Chapter 21: "Mercy" is Logical

Mountain Glenn

Outpost Kaon

September 24th, 80 AGW

0200 Hours

Shockwave had mulled over what to do with what remained of his prisoners. To be more exact, he had weighed his options on how to make use of his one intact prisoner along with his now technically brain-dead subject.

Emerald Sustrai, that was the name of the girl with dark skin, mint-green hair, and red eyes. Her aura levels were nothing outstanding, but her semblance was very unique. It allowed her to project hallucinations onto a person of her choosing, making them see whatever she wanted them to see. The ability itself was highly useful; its lack of scope was what diminished its overall effectiveness. Apparently, manipulating two targets at once was highly difficult and any more could have dangerous results on the brain.

It was logical that it was so. She was human, and unlike him, her processing capability was immeasurably less than his own. The only reason she was capable of tampering with minds at all was due to her aura compensating for her in ways that her brain was unable to account for. Truly, aura was a very convenient tool.

All of this information Shockwave had pulled from her via the cortical psychic patch. The girl was in no mental shape to be speaking to him, which presented him with a problem. Her usefulness to him rested solely on her semblance and unless she found a way to accept her new situation, then he would have no use for her. Fortunately, he had his own ways of compelling others to see his way of things.

The scientist had decided that in order for her to be most advantageous to him, he would need to rewire her mind and program absolute loyalty into her. The processing of doing so was going to be uncomplicated due to her mental resistance being close to zero. Also, another factor making this programming effortless was how she responded to authority. Despite being rough around the edges personality-wise, whenever it came to Cinder Fall, Emerald would not hesitate for a moment to do as she was told.

In the meantime, he had to keep her physical condition nominal in order for his work to be done with little chance of error. Keeping her hydrated and providing her with just the right nutrition had initially been a challenge due to some early resistance, but once she saw the unresponsive form of her savior, she had lost the will to even put a front.

Once she was ready to start working for him, he would get to seeing what he could do about increasing her training regiment, increasing her aura levels, and augmenting her mind so that she could make better use of her semblance.

The projected resources and time he would need for her were perfectly acceptable. The end results would greatly benefit him in the long run, outstripping any short-term costs. He had a long game to play and he would use whatever was logical.

Next up on his list of items to take care of was Cinder, or what remained of her. She was not dead, but she was not alive either. If he wanted to, Shockwave could reassemble her mind and she would be back to the way she was before, but that would not be happening as it served him no purpose. He had a much more logical idea in mind.

As much as the former Decepticon enjoyed his work in solitude, he was not foolish enough to believe that his efforts alone could make miracles happen. Even he needed allies to assist him with his projects or underlings to carry out his bidding.

That was where Cinder came into play. She was of no use to him as she was now. Reprogramming her to become loyal to him, while logical, was also illogical at the same time. He was already making use of Emerald for that express purpose. Instead, he would use Cinder for a different experiment.

His work in cloning had seen him recreating old species long dead and gone. While his work had been largely successful, the main issue with cloning an ancient and extinct species was that with time, the remnants of CNA in the case of Predacons were harder to replicate due to deterioration of the genetic matter. The best that could be done in cases like this was a normal specimen with no enhancements of any kind.

On the other hand, a still-alive organism provided him with a grand opportunity to further his cloning research. Cinder's body was still alive technically speaking and her DNA was as good as it was ever going to be, so the logical course of action was to see what he could do with her.

This was his chance to create a perfect warrior with all the strengths that the original had with none of the weaknesses. Additionally, he could take the risk of augmentations. A chance at creating a fighter with power and skills surpassing everything known about huntsmen and huntresses was simply too good to pass up.

Aside from being a genetic template for a superior warrior, Cinder's body was also useful as an important bargaining chip. Shockwave had been keeping close tab on Amber and in their recent interactions, he detected no change in her magical abilities nor her physical condition. That meant Cinder still had a sliver of magical power within her, which meant another golden opportunity to further break down this strange and seemingly-illogical power. If he could somehow harness that power, he would have a weapon at his disposal that would be hard to match by anyone.

The only reason Shockwave was not listing magic as a higher priority was due to his scarce knowledge on the power. It was illogical to make risky maneuvers concerning subjects that he did understand fully. He needed to nail the fundamentals first before he considered anything further.

Again, just like with Emerald, investing in Cinder was going to be rewarding long-term, so he could afford to shift some of his attention away from Project Predacon.

But in spite of his newly-inspired work, he still did well to make sure that his teaching duties were performed to the best of his abilities. His ability to engage his students was critical for the purpose of finding talent and abilities. Assuming his cloning of Cinder was successful, then he would begin the process of selecting students that showed promise and extract their DNA to begin creating more ideal soldiers.

All of his research was carefully concealed from the prying eyes of the headmaster. Ozpin no doubt wondered day and night what his newest ally was doing. While Shockwave was sure that the man in charge of Beacon wouldn't react violently over his morally reprehensible work, he was sure that the cane-wielding man would find a way to make working autonomously immeasurably harder.

But in the event that such a thing happened, the scientist had his own ways of countering. After all, every huntsman academies were fortresses surrounded by countless students trained in combat along with the huntsmen and huntresses teaching at each location. It would be nothing but hypocrisy if the headmaster claimed the moral ground when he was knowingly tricking students in such a clever way, however noble his intentions.

The former Decepticon pulled up the roster of his classes. So far, his ranking of each student was forty percent complete. Another two weeks and he would be done, although over the course of the entire semester, he would be monitoring for changes. Despite his logical conclusions about each student being correct, there was always the chance that an unexpected factor could raise or lower the rankings.

But if there was one absolute certainty that Shockwave knew, it was that at least a few students were more trouble than they were worth.

Jaune Arc was the number one most incompetent student in all of his classes. The boy was clearly out of his element. The notion that a forged transcripts and some basic instruction in sword and shield usage was going to be good enough for him to get started here of all places was just plain stupid. He was a waste of time and resources not to mention a serious liability to the team he had been assigned to lead.

One way or another, this had to be dealt with, but in the interest of sticking the minimum month time for rank evaluation, he would wait a while longer, but there was no reason to expect any good changes. Any person who had to pretend to be competent at something was worth less than nothing and that sort of logic was illogical.

Two more weeks and then he would force the matter with Ozpin. One way or another, Jaune Arc needed to be dealt with. Whether that meant removing him from the academy permanently or forcing him to improve through drastic measure was irrelevant. Things could not remain as they were indefinitely. That would be illogical.

Shockwave noticed that Emerald was beginning to awaken from her exhaustion-induced sleep.

Back to the grind.

RWBY - - - Transformers

Beacon Academy

Team RWBY Dorm Room

September 25th, 80 AGW

1800 Hours

Something strange had been happening in Team RWBY. It wasn't one of those things that just happened over the course of time. It was the sort of thing that went noticeable and then came to everyone's attention suddenly like a bucket of ice-cold water being dumped on a person's head. In this case, the strange thing in question was blatant and obvious.

Ruby and Weiss were working together.

Yang should have been a better older sister by supporting this unexpected camaraderie between her baby sister and the ice queen. She did want the former to make new friends and grow up as a person, but when it came to their resident Schnee heiress, trying to have anything resembling a normal conversation was hard to say the least. To see them now working together quite willingly when just a few days ago, they were hard-pressed to even speak ten words between each other was a little too jarring of a shift.

Apparently, the brawler was the one one who felt that the shift was anything noteworthy. Neither Ruby nor Weiss seemed to notice or care that they were collaborating effortlessly. Blake had probably noticed the change, but she hadn't made a single comment regarding it. It was only the blonde that seemed to be fixated on it.

Naturally, the first thing to do when perplexity was abundant was to figure out some way to make it all come together in a rational way.

The first thing that Yang did was carefully watch the R and the W of Team RWBY work together to see what she could pick up. From where she was standing, it looked like the two of them weren't necessarily bonding emotionally. It was more like the two girls had found a common interest and now they were working together to help each other out in a way. Maybe it wasn't the most heart-warming way to friendship, but not all friendships were built on the same foundation.

The buxom babe, in her own humble opinion, attempted to see what exactly the two of them were working on. It turned out that their cooperation was due in part to individual assignments courtesy of their science teacher, Professor Shockwave, or Doctor Watson according to the snow angel. In any event, he was the one indirectly responsible for bringing the previously disparate girls together.

Although her sentimentality wasn't necessary, Yang felt the need to see her professor in person to thank him for what he had done. Intentional or not, his personal time with Ruby and Weiss was making this all possible. Gratitude seemed deserved.

Predictably, she found him in the laboratory, doing his own work. Sticking her head into the room, she saw that he appeared to be working on an experiment if all the equipment she saw being used was any indication.

Although she had come here for a reason, she couldn't help but admire him. Even with some oddball prosthetics, she thought he was a total smoke show. As in, that face looked like it was made by Gods themselves, his imposing physical stature that marked him as an alpha, his clear intelligence and competence in his subject field, and the way he carried himself with a mysterious and calm aura.

It wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination to say that most girls in class were always paying attention to him.

"Miss Xiao Long." Professor Shockwave called out her name, yet did not tear his eyes from his current task. "Can I help you with something?"

"Hey, teach." Yang quickly gathered herself and walked into the room with all the confidence that she had. "Sorry to bother you when you're working. I just wanted to thank you."

"Thank me." The doctor repeated her words while maintaining his concentration on his present endeavor. "For what?"

"Ever since Ruby and Weiss started going to you for extra material, our team cohesion has been better overall." Yang felt kind of ignored, so she tried to be as expressive as possible. "I don't know if you wanted this to happen, but Ruby and Weiss are getting along better. That's what I wanted to thank you about."

Finally, Shockwave stopped what he was doing to regard her. "You worry for your younger sister."

"...yeah, I do." Yang offered with a smile. "I know that she can handle herself physically and mentally, but I just can't help my protective street. Like, I know that's hypocritical and all that, but it just comes to me, you know?"

"I would not know." The science teacher shook his head. "I have never had siblings, but returning to your original reason for being here, your thanks are not necessary. All the same, they are appreciated."

"I'm glad to hear that." Yang felt a little better. "So… this might be a weird topic change, but how do you fight, teach?"

The reason for segwaying into this topic was simple. The blonde girl considered herself a fighter first and foremost. She was always up for a good fight and she was always looking for opponents that could put up a fight. That wasn't to say that she was sorely lacking academically speaking, but if given a choice between talking about school or talking about combat, she would take the latter choice every time.

"If you are referring to how I fight, then that is relatively simple to explain." Shockwave looked her in the eye. "My style is more improvisational and experienced-based rather than based on any sort of training, formal or otherwise. I obtained my huntsman license via Huntsman Candidate School."

"HCS?" Yang couldn't help but be impressed by that. "That's like almost impossible to go through without prior training. You must be really good if you got through that alive and well."

"I do not fancy myself a warrior in any way." Shockwave said in reply. "I am a scientist first and foremost. Learning how to fight merely came due to circumstances."

"That's even more awesome." Yang grinned, a glint forming in her eye. "That must make you a certified badass."

"You may think of me as such." Professor Watson eyed her. "However, if you entertain the idea of fighting me, I will warn you: any other outcome aside from me emerging victorious would be illogical."

"Is that right?" Yang wasn't one to back down from a fight, even if the odds were stacked against her. "So there's no chance of me winning?"

"I will freely concede that you are among the best fighters of the current freshman year." Shockwave crossed his arms. "But that is not enough to defeat a professional huntsman with years of training and combat experience. Even Pyrrha Nikos, your superior, would be hard-pressed to even injure me let alone defeat me."

Coming from anyone else, such words might be passed off as nothing more than arrogance talking, but coming from the person that they were, there was something that compelled the girl to believe everything he said.

Never had she ever heard him speak in a tone other than the one he spoke with now. It was the kind of voice that was haunting, eerie, and highly intimidating, yet there was an undertone of elegance and control. All of this was further intensified by how low he could sound at times. Honestly, that just made him even more attractive. Gods, he could read a scroll book and it would be the most interesting thing in the world.

"Sorry, professor, but even if what you're saying is true, I'm always itching for a fight." Yang just couldn't get enough of this challenge. "And out of all the teachers here, you seem to be the most lethal."

Professor Watson's eyes indicated a slight shift in mood. "And what has led you to that conclusion?"

"Instinct, really." Yang shrugged. "I couldn't give you a reason or explanation. It's just this feeling in my gut. Dangerous people have a certain thing about them that makes them stand out from everyone else."

The brawler would never pretend to be the smartest person in the room. She would never lay claim to such a thing. Intelligent people were often complicated people and she was not a complicated person. She lived for thrills and joy; she wanted to travel the world, get herself into as many shenanigans as possible, and move onto the next. Being a huntress was merely a means to accomplish that simple dream.

With that said, what she lacked as an intellectual, she made up for it as a girl of instinct. Like she had said, she couldn't vocalize what exactly it was, but she had developed a sixth sense that responded in such random ways. That instinct, right now, was talking to her, telling her that this man before her was far more than he appeared to be.

Not that his physical appearance was lacking in any way. Even though she had said it numerous times, she just couldn't help but wonder what sort of genes were needed to create such a wonderful specimen.

Yang could only imagine what her father would say if he could hear her thoughts now.

Transformers - - - RWBY

Beacon Academy

Science Laboratory

September 30th, 80 AGW

0930 Hours

Jaune had this foolish notion when he first started here that with time and effort, he would be able to just make up for what he didn't have. After all, he had survived initiation on nothing but barebone skills and training, so that had to mean he was on the right track, or so his mind would lead him to believe.

It turned out, surprisingly and unsurprisingly, that he actually needed to be competent at a lot of things in order to better get a handle on his school life at Beacon Academy. Not even a month into the semester and already he was seeing some signs that things weren't going well. It wasn't as if he was failing any class, but although he was certainly on track to doing so at the rate that he was going.

One of the only things keeping him somewhat afloat during this time was his own partner, Pyrrha Nikos. Unlike him, she was the best of all the freshman and that was no exaggeration. That girl simply was good at whatever she did. It was like she had a talent for doing things, getting it right the first and not making mistakes.

But every time she did help him, Jaune could only feel worse about himself. If he couldn't amount to anything by his own efforts, then why was he here in the first place? Huntsmen were supposed to do it themselves. They weren't always going to have teammates and other fellow Grimm killers at their side at a moment's notice. That was why he had gently pushed his partner away. He needed to find his own nerve.

His chosen path came with it even more hardship though. Without anyone to rely on, he was having to study crazy-hard, run through drills again and again, all to see himself fail for no reason at all. It would be one thing if he was failing and gaining something from the experience, but he wasn't even doing that.

And to make matters even worse, he had a bully problem. It wasn't exactly something he cared to think about a lot. It was just a bad luck of the draw. He was weak and everyone knew it more or less. That was why he was being picked on. The sooner he got his act together, the sooner that he could gain some respect and then he could turn everyone's opinion around, maybe even get Cardin off his back.

Assuming that he could make a difference.

It might just be easier to give up and go home. Jaune knew that his parents wouldn't mind if he did. Plus, it wasn't like he would be the only one. Six of his seven sisters were living at home, so nobody could call him a lazy bum or anything, but giving up wasn't an option either. He refused to go home because that would be an unspoken admission that he couldn't do anything on his own. He didn't want to be a helpless idiot any longer.

He wanted to be someone.

"Mister Arc." Professor Watson's voice silenced his thoughts. "What is the answer."

He had just made a very fatal mistake by not giving his complete attention to class, especially this one. Science was by far the most information-intensive class. There was a lot of material to cover in such a short amount of time and unlike Professor Port's class, blame couldn't be placed upon the lecturer's method of teaching. On the contrary, he had tons of ways to engage students, which made the overall atmosphere more lively.

If information were the only problem, that could be managed. Alas, in addition to all the necessary studying, there were many practical activities to add onto the knowledge that was needed, further increasing the difficulty of the class.

Jaune tried to stall for time as he regarded the LCD. "Um, the answer is…"

He didn't even know what they were all talking about. His only point of reference was the very beginning of class, which from the looks of things, they were way beyond that point, Now, he was looking at what appeared to be some theories and formulas relating to fire dust and its reactions in various environments.

His eyes momentarily met Pyrrha and she motioned slightly with her head, indicating that he looked down. He did so and in neat handwriting, there were some words. It looked like she wanted him to speak these words.

"Fire dust is one of the more reactive dust types." Jaune did his best to sum up. "And because dust still has the properties of the elements they're representing, they can react just like their natural counterpart."

That should have been the right answer. It had come from his partner and he had never heard the redhead answer a single question wrong in any class they had been in, yet when he regarded his teacher, that stone-cold look of indifference seemed to tell the blonde knight exactly what the man was thinking.

He's not fooled one bit. Jaune bit his lips and swallowed.

"That is correct, Mister Arc." Professor Watson commented. "How did you reach that conclusion?"

"Well, I… had help." Jaune wouldn't outright lie.

That was a bad move.

"Miss Nikos, I will remind you that your partner will receive an individual grade separate from your own. You will not receive extra marks for assisting Jaune. Bear that in mind going forward."

"Yes, professor." Pyrrha nodded her head.

In any other class, slight laughter and snickering might have followed, but here, there was no such thing here. As much as Jaune knew that he was incompetent, Professor Watson called out mistakes as he saw them without hesitation. Anyone at all could be a target and wherever a person was being corrected, everyone could see it and everyone could agree that the feeling wasn't all that great.

The lesson proceeded further, but the leader of Team JNPR could only partially concentrate on what was currently being explained. It was hard keeping up when he was barely knowledgeable about the subject at hand. He had done the reading as best he could, but the words in his textbook almost seemed like a different language and trying to go back to the basics would set him behind.

Pyrrha was sitting next to him and when she met his eyes again, she gave him a smile. It was the same kind that she used everytime she wanted to help him. For one reason or another, that girl was determined to help him in whatever way possible. He couldn't logically explain why it was. She was so much better than him that it wasn't even funny. Why she chose him as her partner he couldn't understand.

Actually, now that he thought about it, the redhead with green eyes was the only one in the entire classroom that had so far managed to get through this class without a single correction from Professor Watson. That just spoke volumes about how good she was.

Jaune shook his head and tried for a third to keep himself focused. He really had a hard time with discipline, especially when it came to things that he either didn't like to do or things he wasn't good at, but as an aspiring huntsman, he might not always get to choose the circumstances that he found himself in. Dealing with the parts that really sucked came with the job.

The rest of the period was spent desperately attempting to piece together a jigsaw puzzle of information that would no doubt be applied to something tangible either next class or in a homework assignment. Either way, he really needed to come to class better prepared somehow. He didn't know how, but it needed to happen.

The minutes ticked by slowly and pencils continued to scribble down notes all around him with the exception of one or two students who had either given up or simply didn't care. The former could be accepted, but the latter was just plain rude. They were being instructed by a professional huntsman; a little respect didn't seem like too much to ask for in exchange.

But then again, Cardin seemed to disrespect everything and everyone for no apparent reason.

"Jaune, are you okay?" Pyrrha waved a hand in front of his face. "You look unwell."

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Jaune said softly. "Um, I was just… trying to make sense of all this."

"I can help you with that." Pyrrha whispered so she wouldn't be heard. "If you want, that is."

"Maybe another time." Jaune deflected her worries. "I'll be fine, really."

That was a lie, but he wasn't ready to accept her help.

His pride wouldn't allow it.

RWBY - - - Transformers

Mountain Glenn

Outpost Kaon

October 1st, 80 AGW

2323 Hours

Shockwave took some time to think over some of the information that he had pulled from Cinder Fall.

According to her memories, the witch known as Salem was quite the character. If what he was seeing was correct, then the woman who controlled the Grimm was immortal. As in, she couldn't be killed at all. No amount of harm to her body would work and age didn't matter to her. She simply was invincible, at least that was what Cinder believed.

But nothing in the universe was infinite nor infallible. If the scientist's entire life had told him one thing, it was that nothing lasts forever. Every single thing in the cosmos had a fixed lifespan, including himself. That applied to this so-called goddess as well.

The question was this: assuming that she could live through things that would kill a normal human or faunus, what exactly was giving her that power or ability?

Logically speaking, there wasn't a single piece of technology that could compensate for any sort of wound that was fatal. Perhaps a healing semblance might be enough, but if a blow meant to be instantaneous death connected, how could a healing factor account for that? The more that he thought it over, the more that the former Decepticon formulated questions. He did not have all the known variables, so coming up with questions was all that he could do in order to fill the black hole that was his mind.

Salem was the most problematic thorn in his side. As far as he could tell, Shockwave could see no reasoning that would rationalize why she seemed hell-bent on destroying Mankind. Working off of that, the only thing that could make any sort of logical sense was that this was a personal vendetta. If that was to be accepted as fact, then it meant that she and Ozpin had considerable history that would warrant this supposed grudge.

The headmaster of Beacon Academy played a very complicated game, being in the position that he currently occupied. Using students as unknowing defenders of the relics, four women with magical abilities that were not explainable as of right now, and fighting an enemy that he had likely known for a while. Additionally, he effectively had agents and loyalists in all corners of the world ready to answer the call to action, but if he did have a past with the ruler of Grimm, then his secrets had to run very deep.

The former Decepticon left part of his processes to deal with these issues while he simultaneously continued on with work that demanded his two good hands. Having regained the ability to be ambidextrous had lent itself to expedite his projects and research efforts by a hefty amount. If he kept at it, it could take as little as three days to fully sequence Cinder's genetic material.

Shockwave also did well to keep a close optic and auditory receptor on Emerald. As broken as she was, there was still a chance that she could lash out without warning. Having served her master dutifully, she was hurting and in desperate need of someone who would save her life.

This case also served to prove one thing.

Humans were such weak creatures.

This chapter is up late because yesterday, I was at MEPS processing and now I can say that I cleared it with no troubles to speak of. Now let's hope between now and my ship date that nothing unexpected comes up in the meantime, but for all intents and purposes, I am now a US Soldier. See my profile for the new updates with concrete dates and what's going on regarding story updates on this site.

Now back to the story.

Many of you have speculated that cloning was going to happen and now I can confirm that it is. However, I wil say that for any clones of characters that come up in the future, they all must serve a purpose for the plot or for character. I don't just do these things because I can. I need to have a reason.

Because I'm playing catch up with all the time I've lost writing, there are going to be errors. Please feel free to correct them as you see fit. Also, reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and I hope you're all doing as well as possible.

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

George Bernard Shaw