Sorry, this took so long, but School and Life took me in the opposite direction.
Last Time on Remnants!
"Stay here," Satya commanded, and then took off at a brisk pace heading for the front end of the complex.
Weiss walked deeper into her room, and slowly sank onto her bed, flinching at the faint sounds of gunfire.
"Is it Null Sector?" her panicked brain asked, "Talon? What should I do? Stay here, but what if they come from me."
She looked up as the door slid shut, her freshly scarred visage staring back at her, "What if?"
Chapter III: Through the Looking Glass II
Lotus stalked through the halls as quietly as he could, Valkyrie not far behind him trying to follow his movements with marginal success, thankfully the gunfire and blaring alarm covered up her missteps.
Stealth wasn't exactly her forte.
"But I wouldn't have anyone else watching my back." he thought, as they slide up to a corner.
He peered around, spotting several guards rushing towards them. He pushed Valkyrie flat against the wall and followed suit, as they rushed past, arms at the ready.
Lotus nodded at his companion.
They detached from the wall. Lotus spotted a camera looking directly at them and motioned for Valkyrie to stick close.
He checked the meter once more, 72%. Still in the clear.
"It should be the third door one hall down from where you are now." Pulse stated.
"Acknowledged." Lotus stated, looking over his shoulder at Valkyrie, "You wanna knock?"
"Yes please!" Valkyrie said, and Lotus knew she had a massive grin at her face as they continued forward.
They slid to a stop in front of the door, Valkyrie placing the barrel of her gun to the door as Lotus kept his head on a swivel.
"Knock, Knock," Valkyrie muttered, pulling the trigger. A contained blast shattered the light-constructed door, a canister firing into the room, a plume of smoke erupting.
"Intr-" The guard began to cry over her comms, Valkyrie interrupting with a charging tackle to the torso.
Lotus slid into the room, heading for the terminal, numerous holo screens flashing with scenes from throughout the complex, Qrow's battle raging outside, guards racing through the hallways to meet the brawl.
There was a muffled yell followed by silence, Valkyrie popping from the smoke a moment later.
Lotus studied more of the cameras, searching for anything important.
A woman walking, no stalking her way down a hallway. All too familiar tech snapping to the wall with pointed gestures. She appeared on another camera, heading towards the mess their mentor was carving through the Vishkar personnel. A looming shadow appearing behind her, an immense Omnic with a deep glowing red eye.
"Qrow, incoming, Vishkar Elite, and a very large Omnic, abilities unknown." he stated over the comms, a laughing grunt the only return followed by a curt, "Thanks, kid."
"Found who we're here for." Valkyrie piped up, pointing at a side screen. A girl, probably their age, with long white hair and a very fresh facial scar in a white and blue jumpsuit sat on her bed, knees pulled to her chest.
"Let's go get her!"
Lotus nodded, pulling the hacking module from up his sleeve and inserting it into the console.
"Thank you, Lotus." Pulse murmured over the comms as the screens sputtered then took on a royal blue tint.
"Their eyes are all mine, all personnel seems focused on the mayhem Qrow is brewing, you can decloak and double-time to the marker I'm sending you...now!"
A blue dot pinged on their hub, two halls over and one up. Lotus deactivated the field around them, panels of reflective light blinking out of existence.
"Let's move."
Valkyrie smiled and raced out charging ahead, launcher ready for the first sign of trouble him ghosting behind her.
Qrow tensed, shoulder checking the nearest guard to the ground, parrying a wild strike with his blade as a follow-up, then smacking the offender in the face with the flat of the blade. Hard enough to break some teeth and leave a wicked headache.
He was doing them a favor honestly, Vishkar's hard light dermal implants were all the rave, poor sucker might even get them at a discount.
So far he'd been coming out on top, few scrapes and burns marking his armor but the heap of unconscious bodies lying every which way made this feel almost comical.
Then the Omnic hit him. Turning around to face off against what he'd assumed was another too brave to back down brick for brains, he was instead met with a metal fist the size of a car tire.
He dug his blade into the ground, managing to halt his backward momentum. The shields had taken much of the blow but it took a minute for air to reenter his lungs.
"First real hit someone's managed on me today," Qrow remarked conversationally as he leaned on his blade, "Have to give it to you. Though if I'm honest, Omnics have always been a sticking point for me. Very few tells to read."
"Can you read mine?" a Hindi accented female voice asked, as three orbs of plasma crackled in his direction.
He slashed through two of them with a quick strike, catching the last on the flat of his blade. Lowering it he watched his assailant approach, in a mixture of frustration and amusement he recognized her instantly. Satya Vaswani, callsign Symmetra, this was going to be interesting.
"You favor your robotic arm when throwing punches as it is naturally stronger, you only have two more shots like that before you reload, and you rely more on your little turrets than you do your own fighting capability." Qrow listed off, smirking slightly as Symmetra ground to a stop.
"Who are you?" she asked, her eyes narrowing as her head turned slightly to the side.
"We've met," Qrow remarked simply, his eyes switching to focus on the Omnic. It towered over her silently, though he couldn't exactly recognize the type, the blade seemed like an OR-15, but the body was all off.
"I don't associate with criminals," Symmetra stated coldly.
Qrow scoffed, "You said the same thing the last time. Rio ring any bells?"
Her eyes widened slightly, as they trailed along the blade and up to his helmeted face. Then a deep scowl set in, "You. You helped that anarchist artist."
"We anarchists have to stick together." he joked, "So, how about we get this over with shall we?"
"Gladly." she snapped.
The Omnic moved first, punching forward with its blade. He parried, sparks grating along both their lengths as Symmetra gestured with her hands, a turret materializing atop both of the Omnic's shoulders. Beams of aquamarine energy lanced free, seeking him out causing him to leap backward. A plasma orb fired after him a moment later which he smacked away with the edge of his blade, catching the Omnic in the chest.
There was a snapping click behind him, and he whirled as a teleporter burst to life, a whip of energy flying free nearly catching his wrist, followed a second later by a kick that caught him in the chin. He slid backward as Satya stepped free of the portal, a confident smirk on her face, her gun transformed into a snapping whip of pure plasma.
"This is getting interesting." he thought to himself, even as he parried yet another of the Omnic blows.
Valkyrie was excited, finally, she was allowed to do something other than train at Beacon. Sure the silence was kinda, sorta killing her but she'd power through it.
Lotus was just a step ahead of her, knives out, his whole body tense. She fought the urge to reach out and catch his arm, and comfort him,
"Not the time." she reprimanded herself, as they turned the final corner, Lotus skidding to a halt a familiar aura spreading out from him that she literally ended up running into.
"What?" she asked.
"Look up," he said, pointing. She followed his gaze and sucked air in through her teeth at the eight Vishkar turrets that grew like pristine mechanical tumors out of the ceiling and the top of the wall surrounding the prisoner's room.
"Oh...well this shouldn't be too complicated, how're you doing?" She asked, turning to look at him.
"68%." he stated, "But these are motion-activated, my gears no good."
"Right. Let's do it the old fashioned way then," she said.
She spun the chamber on her grenade launcher, locked it into place, and fired. The cylindrical grenade hit the ceiling with a dull thunk, the turrets all swiveling in its direction as a wave of electricity poured free of the grenade. Every turret except those on the door-frame stuttered, froze, and then discorporated.
Lotus followed her up, three long hard-light daggers flying free of his hands one after the other. They embedded themselves in the center of the turrets, which sparked and popped in a more drastic display.
"Thought you were supposed to be the sneaky one?" Valkyrie quipped.
Lotus didn't respond, darting for the door to quickly examine the key-pad. Valkyrie walked up behind him, keeping her head on a swivel in case any Vishkar guards rounded the corners.
"Think you can crack it?" she asked, peering over her shoulder at him as he fiddled with the keypad momentarily.
"Yep," he remarked, another dagger appearing in his hand which he then pierced clean through the keypad. The door slid open suddenly, revealing its occupant.
"Stay away!" a commanding slightly British accented voice commanded, and Valkyrie turned in surprise as Lotus ducked a flurry of thin hard-light...icicles?
The explosions hadn't stopped if anything they'd gotten worse. Fighting off bad memories, Weiss concentrated. Her rapier appeared in hand and she began to pace around the length of her room. The wound on her face stung, further exacerbating her fraying mood.
A soft electrical pop startled her, and she swiveled on her door. Another pop created her, followed by a flurry of others and then three more powerful crunching sounds.
"Someone's outside." she thought, quickly taking on her fighting stance, "They're coming to take me. Control, keep control, I am in control."
A hard-light blade punched through the door frame, setting her on the back foot for a second before she regained her composure.
The door slid open revealing two figures in faceless black glass helmets, black form-fitting stealth suits. One was kneeling before the door, a long green hard-light dagger in his hand, and their body was coursing with a shimmering pink light every other moment. The other had their back to her, looked to be shorter than her but Weiss's eyes were immediately drawn to the large grenade launcher clasped in their hands.
"Stay away!" she shouted, a glyph crackling to life to her left and firing off a barrage of thin shards of hard-light.
The kneeling figure ducked low to the ground, while the other whirled around, though their weapon wasn't raised.
The kneeling figure held up a hand, and said in a garbled voice, "Stop, we aren't here to hurt you."
"We're trying to get you out of here!" the shorter one stated, making to walk forward.
"Don't!" Weiss commanded, pointing her rapier at them, "Don't move, I refuse to let you kidnap me!"
"Kidn-we're not kidnappers!" the shorter one stated, sounding slightly annoyed, "Vishkar are the kidnappers!"
"Says the heavily armed masked trespassers." Weiss deadpanned, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
"They hurt you." the other figure said, their voice soft, gesturing slowly at her wounded eye.
"Not on purpose." Weiss fired back, though her own doubts set her voice shaking, "They're teaching me how to control my powers!"
"No." the taller figure stated, "They're teaching you how to be controlled."
"We'd know." the shorter person stated, "Vishkar is only good at one thing, using people, and they're going to keep using you unless you come with us right now."
Weiss stood there silent for several moments, another explosion shaking the building and sending the lights flickering, "How do I know I can trust you?"
The two looked at each other, the shorter speaking first, "We still good?"
"I've got 52% left." the taller remarked.
"Good." the other stated, as they reached for their helmet. The helmet came away with a soft hiss, revealing a girl about her age with fair skin, turquoise eyes, and orange hair that was pulled back and ended at the base of her neck.
The taller figure reached for their helmet a bit slower, but it too came away revealing a boy about her age with slightly tanned skin, magenta eyes and black hair pulled into a tightly braided topknot, though a loss section with a single magenta streak hung free over his left eye.
"You want to know how you can trust us?" the girl parroted, sharing a knowing look with the boy.
"Because once upon a time we were you." the boy finished, staring at Weiss intently.
She lowered her blade slowly, staring at them both cautiously, "Like me?"
"Trained by Vishkar." the boy stated, tapping the mechanism on his arms, which Weiss recognized for the first time as Vishkar tech.
"A Remnant." the girl stated, smiling as pink lightning crackled between her raised fingers.
"We can take you somewhere far better than Vishkar." she continued.
"No more pain. No more fear." the boy said, seeming to be able to see past her facade even easier than she had figured.
"So, you wanna come with?" the girl asked, pointing over her shoulder at the open door with a cocky smile.
Weiss was silent for several moments, weighing her options, this place had been near enough to prison for so long but it hadn't been uncomfortable or hard, just lonely.
She looked over to the mirror she'd crafted on some of her first days here, the girl within looking back at her every bit as confused and scared as she felt inside.
It hadn't been uncomfortable, but things were changing, getting darker. Had her dad known this would start happened. The scar twinged as she reached up to touch it.
She had been locked away for so long, even before coming to Vishkar, this...this was her chance.
She turned back to face the two teens, the girl fidgeting slightly, turning every once and a while to look out the doorway. The boy was staring at her, his head slightly leaning to the side as if curious.
These two were offering her freedom.
"I'd be a fool not to take it." she thought to herself, turning around quickly grabbing the small items she'd been able to keep, including her phone and slipped them into a bag on the floor.
"You're coming?" the boy asked, sounding a bit hopeful.
"Obviously." she snapped, turning to look at him with a fair bit of heat that quickly faltered at the befuddled look on his face, "Sorry, yes I'm coming."
"Awesome!" the girl cried, sliding her helmet back on her partner following suit, "Oh, by the way, as of this moment, I'm Valkyrie, he's Lotus."
The boy nodded, "What may we call you?"
Weiss froze in zipping the bag shut.
"Do I give them my real name?" she thought frantically, before catching sight of her apple necklace within her bag.
"Winter." she stated, turning around to face the pair, "You can call me Winter."
"Great, let's beat feet Winnie!" Valkyrie cried as she rushed out the door.
"You-you'll get used to that." Lotus offered helpfully, following after his excited partner Weiss picking up the rear.
Fighting two on one had never been much of a challenge for Qrow. Fighting a skillfully trained Vishkar agent and an Omnic KNI-T at the same time, challenging but doable. That combined with a whole army of Vishkar goons, now that was very difficult.
And he couldn't have been happier.
"Thought Vishkar paid top-dollar for their folks," he remarked snarkily as he backhanded a charging guard, "So why are you all fighting like rookies."
His blade came up to block another sphere of plasma from Symmetra, returning fire with a pilfered shotgun he'd managed to nab during the melee.
"How about you Miss Prodigy?" he called out as he narrowly avoided being cleaved in half by the KNI-T's downward swing, "How much are they paying you to give up your morals and train child soldiers?"
Symmetra paused in her barrage, seemingly taken aback by his biting question.
"Vishkar would never do something so heinous," she stated finally, her face now a mask of anger. She darted in, the caster turning into a whip once more, snaking out towards his helm. He sidestepped, accidentally tripping an oncoming guard who took the whip full to the chest. He went down with a cry of pain, but Symmetra didn't falter, pressing her attack on Qrow.
"Right like they wouldn't set fire to innocent people's homes." Qrow fired back, slashing forward with his blade, putting his opponent on her back-foot. Her eyes narrowed further, more anger leaking through her carefully coached dispassionate expression.
"Good, keep pressing." he thought to himself as he muttered over his comms, "Pulse, how're we looking."
"Lotus and Valkyrie have the girl, they're moving out, coming in for pickup. Think you can keep the Agent and her metal friend occupied for a bit longer?"
"Oh most definitely." Qrow returned, as he leaped over the KNI-T's latest brutal swing, only for a plasma whip to wrap around his ankle and snap him to the ground. Then came a brutal kick from the KNI-T to the side, his shield shattering as he careened into a pile of crates.
"Damn," he muttered, as he shrugged himself free of the wreckage.
"Really, Satya I think the bot is trying harder than you are to make Vishkar proud." Qrow snarked, watching as the woman bristled slightly at the use of her real name.
"Maybe I should keep prodding because I still find it ironic you don't think you're people would steal kids." he said, ducking out of a line of rifle fire, and catching the offending guard in the leg with a blast from his acquired shotgun, "After all, they stole you didn't they?"
There was no response, only for a familiar click, followed by a whip wrapping around his neck burning into his armor. Emerging from the portal she pulled him off balance catching him in the upper back with a furious punch from her robotic arm.
"Vishkar gave me purpose. They rescued me," she stated, her face hardened into the familiar mask.
"Sure they did," he muttered back, as he brought his blade up to sever the connection, before whirling on the Omnic and unloading a bolt of plasma directly into its cyclopean face.
"Pulse, where are they at?" he asked over comms.
"They hit a snag, but I am still on approach, Hold out for just a bit longer."
"Typical." he thought to himself, as he turned the gun on Symmetra.
They had raced back down the hallway leading away from Winter's room, the charge on his abilities ticking down further and further. As they rounded the corner the froze, holding up his hand for Valkyrie and their charge to slow down, as two figures turned to face them.
"We are under attack, and I will be removing the subject from the premises at once." a balding short man in a Vishkar branded lab coat was explaining to another man, dressed like a combat medic.
"On whose authority?" the other man demanded, a French accent coloring his words.
"Again you are a contractor Dr. Kateb!" the Vishkar scientist shouted, "It is none of your con-."
He stopped speaking as he took in Lotus, and the others, anger, and fear muddling his features.
Lotus's blades came out, while Valkyrie raised her launcher. Winter for her part, sent the scientist a fearful but angered look.
"Miss, step away from them this instant!" the scientist commanded.
"Back off." Valkyrie demanded, moving in front of Winter, "She's coming with us."
"None of you will be going anywhere." the scientist countered, "You anarchists have no right to make demands of me, Miss please you are in danger."
He raised his hand out to Winter but she shrank backward, Lotus taking that clue to fully zero in on the scientist.
"You, you were the one." he stated, "The one that got her hurt."
He moved forward, the scientist swiftly pulling a pistol from his hip, freezing Lotus in his tracks.
"Rich coming from a terrorist." the scientist snapped, "Miss please, I will not ask again."
He opened his mouth to say more but froze. His eyes suddenly rolled backward in his head as he slumped to the floor.
The Medic stood there calmly loading another canister into his tranq-pistol, "Correct."
"Doctor Kateb, what are you doing?" Winter asked, staring at him questioningly.
"My job." he stated simply, turning to look at Lotus and Valkyrie, "Best not keep Misfortune waiting any longer."
Winter stood there confused, as the Doctor handed the tranq-pistol to him. Lotus nodded silently, as Kateb took several steps backward. Lotus lifted the pistol and fired once, sending the older man to the ground unconscious. Winter gasped inadvertently.
"Yeah, this cloak-and-dagger stuff is sort of new to me too," Valkyrie stated, patting Winter on the shoulder, "But like I said before, we've got to beat feet!"
Lotus fought a grin as Valkyrie took off, finding himself now in the middle in front of Winter. He slid the pistol into a holster on his hip as they ran, the front doors getting closer and closer.
To say that Weiss was confused was an understatement, she was being rescued by people her own age, they somehow knew Doctor Kateb, who was lying on the ground behind them snoring softly.
The three of them crashed through the front doors just as a crate came flying in their direction.
"Down!" Valkyrie ordered. Weiss ducked, as the former fired off a round, denting in one side of the crate and sending it clattering away from them with a dulled explosion.
"Bought time you finally got here!" a gruff voice called out, drawing Weiss's attention. A taller figure in a similar dress to her rescuers was standing atop a shipping crate, an immense blade in one hand and a shotgun in the other. He was facing off against Symmetra, who turned to look at them with a curious expression.
"Stop them," Symmetra ordered, the sound of thunderous footsteps announcing the arrival of a terrifying sight. The drone from before loomed over her and her saviors, it's visor-like red eye glowing menacingly.
"Go!" Lotus ordered, pointing for her to run in the other direction. He darted for the drone, his blades appearing in his hands, and cutting a line across the massive robot's lower leg.
Valkyrie meanwhile started cackling, rotating the barrel of her launcher and firing off three rounds. The first two exploded across the drone's torso in clouds of pink smoke. The third was aimed towards Symmetra, who flipped away from it, catching the other figure in the bottom of the jaw with a kick as she did so.
"Stop!" a voice called out, drawing Weiss's attention back to herself where a guard with a rifle was rushing towards her. Half in a panic she thrust her rapier towards him, jutting shards of hard-light charging towards him and slamming him backward.
Valkyrie rushed up behind her, "Come on, keep moving."
"To where? The jungle?" Weiss snapped.
Almost as if in answer, there was a roar of an engine as out of the thick cloud cover above, a black VTOL appeared.
"Attention Vishkar." a voice called out, magnified from speakers positioned on the ship, "Bed-Time."
A bolt of blue energy fired from the front of the plane and struck the ground, a ripple in the air spread out from the impact in a dome. Lights went dark, weapons stopped firing, several more heavily armored Vishkar soldiers actually stuttered to a halt and fell over or locked in place.
The wave seemed to not affect Valkyrie or Lotus, the former racing ahead of her, the other nimbly disengaging from the drone and chasing after them. Weiss saw the other figure, shoulder check Symmetra away from them, her weapon dark and her robotic arm hanging uselessly to the side.
They then leaped away, covering way more ground than would have been humanly possible, landing several feet in front of Lotus.
"Get moving!" the ordered, as the VTOL shattered the front gates with another shot, this time a rocket, and began to makes it's decent. A door opening on the side as it did so.
Weiss nodded, only for a metallic roar to startle her into looking backward once more.
The drone had not been halted by the EMP, and it had been chasing after them. Weiss saw a strange flash of pink dissipate around him, and the drone turned suddenly, it's eye glowing. It lashed out catching him in the spin with a devastating sideswipe, sending the boy flying to the sound with a cry of pain, and the shattering of a blue shield.
The drone charged after him, a long blade emerging prepared to plunge into his prone form.
"Kid!"
"Ren!"
Weiss's world slowed, as the others began to move toward their fallen comrade. She was moving, picking up speed, dashing forward without even thinking. She brought her rapier back as she ran and shouted, "No!"
The drone turned as a shard of hard-light larger than Weiss had ever managed to produce before slammed clean through the drone's torso and out the other side. The robot was lifted off its feet by the force of the shot and careened backward away from Lotus.
Weiss gasped, as all her energy was suddenly sapped from her body. She blinked several times as the world blurred, and when her vision returned to normal she was surprised to find herself standing over the prone Lotus, one of her glyphs beneath her feet.
"Are you alright?" she puffed out, reaching a hand out to help him up.
"Yes, thank you," he said softly, taking her hand though he almost ended up pulling her to the ground rather than her lift him to his feet.
He let go of her hand and nodded for her to follow him as he started to limp towards the VTOL, Valkyrie rushing to meet him.
Weiss made to follow, only for a metallic groan to turn her attention back to the drone. It was moving faintly, one of its arms reaching out towards her.
Its eye was flashing from red to a deep sky blue, and back again until it finally ended on blue. The groan took on another quality that Weiss couldn't fully make out, it was almost like a strange song, though low and almost guttural.
She took an involuntary step forward, the tune pitching higher as she did so, and some part of her was compelled. She reached up towards the drone's outstretched hand, her fingertips just touching it's a spark snapping between them, and at that moment the tune became words.
"Thank you…" a low voice stated, as the robot's eye went dark.
"Winter!" Valkyrie's voice brought her back to the present, "Let's go!"
Weiss turned and raced towards the VTOL, the hard-light symbols she'd left on the ground carrying her forward even quicker than before.
She hopped into the VTOL, passing by Valkyrie and the yet unnamed figure who jumped into the plane after her.
"Pulse get us out of here!" the taller figure shouted as they reached for their helmet. The VTOL jolted slightly as it rose into the air, and Weiss stumbled over to a seat as the plane began continued its ascent.
The taller figure, revealed himself to be an older mean with black hair just beginning to be streaked in gray, dull red eyes and just a hint of stubble along his pale chin.
"Nice to finally make your acquaintance Miss…" he began, his voice still gruff but also softer than it had been with the helmet on.
"Winter." she offered immediately.
"Winter what?" he returned, giving her a quizzical look.
"Just Winter," she stated, smiling nervously.
"Well 'Just Winter' I'm Qrow Branwen." the man stated. His last name caused her to pause for a moment, it pinged a few bells but she was not fully certain why.
"Nice to meet you, and thank you," she stated.
"Don't thank me I was just the distraction," Qrow said with a chuckle, "These two should take most of the thanks."
"So now that we're in some safer confines," the girl began, suddenly leaping forward and grasping Weiss's hands, "It's so awesome to be able to meet you! My name is Nora Valkyrie, and that thing you did with that Omnic was incredible and I thought my Remnant abilities were cool!"
"Uh, I, nice to meet you too, and thanks." Weiss stuttered, taken aback by the smaller girl's sudden antics.
"As I said, you'll get used to it." the boy stated, with a soft smile which turned into a wince as he held his side.
"I alright, but wait did you say 'Omnic'?" Weiss asked, that bit of Nora's rant finally locking into place in her brain.
"A KNI-T, tough cookie all around." Qrow stated, "Not many of them left since the Crisis, but they always pack a whole lot of hurt."
"Oh," Weiss muttered, rubbing the back of the hand she'd touched the Omnic with, a combination of guilt, anger, and fear still roaring around in her brain.
"As Nora says, that takedown was very impressive, seems like you've already got a good handle on your powers," Qrow remarked, sitting down in a seat near the front of the plane as it finished its ascent and began flying forward.
"I...I've never actually done anything like that before today," Weiss said, looking down at her hand and watching the rapier dematerialize slowly.
"Well regardless, good work," Qrow stated, pulling a flash off his side and bringing it to his lips, "We happen to like this one."
He nodded at Lotus, who winced as Nora pulled him into a tight hug.
"Thank you again," he stated, bowing to her from his seated position, "And since we are still on introductions I am.."
"Ren." Weiss interrupted, shrinking into herself slightly as he gave her a confused look, "I heard Nora say it during the fight."
Qrow paused in his drinking and shot Nora a questioning look, who blushed and stared at the ground, "Sorry, I just...he…"
"It's fine Nora." Ren comforted, patting the hand she had resting on his arm, "And yes, I am Ren, Lie Ren."
"It's very good to meet you all, but where exactly are we going," Weiss asked, looking at each of her saviors in turn.
"Beacon," Qrow stated, leaning forward in his seat, "Let me explain."
Ozpin stared at a monitor showing Weiss seated at a table a plate of pancakes before her, Nora sitting beside her, and Ren still at the oven.
"Vishkar will not be please about this turn of events." Glynda stated, "They could take actions against us."
"We know far more about Vishkar than they do about us." Oz remarked, "Even if they knew how to take action, ours would likely do more damage."
"Sir, that is Weiss Schnee," Glynda said, frustration bleeding through, "Her father will be looking for her, and if she is found here we will be implicated."
"Her own father allowed her to be used as a Vishkar Guinea Pig, likely to be indoctrinated into the company's views and made an Agent." Ozpin amended, "Perhaps he did not fully understand this eventuality, or perhaps he knew but simply didn't care or agreed to it. Regardless, I believe 'Winter' should be allowed to find her own path for once in her life. If it comes to it, I will take the blame for any consequences, which could be mitigated by informing her namesake sister of her current were-abouts."
They both turned back to the screen where Weiss was giggling at something Nora had said.
"She has a chance to grow here that she was deprived of most of her life." Oz continued, "To understand what it truly means to be a Remnant around other Remnants and skilled individuals."
"Understood Sir." Glynda stated, "I will begin her housing arrangments at once."
"Any news from our Friend out West?" Ozpin asked, turning to look at her.
"Not yet sir, but you know him, he's grown accustomed to making up his own plans on the fly," Glynda stated with a hint of a sigh.
An image of the Pacific North-West appeared, alongside a bearded, deeply tanned man with deep brown eyes, and brown hair. A cigar was clamped between his teeth and a cowboy hat sat atop his head.
"Jesse McCree, what have you gotten yourself into?" Oz pondered out loud, steepling his fingers before his face.
And so ends Chapter three! The end of Weiss's heavily altered origin story. What does this mean for the future? Will Vishkar be returning? What happened between Weiss and the Omnic? How will the hiding of her identity, and the initial meeting with Ren and Nora change her interactions with the other? What's to follow? Well, that would be the tale of Jesse McCree and his unexpected run-in with the third of our quartet. It's been good getting back into the swing of things, though I will admit I don't know how often these updates will occur, regardless I'm headed back to Infinity next to figure out where exactly I left off.
VerBeek Signing Off!