Carbon, as always, had been much more interested in the scene displayed before them, far more than the young 'Jimmy' ever was.
"So I'm thinking we should slip in from here." The shorter, yet heavily muscled woman slid a small coin across what passed for the 'map' of their little gathering. "We'll gain some cover, and cut off one of our flanks. Problem is, we'll also box ourselves in, with only two directions to go should the enemy draw closer."
"Three." Carbon interrupted, smirking as he pointed to a space about two tiles across from the coin. "If we can bust through whatever formation they have, say... using smoke, then we can hopefully break them up."
"It'll disorient them." The woman hummed, nodding a little as she rubbed her chin. "I can see what you mean. Although, should they not find themselves dazed or split, or even if we use the smoke too late, it'll only make things harder on us."
Carbon deflated a little, and Jimmy rolled his eyes from behind his goggles.
The 'meet-up' his friend reminded him of was in full effect. Now, Jimmy favored his creations quite heavily when it came to the idea of full fledged missions, and while that was nice, he was still a hunter, and hunters had teams to contend with. Of course there was Carbon, who usually served best when pushing back a target and laying on the metaphorical heat, but the guy wasn't Jimmy's only ally: he also had Gretta.
Most huntresses in training, like their male counterparts, were fairly 'aloof' so to speak, and Gretta was perhaps the epitome of that. Short like other girls, and yet so laced with raw muscle and strength you'd question whether she was a walking meatball on the battlefield. And yet, as if by some miracle of coincidence, her mind was just as trained as her body. She was one of the few people who could actually hold a conversation with Jimmy, and understand what was being said.
That, perhaps, was his favorite part of her.
Don't get him wrong, he cared greatly for Carbon, as well as all his friends, but there was just something special about Gretta that nobody else could match. Take for instance their meeting right now, which was orchestrated by the woman herself. Their last few duels with the other teams of their class hadn't exactly gone so well, and as their leader, Gretta was set up to figure out why.
Currently their group was in the phase of scheming retaliations to potential encounters during battle.
"Well..." Carbon snuck on a cheeky smile, and snapped his fingers. "That's when we hit them with the 'pow'."
Her face fell, but not so much in raw disbelief as most would assume at hearing such a stupid answer, but rather in concern. 'Pow' to most was merely a buzzword for a common physical assault, and while it sounded plain on paper, in terms of raw strategy, the whole suggestion came off as silly; childish even. The people who believed this, however, were lacking some very crucial context: 'pow' was not just a term of attack to them, no, it was a tactical term coined by themselves for the use of a very specific maneuver.
And Jimmy himself was the reason for it.
"In a sparring match? Don't you think that's a little overkill?" She wasn't wrong, it would be a little extreme to go so far just to win a fight.
"Jimmy." Carbon appeared to turn the focus over towards him, and he could almost recite word for word exactly what his buddy was going to say; it was just so predictable. "How many do you have right now?"
Always the same question.
Really, how could he not know what was coming? Carbon asked this every time they thought about strategy, and as always, it was again a jab for the use of his own specialized... he'd term them simply as 'stun bombs', if only to make it easier for Carbon to understand what they did. Able to immobilize and disrupt, these explosive weapons produced a sizable shock to all surrounding matter. While it would usually silence anything electronic, like most electromagnetic explosives, it wouldn't stop there.
These bombs would, in essence, reset the patterns of everything within their radius, and that was putting it in simple terms.
What did this mean? Well, it meant that aura itself would be suddenly deactivated and drained entirely: as the explosion came into contact with an individual, their aura would reverse its flow and return to the core of the person in a timeframe so absurdly tiny it could be accurately measured as instantaneous. That, however, was the least of its effects, as it could also stop and restart all of an animal's bodily functions. Rather than cause issues with the body like it very well should have done, it instead just stunned them for a moment as all their internal cogs followed suit and 'reset' as it were.
The best description he'd ever come up with was to say it 'rebooted' everything in the blast radius.
Luckily for all the unintentional test subjects, many of which being himself due to his own poor judgment of just how vast the range was the first few times, these weapons were non-lethal. That however did not mean they weren't painful though: having experienced his body 'reboot' a few times during testing, Jimmy could say for sure that having everything shocked in such a way was both jarring, and sharp: think, having a bolt of lightning trail throughout your veins.
"Not many." Despite seeing Carbon's face drop, Jimmy continued on without issue. "I haven't gotten a chance to construct much; I've got my project in full swing, and it has eaten up most of my free time."
"A new project?" Gretta, as he kind of expected - which was why he tossed that little bit of info out - seemed more interested now. "You never mentioned starting another one."
"It's only just begun." And now he could suitably steer the topic away from both 'pow' and the plan for battle. He was fine with strategy, and he preferred to win most fights in class, but bringing up mention of the explosives they far too heavily relied upon during missions had somewhat soured his mood.
He didn't regret their creation, but he did grow tired of using them as a crutch.
"I see..." Gretta snuck on a taunting smile. "So what you're saying is, you haven't even got it working yet."
"The skeleton is ready, that I can assure you of." Jimmy was quite proud of what he had so far, and while Gretta made it seem like not much was done, he knew full well the longer you could spend on a project the better it would turn out.
"The skeleton, oh, joy." Her eyes rolled with mocking amusement. "So what you're saying is, you've only gotten the base framing done. No real function or anything yet?"
"None that I'd consider admirable, no." Jimmy kept his voice even, and Gretta settled back into something similar.
"Piece by piece; so long as you keep moving I suppose it'll get done."
Jimmy would have countered her claim, and explained that his pace was picking up, had it not been from the dings accompanying all their scrolls. Seeing as they all got rung at the same time, each of them checked it with a partial understanding of what it could be. The academy, whenever it had something to notify the students of, or really when it needed to get out a message of any type for the whole school would send a single notification to all students and staff. A brief explanation was usually what followed before the main topic was brought up, however, this time it was different.
"Yes!" Carbon was the only one excited, as both Gretta and Jimmy had no idea what they'd just read. And seeing as they both heard their friend's cry of victory, the pair opted to question him with a set of scrutinizing expressions.
Carbon blinked for a second, before chirping.
"What?"
"We don't know." Gretta lowered her tone, making it apparent that she wasn't taking any excuses for the next question to come. "Why don't you tell us?"
"Oh, right..." He tried to look sheepish, but his cheeky grin screamed pure excitement far too loudly. "I guess I forgot to tell you."
"Well." Jimmy himself started. "Why not rectify that now?"
"Okay, so hear me out." The taller guy held up his hands, and Jimmy knew then he wasn't going to like what came next. "So, you know how we were getting squat for missions right?"
"You mean how our sub-optimal performance made us unfit to partake in proper assignments?" Gretta slanted a flat face. "Yes, yes we do. I was fairly certain I explained the reason for our meeting rather clearly before." Her mood then appeared to sour. "Even if we're always trailing off topic most of the time."
"Yeah, you get it." Carbon wasn't earning any favors by stealing back the topic of interest, but it hardly mattered as the boy continued. "So, I managed to sweet talk one of the managers dishing out our tasks, and he's agreed to slip us a real mission for once!"
Sweet talk? It took Jimmy far too long to figure out what that meant, but when he did... he was a little less than pleased.
"You bribed her with stamps again, didn't you?"
The brief falter of his grin told Jimmy all he needed to hear.
"It's not a bribe, it's a gift, and she just so happened to have some extra work to reward us with."
"You know, if we wanted to be criminals, we could have just stuck to the streets rather than come here." Gretta hit that nail on the head, but Carbon just whistled.
"Whatever; it's not that bad. Politicians get away with it all the time; they do... What is it called? Donating; yeah, that's it. I was just 'donating' to our local staff."
No, it wasn't that bad... at least, not right now. Jimmy knew it wasn't anything too serious, and that strike at their government's way of allowing under the table dealings was a low blow, but still: it felt wrong to just pay off somebody for their own sakes.
"I don't know about this." Gretta wasn't onboard with the idea, but it appeared as though Carbon wouldn't simply let up.
"It'll be fine, easy even, we just head on out and take care of some Grimm or whatever: simplicity itself."
It'll be fine: if those weren't the most common last words ever spoken, then Jimmy didn't know what was.
.
.
A loud ringing seemed to somewhat startle the general, and I saw him lean back with a hum.
"Unfortunately, it looks like I've been cut off again." He sighed while standing. "No matter, we can always continue another time if we find the chance: it's no big issue either way."
"Perhaps." I stood as well, facing him as I spoke. "I recall being curious before, about many things..."
"Your emotions still haven't started to come back, have they?" His look seemed to harden, and I just nodded my head.
"No, but they have not vanished entirely. Though dulled, my ability to feel still exists, even though it pales in comparison to my original state of being. Regardless, it would be foolish to disregard free information, even if it is merely recollections of the past."
"Is that your way of trying to justify wanting to hear more?" The general gave off a slight chuckle. "Because if it is, I'd say your more logical side is making excuses to feed its missing cousin. Still, I'll take that as a compliment. Although I never really show it, I used to be quite handsy with my creations... however, I don't have the kind of time anymore to return to that lifestyle, and so I have teams of scientists, roboticists, and other staff of mine to tend to those for me."
"I see..." We were left in silence for a second, and then he nodded.
"I'll send you a message when the time comes, and you'll be brought to the manor. Rest while you can; although I cannot say why, I have a feeling the next steps of our plan aren't going to go so smoothly."
With that, he turned to leave, however I spoke up before he could.
"Wait." He turned an eye to me, clearly curious as to what I wished to say, and so I indulged him. "That story of yours... would I be correct in assuming it tells of how you came to be? As in, how or why you took the path of a military leader?" His brow raised, but still I carried on. "Although it may only be an assumption, I don't exactly see the boy in that story as anyone capable of much militaristic might, and nor do they seem the type to pursue the path you currently walk."
"It may be, or it may not." The general turned away again, taking off with his final words. "You'll just have to wait and see."
Once he exited the cafeteria, I noticed how not a soul had yet entered. It took a little, but about half a minute after they started to wander in for breakfast. I, however, just remained standing for a while, contemplating both why the general was so compelled to speak to me, and what his memories had to offer.
So far, memory had yet to present itself as useless: even the dullest of remembrances held within them something of desire.
Sitting back down, I decided to rest a bit and head back to my room until it was time. I needed to think about how I would approach getting into Jacques Schnee's office, and also try to get some sleep while I could. My 'other' offered up information as a reward for speeding up the search for Salem, and I needed to dwell on how I would do that...
Or even if I really wanted to.
.
.
"And you're certain it's here?"
Cinder wasn't one to openly accept Watts's help, but hearing his voice over a scroll was far easier to deal with than speaking with him in person.
"Of course." He sounded confident, as usual, but there was something more to it, and she loathed to think of what made the unbearable man so giddy. "Jacques may be a shrewd businessman, but he isn't prone to mistakes. Key of which being his paranoia of various online security providers, and so he hired a team of developers to put together a personal security system for his desk."
"Yes, as you've stated." Cinder withheld a sigh, merely focusing on the map displayed before her on the scroll. The Schnee manor was no different than any other, but upon a close inspection, she noted how Watts made some additions to the layout, making it crystal clear he'd been within the target of her eye.
"Ah, so you were listening. Good, then you must also know that I've already cracked their systems, which is why I'm sending you there to 'borrow' a few things... as well as plant some particularly damning evidence."
Ah yes, both theft and conspiracy: two of Cinder's favorite methods for ruining lives. Jacques hoarded information related to his company, of course, but on occasion he'd purchase info from a black market styled auction. One of said auctions was recently cracked into by Watts, where he discovered that a cheeky little scientist up top had grown irritated with his position in life.
It was as they say: give them an inch, and they take a mile.
Said scientist had access to some very very important information in regards to certain things, and what Watts had found in the specified documentation went as follows: 'a sickly relative of the general. She's an elderly woman, however she's in possession of a powerful semblance, one of which I've never before laid eyes on. I've only seen snippets of it, but she can reconstruct the very air molecules around her into a freezing blizzard, seemingly at will'.
If that didn't scream 'Winter Maiden' then Cinder may as well have just thrown in the towel.
Jacques Schnee, as appeared to be the pattern according to Watts, had once more found himself in possession of information he knew nothing about: powers he couldn't ever hope to understand. And so, it was up to her to break in and take said info, all the while leaving a small trail towards Robyn Hill.
The woman was, right at this very moment, down in Mantle getting ready to give a speech on the election, and Cinder cackled internally, knowing Robyn herself was about to face a surprise of her own soon enough. Watts had something special mixed up for the rogue, and while Cinder wasn't told what it was, she knew well not to question the man when he was nearly cackling with every word.
And so she didn't: Cinder chose to accept his laughter as a good sign and focus on her own mission.
Getting into the manor, while difficult, wasn't nearly as impossible as you'd think, despite the fact you'd essentially be breaking into the home of one of Remnant's richest families. Actually, Jacques himself was to blame for the weakness of his home, as there was a particular point in the afternoons where he was known to host parties for his fellow elite. Said gatherings mean that many guards were assigned to the ballrooms where the guests were stationed, leaving a skeleton crew on hallways and other areas.
Sneaking past the cameras would be the only challenge present on this mission, and even then, they weren't so much an issue. All the guards wore the same uniform, and as a woman of her looks, Cinder was certain she'd have no trouble whisking away the more... one would say 'uppity' guards away into one of the washrooms. They'd quickly find themselves stripping just as much as they'd imagined; although, unfortunately for them, she would not be offering up the services they so sought.
She'd strip them though, so it could be said they were getting half the experience at least.
By the time the guards on cameras noticed something was off, she was certain she'd be long gone, and Jacques would have one more bullet against Robyn Hill; so really, it was a benefit to him.
Lucky you, Jacques. Your cheeky little dreams are about to come true~
.
.
Ruby wasn't sure where she was... or really, what happened in general.
Seeing the stone had been somewhat cool; it was just as shiny and weird as she suspected. And yet, it had this sense of... 'danger' to it. But even that hadn't really done much. Honestly, she'd only been able to ponder these realizations upon waking in the strangeness of the black void.
Seeing as Jinn had already taken everyone into a pseudo-dream before, Ruby didn't need to think all that hard about what was happening. Really, the only worrying question on her mind was if her body was physically present in this place, or if she was passed out; like V stated he'd always been when receiving memories from the obelisks themselves.
Wait... does that mean I'm currently being torn to shreds?
The thought was somewhat alarming, and yet, the fact she could even think made her wonder if, had that been the case, her body would heal overtime as V described his did. She wouldn't count herself as dead yet, but a small part of her mind couldn't help but wonder. Ruby didn't have much time to do that though, as soon enough color sprung to life.
Well... to call it 'color' would be implying there was plenty of it, which sadly wasn't the case.
The best way she could describe it was 'cold', as in, there looked to be literal ice off in the distance. They were in Atlas, so she supposed it made sense, but still, Ruby felt something... 'off' about the frozen sprinkles of water lacing the ground. The snow looked normal, and yet the deck itself did not.
She was on a ship, and while weird, that soon became the least of her questions.
Her vision turned, and it was here and now where she realized she was seeing through the eyes of another. Looking up, Ruby was greeted by the pale shattered moon, illuminated by the dark of night, with only the brisk whistling of the wind and a light snowfall to set the mood. Something about the scene felt... comforting, but not in a stable sort of sense. It was a serenity of melancholy, and that alone made her wonder if the vision she was seeing was a happy one.
Not that she expected it to be, considering everything that happened so far, but a girl could dream; hope itself in recent times was sparse, and Ruby desired to keep the optimistic emotion alive however she could, even if it meant constant disappointment.
"Hmm?"
The hum was feminine, and that told Ruby the eyes she saw through, and the skin she felt the icy winds from, belonged to a woman. Describing it so, however, was again weird: she didn't so much directly feel the state of the area, as much as she could remember how such a moment felt.
Ruby then wondered why it was she could recall the feelings of a memory that wasn't hers.
She never got an answer to that, rather, there was this slight tingle in her chest: a gnawing just beneath the skin, clasped within the confines of her heart. Ruby felt the woman place a hand over her chest, and a sigh escaped into the moonlight.
Quell yourself.
That... wasn't spoken aloud, but even so, she knew what was said... or rather, what had been thought. For a moment, Ruby considered trying to speak or move, and yet the urge died the moment it was conceived. Could she? Couldn't she? No matter what she pondered, Ruby couldn't muster the energy to test it, and somehow, she knew she never would. It wasn't like she didn't want to test it, but rather, she realized the answer was, ultimately, worthless.
Most likely, she wouldn't be able to move, and so she decided to let everything play out as it was meant to, and see what this strange vision would offer.
"The boy's fast asleep you know."
A masculine voice now, and the sight of sky was shifted on to an old man with a cane. He bore a jolly little smile, and Ruby heard the woman's voice once more.
"He finally got tired of waiting, huh?"
"He's a loyal lad, did his best to stay up and everything." The old gentlemen sighed as he took his place alongside her, laying a hand on the guardrail and looking out across the snowy landscape. "But still, he's merely a boy; sleep is especially merciless to children, as it should be."
"Growing boys need their sleep." The comment was spoken with a hint of ease, and Ruby wondered if the boy they were talking about was the child of the woman. "Still, I'm not much better; at my age most would expect me to spend my days being taken care of by my own kids."
The man gave a soft, playful laugh.
"You know, for some reason I can't quite see that. Refined as you are, I can't say you're the type to just sit in one place too long."
"No... I suppose I'm not." The woman backed away from her place, and apparently noting the slight shift of the man's brow, she spoke again. "But I probably should get some shut-eye; you can never know what troubles await in the morning."
His curiosity morphed into understanding.
"Very true. Then I wish you a good night."
"Thank you, and to you as well."
Ruby then got to witness the small trek from the deck into the lower area, and as the soft, yet surprisingly sturdy steps creaked along with the warping boards beneath her feet, there was again that odd tingle. The woman apparently noticed this, and picked up her pace, all the while her thoughts echoed throughout Ruby's head.
The shadows... their frenzy is not of my own doing.
This apparent realization quickened the woman's pace, and after opening a door at the end of the hall, she stepped inside and shut it as carefully as she could. Stepping deeper in, Ruby was greeted to the sight of a simple bedroom...
With a little horned boy curled up in the bed.
The woman walked over, laying her hand on the kid's head. Ruby 'felt' the woman's breathing relax a little, but only for a bit, as once more the internal chime of her chest rang soundlessly. The woman straightened up again, and her head slowly turned to the wall, where a closet sat. It alone gave off another aura of unrest, and once she opened it up, Ruby knew why.
Although she hadn't seen it yet, the style of curled gold alone made its being immediately identifiable: Jinn's vision had, yet again, revealed this secret to her beforehand..
Interesting... The woman picked up the blade, and as if on cue, the rumbles of 'something' echoed. You react to your sibling most irritatingly.
Her sights then fell upon the staff next to the weapon, and Ruby again knew exactly what it was. The woman scoffed, laying the blade back down in its spot.
A bastardization such as yourself shouldn't think itself capable of true power. Calling to your more legitimate brother will do you no good, especially without a guardian yourself.
Ruby had no idea what the woman was speaking about though, but she never had a chance to properly think about it as a sigh filled her ears.
Not that you can hear these words anyhow: you, unlike the rest, have no guardian. She ran her hand along the blade, and a spark of electricity shot up her spine. Even so, your light does its job fine enough imprisoning the memory within. I wonder... Why did the older sibling choose not to ask his little brother for help? Certainly it would have been more effective than stealing and repurposing the moment of disaster itself.
Ruby had no idea why she was hearing any of this, or why this woman chose to fall into this line of thought, but even so, the next statement was enough to freeze her blood: something she doubted even the strongest storms of Atlas could ever do.
Salem herself faced down your power before, but yours is a fraud. Look at you: a mere copy of the dark lord's moment of shining against the Human race. A replica of their extinction event, so pathetically weak in comparison to the real thing...
The woman shook her head, apparently not liking that line of thought; not that it mattered to Ruby, who'd just put the pieces together in her mind... to an extent anyway. This blade was very obviously the sword of destruction: one of the four relics. And, that moment of Salem's being mentioned, it must have been the war which resulted in the destruction of the first breed of Humanity. How did this woman know any of that, and how did she have the sword and staff? Who was this lady?
This was all the thought Ruby had been afforded before the woman carried on... troublingly enough, she sounded happier in these next thoughts.
His sword however... Now that itself is true darkness. Forged from the source and emboldened by shadow and negativity: it alone is the true relic of destruction, albeit one born from the dark, rather than the light. You have no idea how miniscule your power is compared to it.
The last line of her thoughts somewhat fell into a less boisterous sass, turning sour, and the woman silently looked back to the boy sleeping on the bed.
And here I am, facing horrors constantly, all because your creator was too petty to just leave the woman alone. Him and his lessons... it's because of him we have to face Salem's wrath so endlessly.
She looked longingly at the child, somewhat reaching out with her free hand, only to pull it back. The area turned dark as the woman clenched her eyes, and the final line of thought broke through in the void of sightlessness: Ruby understood then why she saw it all.
How much more must I sacrifice to put an end to it all? Is one child not enough?
Rage slipped into the woman's voice.
But your master's machinations will not hinder us, not anymore. You cannot hear this, and neither can your lord, but even so: you will know defeat. Vermillion… he was made for this, and neither you nor whatever other horrors present themselves will quell his fire. He will fulfill his purpose, and then he will be free, along with all of us...
Just as the dark lord promised.
Author's note
…
Here we are, back with a chapter that might do… something?
On one hand, Cinder makes a return. And, on the other we have Ruby getting to continue her little mission, now within the void. Is it a bit of an exposition dump? Yes, but seeing as this is a memory and we get to see some movement, I felt it was alright.
Besides, Ruby herself got to witness the 'mysterious woman' who I'm certain we already know; I couldn't make it more obvious unless I straight up started speaking names.
V got to hear a little more of Ironwood's tale, and it itself is coming close to its end; following the pattern of character backstories though, I'm sure you might know how this will go.
Until next time.