Reviews:
Itharax: I sort of like the idea of having a single Vita Chamber. Heck it could be an entire plot point. Maybe someone dies and she has to debate whether or not to save them and reveal the existence of the Vita Chamber or not, then she convince people she can still save them, and then has to bring the body back to a very specific location like her basement or something, then there's a whole big fuss about her keeping something that can revive the dead a secret. I'll think about it. Might not actually end up implementing it, but I do like the idea. And yes Eleanor will meet Ruby fairly soon. Next chapter or two at most.
Kamiro G.S: Whaaaat?! But putting the crossover character into team RWBY is practically tradition at this point! Joking aside though, there was an idea from a Worm crossover that I sort of liked where the character was basically a liaison between all of the teams making her a member of every first year team. I might do something similar to that. I am open to other suggestions though, should anyone have any.
merendinoemiliano: I am certainly open to hearing out any ideas you or anyone else may have. I might or might not actually end up implementing the ideas depending on what I think is best for the story, so please don't feel offended if I don't end up accepting your idea in the end as it's nothing against you or anyone else. That said, I will most certainly hear you out at the very least!
Amber left almost immediately after having dinner in the cafeteria and saying goodbye to Eleanor's sisters. After that, Glynda led Eleanor and her sisters to the dorm rooms where they would be allowed to stay until Ozpin got everything situated for them.
After putting her little sisters to bed, Eleanor went into an empty dorm and started removing her weapons and diving suit, leaving her in the white dress she had worn in Rapture before her father had saved her. Laying down on one of the beds, she closed her eyes and used her telekinesis to switch off the lights. However, try as she might, she just couldn't sleep.
After about an hour of trying and failing to sleep she finally just sighed and opened her eyes. She could actually see moderately well in the dark of the room. She had far better night vision than any human, after all. Still with a weak flick of her telekinesis she turned the lights back on and sat up. She had too many thoughts going through her mind to be able to sleep.
Escaping Rapture, killing her mother, other worlds, magic, Gods, Grimm, Huntsmen and Huntresses, starting her own company, becoming a huntress herself, her plans to start a social revolution… It was all a lot for a single day. Far too much, in fact. And she still hadn't had the time to process it all.
Getting up she grabbed the Scroll Ozpin had given her and left her room She decided that if she couldn't sleep, she might as well spend the time studying instead. So she used the school map that was downloaded into the scroll and started walking to the library, which was in a separate building from the dorms.
As soon as she went outside, however, her eyes were immediately drawn towards the shattered moon in the sky.
"What…?" She muttered in shock. Several of the more vocal minds in her head also expressed their shock at seeing the moon destroyed.
She couldn't imagine what it would take to do such a thing. If it had been another celestial body that crashed into it, it would have broken very differently and the devastation to Remnant could have been immense as shards of the broken moon fell and bombarded the surface. The same could be said about any man made weapon. Besides which, gravity should have made it too unstable to maintain that form and should have forced it to collapse in on itself and formed another smaller spherical structure, or at least a more stable more asteroid shaped structure. Speaking of gravity, there were also the chunks of the moon that were just floating there beside it. Even if the structurally compromised moon didn't collapse in on itself due to gravity, that absolutely should not have been physically possible. They should have either been pulled together by gravity or have been flung off into space. The entire thing was just… outrageous to put it simply.
She stared up at the moon in pure shock for a solid several minutes before shaking her head. "Maybe that's a product of the 'magic' Ozpin mentioned earlier. I can not see any other way it could possibly stay like that…"
She then proceeded to continue searching for the library. Eventually finding it, she selected a book before sitting down at a desk and reading. For tonight she only chose a history book since she wanted to learn as much about Remnant as possible and she determined learning its history was the best way to do so. She was quickly surprised to learn of a race known as the Faunus which were apparently the same as humans except they each had one specific animal feature be that a second set of fangs, claws, ears, tails, horns, gills, wings, or fins. Apparently these features lead to them being persecuted and treated as lesser by humans throughout the years, which only recently started getting better. She felt bad for them and decided that advocating for equality was on her list of things to accomplish in her social revolution.
However, more immediately she was far more interested in their biology than anything else. So she fully planned on studying it in more detail at her soonest convenience.
She continued reading and learned of something called 'dust'. A crystalline substance that came in different colors and produced a wide variety of effects from producing fire, to freezing things, to generating electricity, and even to obscure effects such as warping gravity. This made her immediately put the history book down and go find a couple books on dust and the science behind its usage. She already had ideas swirling in her head about how it could potentially be utilized.
Robots like the robotic little sisters some of Rapture's scientists built under Andrew Ryan's orders. However, instead of being modeled after Little Sisters, they would be modeled after Big Sisters and Big Daddies. Even better, they could potentially utilize dust to mimic the effects of certain plasmids. She could build a veritable army of pseudo-splicer killer robots to scour the earth destroying any and every Grimm until there were none left. Or at the very least she could make a few that could be posted around villages that can't afford to hire huntsmen and huntresses in order to protect them from the Grimm.
And if she could figure out how to create a true artificial intelligence, she could make them that much more lethal by giving them higher thought processes allowing them to adapt and improvise in combat rather than following preprogrammed combat algorithms. Though that made her think. If she could create a true artificial intelligence, would that artificial being then have a soul? And if it had a soul, could it then have its own aura? Could she make a race of artificially intelligent people with souls?
She had no idea. She needed to run experiments to find out. However for those experiments she was going to need to create an actual artificial intelligence first for a baseline/prototype, which would be a feat in and of itself. Perhaps a quantum computer with a program to mimic the activity of a human brain would be a good place to start? Maybe cloning human brains and putting them in robotic bodies would be easier… but would that be ethical?
Finding a stack of blank papers and a pen she started writing notes, jotting down equations, and drawing up schematics and blueprints as she read more about Dust. At some point she got up and collected more books. Books on electronics, engineering, mechanics, robotics, metallurgy, computers, programming, quantum physics, dust based technology, and more. Including books on law and ethics to make sure her ideas were both legal and ethical since her father had no idea about the ethics of some of the things she was thinking of and Rapture's scientists couldn't care less about morals or ethics.
Eleanor completely lost track of time as she read, wrote, adjusted her designs based on what she learned as she read, and started making her own equations and writing down her own theories based on what she learned. In fact she was so lost in her work that she didn't even notice when someone entered the library and started approaching her.
It was morning and Professor Ozpin had come in looking for Eleanor after her little sisters said they couldn't find her. After tracking her down through Beacon Academy's camera system, he went to go speak to her.
However, as he arrived he was a bit surprised by what he found. Well, he had seen what was happening on the cameras but it was very different seeing it in person versus seeing it through the cameras. Books were set in neat piles with the spines facing her so she could read the titles while other books were being held open in the air via telekinesis. Dozens of papers were scattered across the table and some had even fallen to the floor. Eleanor was mumbling under her breath as she rapidly alternated from reading one floating book, to reading another, to scribbling on a paper that was in front of her, to reading yet another floating book, to writing on another piece of paper.
"Ehem…" Ozpin cleared his throat.
Eleanor did not seem to notice in the least.
"Ehem!" Ozpin cleared his throat a bit louder.
Eleanor still didn't react.
Curious as to what had the girl so enthralled, he picked up a couple of the papers that had fallen to the ground and examined them. One was a page full of numbers and symbols that he couldn't even begin to make sense of and the other appeared to be schematics for some sort of… dust weapon?
Setting the papers back down on the table, he looked at some of the books floating around Eleanor's head. They were each advanced books on various different subjects. That didn't answer his question as to what had Eleanor so intensely focused, however. It seemed that he was just going to have to ask her.
Raising his cane, he laid it down on top of the paper Eleanor had been writing on, causing her to jolt a bit as if he had startled her.
Turning her head from the schematic she had been drawing, Eleanor saw Ozpin standing next to her. "Professor! I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in. It's the middle of the night, shouldn't you be asleep right now?"
Ozpin raised an eyebrow at that. "The middle of the night, hm? It's ten in the morning, Eleanor. I came to check on you since your sisters were worried after they didn't find you in your room this morning."
"What?" Eleanor asked, surprised by this. Picking up her Scroll she checked the time and saw that it was indeed 10:14 AM. "Oh… I… I suppose I just lost track of time last night."
"Clearly. So, may I ask what you were so focused on? I looked at a couple of the papers but I can't quite make heads or tails of them." Ozpin asked.
"Well, I had a lot on my mind last night, so I couldn't quite sleep. So I decided that since I was awake anyway, I may as well spend that time learning more about this world. So I started reading a history book. Then it mentioned Dust and its effects, which gave me ideas. You see, in Rapture, Andrew Ryan attempted to create a robotic alternative to Little Sisters to gather ADAM. So I thought, instead of Little Sisters, what about Big Sisters and Big Daddies to hunt the Grimm and use dust to simulate the effects of certain Plasmids."
Eleanor set the books she was holding with telekinesis down and continued. "So I grabbed books on dust and its usage and started reading them, and taking notes and drawing up schematics. Then my ideas kept expanding. Instead of just robots, what about full on artificial intelligences? Then I thought, if artificial intelligence is possible, would it have a soul and if it had a soul would it be able to generate an aura? So I got more books and started doing even more research…"
Ozpin raised an eyebrow at that.
"I drew up several rough schematics for robots that utilize dust like splicers utilize plasmids and developed several theories and hypotheses on dust usage and robotics based on what I learned from what I read. I also have ideas on gauntlets that would allow the wearer to use dust in a manner roughly similar to plasmids, though not quite the same and in a more crude fashion. There's a lot more but…" She looked around at the mess of papers and books. "It would take a long time to explain. I even have the blueprints for a non-artificially intelligent prototype based on the Lancer class Big Daddy with dust based plasmid substitutes fully drawn out, as well as the design for the Ion Laser it would be armed with. I was just working on trying to streamline and tweak the design to improve it further and hopefully improve the theoretical dust efficiency."
"I see… Eleanor, may I take some of these papers and present them to a few of my colleagues?" Ozpin asked.
"It depends on which papers and why. I intend my designs to be future products for my own company. So I refuse to show them to anyone before getting them patented. I will not have my work stolen from me before my company is even established." Eleanor mentally cringed a bit, knowing how disappointed her mother would have been after hearing her say that. However Frank Fontaine was insisting that getting her ideas patented was simply the smartest decision. Strangely enough, her father actually agreed with him.
Ozpin nodded. "That is fair, I suppose. Are there any you would be willing to let me show them? If I may, I might be able to procure some powerful investors for your company."
"Hm… I might have a few papers. And I suppose I may be able to tweak or obfuscate some of the designs just enough so they get the idea across but couldn't function if someone attempted to replicate them similar to what a famous inventor from Earth by the name of Nikola Tesla used to do. Give me a day, I'll look through the papers, find some I'm willing to share and perhaps tweak a few I'm not willing to share in their current states."
Ozpin nodded. "As you wish. However, I believe you should gather your papers and go speak to your sisters. As I said, they were quite worried when they couldn't find you this morning. Also, I'm sure you're aware of this but you and your sisters currently only have a single set of clothes each and other than your diving suit it would appear that none of you have shoes. So Glynda has agreed to help you get the clothes and shoe sizes of your sisters so we can order some basic clothes for all of you. Only help I might add she made it very clear she won't be doing it all herself."
"I see. Thank you. Let me just gather the papers and I'll be there in a moment. I'll be returning to the library to continue studying later so the books don't need to be put away just yet. Though I will put them away as soon as I am finished with them." Eleanor said as she got up and started collecting her papers.
"Of course. Your sisters should be in the cafeteria having breakfast at the moment. Oh, and don't think I have forgotten our agreement. I can tell you my own story whenever you are ready to hear it."
"Hm… Sometime after lunch may be alright. I'll try to finish looking through and tweaking the papers before then. Though we'll see."
"After lunch it is then…" Ozpin said before turning and walking away.
The rest of the day passed by relatively uneventfully. Eleanor ate breakfast with her sisters, measured them with the help of Glynda and was subsequently measured by Glynda for clothing and shoe sizes. This took about an hour. She spent the next hour sorting which papers were safe to share, which papers weren't, and which ones she could tweak or make new copies of with certain key details either redacted or obfuscated to make them safe to share. With the final remaining hour before lunch, which was going to be at 1:00 PM, she tried her best to make the necessary edits in the time she had. She successfully managed to make a copy of two schematics with obfuscated details. However that was all she had time for.
She headed up to Ozpin's office with the papers she had prepared in hand. Entering inside, she said, "I wasn't able to finish everything I had in mind considering the short time frame. However I think these papers will be sufficient. Included in them are several equations, theories, and hypotheses I created myself based on what I learned while reading and a couple schematics for devices I plan to create and sell." Walking up to his desk, she set the papers down on it.
He took the papers and quickly skimmed through them before nodding and setting them off to the side. "Thank you. Please take a seat. I already have some coffee prepared should you want a cup."
"Yes please. Black, like before." Eleanor requested.
Ozpin nodded as he got up and poured her a mug of coffee. After handing it to her, he sat back down and took a sip from his own mug. "So… My story… Before I tell it to you, I have to ask. How good are you at keeping secrets?"
"I've never had to before. When I was a child I was kidnapped and turned into a Little Sister and after that I spent years isolated and sedated by my mother. However, it is as simple as not divulging information which is easily done. For example, I have no intention of putting Amber in harm's way by divulging the existence of the Maidens to anyone. That is a secret I fully plan on taking with me either to the grave or into eternity, whichever comes first. Why?" Eleanor inquired.
"Because what I'm about to tell you is only known to a handful of people whom I trust the most. I would honestly rather not let you know any of this considering the fact you are a stranger to me. Under normal circumstances I may have brought you into the fold after observing you for a few years. However, you've already seen too much and know too much. Even worse, with that ability to tear open portals to other worlds or timelines, you could easily doom the planet. Not necessarily out of malice but ignorance. You very nearly doomed us all once already purely by accident…" Ozpin explained.
Sighing he shook his head and continued. "So that leaves me with two options. The first and simplest would be to just kill you, removing you from the board entirely. That's the option several of my colleagues would prefer."
Eleanor fixed him with a glare.
He held up a hand. "Before you say anything, just calm down and listen. I wasn't finished. Considering your abilities, I think we both know just how stupid of an idea that would be. By trying to kill you I could very well be causing the end of the world by forcing you into the arms of our enemy, or by causing you to open a portal to a world like the one we saw yesterday and allowing the brother gods to come through and destroy the world. I have no intention of making an enemy of you, Eleanor. And after I let them know the dangers of crossing you, I managed to convince my colleagues who want you dead of just how bad of an idea that would be. So that just leaves the second option which I am absolutely terrified might be just as dangerous… Trusting you."
Eleanor relaxed but raised an eyebrow at that. "Elaborate. How is that just as dangerous?"
"As I said, we've only just met. I know your history but I know very little about you as a person. I don't know if I can actually trust you. I have no idea what you will do once you know the truth. This is some of if not the most dangerous information in the world. So what you do with it could either be hugely beneficial to humanity or absolutely apocalyptic. As such, telling you is a massive gamble on my part. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it's the only real option I have. I just have to pray that you truly want what's best for mankind."
"Professor, I may not share the exact ideals of my mother. However I do very much consider myself the first Utopian and wish to create Utopia if such a thing is even possible. So if there is anyone in the world who truly wants what's best for Humanity, it's me. If the information is this dangerous, I can understand why you would not want to take my word for it. However, I do hope it puts you at least somewhat at ease and you will eventually come to see that I am being genuine." Eleanor told him.
"It doesn't really, though I appreciate the attempt…" He then sighed and took another sip of coffee. "I suppose I should stop stalling and just get on with it… Where to begin?"
"How about at the beginning?" Eleanor suggested.
Ozpin chuckled a bit. "I suppose that works." He then proceeded to explain to her the origins of the world before moving on to his own origins and his history with a woman named 'Salem'.
The explanation continued for maybe half an hour.
When it was over, Eleanor crossed her arms and took a deep breath. "So, let me get this straight… A millennia old witch who controls the Grimm is trying to destroy the world by keeping humanity divided so that when she gets these artifacts by stealing the power of the Maidens, the gods will destroy everyone including her?"
Ozpin nodded. "That's the gist of it, yes."
"Well, I have a simple solution to all of this. She can not travel to other realities like I can, correct? Well, why not throw those artifacts into four separate portals to four separate universes so she could never get them? Problem solved. She can never get the artifacts and can thus never summon the gods and can never destroy humanity. An eternal status quo with no chance of her ever winning." Eleanor suggested.
"No." Ozpin shook his head.
"Why not?"
"Two reasons. First, you could open a portal to another world that's been destroyed or is in the process of being destroyed and the next time the gods might just decide to force the portal to stay open so they can come through instead of letting you close it. And yes, the God of Darkness absolutely let you close the portal yesterday. At that point we would be doomed anyways. Second, if we get rid of the artifacts entirely we can't summon the gods back assuming we actually achieve true unity either." Ozpin explained.
"And why would that matter? Humanity has survived just fine without them and it can continue to do so even if they never return. Well, whatever… I propose a deal then. If it ever seems like Salem is going to collect all of the artifacts, you give the last one to me and I shall dispose of it. Forever. That or I shall send the final maiden to another world forever so her power can never be used to acquire the final artifact by anyone. At that point the world would be on the verge of apocalypse anyway so the danger of the end would be present regardless. A final act of desperation to stop the end of the world, if you will."
Ozpin sighed. "I hope it never comes to that, but fine… If things get that bad, I suppose we'll cross that bridge when and if we ever get to it. For now, however, we continue on as we have been. You build up your company, build your platform, and try to unite the world. If you can succeed despite Salem's interference we can summon the gods ourselves, at which point she loses. If you can't, then we just maintain the status quo."
"Fine… Anyway, who do you plan on showing my papers to if you don't mind me asking?" Eleanor inquired.
"Some friends in the Atlesian military. They have quite the interest in robotics and advanced weaponry to fight the Grimm. So I'm hoping that by showing them your plans they'll be willing to invest in your company. It would help immensely as the money I can move around to provide your company is limited so the Atlesian military investing in it too would significantly increase the amount of money you would be able to start your company with beyond what I would be able to procure for you on my own." Ozpin stated.
"I see. I am more than willing to speak with them myself if necessary."
"Good, because you will more than likely have to. For now, however, there are some tests we would like to run on you and your aura. Nothing invasive or dangerous, I assure you. I'm mainly curious as to how strong your aura is considering the number of 'souls' you have absorbed and how it might interact with your plasmids. I'm also curious as to what your semblance may be, but we'll have to wait until you discover that naturally." Ozpin told her.
"Oh, right. I remember you mentioning these experiments yesterday. So we're doing that now?" Eleanor asked.
"If you are willing." Ozpin nodded.
Eleanor stood up. "Very well. Lead the way."
Ozpin stood up and led Eleanor out of the room.
The tests involved shooting Eleanor with a small caliber gun multiple times while she used her scroll to monitor the strength of her aura. They then did math based on how much it went down to determine how strong it was. Apparently her aura was somewhere between one and two dozen times stronger than the aura of a normal person at most. A far cry from the hundreds if not thousands of souls she should have theoretically had.
After some speculation and searching through the memories of the people she had absorbed, Eleanor came up with a theory. She only had the souls of those who were still alive when they had their ADAM harvested and died in the process. So individuals like her father and Frank Fontaine. That was a quite rare way to die even in Rapture, though not entirely unheard of, so only a handful of people she had absorbed died like that. The rest of the 'voices' she heard were just the imprints the souls left on the ADAM rather than being the actual souls themselves. The reactions of the souls and imprints she had absorbed varied quite a bit. However, her father was happy that he was with her and that's all that mattered to her.
They also determined that she could infuse her Plasmids with her aura to increase their effects similar to how aura could be extended to weapons or armor to increase their damage or defensive capabilities.
Otherwise her aura proved to be no different than anyone else's.
She spent most of the rest of the day watching her sisters after having retrieved a couple books from the library to continue her studying until night came. This time she was tired enough that she actually managed to get some actual sleep.
Note: This chapter is shorter than I would like and it feels weaker than I would have liked. As if it was just an extension of the last chapter rather than a chapter in its own right. Unfortunately, I feel like it was a necessary chapter so I'm not entirely sure what I could have changed.
Any ideas on what Eleanor's semblance should be? I'm sort of at a loss considering how many powers she has already.
