This took three days. I need to pick up the pace!
Anyway, this is inspired by the Doom Patrol show, with my own spin on things.
"I think I threw up everything but my stomach acid..." Groaned Yang. She rejoined her family on the couch, still shaken as much as Ruby was at what they had witnessed.
Pouring fire into a human wall
Ruby clung to Penny, who had managed to calm her down enough. Now only small hiccups escaped from her lips, and even those were fading.
Blake was doing her best to comfort Weiss, who was still recovering. The Faunus rubbed her back slowly, easing her as best as she could.
"It wasn't you, Weiss. It's okay..." Blake assured her. Weiss sniffed and calmed enough to sit up straight as a cup of water materialized in her hands. She sipped slowly, breathing steadily.
"Thank you, Blake..."
Ozpin and Goodwitch whispered to each other, changing subjects to distract themselves; Qrow drank away while chatting with Summer and Taiyang, who we're pretty blank faced after a while. Raven thought over what she had seen, admiring the boy's older version and his skill in combat. Maybe, with the right persuasion...
Velvet, Coco, Neptune and Sun conversed with NPR, who were still pretty shaken up.
"I just don't see him doing any of that, no matter what!" Nora cried. "He's not a monster..."
"We know. He's too nice to so anything like that." Neptune said confidently. Sun nodded.
"Met him, and honestly couldn't tell the one on the screen was him. Not at first glance." He said. Velvet and Coco nodded in agreement.
"Still, it makes you wonder, doesn't it?" They all looked at Velvet in confusion. "Imagine if all of us, any of us really, died in front of him? Even if he isn't near as heartless as the one we saw, imagine what it would do to him?"
Pyrrha shuddered and blocked the idea out. "I'd rather not. He's protective now, we don't need him to be like... that.." Everyone nodded in agreement. Suddenly Ironwood and Winter dropped into the middle of the room, and the Author appeared with them.
"Oh man, that was satisfying."
James stood and looked around. "Where are we!?"
"I already told you." Winter stood, going to grab her weapon but grabbed air. "Yeah, we're not having that."
"Winter!?" The older Schnee spun around and saw her sister.
"Weiss!" They rushed to meet each. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, we're fine. What are you doing here?"
"You already know! It's not a mystery!" The Author groaned. "But let's recap! I am a diety, and I brought you, and keep bringing you all to watch alternate universes about Jaune Arc!
"Now sit down you overrated military, stuck up, fun destroying jackasses!" Everyone stared at the Author, who panted heavily as he glared at them. Ruby raised her hand slowly.
"Are you okay?"
"I hate these two allot. That's why I brought them here." He took a deep breath. "I earnestly hate the military in any form. More specifically I hate the cabals that form behind the scenes, that think they can do whatever they want to anyone. And yet they're not persecuted! I should know!"
Ironwood swallowed hard, as did Ozpin.
"So I brought these two here to show them just how fucking stupid they are if they think they can keep doing this. Enjoy!" As the Author dissapeared, and both Atlesians took their seats, the screen turned on once more.
Jaune sat on his knees, shackled and with a sack over his head. His transportation shook ever so slightly as they took him to his final destination. He only wished he knew where that was.
It had all gotten so bad so quickly; Cardin wasn't the only one who knew about Jaune Arc's transcripts. Someone else, someone he'd never even met before had decided to be the whistleblower. From there, public outcry, inner turmoil, and a first class ticket to prison.
"Cardin didn't rat him out? That's... new..." Pyrrha said, and suddenly realized what situation her leader was in.
"W-wait, then who...?"
That was until Ozpin intervened: Quickly acting to "save" him, the old man had convinced Atlas' most celebrated general to take him in for some... special treatment.
Velvet frowned, thinking over what they had heard Jaune say.
"Wait, what did Jaune say Ozpin did?" Coco shrugged.
"Saved him from prison?" The rabbit Faunus shook her head slowly.
"Did you hear the way he said it?" Worry bubbled in her stomach. "It sounded like..."
"Like he was sold out." Blake stated and turned to look at Ozpin and Ironwood suspiciously.
The engine shut down. He was dragged out of the transport, and into a hiden Atlesian research facility.
From his blinded point of view, he was dragged into some very big, and overly bright, chamber of sorts. The cuffs were removed and he was forced into some restricting full-body clothing, before being sat down on a cold metal chair. They restrained him again and pulled off the sack. He flinched and shut his eyes tightly with a hiss.
Oh! Jaune Arc, that's me. Well it WAS me; a third rate human being. A nameless face in the crowd.
A real... Nobody
Ruby frowned, tears already forming in her eyes; "You are somebody, Jaune..."
To be honest, if I knew about just what those crazy geezers had in store for me, I would've gladly payed them a kings ransom and more!
Outside of the chamber, in front of a large console stood General Ironwood, Winter Schnee, And Ozpin. All three had a blank, stony look on their faces, but there was a glint of eagerness in Ironwood's eyes. It was unsettling.
Fun Fact: I was their very first subject. They hadn't bothered to test the waters out before hand, so I was their lab rat. I wasn't entirely surprised though; sadism is a part of nature after all, and Atlas, with its high and mighty sense of self, was still nothing if not a part of nature.
"Motherfucker." Sun nearly growled out. Neptune grabbed him by the shoulder, calming him a bit. That did nothing to calm anyone else down however, as all of Jaune's friends glared at the General.
Ozpin gripped his cane tightly. How could this version of himself be that foolish? He's made mistakes before, but this was honestly absurd.
An old man in a wheel chair made his was into the room, and in front of the console. There was a nervous look on his face, and his eyes darted back and forth between the chamber, console, and the three people standing behind him.
"Father?" Penny asked, surprised to see the man who made her be appart of this.
"He's your dad?" Asked Ruby. Penny nodded happily, though she quickly went back to a state of confusion.
"He is. He's one of Atlas' finest minds, which I suppose answers a little of why he's there..." The synthetic girl bit her lip nervously, feeling a stirring where her gut would be.
Swallowing hard, he leaned into a microphone and spoke; "Mr. Arc. Can you hear me?"
Jaune, jolted and looked around a bit.
"Y-yes..." His voice echoed, layered with a synthetic squeaky voice. "Oh.."
The old man looked at Ironwood pleadingly. He was frightened, but the general gave him a cold look, and nodded. Swallowing again, he leaned into the microphone once more: "The procedure will begin shortly."
He sighed, resigning himself to his task. There was nothing he could do for the boy now, but at least he could give some sort of comfort; "Remember this, Mr. Arc: The mind is the limit. Say it."
"The mind... is... the limit..." His voice echoed back.
"Again." The old man pressed a few buttons and began to slowly pull down a lever.
"The mind is the limit." Jaune repeated. The chamber lights began glowing brighter and brighter by the second.
"Again." The lever was halfway down.
"The mind is the limit!" He repeated, and continued to repeat it like a mantra. The old man watched as the lights grew blinding within the chamber. The lever was three quarters of the way down.
"The mind is the limit! The mind is the limit! The mind is the limit!"
The light began to engulf everything. Soon the entire scene was covered in light, and Jaune's mantra echoed loudly before slowly fading away.
"The mind is the limit! ...Groovy!" He tittered nervously.
Everyone stared, shocked and disturbed. Coco held a hand over her mouth, feeling ill despite nothing graphic being shown. The idea itself, what might have happened, was enough to get her started. Velvet, sensing her partners discomfort, wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.
"It's okay. He's probably fine... I think..." She said nervously.
"N-not helping bun-bun..."
Winter was shocked. She could tell herself she knew who and what she was all she wanted, but in reality she wasn't sure what she was capable of. Seeing herself on screen being so passive about her superior greenlighting, and going through with a human experiment made her feel truly disturbed.
Ironwood grit his teeth. Just what had happened in there? What in Oum's name did he do?
Penny had covered her mouth in horror. She had a sneaking suspicion, based on her own internal research, that what had been done, would either spell success, or a downright disaster. Of course, deep down she knew what had happened on screen could only go south.
Beacon's staff was joined by Ironwood and his preferred specialist, and a tired looking Qrow Branwen.
Ah, Beacon! The, ahem, beacon of hope in all of Vale. Staffed by only the finest, and run by a complete, and utter dunce for a headmaster.
Ozpin scoffed and looked at the screen like he had been slapped. Raven raised a brow with a grin.
'He's not wrong.' She thought
Oh don't be so shocked! Not everyone is perfect. Or good at much. Raven should know, ask her.
She frowned and Qrow chuckled. Ozpin and Goodwitch couldn't help it, but stops the smiles that were growing on their faces.
"He's not wrong!" He paused and looked at the screen again. "He can see and hear us again..."
"How many of them can do that?" Summer shuddered. "It's creepy when they just do that."
Team RWBY stood in his office, all four girls looking either downright guilty or nervous. The night before they had taken down Roman's stolen Atlesian paladin, but not without consequence; the local chapter of the White Fang had scattered and gone underground, Roman had dissapeared, there was considerable ammount of collateral damage, numerous civilians had wound up in medically induced comas, and all they had to show for it was a demolished paladin. And of course, they weren't sanctioned to act.
Ozpin looked at each of them, dissapointed. "I understand your concern. We all do. But there is a reason why we don't act quickly."
Qrow nodded in agreement and looked at his nieces.
"Ruby, Yang, you two could've been killed with the way you acted. I might be a reckless drunk, but even I know when someone goes to far without thinking." He quickly glanced at Ironwood and back to them.
"Not to mention you broke Jimmy's toy, so there's that..." That managed to bring a slight smile to Ruby's lips.
"Paladins are not toys, Qrow!" James deadpanned at the hunter. He shrugged and took a sip from his flask.
"Keep telling yourself that, Morningwood." James grit his teeth and glared at the man, but quickly turned his attention back to the screen.
James glared at him, annoyed. Winter simply looked at her sister in disapproval, causing her to look down in shame. Yang glared at the older Schnee, not even flinching when a glare was sent back at her.
"With all due respect, if we hadn't done anything, whatever Roman and the White Fang have planned could've been allot worse. Besides, we got the robot back!"
"That doesn't mean you can just jump into every situation, kiddo." Said Tai, Summer nodded in agreement.
"No matter how good you think you are for the task, you're still not a professional yet. You all risk yours and each other's lives by being needlessly reckless." Ruby wanted to protest, but she knew her parents were right. Yang sighed softly, agreeing.
Ozpin raised his hand, stopping Ironwood and Goodwitch from interfering
"Again, I understand your concern. But you should've called in someone more qualified to take action instead of rushing in recklessly. This kind of behavior dooms hunters and huntresses to death." He let out a deep sigh, and bowed his head.
"Unfortunately, this is the least of our worries..." Said Ozpin, clearly disturbed. The room suddenly became colder.
"Oh hell..." Qrow couldn't bother to grab his flask, and covered his face. Ironwood's jaw clenched tightly, and Winter had somehow become pale.
"Your actions... have attracted some unwanted attention." The headmaster said grimly.
Ozpin felt an unease, that would usually come from anything regarding HER. But this time it felt so much worse.
"Oh hell..." Qrow had an idea of what was coming. "Well, this should be fun..."
"And he ain't talking about reporters, kiddos..."The elevator door opened, and the three remaining members of JNPR entered.
Nora gasped. They looked all wrong. Though there wasn't anything physically different about them, there was just... something completely off; their eyes just didn't have the same shine as before. She already knew what that shine was.
"Headmaster." Ren said curtly. "Is something wrong?"Ozpin sat up straight.
"Mr. Ren. How are you all doing today?" LVN (Lavender), as they were now known, stood at attention next to RWBY, who shared their immediate confussion.
"We're... fine..." He looked at the staff and the three new faces in confusion. Ozpin said nothing, and the new team leader could see how uncomfortable he was. "Sir, is something wrong?"
Ozpin sighed deeply and straightened himself up. "Mr. Ren... about Jaune Arc... how do you feel?"
Ren was caught off guard by that. He didn't have to think twice to have considered Jaune his brother. The transcripts were hard to learn about, especially since they were putting themselves in danger every day; not only could he have been seriously hurt, he could've endangered his whole team. But Ren heard him out, they all did. RWBY had accepted him, after all they did accept Blake. And his own team was quick to forgive him as well, especially Nora.
Answering Ozpin was much easier than he thought; "I miss him, sir... He was a brother to me..."
The author sighed; "It wasn't easy finding a universe where all of you don't betray him. In all honesty, I'm a little more than glad I found this one."
"W-we betray him?" Pyrrha asked, scared of the sudden idea. Ruby felt the same, unconsciously squeezing the fabric of her skirt tightly. Nora and Ren felt a little sick of just hearing it. They didn't even want to think about actually seeing it in screen.
"I... No way. No. Way we'd do that to Vomit Boy."
"You'd seriously be surprised how many if your counterparts do that. It's like a trend or something..."
Ozpin nodded, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. They'd been lied to about his fate. A lie simple enough to actually pull off in the real world; Jaune Arc died in a bullheah crash, along with several others on the way to prison.
"..." Ozpin stared down at the floor. Sure, he'd seen and done worse things, but this was something else. Ironwood leaned back, sighing and shaking his head. This was too far; they'd lied to his friends, to the public, just to make him into their guinea pig for something they didn't know would actually work.
"S-sir..." Winter was at a complete loss. Her mouth went dry, and the horror of what hers superiors counterpart had done finally hit.
Opening his eyes, Ozpin saw how uneasy both teams were. They knew he wasn't telling them something.
"Headmaster?" Ruby shakily asked.
"Students... The truth." He sighed. "It's not something that's easy to say. But it needs to be said now, because I believe you're the only ones that can help."
"Headmaster... what are you talking abou-" Ren started, but a sudden rumble shook all of Beacon, stopping everyone in their tracks.
Another shake, this time harder, made Ozpin's eyes go wide. He shot up from his seat and walked to a window, looking down to watch as his students lost their footing, and several of their items suddenly dissapear.
Beacon continued to tremble as things began to turn more hectic. A single word escaped from Ozpin; "Atlas!"
"Yes Ozpin! Atlas!" A voice came from the corner of the room. "Always Atlas!"
Heads turned to see an ensemble of black pieces, with glowing white edges, and a pale half face, floating together to form an impression of a human being.
Their eyes widened in disbelief; What once was Jaune's body, stood as a series of random black puzzle-esque fragments, floating in place as if it were a puzzle with missing pieces: a missing bicep on his left arm, a chunk of his chest, part of his abdomen, his right knee, and his head was missing the top left quarter.
"O- Oh dear lord!" Goodwitch felt all the color drain from her face. Ozpin went wide eyed in disbelief, and both Ironwood and Winter couldn't speak a single word.
None of Jaune's friends could think of anything to say. The shock of seeinng what Jaune was turned into was too much; Ruby had tears streaming down her face. Yang's eyes turned red at the scene. Blake's mind was trying to process what force held the former blonde together, and just what the hell he was now. And Weiss felt the respect she had for her sister crumble slightly.
Pyrrha held her hand to her mouth, eyes wide in disbelief, with her mind racing a thousand miles a second. Ren was too shocked to speak, and instead clenched his fists tightly until his knuckles went white. Nora was trying to hold herself together, trying to focus on the bright side of this; Jaune was still alive.
Neptune and Sun kept it to themselves, but they liked the blonde's new look, as off putting as it might have been. Coco and Velvet stared on, shocked at how the blonde now looked.
Deep down, they were all happy to see he was still alive. But what he might have gone through, the rage he must feel at being used as a lab rat, must've rattled his brain quite a bit.
Qrow turned to Ironwood slowly, eyes glaring harshly at the general; "You're a fucking monster..."
"Qrow..." Taiyang tried to calm his friend.
"Look at what he did to the kid! Don't try to fucking defend him!"
"Qrow!" Summer shouted. He said nothing else and continued to glare at the general.
Ozpin narrowed his eyes. "Arc..."
The figure hummed with a grin, and walked forward; "Sure, but not. I mean I haven't been Jaune Arc since 'ahh! No! Help me!' Hehehe!"
Grimm began to suddenly appear out in the courtyard, causing students to panic.
Jaune grinned at his former peers, eyeing Ruby especially. "You know, Ozpin, I've been admiring my former classmates, especially your little silver eyed weapon, for quite some time!"
Qrow stood, pulling his weapon out, followed by Ironwood, Winter and the rest of the staff. Ozpin gripped his cane like a fencing sword and glared.
"Don't you DARE hurt them!"Jaune stopped, and faked a shocked expression.
"Hurt them-? No!" He grinned "That wouldn't be any fun! You'd be reliving the same old story!"
"Wh-what-?" Ruby started, but then her eyes widened, and she looked at her mother. Ozpin glanced at Summer as well, and a wave of regret washed over him.
Ozpin's grip became tighter. Jaune gave him a sinister half smile. "No, I think we're going to do something a little DIFFERENT this time!"
With a clap, both teams RWBY and NPR were thrown out into the main avenue with their weapons, and several Grimm appeared around the campus. At the same time, the ground collapsed in the middle of the courtyard, and a cyclone which began to expand and swallow everything around it.
"Th- He can-" Ruby stuttered out before finally spitting out a single phrase; "Reality Bender!"
"Holy crap, Jimmy! What did you do!?" The kid could manipulate reality. And he was royally pissed off at them. A perfect shit-storm.
Qrow rushed to the window, followed by the staff as he looked out in horror. Ozpin felt complete and utter fear for the first time in a long time. And to rub it in, Jaune appeared behind him, leaning over his shoulder with a blank, pensive look.
"You are right in one respect however..."
Yang punched another beawolf away and looked around, very much confused.
...They are quite doomed.
"What the fuck!?" Both teams stopped and watched as the cyclone continue to destroy everything around it.The camera quickly swung up to an birds eye view of the scene before the screen went black.
"...What the fuuck??" Yang whispered.
Part 2 coming next