A/N: If you're already confused, check out the other parts of this story in the following order; Gravewalker ch7, Iron Rose ch41/42, and to be finished on this story.
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Part 4 Of The Crisis
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Remnant Two
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Weiss was not having a good day. First, she'd gotten into an argument with Pyrrha, and now she'd gotten word that James Ironwood was back. She'd had a hard enough time killing him to begin with, so for him to just waltz out of his grave after everything he'd done… Weiss couldn't even finish her thought, she was so mad.
A gust of wind suddenly tore through her underground headquarters.
Now she had to deal with Ruby.
Weiss sighed, "Anything I can help you with, Ruby?" She asked, not even bothering to look at the speedster.
"Why're you just throwing my name around like that?" Ruby asked. Weiss stepped over to her salmon ladder, leaping up to grab the bar.
"Because," the white haired girl grunted, "I know you're not bringing uninitiated people into my cave." Weiss realized what she'd said the moment she said it. She could practically feel Ruby's immature grin.
"It's not like your identity is a secret anymore!" Ruby protested. Alright, apparently she hadn't picked up on the possible innuendo. "Mine is. I'd like to keep it that way."
"So I take it that it's a serious day for Team Flash?"
"Not just Team Flash." Jaune's voice called. Hearing Superman made Weiss drop from the salmon ladder and turn around. Stood before her was The Flash, Superman, another Ruby, and an older version of Yang.
"Shit."
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Remnant 85
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Yang and Blake had been searching for Yang-85 for hours, and still had nothing to go on. There was nothing about any Yang Xiao-Long on the internet, in the news. Nothing. They'd even tried all of their friends' surnames. Nothing.
"Maybe Ilia sent us to the wrong place!" Yang suggested.
"Maybe there's something we're missing." Blake offered up.
"Like what?"
"Ilia said she was a pilot. Maybe we should check the military bases. Ask about a Yang Xiao-Long."
"Or we could try finding her little sister!" Yang said, "No Yang is too far from her little sis!"
"This is an alternate universe, Yang. Ruby might not even exist here, and if she does, she might not even be your sister. She could be evil for all we know."
"The only evil person I see here is you, Belladonna!" A voice called. The two spun around, shocked to find Yang, but wearing a glowing green suit and floating.
"Hi there!" Yang tried to be friendly, "I'm Yang and this is Blake. We're—!" Yang-85 suddenly began to fire bolts of energy at the two, forcing them to dive out of the way.
"Shoot first, ask questions later." Blake cursed under her breath, "Definitely Yang."
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Remnant 16
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James and Qrow wandered the streets of Atlas, hoping to reach Ironwood's office in the heart of the city. However, based on the many students' responses to James' presence, Qrow got the feeling this version of Ironwood was exactly a good guy. They each stood a little straighter, as if expecting expulsion if they so much as breathed wrong. Neither of them liked it.
"How are we going to find Ruby once we get to my office?" James asked Qrow.
"We'll have to ask the douchebag version of you." Qrow simply said. The two stepped onto the elevator up to Ironwood's office, immediately feeling the ground below them accelerate up multiple floors to his office. Qrow readied Harbinger, so James readied his weapons as well.
"I don't suspect I'll be willing to give her up so easily." He told Qrow.
"We'll make him." The elevator doors slid open to reveal a clean shaven James Ironwood sitting at his desk. He rather calmly turned to face them, cocking his head to the side when he saw his own doppelganger.
"That's… interesting." He said, "I suppose you've come with a purpose, James?"
"I have." Ironwood told himself. Beardless James raised his eyebrows, waiting for Ironwood to tell him what that purpose was. "A crisis is coming. We need your lapdog."
"You mean Perseus?"
"Sure."
There was a long pause between the two generals before Qrow spoke up, "Can we expect your help or are we going to have to force your help?" He asked.
"What kind of crisis?" James-16 asked.
"The multiverse is ending. We're trying to stop it." James-1 responded.
Remnant 5
Ruby-5 sat in that bunker for hours, trying to strike up conversations with Weiss, Oscar, Jaune, Ren, Nora or any of her alternate selves. Fourteen didn't make very good conversation, opting to just talk to herself. Six-One-Six just annoyed Ruby; she made too many jokes. She was like Yang on a good day. Sure, she didn't make any god awful puns, but she was still very dry and sarcastic in her wit. It really didn't help that Ruby was intimidated by Six-One-Six's intelligence and suit of armor. She was literally Iron Man!
The bunker door loudly creaked open, and slammed shut.
"Ruby?" Blake called, "Yang?"
"In here!" Ruby called back, she leapt up from her seat and ran to meet Blake on the stairs. "Before you go in there…" Blake sighed and rolled her eyes, fearing the worst already. Her face slowly switched to that of slack jawed shock as Ruby filled her in on everything that had happened and what they were currently wrapped up in.
"We go from fighting god to working with him…" Blake sighed.
"Did you say 'fighting god'?" Weiss asked. Neither of them had realized that Weiss had been in the library doorway, listening to the entire conversation.
"Yeah," Ruby told her, "I kinda s-shot god."
"Why?"
"It's complicated." Ruby sternly said, basically telling her not to push any further. Weiss was taken aback by how drastically different this Ruby acted from her own. At least the other two were somewhat similar. Six-One-Six was just like Ruby-1, but way smarter and less socially awkward, and Fourteen was essentially just like Ruby-1, but dead. Ruby-5, however, was another person entirely. She hadn't shared much about the differences, but based on the way she looked at Oscar, JNR and her, Weiss could tell that in her world, they were either bad guys or had died.
"Is that…?" Blake began to ask, pointing at Weiss, "Is that Weiss Schnee?"
"Yup." Ruby said. "This one is not a Leviathan though." Ruby chuckled, but Weiss could tell she found nothing funny about what she'd said.
What had happened to the sisters in this universe?
Remnant 85
Blake rolled out of the way of another one energy blast, this one just narrowly missing her. They'd tried to talk sense into Yang-85, but she just wouldn't listen. They also didn't want to hurt her, and weren't sure if auras existed here, so rather than returning fire, the two just focused on dodging and trying to talk to her.
"Listen-!" Yang-1 dodged another attack. She growled, "We just want to talk!" She dodged another attack.
"Enough!" A commanding voice boomed. Three sets of eyes flew to the figure of a Super-Jaune, floating a few yards away. "Yang Xiao-Long, we need your help! The multiverse is under siege and you've been called to serve!" Yang-85 looked around, almost unsure of whether or not to attack. That's when she saw his entourage; he was flanked by her sister, a woman in red leather, with a lightning bolt in the center, as well as a woman in a green hood. The woman in the green hood was also wielding a bow and arrow, aiming it directly at Yang. Beside them all was another version of Yang herself. There were two-no three of her now? Jesus, she had a headache. She floated to the ground, touching down just a few feet in front of Superman.
"That's all you had to say!" She chirped.
"We've been saying that since you attacked us!" Yang-1 called.
"Quiet," Yang-85 said, "the adults are talking." Before Yang could offer a retort, they were all enveloped in a blue cloud.
A/N: We're just about done with the collection process. Should get the last person we need in the next chapter, and then we'll get into some exposition and then the actually important stuff!