I do not own RvB or RWBY
After several more practices, the plan to reboot Sheila was about to begin. Church, Caboose, Ruby, and Blake were crouching as Sheila was moving around the base. Tex was preparing to head behind Sheila once Caboose began his distraction.
"I don't know what to say," Caboose said. He was beginning to get nervous with this entire plan.
"Caboose, you'll do fine," Ruby assured him.
"Just stay calm," Blake added.
"And don't be nervous. Go out there, hold her attention, and don't say anything stupid," Church said. "No wait, be natural. Say stupid stuff. Go!"
Caboose then began walking towards Sheila, who stopped once she saw Caboose.
"Hello Sheila," Caboose said, a slight tremble in his voice. "How are you doing?"
As Sheila's attention was drawn to Caboose, Tex began to sneak up behind Sheila.
"Oh, hello Caboose. Actually, I'm not functioning at my optimal capacity," Sheila said. "My internal diagnostics indicate I am having mechanical issues. How are you?"
"Um…" Caboose was growing more nervous and was now at a loss for words.
"Caboose!" Church whispered loudly. "Say good."
"What?" Caboose said, turning slightly to where Church, Ruby, and Blake were hiding. "Oh right, uh, good. Pretty good. Really good. I am great. I am absolutely perfect."
"That's too good," Church said.
"Now I am depressed," Cabose said, making a complete 180 on his words. "I am – doing-bad… I don't know if I can go on."
"I don't think he's doing great," Ruby whispered.
"What was your first clue?" Blake said in a deadpanned.
"You seem distracted Caboose," Sheila said.
"Uh, I am not distracted," Caboose said, starting to panic. "I am not distracted. I am distracting. See, that's different 'cause I'm doing it you."
"What?" Sheila asked.
"What!?" Church, Ruby, and Blake said as well.
"I mean I'm very distractable," Caboose said quickly. "Uh, with a high degree of distract-ivity… ness."
"Change the subject," Blake whispered.
"Okay," Caboose whispered back to them before turning back to Sheila. "Sheila, have you seen Tex?"
"What!?" Church shouted. Ruby and Blake quickly pulled him back down. "I mean, what?" he whispered this time.
"What?" Sheila said as well.
"Sheila, do you know what my favorite thing to do is?" Caboose said, the panic rising in his voice. "Not look behind myself. You should try not doing that."
Sheila said nothing and continued to look at Caboose.
"Do you like to collect stamps?" Caboose asked, trying to continue stalling.
"He's dead," Blake said.
"Hey Caboose," Church said. "I think it's wrong for all of us to die because you're an idiot, so we're gonna take off now."
"We can't leave him!" Ruby said to Church.
"Then you two stay, I'm outta here," Church then got up. "I'll see ya, bye." He then headed away.
"Please don't go," Caboose pleaded.
"Don't worry Caboose, we're not going anywhere," Ruby assured him. "Right Blake?"
"Unfortunately," Blake muttered.
"I am not leaving," Sheila said, moving closer to Caboose.
"Oh good," Caboose said nervously. "Good… Stay."
"You are acting strangely," Sheila said. "And I would like to find out why."
"Oh, okay. Um…" Caboose said.
"Caboose, the Omega A.I. has been missing, and everyone has been attempting to find him," Sheila stated. "If you continue to act erratically, they may mistakenly think he is inside of you, and take drastic measures against you."
"Oh," Caboose said. "I wouldn't want them to do that."
"Exactly," Sheila said. "Luckily, I know where Omega is."
"You do?" Caboose said.
"I thought that A.I. thing was in her," Ruby said to Blake.
"Maybe she's lying," Blake said. "Or maybe we made a mistake in thinking where Omega is."
"Where is he?" Caboose asked.
"He is inside Bluuuuuuoooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrr..." Sheila stopped speaking as she shut down.
"Got it," Tex said as she came up from behind Sheila, having shut her down.
"So close," Ruby said.
"We only needed a few more seconds," Blake said.
"Who is Blurrr?" Caboose asked, not understanding that Sheila was off.
"Come on," Blake said. "Let's go see if we can get any actual answers."
After finding Yang, who was relieving some stress by breaking several rocks, Weiss asked (forced) Yang to help Simmons recover the teleporter. They were slowly moving the teleporter inside the base, where Weiss was waiting for them. They then carefully placed it on the ground.
"I can't believe you had this teleporter around and don't use it," Weiss said.
"Yeah," Yang said. "You just had it lying around with a bunch of other junk."
"Well, it's not exactly functioning the way it's suppose to," Simmons said. "I mean, it did work before, but then Sarge decided to make some... adjustments."
"What did he do?" Weiss asked, though if it involved Sarge, she already knew it was something idiotic.
"He decided to replace the power cell with diesel," Simmons said.
"Diesel?" Yang said.
"It's the fuel we use for our vehicles," Simmons explained. "Which apparently, should not be used with highly sensitive technology. The teleporter got busted after that and we threw it out."
"But you can make it work?" Weiss asked.
"I think so," Simmons said. "If I can just replace the circuitry and hook it up with your Dust, I should theoretically be able to use the teleporter as a doorway back to your dimension."
Weiss nodded, understanding Simmons' idea, while Yang just gave a confused look from the explanation.
"I have no idea what you just said, but if it gets us home, I hope it works," Yang said.
As they talked, they heard Sarge began to stir.
"I think your sergeant is waking up," Weiss said.
"Oh, great," Simmons said unenthusiastically.
"You're not gonna try and knock him out again, are you?" Yang asked.
"No!" Simmons said abruptly. "Anyway, Weiss, fill him in on what's happened and what we're doing."
"What!?" Weiss shouted. "I don't want to talk to him! Why can't you do it?"
"Because I'm trying to fix this machine to get you all home, and I need Yang to help me carry this back to my workplace." Simmons and Yang then picked up the teleporter and began moving it.
"Good luck!" Yang said to her teammate as they walked off.
"Oh, and don't tell him the truth about why he was knocked out for so long!" Simmons added before they were gone from Weiss' view.
Weiss groaned in frustration as she was abandoned. She then turned around as she was now face to face with an awakened Sarge.
"What. In the hell. Has been going on!" Sarge shouted.
"Hello, Sarge," Weiss said, irritated. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"Well, last thing I remember was getting ready to be buried," Sarge recalled. "After that, complete darkness." He then looked at Weiss. "Hey, wait a second, didn't you and the girl in the red cloak go over to the Blue base?"
Weiss sighed. "You might want to sit down. You've missed a lot."
After pretty much abandoning Weiss to deal with Sarge, Simmons and Yang finally reached Simmons quarters. Once they did, they placed the teleporter down.
"Phew," Simmons said. "Finally, we're here. Man this thing is heavy."
"Really," Yang said. "Barely felt anything.
"Of course you didn't," Simmons said, remembering Yang's unnatural strength. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask. How are you so strong?"
"Well, that's all natural talent," Yang said. She decided not to mention her Semblance, not wanting to confuse Simmons.
"Hey!" Grif shouted as he entered Simmons' quarters. "Will you keep it down, I'm doing some important stuff!"
"Sleeping is not important," Simmons said.
"It is when you're practicing to sleep while standing," Grif said. "That way, I can get some shut eye when you or Sarge yell at me."
"Wait, won't they know that you're not awake if you don't talk?" Yang pointed out.
"Easy fix," Grif continued. "I just record what I usually say to them. They'll never know the difference."
"You're an idiot," Simmons said.
"An idiot who can sleep through your nagging," Grif said. He then saw the teleporter. "Hey, what're you guys doing?"
"Actual work," Simmons said.
"We're going to use this teleporter and try to get me and my team back home," Yang said.
"Oh," Grif said. "Okay then. Good luck with that."
"Ohoho," Simmons said as he grabbed Grif and pulled him back before he could leave. "You're not going anywhere. You'r helping."
"What!?" Grif whined. "This is all science-y stuff. I can't help you with this."
"No, but you can help with adjusting the wiring and anything else that I tell you to do," Simmons said.
"You can't tell me what to do," Grif said. "You're not the leader."
"As long as Sarge is still passed out, I am," Simmons said.
"But we just saw-" Yang began to say.
"That Sarge was still passed out," Simmons insisted. "Which means Grif still has to listen to me, right?"
"Oh, right," Yang said, understanding what Simmons was doing.
"So start getting to work," Simmons ordered.
Grif groaned. "Ugh, I think I miss being stuck between the ship."
Back at Blue base, Caboose, Ruby, and Blake were talking with Church regarding the information that Sheila could have. This meant they needed to switch her back on, which was something Church was very against doing.
"You want us to turn her back on again. After we just went through all that trouble to shut her down," Church said, incredulous at their suggestion.
"But she said she knows where O'Malley is," Caboose said.
"Maybe she was lying," Church said.
"But what if she wasn't," Ruby said. "What if she does know where O'Malley is,"
"How the hell would she even know about that?" Church said. "This sounds like a trap."
"Even if it does sound strange, you don't exactly have any leads about where this A.I. is," Blake said. "Lying or not, you need to consider the possibility she could actually know something."
"Uuugh," Church groaned. He then turned to Tex. "What do you think Tex, can we turn her back on again? Disable her guns or something?"r
"Not a chance," Tex said as she went through Sheila's circuitry. "She's a wreck back here. I'm not even sure how she was operational anyway."
"Oh I know," Caboose said. "We could put her inside my head! Like O'Malley. I've got lots of extra room in there."
"Yeah, I bet," Church muttered. "And no. She's not that kind of A.I."
"Wait, you can put an A.I. in your head?" Ruby asked, a little weirded out by the idea.
"In Omega's case, he just hijacks people's bodies when they're on the radio," Church explained. "But don't worry, you need to be wearing a helmet radio for him to get to you."
"We could move Sheila, " Tex said. "But it would have to be in a similar class of vehicle."
"Yeah, if only we had some other kind of big vehicle we could move her into," Church pondered. "We can't use the Warthog, that doesn't have anything-"
Church stopped talking after Blake tapped him in the shoulder.
"What?" Church said.
"What about the ship that crashed?" Blake suggested.
"The ship..." Church said. "Hey yeah, the ship! Tex, what if move we Sheila in the ship? Could we move her into one of those on-board computers?"
"If we set up a hardline, yeah, I bet we could do it," Tex said.
"Church, wait!"
They all turned to see Tucker coming out from the base and running towards them.
"What is he doing?" Blake asked.
"He's running really fast," Ruby said. "I mean, not as fast as me, but still pretty fast."
"Church hold on a second," Tucker said as he got closer to them. "I've got something to tell you!"
"Tucker what?" Church said. "What is it?"
Tucker soon reached them and stopped running. "I just wanted to say, I got a hardline Tex can use. Bow chicka bow wow."
Everyone, minus Ruby and Caboose groaned at Tucker's inappropriate joke.
"I don't understand," Ruby said. "What does he mean by hard-"
"Don't" Blake said. "I'll explain it to you when you're older."
"How did you even hear that!?" Tex said.
"Pff," Tucker said. "I'm like Superman. I know when I'm needed."
Before their conversation could go any further, they all heard a loud explosion. They turned to the direction of the explosion and saw smoke rising from the area.
"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!" Ruby screamed.
"Quit shouting!" Tex shouted. "I don't know what that was, but that explosion came from Red base."
"That means they're all probably dead or dying," Tucker said.
"Weiss and Yang are there," Blake said. "We need to go check on them, now."
"Now, wait a minute," Church said. "We don't know what happened with the Reds. We can't just go their without-"
"My sister could be hurt!" Ruby shouted. "I don't have time to think." She turned to Blake, who nodded in agreement.
Ruby then grabbed onto Blake. "Hold on."
"Wait,wha-"
Blake failed to finish her sentence before Ruby gripped Blake's wrist and began to run, using her Semblance. The two of them then disappeared from the sight of the Blues, leaving a dust trail as they headed to Red base.
"How did they do that!" Tucker shouted, stunned at how fast Ruby ran.
Church groaned. "Come on. The last thing we need are dead kids in a canyon." He then followed the lingering dust trail, with Tucker and Tex following from behind.
"Oh my God!" Caboose suddenly shouted, finally speaking several seconds after the explosion. "What was that huge explosion!"
Ruby immediately stopped once she and Blake arrived at Red base.
Once they stopped, Blake pulled her arm free from Ruby's. She was feeling extremely dazed from experiencing Ruby's Semblance. "Never... do that... again."
"Sorry," Ruby apologized.
The two of them turned to Red base and saw smoke coming out of the door. Soon after, two figures began to run out of the base. Ruby and Blake were glad to Yang and Weiss were the ones coming out. Sarge, Griff, and Simmons soon followed out as well.
"Yang!" Ruby shouted as she ran to her sister, giving her a tight hug.
"Okay, Ruby calm down," Yang said, pulling her sister off of her. "We're alright."
"What happened?" Blake asked.
"Yeah, what the fuck happened?"
They all saw Church, Tucker, and Tex arrive at the scene. Caboose, though still close to Blue base, was also heading to them as well.
"Why don't you ask them," Weiss said, referring to the Grif and Simmons. "It's their fault we almost died."
-A few minutes earlier-
After the busted power cell from the teleporter was removed, Simmons had began working on making a new power source using the crystallized Dust that Yang gave. Eventually, he was able to place the Dust into a power core that he made from junk around the base.
Simmons then explained that all that was needed was to connect the wires from the teleporter to the Dust-powered core. Theoretically, the Dust should power up the teleporter, giving it the same energy as the Dust. Then, all Team RWBY would have to do is go through it and they would be sent home.
All they needed to test it was to connect the wires to core. This was a very risky test, since they had no idea what could happen.
Which was why Grif was doing it.
"Okay, now slowly connect the wires to the power core," Simmons instructed.
"I do not feel safe doing this," Grif said as he held the two wire on his hands.
"You don't have to feel safe, you just have to do what I say," Simmons said.
"Why can't Yang do it?" Grif asked.
"Because Yang isn't wearing any armor to protect her," Simmons pointed out.
"Grif, don't worry," Yang assured him. "I'm sure nothing bad will happen."
"Then why are you standing outside the room?" Grif asked.
"Oh, did you hear that?" Yang said, trying to avoid the question. "I think Weiss needs my help. Got to go, good luck." Before Grif could say anything else, Yang was already gone.
"Grif, come one, just do it," Simmons said.
"Ugh, fine," Grif said. "But, if this kills me, consider your ass haunted."
Slowly, Grif connected both wires to the Dust core. In the instant the wires connected to the core, there was a spark, followed by a huge explosion, blasting both Grif and Simmons out of the room, which was now on fire.
"Oh my God, all my stuff!" Simmons shouted.
"Forget your stuff, we need to get out of here now!" Grif shouted.
"To be clear, it was Grif's fault," Simmons said.
"You're the one who told me to connect the wires," Grif said. "So it's your fault."
"It's both your fault, you nitwits!" Sarge shouted. "You just destroyed our base of operations with your weird experimenting! Now, because of your incompetence, the Blues have decided to take advantage of our vulnerable state to attack."
"Um, no," Tucker said. "We just came to see what the fuck you guys we're doing."
"Which is the usual shit," Church said.
Caboose finally made it to the group. "So, what're we talking about?"
"Just the Reds trying to kill themselves," Tucker said.
"Fuck you," Grif said.
"Okay, enough!" Blake shouted, stopping both teams from further arguing. She then turned to Simmons. "Please tell me that you got some insight from this little experiment."
"Well actually, I did," Simmons said. "The Dust core didn't work because the teleporter was already old and damaged. For this to work, I think we'll need a working teleporter."
"Sure, let's just go to a teleporter store and go get one," Grif said sarcastically. "It's not like there're any working teleporters lying around for us to use."
"What about our teleporter?" Caboose suggested.
"Caboose, shut up," Church said.
"Actually, that could work," Weiss said. "You do have a teleporter back in your base."
"Yeah, a teleporter that doesn't work that well," Tucker muttered.
"We don't need it to be used as a teleporter," Simmons explained. "We just need to have it working when we hook it up with the Dust core. That way, it could work this time."
"Or, you could make an even bigger explosion," Yang pointed out.
"To be clear, I am not connecting any more wires," Grif stated.
"I have no idea what you're all doing, but count me in," Sarge said. "I've been out of it for a long while and from what Weiss told me, you need my wise leadership to put this whole thing back into working order."
"Riiight," Grif said.
"Weiss, what did you tell him?" Yang asked.
"I just told him that he tripped and hit his head and," Weiss said. "He then started making up ludicrous ideas about how the Reds were useless without him."
"That means he's back to normal," Grif said, disappointed.
"And it's nice to have you back, sir," Simmons said.
"Now then," Sarge said. "You said we need a teleporter, well the Blues have themselves a working one."
"Yeah, it's our teleporter," Tucker said. "And what makes you think we're just going to let you use it?"
"Well, we're not asking," Sarge said. "In fact, we plan on taking your teleporter." He then raised his shotgun.
Team RWBY groaned at the potential fight about to happen.
"Guys, we don't need to fight," Ruby said. "I'm sure Church would love to help us get home."
"Yeah, good luck convincing Church to help the Reds," Tucker said.
"Alright, we'll help," Church said.
"What!?" Tex and Tucker said.
"What!?" Red team said, confused as well.
"See, I told you he'd help," Ruby said, smiling.
"Church, what are you doing?" Tex asked.
"I'm helping them," Church said.
"Last I checked, the Reds were your enemies, and now you're giving them access to your base and teleporter," Tex said. "Plus, since when dd you start helping anyone."
"Hey, I'm only doing this so that we can get Ruby and her team out of here and back to wherever they came from," Church said. "Once they're gone, we can get back to what we usually do."
"So, standing around and talking and not doing anything useful," Tucker said.
"Exactly," Church said. "Besides, I'd rather keep an eye on the Reds and not have them blow up the entire canyon. So, are you gonna help, or not?"
After putting out the fire, the Reds salvaged what they could, including the remaining Dust crystals. After several hours they created another power core, one built by Tex, meaning it was sturdier and a better containment for the Dust.
They then went to Blue base and removed their teleporter from the base. Using some cables, they extended the teleporter and brought it in the middle of the canyon.
So now here they all were. The Reds, the Blues, and Team RWBY together. This time, they had a long wire cable from the teleporter to where they stood, which was a few feet away, in case there were any more mishaps.
"Are we ready to do this?" Church asked.
"Let's just hope that this time, there won't be any more explosions," Ruby said.
"Well, look on the bright side," Sarge said. "If this doesn't work and we all die, at least the Blues will die with us."
"Only you would see that as a 'bright side'," Weiss said.
"Alright then," Tex said, holding the new Dust core. "Let's see what this thing can do." Tex placed the two wires into the core.
Once this happened, the core began to glow white. The teleporter began to glow in the same white energy. Suddenly there was bright flash of light that seemed to cover the entire canyon.
This caused Team RWBY to cover their eyes. The light was so bright that even the Reds and Blues shielded their faces.
The light soon subsided and they all opened their eyes. Some of them held some expectations of what would happen, mostly more explosions, but the last thing they expected was to see several animal-like creatures show up. There were two distinct types that resembled wolves and bears. They were covered in black fur and had bone-like masks and red eyes.
Yes, Team RWBY were not expecting to come face-to-face with the Creatures of Grimm. And they were not at all pleased to be surrounded by them.