Ironwood: Previously, on RvBvRWBY: Incursion...
"Congratulations! It's a… thing. Eugh,"
"What was that?" Church questioned.
"Uh, that's the other thing I called about. Tucker had his gross baby," Caboose answered.
"A baby? Wait up, I wanna see!" Donut said before running to start following Church.
"Donut, get back here! Wait for the ship!" Sarge ordered. Donut stopped in the open field to turn back and face his CO.
"But Sarge, we don't know when the ship is going to get here! It's coming all the way from Earth. That could take days, or weeks, or months, or even years!" Donut exclaimed just before the massive form of metal that was a spaceship suddenly plummeted from the sky and crashed right on top of him.
"How can Tucker sleep with all that racket?" Church questioned.
"Sleeping? He's not sleeping… he's in a coma," Doc said.
"Alright, that's it. Get out of the way, Doc, I'll take care of this," Church said.
Doc shook his head. "I don't think so. A newborn is really susceptible to infection and disease."
"Doc, don't worry, I'm not gonna give it a cold. I'm just gonna go in there, step on its neck and shoot it in the head. Because that's how I roll."
Ruby was appalled by Church's awful plan. "What is wrong with you?!" She shrieked. "You can't kill a baby!"
"It's not a baby, it's an abomination to nature."
"Do you hear that? It sounds like tapping."
"You're absolutely right!
This means Donut is alive and trying to contact us! Now, get to tappin'!"
"Maybe we can lift the ship off of him somehow," Simmons suggested.
A person came from inside the ship into the newly made opening. Grif rushed to the front of the group as soon as he recognized them.
"What are you doing here?!" He exclaimed.
RvBvRWBY: Incursion
Chapter 14: Sibling Fights and Open Mics
Church approached the group of Doc and Ruby urgently, and immediately cut to the chase of the conversation. "Hey, Doc, we got problems, man. I need to call Command." Doc, and even Ruby that matter, were not looking Church's way at all, but instead looking down. "Hello?! Earth to Doc?" The trio finally looked up and Doc responded.
"Don't you wanna say hello to our new friend?" Doc asked.
"What?" Church looked down to see a small alien creature, very reminiscent of Crunchbite, staring back up at him.
"Honk?" It prompted.
"I don't… I ca-I can't, I don't… This is…" Church stumbled, words failing him with how unfathomable this was. Up to this point, he didn't believe a damn word about the pregnancy. Or the baby. But now that the creature was in the flesh in front of him right now, he had nothing. Absolutely nothing.
"He's adorable, right?!" Ruby squealed with glee.
"I can't deal with this right now."
"Blargh!" The baby said.
"Shut up, you're disgusting," Church said.
"Hey!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Doc, what is Vic's number?" Church asked, ignoring Ruby altogether.
"What for?" Doc asked.
"For reinforcements! Wait, unless you've had specialized combat training in the last ten minutes."
"Did you forget the warrior girls around?" Doc asked.
"Yeah, they're not gonna kill Reds for us. So tell me the goddamn number!"
"Come on, Church, everybody remembers Vic's number! Didn't he ever teach you the song?"
"He has a song for his number?" Ruby raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, his jingle," Church groaned. "Alright, I'm gonna make the call while the song's stuck in my head for the next hour."
"Honk!" The baby chirped.
"And do me a favor, kill that fucking thing would you?"
"Church!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Shut up, I'm on the phone," Church chastised before turning to the side.
"Hey dude!" Vic's voice rang from the other end of the call.
"Vic! Hey, it's Church! I need-"
"This is Vic! Ba-ba-ba, V-I-C-K, doodalee doo! I'm not in the ca-sita right now so leave your low down at the ding dong! Hata." The call then beeped, forwarding Church to an answering machine.
"Hey Vic, this is Church, I need to-" Church started, only for the voicemail system itself to cut him off with a robotic female voice.
"You have reached the voicemail system."
Church groaned. "Ok ok, come on…"
"To leave a message, just wait for the tone."
"I know how to leave a goddamn message…" Church's frustration grew with every passing moment. He was not in the mood to deal with annoying technology on top of everything else.
"When you're finished recording, just hang up, or press pound for more options."
"Really, hang up? No shit," Church deadpanned. "I was just gonna keep talking until he decided to check his voicemail."
"For delivery options, press five."
"Just give me the damn beep!"
"To leave a callback number, press eight. To page this person, press six."
"Come on!"
"To repeat this message, press nine."
"I will fucking stab you, computer phone lady!"
"Church!" Ruby shouted sternly again.
"Quiet!" Church snapped.
"To hear these options in Spanish, press dos."
"I HATE YOU!" Church growled. Finally, the beep came, and Church impatiently began to record his message. "Vic, it's Church, I need t-"
"I'm sorry, but this person's voicemail box is full."
Church painfully groaned. "I'm gonna kill myself, I'm gonna kill myself…"
"What was all that about?" Doc asked.
"Doc, we are royally screwed. Half our team is down, and the half that's left sucks. So all the Red's need to do is attack us, and we're dead."
"Did you guys forget we have a truce until the situation with the Grimm was solved?" Ruby questioned.
"Yeah, and look how well that turned out. Remember when it attacked us twice? Is the situation solved yet?"
"Hurnk!" The baby said.
"Oh, right, and I have to kill this fucking thing."
"Church!" Ruby yelled.
"What the fuck do you want?! You're ringing the 'Church' bells, is that it? Pretty sure I've heard it twelve times today!" Church snapped back.
"Why do you have to be such a jerk all the time?!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Red, in case you missed the memo, the situation is royally fucked. That's not counting any of the shit the Reds just got. Who knows what could be in there? Could be a whole new squad, or a freelancer! Or…!"
"Grif's sister?!" Simmons, Yang and Blake all exclaimed simultaneously.
"Yeah, isn't that cool?" Sister said cheerfully. She wore a set of yellow armor slightly brighter than Grif's orange.
"Y'know, I always knew there was a genetic possibility that Grif would have blood relatives," Sarge said, "But I always held on to the hope that he was a horrible byproduct of an experiment at a turd manufacturing plant!"
"That's disgusting," Blake recoiled at the comment.
"Yes, he is," Sarge said.
Grif approached the landing ramp of the ship and stared at his sister. "Go home," He said sternly.
"What?" Sister questioned.
"Go home, right now. Get in your ship, uncrash it, and fly it home," Grif ordered.
Sister scoffed. "Whatever. Make me."
"As much as I don't wanna spoil my reputation as a do-nothing slacker, I will not hesitate to beat you senseless and drop you in that ship myself."
"I thought you would be happy to see me!" Sister exclaimed.
"I think he's just being overprotective… in his own way. Maybe?" Yang guessed with an unsure shrug.
"Alright, missy, there's just one thing I don't get; How'd you join the army?" Sarge asked.
"What do you mean? I just signed up" Sister replied.
"But you're a… y'know, you got lady parts."
"So?" Yang raised an eyebrow.
"So, unless is this is the cooking and sewing army…" Sarge started.
"No, I meant to join the real army," Sister corrected.
"Does your gun shoot brownies?"
"What?" Yang and Sister said simultaneously.
"You'll have to excuse Sarge. He comes from the old school," Simmons said.
"Actually, they told me I was too young," Sister said, "So I grabbed an extra suit of armor, and busted a shuttle!"
"I like the carefree style, Sister," Yang nodded approvingly.
"Glad you learned something from me," Grif said.
"No, I'm just kidding," Sister chuckled. "I always wanted to do something like that, though."
"Then why did you join the army? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" Grif said.
"Well, you always looked after me when mom ran away to join the circus."
"W-Wait a second, hold on. Your mom's in the circus?" Simmons said with interest. "You've already made my insults forty-five-percent more efficient by just saying that one sentence."
"Was your mom a flaming sword swallower?" Sarge asked. "We could use somebody to replace Donut."
"Nope. You know how circuses have a bearded lady and a fat lady? Well, my mom plays both! Because she's, like, super talented!" Sister answered.
Yang burst out into a fit of laughter while Simmons grinned in amazement. "Oh my god… is it ok if I record everything you say?!"
"Sure! Anyway, Dex always looked after me. But when he went away, I didn't wanna be alone."
"'Dex'?" Blake repeated.
"Because my first name's Dexter," Grif sighed.
"So let me get this straight," Simmons said, "You felt scared being alone, so you decided to join a war?"
"She's a Grif alright," Sarge remarked.
"Wait a minute, doesn't all this mean that she was the one who was tapping?" Blake pointed out.
"Yeah, I was wondering why you guys didn't answer," Sister said.
"None of us know Morse Code. It's outdated," Simmons replied.
"No, I mean, if she was the one tapping, then that means Donut isn't alive trapped under there," Blake clarified.
"Well, then what happened to Donut?" Grif questioned.
"The cool thing is that I was lucky enough to get sent here!" Sister continued. "They said your commander died, and I needed to replace the missing man."
"What? Our commander's not dead, I'm the commander!" Sarge exclaimed in a confused fashion.
"And an excellent one at that, sir!" Simmons brown-nosed.
"Thank you, Simmons."
"Yeah, your commander died, and one of the troops was going to be promoted, and I was sent to replace the missing troop!" Sister said.
"Wha-Wha-What's this about a promotion?" Simmons stammered.
"Sounds like command made some kind of mistake," Sarge said.
"I dunno, Sarge, I thought you said Command never makes mistakes. That must mean you're dead," Grif said with a grin.
Simmons moved closer to Sister. "Seriously, what was the promotion thing? I'm sure I heard something about someone getting promoted."
"They said one of your troops would be promoted to replace your dead CO," Sister repeated.
"One in particular? One like me? A maroon one?" Simmons questioned obsessively.
"Simmons, relax a little. Sarge isn't dead, so you're not getting promoted," Blake said.
"Don't ruin this for me, Blake!" Simmons exclaimed.
"Sarge, let me just say I'm really sorry you died," Yang said with a mock sad tone.
"Yang!" Blake frowned.
"Don't be stupid, Yang. How can I be dead if I'm standing right here?!" Sarge said.
"Well if Command is wrong about you dying, Sarge, couldn't they be wrong about other stuff, too?" Grif suggested, teaming with Yang to mess with Sarge further. Like, what if the blues don't suck? What if the blues are awesome?! This changes everything!"
Sarge stared blankly forward as if thinking the whole situation over.
"Sarge, you can't even begin to take this seriously, right?" Blake said.
"Men, get the shovels from the Warthog!" Sarge ordered. As Simmons and Grif went for the jeep, Blake grabbed Yang's shoulder.
"What are you doing?!"
"Hey, we gotta make our own fun somehow!" Yang said defensively. "Weiss has the whole find-a-way-home thing handled for a little bit, we can afford to mess around a little."
"I wouldn't exactly call this 'messing around'," Blake said.
"Relax, Blake. Everything will be perfectly fine," Yang assured.
Weiss held her now-empty stomach uncomfortably, still feeling nauseous from the birth of Tucker's disgusting alien child. She stayed only to make sure O'Malley was watched by someone capable, and because Ruby ditched her with them anyway. By the time she, Doc and Caboose had all realized O'Malley had bolted, she was too far into helping with the birth to stop. She was able to hold onto the contents of her stomach until blood and bodily fluids filled the floor of the room, at which point she filled Tucker's vomit bucket herself. Doc was able to bring the creature into the world before directing her to somewhere outside which she learned after vomiting there was Church's grave. Needless to say, she was feeling this was one of the worst days of her life.
She felt sick in more than one way now, she was annoyed by near every single soldier in this godforsaken canyon, constantly on edge from the Grimm and O'Malley, and concerned about finding a way back to Remnant.
Or maybe not Remnant. Maybe, just maybe…
She once again held her necklace in her palm, looking down at the crystals shining from the sunlight of Blood Gulch. It felt like she was looking at it everyday, not only to anchor herself to the moment, but to remind herself of the endless possibilities with the Cosmic Dust if utilized correctly by Atlas. Not only did she have faith Atlesian scientists could really use the Dust to unlock the multiverse, she would have to do so to return home. Something else to give renown to her family's name besides what her father had done with the Schnee Dust Company. Weiss Schnee, renowned huntress, heiress to the SDC, and the mind behind utilizing the first artificial form of Dust to open Remnant to an infinite cosmos? Quite the resume.
And if she really can figure it out, maybe a certain Earth would be a nice destination. Pay the man who got this very necklace for her a visit. Her memories of the month before this mission came to the surface.
Watch that. It cost me a small fortune, he had said.
I'll protect it with my life, she had replied. It almost never left her neck since. It's value to her wasn't the Lien spent on it, but what it represented. A time she wished she could go back to. But with the Cosmic Dust, there was just as much potential moving forward. And once she figured out how to utilize the Cosmic Dust, and she could comfortably travel from Remnant, she knew what universe was her first stop.
"Weiss?" She heard Ruby call out, breaking her from her train of thought. She let out a low sigh before looking up to see her leader approaching. "Hey. I wanted to check up on you. Doc said you were, like, throwing up everywhere. Are you feeling alright?"
"Nauseous, but fine," Weiss replied. She then started back for Blue Base, but Ruby grabbed her arm.
"Weiss, Yang told me about what you said about Beacon, on your guys' way here from the beach. And how you've been staring at your necklace."
"So?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.
"You can talk to me, Weiss. To any of us. We're part of a team, remember?" Ruby said concerningly.
"A team stranded somewhere we don't belong," Weiss replied. "Hence why I'm trying to prioritize finding a way home before these quote unquote 'soldiers' drive me insane, or even get us killed."
"That's not fair. They're not warriors like us," Ruby defended.
"You and I know there's more wrong with them than their combat skill," Weiss frowned while crossing her arms. "I've heard your arguments with Church."
"Ugh, Church can be… difficult, and kind of a jerk, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't help while we're here."
"Help with what? Killing each other?"
"With not killing each other! Don't you care if they live or die?"
"Of course I do. As a huntress, it is my duty to protect those who need it. But that doesn't mean I have to like the people I protect," Weiss said in an almost hateful tone.
"What's going on with you? Why are you being so… so distant, and rude?" Ruby questioned.
"Because we shouldn't be here. Because this was supposed to be a simple transport mission, and now we're stuck in the middle of nowhere with no way home, stuck with the biggest group of complete dolts I've ever met! That's not counting the intelligent Grimm hunting us and the Dust! So I'm sorry if I seem a little cranky to say the least!"
"That doesn't mean take it out on us! That's not how we get out of this!"
"And neither is participating in these morons' shenanigans! What exactly have we accomplished of worth the past few days? Go on an imaginary quest? Steal and paint a random vehicle? Help a disgusting man somehow give birth to a disgusting creature? Fraternize with an evil AI that wanted to kill us, which is also now on the loose? Perhaps if we focused on our main priority of getting home, we could've been back by now!"
Ruby frowned and furrowed her brow. "And leave the Grimm here to kill everyone? That thing isn't just trying to kill us, it knows us! Yes, getting home is important, but whatever this thing is, we have to deal with it too!"
Weiss started to protest, then sighed and rubbed her head. "You're right, I'm sorry… I… I don't know what's come over me…"
Ruby took a glance at Weiss's necklace, a gift the heiress had cherished for months now. "I have a few ideas," Ruby said. Weiss looked back up at her leader. Ruby gave her a small smile. "I miss him too. We all do. And we'll see him again. Trust me, once we're home and we can use the Cosmic Dust? We'll figure out how, together."
"Right… thanks, Ruby."
"That's what friends are for!" Ruby smiled widely. Weiss couldn't help but smile as well. "We should get back to them, make sure they don't kill each other. Right?"
"Right," Weiss nodded. The two walked back toward Blue Base together, spotting Church and Caboose atop it together. They ascended the ramp up to the roof to figure out what the two were up to. Church was at Caboose's side as he watched across the canyon through the scope of his sniper.
"See him there? Right there. The yellow one," Church said, trying to guide Caboose.
"The one next to Simmons. That's Grif," Caboose replied.
"The other yellow one. Dumbass."
"That's Yang!" Caboose said.
"The other other yellow one," Church said tenuously.
"Oh, that new yellow person! Ye-Oh, yes, of course, yes, uh… he looks very scary, yes! And I know that because I am looking right at him! Right now! Yes! He's yellow! This is very interesting!"
Church let out a long, tired sigh. "You don't even see him, do you?"
"Y-Yeah, I don't even know how to use this thing," Caboose admitted.
"Yellow armor… what does yellow armor mean? Is it like some kinda… Special Ops guy or… Man, this can't be good for us."
"What can't be good?" Ruby asked as they approached.
"The Reds have a new guy from that ship that crashed. Thanks for that, by the way," Church replied.
"Wait, what if they got their own medic?" Caboose suggested.
"A medic? Caboose, we're not that lucky," Church said.
Behind them, Tucker came up from the inside of the base unsteadily, still clearly not all in the moment yet. They all turned around to face him. "Well, look who's finally awake," Weiss remarked.
"What the fuck happened?" Tucker asked.
Ruby made the attempt to answer. "Well, you see, uh, you were impregnated by the alien guy as part of a big mission of his to save his people from-"
Tucker turned to Church. "Can I get the short version of this?"
"Yeah; you got knocked up, you got knocked out," Church answered.
"That about sums it up," Weiss shrugged.
"Oh, right. I need to start working out. Lose this baby weight," Tucker said.
"Try helping with a birth. Weiss vomited so much, she probably lost twenty pounds," Church remarked. The heiress slugged him in the arm.
"What are you guys doing up here anyway? And what's that huge thing?" Tucker asked.
"The Reds called in a ship and it landed on Donut," Church answered. "Now they've got new hardware, and a new soldier."
"Who, that girl?" Tucker said.
"Wha-girl?!" Church spun around to look at the crash site again. "That's a girl?"
"Duh! The yellow one, right?"
"That's just Yang," Caboose said.
"Again, other other one," Church corrected.
"Wow, you have really good eyes," Ruby regarded.
"I have too. I never get to use the fucking sniper rifle!" Tucker complained.
"You're positive that's a girl? How can you be sure?" Church questioned.
"Dude, look who you're talking to."
Weiss glanced over and saw a large vertical rectangular metallic frame with green energy filling it embedded into one of the walls of the roof. "Church, what's that?" She asked.
"Hm?" Church followed her gaze over to the machine. "Oh, that's our teleporter. Thing's a piece of shit though, so we never really use it."
"That's it!" Weiss beamed.
"What is?" Ruby asked.
"Simmons and I were trying to harness the Cosmic Dust by constructing things similar to our weapons so we could try to trigger it like our weapons, but we're trying to travel somewhere. I was going about it wrong! Church, could we use your teleporter?"
"Use it for what exactly?" Church asked hesitantly.
The Reds, Yang and Blake stood before a dug-up hole with the pile of discarded soil next to it, ready for Sarge's funeral.
"This is ridiculous…" Blake facepalmed and shook her head.
"Sh, we're about to start!" Yang said with a mischievous smile.
Simmons took center stage and stood before the grave. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to pay our final respects to Sarge.
"But I was so young! And violent!" Sarge cried out, on the verge of actual tears.
"And that's what makes this so tragic," Grif said indifferently.
"Grif and Yang have a few things to say about Sarge together," Simmons announced.
"Wait, what?" Blake looked up, then at her teammate, who was already heading to the front with Grif. Yang gave her a wink before she and the orange-armored soldier took center stage.
"Hey everybody, great to be here!" Grif greeted like a stage performer. "What can I say about a guy like Sarge? I mean, besides good riddance. Heyo!"
"Careful Grif, you don't wanna kill the audience before we even begin!" Yang smirked.
"Oh my god…" Blake rubbed her eyes and looked down in disbelief.
"Sarge was a good soldier. Now he makes a better corpse!" Yang continued.
"But seriously, Sarge lived a great life. And now that he's dead, our lives are looking pretty great too. Zing!"
"Come on, is this a remembrance or a roast?" Sarge complained.
"Quiet in the front row, please," Yang said.
"This is the worst funeral I've ever had! You loser's better step up the crying, pronto!"
"Oh, don't worry sir. I've written a stirring speech that is sure to tug at everyone's heartstrings," Simmons assured.
"Good to hear it. Now get with the eulogizing," Sarge ordered.
"On it, sir." Simmons rushed up front before ushering Yang and Grif out of the way so he could take the spotlight back. As Grif and Yang were pushed out, Blake took her teammate's side.
"What was that?" Blake questioned.
"I know, I didn't even get to my A material," Yang chuckled. Blake glared at her.
Simmons cleared his throat before beginning his eulogy. "Hello, everyone. I'm here to say a few words about our friend, Sarge."
"Boo, you suck!" Grif berated.
"Grif, get off the stage!" Simmons exclaimed. He then cleared his throat again before continuing. "Ok, like I was saying, I'm here to say a few words about Sarge."
"Boo, you suck!" Yang heckled. Blake elbowed her in the ribs, but she couldn't help but stifle a chuckle.
Simmons, however, ignored her. "As you all know, Sarge was a magnificent leader and he was a great inspiration to all his troops."
"Simmons is right, this is so emotional… Where's my hanky?" Sarge said through sniffles.
"He was a man of honor, discipline, and character," Simmons continued.
"It's like he's saying what we're all thinking!"
"If he was saying what I'm thinking, he'd be yawning," Grif remarked.
Simmons still continued, "But perhaps his greatest accomplishment as a military man-"
"Tell it!" Sarge cried.
"-And a friend-"
"Preach all, preach all!"
"-was developing my considerable skills as a soldier and a leader."
"What-?" Sarge paused.
"As you all know, Sarge's untimely demise leaves a gap in our command structure, a gap that is best filled by Sarge's right-hand man, a man that has a vision for Red Team!"
"What in Sam Hell is going on?!" Sarge exclaimed.
"I think Simmons is campaigning for your job," Blake said.
"At your funeral. Classy," Grif said with a modicum of respect.
"That's a power move if I've ever seen one," Yang smirked.
"The red army is faced with a difficult choice, the choice of who will lead us to glorious victory! Let's hope they choose a great candidate, a candidate whose armor is actually a shade of red. Sarge would've wanted it that way. Choose Simmons. It's the only thing Sarge did in life, so don't let his whole existence be in vain. Enclosing- somebody died, vote for me," Simmosn finished.
"Is this the kinda thing you guys do all day?" Sister asked.
"Pretty much," Grif answered. "Just run with it- it's the only thing that keeps you from going insane from boredom."
"Yeah… or we could raid the medical supplies for morphine?" Sister suggested.
"Yeah… wait, what?" Grif questioned.
"I think it's your turn, Sister," Yang gestured to the front of the group.
"Awesome!" Sister said giddily before swapping places with Simmons.
"Oo oo oo, can I go again?" Grif asked. "I just thought of a swear word that rhymes with Kentucky."
Sarge stared disappointingly at his Lieutenant. "You couldn't even wait for me to be buried, could you?"
"Your death was in the past, Sarge, and we need to look to the future - a future filled with Simmons," Simmons replied.
"He isn't dead!" Blake exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Sister began her speech. "Hey, everybody. Um… I'm new here and I didn't know Sergeant very well, but he was really old, and that's gross. Anyway - when you're old and gross, you're probably going to die and that's kinda sad. But when you think about it, all your friends are probably dead too, and if they're not, then they're definitely old and knowing old people is even sadder than being dead. So, anyway, whatever. Peace out."
"That was… surprisingly morbid," Yang said.
"This is a miserable excuse for a ceremony!" Sarge exclaimed. "Where's the flag folding? Where's the twenty-one gun salute?"
Simmons answered, "Sir, the flag is an important part of our inventory. We can't just go around having impromptu flag foldings because we feel like it."
"And I was in charge of the twenty-one gun salute. Unfortunately, we don't have twenty-one guns, so you'll have to settle for what I call the 'double bun' salute. Starts in just a few moments," Grif said.
Sarge sighed in disappointment. "I'll just get in my grave now."
"Yeah, maybe that's for the best, sir," Simmons agreed.
"Wait, we're not seriously burying him alive, are we?" Blake questioned.
"Well, yeah. I'm dead, so I get buried," Sarge said.
"But you're not dead!" Blake exclaimed. "Your Command made a mistake."
"If Command made a mistake here, that means they would have made mistakes before. Which just doesn't sit right with me, little missy. So if they say I'm dead, I'm dead," Sarge replied. "Now, you two dirtbags, grab the shovels and-" He was then cut off as Yang's fist connected with his skull. "Agh, the back of my head!" Sarge crumpled to the ground unconscious. The entire group looked up at Yang. She saw all the attention was on her and shrugged.
"I said I'd have a little fun, not actually go through with burying him," She said.
"If you didn't actually kill him with that punch," Grif remarked.
"He's fine," Yang said.
"He would've been fine buried. He had three hours of oxygen in his suit, tops," Simmons said.
"And after three hours?" Blake raised an eyebrow.
"We'd actually have a dead commander," Grif replied.
Simmons' radio whirred to life and he heard Weiss's voice in his ear. "Simmons! Simmons, come in!"
"I hear you, Weiss. What's up, I thought you were busy at Blue Base?" Simmons answered.
"I think I just figured out our Dust problem! Get your equipment and come to Blue Base as soon as you can!" Weiss said.
"Uh, I'm kinda busy with something over here-"
"Now!" Weiss snapped.
"Uh, I, uh, yes ma'am!" Simmons panicked before running towards Red Base for his equipment. "Why do girls always have to be so scary?"
"Sounds like we're making a trip to Blue Base," Yang said.
"Wonderful," Blake said unenthusiastically while rolling her eyes.
Tucker, Church and Ruby all stared down at the alien baby, who stared back up at them with curiosity. "So, this is it, Tucker! Your little monstrosity, your little abomination of nature," Church said.
"Shut up, he's cute!" Ruby defended the infant.
"Uh, what do I do?" Tucker asked Church.
"Why are you asking me?" Church replied.
"I don't know how to be a dad! This isn't the way I planned it!" Tucker exclaimed.
"You planned this? Tucker, I had no idea!"
"No no, I mean I always wanted to have that ideal father-son relationship," Tucker said.
"Aw, that's actually really-" Ruby began to say, but as usual, the sentiment quickly turned sour.
"You know, where I see him for like eight hours every other weekend and send checks to some woman I hate," Tucker finished.
Ruby sighed and muttered to herself. "Nevermind…"
"It's emotional conversations like this that make me miss my mom," Caboose said. Ruby half-heartedly smiled and patted Caboose's arm. It somewhat echoed her own thoughts right now. They've been gone from Remnant so long. What was her own father thinking right now? He was hesitant to let her and Yang go in the first place, and then something like this happens. He had to be freaking out right now. Her worry didn't help anytime her and Church got into an argument. It's not quite the same, but Church sounded eerily similar to Tai, and imaging her father with the same tone and extreme emotion in those moments, it kept her on edge.
"All right, look, let's leave these two alone, let 'em do a little bonding," Church said.
"Hey, don't leave me here with him! What am I supposed to say?" Tucker asked.
"Ask him if he likes baseball," Caboose suggested.
"It's an alien baby, Caboose," Church deadpanned.
"Ask him if he likes tee-ball!"
"Alien, Caboose! 'Alien' was the key word in that sentence!" Church stressed.
"I don't know what those are either," Ruby said.
"And you're from another universe, so you're technically an alien too. So my point stands," Church said.
"Seriously, don't go. I don't even know where to start!" Tucker said.
"Tucker, he's part of an alien race whose only purpose seems to be to tell huge, grandiose lies to people, so that they can seduce them and then impregnate them. So… why don't you start with that? You know, common ground," Church suggested.
"Yeah, I think I'll just stick to baseball."
"Tell him about how his dad got to third base with you!" Caboose said.
"Caboose!" Church exclaimed. Ruby growled under breath when Church snapped at Caboose for the hundredth time, but he moved on too fast for her to do anything about it. "C'mon, let's go make sure Weiss and Simmons don't blow up our base." Church ran back towards the base, and Caboose quickly followed. Ruby joined after a momentary sigh. They walked back up to the roof of Blue Base, where Weiss, Yang, and Simmons had dozens of cables and wires hooked up to the Blue Base teleporter, and attached to the side of it was a device holding a capsule containing a Cosmic Dust crystal.
"I'm telling you, this one better not blow up the entire base," Church said tenuously.
"No promises," Weiss replied.
"What makes this different from your other attempts to use the Dust?" Yang asked.
"Before, we tried to make something from scratch to harness the Dust's energy. In reality, we should have adapted the Dust to pre-existing constructs," Simmons answered. "Creating something new requires so much trial and error, and since a crystal is destroyed with each of our failed attempts, we could run out of Dust before finding the right prototype. But if we adapt the Dust to something already designed for travel, especially something also energy-based like the teleporter, there's a higher likelihood of success."
"Good. The sooner this nightmare ends, the better," Church remarked.
Weiss stood up from the capsule, having made sure it was safely secured, then picked up a controller wired into the machine. "Once we activate the mounted capsule, the energy from the Dust will mix with the energy from the teleporter, and hopefully create a rift back to Remnant," She said.
"Well, fire it up!" Yang said.
"Everyone stand back, just in case it goes south," Simmons warned. Everyone moved further away from the teleporter, and once everyone was far enough away, Weiss hit the switch. The white Cosmic Dust crystal began to glow brightly, and energy from it began to flow into the teleporter, like a white mist mixing with green gel. It started to mix almost perfectly.
"Th-That's it! I think we did it!" Simmons exclaimed.
Then something began to go wrong. The mixture became less symmetrical, and sparks of electricity began to shoot from the teleporter frame. "You just had to say something…" Yang groaned.
"Oh fuck me…" Church muttered.
"Get down!" Ruby exclaimed. Everyone dove down and hit the deck just before the energy blasted out in a massive wave and their vision was overtaken by white, and a harsh ringing filled all their ears. Ruby's head began to ache. The harsh ringing felt like it would last forever. Then amongst it, she thought she heard a voice, one she swore was so familiar. Or rather, it was two voices, mixed together, a male and a female. Both familiar, yet unrecognizable.
Ruby…? The female said.
Rose… The male said.
She knew both of those voices. But how?
"Ruby!" Yang's voice snapped her out of whatever trance she was in and opened her eyes. She looked up to Yang, who had a slightly worried look.
"Yang…?" She groaned. "What happened?"
"C'mon, get up. We have company," Church said. Yang helped her sister to her feet, then took in the sight around them. Surrounding Blue Base was a horde of Grimm, snarling and drooling at them. Ruby furrowed her brow and took Crescent Rose off her back, unfolding it into its full scythe form, ready for the oncoming battle.
Ironwood frowned as he looked out the window at the snowy terrain of Atlas, an endless sheet of white as far as the eye could see. Still nothing on the missing shipment, or Team RWBY's whereabouts. In his hand was his scroll, and he looked down at it. His thumb hovered just over Winter's contact. They had to scrub the mission. Nothing was coming for it, and resources were being wasted. If they didn't pull it now, the rest of the Atlas Council would, then reprimand him for it. He had to stop while they were ahead. He took a deep breath before beginning to bring his thumb down.
A rapping came at his office door. He pulled his thumb away from the scroll, then pocketed it. "Come in," he called across the room. The doors to his office slid open, and in ran one of his officers, a young woman who couldn't have been older than mid-twenties.
"Sir! We just detected a large burst of energy a few miles outside of Argus's borders!" She reported.
Ironwood's eyes rounded and he snapped around, quickly approaching his subordinate. "What kind of energy?!"
"Unknown, sir. But I was told to come report to you right away," The officer said.
"Hmm… if it's possibly the Dust…" he muttered to himself, holding his chin in thought. "What is Specialist Schnee's status?"
"Currently en-route back to Atlas."
"Are there any huntsmen in the area around Argus, off-duty or otherwise?" Ironwood questioned.
"Yes, one. Team JNPR from Beacon, currently off-duty," The officer nodded.
"Tell Schnee to head to Argus and enlist JNPR's aid. I can't afford to split our troops up further right now."
"Yes sir," The officer nodded before starting for the door. Ironwood turned around and pulled his scroll back out before swiping through his contacts, looking for one in particular. Once he found it, he called and held the scroll up to his ear, impatiently waiting for an answer.
The call clicked and a gruff voice greeted him. "General. Surprised to hear from you so soon. Didn't think we'd talk until the Beacon Outpost staff list had been put together."
"We have more pressing matters. I'll be sending you coordinates for a rendezvous. You'll meet Specialist Schnee and the Huntsmen under her command on the ground. She'll fill you in from there. I'll have Ciel cover for you in Mantle until this is taken care of."
"Understood, General."
"Report when you reach the rendezvous point. Good luck, Specialist Castle." Ironwood then ended the call before once again pocketing his scroll.