a pleasure, Huntsmen. Let the games of the Gods begin."
Yang wasn't having any of it, charging forth with fists raised to strike them all.
Her fist met them, and they collectively shattered as if glass.
All who were present turned just in time to see the trio jump into a low-flying Bullhead and careen into the night sky.
The battlefield was quiet for a few seconds.
"So," Blake began slowly, "that happened."
Ruby careened over to Jacob, hugging him tightly as she blurted out in a panic, "Oh my God, Jacob! Please tell me you're okay!"
"Shh, easy, Ruby" Jacob huffed as he returned the hug, "I'm alright; a bit shaken, now fully aware what it's like to see your life flash in front of you before you die, but I'll live." Still, his assurance didn't ease her much until Yang walked over, holding Ruby by the shoulder and leading the young Huntress into her embrace.
"I guess he got a new henchman," Yang seethed as the two sisters embraced, the tension in her voice shrinking down as well. "That was a really dumb move on your part, Jacob."
"Says the girl who only thinks with her fists," he laughed tiredly, letting his Aura rest as his adrenaline boost wore off.
Weiss came up beside them with a smile. "Yeah, I guess she really made our plans—"
"Weiss," Jacob warned, "Don't you dare..."
"—fall apart!"
Jacob introduced his forehead to his palm with an audible smack. Ruby giggled and Yang groaned in something of an emotional mixture between exasperation and amusement.
"No," Blake deadpanned, "just... no."
"What- But, you do it!" Weiss was starting to fume.
" There's a time and a place for jokes," Yang said with a huff as she let go of Ruby, whom was now smiling and giggling at the pun.
"Was this not it?"
"No, it just wasn't very good."
"Well, at least I'm trying!"
Jacob chuckled as the argument continued, only to notice that the rest of their group had broken off and were hugging and laughing with the newcomers. Jacob walked over to them slowly, hoping he wasn't interrupting.
Was this real? Were they the real deal? Were they all the myriad Heroes of the Imperium of Man?
Had Warhammer 40k come to RWBY?
Just then, a duo of thunderous footfall rang out. Vulkan and Logan rounded the corner.
"There you all are," Vulkan said with an audible sigh of relief, "I was beginning to worry. Where is Torchwick?"
"He got away, Vulkan," Gabriel fumed angrily, planting his hammer in the ground.
Logan huffed in obvious disappointment. "No matter," he said—Jacob only now realized that he sounded much like that Youtuber ZorantheBear's Leman Russ voice—kneeling down beside Gabriel, "we sent them on the run."
"And now they know about us," Gabriel added.
"What's so wrong about that?"
Gabriel hesitated. "Because someone was with them."
There was a pregnant pause before Vulkan asked, "Someone?"
"...Eliphas was with them."
Both warriors glanced at one another over Gabriel's announcement. All the while, Jacob watched from the side.
"Are you sure it was him?" Logan asked.
"Badge, armor and everything," Gabriel said as he held his head in his hands.
But Vulkan had already noticed Jacob. "Mr. Muller," he said with a hint of worry, "Are you alright?"
"Uh, I guess I am," he said hesitantly, the sudden outlying prospect of who he was talking to becoming rather terrifying, "I got a chance to have my life flash before my eyes. If not for uhm... whoever that was that blocked the shot, that uh... meltagun would have mulched me."
Vulkan stiffened at the word "meltagun". "How do you know what a meltagun is?"
About that time, the newcomers arrived, and Jacob was terrified once again.
The girl he had already seen, but the other woman—who was now clearly her mother—rang a bell or two from The Carrion Throne: "...a stocky woman, thirty Terran-standard years old, short peroxide-blonde hair, broad features, pale freckled skin, brown eyes. She would see the tight features, the erect stance, the belligerence bubbling under the surface, only tempered by decades of conditioning."
Luce Spinoza, Interrogator under Inquisitor Crowl.
And the man beside her... well, the fact that he looked like a blonde Joakim Brodén, aviators and all, didn't help much.
But that appearance, plus wielding The Fist of Dorn and a Storm Shield emblazened with the sigil of the Imperial Fists? Who else could it be?
"Apologies for the abrupt introduction," he said to Jacob in a throaty, baritone voice, "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Darnath Lysander." He offered a hand.
Jacob felt the world start to spin as he took the Imperial Fists' hand and returned the shake. "Pleasure to meet you sir," he said weakly, "Jacob Muller, at yours."
"I'm his wife, Luce."
"A p-pleasure as well," he said, the dizziness getting worse.
"And I'm Rey," said the daughter, taking Jacob's hand in her own and shaking hard.
"...Again, a pleasure..." He said. The world was slowly becoming a Vomit Comet.
"Jacob? Are you alright?" Vulkan asked, grabbing him by the shoulder.
"Uh..." Jacob hesitated, breathing a bit as he tried to regain his composure.
Not enough.
"Nope," he said weakly as the world dimmed and his legs gave out from underneath him.
The last thought in his mind before it was swallowed by unconsciousness?
God help me... Or... The Emperor...
Welp. That happened.
Now that the shit has hit the fan and the secret is somewhat out, How's Jacob gonna get out of this one? Tune in next time, same Grimdark time, same Grimdark place~!
On a side note, I really hope I got Eliphas right; it's tough to write for a character who's 10,000 years old and clearly evil as sin.
And on one final note,
Anywho, reviews, comments, follows and favorites, I thank all of you who've been vocal and active as I've written this and I hope that, though I'm sure not everyone celebrates it as my family and I do, everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Here's to another year of The Random Hand of Fate!
And I will see you all... in the next chapter. Peace out!