So, I have both good news and bad news.
Bad news first, a majority of Katana's stories along with my Blade reaction story were deleted by the admins of FFN, we can all guess who bitched about our stories being on the site, and this will likely be the last chapter of this story on FFN for a long while.
Good news though is that we will both be continuing our respective stories on Quotev under the same usernames as we use on here so please follow us on there so that you don't miss the next updates for our stories.
Review time!
Gamelover41592: Thank you!
Reishin Amara: Okay, that gave me a good chuckle. Might have to put that as a reaction later.
Blackmetalzane22: Jesus, sorry you're going through that, man. Hope things turn out for the better.
edboy4926 & a54321: Thank you!
Matt: Thank you and I'm not going to continue arguing with you since you don't want to actually take a look for yourself. As for Coco "dorking out" over Edna? We'll see.
Joanne Frances Tiano Cajilig: Fuck, that's a long name to type out and thanks.
Katana of the Blade: Thank you and I'm glad you're still offering to help me out.
Dragonmasterlex: Thanks and sadly no as I only agreed on Blade, X-Men and the first Ghost Rider. So my plate is pretty full at the moment.
Shafting Zack: Hmm, maybe.
Monster King: Thanks.
Critical Darling: Thanks dude and you catch on quick.
Vorel213: Thanks.
Rabbid Fire & Old Muskies: Maybe.
Komod0-Sensei: Think about the context, she's like Astro Boy if that makes any sense while the Omni-Droid's AI is constantly learning. Basically it's like Skynet when you think about it or even VIKI from "I, Robot". Except think about Buddy's flashback, his mind made it much worse than it actually was. Even the freaking Lego game gave him a freaking eye twitch to show his instability!
Guest, July 18th: Thanks but none of them were from the virus. One was from Cancer, one was from old age and the other was from heart failure. But thank you again for your condolences.
Crescent777: Thank you and it wasn't hard as the job was draining me badly and it was not that great. Yeah, that'll be fun.
Calebray866: I'm guessing this is because of the new movie, so maybe. Before anyone asks, yes I have seen the new Space Jam and all I can say is…..that's two hours of my life I'm not getting back.
OmnipotentUIJudgeOfCharacterOG: I'm agreeing with everything you've said and I'm not surprised that that coward decides to follow authors off this site to continue harassing them because "Waaaah! You're not writing how I want you to! Waaaaah!". And yeah, Brad Bird does a really good job with some of the hints in his films.
Thank you for the reviews and suggestions but for now, please hold onto your suggestions for films for the time being. Working on this and AoS is hard enough for the time being.
Anyways, onto the movie!
Sometime later, Bob returned stateside and got back home to his family. A montage commenced showing Bob rekindling the flames of passion with Helen, spending time with his kids, getting a new car similar to his Glory Days one along with a new car for Helen and even training/exercising to get back in perfect shape.
Some of the women blushed at the rather adult hint at the start of the montage of Helen's reaction to Bob's sudden kiss. "Wow, the things they can get away with in animation is surprising." Winter said.
"I'm so glad my mom isn't here right now." Blake said as they saw Bob's new car.
"Is she still a car enthusiast, Blake?" Glynda asked her in sympathy.
"Unfortunately." Blake nodded. (1)
Everyone's jaws dropped at seeing Bob pulling several train cars that were either empty or carrying cargo along with using them for other exercises. "Okay, not even I could do that, even with my training regimen." Nora admitted.
Finally, after weeks of working out, Bob was back in shape. As he was looking at his old suit, he saw how bad the tear from his battle with the Omnidroid was much to his dismay. "Ah, jeez."
Helen called out to him which made him quickly pack his suitcase. "Hurry, honey! Or you'll be late for work!" Helen walked up to him as he stepped outside of the door. "Have a great day, honey."
Bob smiled at her. "Thanks."
Helen put her hands on his chest. "Help customers, climb ladders…"
Bob scoffed and rolled his eyes playfully. "Bring bacon?"
"All that jazz." She gave him a kiss for luck before Bob left for "work" while Helen laughed a bit before glancing at her husband's butt.
Sometime later, Bob pulled up to a laser fence and looked at the screen on his left as a security guard began questioning him. "Do you have an appointment?"
Bob tried to tell the guard who he was. "I'm an old friend. I just wanted to…"
"All visitors are required to make arrangemen-" The guard tried to get Bob to leave.
Fortunately for Bob, the guard's boss shooed him away. "Hey, get back to work! Go check the electric fence or something! What is it? Who are you? What do you want?" The woman said before looking at the camera feed. Bob merely lowered his sunglasses and smirked. "My God, you've gotten fat. Come in. Come, come!" The gates opened and Bob drove up to the mansion.
Bob and the woman were walking down a hallway as she spoke to him. "Yes, things are going quite well. Quite well. My God, no complaints. But, you know, it is not the same. Not the same at all."
Bob looked at her. "Weren't you just in the news? Some show in Prayge...Prague?"
She was quick to correct him. "Milan, darling. Milan." They soon reached her visiting room.
"Whoa! A Greek mural depicting men fighting with a Gorgon possibly prepared to strike down whoever won the battle!" Cinder said in excitement.
"At least it's not a Bilgesnipe." Nora said before shuddering in disgust as she remembered the lessons her adopted grandmother, Frigga, taught her about the monsters of the realms. (2)
"Supermodels. HA! Nothing super about them. Spoiled, stupid, little stick figures with poofy lips who think only about themselves. FEH!" She scoffed before looking at a very unique waterfall/statue. "I used to design for gods! But perhaps you come with a challenge, eh? I was surprised to get your call."
Sunset smirked. "Who wants to know a little fact about her voice actor?" She said before chuckling as she had some of the audience's attention. "Her actor is actually the film's director himself, Brad Bird." Needless to say that they were surprised at hearing that.
"Wait, you said 'himself' and not 'herself'. So Edna's voice is coming from-" Weiss started to question.
"A man, yes." Sunset said.
"It's actually not that uncommon for actors to play the opposite genders, Weiss." Jaune said. "You'd be surprised how many young male characters are actually voiced by women."
"Not to mention that back during a famous playwright's age, all the roles, including female ones, were all played by men. There's even a type of play called 'Kabuki' that keeps up that tradition and women are forbidden from performing in them." Sunset informed them before continuing the film.
"Huh, I guess you do learn something new everyday." Weiss said.
Bob handed her his old suit. "E, I just need a patch job."
E carefully examined the suit. "Hmm. This is megamesh. Outmoded, but very sturdy." Her eyes widened as she found the rip in his suit's arm. "And you've torn right through it! What have you been doing, Robert? Moonlighting hero work?" She narrowed her eyes before looking at him.
Bob shrugged and quickly lied. "Must have happened a long time ago."
"I see." E held the suit away from herself like a dirty diaper. "This is a hobo suit. Darling, you can't be seen in this! I won't allow it!" She put the suit into a trash bin. "Fifteen years ago, maybe, but now?"
Bob quickly grabbed the suit out of the bin and looked at her in shock. "What do you mean? You designed it."
E walked over to a chair. "I never look back, darling. It distracts from the now." She hopped into the chair. "You need a new suit. That much is certain."
Bob looked at her in disbelief and sat down in the chair beside him. "A new suit? Where the heck am I gonna get a new suit?"
"You can't! It's impossible! I'm far too busy. So ask me now, before I again become sane." She pouted.
Bob blinked. "Wait. You want to make me a suit?"
"You push too hard, darling! But I accept." She smiled and took out a pencil and sketchpad. "It will be bold. Dramatic!" E looked at Bob in excitement. "Heroic!"
Bob nodded. "Yeah, something classic, like Dynaguy! Oh! He had a great look! Oh, the cape and the boots-"
"No capes!" E shouted as threw a paper ball at him.
This puzzled Bob. "Isn't that my decision?"
E glared at him. "Do you remember Thunderhead? Tall, storm powers. Nice man. Good with kids."
Bob tried to stop her. "Listen, E…"
E stood on the table. "November 15th of '58. All was well, another day saved when his cape snagged on a missile fin."
Bob chuckled lightly. "Thunderhead was not the brightest bulb…"
E continued as the next hero that was killed due to having a cape was shown. "Stratogale! April 23rd, '57. Cape caught in a jet turbine."
Everyone winced at both hearing of and seeing her death. Sunset winced the most as her wife had shown her a universe where Stratogale lived but had lost her legs and memory of who she once was. Sunset looked at her future daughter-in-law in worry as Stratogale was only 18, about a year older than Ruby was now due to celebrating her birthday in the chamber, when she was killed. (3) (4)
Bob looked at her. "E, you can't generalize about these things."
E got in his face and continued as more caped supers were shown. "Meta Man. Express elevator! Dynaguy, snagged on takeoff! Splashdown, sucked into a vortex! No capes! Now, go on. Your new suit will be finished before your next assignment." She began walking up the staircase.
Bob was slightly worried. "You know I'm retired from hero work."
E looked back at him and smirked. "As am I, Robert. Yet, here we are."
Bob walked over to her and handed her his suit again. "E, I only need a patch job. For sentimental reasons."
E sighed. "Fine. I will also fix the hobo suit."
Bob chuckled. "You're the best of the best, E."
E walked away with the suit. "Yes, I know, darling. I know."
After all the scenes of capes leading to heroes' demise, most were convinced. "Well, it was fun, but not worth it." Qrow said as he and Glynda took off their capes.
"They never were truly effective at the end of the day, anyway." Glynda agreed.
"NOPE!" Declared Neo, who was currently using her semblance to wear Thor's outfit, quickly altered it so she was wearing the same outfit as Yang.
"I'll never give up my cape!" Ruby declared, unaware of Cinder subtly trying to undo her cape. "Cinder!" She snapped and pouted when she realized her girlfriend tried to remove her favorite accessory.
"This is for your own good, Ruby. You were nearly killed in your initiation, remember?" Cinder told her mate to try to allow her to remove the cape but Ruby was stubborn about it.
Yang looked between herself and Neo before smirking as she snuck her fingers to Neo's exposed tummy. "Ohhh Neo~ Tickle! Tickle! Tickle!" Yang said as she saw the opportunity to tickle Neo and took it while Neo laughed adorably from Yang's surprise tickle attack which helped relieve the tension from the grim reality of hero work and distracted Cinder from trying to take off Ruby's cloak.
Sometime later, Helen was putting away Bob's clothes before noticing a single silver hair on one of his suits which began to worry her.
Blake pinched the bridge of her nose. "For the love of Oum, they better not be doing this dumb trope." She muttered in frustration.
Before she could ponder on it, though, the phone began to ring and she was going to answer it before Bob called out to her. "I got it, I got it! Don't answer it, honey, I got it! Hello?" Bob said as he picked up the phone.
Mirage was the caller and spoke to him. "We have a new assignment for you." Unknown to them, Helen was carefully trying to listen in but, unfortunately, only caught the tail end of the call. "How soon can you get here?" Mirage asked Bob.
Bob answered her. "I'll leave tomorrow morning."
"See you there."
"Goodbye." Bob hung up the phone and got up from his chair. He opened the door to his office and saw Helen standing there.
Helen gave him a knowing look. "Who was that, honey? The, uh, office?"
Bob moved around her. "Another conference. Short notice, but you know...duty calls." He laughed nervously while making the gesture of messing with a tie before walking away as Helen looked into his office.
Later that night, Helen walked into the garage as Bob was about to leave. "Bob?"
Bob adjusted his rearview mirror. "Yeah, what's up, honey?"
Helen took a deep breath before looking into his car. "Ha...have a great trip."
Bob looked behind him. "Thanks, sweetie. I'll call you when I get there."
"I love you. So much."
Bob was confused by her tone before lowering his shades and looking into her eyes. "I love you too." He kissed her before driving away to his 'job'.
Everyone groaned at the cliche. Emerald rubbed her temple. "Gods, I always hated this cliche." She said as she looked at Sunset. "Mom never cheated on you, did she?"
Sunset shook her head. "No, she knows that if she ever did, well it wouldn't be pretty." She said and smiled softly as she thumbed her wedding ring. "Plus, she loves us too much to do that." She subtly glanced down at her toned stomach. "I hope we can give our daughters a sibling soon." She thought to herself as she pictured herself pregnant with a foal or two of her own.
Soon Bob was in an automated jet and eating a shrimp cocktail while drinking a mimosa. A male artificial voice soon spoke to him. "This is your automated Captain. Would you care for more mimosa?"
Bob hummed. "Don't mind if I do. Thanks." His champagne flute was refilled with a fresh mimosa.
"You're welcome. Currently 78 degrees in Nomanisan. Perfect weather for flying."
Blake blinked at the name for the location and looked at Penny who nodded. "I caught it too, Blake." Penny said. "Nomanisan Island, clever wordplay." When her fellow students looked at her in confusion she elaborated. "It's a play on the saying 'No man is an island' meaning 'No one is meant to do things on their own'. It's likely what Bob will need to learn from this."
"It's something I learned as a member of RWBY." Blake said and smiled at her teammates who smiled back at her while Cinder smiled softly at Neo and Emerald since they had helped her with this lesson as well.
Sunset smiled sadly. "It's something Robin learned from a friend who was like a father to her and again when she became a member of the Straw Hat Pirates." She said, "Don't worry, in her world, her crew was like a family and they actually helped others out." Sunset reassured them.
"What was it that he told mom?" Emerald asked Sunset.
Sunset smiled softly. "'You might be alone at this moment, but someday, you'll definitely find friends. The sea is vast, someday, without any doubt, friends who will protect you will appear. No one is born into this world completely alone.'" She said and gently hugged her daughters, including Neo and gave the former mute a subtle wink. "Find Trixie and Lita on Christmas Eve, little mage." Sunset whispered to Neo. (5)
Bob was amazed at getting a proper view of the island before the Captain spoke again. "Please fasten your seat belt. We're beginning our descent." Bob did as instructed before the jet dove underwater and changed into an aquatic craft.
"Whoa! It's like a spy car!" Ruby said in excitement.
"Not just that Ruby, it's shaped like a manta ray." Velvet said.
The futuristic vehicle soon arrived in an underwater landing pad which drained the water as it landed while a tube attached to the side of the vehicle.
The door to Bob's left opened up to reveal Mirage waiting for him in a transportation sphere. "Hello, Mr. Incredible. Nice suit."
Bob entered the sphere and sat down across from her with a smirk. "Thanks. Nice to be back, Mirage."
Blake and Cinder's eyes narrowed at seeing the waterfall part to reveal more spheres on high-tech pathways. "Yeah, they're definitely hiding something." Cinder said as she cuddled with Ruby.
Blake nodded. "Using tech that is highly advanced compared to what we've seen so far from Earth from that time period? Yeah, there's no way it's on the level." She said in suspicion.
"You'll be briefed on your assignment in the conference room at two. D Wing, room A-113." Mirage said as she brought Bob to his room.
"Ooooh, swanky." Neo said as she looked at the room's design and furniture.
Pyrrha, Blake and the Schnee sisters made a 'so-so' gesture and/or said "Ehhh." at how tacky it looked to them.
"That bed looks like it would be murder on your back." Nora said as she winced at the bed's design.
"Not to mention the fact that you would have no privacy since the elevator's door opened to the room." Penny said.
Bob nodded as he was mesmerized by his room. "2:00. Got it."
Mirage smirked. "See you there." The doors closed before Bob went to the balcony after grabbing a pear and enjoyed the view.
"And no windows whatsoever which would make sleeping at night a real pain if it gets really cold." Ren sighed.
Back at the Parr residence, Helen was vacuuming the hallway next to Bob's study. She vacuumed the carpet near the door before hearing the vacuum pick up filth and groaned before entering the room. She began to vacuum the study and noticed the case displaying Bob's old super suit was open. She observed the suit after closing the display case and noticed a tear in the right arm of the suit that had been recently fixed. "Edna." Helen said as she narrowed her eyes.
"Busted." Coco said with a smirk.
"So, thoughts before we continue?" Sunset asked them.
Coco rubbed her arm nervously before speaking. "I think Edna blames herself for all of those deaths, especially Stratogale since she looked like she was barely any older than us." She said solemnly while gesturing to her fellow students. "Hence her stance on 'no capes'."
That got them thinking before realizing that those suits were all likely designed by Edna herself. "Damn, she has survivor's guilt and doesn't want Bob to possibly die because of a design of her own. If he dies while on assignment then she'll blame herself for widowing Helen and the kids losing their father." Qrow sighed before his nieces hugged him tightly. (6)
"I never blamed you for mom's death, Uncle Qrow." Ruby said which helped eased some of the weight on his heart.
"Thank you Ruby." He said softly as he hugged his nieces tightly before they returned to their girlfriends.
(1) - This is something that came to me while working on other transcripts, Kali being a car enthusiast. And before anyone complains about her not being like that in canon, just remember that the "React-verse" stories are AU so there are definitely going to be changes but they will be written to feel natural.
(2) - I actually looked up what a Bilgesnipe looks like and Thor wasn't kidding about them being repulsive.
(3) - ElastiGale AU on tumblr. It's a really good AU that I highly recommend for its handling of serious themes of abuse, PTSD and survivor's guilt.
(4) - Remember, this all started on Ruby's 17th birthday.
(5) - 2020 Skyguard Christmas Special
(6) - This is something that I hope they'll touch on in Volume 9 but knowing Miles and Kerry, they'll fuck it up somehow. Also, this might be why Qrow was "always drunk" according to Glynda, he has survivor's guilt due to his semblance and blames himself for the deaths of those he considered friends or family.
I'm so sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I kept wanting to get to Buddy's return but I kept procrastinating and delaying whether it was due to streaming or other things in my life.
So yeah, this is sadly the possible final chapter on FFN since the guidelines are incredibly outdated and CU is still a thing. But fear not, this will continue on QuoteV and I will update the Skyguard Snippets when I can.
This is church2550 signing off until the next time. Stay safe out there, Guardians.
