Author's Note:

Sorry for the long wait, but if you've been paying to my new twitter page. Which you should since that's how I'll be communicating status of fics and such. You'll know that I was pretty busy for the past few weeks. It's ( Lorion97)

That being said, I hope that you enjoy the next chapter, and as usual, please leave a review, and do all the usual.

- Lor

Chapter 3: Shifting Future

"So who is this man in the red?" Yang asked, catching up to me as I left the place.

"The man that I'm hunting for," I replied without looking at her.

We hurriedly left the establishment and began to head down the street, I began to look around searching for some sign of this man. I remembered his file and what he did in my time. The man was a straight up psychotic murderer, now that I think about it, is he even human anymore? The man turned himself into a robot with the intent of living immortally, and the mad man did it.

He made himself immortal, and for what?

It was my sixth month on the force, the force that my mother was in charge of. I had no problems with that, she was an amazing leader despite her cheerful and light hearted attitude when she was off duty. At the time I was at the status of captain, I'd earned notice during my missions on the field, securing peace and fighting Grimm. Even in the future the threat of the Grimm was still at large. It was the fate of the world, in light there is darkness as one cannot exist without the other.

Either way, I'd caught notice of the man when I was with my mom looking over criminal files. I was in her office as we were huddled around a single computer; she was showing me how she checked up on the criminal files. Though why her I had no idea, she should really be doing other work, she was the head of the force after all. "Hey, mom, this guy's file, it's enormous," I stated. I was wearing a formal outfit. Mom was wearing a black and red outfit with a black top and a red dress for the bottom.

"Yes, Jack's," She began.

"Why is it so huge? I began to slide my finger down on the screen. "Child murder, theft, heck even ransom, this is absurd." I continued to scroll through the cases that were covered by him. There were ten incidents, all of which featured him escaping followed by several random crimes. "Mom, this guy is a psychotic criminal."

"Yes Haru, and you really shouldn't be looking at that," She said trying to switch the record.

"Mom, I want to look," I told her. "I'm not a kid anymore; I have a right to know about every single criminal we have locked up."

"Not this one Haru," She closed the program.

I opened it again, this time a bit more agitated, "Mom, I want to look, and I will, whether you want me to or not."

She sighed in return, "Okay, but, Haru, I want you to promise me that," She began before a siren began to blare.

"What's that?" I screamed over the siren.

I looked at her face and I saw a look of horror, "It's the maximum security prison."

"Is that where he's held?" I asked frantically.

"Yes," She answered.

She pushed a button a red button on her desk; I felt something from the bottom of my chair and got out of the way, taking the chair with me. From the bottom of the floor shot out a red and black coloured rectangular object, several cartridges of ammunition and a red and black outfit. Ruby grabbed them and immediately put on the red and black outfit. All in a matter of seconds, a brief case popped up and she caught that as well.

The case was large, silver, and metallic, with two clips holding it closed. As well there seemed to be a dinosaur emblem similar to V's head. I looked at it with wonder; she opened the case as two clacks were heard. Inside of the case was a type of foam surrounding the V-Commander, as well as the DV-Defender and a holster. Mom took it and held it in her hands before giving it to me, "Your weapons," She simply stated.

"What?" I questioned.

"There's no time to explain Haru," She told me.

I followed her order and nodded, equipping the bracer onto my left arm and holstering my blaster. We ran down to the prison.

We proceeded down the halls as several officers began to suit up in rapid fashion; they followed after mom as she led them down to the maximum security prison. As we arrived at the maximum security prison I saw a sight to behold, the lights were all knocked out as several guards seemed to be lying on the floor.

She bent down to inspect the bodies while a huddled mass of the guards towered over her. I could barely see as I made my way to the front, but by the time I made it to the front I wished I didn't.

The air reeked of dead bodies and as I looked at the mess that laid there before me. I saw flesh that was melted straight through the skin, exposing the muscle underneath of it. Several of them were lying on the ground, their jaw open as their teeth were exposed, the lips of their mouth melted off. Even worse several of them were missing body parts, only being stumps attached to their heads. And some of them were completely missing flesh on their body, as if something bit onto them. I looked around the walls as they were coated with blood.

My body felt like puking, the stench of the dead, rotting bodies as well as the simple sight of the horror that I saw. I ran to the wall as I attempted to stomach it down, I gulped, at least that eased the unease in my stomach. My body was instinctively anxious as I was in shock still. I began to walk forward and studied the scene once more, besides the bodies there seemed to be a door to the right that was broken, the steel girders which used to board up the door were bent open as it pulsed with electricity. Several guards went in to investigate as they shined their flashlights in the cell.

Mom also followed them but I decided to wait outside. I could see frequent lights shining over the cell.

"All clear," One person said.

I looked around on the outside and found what looked like to be a trail along the wall, "Chief!" I called for mom.

She came out and went over to me, "Did you find anything?" She asked. I simply pointed to the trail of blood on the walls. She knew immediately where Jack was going and took charge, "Alright, squadron A head upstairs and cut off the floor above us, he could be circling around upstairs, Squadron B, check the basement, Squadron C, check the rest of this floor down this way. Haru, you're with me."

"Roger!" We all replied.

Squadron C left to follow the trail while Mom took me and went to check the other side. We searched down the halls; I began to hear a clicking sound as we searched. She held up her arm to stop me, and deployed her scythe. We scanned the area and zeroed in on the clicking, taking several steps forward before finding the clicking around the corner.

Mom nodded to me and I took my position behind her, my blaster in hand. She turned around the corner and what met us was what looked to be a human body being feasted on by another human. There was a single light over the figure that was looming over the body; the lights flickered as we stepped forward. My blaster raised and Mom's scythe at the ready.

"Jack, your orders are to stand down," She ordered.

The man merely stood up as I saw red piercing eyes focus on us. After a minute of staring it began to speak. "Oh, Ms. Rose, or wait," It then focussed its attention on me. "Or should I say, Mrs. Rose."

"Stand down Jack!" She ordered.

He began to laugh, "Stand down!" I ordered.

I blinked for a mere moment he moved in the blink of an eye, knocking me onto the ground as my eyes were closed. It was too late, by the time I'd opened my eyes, Jack was gripping onto Mom's arm, her weapon on the ground as she bit onto her arm.

I heard a rip of flesh as he'd ripped out a strip of flesh and muscle from her arm.

"My, what a delight," He slurped. "I knew it would be refreshing."

I slid on the floor until I hit the wall. My vision began to blur as I saw another figure dash by and smash into Jack. "Haru!" I heard an older female voice call. I was shaken awake by the sudden movement around me.

I opened my eyes to find a blond female fighting Jack. I looked up as my vision cleared. I saw the blond female tend to my mom. "Ruby!" I heard her voice yell out.

I shook my head as I began to stand up, it took me a mere second before I realized what had happened. She was lying in front of me as I scrambled over. Her arm was soaked in blood; I kneeled as I looked over at her. "Mom!" I screamed, holding her in my arms.

I finally realized who came to my rescue, it was Auntie Yang. "I came as fast as I could," She began to say. "Damn it!" She hollered as she slammed her fist onto the ground.

I began to tear, "Mom! Hang in there!" I told her.

She opened her eyes slightly, and I could see her silver pupils focus as I could see them tear. She reached for my face with her free hand, "Haru, I, love, you," She coughed out.

"Mom!" I screamed out, tearing. She closed her eyes as her head fell limply.

First came sorrow, the idea of losing my mother. The happy memories that we shared together seemed to shatter, I still remember when I was four and we baked cookies together. I was bending on my tippy toes as I tried to help her mix the batter. She came in wearing a red apron and watched me as I struggled.

I was struggling with my tiny hands and body as I attempted to mix the batter on the counter top. She came in while tying the apron on, I turned my head and looked at her with a big smile.

"I'm helping!" I said still balancing on my tippy toes, she laughed in return with a bright smile. My feet gave in and I fell forward, my hands instinctively gripped onto the bowl as it fell down with me. The bowl of batter landed on my head with bits and pieces on my face. I opened my eyes to see the bowl on top of me and I began to tear.

"Oh Haru," She said as she came over to wipe my face.

I lifted the bowl off of my head, "Bu-But, the cookies." I muttered.

"It's alright!" She exclaimed with a big smile. "We'll make another batch." As I was looking at her bright and smiling face I couldn't help but smile. She then puckered her mouth forward and crossed her eyes slightly, I began to laugh. She also laughed as well, "See? Everything's alright." She cleaned up my face and kissed me on the cheek. "Better?"

I smiled in return, "Yea mom!" I told her with a smile.

She grinned while showing her teeth and closing her eyes, "Let's go and make a fresh batch."

"Yay!" I exclaimed, jumping up and down, I then jumped forward and hugged her.

"I love you," She told me.

"I love you too mommy!" I answered. She smiled in return, "Hee!" I giggled.

I bit down on my lip hard as I slammed my hand on the floor. "I'm gonna kill him!" I shouted as I stomped off.

"Wait, Haru!" Auntie Yang hollered as she grabbed my arm. "Don't do something you're going to regret. Revenge is not the answer."

I merely shook her off and ran after him, determined to kill him. I heard laughter down the halls; it seemed to be coming from the ceiling ahead of me. "AHAHAHA! Oh, your mother was such a succulent prize, her flesh melted in my mouth." The hissed paused, "Ah, ssss, I wonder what your flesh tastes like."

"You bastard!" I yelled, "Where are you!"

"Oh, I wonder what you taste like," He slurped.

I began to scan around the room looking for him; I checked up and found him right on top of me, he jumped down on top of me. I held up my left arm to block him while using my right arm to hold his neck. He began to push closer to my body, his mouth opening up and down as it clicked with a metallic sound. His jaw slowly crept to my neck, intending to bite down on it. I began to sweat and my arms began to strain under the pressure. I could feel hard metallic teeth on my shoulder; he made for one final push, in that moment I let go and went for my blaster, shooting his side and blowing a hole in its exterior.

It let go of me and bounced back, "Oh, I see you have a few tricks up your sleeve, your mother always had a few up hers." He told me, "But it won't save you."

He seemed to spit something at the lights, it cut straight through the wires, cutting off the light. I looked around as the lights vanished. I felt something hit me from behind, then a large claw from the front. "Agh!" I screamed, falling to the floor as he tripped me.

"Hmph, humans, you bleed, and bleed, me? I can never be destroyed, I'll always live! Ahahahaha!" He cackled.

"What are you!" I asked, while on the ground.

He kneeled down towards me and picked my head, "I'm a machine."

He then began to choke the life out of me, I attempt to grab his arms and get them off of my neck but his arms were infinitely stronger than mine. The ceiling began to go white as I began to fall into death's cold arms. I then heard a voice call my name followed by a massive jerk. "Haru! You idiot!" It said.

I fell down to the ground as I panted, my lungs running for oxygen as my vision faded from white and back into the darkness of the room. Yang was standing over me, her yellow gauntlets extended as her arm had completed a right swing. "You idiot, use the passcode," She told me.

"Pass code?" I questioned, still fazed. I then looked up to see Jack strike again. This time he had his arms open as he was in mid pounce. "Watch out!" I warned. He grabbed onto Yang's gauntlet and pinned her to the ground.

"Time," She said, struggling under Jack's pressure. "Fi," She continued. Jack pushed her arm away and bit onto the upper portion of her arm, ripping and tearing a chunk of flesh straight from Yang's left arm.

"Hmm, tasty, a bit smoked, but, tasty none the less," He stated.

"Aunt!" I screamed out.

I saw her face turn to a pale tone instantly as blood began to pour out. "The bracer," She sputtered between a hack. "The eternal flame," She said before losing consciousness.

Jack then kicked her body over to the side, "Now, with that pest gone," He said, before walking back over to pick me up by the neck.

He then resumed choking the life out of me, I was too injured to fight back or do anything, I tried to grasp for any escape, any way out. I began to sweat as my eyes began to fade into white; I then remembered the incomplete phrase that Yang told me. Time, fi? Flame? "T-Ti-me, fi-fi-re." I coughed out, somehow, some way; the hands on my neck began to loosen.

"Agh!" I heard Jack scream.

My vision immediately became white as the suit enveloped me. At the time I thought that I was truly dead. I opened my eyes a few minutes later to find myself in some kind of suit. I looked forward, there seemed to be a digital screen in front of me that was rendering everything. The HUD was triangular in shape with jagged edges along the bottom. I looked forward and found everything on fire and flames around me, as if a massive burst of heat incinerated everything in the vicinity of me.

I looked down at my hands to find that they were gloved with red cloth. I then touched my face with my hand and found that I was wearing a helmet.

"Ah, bastard," Jack scowled; I saw that his hand were scorched and burned off. There seemed to be plastic residue from his exterior popping off, as it crumbled apart, showing me his metallic workings. "Hmph, so you do have another trick."

I took a deep breath and faced him, I drew my blaster, "Operator, I suggest changing the DV Defender from Vulcan mode to Defender mode," I heard a robotic voice from inside my helmet state. "I then recommend finishing the target with the DV Re-Freezer to finish the target." A green screen was brought up showing a button on my blaster.

I clicked it and found the blaster snap forward followed by a blade protruding out of it. I then ran my fingers along the bladed portion as it turned the blade into a blue energy. "Go back to the hole you came from," I told him as I charged forward, using my small speed semblance to dash towards him.

"Try all you want, but I'll just escape again," He said. I then slashed him across the bottom, instantly the ice began to freeze him, though it was not like normal freezing, it seemed to merely seize up the body of whatever it touched. "The real rampage begins in time."

He fell down in a frozen state; the body seemed to seize up as it fell. I picked him up and found that he was rock hard. I took a deep breath before remembering about mom. "Mom, Auntie," I said before checking up on them.

Thankfully the injuries, although large, were not fatal; I did receive several panic attacks as they woke up in the hospital. To which mom hugged me as tight as she could. I cried for a moment as I held onto her. Auntie Yang made it out alright too, though her recovery was slated to be longer due to the nature of her beating.

In the end, I was just happy to find that they were okay.

The two of us exited a building as I began to search around the streets. "You're too worried Haru, you should relax more," Yang told me, trying to ease me up.

"You don't know him like I do," I replied, continuing to walk faster down the street.

"Well you aren't going to find him like this," Yang scolded me.

"You don't understand how dangerous he is!" I shouted back.

"It's the middle of the night Haru, think," Yang said.

"No, he's here somewhere; you don't understand what's at stake!" I shouted back.

"And you expect to find him just by searching?" Yang questioned. "It's not like he's just going to appear out of thin air!"

Just then I began to hear metallic clicking sounds, "Now, who's going to appear out of thin air?" I heard the voice say. We both turned behind us to find a man advancing towards us. I stared at the figure advancing towards us and saw the familiar figure; my face began to grow cold as I saw him approach us. It was the one who has haunted and nearly killed both my mother and my aunt.

It was Jack.

His hair was a neatly parted blonde hair and he had blue eyes. His figure himself was slender and sleek, he wore a dress suit. Though none of this hid his malicious smile, "Did you miss me?" He asked. "You know, it's a funny thing, now that I'm in the past I can get away with anything I want," He continued.

"The past, what is he talking about?" Yang questioned.

"Oh, you haven't told her? Right, protocols and that," Jack told Yang. "Though come to think of it," He continued, walking towards us. He was still far down the street but I knew that it wouldn't stop him from instantly reaching us.

I pulled out the DV Defender and turned it into Defender mode. "How do we know that everything we do creates an alternate timeline? Or maybe, it is a singular time line and everything in the past affects the future." Jack continued. "There's only one way to test this," He said, his eyes glowing red before disappearing.

"Where is he?" Yang questioned, as she extended her gauntlets.

"It's his super speed," I told her before scanning the area. I looked left to where Yang was and Jack popped out from her side. "Watch out!"

Yang turned and immediately blocked as Jack swung down with his hands stretched out like claws. She then countered with an uppercut, sending Jack backwards and into a building. The impact created a slight jolt in the building but it was not enough to shatter it. "Hmph, so you did have your moves during this time." Jack stated, picking himself up. "But you aren't full-fledged," He continued, I began to run for him, using my enhanced speed to pick up the pace.

I made it just in time to block his counter with my blade, using a back hand block. "Time Fire!" I said into my bracer, activating the transformation sequence. Large amounts of energy began to burst from me, expelling them into Jack. Due to the energy I had to close my eyes, though I expected that he would be hurt in some way from the blast.

After the transformation finished I opened my eyes first and found that he was unscathed, "Surprised?" He taunted.

I grabbed onto his neck in retaliation, "You'll be dead this time!"

"You so sure about that?" He questioned, he moved his right hand to his left and I felt a button pressed. I then felt a massive surge of energy come forth from him that I was not ready for.

Blown backward I was knocked to the ground, "Haru!" Yang called. I felt immense pain from my lower back as I'd skidded across the cement, creating a crater in the ground. I then flipped onto my front side as I tumbled, before finally landed on my front.

I looked up to find Jack in the Time Red costume, the next completed suit. This one was far better than mine as it came with enhanced abilities, enhancing the user's strength, speed, and endurance far beyond the Time Fire suit. "Oh yeah, I got myself one of these, but you already knew that from before." Jack took a pause, "Now, where was my train of thought, oh right, testing the theory."

He teleported behind Yang and grabbed her right arm with one arm while moving his other hand behind his back, a sword materialized out of thin air. He held the sword in the air, "No!" I screamed. I didn't want anybody else to suffer, no, not ever. Not for this, this wasn't even her fight.

He swung, creating a clean slice and leaving a stump left. I felt an immense shock to my brain; it began to flow with different memories, memories of Auntie Yang with a prosthetic arm. It wasn't completely perfect but was very close to perfection; still, there were some things that she just couldn't do. As much as she felt my cheek when I was a child all I felt was cold steel.

"No!" I heard someone scream.

"Feeling the new memories?" Jack asked, discarding Yang off to the side.

I saw Ruby, Blake and Weiss join us, they saw me on the ground and the figure in front of us. Weiss came beside me and looked at Yang, then to the stump of her arm that was left on the ground; I heard her mouth bob open as she seemed to regurgitate food. Yang's arm and body were losing blood fast as it oozed onto the ground.

"You! You monster!" I heard Ruby scream before engaging Jack.

Weiss popped out her food before wiping her mouth with a handkerchief and discarding it. Blake went over to pick up Yang, "God! Yang!" She screamed.

Weiss then picked me up and put my left arm over her shoulder, "Her arm," I told her. Blake hesitated for a moment, "Pick up her arm!" I shouted. She did so, and I looked over to Weiss, "We don't have much time, if you still want your teammate in one peace do as I say!" Blake nodded and immediately picked up her detached arm. "We have to leave, now!" I told Weiss; in the situation nobody questioned me, not even Weiss.

"Ruby! We have to go!" I ordered.

The two were still dancing and Ruby had placed a distance between her and Jack. She looked once at Jack, then back to Yang, "Grah!" She screamed, shooting a round at Jack before helping us retreat.

"What the heck happened!" Ruby questioned, furiously.

"I'll explain later, right now we have to help Yang!" I ordered.

We made our way as fast as possible, hang in there Yang. I thought to myself as we rode the shuttle bus hurriedly back.

Don't die on me yet. You're too strong to die.

As we arrived I began to run upstairs, "Where are you going!" Ruby questioned, "The infirmary is this way!"

"Upstairs, my room, now!" I barked before rushing upstairs and into my room. Blake immediately followed, trusting me to save her partner and teammate.

I bolted and slammed open my room; "Lay her on the bed," I told Blake. V who was snoozing in the room woke up and looked around, it began to whimper. "Not now." I told him. "Lay her arm where it should be." I told Blake.

Blake did so; I rummaged through my uniform and came up with a vial of metallic looking liquid. "I hope you know what you're doing." Blake said.

"I just hope we're not too late," I replied, popping open the vial and pouring the metallic liquid over her arm. It didn't have any effect at first. I waited, minutes passed by and nothing changed, none of the colour in her complexion was returning. I then slammed hands on the bed. "No!" I shouted. "No."

I took my helmet off and slammed it onto the ground before burying my face into the bloodied blanket. I cried, I cried tears, thinking that I would lose Auntie Yang; she was another important person in my life. She always knew how to make me smile, even when I would come home from school miserable and sad while Mom was at work. She would always put on the biggest smile and pinch my check, hugging me tightly as she was doing so. And every single time I'd laugh and feel better almost instantaneously.

I looked up and wiped my hand, "I'm sorry," I said. As I wiped the last tear I saw something change, the liquid was absorbed into her arm and sealed the detached arm to the stump.

Yang opened her eyes instantly and looked around, "What, what happened?"

"I, I," I stuttered before crying in joy.

Blake herself was very curious, her eyes sticking wide open and her face slightly paling, as to how the miracle just happened, "How, how are you feeling Yang?" She asked.

"Better than I've ever felt," She replied. "And why is he crying?"

Blake decided to put it straight and bluntly, "We, we thought you were dead."

"Dead? What do you mean?" Yang questioned.

Weiss and Ruby barged into the room, Ruby immediately hugging onto Yang, "Yang! You're, you're okay!" She exclaimed, before beginning to cry into her sister's chest.

Yang returned the hug and the two merely stayed there, Yang comforting Ruby mostly. Weiss who was looking at the two sisters then turned her attention to me, "You," Weiss began. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

I wiped my tears aside and returned as best as I could to my usual self, now, now I couldn't escape the explanation. I decided to tell them the truth, "Alright, it's a long story."

Author's Note:

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