Rubbing her eyes, Saffre looked up.

Staring down at her was a tall angular robot. It had elongated limbs, two arms, two legs, and a burnt orange square head with a single camera lens. It was a Lunar Robotics Model A robot. One that Saffre knew very well.

"Vasco?"

Vasco tilted his robotic head, the camera that made up his eye giving a quiet click. "Greeting captain. Do you require any assistance?"

A multitude of different emotions flashed through Saffre's mind.

Another, louder, metallic click drew Saffre's attention to the right.

Standing ahead of her was another version of herself. This version was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and pants covered in a grey and red waistcoat. Saffre recognized the outfit as belonging to Ryujin Industries.

This version of her was also aiming a large double barreled rifle at her head.

"Hey." the other her said, giving Saffre a smirk. Her finger was on the trigger. "You cool?"

Saffre furrowed her brow at the question. "I'm actually a little warm, but I don't see how that is relevant?" What a weird question to ask.

The other her lowered the rifle a hair, snickering. "Are you serious?"

Slowly getting to her feet, Saffre locked eyes with the other her. "Why wouldn't I be serious in a moment like this?"

Ryujin Zeffre finished lowering Unmitigated Violence, laughing. "Well, you seem friendly enough."

"Ahem."

Saffre and Ryujin Zeffre looked at a confused Roman Torchwick. "Saffre would you please explain to me what the hell is going on."

Saffre shrugged. "We're in a different universe."

"Of course we are…" he said, gripping the bridge of his nose.

Ryujin Zeffre gave another amused chuckle before glancing over at Saffre. "Saffre eh? Someone else get there before you?"

Saffre gave her a nod.

There was a loud bang of a metal door slamming against a railing from above.

"Zeffre! You absolute, massive, gigantic—," someone began ranting. Looking around Saffre finally noticed that they were in a large underground chamber, with catwalks setup around the walls. On the second floor was a large control room with glass windows, and the source of the voice.

She was a woman of around thirty years of age wearing a Ryujin lab outfit. She had dark skin and two-tone hair, one half a vibrant yellow and the other half a dark indigo. Her hair was styled into a tight bun.

This woman, still ranting, jumped from the third story catwalk, igniting a jetpack before she hit the ground.

She also had a white and blue Solstice laser pistol.

Letting out a yelp, Zeffre quickly dodge out of the way of her shot.

"Maria wait! I can explain!" she said, hiding behind Saffre.

The woman, Maria, wasn't done ranting. "—gargantuan, supermassive, cosmic, expansive," Maria continued aiming the gun at Saffre as her brow furrowed for a moment.

"Infinite?" Zeffre said, peeking out from behind Saffre, giving Maria a grin.

Maria took a shot at her head, barely missing. "—Infinite idiot!" she shouted.

Roman's lighter wasn't working.

Silently watching the spectacle unfolding before him, with Saffre's twin, Zeffre, maneuvering the girl to act as a human shield between herself and a furious woman in a red and black lab coat, Roman let out a dejected sigh.

At least he could chew on the cigar.

Looking over at the robot standing off to the side Roman decided to try getting some answers from it.

"Hey. Robot," he said, tapping said robot with his cane to get its attention, "where are we?"

The robot, Saffre had called it Vasco, turned its head to look at him. "We are currently located at Ryujin Industries Research Outpost #24."

'Well, that wasn't helpful,' Roman thought. He had never heard of Ryujin Industries.

Looking around the room Roman noticed a large section was bare stone. A few beams of light, emitting from devices positioned around the room, were directed towards a silver piece of metal embedded into the rock. There was a lingering scent of burnt electronics.

He also noticed that some of the devices had exploded.

"Do you know what is going on." Roman said, watching the chaos unfolding before him as Neo tried to pull Saffre away from Zeffre.

Vasco gave a mechanical click. "At UT 16:28 experimentation began on Artifact Sigma. At UT 16:30 Captain Zeffre and I arrived in the observation room. At UT 16:32:27 Captain Zeffre remarked 'Huh. I wonder what would happen if…' At UT 16:32:45 electron beams 2, 5, 7, and 9 suffered catastrophic system failures. At UT 16:35 I greeted an alternate version of Captain Zeffre. At UT 16:36 Science Director Maria Morrison fired at Captain Zeffre. At UT 16:37 unknown entity #1 inquired where he was. At—"

"Okay I get it," Roman said, letting out a tired sigh. He really needed a smoke.

Walking over to the group Roman saw that the situation had changed.

Neo was holding a confused Saffre tight glaring at Zeffre.

Maria was also glaring at Zeffre, pistol missing.

Zeffre was grinning at everyone, scratching the back of her head sheepishly.

And Saffre somehow had Maria's pistol.

"Saffre what is going on," he asked. Saffre seemed to be an expert in pushing Roman beyond all sense of reason.

Zeffre gave him a tiny wave. "Heheh… This might be Maria's fault."

"How the hell is this my fault!" Maria shouted, reaching for a pistol that she no longer had.

"I mean, you let me into the observation room. Honestly, you should've known better."

"I'm going to kill her," Maria said, staring at the wall, expression blank.

Saffre walked back over to Roman with Neo. "Do you need a light?" she asked.

Roman gave her a nod.

A bright blue beam past by his face.

Puffing on his now lit cigar Roman gave Saffre a flat look. "Next time warn me," he said. At least his cigar was lit.

Lowering the pistol Saffre gave him a nod. "Understood."

As Zeffre and Maria argued, or, well, Maria argued and Zeffre smiled, Roman spotted an elevator. "We might as well see where we are."

Saffre gave him another nod.

Neo held up a scorecard with the word "Okay" written on it in bright pink letters.

The elevator had led up to a large rectangular habitation module connected to a larger facility. There was a large skylight that offered a clear view of the night sky.

Roman and Neo had been staring up for a few minutes now.

Saffre had decided that she would patiently wait for them. She didn't understand why they were staring up, the only thing up there was Archimedes V. The pale blue gas giant dominated the night sky, its rings glinting in the light of the local star.

What she was more interested in was the Chunks vending machine next to the elevator.

Glancing back at Roman and Neo to make sure they were okay, Roman had dropped his cigar for some reason, she walked up to the vending machines. Humming softly to herself Saffre looked over what it had; Cheesecake, Pumpkin Pie, Red Velvet Cake… a lot of different cakes.

Next to the Chunks machine was one for Tranquilitea. Tea and cake sounded good. But she didn't have a credstick…

Raising her pistol to the vending machine Saffre aimed…

"What are you doing?"

Blinking, Saffre turned to look at the other her stepping off the elevator. "I'm hungry."

"Nice to meet you hungry," Zeffre said grinning.

Saffre punched her in the face.

Covering her now bleeding nose Zeffre took a step back. "Ow. What the hell!"

"Even I know that was a terrible joke," Saffre said, staring at Zeffre silently for a few moments. "Can I have some money?"

"You punch me in the face and then immediately ask me for money?" Zeffre said, incredulously.

Saffre looked down for a moment, deep in thought. "Your right…"

She looked back up. "Can I have some money, please?"

Wiping some blood from her nose Zeffre gave her a smile and tossed her a credstick. "You're weird."

Catching it, Saffre looked over at the still gaping Roman and Neo. "Do both of you like cheesecake?" she asked, pocketing the Solstice.

Neither of them looked away from the night sky.

"What's wrong with them?" Zeffre asked, leaning against one of the vending machines.

Saffre decided to take their silence as a yes. Looking at Zeffre she gave a shrug. She'd just get three cheesecakes and three Tranquilitea Chamomiles.

Walking back over to Roman and Neo she handed them the food and drinks before sitting at a nearby table. They had been able to grip the food so they should be alright.

Zeffre took a seat next to her as she ate. "So… You follow him," she said, pointing at Roman.

She washed down her cheesecake with some tea. "Uh-huh. You?"

"Imogene."

"That explains the outfit and base. Ryujin is looking into the Artifacts in this universe then?" she asked, feeling herself relax from the hot tea.

"Yeah. Genie is keeping most of the information close to her chest. Ryujin is interested enough to fund the search at least, which is nice. Anyway, they were experimenting on Artifact Sigma, and I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to summon a duplicate during the experiment." Zeffre said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

Saffre gave her a flat look. "So, this is your fault?"

"Guilty as charged," Zeffre said, raising her hands in mock surrender.

Saffre let out a tired sigh. "Can you send us back?"

"Maria says we'll need to buy new equipment."

"And considering it's Ryujin, we can't expect charity for this new equipment?" Saffre asked, taking another bite of her cheesecake.

Neo stumbled over to their table and began eating her food. She looked shocked.

"You know the answer to that," Zeffre said, giving Saffre a smirk.

Roman finally stumbled over to the table, sitting down beside her without saying a word as he began eating his food. He also looked shocked.

They'd be fine.

"Can you give us a lift to Neon so we can work something out?" Saffre asked.

Zeffre broke into a wide grin. "Of course, I need to head back anyway. Oh! I can show you my ship, the RJI Vengeance."

Finishing her drink Saffre gave her a raised eyebrow. 'RJI Vengeance?'

Author's Note:

Roman and Neo get to experience the Settled Systems! Yay! This should be a quick adventure for them. Relatively. On Remnant it will be a quick adventure at least.