Chapter 18: An Heiress is Logical

Mountain Glenn

Outpost Kaon

September 11th, 80 AGW

0000 Hours

Shockwave had relocated all of his projects to the outpost in Mountain Glenn. This task was made easier after he tested and confirmed his ground bridge to be operational. Transporting large amounts of materials and equipment became a simple matter after that. His only concern was making sure Ozpin was kept abreast of this development. As always, the reports to the headmaster contained nothing but the facts of what he was doing. However, instead of omitting some of the more important details, hints were dropped here and there, a test to see how the man would react to some of the morally questionable works he had accomplished. So far, there were no objections voiced.

The former Decepticon took this as a sign that he had free reign to execute projects at his discretion. As long as laws were not broken for all to see, then there would be no problems. It would be useless to deny the science teacher of Beacon the right to do as he pleased. It would be hypocritical of Ozpin to deny him not to mention counterproductive. Already, the older man was proving himself more illogical as the days went by and if this proved to be a trend for an extended period of time, then serious consideration needed to be made as to how to proceed so that the future would be more logical.

For now, more observation was required.

Shockwave tapped his console, typing commands at an almost impossible rate. Project Predacon's progress was proceeding ahead of schedule thanks to nearly endless dedication to analyzing the DNA. The scientist had managed to speed up the process by dedicating a significant amount of his mental processors into the decoding portion. For additional reduction in time, he would overclock his processing capabilities whenever there were particular sections that needed to be studied in greater detail. At this time, the DNA decoding was ninety-one percent complete.

With this amount of work done, preliminary work for the next phase of the project could begin.

Once the DNA was perfectly synthesized and stored, it would be time for the actual beast in question to become birthed. It would be all artificial because to let nature do all the work would be to waste precious time. Growth hormones and other various stimuli would be imbued into its body in order to further the process. Various stages in development could be bypassed in favor of the end result.

Great care would need to be exercised during this part, however. As with DNA decoding, slight mistakes could result in disastrous outcomes. There would be no room for mistakes.

As for the mental aspects, the DNA would be used to run a simulation of what a fully developed adult brain would look like, how it would respond to various outside stimuli, and how it functioned in relation to the body among many other things. Once the brain simulation was completed, all the data would then be taken and compiled into a comprehensive program that would be carefully fed into the beast as it went through growth acceleration. This too would need to be carefully monitored; if information was fed too slow, it could result in an overall stunted animal. On the other hand, if information was fed too fast, the beast might tear itself apart believing it was capable of things it was not.

Even though he was working with only one bone sample, Shockwave was not content. Science demanded that many trials were conducted in order to lessen the chances of rejection of theories. Thus, he had diverted his funds into searching for any other bones correlating to the species that he had found. Although his search was very specific, he would certainly not pass up on an opportunity to bring to life another ancient species. If it could not serve his specific purposes, then at least it would be a chance to perfect his ability to work with DNA. CNA was a major help in providing a base to work with, but it was not a perfect substitute.

The major limitation in all of this was acquiring all the components that he needed. All of what he was doing cost him a small fortune, so in order to increase his lien, whatever wasn't being directly invested into samples was being reinvested into businesses and stocks. Of course, he did not stop anonymously taking money via means that could not be traced. There were some people and entities in the world that either had no idea how to use money efficiently or meaningfully, so it was logical to deprive them of something they could not use properly. Wherever the lien came from, it was all being used for his research. There was also his salary as a professor at Beacon Academy as well as his official status as a huntsman, which was unusually high for a teacher.

Speaking of taking from others, the former Decepticon also found it logical to hack into the CCTS and siphon information wherever he could find it. More specifically, he kept his attention primarily on Atlas. They were the most technologically superior kingdom in the world, which said very little considering the primitive technology that was abundant all across Remnant, but the snow kingdom was his best chance at obtaining any new information regarding more obscure technology, research, and projects.

Shockwave noticed his scroll alerts pinging him and he temporarily halted his work flow and quickly read through the message sent to him. It was from Ruby Rose and she had updated him with her progress concerning an additional assignment he had given her.

Once it had been ascertained that the leader of Team RWBY was very competent in weapons technology, he had made the decision to put her to work immediately. In order to test the limits of her knowledge, he had given her a job and told her that he wished for a prototype by the time the next class rolled around, which would be later today. His expectation was that she would find a way to complete the job no matter what it took. His objective was to push the limits of what she knew.

The requirement was simple: make a weapon that could convert dust into plasma that would feature heavily in the end result.

Shockwave knew full well just how incredibly difficult this would be for anyone, even the most seasoned and talented of weapon designers. Dust was such a specific type of energy that to convert it into one of the fundamental states of matter was an ambitious undertaking. It could be done, that much he had already tested himself on a whim, but he had the advantage of advanced expertise concerning the nature of the universe and how its pieces interacted with each other, so of course he could achieve plasma with dust.

That and his near-instantaneous understanding of dust and all that it could do.

Whether the weapon was a melee weapon or a ranged weapon was irrelevant. Whatever form the ultimate product took, it needed to be able to utilize plasma in some capacity. There was that to look forward to.

While he was thinking about it, he had a myriad of new material to prepare for his next class. So far, the overall grasp on dust theory and its application for the entire class was adequate with a few outliers, give or take. Their latest assignment would give him a more thorough viewpoint as to the true capabilities of each student. Already he had forecasted what each individual would present him based on their profiles and the flash exercise conducted in the previous class. Once he could affirm his projections, figuring out which students to prioritise would be a process of elimination. Over time, he would test each student's ability with specific subjects to ascertain who could be of any use to him.

Shockwave rapidly formulated a text in response to Miss Rose's text. She had sent him a message informing him that she had hit a speedbump. She was having trouble achieving the necessary conditions to create plasma. She had tested numerous configurations with each type of dust, but she was getting either a gas, a liquid, or a solid in fluxuation, but never one consistently.

His response to her question was to review what she knew about dust and remember the conditions that plasma could be formed under. He had no intention of telling her the answers.

Finishing up with that piece of business, he resumed his attention of Project Predacon. While he had momentarily detached himself from the console, the program working on decoding had automatically taken over the reigns. Currently, it was reviewing a section of bone that looked to have received some damage. It looked to be some sort of energy that had caused this wound. There was residue that appeared unknown.

The former Decepticon slightly narrowed his eyes as he took another look at the mysterious substance embedded within the bone. If no known database on Remnant could detect the substance involved, then this might be something worth looking into.

He inputted a command for the program to make a copy of this part of the bone and devoted a new program to analysis of the unknown.

RWBY - - - Transformers

Beacon Academy

Applied Science

September 11th, 8 AGW

0955 Hours

Ruby had barely gotten a wink of sleep last night, but the near all-nighter she had pulled had been worth it in her eyes. She had gotten to build her most strenuous weapon to date and for her, things could only get better from here.

Granted, she had quite a bit of coffee to stay awake not to mention eating lots of sugar during breakfast to remain awake. Her ability to properly function was questionable at best, but she had no regrets aside from feeling so high from almost no sleep. People might look at her weird, but whatever.

It had been a real challenge trying to make dust into plasma. The study of plasma itself carried with it some ups and downs. While achieving this state of matter was very possible and known, the main problem lied with how to accomplish it. Dust remained the most common and most efficient means of power on Remnant, yet the connection between dust and plasma was an ill-researched subject it would seem.

But still, when Professor Watson had given her this task, she threw herself into it immediately without hesitation, fully understanding the obstacle. It was an honor just to make a weapon. Period.

With her only job being to make a plasma weapon with dust as its power source, she could only guess that he wanted her to get creative. He didn't provide her with any in-depth details or reading material, so she had to figure it out on her own. Aside from a small hint, she had done all of her own work.

Due to the limited amount of time she had between when she was given this task and the deadline, she chose a gun instead of any transforming weapon. All attempts to keep plasma in a contained shape had resulted in failure in one way or another. It was much easier to fire plasma as a bolt rather than retain its shape in the form of a blade or some form of close-range weaponry.

Naturally, she chose a sniper rifle as the basis, but in order to clearly distinguish between Crescent Rose and this new weapon, she decided on a semi-automatic firing rate as opposed to a bolt-action firing rate. Her method of powering the sniper rifle was via plasma in a gaseous state, something she had created rather accidently, but she had done it and that's what mattered. Maybe the professor would help her to figure out exactly what she did when he reviewed her work.

And speaking of the man, they were five minutes early to class. As team leader and a huge fan of this class, Ruby had ordered that they hurry here so that she could simply bask in the awesomeness that was this cool technology. She was good at tech stuff and even she had a hard time completely understanding what was in here, dust aside.

"Ruby?" Yang finally decided to ask the question on everyone's mind. "Why did you build a second sniper rifle? Isn't Crescent Rose enough?"

"My dear older sister." Ruby gave the blonde a scolding glare. "Do not dare even entertain the idea that one weapon will ever be enough for me. Sure, Crescent Rose is my baby, but she was never going to be the last. This here is a personal project that was given to me courtesy of our good professor."

"Professor Watson assigned you to build a weapon?" Weiss looked at her like she had a screw loose. "When?"

"Oh, you know the assignment that everyone's turning in today?" Ruby held her finished work. "Well, I was going to ask some questions about my formula, but we ended up talking about weapons. The man's a genius when it comes to weapons, plain and simple."

"Oh, no." Yang bowed her head into her hands. "Why, teach? Why?"

"No point in griping now." Blake shrugged her shoulders. "Just roll with it."

"Blake, you don't get it." Yang grabbed her partner's shoulders. "When it comes to Ruby and weapons, it's like madness. It starts and it never stops. I'm telling you, it's a flipping obsession!"

"I can hear you!" Ruby pouted. "And I resent that wording. Obsessions are for lesser people. I prefer to think of it as a passionate dedication!"

"Same difference, sis." Yang intoned.

"Class is starting." Weiss hissed quietly. "Be silent. I want to actually get through one class period without a single distraction."

That immediately shut up the team leader and all four girls quickly retrieved their necessary class materials. As soon as they did, Professor Watson was just there in front of the classroom. He was like a phantom entering without warning.

As quickly as he appeared, he informed all the students to turn in their assignment. This was done quickly and it looked like almost everyone had something to turn in and the few that didn't were either scared or indifferent. Once that was out of the way, class began in earnest.

"Some of you have questions regarding the reason behind this homework assignment." The professor addressed them all in his familiar tone. "This was a means for myself to interpret what all of your aptitudes are. While this class focuses on general knowledge and application, each of you will find yourself applying these broad topics in a way specific to your understanding. Simply put, same starting point, different means, varying end results."

Ruby could only grin at this explanation. She already knew that what she learned here would be applied to weapons development. No other avenue even registered in her mind.

"Bear in mind that your own personal development rests entirely upon the efforts you take to further your own studies." The purple-clad man regarded them all. "And already, some of you have proven to be lacking in one regard or another."

No names were given, but to anyone with a working pair of eyes, it was clear as day who among this group of students fell into the category specified. The looks on a select few boys and girls assembled told enough.

"If anyone is in need of further clarification on the material, I will be available to answer questions." The science teacher stated. "If you find yourself unable to speak to me for any reason, then I suggest you turn to your peers. Many here have a clear grasp on the material and they too can offer help. As students of Beacon Academy, you are all expected to maintain the high standards that we have come to expect here. It would be illogical for any of you to disregard your academic standings in any capacity."

Another pause and it was clear just how much these words rattled some of the people here. This wasn't meant as a pick-me-up speech. It was a warning to all of them to not let up on grades. After all, Beacon Academy was regarded as the best of all the four huntsman academies and for good reason. Some of the best huntsmen and huntresses had graduated here and their records spoke for themselves.

"We will begin today's lesson with more recently-developed dust types." Professor Watson pulled up the main hologram. "What is the rarest known dust type?"

Weiss raised her hand first and was given permission to answer. "Hardlight dust. It was first created in Atlas. It is currently the only type of dust that can be shaped with precision and specificity."

"Correct." The faunus with cyborg parts nodded. "Atlas fathered hard-light dust and it has since been utilized by many individuals and groups for specific purposes. It is used most extensively by huntsmen and huntresses for combat. It can take the form of weapons, shields, and even projectiles, but how is this achieved?"

Pyrrha was next. "It is a matter of careful dust combination and conditioning. It's not enough to simply mix the components together. Some of the dust must be prepared in advance and must be combined under certain physical and chemical conditions. The ice dust must be of the highest quality because anything less would not achieve the necessary durability to be used for fighting."

"Also correct." Shockwave acknowledged. "Hardlight is scientifically complex and its recent induction into mainline dust application is only thanks to technological developments that have greatly reduced the cost to produce it, which leads me to my question regarding hardlight: is dust the only way that it can be made?"

Ruby jumped on the chance. "There's been some research papers making the case that dust isn't the only way that the world can be powered. Many other options have been talked about, but since dust has been important to Mankind's history, most of the world is finding it difficult to let go of dust because of how critical it is to the kingdoms. Plus, dust is the most inexpensive way to do stuff."

"All points worthy of note." Professor Watson met eyes with the leader. "But merely because it is more convenient to use dust does not make it the superior method. When you accept a common method, you encourage mediocrity. You would all do well to remember that."

Ruby most certainy would remember that.

Transformers - - - RWBY

Team RWBY Dorm Room

1900 Hours

Weiss was still getting used to her teammates even after spending a week living with them in the dorm room. There were many things about each of the girls that annoyed her to no end, but she just had to find a way to deal with it. After all, they were all going to be spending the next four years together.

Frankly speaking, she still was doubtful about whether or not Ruby was going to be a good leader, but her opinion on the scythe-wielding girl was neither here nor there. The only thing she could do at this time was do her best to support her partner and team leader. To be insubordinate now would be to potentially cripple Team RWBY at such a critical time in their development. As much as the heiress despised not being the leader, it was out of her control. What she could control was how she performed academically and hopefully, she could better encourage the others as well.

Maybe another time, but not tonight, it would seem. Yang had gotten it in her brutish mind to start a pillow fight out of the blue and now their room was a complete madhouse. Normally, such an event wouldn't be cause for much notice, but Weiss had been studying when the fight broke out and not having the patience or willpower to deal with all parties involved, she told everyone that she would be at the library studying, so she took her studying material and made her way to her intended destination.

The Schnee girl made a point to display what she was feeling to all that could see her so as to show anyone who attempted to communicate with her that she wanted nothing to do with them. Her unspoken message seemed to clearly resonate with those that were close by and she was given a wide berth.

Making her way out of the dorm, she made a beeline for the library. In the early days of fall, the evening hours were filled with a decent amount of light from the setting sun, but it would be dark within the next hour or two. That would be enough time for her to get some quality studying done and then she would return to the dorms. Hopefully by then, all of her teammates would be worn out or doing something more productive.

Weiss spotted the library entrance and began to hasten her strides. It was at this time that she heard a voice speaking somewhere in the distance. She couldn't clearly hear the words, but she recognized who it was: Professor Watson.

Then came another voice, this one most definitely female, but it was unfamiliar to her. Out of sheer curiosity, the white-clad girl turned her head to the source of the two voices. To her northwest, there was her science professor speaking with a woman sporting shoulder-length brown hair who looked to be as tall as Yang.

Weiss had many feelings about her professor. On one hand, he was a faunus and she didn't think too highly of the sister species of humanity, but on the other hand, she could tell that he was a master of his profession. It was clear how detailed her could get in his lectures. She respected any professional who knew what they were doing.

As she watched this exchange, the heiress was reminded of a question she wanted to ask of her teacher, something that she had been noticing all through his classes. With that, her studying time was forgotten.

"Professor Watson!" Weiss called out while running over.

Both the man and woman regarded her. Both of them seemed to quickly wrap up their conversation before the woman pulled a hood over her head and began to walk off.

"Miss Schnee." The professor greeted her. "You have a question?"

"Yes, but I would hate to interrupt your prior conversation." Weiss quickly glanced at the disappearing figure. "If this is a bad time-"

"She and I can resume our conversation at a later time." Professor Watson bypassed her courtesy. "Now, what is your question?"

Weiss thought about insisting on proper etiquette, but judging by her elder's tone, he was focused on what she came to him for. Maybe whatever was going on was a private affair, one which she was not supposed to be a part of.

In that case, she would not dwell on the matter.

"I had a question about all the classes so far." Weiss took a moment to properly frame her question before speaking. "Firstly, I do want to take the time to say that your method of teaching is different compared to what I have experienced prior. Different, but most certainly valuable."

"I see." Professor Watson responded. "And how have past experiences with other teachers been in your opinion?"

"Informative and certainly professional, but always strict." Weiss recalled the many private tutors her father had gotten for her over her life. "As much as I appreciate the knowledge and skills that I've acquired from those that have taught me, I've always felt that their methods left no room for discussion or debate. I was told how to do something and I was expected to perform to exacting standards."

"In other words, you were guided along a linear path." Professor Watson summed up her explanation. "And you were allowed only on the path set out for you."

"Yes! Exactly!" Weiss beamed at his understanding. "But not only have you been teaching in a subject that you are beyond competent at, you are also encouraging us to find our own means of reaching the goals that you've set for us. Why is that?"

"It is logical to do so." Professor Watson began, then elaborated. "By encouraging all of you to embrace your own personal methods, you are all learning how to embrace science individually. This will further incentivise all students to invest in the subject and the material of their own will rather than doing the requirements merely to fulfill a mandatory class. In short, self-motivation is more compelling than a strict path."

"I never thought of it like that." Weiss couldn't help but feel her admiration for the man go up. "I've always believed that all knowledge needs to be passed on in a specific way."

"There are certainly fundamentals that need to be thoroughly understood." Professor Watson said. "But ultimately, all people use fundamentals which lead to specializations that will unlock new knowledge that can either reject or fail to reject what is known about the physical world."

"So in other words, knowledge shouldn't ever be accepted without question?" Weiss found herself nodding in agreement, yet found herself perplexed at the same time. "But if that's the case, then how can we accept what is considered common knowledge to be fact?"

"If you find yourself questioning what is stated to be fact, then see for yourself whether or not these statements have any logic behind them." It was as if Professor Watson could anticipate her every question. "Making assumptions about the world is highly illogical. Assumptions lead to conclusions that can be incorrect and it only takes one wrong understanding to cause severe damage."

Those words struck a chord within the heiress.

Being a part of the Schnee family meant being subjugated to rumors and hearsay, some of them silly and harmless and others outlandish, others outrageous and dangerous. Regardless, they were all assumptions about her family based upon a few actions of a grey nature. More often than not, it was enough for some to affirm with no uncertainty that the Schnee family was nothing more than an arrogant, self-serving, and potentially sociopathic group. It was so painful and frustrating to hear people bismerch the name of the Schnee Dust Company, the pride and joy of her grandfather.

But by that same token, she too also had to think about how she viewed the world. Her lense was undoubtedly a little too narrow, obscuring what she saw in other people that she met. Although she wouldn't admit it, she had a decidedly negative view on the faunus as a result of mounting tensions with the White Fang and her family, but not all faunus were part of the White Fang, so it wasn't fair to judge an entire species for the actions of a few hoodlums and degenerates.

Weiss regarded her professor, then hastily blurted out her next thought. "I'm sorry, sir! I misjudged you!"

"Because I am a Faunus?" Professor Watson already knew. "I was well aware of the potential for prejudice based on your background. Even if you were to openly exhibit such opinions, I would have merely ignored them. More importantly, it is illogical for you to fret about events that have not happened. You have chosen to accept your faults and look past what is superficial. In that regard, you have surpassed many others."

A simple compliment, but a straightforward one with no greater meaning than what was present at face value. She had more that she ought to say, more that she ought to apologize about, but that didn't seem like a good idea, so she opted for the easier route.

"Thank you, professor!" Weiss felt a slight tinge of joy. "I'm glad for your understanding and I hope to learn more from you over the course of the year!"

While nerves were definitely guiding what came out of her mouth right now, what she was was most definitely true.

She had never been more excited to learn as she was now, especially applied science.

RWBY - - - Transformers

2100 Hours

Shockwave found it incredibly easy to speak to the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. The girl was intelligent, more so than the average person was and it was for that reason that reading her emotional state and predicting what she would say was simple. People of a certain brilliance tended to think and act in a way that could be anticipated.

Weiss Schnee was smart, prideful, and haughty at times, but listening to her it was clear that she was very much respectful of authority figures, although not to the extent that she would blindly follow them. So long as he could meet her in the middle, she would be more willing to listen to him and follow his advice.

But he would follow his own advice and not make too many assumptions about her as well. He had not anticipated how easily she had given in to his reasoning and acknowledging her own flaws. That was a rare trait among not just humans and faunus, but sentient beings as a whole. Cybertronians, Autobot and Decepticon, both wrestled with the inability to admit toerrors and fault. The fact that this white-haired teenage girl had done what so many could not caught his attention.

Weiss Schnee's place at Beacon Academy was unquestionable, no arguments there, but her potential was massive. Shockwave wanted to capitalize on this as much as he could. Being that she was so receptive to what the teachers would tell, she clearly craved direction and purpose in life, something that most likely had not been given to her by her biological parents. She would have no need to become a huntress if she did believe in the SDC and what it represented in the current day.

If he could become a sort of authority figure that she was looking for, she would serve as a very valuable piece for him to use not just for combat, but also for the purpose of manipulating entire societies. He would need to be careful about how he presented his logic to her. He would need to streamline her way of thinking so that she would come to the outcome that would be most logical for his goals.

Shockwave filed these thoughts away for further consideration down the line. More behavioral data needed to be amassed before he could carry out a plan. For now, it would be best to carry on with his usual routine.

He would also need to spend more time monitoring his students for more standouts.

I wish I had more time in the day to do everything that I wanted and needed to do without feeling rushed, but then again, I'm exactly lacking for things to be doing, so there is that.

I will say that a major focus of the time at Beacon will be spent with Shockwave as he slowly develops relationships with the students all the while moving the plot forward, a balance that so far, I've managed to keep with varying derees of success.

Many of you have been wondering how/if Shockwave will change as he becomes more entangled with the people around him. I won't be giving spoilers, but I would like to remind you of this: in the Transformers Prime continuity (which is where I've derived most of my characterization from), Shockwave is almost always logical, but he isn't incapable of emotions, far from it.

Also, while not featured in any blatant way, I will be incorporating elements from the IDW comics as well. There are some really enjoyable points of interest that can be used which can by synergized with the point mentioned above.

Let's wrap this up. Feedback and reviews are appreciated nonetheless. I do like it when you guys make up your theories and ideas. It's fun for me.

Thanks for reading.

"Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing."

Euripides