O00000O00000O
Chapter 29: Getting Back to Work
O00000O00000O
"You sure about this?" Cole asked as he stood over Pyrrha's unconscious body.
Delsin stood next to him and nodded.
"Pretty sure," Delsin said.
Cole turned to him.
"'Pretty sure?'"
"Hey, no one's ever done this before! Cut me some slack!"
Cole rolled his eyes. He sighed and rubbed his hands together.
"Stand back," he said.
Delsin took several steps back to stand by everyone else who was still awake, all of whom were watching in anticipation.
Cole looked at his hands. After he had been taken to a power station to recharge, he felt rejuvenated. It was the first time he'd been fully charged in a long time. Small sparks leaped from his hands and though he was nervous, he couldn't help but smile.
He cranked up the power. The sparks turned to small bolts, and the electronics around him started flickering.
"Whenever you're ready, Mr. MacGrath," Dr. Eidolos said.
Cole nodded.
Gently, he placed his hands on Pyrrha's heart and forehead. When he made contact, he began to slowly release electricity into her. Dr. Eidolos watched as the EKG machine began to beep ever so slightly faster. They would have attached electrodes to her head to see if her brain activity was picking up, but Cole would have destroyed them the moment the procedure started.
Over the next few minutes, Cole steadily increased the pace and Pyrrha's heart began picking up speed. He was sweating from the strain, obviously not used to using his powers like this.
"You ok?" he heard a girl ask.
"Fine," he said through gritted teeth.
Electricity began sparking off his arms. Delsin took a step forward, readying himself in case something went wrong.
Dr. Eidolos's eyes were stuck on the heart monitor. Once it reached a certain point, he shouted.
"Stop!" he called.
Cole dropped his hands and slumped back into a chair, spent. Jaune ran forward to her side and Dr. Eidolos approached alongside him, placing a hand on Pyrrha's forehead, activating his semblance. As he infused his own aura into the girl to do so, his face slowly turned into a happy smile.
"Well, doctor?" Ozpin asked.
Dr. Eidolos turned around.
"She's going to be just fine," he said jubilantly.
The onlookers let out their collectively held breath in relief. Jaune nearly started crying.
"Now it'll be a day or two before she's up and about. Her body needs to recover, after all," he continued, "But after that, she'll be just fine."
Cole smiled as he panted in exhaustion.
"Great," he said, "How many more are there?"
"Ten," Delsin said, clapping his hands on Cole's shoulders.
Cole sighed.
"Great."
O00000O00000O
It took Cole nearly six hours to finish bringing all of the comatose people back. They were still unconscious, but as the good doctor said on his way out, they would all be awake in a few days. As everyone else was abuzz with joy knowing their friends were only a few days away from being back to them, Cole himself was sitting down away from it all, trying to recoup himself. His muscles were still recuperating from what was apparently eight years of confinement, and using his powers the way he had been hadn't helped matters much.
"Thirsty?" he heard a voice ask.
Cole looked up. An older man with short gray hair and brown eyes was standing in front of him, holding out a cup of coffee. Cole took it and took a gulp, the caffeine returning him to some semblance of normal. The man sat down next to him.
"So, you'd be Ozpin then?" Cole asked, putting down the cup.
"Indeed I am. I take it Mr. Rowe told you about me?"
Cole nodded.
"He seems like a good kid."
Ozpin smiled.
"Oh, most of the time he is, but sometimes..." Ozpin said, "Well, let's just say he is exactly as impulsive as you would expect of someone his age. Or ten years his junior."
Cole smiled.
"Yeah, Conduit powers don't exactly help with that," Cole said.
"I would imagine not," Ozpin said with a small chuckle.
"So what do you want, teach?" Cole asked.
Ozpin's tone grew serious.
"I was wondering if you remember anything from your captivity," he said.
Cole shook his head.
"Nope. I get fragments, here and there but before I can make any sense of them,"
He snapped.
"Poof! They're gone."
Ozpin nodded.
"And do you remember how you came to be here?"
Cole just stared, his eyes fixating on the back wall.
"Can we... do you mind if we don't talk about this right now?" Cole said, "It's just... the whole new world thing... it's a lot to take in. And that's coming from a guy who woke up in a smoldering crater to find he could shoot lightning bolts from his hands."
Ozpin nodded.
"I understand," he said gently.
As he was about to get up, Ozpin had an idea.
"Well, if you can't talk about that, perhaps something more routine would help?"
Cole raised an eyebrow.
"Come to my office in about an hour," Ozpin said as he stood up, "We'll talk then."
Cole watched as Ozpin left, not sure what the man was talking about. But, he had to admit, Oz was right. Something routine would be very helpful to center him.
O00000O00000O
Delsin made his way back to the Team CNDT dorm room and crashed face first into his bed. It had been over a week since anyone had been here. While Delsin was enormously happy that his friends would be awake in a few days, it had been almost that long since he'd had a good nights sleep. As such he passed out almost the second his face hit the pillow.
About an hour later, he was rudely awakened by someone clearing their throat.
"Mmmmm," he groaned.
Blearily, he opened his eyes, inches away from obliterating the person foolish enough to steal his precious nap time from him. When he sort of made out Eugene's form, he glared at him, his face still half smothered by the pillow it was buried in.
"You have ten seconds to give me a reason to wake up before I start blasting," he said.
"New Conduit," Eugene said, a knowing smirk on his face.
Delsin sighed in defeat, then propped himself up on his hands as he made his way to a sitting position.
"Where?" Delsin asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"Outside. She's... not comfortable with indoors yet," Eugene said, "You'll see."
Delsin nodded. Still feeling tired, and not at all ready to use stairs Delsin opened the window and jumped out. He landed safely, if a little roughly, and Eugene followed him down, landing gracefully with his wings.
Delsin rolled his eyes as Eugene lead him around the building to the front door. As they rounded the corner, Delsin saw her. She was pacing back and forth in front of the door, obviously nervous.
"Who is she?"
"Dorado Arachne," Eugene answered, "I met her yesterday as she was about to get arrested by the VPD."
"VPD?"
"Vale Police Department. They had her surrounded, thinking she was with the White Fang. Apparently, she's a Spider Faunus and when witnesses saw her melt a wall with her bare hands... things didn't go well."
"Wouldn't think so," Delsin replied.
Delsin walked up to her.
"Dorado Arachne?" he said.
The girl jumped and turned to face him, taking up a combat stance.
"Who are you?" she said.
Delsin unconsciously tensed up and readied himself for a fight.
"Wait!" Eugene shouted as he burst around the corner, "He's with me! The guy I wanted you to meet!"
The two of them visibly relaxed.
"Sorry about that," she said sincerely, "I'm a little jumpy."
"No worries," he said, "I'm assuming you're the new girl?"
The girl nodded.
"Call me Rad," she said, holding out her hand.
"You don't wanna do that," Delsin said calmly, turning down the handshake.
"Oh?" she asked, her eyebrow twitching in anger.
"Whenever I touch a Conduit I copy their powers. It's... not a fun time for anyone," Delsin explained.
Eugene nodded in agreement.
"He's not wrong. My head was pounding for days."
Rad nodded as she dropped her hand.
"So... Eugene says you can help me control this?" Rad said, raising her hands.
Delsin watched as the girl's hands filled with liquid. His eyes widened a moment later when they exploded into flame.
He smiled.
"Oh yeah. I can help."
At that moment, his Scroll buzzed.
"Uh, hold that thought," he said, pulling it out. Ozpin was calling.
He clicked to receive the call.
"What is it Oz?" he asked, a little miffed.
"I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?" Ozpin asked.
"Oh, no. Just met a new Conduit from outside of Beacon and I'm about to try and teach her how to use her new and super dangerous powers that let her melt walls and buildings into slag without half trying, so I'm not busy at all," Delsin replied sarcastically, "How's your day been?"
For a moment, Ozpin was silent on the other end of the phone.
"My day has been excellent, thank you for asking! Well, since you aren't busy, can you come by my office for a moment, please?"
Delsin could hear the playful acknowledgment in Ozpin's voice as he groaned inwardly.
"Fine," Delsin said, "I'm on my way."
"Wonderful!"
Delsin ended the call.
"Seems like I'll have to come back to this," he said with a sigh, "Just stay with Eugene for now."
"Ok."
"Eugene, keep an eye on her."
Eugene nodded.
"Great, see you in a bit."
With that, Delsin turned away and Neon Dashed off.
O00000O00000O
As none of his new powers allowed him to pass through solid objects and Ozpin had made him promise to stop breaking the windows in his office, Delsin elected to use the elevator for once. As he approached the sliding doors of Oz's express elevator, Cole walked up alongside him.
"MacGrath," Delsin said.
"Rowe," Cole replied.
The doors opened and the two of them entered in identical fashion, then turned to face the doors as they closed.
"Any idea what the big man wants?" Cole asked.
Delsin shrugged.
"I gave up trying to figure him out after the first ten minutes," he said nonchalantly.
"Yeah, I got that idea too," Cole said in agreement, "It's like he pretends he's an open book, but when you try and read it, turns out it's written in... like, Hieroglyphics or something."
"I know right?" Delsin said.
"Meh. Better things to do I suppose," Cole said.
Delsin raised a playful eyebrow.
"Like what?"
Cole opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came to mind. Only when he saw the smirk on Delsin's face did he realize the trap he had stepped in.
"Shut up," he said.
Delsin's smirk developed into a grin as the elevator dinged and the doors opened.
"Ah, you're both here. Good," Ozpin said.
Delsin looked at him quizzically.
"Looks like someone's a lot more upbeat than normal," Delsin commented.
"I'm simply stopping to smell the roses, as it were," Ozpin replied, "There have been plenty of negative occurrences lately, so a good one is a welcome one. This one in particular, very welcome."
Ozpin turned to Cole.
"As such, I would like to say thank you once again, Mr. MacGrath," he continued, bowing his head slightly.
"Please, just call me Cole," the man replied.
"Cole it is," Ozpin said in his uncharacteristically jovial tone.
"So why is it you called us here?" Delsin asked.
"Ah! I was wondering when we'd get to that. Please, sit."
He motioned them to the chairs in front of them, and they sat down, Oz doing the same on the other side of the desk.
"So, as you are no doubt aware, we have a swathe of new Conduits," Ozpin said, some of the joviality leaving his tone, "And none of them know how to control their powers. In fact, I believe there is yet another who fits that bill, isn't that right Mr. Rowe?"
Delsin nodded.
"Yeah. Dorado Arachne, Spider Faunus. Some kind of fire-power."
"Fire?" Cole asked.
"Explosions would probably be a better word," Delsin replied, "She can make some kind of liquid and make it blow up."
"Oh yeah, those are fun," Cole said.
Delsin cocked his head.
"How would you know?"
"A friend back home had a power just like that. She was crazy, but it was a fun power."
"Cooooool," Delsin said.
"Ahem!" Ozpin coughed.
The two of them snapped back to him.
"As I was saying," Ozpin said.
He pressed a finger to his desk and dossiers of the new Conduits came up on the screen.
"Damn," Cole said, "That's a lot of people."
"Yeah, and there are probably a few more we never found," Delsin said.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, who's that guy?" he asked, pointing to one of them.
Ozpin followed his finger.
"Ah, yes. Mr. Branwen," Ozpin said, "According to Professor Goodwitch, you ran into him shortly after the Blast."
Delsin reached back through his memories until he found the guy. It was the same guy who had stayed to watch over Professors Port and Oobleck when they ran across them.
"Oooooooh, that guy," Delsin said, "So what's his shtick?"
"Bottom of the page," Cole commented.
Delsin looked down.
"Acid?" he said, "Nice."
"Indeed," Ozpin said, trying to keep the conversation on track, "And I would like you to train them."
Delsin and Cole nodded
"We were gonna do that anyway," Cole said.
"Yeah, we were just waiting to get started," Delsin continued, "Me and Eugene had a spot picked out and everything."
"Unfortunately, that is no longer the case, as Mr. Sims is needed on another matter," Ozpin interrupted, "His ability to summon a large workforce in mere moments makes him invaluable to the reconstruction effort."
He walked around to the other side of the table.
"And besides, I have a surprise for you."
He put a hand on the desk and swiped. The dossiers went off the screen replaced by what appeared to be blueprints.
"Whoa," Cole said.
"What he said," Delsin continued.
Ozpin smiled.
"I call it The Hippodrome."
He gestured to the screen and the image grew into a full 3D model of the building.
"Oh-ho-ho," Cole said, "This, is gonna be fun."
O00000O00000O
Next to a recovering Weiss and Blake, Ruby and Yang were sitting happily for the first time in a long while. After a while of silence, Ruby spoke up.
"How long do you think it'll be?" she asked.
"What? Till they wake up?" Yang replied.
Ruby nodded.
"Soon, I hope," Yang said.
Yang took a casual glance over in Alex's direction. His sister was on the phone, presumably with the rest of his family, a happy stream of tears going down her face. His mother, for her part, was standing over him, watchfully keeping guard of him while smiling down at her baby boy. For a brief moment, their eyes met. Yang quickly turned away.
"Shouldn't be too long," they heard a voice behind them say.
The two of them turned to see Jaune and Nora standing at the end of Weiss and Blake's beds.
"Guys!" Ruby said, standing to give them both hugs.
"Hi Ruby," Jaune said, returning the hug.
"How's Pyrrha?" Yang asked.
"She's doing great," Jaune said, "She'll be awake this time tomorrow, so the doctor says."
"That's great!" Ruby said.
"And Ren's doing just fine," Nora said happily.
"I'm happy to hear it," Yang said with a smile.
At that moment, the cheery voice of Delsin blasted out over the PA system.
"Hey, can I get all the new Conduits could come to the new big ass building just outside the campus? We have a surprise for you!"
The PA abruptly cut out.
"What building is he talking about?" Jaune asked.
"I don't know," Yang said.
All of their Scroll's buzzed. When they checked them, there was a message containing the exact coordinates of their destination.
"Oh. Well that helps," Ruby said.
"Yeah," Nora said after glancing at the message on Jaune's Scroll, "You might as well get going then."
"You're not coming?" Ruby asked.
Nora shook her head, holding up a message-free Scroll.
"Nope."
"Aww. Well, let's go," Ruby said.
She started walking to the door, not noticing that Yang and Jaune hadn't moved. Their eyes were locked onto Alex and Pyrrha respectively, expressions of reluctance on their faces.
"Don't worry," Nora said, "I'll let you know the second anything changes."
She shoved them both toward the door.
"Now get going already!" she said, smiling playfully.
The two of them nodded and smiled back as they fell in behind Ruby, and joined the rest of the Conduits as the exited the building.
O00000O00000O
The New Conduits arrived at the coordinates to find a huge arena had popped up seemingly out of nowhere.
"Whoa," Ruby gasped, "Where did this place come from?!"
"Yeah, this place is huge!" Jaune said, craning his neck to take it all in.
"A mystery indeed," George commented, "It would take months to build something like this."
"Well, it is Professor Ozpin," Velvet said, "Who here believes he couldn't keep something like this a secret?"
"You are not wrong Ms. Scarlatina," Glynda said.
The students simply nodded.
"Guess everyone's here then!" a voice said from above them.
Moments later, Cole and Delsin landed in front of them. Most of the students rolled their eyes at the needless drama but smiled anyway.
"Let's get to work," Cole said, "Welcome... to the Thunderdome!"
With an off-hand Kinetic Pulse, Cole forced the doors open. From what they could see, the inside of the arena-like structure was just as big as it appeared from the outside. As they walked inside, they got the first good look at the facility.
The place was filled with assembled training dummies, piles of raw material for the abilities of the present Conduits, and Video screens with a setup identical to that of the sparring arena. There was even an obstacle course at the far end.
"Wow," George said as he walked in, "This place really is incredible."
"Seriously? Thunderdome?" They heard Delsin whisper behind them.
"What? It's a cool name," Cole replied, "And besides, I don't remember what that Oz guy called it."
"Eh, fair enough," Delsin said.
"Delsin!" Ruby shouted, "What is this place?"
The two Conduits turned their attention back to the group.
"Well, you guys have superpowers now, and no idea how to control them. Or use them much at all," Delsin said.
"So, Oz the Great and Powerful wanted us to teach you," Cole continued.
"Not that we weren't already going to, but hey, whatever works," Delsin added, "Anyway, we needed a safe place to do it, so he had this place made for us."
"Over there on the far wall we have the Advanced Movement Course," Cole started, "Which is designed to teach you how to move like we do. In other words, exactly what you think it is."
"And each of you will have a little training area where you can blast all you want to try and get a feel for attacking with them. The dummies are made of concrete so I can repair them. Just have fun," Delsin said.
"So we can just... destroy stuff to our heart's content?" Jaune asked.
"Pretty much," Cole said, "There's enough extra ammo back there for you to use your powers for the next month. Well, except for you."
"Me?" Jaune asked.
"Yeah, I was meaning to talk to you about that. Come talk to me when we're done here," Cole said.
The rest of the New Conduits gave him strange looks to which all he could do was shrug.
"Now before we get started, I have one more surprise," Delsin said.
He turned around back to the entrance.
"Hey, newbie!" he shouted, "C'mon out here!"
Out of nowhere, another figure dropped down in front of them. She was about 5'6", with pale blonde hair, pale red eyes, and well-tanned skin. She was wearing a plain black tank-top and some faded black jeans that looked like they had seen a great deal of wear. A black jacket was tied around her waist, and she waved at them.
"'Sup?" she said.
"Hi!" Ruby said as she waved back enthusiastically.
"Everybody, this is Dorado Arachne," Delsin said, "Dorado, this is everyone."
"Call me Rad," she said, holding out a hand. Ruby shook it gladly, as did everyone else.
"Well then," Cole said, "If that's everything, let's get started! Jaune?"
The blonde boy nodded and walked away with Cole. Delsin stepped forward.
"Alright! Everybody to the Obstacle Course!" Delsin said.
O00000O00000O
"So what is it you wanted to talk about?" Jaune asked.
"Did Delsin tell you how your powers work?" Cole asked.
"You mean the Telekinesis? Pretty much," Jaune replied, "Just moving objects right?"
"Ok, but did he tell you everything?" he asked.
"I'm gonna guess no..."
"Well, do you know what you drain when you need to recharge?" Cole asked.
Jaune was about to answer when he realized he didn't.
"Now that you mention it, no. What?" Jaune asked.
"Let me show you," Cole said.
He took Jaune's hand and placed it on his forehead.
"Try draining," he said.
"Uh, ok... how exactly?" Jaune asked.
"Just take a deep breath," Cole said, "It'll come."
Jaune did as instructed. The second he began to inhale, he felt the power rush in. Then, abruptly, he felt the rush stop.
"Whoa," he gasped, "Was that it?"
He looked back at Cole and saw the man doubled over and wheezing. His breath was ragged and hoarse like he had just run a marathon in ten seconds.
"What happened?!" Jaune asked.
"A demonstration," Cole explained, "What could happen when you drain from a normal person."
Jaune took a step back.
"Wait, so you mean..." He started, "I get power from people?!"
"Sort of," Cole said, "You drain bio-electricity."
Jaune was freaking out. He looked at his hands and started hyperventilating.
"Don't worry," Cole said gently, "That's why I called you over here. See, that's what happens when you drain too much too fast. So I'm going to teach you how to control it so you won't do it by accident. Take a deep breath."
Jaune took a breath. Then another. After the third, he started to calm down.
"You gonna be alright?" Cole asked.
"Yeah," he said, "Yeah, I'm ok."
"Alright then," Cole said, a smirk growing on his face, "Let's get to work."
O00000O00000O
"HAH!" Cinder shouted as she launched another fireball at her latest practice dummy.
The armored straw-man went up in smoke when the ball of black and red flame collided with it, reducing it to ashes in mere moments. The remnants of several other dummies littered the floor of Torchwick's old hideout.
"Another one down," Emerald said, "That makes seventeen today."
"Good," Cinder said, "Mercury, get me another."
The grey-haired boy groaned but stood up to do what he was told. As he did, he saw something that made him stop.
"Hey," he said aloud.
"What is it Mercury," Emerald asked petulantly.
He pointed and both of the ladies followed his finger.
A small Grimm that's body consisted of a single perfect sphere and a series of tentacles approached them. Cinder dropped her hands and powered down.
"Cinder," a voice said from within the orb.
"Mistress," Cinder replied, her usual haughtiness all but gone.
"How is your training coming along?" Salem asked bluntly.
"Very well," Cinder said, "I'll have these skills mastered by the end of the week."
"So we are on track for the next stage of my plan?"
"Yes Mistress, we are."
"Excellent. Do not fail me Cinder. You know what will happen if you do," Salem said.
"Yes Mistress," Cinder repeated.
The light within the Grimm's orb went dead, signaling the end of the connection.
When the Grimm began to retreat, Cinder unleashed another fireball on the wall of the hideout.
"Bring me another!" she shouted.
O00000O00000O
Cinder didn't know it, but Salem saw her outburst.
"Hmm," she said to herself as she sat upon the throne in her palace.
She had seen Cinder's reports on the Ray-Sphere's effectiveness. It truly was exactly as Bertrand had promised. But, after the report that MacGrath had been stolen from her possession, she had become slightly concerned. Cinder's emotional outburst did not help matters.
"Joseph! Augustine!" she called, her voice soft but echoing throughout the palace.
The two of them walked into Salem's throne room and bowed.
"You called, Mi'lady," Bertrand said.
"Both of you make arrangements to travel," Salem said.
"Of course Ma'am," Augustine said, "Where are we heading?"
"Just make the arrangements. I will inform you if you need to go," Salem said.
The two of them nodded and left, just as quickly as they came. Salem slowly glided towards one of the rooms windows.
"I have waited so long for this day to come," she thought, "This plan cannot fail."
CHAPTER END
I'm just gonna admit it, this chapter... probably not my best work. When I get around to finishing this story and doing a page one edit, this one will be largely rewritten. And believe me, I tried very hard to get this done. But between an absolutely hellish workweek, as well as both my cousin and uncle being hospitalized within two days of one another (for appendicitis and kidney cancer respectively, all prayers welcome and appreciated) I lost a great deal of my writing time. As such, this chapter kind of took a hit. If it feels rushed, that's probably why.
On another entirely unrelated note, I have to ask, do you guys find my jokes funny? I mean, I know this fic isn't a comedy, but no one has ever actually made a comment on the jokes I try to sprinkle where I can. Am I just not funny or do you guys ignore them? Please, let me know.
