When Taiyang woke up, it was with a bleary-eyed grogginess that made him yearn for the opportunity to roll back under the covers. But it was with a curious mixture of dread and fear that made him stumble out of bed, heading over to the bathroom.
It would do no good to smell of sweat and grime when Ozpin was probably going to show up at the door any minute, so he got ready for the day. He trusted his teammates to make sure little Yang was looked after – yes, even Qrow, especially after Summer had laid down the law -, and thus took his time.
By the time he came out, he felt like a new man. In some ways, he was, and the thought gave him pause, even as he finished throwing a plain t-shirt over his head. Maybe he had been a bit too hasty in his thoughts. What the hell did he know about being a parent?
But at the same time, he didn't think he could just let go of Yang now. He had been the one to pull her from that pod, and ever since she opened her eyes, he felt a connection. And, if nothing else, it was his duty as a Huntsman to help the innocent. Why the girl had been in that pod, and what it meant, that was something that needed to be addressed.
Hopefully, they'd be able to get some answers from him. If anyone could do it, it'd be him.
Taiyang made his way downstairs, doing his best to tip-toe past the guest rooms, so he wouldn't wake anyone up who was still sleeping.
When he got downstairs, he was closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of bacon sizzling away in a pan. Turning the corner to enter the kitchen, he saw Summer standing at the stove, dressed in a black tank-top and jeans, humming away as she cooked.
Yang was sitting on the kitchen table, a wicker basket he had laying around being used as a makeshift carrier. She was wrapped in blankets, snoozing away peacefully.
"How long have you been up?" He asked, leaning against the wall as he watched her, a bit unused to the sight of his team leader in such a…domestic setting.
Summer turned to glance at him, bringing a hand up to brush her bangs out of her eyes. "Eh, only an hour or two. Raven and Qrow are still sleeping. But I figured you'd be up soon, so…" She shrugged, a smile on her face. "I decided to get cooking."
"Uhhuh." He said, a dubious look on his face. "What batch of bacon are you on?"
Summer froze visibly, before turning to look at him with a stony visage. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Tai."
"Summer, I just went shopping for food yesterday, and I know you. How much of it is already gone?" It was well known on their team that Summer enjoyed meat the way Qrow liked booze. It made other people look at Taiyang funny whenever he brought it up, but he swore up, down, and sideways that Summer Rose could pack it away.
Very carefully, she turned away, eyes looking every which way but at him. "I can neither confirm nor deny that something might have happened to the first pack I used. But hypothetically – "
"Mmm. Hypothetically." He mused, already starting to move towards the fridge to check.
"Hypothetically, I might have been hungry and eaten what I made already. Or you might have just miscounted what you bought at the store." She finished, lifting her chin up with a defiant look on her face.
He opened the fridge, and examined the contents. He raised an eyebrow at her, forcing her to confess. "I might have also made some last night. Hypothetically." She stressed.
"Well, your hypothetical gluttony aside, we're going to need to get more stuff." He said, frowning as he looked once more over the shelves. "What happened to the formula?"
"That's the other thing. She drank it all." She said, her expression turning serious, her eyes flicking over to Yang. Tai's own fell on the sleeping baby, and he looked back to Summer.
"We mixed, what, two days' worth of the stuff?" He said, unable to believe it. "Can a baby even hold that much liquid?"
"Oh, believe me, she wasn't holding it." She informed him with a quirk of her lips. "She was hungry for quite a while, but she finally settled down."
There might have been a reasonable explanation for it. But from what little Tai knew of babies, they could be fussy, but not ravenous. Not enough to consume that much formula at once.
They were both silent for a while, not wanting to give voice to their fears about the kid. Summer tended to the food and finally gave some to Taiyang, who gratefully accepted it. He ate it quietly, preferring to enjoy the peace now.
"Did Ozpin call yet?" He asked, finally breaking the silence, unable to justify it any longer. Not when they probably had a long day ahead of them.
"He did. He'll be here within the hour." Summer replied, a look of determination on her face. "Guess we should wake the others up. You want to do the honors?"
Taiyang shrugged. "Guess I should. At least Qrow won't be too hung over." Marching back upstairs, he turned to knock on the door of Qrow's room, pausing. Tentatively, he turned around to the opposite room, and entered.
Raven was splayed out on the bed, lightly snoring underneath the thin blankets. Taiyang watched her for a short moment, enjoying the look of her at peace, before going up to her. Leaning down gently, he kissed her on the cheek. "Wake up." He murmured lightly, not daring to go further.
Raven gave a half-strangled groan of complaint, eyes fluttering open as she looked at him. "What gave you the balls?" She said, looking at him with an indignant expression tempered with light amusement. Sitting up in bed, she took a deep breath. "Wha' time is it, anyway?"
"It's around ten. Ozpin is gonna be here soon." Taiyang informed her, making her scowl as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.
"Not my favorite prospect." She muttered, sighing as she rose. She thought for a moment, smirking as she turned to Taiyang. "Is Qrow up?"
He had an idea where this was going. Although he loved Qrow like the brother he never had, he also wasn't going to play defense for him. "Nope. I wanted to wake you first." He told her truthfully.
Raven's expression turned truly wicked, and she silently stalked out of the room. Taiyang turned to follow, watching as she quietly opened the door to Qrow's room. He was still dressed in his clothes from the night before, snoring loudly belly down on the bed.
With great relish, Raven leaned down next to Qrow's ear in a mockery of Taiyang's actions only a minute ago. With a deep breath, she screamed "WAKE UP!" right next to his ear.
"AH!" Qrow yelled, rolling off the bed, cursing all the while. Raven calmly walked out, satisfied with her handiwork as Qrow swore eternal vengeance upon her all the while.
"At least I can start the day off on the right foot now." She said, leaving Taiyang to stand there in amusement as she wandered off to get ready.
Mission accomplished, Taiyang made his way back downstairs, knowing that soon enough, Ozpin would arrive, and then they might start to get to the bottom of things.
About a half hour later, the members of Team STRQ were all sitting in the living room, dressed in their usual attire, awaiting Ozpin's imminent arrival.
They had moved Yang's makeshift carrier to the table in the living room, but Yang herself was currently being held by Summer, rocking the sleeping girl back and forth slowly.
"She's so cute, it's infectious." Qrow finally declared as they all watched, enthralled. "Is it her or are all babies like that?"
Even the normally stoic Raven was keeping watch out of the corner of her eye, while idly polishing the same part of her sword for the third time in a row now.
"I think it might be her." Taiyang admitted, knowing he was bias on the subject. "I've seen other kids before. Sure, they're cute, but she just has this…presence." Indeed, it was one of the many strange things about the little one.
"Maybe it's a semblance? Maybe the pod was some kind of…aura-activator?" Raven posited.
"I don't think it is. If it was, why would it have come out of nowhere? Seems like an awful waste, to shoot something that could do that into a crater." Summer said, her gaze focused on the baby.
"Then there's a matter of the pod itself. It survived a drop that would have shattered a bullhead, and the paint was barely scratched." Taiyang pointed out.
Any further musing on the nature of their new guest was put on hold, as finally, they heard the tell-tale sign of a car pulling up to the house.
Summer's smile grew, as she gently put the baby back into her cradle. "Well, at least he's finally he- "
With a crack of splintering wood, Taiyang's front door shattered as Ozpin stormed through, his signature cane held up in a defensive posture. His eyes practically were blazing as he scanned the room with the intensity of someone on the hunt.
Team STRQ watched, incredulously, frozen into inaction at the sign of the normally calm and composed Headmaster reacting with such violence to the situation.
"Ozpin, what the hell is goi- "Taiyang tried to say, only for the white-haired man to hold his cane up threateningly.
Ozpin. Pointing a weapon at Taiyang. Even Summer was rendered speechless.
"Don't say a word." His voice was beyond cold, straight past arctic. It was the chill of the void of space, and it, even more than the weapon, convinced them of Ozpin's seriousness.
Slowly, with excruciating slowness, he circled them all. Beads of sweat trickled down Taiyang's skin as Ozpin went behind him, where he couldn't see him. Raven was biting her lip, all at once furious but too afraid to make a bad situation worse.
Summer clung to Yang like a security blanket, while Qrow, poor Qrow, looked like his heart had been ripped out from his chest. Qrow had always looked up to Ozpin more than the rest of them. To see his mentor treat them like the enemy…that must have hurt, and Tai would have done anything to comfort him right then and there.
At times, Ozpin's eyes would flicker with strange light as he muttered things under his breath to himself. His gaze would scan over each of them in turn, sometimes falling upon the bundled Yang. Summer held all the more tightly onto her at those points, and more than once Taiyang wanted to go for a weapon.
The standoff lasted for only a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity. All at once, Ozpin straightened out. "Each of you. Flare your aura, one at a time. Slowly. Summer, you first." He demanded.
With exactness, they all manifested their respective aura over time, keeping it up until Ozpin was satisfied and ordered the next one to go.
When they were all finished, he visibly slumped with relief as he took a deep, shuddering breath. Taiyang could see the tip of his cane shaking as he lowered it back to the ground.
"You're all okay." It was said with such genuine surprise and emotion that it broke the spell over Team STRQ.
"Ozpin. What's going on?" Summer asked, eyes wide with concern and confusion.
Their friend, their mentor and leader appeared uncertain as to how to reply. He was visibly shifting in discomfort, before he finally ran a hand through his hair as he reached a decision. "Take me to the pod you found, first. Then I'll try to explain." He said, with great reluctance coloring his every word.
At a loss, they all got up and led him outside to Taiyang's shed, where the device still rested. It was inert, just as they left it, the pod open to allow inspection of the interior.
Ozpin repeated much of his same routine as they had with them, examining every angle of the device. Finally, he stepped forward and ran a hand over the surface. At once, sigils and symbols of unknown and unknowable shape began to shine with golden light. Some of them hurt to look at, and they averted their eyes almost immediately.
At once, Ozpin hissed, pulling his hand back, the light fading almost immediately. "That is something entirely beyond me." He muttered. Before they could ask what he meant by that, he turned his attention back to them.
"You all reek of Sorcery, and not the kind that's practiced by cheap charlatans." He began, fiddling with his cane, his timeless face looking as serious as Taiyang had ever seen it.
"As best I can tell, wherever this pod came from? It's entirely beyond your experience, and almost beyond mine. We're very lucky, very lucky indeed that worse did not occur." He continued.
"I thought that you and Salem were the only ones who could still do Magic, besides the Maidens." Raven said, her tone accusing, clearly fed up with Ozpin's erratic behavior and lack of answers.
"I thought we were too." He said, running a hand over his face as he gathered himself. "Listen. There's a lot about magic that I don't tell people. It disappeared from Remnant for quite a while, longer than recorded history, and my source for that bit of information is trust worthy. Whatever that pod is, it did not come from Remnant."
It…wasn't a totally unexpected answer. But to have confirmation from Ozpin really hammered home the gravity of the situation. They had living, breathing proof that they were not alone in the Cosmos.
"May I see the child?" He asked, hooking his cane back on his belt, and holding out his hands. Summer froze, still clearly off-kilter from their impromptu interrogation. She looked to Taiyang for confirmation, who let out a slow breath, and nodded.
Gently, she handed off the swaddled Yang to him, who carefully unwrapped her. Still, his motions finally jolted her from her slumber. She yawned, and even Ozpin's clinical interest softened under the force of that cuteness.
But when he finally had her unwrapped, he frowned. "Erm…could one of you hold her up, just for a second?"
Puzzled by the unusual request, Summer came up and held her up. Ozpin gently picked up one of her arms in his hand and held a finger up to her skin. Yang tried to grab onto his hair with her other free hand, making noises of curiosity the whole while.
Whatever Ozpin found, he didn't like it. His look of discontent deepened, and he repeated the process with her other arm.
"Is…is this a sorcery thing?" Summer asked as she stood there, clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. Not that anyone could blame her. Raven was probably a second away from drawing her sword, damn the consequences.
"I…" Ozpin was clearly trying to come off as though he was being wise, but he finally settled for just speaking. "Did none of you realize she has two heartbeats?"
What.
What.
"Ozpin, that's…that's insane." Taiyang couldn't even believe those words came out of Ozpin's mouth. That was just one too many things that were out of his league. He was a Huntsman, damnit, not some sort of occultist, or whatever it was Ozpin dabbled in.
"Out of all the things that have happened in the past twenty-four hours, a second heartbeat is what's crazy here, Tai?" Qrow said, shaking his head. "Summer, with all due respect, the second we get some down time from this, I'm getting wasted."
She couldn't even find it in her heart to rebuke him. She didn't drink, but if there was any time she felt the urge to get hammered, it was now.
Ozpin took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was maybe thirty-five at most, but he looked ancient to them all in that one moment. "Alright. The baby is going to- "
"Yang." Ozpin paused, looking to Raven, as did the rest of them, startled that she had interrupted. She held her head high and dared him to contradict her. "Her name. Yang Xiao-Long." She enunciated clearly.
The headmaster's lips quirked into something resembling a smile, and he continued. "Yang is going to need to go to Atlas. James Ironwood can help us."
"Jimmy, huh? How's he doing these days? Heard about the arm, nasty business." Qrow said, crossing his arms as he recalled his rival from their school days. They had gone toe to toe in one of the Vytal tournaments, with Qrow barely coming out the victor. But they had some distant respect for each other, and no Huntsman wished injury on another.
"He's doing alright, with the help of some new cybernetics. That's part of why I think Yang should go to Atlas." Ozpin continued, holding out his hands in a gesture of peace. "Ironwood recently was promoted to Colonel. He's in charge of a research base. Very out of the way, with access to some of the best scientists from every field you can imagine."
As much as they all wanted to reject the deeply discomforting idea of giving a child over to the mercy of researchers, deep down they all recognized the reality of the situation. Clearly this was not a normal human being, no matter how healthy and vibrant she seemed.
"One of the doctors there is especially brilliant. He's the one who designed James' cybernetics, and is perhaps the foremost expert on biomechanics on Remnant. If there's any group on the planet who can help decipher Yang's unique traits, and maybe give us more insight on where she came from, it would be them." He finished, leaving them all to stand there in silence.
"She'll be safe?" Taiyang asked, regaining a bit of his balance as he re-entered territory that was familiar to him.
"You have my word. No harm will come to her." He said with sincerity. Taiyang almost accepted it at face value. But…there was a nagging part of him that could almost hear the unspoken part. 'Unless I have no other choice.'
Still, what choice did he have? What if there was something wrong with her, that they could fixed if only they had caught it in time?
"Alright. Do it." He finally agreed, praying he hadn't just made a horrible mistake.
Ozpin nodded, pulling out a bulky looking device from his pocket. "I'll make the arrangements. You might want to get packed."
With that, he made his way out of Taiyang's workshop to place calls, leaving Team STRQ alone. "I hope you know what you're doing." Raven said, glancing at the door. "Sorcery? Atlas research bases? I'm not liking this one bit, Salem was bad enough."
"I'm sure Ozpin had good reasons for…all of that." Qrow tried, sticking up for his mentor. "He has a better grasp on the situation than we do."
"But even you all heard that whatever this is…it's not something he's really dealt with before. That's not exactly a good sign." Summer pointed out, before looking down at the squirming Yang in her arms, who was drooling all over her cloak, before looking back to Tai. "This is worse than that time you tried to give that Corgi an aura."
The reminder made Taiyang snort, chuckling even as it brought smiles to the rest of their faces. "Don't give me any ideas, Summer. After all, it'd probably be the perfect pet for Yang." He said, smirking before looking at them all. "Alright, boys and girls. Guess we got some traveling to do."
A look of realization came across his face after that, and he sighed in resignation. "And a door to repair."
It took about a day for Ironwood to get the arrangements made to take them all to Atlas. A long-range transport aircraft had been dispatched just for them, complete with sleeping quarters. With a bit of effort, they managed to get the heavy pod into the aircraft, along with all their gear and luggage.
The flight was long, and more than once they had to try and soothe Yang when she started to act up from the overstimulation of the noisy interior.
By the time they arrived at a military airfield just inside the borders of Atlas, they were all tired and hungry, even with the amenities provided to them.
Thankfully, at the base, they were able to pick up some infant's clothes for Yang, especially cold-weather things that made the next leg of the trip far more comfortable for her. That allowed them to catch some sleep, even as a regular bullhead flew them all the way out to the northern border of Atlas, where the climate truly started to get frigid.
When they finally arrived at their destination, it was about as far from civilization as you could get. There was an airstrip that ended at the foot of a highly reinforced blast door. Sentry guns swiveled back and forth endlessly in the gray gloom of the tundra, ready to fire on any Grimm or unauthorized intruders.
The doors slid open at their approach, and Team STRQ's bullhead was allowed inside. It was a fairly spacious hangar, with about a dozen bullheads and two larger cargo aircraft lined up neatly. A single soldier stood guard at a pair of smaller rear doors but had four more automated guns mounted on the wall.
As they set down, the hangar bay doors slid closed, shielding them from the elements. Having been awakened during the final stretch of their approach, they walked out of their ship, waiting for their welcome party.
They didn't have to wait long. Within minutes, a cadre of soldiers arrived, with their host at the lead. "I see Ozpin wasn't exaggerating when he told me you four have a habit of getting into trouble." James Ironwood said, a stern expression on his face.
Despite being approximately their age, he was more physically imposing than even Taiyang, and looked several years older. Bulky, dressed in a clean pressed Atlas uniform, it would have been hard to imagine that only a year ago, he had been legally dead for about a minute. It had only been his hardy constitution, and the blessing of improved cybernetic technology that allowed him to regain a mostly normal life.
"Well Jimmy, you know us Vale hunters. Always up for a bit of excitement." Qrow said casually, sizing up his former rival for a moment before giving him a nod. "You're looking good. Glad to see it."
"I appreciate it." The Colonel remarked, expression carefully neutral. Clearing his throat, he gestured to the soldiers. "My men will take the pod away for analysis. As to the…child in your care, I believe I would be better to let you speak with our head of research."
James looked behind him, only to see that, whoever he thought had been there, wasn't. Pursing his lips, he coughed awkwardly. "Just, give him a moment. I'm sure he's been held up."
It took a few minutes, but finally, a figure in a lab coat stumbled down one of the side hallways off the main corridor and walked into the hanger. "Ah, sorry about that. It's bad enough trying to juggle projects on the best of days." The man said, coming to a halt next to Ironwood.
Ironwood was clearly used to these sorts of things, judging from the look on his face. "It's not a problem. Ozpin, Team STRQ, meet Doctor Pewter Polendina, head of Research."
Doctor Polendina was a bit older than Ozpin appeared to be, perhaps in his early forties. He was a fairly short man, with graying red hair kept neatly trimmed to an almost military shortness. A pair of glasses were kept on a small chain around his neck, most likely for reading.
"Well…I have to say, I'm not one for greetings, usually, but welcome to our laboratory. I was quite shocked when the good Colonel here told us that we were to be having an unexpected guest." Peering curiously at the little bundle that Taiyang had chosen to hold this time, he approached him. "Might I see her?"
With a wordless nod, Taiyang held Yang out to Dr. Polendina, who graciously accepted her. Yang was awake now, and peered at the doctor, scrutinizing him with as much seriousness as he was her. When he tilted his head to the side, she mimicked the motion. "Remarkable." He breathed. "Quite unexpected behavior from a child at developmental stage."
As if in agreement, Yang giggled, squealing in delight of having found a new friend. She was making quite a lot of new friends, and although Taiyang worried about tiring her out, Yang was extremely well behaved.
"I can see that Colonel Ironwood was not exaggerating about how special she was." He said indulgently, a smile on his face. "Even considering what I've been told so far, I'm sure we can get to the bottom of it soon enough. I'll run some basic tests, and we'll make sure she's healthy first. Then we'll get to the bottom of her more…peculiar traits. Genetics are a bit of a specialty of mine, although I admit I'm more interested in Aural Mechanics these days."
Considering the baby he held, he hummed for a moment even as he subconsciously bounced her around a bit, to Yang's bubbly joy. "Give me…three days? And I'll have some information to tell you."
"Excellent." Ozpin said smoothly, before anyone else could get a word in. "That will be amenable to everyone here, I'm sure." He looked to everyone, Taiyang most of all, who in turn nodded their consent.
"A few days? Hell, that's even better than I thought." Qrow remarked, smirking at Ironwood. "I might even consider giving you a rematch before we head back to Vale."
Qrow's optimism would turn out to be extremely misguided.
Team STRQ was given their own section of the barracks to live in for the duration of Dr. Polendina's analysis. When they didn't hear anything back after the third day, they assumed that Yang's tests were simply taking a bit more time. After all, even if Yang's health was important, Pewter probably had other obligations he simply couldn't drop.
Then a week passed since their arrival. They still weren't worried, because they all justified it as being natural. Of course, Polendina underestimated the time he would need to run his tests. Yang was quite special, and they might have been also running tests on that pod she came in to help.
If during that first week, Taiyang had been a bit more on edge, well, he just wrote it off as not liking being indoors all the time.
Then the second week passed, and things started to take a turn for the worst. Maybe, they discussed among themselves in hushed whispers, they were simply being as exhaustive as possible. Scientists liked to do that, didn't they? Polendina was probably typing up a 'how-to-raise-your-space-baby' manual, complete with color-coordinated references.
Then they woke up one day and realized they had been there for a month.
By that point, they had run out of things to do. Raven's sword was so sharp, she could probably carve through a man while it was still sheathed. Summer had taken to using the barracks workshop to craft increasingly intricate arrows for her bow at odd hours, some more like works of art than killing tools. When she wasn't working, it was easy to notice the tense strain in her hands.
Taiyang more than once split his knuckles on the punching bags in the gym, working himself through exercise that left him completely exhausted, and unsatisfied. Qrow, oddly enough, was perhaps the most affected of them all by the torturous wait. He had started to drink, taking advantage of Ironwood's own personal stores and the generous provisions Atlas gave its soldiers, but then stopped all at once.
When Taiyang quietly asked him why one morning, Qrow looked at him with dead eyes and told him that it had only made his anxiety in the base worse.
More than once, they attempted to figure out what the hell was going on, but each time they got the brush off. Ozpin had long since left, unable to neglect his duties for extended periods of time. Ironwood at first gave them steady status reports, always telling them 'just a little bit longer', but those trickled off over time. And each time he refused their requests to see Yang, citing the delicate nature of the tests, he looked increasingly haggard and grim.
Early morning, after breakfast, they gathered around as a team on their Atlas-Issue cots and started to talk.
"This can't go on. I'm ready to tear my way through this base and haul Ironwood back to Vale, just so I can shove his head up Ozpin's ass." Raven began, with as fierce and bloodthirsty an expression anyone on the team had seen her with.
Taiyang found himself agreeing with her. Whereas Raven's temper was tempestuous, Qrow's sharp and sudden, Summer's frigid, Taiyang's was both the least and greatest among the team. His was much like a volcano. Usually dormant, with a steady fire burning underneath the surface. Normally harmless to those around him, but when allowed to build, and build, and build…
That was another matter entirely. And he was this close to bursting.
"Summer. I have to agree with them." Qrow finally said, throwing in his lot with the brewing rebellion. "There's something wrong about all of this." With their thoughts aired, Taiyang's own state of utter desolation and building fury saying more than words ever could, they turned to Summer.
Their team leader looked tired. With dark circles under her eyes, she considered each of their words. As perhaps the most level headed among them at any given time, she was a unifying force. She tempered their worst impulses, and played to their strengths, while they gave her their loyal support. It was a symbiotic relationship, and now more than ever, they were being tested.
"We go to Ironwood one last time, with an ultimatum." It was a grave pronouncement, and one that was laced with her own frustration. "If he doesn't give us an explanation, we fight out way out and take Yang with us. I can pilot a bullhead, and Raven can probably teleport Yang to safety." She looked to the swordswoman for confirmation, who gave a confident nod.
They all gathered their weapons. Qrow his variable-scythe, Raven her sword, Taiyang his submachine gun gauntlets, and Summer her bow. They kept them sheathed, but ready to be used at a moment's notice, and marched off towards Ironwood's office.
The soldiers were only keeping them from the laboratory area, claiming that the scientists work was sensitive and classified. But, as authorized guests, they were allowed almost anywhere else in the base. Thus, when they barged inside to find Ironwood blearily reading over a set of documents, they met no resistance.
"Team STRQ." He said, voice edged with exhaustion. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked, looking up from his reading.
"You know why, Ironwood." Summer said evenly. Taiyang didn't trust himself to speak, and the others were too focused on the potential of combat to even bother with their usual banter.
"I do. I'm sorry, but the last few weeks have been as hellish for me as they have been for you. I've given Doctor Polendina every bit of leniency…" Now, he eyed the way their hands were twitching for their weapons. "But I can clearly see you're going to leave me no choice in the matter. Can't say I blame you."
His hand went to the phone on his desk – slowly, they noticed, so as not to antagonize them -, and pressed a button on his desk, before raising the phone up to speak into it. "Send Doctor Polendina to my office, immediately. I- no, I don't care what he's doing. Bring him here, now, o- "He paused, before letting a strangled sound of frustration escape his lips. He held the phone away for a moment. "He'll let you into the lab. Apparently, whatever he's doing needs his personal supervision, just in case."
"We'll take it." Taiyang said immediately, grateful for the out. None of them had truly wanted to resort to violence, even Raven.
Ironwood sighed, nodded his head and gesturing with his hand for them to leave. "Go, do what you need to do. I'm too busy trying to field all the paperwork these tests are generating."
At that signal, they turned around and walked straight back out. The main laboratory where they had secreted Yang away was only a few corridors down, and for once, the soldiers didn't deny them entry. "You're cleared." One said simply, standing to the side while another opened the door.
Whatever they had been expecting, this wasn't it. The lab was wide open, and spacious. Dozens of glass partitions separated work stations, where scientists were hurriedly running back and forth from one station to another, frantically consulting with each other.
Almost none of them even paid the Hunters any mind as they strolled forth into the lab proper, seeing how the various, enclosed chambers continued to stretch onward. Against the far wall, on the right, they could finally see a little crib.
Taiyang didn't really care for anything else after that. He moved past scientists, nearly bowling one over in his single-minded approach. As he got closer, he could see Doctor Polendina hunched over a computer near Yang's crib, watching the screen intently.
With great self-control, Taiyang firmly grasped the other man's shoulder. Not enough to hurt him certainly. But enough to remind him that he was dealing one very capable Hunter. "Doctor." He greeted with a sickeningly sweet tone.
Pewter flinched and turned around to face him, slowly standing up. Taiyang relinquished his grip, deciding to at least give credit to the man for wanting to look him in the eye. He had a lot of explaining to do.
"Mr. Xiao-Long." He said, eyeing the rest of his team over Taiyang's shoulder. "I apologize for not contacting you sooner, but I can explain."
"Then do, Doctor." Summer replied, before glancing over to the crib. "Might we check up on Yang?"
"Yes." Pewter relaxed fractionally when he realized that Team STRQ was not going to immediately wipe the floor with him. He reached over to press a button on his console, allowing the clear door to her crib to slide open.
Almost at once, Summer went to fetch Yang, while Raven stepped forward to stand at Taiyang's side. "Start talking." She said with a surprisingly even tone. "Why haven't you told us anything? You said three days, it's been a month."
Pewter straightened out, clearing his throat before he began to talk. "I completely and utterly underestimated the enormity of what I was dealing with. Her two hearts? To be quite honest, that is the least interesting of her mutations by an order of magnitude."
"Mutations?" Qrow asked, sounding about as worried as Taiyang felt. "The hell are you talking about?"
"Well, mutations might have been the wrong word. Modifications is probably a more accurate term, considering they were clearly induced deliberately in her. They're a part of her, coded down into her very DNA." Polendina turned back to his computer and began pulling up different images. A projector slid down from the ceiling, displaying various medical charts that had little meaning to any of them.
"Normal human DNA has twenty-three pairs of chromosomes. As best we can tell, she has thirty-eight." Before anyone could even process that, he pulled up an x-ray image. "See these structures in her brain?" He pointed with a finger to various little bits of tissue that Taiyang had a hard time deciphering. "Those don't exist in normal humans."
Taiyang almost wanted to interrupt, but the doctor was on a roll, frantically pulling up more images. "Her neurons are far more numerous and more responsive than a normal child's would be at this stage. Her cognitive functions, memory capacity, and reflexes are off the charts. Her metabolism, musculature, skeletal structure all show signs of highly accelerated growth, in addition to other enhancements."
More pictures, this time of blood vessels. "She probably has the strength of a four-year-old now. But that's just the things I can understand. She has organs, glands, chemicals in her body we simply don't have names for."
He went back to the first image, before pulling up a blown-up scan of her brain. He walked over to the projector and pointed to a very small, almost thumb-sized little nodule of tissue situated near the back of her skull. "That. That…gland, that organ? It's directing her aberrant physiology, as best we can tell. But the things it's doing to accomplish that…" He trailed off, seemingly in awe. "It's nothing short of miraculous. We're like primitive apes in comparison to this child."
Polendina turned back to face them all and looked him dead in the eye. "Whoever did this had technology centuries, perhaps millennia ahead of anything I have access to here. I've pulled every researcher in this facility together to try and decipher Yang's biology."
Now that he was looking for it, Taiyang could see the exhaustion in Polendina's every moment. But the doctor pressed on never the less. "She's beyond transhuman. Her very existence has my scientists throwing out several laws of biology and physics."
Pewter ran a hand over his face, trying to keep himself on an even keel as he collected his thoughts. "I don't believe I'm exaggerating when I say that Yang's DNA is the most important discovery in the history of Remnant. Ever. "A thought occurred to him, and he started to chuckle with an edge of hysteria. "And that's ignoring the fact that she came from the stars! The implications…" He shuddered visibly, before managing to collect himself once more.
That was big. Way bigger than anything Taiyang had ever expected, and he really, really did not know how to handle something like that. "I get it, Doctor. But let's reel it back in, get back to basics. Is she healthy?" He tried, hoping to get at least some context.
Polendina paused, then looked at him for a moment like he was the stupidest being on the planet, before a look of comprehension came over him. "I didn't even tell you about that part. Yes, yes, as far as we can tell, she is healthy. Her immune system is several orders of magnitude more advanced than ours. You could probably dunk her in toxic, irradiated waste and she would come out with a headache at best. Not that'd I'd recommend that."
It was extremely disconcerting to consider that particular prospect. But Taiyang managed to put it out of his mind. "Can she leave? Even you have to realize that you can't keep a child in a laboratory all her life, no matter how special she is."
Polendina looked like the very thought of Yang leaving physically pained him. "Mr. Xiao-Long, I understand where you're coming from…but the good she can do here for the human and faunus races is simply incalculable. I'm not talking about mere scientific curiosity."
He leaned forward, excitement coloring his every word. "Her genome could be the key to eradicating disease, hunger, and based on the results of our latest tests, even aging. I understand you've grown attached to her, but please, please, consider the facts!"
Gods, but the hope in the man's eyes made Taiyang feel bad for ever thinking that he would have done Yang harm. Yet, as much as he understood, he had already made a promise to himself to advocate for her, as any parent would. "She's just a child, Doctor Polendina. Surely you can make do with the information you've collected over the past month?"
Pewter looked like he wanted to argue, and vehemently at that. But he managed to swallow his pride and sighed, slowly nodding. "I could. But at least bring her here for regular checkups, and at the first sign of anything especially strange with her. Regular blood samples will be key to trying to understand her growth."
It was a compromise, and a hard one. Taiyang did not look forward to bringing her here to this cold, sterile place. But who else could he possibly turn to with questions about Yang? It wasn't like he could just walk into any hospital and bring her there. And the less people who knew about her origins, the better. "Will do, Doctor. And please, try and remember to keep us up to date with any discoveries you do make." Taiyang said, giving him a pointed look.
The doctor at least had the decency to look remorseful. "I've been working almost twenty hours a day trying to piece this all together, and so has my team. I would have told you sooner, but there's just been so much data to sift through, and – "
Taiyang cut him off, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder. "It's alright, Doc. No harm done." He said with the first genuine smile he had in a few weeks. "Can we take her home now?"
Pewter considered it and shrugged. "As much as I want to think of a further reason to keep her here, I can't. I have all the information I truly need."
"Alright then. I'm sure that Ironwood will relay that information to Ozpin, so if you don't mind…" And here, Taiyang finally turned around to see Raven now holding Yang, who was blissfully sleeping. "I think I'll take my daughter home."
It took another day of travel to get back to Patch. When they touched down, Taiyang had started putting his things away just in time for Summer to regretfully inform him that she really had to get back to her own apartment in Vale. Qrow too had to leave sooner rather than later, on yet another job for Ozpin, who hadn't even mentioned what he thought of the developments at the laboratory.
That just left Taiyang and Raven. Alone.
It wasn't bad at first. They had slept, eaten, picked things up for Yang, realized that all of Taiyang's food had spoiled and had to clean out everything he had, and then to buy all new things. That wasn't even also touching the little things about raising a child that they had to pick up along the way.
But after a few days, they had run out of things to distract themselves with. And now were now finally forced to confront the elephant in the room.
"I know we're…close." Taiyang began, butterflies in his stomach as he considered how this conversation would go. "But, ah…" He gestured to Yang's new crib, where she was watching a small Grimm and Huntsman mobile spin above her with wide eyes. "I know this wasn't exactly what we had in mind." He finished. "So, if you want to leave, I understa-"
Raven cut him off with a kiss. "I'll stay. We'll make it work." She said simply, with the kind of confidence that had made him fall in love with her in the first place.
"Alright." Taiyang agreed, with a dazed, dopey smile on his face once she pulled away. "We'll make it work."
He was sure they would. Yang might have been…well, special didn't even begin to describe it, but she was still a child.
How bad could it be?
AN: This is the longest chapter I have ever written for a fanfic. Ever.
I…honestly don't know how I did this in approximately one and a quarter days. So that's a thing.
On another note, I'm quite pleased at the so-far positive response from people who have read the first chapter. It is good to see so many devout servants of the God-Emperor who have accepted the premise. Just as Planned, foolish Corpse-Worshippers.
I do have a request, though: Anyone who feels as though they might be interested in helping to be a sounding board for ideas is quite welcome to message me. It would be of immense help to have someone who is fairly vested in the extended universe of 40k to see if my alterations pass the 'smell test', as it were.
