Adam: Well, Gilgamesh is here. Hopefully he can wait a chapter for his fight.
OOH Ruby: Yeah, hopefully Tronmaster doesn't go all ape-shit.
Jenkins: Knowing the captain, he'll be annoyed, but he'll allow Gilgamesh to stay.
Melody: I'm just going to play some Fire Emblem. Cordelia and Gaius SHALL have children!
After several minutes of adjusting everything when Gilgamesh suddenly appeared, Summer handed Ruby the book.
"Well, I should've expected Gilgamesh to arrive, but I didn't." Tronmaster said, "Ruby, can you please start reading?"
"Sure thing." Ruby said, beginning to read.
[No P.O.V.]
[Team RWBY dorm]
"It's time to get to work with our plan." Blake said.
"And even then, you remained obsessed with taking down both Torchwick and the White Fang." Tronmaster said, causing Alicia to chuckle lightly.
"Where in the world is Ruby?" Weiss demanded as she had donned an alternate attire for the team's reconnaissance mission.
"Fun fact, you guys have names for these outfits." Alicia said.
"Really?" Yang asked.
"Yep. But, the story will tell you them." Alicia added.
Weiss's alternate outfit consisted of a white, double breasted jacket with black piping, cuffs and buttons over a white, pleated full skirt with black lace trim, a pair of white, thigh high boots with black heels and lace-topped black stockings. She has dubbed this her Snowpea attire.
"I like that." Weiss said, nodding.
"I dunno." Yang admitted, "She just grabbed her clothes, her Weapons Monthly, Crescent Rose and sped off."
"Sounds like something Ruby would do." Jaune mumbled.
"Agreed." Blake said.
Yang also had on an alternate attire, a deep-collared cream vest over a low cut black shirt and covered by a dark grey shrug with a raised collar, three quarter sleeves with a single black stripe down the outside of each sleeve, and gold cuffs with a black miniskirt worn under the cream vest, a pair of crooked black belts with gold accents are slung around her hip, with a purple piece of fabric attached to the left-rear of the lower belt, thigh high stockings attached to her miniskirt by garter-belts on the front and back of each thigh and decorated with four golden studs above her knee and her emblem on the outside of each thigh in gold, black ankle boots with multiple buckles and white ribbons on the back tied in a bow and around her neck is a purple pendant set in called this her 'Hunter' Outfit.
"Hunter, huh?" Yang asked, "I love that name."
"Yeah, that's actually pretty cool." Raven said.
"Well, we'll find out why she ran out after she gets back." Blake said as she finished tying her bow on her head.
"Time to see the name of Blake's outfit." Penny said.
Like the others Blake was wearing an alternate outfit as well. A white, V-neck, zip-up crop shirt with a black hem and three quarter sleeves, her emblem printed in off-white on the left side of the shirt, black pants that have a vertical gray stripe on the outer side of each leg and a black belt. Attached to the rear of the belt is a black piece of fabric that covers from hip to hip. Underneath this is a longer, translucent, purple piece of fabric. She also wears black high-heel boots with two straps and buckles and purple undersoles, reaching to mid-calf, and her ribbons still on her forearms. Her 'Intruder' attire as she called it.
"Seems appropriate, considering what I was doing." Blake said.
At that exact moment Ruby slammed the door open, "I'm sorry I'm so late!" Ruby declared panting, "But this morning I read something in Weapon's Monthly that made me really want to make a quick upgrade to Crescent Rose."
"Yes mom, you'll get that same upgrade." Alicia said, stopping Ruby before she asked.
Like the others Ruby had switched to an alternate attire, a long-sleeve, light gray shirt with black belted cuffs near the ends of the sleeves, over top of the gray shirt is a black pinafore with two vertical lines of red stitching that resemble the lacing on a corset, a red skirt with a large print of her emblem on the side of it in black and black tulle underneath, her stockings and shoes remained the same as her original outfit, except the boots no longer had the red trim around the top, a few pieces of metal arranged in an abstract shape are attached to her sleeve on her left shoulder, and her hooded cloak has been wrapped around her neck similar to a scarf before hanging down her back.
"By the way, this outfit was codenamed 'Slayer.'" Tronmaster added.
"Sweet!" Ruby said, before she continued to read.
However Crescent Rose had changed as well, not by much though.
"I'm actually curious." Neptune said.
"Same." Penny said.
The metal guard around the back of the blade had a snake scale pattern on it and the pole of the weapon looked rather similar to a snakes tail, furthermore the hook like prongs on the back of the blade looked similar to snake fangs.
"That. Looks. AWESOME!" Ruby said.
"Yep. And you'll see why soon." Alicia said.
"What happened to Crescent Rose?" Shiva asked looking over the weapon.
"My guess, it has something to do with Weapon's Monthly." Winter said.
"Yeah, that seems obvious." Nora said.
"Well..." Ruby said, "This morning I was looking through Weapon's Monthly and I found a really good article about polearm type weapons in it." Ruby said handing over the Magazine to Weiss, who cracked it open, causing the other three members of Team RWBY to peek at it.
"Reading time." Pyrrha said.
'Lamia Coil Model'
'A weapon model that is beneficial to any polearm type weapon, including spears, scythes, halberds, naginata's, and the like'
'Lamia Coil Model was allegedly designed after a creature known as the Lamia, it was first designed by a young man who forged his lance in a snake-like model in honor of the supposed creature. Weapons using the Lamia Coil model have been shown to be more durable than standard forged techniques and has actually been noted to increase the stability of built in firearms, allowing the bullets to make a much straighter path toward their target.'
"Huh, neat." Tai said.
"That sounds, rather awesome." Sun said.
"Interesting..." Diablos said, "Anyone who reads this can actually make these if they have the skill and materials."
"Sounds handy." Neptune said.
"You have no idea." Alicia said.
"You guys should totally let me have a quick look at your weapons after this mission." Ruby urged, "I've found some upgrades to Knuckle Type weapons, Katana type weapons, and I think there was a Rapier model in last months issue..."
"We'll see Ruby." Weiss said.
"We're getting the upgrades, aren't we?" Yang asked, Tronmaster nodding in response.
[Ruby's P.O.V.]
"Mission time." Blake said.
"Yeah, with the interruption of a certain stowaway." Tronmaster said, looking at both Sun and Neptune.
"Well guys, today is the day, the investigation begins!" I said cheerfully, especially because I might end up making some upgrades to my teams weapons.
"Again, you guys will be getting those upgrades for your weapons." Tronmaster said.
"I'm glad we're taking this so seriously." Weiss said.
"Hey we've got a plan, that's moderately serious." Yang said.
"It's better than no plan at all." Ifrit said.
"It's better to have at least half of a plan, than no plan at all." Summer said.
"That's also called half-assing it." Tronmaster said.
"Right everyone remember their role?" I asked.
"You and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies, seeing as I'm in the family it shouldn't be a problem." Weiss said.
"And considering what happens to me in the main timeline, I wish I wasn't." Weiss growled.
"Next time I see Father, I'm kicking him directly in the balls." Winter growled, earning a high-five from Tronmaster.
"The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If I can get in I can hopefully fin out what they're planning." Blake said.
"Considering that you're the only Faunus on team RWBY, plus with your knowledge on how the WF operate, it makes sense." Alicia said.
"Plus, she IS the stealthiest member." Tronmaster added.
"I have an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale, getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard." Yang said.
"If you want to get to know a city, talk to the rats." Said a voice in an Italian accent over the intercom.
"Hey Ezio." Tronmaster said, to the now-named Ezio.
"Tronmaster, Alicia." Ezio said before the intercom cut off.
"This is getting too weird." Glynda said.
"Great, we'll meet up tonight near Yang and go over what we found. Let's do this!" I said.
"This is awesome to literally look back on this." Yang said.
"Yeah!" Sun said, wait Sun? The four of us look out the window to see Sun hanging upside down.
Sun sank into his seat at the glares of all of team STRQ, plus Winter.
Said monkey Faunus proceeded to chuckle nervously.
"Sun! How did you get up there?" Yang asked.
"Ah it's easy, I do it all the time." Sun said, not the best choice of words actually.
"Wow, looking back on this, makes me look like a total creep." Sun said.
"You've got a good heart Sun, but you're also a motor mouth." Tronmaster said.
"WHAT?!" Weiss shouted, "You better explain yourself fast."
"I climb tree's all the time." Sun said quickly.
"Yeah, that's not helping your case any." Penny said.
"Note to self: Get rid of tree in front of team RWBY's dorm room." Glynda said to herself, using a voice recorder on her Scroll.
"We're going to be getting rid of that tree." Blake said.
"Huh, there's an echo here." Qrow said.
"So are we finally getting back at Torchwick guy?" Sun asked hoping into the room.
"We are going to investigate the situation, as a team." Blake said.
"Unfortunately, that didn't turn out like that." Blake said.
"Sorry Sun, we don't wanna get friends involved if we don't have to." I said.
"Pfft, that's dumb, you should always get friends involved, that's why I brought Neptune." Sun said, the four of us poked our heads out the window to see Neptune standing on the edge of the buildings protrusion.
"Alright, gotta give you points for balance." Qrow said.
"Thanks." Neptune said.
"Although, that doesn't remove all the negative points that both you and monkey boy here accumulated." Tai said, hiking a thumb to Sun.
"Fair enough." Neptune said.
"Sup." Neptune said.
"Damn." Ifrit said.
"How did you even get up here?" I asked.
"Were you bitten by a radioactive spider or something?" Alicia asked.
"What?" Neptune asked.
"Nothing." Alicia replied, "Uncultured swine." She added under her breath.
"I have my ways, seriously though can I come in, we're like, really high up right now." Neptune said.
"Wus." Diablos chuckled as he remained translucent.
Once we pulled Neptune inside we altered our plans just slightly, Neptune would be going with Yang and Sun would be joining Blake because he's a Faunus.
"Plus, Sun's the only one of his team that actually is closer to having the title of 'main character.'" Tronmaster said.
"Huh, neat." Sun said, "I guess getting stabbed through the shoulder does wonders for character development."
"Wow, I forgot how big the Transit tower looks up close!" I squealed.
"It is pretty big up close." Alicia said.
"Although, the one in Atlas IS impressive too." Weiss said.
"You should see the one in Atlas." Weiss said.
"That was the first one right?" I asked.
"Correct." Weiss said, "Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transit system to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with one another, it was their gift to the world after the Great War."
"Although, Atlas's military tech doesn't hold a candle to the Magitek Troopers of the Empire of Niflheim." Alicia said.
"Or the Elemancy of Lucis." Tronmaster added.
"Bah, it's got nothing on Esthar technology." Alexander said as he pulled himself along translucently.
"Yep, in many cases, technology from ancient advanced civilizations tends to be better than most modern technology. For some reason." Tronmaster said.
"And yet, those same civilizations somehow go extinct." Alicia added.
"Oh look at me, my name is Weiss, I know facts, I'm rich." I mocked before stifling a laugh.
"Now now Ruby, don't tease." Shiva said with a slight laugh in her voice.
Did she know about my crush on Weiss?
Weiss proceeded to sit on Ruby's lap, before giving the red reaper a kiss.
"Don't be a pest, besides the only reason we're here is because you like the tower so much, we could have just as easily made a call from the library." Weiss said.
"Yeah, but that's too much of a public location." Qrow said.
"Yeah, too many people could eavesdrop." Winter said.
"I know but it's just so cool. I'm gonna take a picture." I said fumbling to pull out my scroll and dropped it.
"Smooth butterfingers." Yang said.
"Hahaha." Ruby said, rolling her eyes.
My scroll bounced until it stopped by the feet of, Penny.
"Here's me!" Penny said.
"And what will be revealed." Alicia said.
"Oh." Penny said reaching down to pick it up, "you dropped this."
"And, cue the awkward moment." Penny said.
"Penny?!" I said shocked.
A similar look of shock spread on Penny's face when she realized it was me who dropped the scroll.
"Ruby!" Penny said surprised.
"Yeah, this will end up being super awkward." Ruby said.
"Penny where have you been?" I asked, "We haven't seen you since the NG Facility attack, how's Copper Giant doing?"
"We've been doing just fine Ruby." Copper Giant said as he appeared translucently behind Penny, kneeling down so he's a bit closer to eye level with us.
"I forgot how massive you are Copper Giant." Penny said.
"Um, Penny..." Jaune started before Penny interrupted him.
"I knew it the moment I said it." Penny said.
"Y-Yes we have." Penny said hastily pushing my scroll back into my hands, "B-but I have to go right no." Penny said walking off quickly.
"Sorry about that Ruby." Penny said sheepishly.
"It's cool Penny." Ruby said, before she continued reading.
"Something doesn't seem right..." Alexander said.
"What was that about?" Weiss asked.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out. You go make your call I meet up with you later!" I called running after Penny.
"I can understand why you wanted to keep your origins a secret, but why the secrecy?" Blake asked.
"Cause if the world found out that Atlas was developing an android capable of producing an Aura, everyone would assume that they were trying to completely replace Huntsmen and Huntresses." Alicia replied, "Plus, Tronmaster and I have seen Terminator one too many times to be wary of fully robotic soldiers."
Fortunately Penny wasn't running so I didn't have to go that far to catch her.
"Penny where have you been? It's been weeks." I asked.
"Probably on orders from General Ironwood." Winter said.
"Oh yeah, definitely." Penny said.
"It's nothing too serious Ruby." Penny said, but somehow I didn't believe her.
"Yeah, that seems quite dodgy." Blake said.
"What?" I asked sliding down the rail of the step to get in front of her again, "Penny, is everything okay?" I asked.
"Nice slide Rubes." Tai said.
"Yeah, that was impressive." Summer added.
Penny just kept walking until I ran in front of her again, "Penny please stop!" I cried.
"Look, I don't know what's wrong, but you have to listen to me, those guys we fought at the docks, we think they're up to something big, something bad! Probably not to the same extend as the NEO Galbadians, but still, I need you to tell me what happened to you that night, please, as a friend." I begged.
"In hindsight, I probably should've let you know what happened after the events at the docks." Penny said.
"It's ok Penny." Ruby said.
Penny sighed before she looked around then she leaned in close to me, "It isn't safe to talk here." Penny said.
"We'll find somewhere safer to speak, too many people around the CCT at the moment." Copper Giant added.
"Yeah, talking about something so sensitive in a public place isn't a good idea." Winter said.
[Weiss's P.O.V.]
"I have the distinct impression that perspectives will switch often this chapter." Weiss said.
"Probably." Jaune said.
"Ruby..." I sighed, "Let's keep going then." I said to Shiva.
"She shouldn't have a problem at the least." Shiva said following Weiss.
"Considering what happened with us, yeah, I doubt that you'll have a problem." Penny said.
I walked into the CCT tower and made my way to the elevators in the back and stepping into one.
"Oh boy, I'm just glad I didn't accept the offer to call my father." Weiss said.
"From what I heard, he's a total jackass." Tai said.
"He kind of is." Winter said.
"Hello, welcome to the CCT, how may I help you?" An automated voice asked.
"I'd like to go to the communications room please." I said.
"Absolutely, can you please place your scroll on the terminal to verify your identity." The Voice requested and I pulled out my scroll and complied.
"Perfect, thank you miss Schnee." The voice said as the elevator began to move.
"I wonder what would've happened if Jacques didn't take control of the Schnee Dust Company." Qrow said.
"It probably would've kept its moral compass." Alicia said.
A few moments later we reached the top of the tower, where a hologram appeared at the reception desk.
"That hologram always freaked me out, actually." Tronmaster said.
"Welcome to the Beacon Cross Continental Transit center, how may I help you?" The Hologram asked.
"Weirdly, it's more lifelike than greeters at Wal-Mart." Alicia said, causing Tronmaster to stifle a laugh.
"I'm gonna guess Wal-Mart is something exclusive to Earth." Jaune said, making Alicia nod.
"I need to make a call to Schnee Dust company would headquarters in Atlas." I requested.
"I wonder what would happen if somebody used the CCT to call for a pizza delivery." Yang said.
"Depends on how large the order would be." Tai said.
"Certainly, if you could head over to terminal three I'll patch you through." The hologram said.
"Seriously, you could replace the hologram with a cardboard standee, and it would seem more lifelike." Alicia said.
"Thank you." I said and made my way over to the terminal and sat down, I was a little nervous about this all.
"I don't blame you little sister." Winter said.
"The fact you humans have created such holograms is rather... unsettling I have to admit." Shiva said, "I just don't feel that an artificial intelligence is meant to do a person's job."
"I know what you mean." I said, "Winter has complained a fair bit on General's Ironwood's over reliance on machines." When I finished my sentence my call was accepted.
"Yeah, again, considering what we now know, that'll end up biting him right in the ass." Sun said.
"Plus, I've seen Terminator enough to know that that's a bad idea." Tronmaster said.
"Thank you calling the Atlas- Oh, Miss Schnee, good afternoon, would you like me to patch you through to your father, I think your sister Winter might be here as well." The SDC receptionist said.
"Ugh, I'd rather not have to talk to father or Whitley." Weiss said.
"Considering what we know about those two bastards, I don't blame you." Winter said.
"No thank you, I was actually hoping you can find some files for me, I've compiled a short list." I said plugging my scroll into the terminal.
"Right, 'short.'" Yang said.
"Hahaha." Weiss said, rolling her eyes.
The receptionist looked at the list of files I requested and raised an eyebrow, "If you don't mind, what is this for?" She asked.
"School project." I lied.
"Oh, the Ice Queen knows how to lie." Yang said sarcastically.
"Considering how Weiss and I were raised, we were taught to lie through our teeth." Winter said, "I hate our father for that."
"There are some sensitive documents on this list ma'am." The receptionist said.
"Well then I'll be sure to treat them with care." I replied.
"Right, very well, the data's being transferred to your scroll now." The receptionist said.
"Wonderful, that will be all then." I said taking my scroll when the data finished transferring.
"That's got to be a lot of data." Tai said.
"A-are you sure you don't want me to patch you over to your father before you go?" The receptionist asked.
"Yes, I'm sure." I said, "Goodbye." With that I hung up.
"I think that went pretty well." Shiva said.
"Same." Shiva said."
[Ruby's P.O.V.]
"And back to you Ruby." Nora said, like a newscaster.
I walked over to Penny who seemed a bit nervous and gently put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
"And that's why people consider Ruby a great friend." Tronmaster said.
"Yep." Tai said.
We soon began walking down the street and started to talk.
"I wish I could help you Ruby, but I don't know anything about those men." Penny said.
"Damn." Ruby mumbled.
"Oh..." I said drooping my shoulders, "But what happened to you after we beat Torchwick?"
"You see, I've never been to another kingdom before. My father asked me not to venture out too far but..." Penny said starting to look nervous, "You have to understand my father loves me very much, he just worries a lot."
"Believe me I know the feeling." I said, Penny looked uplifted a bit after I said that, "But why haven't you come and talk to us after the mission?" I asked.
"Again, no such thing as overprotectiveness when it comes to us fathers." Tai said.
"Right." Alicia said, rolling her eyes.
"Well..." Penny said, only to be cut off by a speech.
"Great, this moment." Penny said.
Looking over to a stage we saw a hologram of General Ironwood making a speech about... something.
"The new models of Atlesian Knights if I remember correctly." Winter said.
"And the Paladins." Tronmaster said, "Human touch my one-quarter Irish ass." He added under his breath.
"The AK130's have been standard security model for Remnant for several years, and they've done a fine job wouldn't you agree." A hologram of General Ironwood said, the AK130's bowed in response as people clapped.
"But, Atlas is a Kingdom of innovation and fine, well that's just not good enough is it?" Ironwood asked rhetorically as small chambers opened up to reveal new model of Atlesian Knight robots.
"Presenting the Atlesian Knight 200." Ironwood said as the 200's kicked over their 130 predecessors.
"AKA, the Terminators with the Stormtrooper paintjobs." Tronmaster said.
"Which were also hacked by Cinder." Alicia said.
"Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary." Ironwood said as the AK200's posed, "These models will become available next year and they won't be alone. The Atlesian military always supports the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battle field, however there are still many situations that undoubtedly require a human touch." Ironwood said.
"Bullshit." Alicia fake-coughed.
"Yeah, again, that ends up biting Jimmy in the ass." Qrow said.
"Yes, because machine's can only think oh so creatively." Alexander said.
I noticed Penny seemed to wince at that comment.
"Sorry Penny." Alexander said.
"It's alright Alexander." Penny said, "But yeah, the AK-200's don't have that great survival instincts."
"So, our kingdom's greatest minds in cooperation with the Schnee Dust company, are proud to introduce, The Atlesian Paladin!" Ironwood said as a hologram of a giant robot replaced him.
"Jeez, that thing looks ridiculous." Jaune said.
"Now we couldn't have them here for you today, but these mechanized battle suit will bee seen defending boundaries of our kingdom within the year!" Ironwood announced.
"Yeah, those things are a bunch of junk." Tronmaster said.
"Yeah, I've seen CIS Battle Droids less fragile than those things." Alicia said.
"Wow, that thing looks poorly held together." Copper Giant said, "I could take that out with one swing."
"Seriously, the ED-209 robots are built better than those things." Tronmaster said.
"ED-209?" Penny asked.
"Next break, we're watching Robocop. The original, not the remake." Alicia said.
"Ruby, maybe we should go somewhere else." Penny insisted.
"And 3, 2, 1, go." Sun said.
That's when two Atlesian soldier pointed in our direction and Penny started running.
"Penny? Wait where are you going?" I asked, then I saw the two soldiers start running towards us.
I turned around and started to follow Penny.
"And, cue the chase." Qrow said.
"C'mon Qrow, don't be an ass." Tai said.
We ran into the nearest alleyway and then crossed the street into another alley, where I cut down a scaffold holding up many crates to slow down the soldiers.
"Huh, I have the sudden desire to play Assassin's Creed." Tronmaster mumbled.
I ran along the wall used my Semblance to bounce off it and managed to catch Penny by wrapping my arm around her waist, "This way!" I shouted, and with a bit of effort launched me and Penny into a branching path.
However gravity did not seem to agree with me and the two of us hit the ground and began tumbling away, I lost my grip on Penny and tumbled into the street where a truck was about to hit me when Penny shoved me out of the way and stopped the truck.
With her bare hands.
"Are you sure that Penny isn't actually from the planet Krypton?" Alicia jokingly asked her boyfriend.
"Do you see ANY ginger Kryptonians?" Tronmaster rebuked.
"She clearly isn't human, I'm certain of it now." Alexander said.
"She's Superman's long-lost half-sister." Alicia joked.
"Penny?" I asked extremely confused.
"Are you okay?" Penny asked the truck driver, who merely nodded.
"Isn't that the shopkeeper who owns From Dust Till Dawn?" Alicia asked.
"Huh, yeah, it is." Jaune said.
People were staring to gather when Penny rushed off and pushed past me, I saw the soldiers come to inspect the incident and took off after her.
"And, back to the chase." Nora said.
I quickly caught up to Penny, "Penny please, what is going on, why are you running, how did you do that?" I asked.
"I can't, everything's fine *hic* I don't want to talk about it." Penny stammered scared.
"And, that's the comparison between Pinocchio and Penny." Tronmaster said, "The tells that either is lying."
"With Pinocchio, his nose extends." Alicia said.
"Penny if you just tell me what's wrong I can help you." I insisted.
"And it ends up, I should've told you." Penny said.
"No. No no you wouldn't understand." Penny said.
"All things considered, I handled it really well." Ruby said.
"Same." Penny said.
"Let me try, you can trust me." I pleaded.
"You're my friend, right? You promise you're my friend?" Penny asked.
"I promise." I said.
"You've got easily the largest heart out of anyone I've met." Tronmaster said.
"Thanks." Ruby said, continuing to read.
"Ruby... I'm not a real girl." Penny said showing me her hands.
Her hands were scraped to reveal metal underneath.
"But now, I have a lot more flesh and blood." Penny said.
"With some internal cybernetics." Coper Giant said.
"Incredible..." Alexander said, "She could be a cyborg... But Atlas isn't at that level of technology... And yet they've reached the ability to create sentient machines... No offense."
"None taken." Penny said looking slightly surprised.
"Yeah, I definitely think you took that really well." Penny said.
"Well, that's my daughter for ya." Summer said.
"Oh." I said, "Penny, I-I don't understand."
"I mean, how exactly CAN you react to finding out that one of your friends is an Android infused with a soul?" Raven said.
"It does take some time to process." Blake said.
"Most girls are born, but I was made." Penny said, "I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura. I'm not real."
"Well, I happen to disagree." Tronmaster said.
"Because of Hector?" Jaune asked, making Tronmaster nod in response.
"Not even Esthar could create machines with souls..." Alexander said, "Perhaps it has something to do with Dust... this is proving quite interesting."
I gently took Penny's open hands and held them firmly, "Of course your real." I said, "You think that because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me? Or anyone else you know?"
"Quite profound." Glynda said.
"I don't... Uh... You're taking this extraordinarily well." Penny said.
"I was certainly surprised by that." Penny said.
"But hey, at least now we're doing great." Weiss said.
"You're not those things we saw back there, you've got a heart, and a soul I can feel it." I said poking Penny's chest.
"Oh Ruby you're the best friend anyone could have!" Penny cried pulling me into a rather tight hug.
"I can see why your father wanted to protect such a delicate flower." I groaned.
"Again, no such things." Tai said.
"Broken record." Alicia fake-coughed.
"Oh he's very sweet, my father's the one that built me, I'm sure you would just love him." Penny said.
"Yeah, my Father is actually an amazing man." Penny said.
"Especially since he built Hector. As well as transfusing parts of his own soul into Hector." Alicia said.
"So, Hector really is Penny's little brother in some ways." Tai said.
"Wow, he built you all by himself?" I asked.
"Well almost, he had some help from Mister Ironwood." Penny said.
"Except there." Alicia said, "That's actually due to the help of our friend Anna."
"Anna?" Neptune asked.
"Long story short, she's an expert merchant who's also the leader of the Order of Heroes." Tronmaster replied.
"The General? Wait, is that why those soldier were after you?" I asked.
"They like to protect me too." Penny said.
"They don't think you can protect yourself?" I asked sarcastically.
"Considering the fact that she can slice a Bullhead in half with a laser beam that comes from her swords, yeah, she's good." Sun said.
"That was badass-looking though." Neptune said.
"They're not sure if I'm ready yet. One day, it will be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival, I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and test myself in the tournament." Penny said.
"If General Ironwood thinks you are capable of defeating Musaline then he is sorely mistaken." Alexander said shaking his head, "With Copper Giant at your side you'll stand a chance at the least."
"Yeah, at least my other has a better chance." Penny said.
"But, I bet Cinder won't have such luck." Qrow said.
"Strangely enough I'm not too sure if she's the threat Ironwood seemed to imply." Copper Giant said, "But I know about Sorceresses, and from what Penny has learned about Musaline she's one of the most powerful that has been on the planet."
"It's Salem." Winter said, "Although, the General does seem to misdirect his priorities."
"Yeah, it should be rather obvious that Musaline is the larger threat." Qrow said.
"You have to hide." Penny said picking me up.
"Ah Penny what are you doing you don't have to go with them I can help you!" I cried as Penny threw me into a dumpster.
"It's okay Ruby, they're not bad people, I just don't want you to get into trouble. Just promise me you won't tell anyone about my secret." Penny said.
"I promise." I said as Penny closed the dumpster.
"And you didn't break that promise Ruby." Penny said, "Thank you."
"No problem Penny." Ruby said.
"Salutations officers." Penny said to the soldiers.
"Why were you running, and what happened the other girl?" Soldier A asked.
"What other girl? I've been by myself all day." Penny said followed by a hiccup.
"Man, these idiots can't seem to catch a lie when they hear it, can they?" Yang asked.
"You shouldn't cause such a scene." Soldier A said.
"Are you okay?" Soldier B asked.
"Just a scratch." Penny said showing them her hands.
"Technically, it WAS a scratch." Ruby said.
"Yep." Penny added.
"Penny, your father isn't going to be happy about this. Please just come with us." Soldier A said.
"Yes sir." Penny said walking off.
I looked down and saw a rather large raccoon, which chittered at me loudly and caused me to jump.
"Ugh." Weiss said.
"I hate raccoons." Winter said.
[Yang's P.O.V.]
"And here's Yang." Blake said.
We arrived in front of Juniors club riding my motorcycle, Bumblebee, Neptune seemed to be petrified by how I drove, it wasn't that bad.
"Bullshit." Ruby fake-coughed.
"Smooth mom." Alicia said.
"That was awesome!" Ifrit cheered, at least someone likes my driving.
"Hey, my driving isn't THAT bad." Yang said.
Anyway as we walked up to the doors the two guards standing in front of it saw me, looked like they just shit themselves, and ran inside in fear.
"Considering what you did to his club, I'm not surprised." Alicia said.
"Yep." Tronmaster said.
I figured they wouldn't let me in very easily so I did the next best thing.
"Yang..." Tai growled.
I blew the doors open with a well placed punch from Ember Celica.
Yang proceeded to sink at the gaze of her father, mother and stepmother.
"Smooth firecracker." Qrow said.
"Guess who's back!" I cheered as every single guy in the place who worked for Junior pointed a gun at here, the DJ even stopped the music that was starting to skip.
"Yang, define friend for me." Neptune said walking up behind me and causing a few people to point guns at him.
"Man, Junior must've been cautious of you coming back Yang." Tronmaster said.
"Stop, stop. Nobody shoot." Junior said making his way up to us.
"Blondie, you're here. Why?" Junior asked.
"You still owe me a drink." I said walking up to him casually, and then dragging him off.
"Yang..." Tai, Raven and Summer growled.
Yang proceeded to chuckle nervously.
[Blake P.O.V.]
"And here's Blake with the weather." Nora said.
I put three of my fingers on a trio of white claw marks on a wall, then looked over to see a man usher in a pair of Faunus, "This is it." I said.
"Are you sure?" Sun asked, I glared at him.
"Kid, just take her word for it." Diablos said.
"Again, she's the ex-White Fang member. She has the experience." Alicia said.
"Agreed." Tronmaster said.
"New recruits right this way." A White Fang soldier said ushering in a pair of Faunus.
"I don't get it, if you believe if you're fighting for is good, why hide who you are?" Sun asked.
"I'm curious about that myself." Winter said.
"Same." Weiss said.
"The masks are a symbol, humanity wanted to make monsters of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters." I said.
"Grimm masks, that's kinda dark." Sun said.
"So is the guy who started it." I said putting a mask on.
"And to think that my father helped pushed that." Weiss said disgusted.
"Be careful, I can sense NG soldiers in the building." Diablos said looking around, "They might be here to spy under Musaline's orders so at least they'll be a distraction if we get busted."
"That's... actually going to be helpful to have." Sun said putting his mask on.
"That certainly is a good distraction." Winter said.
"Yep, and I get the feeling that shit's gonna go down." Qrow said.
We entered a large room, at the front was a large White Fang tarp hiding something. The Faunus in the room were split in half based on who was garbed in the uniform and who wasn't.
"Jeez, that's a lot of Faunus." Neptune said.
"A lot of disenfranchised people." Winter breathed, "All partially thanks to my Father."
"Hiding your presence, and mine." Diablos said as we hid among the crowd.
A large Faunus stepped up in front of the tarp, "Thank you all for coming." The man said, "For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade. I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for, for so long." The man said, that's when Roman Torchwick walked into view.
"And, cue Asshat McDoucebag." Tronmaster said.
Roman was instantly met with a large amount of disapproval, "Thank you, thank you, please hold your applause." Roman called.
"Man, what a prick." Jaune said.
"You're not wrong Jaune." Blake said.
"What's a human doing here?" a girl called.
"I'm glad you asked deary." Roman said, "Now I'll be the first to admit, humans are the worst, case in point, me. So I understand why you want to see us all locked away, or better yet killed." Roman said.
"So is he going somewhere with this or..." Sun asked.
"I'm wondering that myself." Qrow said.
"I like to mention the fact you and I all have a common enemy, the ones in control, the one pulling the strings, the dirty rotten humans that run our kingdoms. Government, Military, even the schools, they're all to blame for your lot in life." Roman said, "The same can be said for all those traitorous Faunus that left the White Fang to join up with those NEO Galbadians."
"To be fair to the NEO Galbadians, they ARE more accepting than the Kingdoms." Blake said.
"But, Musaline DOES have some delusions of godhood." Glynda said, "Even if her intentions are well-meaning."
"And they're all pests that need to be dealt with, fortunately I'm the best exterminator around." Roman said turning away, "No offense to any rodents in the room." Roman added quickly. He then snapped his fingers and one of the tarps fell off to reveal an Atlesian Paladin Mech under it.
"How the flying fuck did they get their hands on one of those?" Tai asked.
"Anime logic." Tronmaster said, shrugging.
"That's a big robot." Sun said.
"I didn't know Captain Kirk was here." Alicia said.
"How did he get that?" I asked.
"It won't matter in the end for us though." Diablos said.
"As some of you may have heard, this here is Atlas's newest line of defense against all of the scary things in the world, and thanks to my employer, we've managed to snag a few before that ahh... hit the shelves, now many of your brothers have moment down to our operation in the southeast, if you'd rather stay in the city, that's fine, but if you're trul ready to fight for what you believe in, then I can provide you." Roman said.
"He's seriously arming them for a full-blown war." Glynda said.
"Yep." Alicia said.
"We should get out of here." I said.
"All new recruits please come forward." A man called and the crowd started pushing us forward.
"Oh boy." Qrow said.
"Not good." Neptune said.
[Yang P.O.V.]
"I don't know." Junior said.
"And, cue the complaining." Alicia said.
"How can you not know?" I demanded.
"I haven't talked to him. I haven't even seen him since the night he first came in here. He paid up front, I lend him my men, and none of them ever came back." Junior said.
"Also known as the night Ruby kicked their asses." Nora said.
"It was a curbstomp." Pyrrha said.
"So where did they go?" Neptune asked taking a seat next to me.
"I probably should've shut up." Neptune said.
"Considering that you later would get your ass tossed off a freeway, yeah, those two have no correlation." Alicia said.
"I don't have any idea, who is this guy?" Junior asked.
"Don't worry about him, worry about me if I don't find out what I want." I demanded, lifting the bar table about a foot into the air with one hand to emphasize my point.
"While I certainly don't approve of you drinking before you graduate, drinking age be damned." Tai said, "But I am glad that your only there to gather information."
"I already told you everything. Torchwick hired my boys and I guess he wasn't happy with them, which is something I can relate to!" Junior yelled at his men, causing them to hesitate in their movements and make up excuses.
"Come on Neptune." I said leaving.
"Well, that was a waste of time." Qrow said.
"It kinda was." Yang said.
[Blake P.O.V.]
"And, back to Blake for traffic." Weiss joked.
We managed to slide out of the pushing crowd, "What are we gonna do?" Sun asked.
"Run." Nora said.
"That wouldn't work." Ren said.
"I'm thinking." I said, that's when Roman looked in our direction and scowled.
"He sees us." Sun said as Roman started approaching, that's when I saw a fuse box.
"He can't see in the dark." I said and pulled out Gambol Shroud and fired at the fusebox.
"That's actually a smart idea." Raven said.
With the lights out we burst out of the windows as Roman shouted orders, and I heard something power up. I even heard the NG shout out.
"Shit, who the hell fired their gun!?" A woman shouted.
"We're compromised." A man said, "Return to the extraction zone and we'll re-group there. Musaline would want to know about this."
"Yep, always best to tell the boss-lady what's going on." Qrow said.
"Especially when it comes to shoddily-made mechs." Alicia said.
[Ruby P.O.V.]
"And, we're back to Ruby." Sun said.
I hopped out of the dumpster and heard my scroll ring, I picked it up to hear-
"Everyone, if you can hear me we need backup!" Blake said over the scroll, though her last word was overlapped by a loud yell from Sun.
"They got a robot, it's big, really big!" Sun shouted, "That Torchwick guys in it, but not like it's eaten him, he's like controlling it or something!" Sun finished.
"Jeez, Torchwick really hates you two, don't they?" Tai asked.
"He hates me even more." Ruby said.
"We better go help them." Alexander said... "But... I can feel something else, something... familiar approaching."
"Yeah, it's Gilgamesh." Raven said.
"Speaking of Gilgamesh, where did he go?" Jaune asked.
"I heard him mumble something about wanting food, and he teleported away." Penny said.
I took off down the street, it shouldn't be too hard to find a giant robot after all... but what is this familiar thing Alexander is sensing?
I arrived just in time to see Sun and Neptune get knocked away by an Atlesian Paladin.
"Aw man, we don't even see us being badass?" Neptune whined.
"Nope." Tronmaster said.
"I'm in position!" I shouted over the scroll as I reached the under side of the bridge.
"Time to see us wreck a Paladin!" Yang said.
Seconds later I saw the Paladin tumble down and land in front of me, soon the rest of my team landed next to me with their weapons ready.
"Let's see how the Paladin hold up to four Guardian Forces." Winter said.
"Very poorly." Raven said.
"Alright then..." Torchwick growled within the machine, "Let's see just how well this thing holds-"
Torchwick didn't get to finish his sentence as a white line flashed diagonally across the middle of the mech, the top half being sent flying in the air and spinning.
The upper half of the Paladin crashed back into the lower half, shattering both halves of the mech and creating a massive dust cloud that blocked our vision.
"Or, the Paladin will go down like a punk bitch." Qrow said.
"Shit..." I heard Torchwick say, "Neo, get me out of here, fast!"
The sound of glass shattered followed soon after that.
"And there goes Neo." Tronmaster said, "And, the entire fandom is in love with her."
"Why?" Yang asked.
"I haven't the slightest clue." Alicia said.
"Not that I mind the help..." Yang said, "But who the heck helped us?"
"It was Gilgamesh." All the readers said.
"Hahahahahaha." A deep male voice chuckled.
"No way." Shiva said, her eyes going wide.
"It's him." Ifrit said.
"He's back." Alexander said.
"Oh crud this is either going to be really good, or really bad." Diablos said.
"How bad?" Nora said.
"Just keep watching." Tronmaster said.
"What are you guys talking about?" Weiss asked.
"Here it comes." Alicia said.
"Prepare yourselves you four." The male voice said, "For you are about to face the greatest warrior to ever step foot in Remnant, Me-"
We saw a large figure in the dust move, before a powerful burst of wind caused by a swing of an arm dispersed the dust, revealing to a man in a red cloak that was almost three times the size of a human or Faunus, with four arms on one side of his body, one of which held a large sword.
"GILGAMESH!"
"Guess I'm going to read the fight." Weiss said.
"Now, where in the world is Gilgamesh?" Tronmaster mumbled.
"He doesn't want to miss this!" Diablos said.
Adam: Well, Ruby and I are going to find Gilgamesh.
OOH Ruby: Yep, Melody, Jenkins, you two and Hector stay here.
Jenkins: You got it!
Melody: Yes ma'am!
Hector: When the fuck did I get dragged into this?!