A/N: I really wasn't sure how I felt about this chapter. I still feel like something's wrong or missing. But, you guys can thank my cousin for talking me into posting it.

Anyway, about Church's story. I believe that Alpha's original body, (from season one) was a flash clone. Now, hear me out. When he died - helped along by Caboose and Sheila, mind you - and he came back as a 'ghost' and found his 'corpse', there was blood, the body was decomposing, Tucker could smell it and there were vultures. Now, if he were in a robot body, how could that be? Also, in season nine, he made a remark about having a human body before. So, in my mind, it all adds up to... a flash cloned body of the original Dr. Leonard Church. What do you guys think?

Also, credit for the part about Ruby's teammates (Yang) questioning Church's intentions goes to DimmaDan. We both had the same thought. O.o Spooky. Anyways, thanks to all of you who've reviewed, favorited and followed. Let's begin.

Cheese PuffXx: Thank you. And I happen to like Skillet's music a lot. Heh. (Sorry! I didn't see your review until recently.)

Warden of Lore: Precisely. :)

Vindexian: Hmm.. you might be right.

Firestarter8635: Well, maybe. Let's just see how it plays out.

MrtheratedG: Thank you! And there will be some. And Church isn't getting a body. At least, not right now.

blaiseingfire: Well...

Iron-ninja: It really, really has. And I'll try to. This chapter was a bit difficult for me. Hopefully the next one's easier.

TheFishKing: Well, your wish is my command, my lord. ;)

Guest: *gasps* Have you returned?! Also, it might be. Heh. Who knows?

Anotamous: Thank you. I hope you enjoy this next chapter! :)

Inquisitek: Well, we wouldn't want him any other way, would we? And thank you! I'm glad you do.

Chapter 4: You Got Some 'Splainin' To Do

Would you believe me if I said I'm tired of this?

Well, here we go now. One more time.

'Cause I tried to climb your steps. I tried to chase you down.

I tried to see how low I could get, down to the ground.

I tried to earn my way. I tried to tame this mind.

You better believe that I have tried to beat this.

So, when will this end? It goes on and on.

Over and over and over again.

Keep spinning around, I know that this won't stop.

'Til I step down from this for good.

Sick Cycle Carousel – Lifehouse

Church cleared his throat, "Just to be clear, keeping me secret wasn't my idea." He said to Ruby's teammates.

"Yang," Ruby pleaded, looking from her sister to their friends, "Weiss… Blake…" But, no matter where she looked, they were all facing Church, weapons at the ready.

"Come on, guys," Church sounded amused, "I'm a hologram. You can't seriously think you could kill me." His statement was met with silence, before he continued, "Look, let's all get this out of the way. My name's Leonard Church. I was also known as the Director, Alpha, and Epsilon. I'm an AI. An artificial intelligence created by a man also named Leonard Church. I was based on his memories. For several complicated reasons, he attached me to a flash cloned body and sent me to the Freelancer Simulation Outpost designated Blood Gulch. I didn't even know what I was until I... Well, my body was killed. A lot of crazy sh... Stuff happened after that. I don't even know how I got here. The last thing I remembered, the guys I was with were preparing to fight off some really bad people. I had... fragmented myself. Next thing I know, I'm implanted into her mind." He nodded to Ruby.

Blam! A bullet whizzed through Church, making him flicker. He glanced down at his chest incredulously before growling, "Okay, now that was just rude."

Yang lowered her Ember Celica shrugging, "Sorry. Hair-trigger." She stepped forward, leaning toward Church, scrutinizing him carefully, "Huh…"

Church leaned back, holding his hands up, "Hey, if you're gonna be getting this close, the least you could do is buy me dinner first." Weiss and Blake snorted at his comment while Ruby rubbed the back of her head.

Uh, what? She thought, nonplussed.

"Nothing, Kid."

"She didn't say anything," Weiss said, staring at Church.

"She didn't need to," Epsilon began, "I – uh – I can hear her thoughts. Well, when she wants me to."

Yang leapt back as the other girls cried out in protest.

"What?"

"Torchwick! Roman Torchwick implanted him in her head!"

"Get him out! Get him out!"

Church heaved a loud sigh, "I'm starting to see what you meant." He cast Ruby a pointed glance as more bullets passed through him harmlessly, making him blink in and out of view. He turned to the older girls, shaking his head, "I'm not working with Roman Torchwick!" Church turned to Ruby, "Talk some sense into 'em, would ya?"

The girl sighed heavily before looking upon her teammates beseechingly, "He's one of us!" She insisted.

"Personally," Her sister began, "I'm more worried about him –" she jabbed an accusing finger at Church, "– spying on us for his own reasons."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked suspiciously.

"Well, he is a guy," Yang stated with a shrug. "Aren't you, little dude?" She called to Epsilon, who grunted his acknowledgment.

"But, that's –" Weiss sputtered, her cheeks inflaming with embarrassment.

"Oh, come on!" Church finally shouted in his own defense. "I would never do something like that!" He snorted, before finishing sheepishly, rubbing the back of his helmet, "Today." Which earned him several more bullets through his head.

"Okay, now this is getting ridiculous!" He snarled.

Ruby stepped in front of him and activated her Hardlight Shield. The others lowered their weapons reluctantly. "He's on our side," She repeated.

"Where did you get that?" Weiss asked. "It doesn't look like any Atlesian technology I've seen."

"I – uh," Ruby stammered, trying to think of a way to explain it, "I found it." She nodded.

"You found it?" Weiss sounded incredulous.

"Yeah…?" Ruby swallowed thickly.

Weiss opened her mouth to continue, her cerulean optics narrowing, but was cut off by the sudden appearance of their teacher, Doctor Oobleck, "Is everything alright, girls?"

The others of Team RWBY turned to their leader, who'd tucked away the shield.

"We're fine!" She chimed brightly.

Ruby turned to Church for help but realized he was gone. Church? There was no response. She sighed and joined her teammates for dinner before they shimmied into their sleeping bags.

Ruby was absorbed into a deep slumber when a voice rudely cut through her dream of eating an abnormally large chocolate chip cookie, "Ruby. Ruby. Damn it, Ruby!" She bolted upright, wincing. Her eye twitched as she looked around for the source of the angry voice. Church hovered in front of her.

"It's about time," he groused.

"What time is it?" Ruby stretched, yawning before glancing at the sleeping forms surrounding the dying fire.

"Stop that," Church said waspishly before yawning as well, causing her to do the same. That was your fault, she thought.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But only because you started it."

Ruby snorted in response before crawling out of the bag, grabbing Crescent Rose as she stood.

"So, what are we doing?" She asked blearily.

"We're going to find out if what I thought is correct," Church announced, casting a glance at Oobleck, who'd slumped against a tree trunk, head down and arms folded.

"Okay," Ruby agreed, following Epsilon deeper into the wood. After what felt like hours of travel, Ruby felt her belief in their journey slowly dissipate. "Are you sure this is the ri -" She started before staggering to a stop.

A large rift was scored in the earth, revealing darker dirt beneath the sparsely covered ground.

"Whoa." She breathed out. "That was a big ship."

"Yeah," Church gazed at the fissure carefully.

Ruby knelt, sifting through the dirt with her fingers. "Think anything might be left behind?"

"I doubt it," Church remarked with a snort, gazing at the scene of the crash.

Ruby continued searching the ground before pausing, unearthing what looked like a memory card. "Church!"

He zapped to her side, "I'll be damned," He was stunned. "Gimme a second and I'll -" He broke off, watching her pull her Scroll from her pocket, extending it to tablet-size before slipping the card into the slot. Ruby tapped several buttons on the holographic screen and accessed the files.

"Or you could do that." He slumped, disappointed. Ruby shot him a small smirk and returned to the screen, a solemn expression settling over her features as she opened the last audio file on the memory card.

A loud beeping emanated from the Scroll before a male voice Church's memories identified as Agent Washington shouted over the noise, "Damn it! We're losing power! Tucker! Get to those terminals and see what you can do!"

Another voice joined the first, Tucker, apparently, "What I can do?! What the hell do you think I can do?!"

Agent Washington clearly wasn't impressed, "Tucker! We're crashing! Just do whatever you can to make sure those idiots don't screw up and we don't die in the process!"

Two voices joined in the argument, shouting in unison, "What do you think we're doing?!" Church verified that they were Grif and Simmons.

Tucker scoffed, "Dude, I don't think he was talking to you! He was talking about you."

"You all should've switched to diesel fuel, and then we wouldn't be in this mess!" Sarge.

"Why didn't anyone give me anything to shout about?!" Caboose. His name came to her.

Agent Washington shouted above all of them, "Everyone, shut up!" The voices stopped before Agent Washington's voice returned, "Mayday! M -" The recording ended there, and Ruby looked at Church, her eyes wide.

Church just looked deflated. He slumped, hovering at her shoulder, his head lowered. He was perfectly still for a moment before a shudder rippled through him and when he spoke, his voice cracked, "Well, guess we know what happened now, don't we?" He floated away, his back to her.

"Church," Ruby started, removing the card from her Scroll, slipping both into her pocket.

He held up his hand, saying slowly, "I let you yank me around, feeding me all these hopes that they might be alive. And when we get here, not only are they not here, but from what we heard, almost all of them are dead. What could you possibly say that might fix that?"

Ruby swallowed a lump rising in her throat and whispered, "I'm sorry. I didn't -"

"Shut up," Church snapped, "Just shut up." Ruby fell silent and lowered her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. She strode away from the scene of the accident and after a while, Church followed her. Neither of them spoke for several minutes. But she could sense Church's state of mind. He was still hurting and angry.

Ruby could tell he was angrier with himself than with her. He was mad at himself because he allowed himself to believe in what she believed. And then he was let down not long after. "Wait..." Ruby halted, speaking more to herself than to Church, "Agent Washington is alive."

She nodded and her eyes widening as the pieces fell into place, "Agent Washington is alive!" She grabbed her Scroll and searched for 'Agent Washington'. Zero search results. She huffed softly.

"Try Project Freelancer," Church suggested, finally speaking up. She looked at him before keying in the search. Same as the last search. Nothing.

"I guess I should have known that wouldn't work," She remarked before flicking through the search page and froze. It was the article that Church read. "I know that place!" She pointed to the picture.

"You do?" Church hovered over her shoulder. Things seemed to be looking up. Again.

"I know you're upset, Church, but I think we should find Agent Washington and find out what actually happened. And if your friends are still alive." Ruby said.

"Nothing can keep you down, eh?" Church said dully.

"Nope!" Ruby said cheerfully.

"Thought so," Church replied, defeated.

Ruby nodded and said, "I know all we have to go on is the picture, but I think someone should have noticed a strange guy in strange armor just walking around, you know?" Silence.

Then, "You got a point there."

And on that note, I'm off to bed. It's almost 5AM. Until next time.