A/N: So, this story was conceived before Armored Core VI was announced, at a time when Verdict Day was the latest entry in the series before it took a hiatus.
The Armored Core series has really suffered from preservation and accessibility issues, and while emulators have done the lion's share of making this series available to people who missed it the first go-round, I'm really happy that ACVI is presenting the opportunity for more new players - some of whom may even have been introduced to the series from my little story here - to legally jump in and experience it for themselves.
I started this chapter just before Rubicon dropped, and from what I've seen, the ACs in VI look to be about on-par with the NEXTs of ACIV and For Answer. That being said, the shoulder-mounted plasma shields look to be a massive improvement over the older, arm-mounted designs, but I digress.
We're in the last arc of this story, and so I'm going to wrap it up without touching on AC abilities or plotlines that were introduced in Fires of Rubicon. With that said, I've had a general outline for a sequel tossing around in my noggin' for a while, and I'm sure that that will have a lot drawn from it.
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In the air just above the center of Beacon's main briefing room, in the tower overlooking the sprawling city-state of Vale, hovered a monster.
Rotating slowly, its shade tinted the ethereal blue of a standard hologram projector, was a representation of what had come to be codenamed the Midnight Titan. Flanking it on each side, Director Ozpin and the legendary Qrow Branwen stood facing the entire force of Beacon's Armored Core pilots, who were seated by Lance, all of whom were staring in a mixture of stunned shock and dismay.
The silence was total, and oppressive.
Standing calmly with his hands clasped behind his back, Director Ozpin carefully studied the pale faces and near-panicked expressions of his pilots. It would have been unconscionable, of course, to throw them against the Titan without any forewarning whatsoever, and terrible strategy besides. No, this revelation would have had to occur at any rate, when there was still enough time for them to process their fear.
"What's our plan to fight it?"
Ozpin nodded his approval at Jaune, who had stood up from where he'd sat amongst the rest of Dragon Lance. That was good; by standing up and responding as he had - no panicked declarations of doom, no despairing suggestions of flight, merely an acknowledgement that the enemy had been identified and a request for information on how they would destroy it - the young Arc had set the tone for the rest of the pilots among Beacon's ranks.
"Obviously, given the armament specified for this Midnight Titan, letting the monstrosity anywhere near to Vale is unacceptable," began Ozpin. "The great size of the enemy enables it to carry an arsenal, but it also makes it slow and ponderous to move. Therefore, we will establish a forward operating base - a Bulwark - from which we will stage operations to degrade and destroy the enemy's capability for waging war. Qrow?"
At Ozpin's prompting, Qrow pushed a button, changing the display to a topographical map of the continent of Saunus. "The Midnight Titan is located here," he drawled, indicating a white skull icon on the map. "And this is Vale," he pointed to an icon of the crossed axes of the Kingdom of Vale. "In order to get from there to here, the big bastard has to cross the mountains at Greystone Pass, here." With a laser pointer, he circled a relatively narrow pass through the high mountains that guarded Vale.
"This is where we'll hold it off. We need to take out its long-range cannons so our main force can airlift in and jump it. Its mobility will be further restricted in the pass, so if we keep moving, we can keep casualties to a minimum. 'Course, that supposes we can get those cannons offline before they get in range of this FOB Bulwark, or else we're all gonna have a real bad day." Qrow raised a brow at the young man that he was informed was dating his niece. "So? Can you do it?"
Jaune stood, the eyes of all of Beacon on him. Then, he nodded. "It needs to happen, so I'll see it done. It's as simple as that." With a shrug, he sat once more.
Murmurs filled the auditorium as the pilots came to terms with the huge bomb that their Director had just dropped on them.
"What happens if we fail?" asked Lance-Captain Alabaster, the commanding officer of Eagle Lance. Her question caused more murmurings, the pilots concerned about the very real threat to their home.
Ozpin held up his hand to call for quiet. "Obviously, we don't plan to fail, but it would be irresponsible to not prepare for a worst-case scenario. The first measure is the establishment of a Home Guard. This will guard Vale as per normal. In the meantime, every single pilot not assigned to this guard will deploy to take the fight to the Midnight Titan. In the event that this force is defeated, the defense of Vale will become untenable."
As the worried murmurs resumed, Ozpin silenced the room with a look. "That does not mean that the people of Vale will be left on their own. After all, it is only in the relatively recent past that life in the Kingdoms has become more…settled, and my predecessors have recognized the prudence in preparing for the day that Vale would need to be evacuated."
The fact that he was, in fact, his own predecessors was a point that Ozpin felt wise to omit. "Of those contingency plans are blueprints for a method to evacuate the population of Vale by sea. To that end, the industrial capacity of Vale will be mobilized to meet two objectives; the establishment of Forward Operating Base Bulwark, and the creation of the Line Ark vessels. Should we fall before the Midnight Titan, the Home Guard will escort the Line Arks to the city of Argus, where the population will work to establish a new home."
"Are we going to fight this alone?" a pilot called out. "Where are the other Kingdoms in all of this?"
At that, Winter Schnee stood, from where she'd sat with Weiss. "In recognition of this threat, General Ironwood has dispatched a squad of our Kingdom's elite pilots, the Ace Operatives. Upon their arrival, I will assume command, and deploy to the Bulwark. Weiss Schnee and Penny Polendina will be attached to the Home Guard. Should the battle turn against us, they will escort the civilians of Vale to Argus before returning home."
There were nods of satisfaction to that. While Winter Schnee may not have been liked, she was respected by the pilots of Vale, who witnessed her putting down the notorious insurgent, Adam Taurus. The news that the formidable soldier would be joining the fight, with an entire squad at her back, would help put nerves at ease.
It had been an almighty argument that had raged in Ozpin's office, when Winter had declared to her father that she simply would not be dissuaded from participating in the battle. The hidden immortal was actually impressed that the daughter had managed to emerge from it victorious.
"As per the agreement with my mother, the reigning Queen of Menagerie, I will also take up arms in defense of Vale," declared Blake Belladonna.
"I trust you would be amenable to rejoining Lance-Captain Xiao Long's command as part of Dragon Lance?"
A faint trace of a smile crossed the princess's lips. "Naturally."
For the hundredth time, the Director of Beacon wondered if it would have been better if he'd ordered the surviving White Fang insurgents captured, instead of killed, as their ranks had constituted the other greatest concentration of veteran Armored Core pilots outside of Beacon. However, just as he had every other time before, Ozpin soon dismissed the notion. There would have been no way to hold them for the period needed for the attack to be ready, not without causing severe dissension in the ranks, or even civic instability.
As it was, Ozpin's sophisticated propaganda and information messaging management apparatus - what young Jaune referred to as his "Diabolical Spin Machine" - was at full tilt, making the Princess out to be an innocent, downright heroic figure, a tragic victim of the lies and manipulations of the evil Adam Taurus, and dropping unsubtle reminders that exclusionary economic practices towards the world's only Faunus-majority nation had put her people's back to the wall, as it were. There was even a feature film in the works which played up the heroic sacrifice of the Queen's consort, Blake's father Ghira, who had fallen in defense of the people of Menagerie.
It was a hassle, to be sure, but on a multi-generational timescale, these efforts would pay great dividends in the future. If the blood of the White Fang was the currency needed to pay for those future returns, then so be it.
"I am in contact with Theodore of Vacuo," Ozpin announced. "As Vacuo is the next obvious target for the Titan, should Vale fall, they will naturally be preparing for their own defense. However, he has promised the deployment of a squad to the Bulwark, once an overland route can be established. You will be informed of further reinforcements from Mistral once those plans are finalized."
Ozpin opted not to share Qrow's conclusion that Leo had been somehow compromised. Three Armored Cores, at the very least, had been stolen from Haven, with several pilots killed in the process, and Lionheart had not seen fit to inform anyone. Not himself, not Theodore, and not James. As a result, the other three cut him out of the loop out of an abundance of caution. If the enemy learned of their planned interception of the Midnight Titan, the results could be disastrous.
"The roster for the Home Guard will be finalized by the end of the week. For everyone else, prepare to deploy." The Director scanned the crowd with his gaze. "I know it's a lot to ask, especially coming, as it does, on the heels of the long and bloody struggle we have just endured. But just as we have defeated that threat, so too will we destroy this one! We will face the enemy in the field and destroy them, totally and utterly! And in the ashes of their ruin, we will plant the seeds of a future more prosperous and glorious than we ever could imagine!" He nodded. "Ladies and gentlemen, pilots of Beacon, friends and allies from overseas…prepare for battle. One last time."
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"What do you mean, you put me on the Home Guard?!"
Yang stared incredulously at her father, who simply stared right back at her. His arms were crossed over his broad chest, and the Captain of Beacon's Dragon Lance looked utterly unmoved by his eldest daughter's outburst.
"You remember what a total shitshow it was when your sister got in trouble." It wasn't a question. "This time around, the stakes are even higher. We have to get this right, Yang. If we're gonna pull this off, your mother and I need our complete focus on the fight -"
"Wait, Mom's going with you too?!" Yang interrupted. "What…" she broke off, turning her head away as tears welled up in her violet eyes. "What if…you and Mom…"
Taiyang took a step forward, placing his hand on her shoulder. "If the worst happens, then it'll be after we gave it our very best shot. But we'll have a better shot of pulling through if we know that you and your sister will be safe."
Yang had always pushed for her independence, looking to establish herself as a kickass pilot in her own right. But faced with the prospect of both of her parents going off to battle without her - with the notion that she might lose them both in one day - she suddenly felt like that same little pigtailed girl that had clung to Summer's leg when she was four years old.
Tears welled in her violet eyes, but Yang held fast. She wanted nothing more than to throw herself into her Daddy's arms, to let him make everything all right again, but her time for that had passed. They needed her to be strong now; Ruby needed her to be strong now. It was time for Yang to leave the little girl behind, and become the woman that her parents raised her to be.
So, she wiped her own tears away with the back of her hand, composing herself and fixing an expression of stoic determination on her face. She nodded to her mother and father. "I understand. I'll keep our people - and Ruby - safe. And you had better come back, both of you, got it?"
Taiyang smiled and reached out to tousle her hair, which she fended off with her usual casual swat. "Ten-four on that one, kiddo."
"We want you to know how proud we are of you, both of you," added Summer. "Your father and I love you."
Yang swallowed heavily. "I love you too. Be safe?" She looked over and saw Pyrrha milling uncomfortably nearby. Looking back at her parents, she smiled and said "If you'll excuse me, I've got someone else I need to set straight. Well, not straight, since, you know, just…" She sighed. "Can we just pretend that I said something badass and cool and leave it there?"
Summer shared a glance with her husband, who shrugged, amused. "Sure, I'll allow it."
"Cool. I'll make sure to find you guys again before you go."
With that, Yang turned and strode over to her girlfriend. Pyrrha's eyes widened as she saw the blonde stalking towards her. "Okay, look," she started to explain. "I know you're not happy that I'm going, but I can't just leave Jaune out on his own and -"
"Shh." Yang put her finger on Pyrrha's lips, drawing a humorously cross-eyed look from her as she tried to look at it. "Come with me." Yang grabbed Pyrrha's hand and bodily dragged her out of the briefing room, into a hallway, into an elevator and up to Pyrrha's quarters. Pyrrha unlocked the door to her apartment as Yang fidgeted impatiently next to her. When the redhead opened the door, Yang bodily pushed her girlfriend into the living room and against a wall, pinning Pyrrha's arms above her head and kissing her with a hungry, almost fevered desperation that had Pyrrha whining in need.
Yang pulled her from the wall and shoved her onto her couch. Pyrrha blinked, panting heavily, both puzzled and aroused by her girlfriend's abrupt and aggressive actions. "Y-Yang?"
The blonde pilot kicked off her boots and unzipped her flight suit, slowly peeling it off and wiggling free from its legs, standing in front of Pyrrha in her plain white cotton bra and Vale-cut panties. "You're going to go fight," she said. "Not just for Vale, but for your brother. That's fine. I get it. Really, I do." She slowly stalked towards Pyrrha, an exaggerated sway of her hips accompanying each step. "When you leave, you belong to Vale, and your family. But until you go?" She straddled Pyrrha, who swallowed heavily as Yang leaned in close.
"Until you leave, your pretty little ass belongs to me," growled Yang.
Pyrrha shivered.
"I'm gonna give you something to fight for, something to come home to," Yang declared, tugging Pyrrha's long red hair free from its braid. "Hang on tight, babe. Tonight's gonna get wild."
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Qrow Branwen kept a low profile around Beacon. He wanted to get back out there, keep an eye on the Titan himself, but Ozpin had suggested that, for the immediate future at least, he would be better used as a hidden bodyguard for his niece and…well, her boyfriend.
That little development had taken him by surprise. Ruby? Little Ruby, with a boyfriend? He'd half expected her to try and marry her own Armored Core one day, but lo and behold, not only was she outright dating someone, she'd gone and given away her AC to one of her friends, another new development.
Was it wrong to feel weird about his niece acting so…normal?
If he hadn't had confirmation that Ruby was receiving counseling for her traumatic experience in the Emerald Forest, Qrow would have thought she was acting out due to that. Still, as he watched her eat and chat happily in a mess hall booth with the blond boy she was apparently nuts for - and didn't that just look like Summer and Tai all over again? - Ruby looked happy enough, even with all the crazy shit going down.
Observing from his discreet hiding spot, Qrow watched as Yang brought in her own girlfriend. Now, that was a lot less surprising. From the look of smug self-satisfaction on his eldest niece's face - and the expression of awed and slightly-terrified revelation on the girlfriend's - Qrow figured that Yang had gone and Raven'd the girl, to stake her claim. It was easy to forget sometimes that Yang wasn't born from Summer, and that she was just as much a Branwen as she was a Xiao Long. And Branwen women, Qrow could speak with authority, could be fuckin' nuts.
Apparently, Ruby had been cookin' up some kind of solution for the crazy Armored Core she'd whipped up. Another weird development. Qrow never would have believed it if he hadn't seen the damn thing up and fly himself.
According to Ozpin, Ruby and Arc were a team, one that would win this war for Vale. That's why he was watching over the pair, at least until the boy deployed. There was no indication that Salem knew about Ruby, the White Glint, or its pilot, but Ozpin wanted to play things as safe as possible for as long as possible. The Midnight Titan was an escalation to the war between humanity and the Grimm, but, as horrible as it was, it did tell them a few things.
Firstly, and most importantly, it took time to create something like that. The Queen of the Grimm couldn't keep up the rate of Grimm creation and build up something the size of the Midnight Titan rapidly. The Grimm Pools had a limit to how much they could output in a given period of time, and that alone was valuable information.
Secondly, the Queen was recruiting human agents to help. The thief, the killer, the crazy bitch, and at least one more, who may or may not have been the one to divert Atlas military tech to install on the Titan. Probably not a very large group, but one of highly-talented and motivated individuals.
Third -
Qrow's meditations screeched to a halt as he saw the silver-haired killer, wearing a maintenance staff jumpsuit, stroll into Beacon's mess hall. Then as casual as he pleased, the assassin drove a long knife into Jaune Arc's chest.
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Jaune stared in blank shock at the knife that had somehow found itself buried in his chest. He coughed up blood when it was ripped back out of him, collapsing out of the booth and onto the ground as his life's blood began pooling around him.
Pyrrha shrieked in shock, horror and outrage, leaping onto the stranger in a frenzy, trying to rip him apart with her bare hands. He laughed with carefree joy before reaching up and hurling Pyrrha into the ground, hard enough to crack the concrete underneath her. He brought up one of his legs straight up into the air and slammed his heel into her sternum, her spine and ribcage giving way with an audible crunch. His axe kick struck with such force that the concrete underneath her actually cratered from the impact.
With Pyrrha crushed so badly that she couldn't even breathe, Mercury smirked down at the little girl with the dark hair, who had thrown herself over Jaune's body. "D'aww. Isn't that cute?" His teeth gleamed brightly from the blood that had sprayed over his face. Mercury's eyes were bright with unholy glee, his arousal visibly straining against the front of his pilfered jumpsuit. "I should cut you up and take a piece for Emmy."
"Don't you touch her!"
A blonde girl stepped in between him and the girl, shielding her with her own body.
"No biggie," the man said, drawing his knife back. "This'll only take a second."
He moved to stab the girl, only to find his arm held in a grip of pure iron. He turned his head, finding himself eye to furious red eye with Qrow Branwen.
Then he was seeing stars as the most infamous killer in all the world punched him through a wall.
Mercury pulled into a roll, springing to his metal feet just in time to throw up a desperate block from Brawen's blade, a broad-bladed sword that extended from a hilt held at the base of his back. The appearance of Qrow Branwen - an enraged Qrow Branwen at that - actually shocked him out of his blood-lusted haze.
He had done exactly what Cinder told him not to do, and gone a-killin' again. He hadn't even planned to do it; he'd just walked into the mess hall, had the impulse to stab someone, and stabbed the first person he saw.
Oops.
Well, it wasn't like Beacon really had anything that could deal with the Titan. Besides, their forest was all burned up and they were clearly on the ropes. He just needed to escape Qrow, and he could report to Cinder that it was all clear to come kill them all here in Vale.
As Qrow slipped his kick and used his sword to bodily swat him across the room and out of the main building entirely, it occurred to Mercury that that would be far easier said than done.
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Back in the mess hall, Jaune pulled himself along the ground, leaving a long streak of blood behind him as he made his way to Pyrrha.
"J-Jaune, don't!" sobbed Ruby. "Save your strength!"
Undaunted, he continued to drag himself over to where his sister lay, crushed and broken. She struggled to breathe, drawing harsh, shallow, wet gasps as she fought to cling to life. Distantly, he heard Yang screaming for medics, security, someone. Finally, he had dragged himself far enough to reach out and grab his sister's hand.
Ozpin had taught him some of the incantations that people had used in the distant past, to awaken the magic in one another. But there and then, in that moment, in his time of pure desperation and need, there was only one word that he could push through his lips as they lay there, dying together.
"Please."
He reached within himself, bringing the Aura to bear with everything he had in him. Jaune was enveloped in a white-gold light that seared in its power and purity. He gasped deeply as the stab wound in his chest closed itself, but before he could think about it, he tried to reach into Pyrrha. Her light was red, but it was faint, and flickering. In desperation, he instinctively pushed his light into her. While she was overwhelmed by his white-gold light at first, in time, her red light grew stable, then stronger, brighter, larger.
"What?" he heard Yang. "What is he…?"
The broken bones of Pyrrha's chest, ribs, and spine shifted, setting to their proper positions before they began to knit themselves back together. Pyrrha gasped a full, deep breath, her lungs filling with sweet, life-sustaining air. Slowly, she sat up, looking in puzzled fascination at the red light that raced over her body.
"Jaune?"
The lights, both her red glow and Jaune's white-gold one that rippled over his hands and forearms, snapped off, and Jaune slowly raised himself up to his knees. "Pyrrha? Ruby? Is…is everyone okay?"
Ruby was sobbing next to him, torn between wanting to embrace him but unsure if doing so would cause him injury. Looking past Pyrrha's shoulder, he saw a group of Beacon pilots and techs milling by the door, all in an uproar, behind the Director, who stared at them as he leaned on his cane.
A pair of medics pushed their way through the crowd. It was clear, from the blood soaking the floor and Jaune's jumpsuit, as well as the small crater where Pyrrha sat, that both pilots had been seriously hurt. However, as the first medic ripped open Jaune's bloodsoaked flightsuit, she was met not with a gaping stab wound, but with a perfectly healthy, unharmed human chest.
"What?"
"I see that we will need to have another briefing," sighed the Director. With this attack, and Arc's apparent Semblance manifesting itself in full view of so many Beacon witnesses, there would be no keeping it quiet amidst the personnel. "Lieutenant Arc, Pilot Nikos, please follow me to the medbay. We have much to discuss."
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Beacon was in an uproar.
The Director had put the facility on total lockdown following the attack on Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos. He had set the security team to sifting through the entire staff to ensure that everyone was who they claimed to be, from the lowly civilian cook staff all the way up to the Lance-Captains themselves.
Beacon's Head of Security was especially motivated, as Ozpin had told him that, should another assassin manage to infiltrate the facility and harm a single Beacon pilot, he would wish that the assassin had killed him first.
While the security team was working on ensuring that there were no other infiltrators in Beacon, Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos had been subjected to a battery of diagnostic tests, ranging from MRIs to X-rays, all of which showed that they were both entirely healthy. Ozpin knew that Aura could enact healing that could seem to be nigh-miraculous, but even he had never seen such serious wounds as Miss Nikos suffered healed so fully and so quickly.
From what Lieutenant Arc had reported on the incident, it sounded as though his Semblance could have applications in healing, which had been a rare and highly-prized utility in the old world. It certainly kept both himself and his sister from succumbing to the wounds inflicted by the assassin, and since Jaune could apparently use it on himself, it could allow him to keep pushing the White Glint to its limits for an extended time. Jaune's Semblance had formed a self-reinforcing feedback loop; with time and training, the boy could become a walking perpetual Aura generator.
Between his tactical acumen and his Semblance, the warrior orders of old would have fallen over themselves to recruit Jaune into their ranks.
Ozpin shook his head, refocusing on the here-and-now, and not on a world that had long since faded to legend.
Qrow had driven the assassin from Beacon, and was carefully giving chase. They didn't want him deviating from his course back to the Midnight Titan, or doubling back around to make sure Arc had actually died. By reviewing the security camera footage, it didn't appear as though the intruder had been present at the briefing - though after watching the assassin cheerily salute the security cameras as he stole a maintenance jumpsuit from a locker, Ozpin had the man who was on monitoring duty arrested for dereliction of duty - so what they wanted him to report back was a story of Beacon in disarray from the White Fang, and totally unprepared for the Titan's attack.
When Qrow had given the exact coordinates of the Titan, Ozpin had set high-altitude spy planes to fly regular sorties over its location; when it moved, they'd know. When Qrow would report that the assassin had gone beyond the Greystone Pass on his way back to the Titan, Beacon would begin construction of the Forward Operating Base Bulwark. With luck, when this 'Cinder' character launched her attack with the Titan, she would be the one caught flat-footed.
He sighed, recognizing that it was time he shared the secret of Aura more generally with the pilots of Beacon. At least Qrow would find some measure of…catharsis in his task.
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Battered, bloodied, and exhausted, Mercury fled through Forever Fall, running as fast as his mechanical legs could carry him. He panted as he slipped behind a tree, taking a moment to try and catch his breath.
He managed precisely two-and-a-half deep lungfuls of air before a shotgun blast tore a chunk out of the tree, just over his head. He yelped and took off running once again, as razor-sharp flechette rounds ripped through the air around him with another cacophonous blast.
"You're gonna die, Fucko!" Qrow yelled towards the fleeing man, before pausing and taking a draw from his flask. Yet another good thing about his magical bird form was that he didn't actually have to run after the shitstain to keep harrying him. He knew how to space out his interactions just enough to make it believable that he was putting up an intense and dogged pursuit without giving away his supernatural abilities.
And people wondered why he made a point of gifting Ozzie the good booze every now and then.
"Keep running, motherfucker!" Qrow called out, making sure that the target could tell the increased distance. He smirked as he then transformed into his crow form and took off, lazily following after the piece of shit that had the sheer, unadulterated gall to threaten his nieces.
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Jaune found himself in something of a moral quandary. Ordinarily, he would be in favor of being open and truthful with his family, but his mother was in a…brittle state lately, and if he straight-up told her that he had been attacked, and how close he'd come to death, again, it might push her into another breakdown.
Then there was the imminent attack on the Midnight Titan to consider, of which he would be front and center. If the news about his attack didn't do it, the combination with the deployment would. He didn't want to keep secrets from his mother - that was his father's sin, one of many - but he also didn't want her to literally, actually die from stress and shock.
Ultimately, he resolved to tell his older sisters as soon as the lockdown was lifted, so they could form a consensus on what they could tell their mother, and when. It wasn't a perfect solution, but at least keeping his older sisters in the loop meant that he wasn't simply deciding on his own what his family could and couldn't know about his life.
Ruby hadn't let him out of her sight since the attack, seeming to draw strength from his continued existence in the land of the living. Yang had been deeply shaken by seeing Pyrrha so gravely wounded, and was simultaneously fussing over her like her mother while trying not to be seen as fussing over her.
The four of them were sequestered in the briefing room, which was, in turn, under armed guard. The Director had explained about Aura to Ruby, Pyrrha, and Yang. Given that Ruby had already developed magic powers, which Yang had witnessed, and Pyrrha felt her Aura restoring her to full health, it was fairly easy to get them to understand what it was, and what it could do.
Pyrrha had been shaken by her brush with death, but not so shaken that she wasn't able to joke about using her newfound Aura to pilot a Gen 4 AC of her own and pay him back for his stunt shooting out her optics in their last duel.
Thing was, over a dozen people at Beacon had witnessed Jaune work what could be legitimately construed as an actual miracle in saving his sister's life, and the Director wanted to get ahead of the rumor train before things got…weird.
Being the son of Gil Arc and hailed as having saved the city from Adam Taurus was weird enough; Jaune certainly didn't want anyone getting any religious ideas about him.
Summer and Captain Xiao Long were the first to arrive. After proving their identities to the guards, they entered the room and embraced their daughters, with Summer making sure to pull Pyrrha into the embrace as well.
"You know, when you said you recovered from that head injury with magic powers, I thought you were being a smartass," remarked Tai, shaking his head. "Kid, have I mentioned that my life has become all kinds of odd since you entered it?"
"Correlation doesn't equal causation?" Jaune offered lamely.
"Yuh-huh."
Ren and Nora were the next to arrive, who, of course, both knew about Aura. What was different was that, for the first time, Ren knew how to unlock Nora's Aura for her. The Director had asked him to hold off on that until they gathered the rest of Dragon Lance, for the first batch of pilots, but Ren had already asked, and Nora had agreed to let him unlock her Aura. For years, she had been the 'support' to Ren's superpowered antics, but she had always wanted to do the sort of things he did, to be there alongside him, just as strong and tough, if not tougher.
"Lieutenant," Ren greeted as he took a seat. "I'm glad to see that your abilities made the difference today."
"Yeah," agreed Jaune. "I really don't want to think about how it would've gone down without them."
"I'm just sorry that rotten stinking rat-sucking son of a bitch was driven off before we could get there," Nora growled from Ren's other side. "Cheapshotting asshole. He violated the sanctity of breakfast! I mean, who the fuck does that?"
"Probably the sort of person who just up and knifes someone," mumbled Jaune. "Ruined my pancakes, man."
"Oy, Jaune!" Cardin called out as he entered the room. "You good, dude?"
"As well as I can be, considering," replied Jaune.
"Well…good." Cardin sunk heavily into a seat behind Jaune. "Don't worry, bro, I got your back. No one's gonna be stickin' knives in it while I'm on your six!"
Somehow, despite knowing intellectually that Cardin couldn't actually do anything if someone with Aura took another crack at him, the simple statement of support did make Jaune feel at least a little better. "Thanks, Cardin."
"Hey, no big. Can't have people up and shivving our Madlad, can we?" The big man leaned forward in his seat. "So, what's this about magic powers?"
Jaune sighed, then held up his right hand, palm-up. A bit of effort, and he conjured the small lick of golden flame that he used to demonstrate the existence of his Aura.
Cardin's eyes went wide as he saw Arc's little magic trick. "Fuck me like a goat," he breathed in wonder.
"Like a goat, Cardin?" Pyrrha just couldn't help but ask. "You, uh…you fuck a lot of goats then?"
Cardin flushed. "It's just a saying!"
"Yeah, a weird saying."
"Do I have to order you to keep five hundred feet from livestock at all times?" snarked Taiyang.
"N-no!" Cardin looked around desperately. "I mean, it's magic! Arc just did fuckin' magic! I think I get a pass for sayin' weird shit when it's magic in play!" At the amused looks of his friends and colleagues, he sat back in his seat, crossing his arms with a huff. "Y'all suck."
Pyrrha was about to needle him again, when she saw the Director enter the briefing room.
"Good afternoon," Ozpin began, as he stepped up to the podium. "I am glad to see that you are all healthy and well." A faint smile teased his lips as he looked over the pilots of Dragon Lance. "No doubt you've heard of the attack on our very own Lieutenant Arc…and the circumstances that resulted in the survival of both himself and Pilot Nikos. I trust you have some questions."
"Yeah, I got one," drawled Taiyang. "If you've known about magic all along, then why are you only now teaching pilots how to do it?"
Ozpin sighed, looking aged and weary. "Aura - the magical power within the souls of all humans and Faunus - grants many abilities. Enhanced strength, speed, endurance, an ability to heal from wounds, and even the potential to develop a particular talent unique to each wielder. An Aura Adept, when properly trained, is almost untouchable by ordinary men. It is not a power to be taught lightly, but more to the point…"
The Director took a deep breath. "Until now, Aura has been irrelevant to the piloting of Armored Cores, save in one respect. Unknown to any of you, Glynda Goodwitch had the power of Aura. It wasn't enough to save her. Instead, it caused her death to…linger."
The mood in the room grew much more somber at the reminder. The death of Ozpin's deputy was the stuff of nightmares.
"So, I deliberately avoided cultivating Aura talents among the pilots of Beacon," continued Ozpin. "But there have been two recent developments that have caused me to decide that the benefits have outweighed the drawbacks. Firstly, the events of today have demonstrated a weakness in the doctrine of the Armored Core, namely, the vulnerability of the men and women who pilot them when not in their machines. The assassin who nearly murdered Lieutenant Arc and Pilot Nikos was enhanced by the power of Aura. If not for the intervention of Qrow Branwen, neither they, nor Pilot Xiao Long and Miss Rose, would have survived. I will not have the brave men and women of Beacon, on whose shoulders the burden of securing this Kingdom rests, be helpless in the face of any threat."
"But the second development came about due to Ruby Rose and the advent of the White Glint. Lieutenant Arc's Armored Core isn't merely advanced and powerful; it is, in fact, a fusion of technology and magic. It, as well as the weapons produced by Master Karasawa in the past, are now classified as 'magitek.' At any rate, the White Glint is the first of the fourth generation of Armored Cores. What demarcates this generation from the previous is that the power, speed, and agility of these Armored Cores demand that the pilot have an active Aura to survive using them to their full potential. To that end, Lieutenant Arc has been pioneering techniques for pilots to shield themselves from the effects of intense G-forces while piloting. Now. If there are no further questions, I would like Pilot Ren and Pilot Valkyrie to step forward, and demonstrate the process of awakening Aura."
The two lifelong friends and partners stood and walked to the front of the briefing room. They stood facing one another, and after Nora nodded her assent, Ren put his hand on her chest, over her heart.
"Once your Aura is awakened, feeling it within yourself will soon become a second nature," lectured Ozpin. "Feeling the Aura in another and awakening it is less intuitive, but with practice and intense focus, it can be done. Pilot Ren?"
Ren stared at Nora, and for a moment, he saw her just as she had been the first time they'd met; a dirty, homeless little orphan girl, weeping in helpless terror as Kuroyuri burned around her, trying to hide from the Grimm in the partially-collapsed ruin of a cellar. Ren had just been orphaned himself, his dying father sending him away to save his life, and only the discovery of The Flow - or Aura, as the others called it - had given him the wherewithal to keep moving instead of collapsing in grief.
His father had told him to take action, and on seeing the helpless girl weeping alone in the dark, that's exactly what Ren had done. He'd taken her by the hand, pulling her with him in a mad dash to safety. At one point, he thought for sure that they'd been spotted, and he'd fallen into The Flow and hugged Nora close to him. He didn't know that it would hide them both from the Grimm; his only thought was that he didn't want to spend the last moments of his life in terror.
Together, they had survived, and from that moment was born a phrase, a promise, a mantra, and a solemn vow.
"We'll keep each other safe," Ren said aloud.
That simple phrase, the encapsulation of the bond that entwined his destiny with hers, sent his Aura into her soul, the very essence of Nora Valkyrie. And just as she had always trusted him with all of her everything, her Aura rose at his beckoning touch, roaring into life with the unstoppable power of the storm.
Nora's Aura manifested as sparks of pink lightning crackling over her body, causing her hair to stand on end. "Woah, Nelly!" she cried out as she felt the power surge through her. Was this how Ren had felt all the time? She stared at her hands in awe and wonder at the power she felt.
After a few seconds, her Aura subsided, dormant yet still present, like a coiled snake ready to strike. Ren stepped back from her, shaking his head to clear it.
"Are you okay?" she asked, suddenly concerned at his weariness.
He nodded. "It's…just a lot," he said.
"We won't be demanding that Beacon pilots have their Aura awakened, but it is strongly encouraged," announced Ozpin, as Nora led Ren back to their seats. "This will become more pressing a matter when more Gen Four ACs are created, but as we've seen today, an active Aura is the best defense against attacks made on your person. Please consider carefully if this is what will be best for you. Those of you who do awaken your Aura must inform my office; if a pilot has not done so, they will not be cleared to pilot a Gen Four in the future."
With that, Ozpin left, leaving a lot of contemplative pilots in his wake.
[/]
It was a strange sort of energy that had taken hold of Vale in recent days. Mines that had been attacked by Adam Taurus had been blasted open, what remains of the miners that had been left after the plasma had been taken to be interred, and then the mines had been reopened. Not only were the mines reopened, but the ore was sent out at a feverish pace to the city, where the blast furnaces were churning out alloys constantly, night and day.
Scores of Valean citizens, who had been struggling economically due to the arson of the Emerald Forest, found temporary employment in construction. Whatever it was Ozpin had cooking up, it required labor, and a lot of it. Ships, especially cargo haulers, tended to be quite large, particularly when they needed to accommodate Armored Cores, but the pair of hulks that began to loom over the harbor were truly massive, downright megalithic in scope.
Gil Arc wasn't used to being on the outs. For half a century, he'd been, if not always the point of the spear of Vale's defense, then at least in an orbit close enough to gather what was happening when the city was in danger. Now, though…now though…
He sat alone in the AC hangar on the Arc family estate. That devil-woman Rose had moved her machine out shortly after the Emerald Forest had gone up in flames. Something told him that by the time whatever was going on was resolved, the new hangar on her own family's property would be finished. The Arc family's facility would just stand empty until Jaune finally slowed in his own old age, and transitioned from active duty to the Watch.
He hadn't gone to see Isabelle, or the girls. The shame was too great.
Not for the first time, the grizzled old pilot wondered if it wouldn't have been better if he'd had died that night, when his heart had seized and Jaune had taken Crocea Mors into the fray in his stead. Perhaps it would have been better to pass on before his family had learned what he'd done…before seeing the sheer grief in his wife's eyes, or hearing a new contempt in the voice of his only son when he was addressing him.
Bereft of family, honors, and station, Gil had been left alone with nothing but the weight of his actions, and in the enormity of his failures, he broke. After he'd vented his spite and venom, his rationalizations rang false, even to his ears. He had neither excuse nor reprieve from his guilt, and even in that, he could derive no consolation from at least having reached his epiphany. Gil knew that if he said as much to his wife or children, they would be thoroughly unimpressed that he had only had that breakthrough of conscience after his every attempt to squirm away from accountability had been thwarted.
No, if there was any solace for Gil Arc, it was the knowledge that Jaune, his only son, was shaping up to be a better man than he had ever been, even at his best.
Now that he truly understood his son's quality, his worries about Beacon had taken a new light for the disgraced Hero of Vale. There would be no absolution for Gil Arc, no balancing the ledgers for what he had done. The harm he had inflicted on both his family and the young women who had been under his command could never be undone. The good he had done for Vale in the course of his career had been attainted by his subsequent abuse of his authority.
If there was a true, pure legacy that Gil Arc would leave behind in this world, it would be his children. Jaune was not only strong, but kind, wiser than his years, and above all else, good. Whatever was going on at Beacon, Gil knew that his son would be right in the midst of it, and he was damned if he would just sit back and allow whatever cataclysmic bullshit Ozpin had managed to land his son into to just occur without his intervention.
His meeting with his old friend and mechanic, Bugs Coney, had been delayed for almost a week, as Beacon had gone into lockdown. After it had lifted, no one had been willing to say so much as a peep to him, so scared were they by whatever edict Ozpin had made to put the fear of the gods into them. But he and Bugs went way back, all the way to the very beginning; if anyone was going to give it to him straight, it would be the crusty old rabbit Faunus.
The massive hangar bay doors opened and a large flatbed truck drove inside. The rear of the truck was covered by a massive tarp that had been tied down on the sides, concealing the cargo from any curious eyes. Bugs Coney turned off the truck's ignition and slid carefully down to the floor from the elevated cab.
"Ugh, gotta be careful on the dismount these days," griped the ailing old Faunus. "Knees aren't what they used to be."
"Preaching to the choir on that one," Gil commiserated.
"Well, you've got a lot of explaining to do, seeing as how you somehow got your crusty ass outright banned from Beacon," said Bugs. "You brought the usual tribute?"
"The whiskey and cigars? You know me well enough by now, Bugs."
"Thought I did. Then the kids in Dragon Lance got to talking, and now, well, guess I don't know if I ever knew you at all, Gil." He gestured to the comfortable easy chairs and the table between them, which held the aforementioned whiskey and fine cigars. The men sat down, and Coney put his feet up before lighting one of the cigars. "So, tell me what's up, doc."
Gil poured himself a shot, slamming it before taking a deep sigh. Thus fortified, he began to tell his oldest friend the entire, sordid story. He left nothing out, not even the worst, most incriminating details. When it was finally over, the hangar was silent for a long while as Bugs puffed on his cigar.
"Gil, I gotta say, you are some kind of a son-of-a-bitch," the old Faunus mechanic finally said.
"The realization has set in, yes," muttered Gil.
"Just makin' sure you knew." Bugs took another deep draw of the cigar. "And I'm guessin' this is the part where you're gonna ask if I'm gonna help you get back into the fight."
Gil spread his hands in helpless defeat. "It's my son, Bugs. My only boy is going to be out there, and whatever it is he's going to be fighting, it's bad enough that Ozpin's got some kind of evac ships in the making. Please. I can't make it right. I know I can't. But I can't just sit there and let my son go into that kind of danger without lifting a finger to help."
Bugs pointed at him with the cigar. "See, you're still bein' a piece of shit, and you don't even know you're bein' a piece of shit, and here's why; it ain't just your boy gonna be out there, Gil. You gotta little girl you ain't ever did anythin' for, and she's gonna be in the thick of things too. Not a goddamn word about that comin' outta you." He shook his head at Gil's poleaxed expression, then put out the cigar in an ashtray.
"So, here's the deal. If I didn't know exactly what kinda cataclysmic shit was headed our way, I'd tell you to fuck off and pound sand, doc. But since I do know, I'm gonna set you up. Fang left enough parts, I reckon we could jury rig a Crocea Mors. Shit, I bet I could even get a Crocea Mors Altior without too much trouble."
"Altior?"
"Upgrade version, what your son piloted. Ruby Rose designed it. You know, little genius girl, spent her whole life in love with ACs? And if you tell me that you ever set your sights on her the way you did her mom, then we're gonna rumble. Don't care how long we've been friends."
"No, no, I…no," Gil quickly said, hoping that Bugs couldn't read his guilty thoughts over his previous appreciation of the older sister.
"Yeah, sure. You're just lucky Izzy raised your boy right." Bugs shook his head. "So, we're gonna get you an AC again, sure. And I'll even help you get transport to the Bulwark. But in turn, you've gotta do something."
"What is it?"
"If it comes down to it, you've gotta do whatever you can to keep Pyrrha Nikos alive." The old Faunus mechanic stared at him, his gaze peering into his soul. "Jaune'll be fine. Boy's got a lot of folk in his corner. Powerful folk, of a type I've never seen before. But Pyrrha? That little girl's never had a daddy her entire life, and we all know whose fault that is. Have I mentioned that you're a real piece of shit?"
"The notion has been raised a time or two," said Gil, his tone bitter.
Bugs shrugged, entirely unapologetic. "Really can't state that enough. You wanna do some good? You wanna at least start to fix your mess? You can start with lookin' after the daughter you abandoned, for once in her life. Now, I know your word ain't shit, but it's the best I can do. Give me your word you'll protect Pyrrha, and I'll help you. Refuse, and I'm out."
Gil stared at his friend for a long time. Finally, he nodded. "I'll do it."
"All right. Let's get started."
[/]
Ruby beamed at him. "I've got good news and bad news."
"What's the good news?" asked Jaune.
"The good news is, I think I know a way for you to close the distance with the Midnight Titan before it can shoot you out of the sky."
Jaune's grin spread across his face. "Really? That's great news! How are we going to do it?"
"Ah. That's the bad news. Tell me, how afraid are you of really, really big rockets?"
There was a pause.
"They're gonna call me Madlad again aren't they?" asked Jaune, his tone mournful.
"Eeyup."
[/]
Weiss wiped the sweat from her brow as she finished her turn on the treadmill in Beacon's gymnasium. She was walking towards the showers when she heard music playing from one of the exercise rooms.
Her curiosity piqued, she peered inside, and smiled at the sight of her silly friend, Ruby Rose, swing dancing with her boyfriend. Ruby whooped and hollered with glee as Jaune spun her around before landing lightly on her toes and shaking her booty without a care in the world. For just a moment, all of the stresses and fear of impending war had fallen away, and the couple were just a pair of young people, in love and just happy in each other's company.
Jaune pulled Ruby to him in perfect timing with the end of the song. Their gazes lingered on one another, and from the moving of their lips as they exchanged soft words with one another, they were sharing an intimate moment.
Carefully, Weiss quietly closed the door and continued on her way to the showers. She sighed wistfully, more than a little jealous of Ruby Rose. Not necessarily for her relationship with Jaune specifically, but rather for the knowledge that someone loved her, and her relationship had nothing to do with station, or prestige, or economics, or international geopolitics.
Weiss sighed once more as she stepped into a shower. Such a relationship was extremely unlikely for the heiress of the Schnee Power Company. She took some consolation in the knowledge that, at the very least, her parents would never force her to wed someone she absolutely despised. When Winter had abdicated, a prominent aristocrat, a member of an opposing faction on the Atlas Council, had approached her father with a betrothal offer for her, since she was now the heiress. The man was not only old enough to be her father, he was actually older than her father, and Weiss had only been thirteen at the time.
Her father had pistol whipped the man across the face, shattering his jaw. Moreso, he had done it in public, and when questioned by the Atlas Council, he had calmly and simply stated that if anyone out of an acceptable age range approached him with a marital interest in his children, he'd pistol whip them too, outright daring them to do anything about it.
It was one of those moments that endeared her father to the masses so. Smiling at the memory, Weiss admitted that it endeared him to her as well. No, if her Daddy thought someone would genuinely make her miserable, he'd step in, and in spectacular fashion.
The problem was, there was a massive gulf between "not miserable" and the sort of passionate romance she saw Ruby share with her Jaune.
She hadn't had much of a chance to do more than observe Qrow Branwen from afar. Her mother's old flame was a handsome man, with a dangerous edge and a sort of careless, roguish charm about him. Imagining what he must have been like in his youth…well…as odd as it was to think of her father, and a man who could have been her father, in that way, Weiss had to admit that her mom had managed to land two of the hottest men of her generation.
Go Mom.
Weiss sighed one final time as she turned off the shower and grabbed a towel to dry off. No matter how alluringly-scritchy Qrow Branwen's stubble was, her mother had known to do her duty to her country. How could Weiss, in good conscience, do any less?
She knew that, as the heiress to the SPC and future head of the most powerful aristocratic house in Atlas, her marriage would have to serve the good of Atlas, either by ensuring domestic tranquility or by forging stronger ties with other nations. But was it really too much to hope for that one day, her future husband might look at her with the same tender affection with which Jaune Arc regarded Ruby Rose? What girl wouldn't want such a thing?
Well, an aromantic girl, Weiss supposed. But she happened to be very romantic at heart, which was a discovery that was causing her no small amount of distress.
As she dressed, she idly wondered if Ghost had any insight on, well, not unrequited love precisely, but a yearning for love in a life unlikely to ever find it. She always marveled at how perceptive and succinct he could be at cutting to the quick of these thorny emotional conundrums of hers.
She made her way towards the rec center, hoping to grab a bite to eat and maybe sneak a few moments speaking with Lie Ren again. The Mistrali-born pilot was clever, devastatingly-witty, and absolutely gorgeous to behold. Alas, while her own father's valor at the Battle of Arrowfell and his high standing with the common people of Mantle elevated him to a position where he was an acceptable match for her mother, Lie Ren was an orphan of one foreign nation in service to another, neither of which would grant him the foundation to attain a similar political clout, irrespective of his service. It was a shame too, as she truly did enjoy spending time with him.
Entering the rec center, she rolled her eyes at the sight of the newly-arrived Atlesians her father had dispatched to Vale. While their commanding officer, Specialist Clover Ebi, was a consummate professional and exemplary officer, he was in a meeting with Winter and Director Ozpin, to get caught up on the situation. The remaining members of the so-called 'Ace Operatives' were…well, they were chosen primarily for their ability and willingness to fight, not their tact.
"I'm just sayin', if you guys were any good at doing anything about it, you wouldn't have needed an Atlesian to come and bail you guys out, now would you?"
Harriet Bree was an abrasive ass by any standards, and a Harriet Bree who was bored from a long ship ride and pounding booze like it was going to be outlawed was even worse. It was a rare and special sort of asshole who made Winter look like the very soul of tact and sensitivity. Weiss winced, deciding to just avoid her countrymen and declare it Winter's problem to deal with. Fortunately, she spotted Lie sitting at their usual booth, though it looked like he was chatting with Nikos and Xiao Long - the younger, the daughter.
"...an accident, really. See, when I was a kid, my hometown of Kuroyuri was destroyed by the Grimm and -"
"What did you just say?" Weiss interjected, without so much as a greeting. Lie blinked in surprise at seeing her.
"...My hometown, Kuroyuri," Lie said slowly, confused as to her sudden and demanding interest. "It was destroyed when I was a child. Why are you so interested?"
"...Ghost?"
Lie's magenta eyes went wide with shock. "Flower?"
The two stared at one another, while on the other side of the booth, Yang and Pyrrha shrugged in confusion.
Finally, Weiss just threw up her hands. "Fuck it, there's a war on," she declared, and then tackled Lie onto the cushion, kissing him full on the lips.
[/]
"Hell yeah!" cheered Yang, raising her drink in a toast as she watched the Tolerable Atlesian Sister snog the hell out of her lancemate. "Now it's a party!"
Of the three pilots who had first come to Vale, one was made of computers or something, the other was a total nerd who bonded with Ruby over doing total nerd stuff together, and the third was someone who Summer Rose disliked, and of course, if someone earned her mother's displeasure, that meant she was not to be trusted.
The nerdy one was all right, though. For a total nerd. Good on Ren though, he could probably use some action.
"Hey!" The blonde looked over to see one of the Atlesians, a short, dark-skinned lady with an odd shock of blonde hair on her forehead, storming over. She reached down into the booth and physically wrenched Weiss off of Ren. The woman grabbed the front of his flightsuit, pulling him down to face her.
"Who the fuck do you think you are, mackin' on the General's daughter like that?!"
Ren blinked, still stunned by the turn his afternoon had taken. "What?"
"Wrong answer!" She reached down, grabbed the bottle of Valean Red that Ren had been drinking, and then smashed it across his face, shattering the bottle.
"Oh, fuck no!" Yang hauled back and decked the woman, who staggered backwards into one of her squad mates. Yang blinked as she looked up and up, at the tall, powerfully-built woman who had caught Ren's assailant. "Woah," she woofed, eyes wide. "Big Muscle Mommy."
Pyrrha nudged her.
"Oh come on, you mean you don't want to climb Mount Muscle Mommy? We could do it together!"
At Pyrrha's suddenly thoughtful expression, the woman flexed her arms, readying to fight, though she stopped when she got a better look at her would-be opponents. "Wait," she asked. "How old are you girls?"
"Seventeen," they both answered in unison.
"Nope," the woman abruptly turned back around and headed back for the bar, where the last of the new Atlesians, a tall, skinny bald man, was attempting to fast-talk some maintenance techs who objected to seeing Ren attacked. "No flirt-fighting in bars until there's at least a 'two' as the first digit, girls," the older woman admonished.
"Aww."
Yang's disappointment was short-lived, however, as Blonde Thistle Head sprang back at her for Round Goddamn Two.
"All right!"
In the sudden commotion of a bar fight erupting in the Beacon rec room, Ren and Weiss slipped away unnoticed, to continue the rather heated discussion that had been so rudely interrupted, in a much more private venue.
[/]
Within the digital confines of her electronic home, Penny Polendina squealed in unrestrained glee. At last! At long last! Her meat-people were together!
"You love to see it," she said to no one in particular. She pointedly ignored Winter's demand to let her know where Weiss had run off to. After all, Penny had been assigned as Weiss's wingwoman, and that was a role she was going to fulfill to the best of her abilities.
[/]
"Arc, can I just point out that you're fucking crazy?"
"Objection duly noted and ignored, Captain."
"You know I can't ethically order you to do this, right? Assuming this idea works, which it very well might not, you'll be cut off from reinforcements until the Midnight Titan enters the pass, and who knows what sort of nasty surprises are waiting on that thing?"
"Then don't order me to. I volunteer."
"Look, you crazy bastard, what am I going to tell Ruby when you don't come home?"
"Ruby saw the White Glint for a reason. She wouldn't have seen it if this task was impossible."
"Well, nothing says you aren't going to succeed and then die right afterwards. You're not invincible."
"I know."
"Damn it, kid, you're too young to have a goddamn deathwish!"
"I don't! You think I don't want to live a good long time? You think I don't want to come home to Ruby, have little magical silver-eyed kids of my own someday, watch my sisters grow up, spend time with my friends here at Beacon? Of course I want all of that! But someone needs to do this. Someone needs to take the fight right to the bitch. If I don't do this, then Ruby dies. You all die. Everyone in Vale, my family, they all die. It's not that I want to die, Captain. It's that I love them more than I fear death."
"Fucking hell, you really mean that, don't you? You know, most kids your age start talking like that, they're usually talking out their ass, out of ignorance or bravado. You..you really mean it, don't you?"
A silence.
"Fine. But Arc, you'd better come back from this. Ruby's too young to feel like a widow, you got that?"
"Roger that, Captain."
[/]
The signal had come in from Qrow Branwen, indicating that he had chased Mercury Black through the Greystone Pass, and construction could begin on the Forward Operating Base Bulwark.
First, an aircraft dropped Grimm-sensing beacons into the ground at specific locations around the build site. After that, a team of Armored Cores were airlifted to the area to secure the area. With the site cleared of Grimm, the Vale Defense Force sent its combat engineers to begin construction of the combination forward operating base/defensive emplacement.
Soon, a massive wall of thick, reinforced concrete stretched across the Vale side of the Greystone Pass. Following that, a large area was cleared as a staging ground for the many Armored Cores that would be airdropped into the pass when the time came. There were hangars and runways built, followed by a depot and barracks. Heavy artillery emplacements were affixed atop the Bulwark, and finally, the special gantry and launch mechanism that would send the White Glint on its way.
Combat engineers got shit done.
As fate would so have it, the day for the pilots of Beacon, save the Home Guard, to depart for the Bulwark fell on the occasion of Ruby Rose's sixteenth birthday.
The autumn wind was crisp as the pilots of Beacon rose to do their duty, none knowing if they would ever return to their home.
Weiss Schnee held hands with Lie Ren, lingering to savor the brief moments that they had together.
"Weiss," Ren began. "If the worst -"
"Don't," she interrupted. "No matter what happens, this moment, here, now, with us…I will keep this moment, this love and hope for the future, I will keep it in my heart forever."
He smiled ruefully. "Then what shall I do?"
"Kiss me like you love me."
He swept her into his arms, dipping her and kissing her deeply.
"I can't believe you found someone as dramatic as you are." Nora grinned as Ren straightened back up, letting the flustered Weiss regain her composure after a kiss that almost knocked her socks off. "C'mon, Loverboy. We got a war to win."
"Sure thing." He reached up and touched Weiss's cheek before nodding, resolute, and striding away.
"Big goddamn heroes?" asked Nora.
"The biggest."
They bumped fists without looking, two halves of a complete warrior, riding into battle once more.
Weiss watched them go, wishing more than anything that she was going with them. She jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Sister."
Winter paused, visibly struggling to find the right words to speak. "I have not been…the best with you, of late. I've been short-tempered, unkind, even. I have not been the sister that you deserve. Our House, our nation, have all demanded so very much from you, and you have handled it with a grace that has put me to shame. You are the future of our House, Weiss, and I am so very proud of you." She looked over to where Ren and Nora had departed. "And…one last word of advice, if you'll indulge me. Your life is your own, and no one else's. If you truly find your heart's desire, then fight for it, with all you have. I love you, little sister."
"Winter…" Weiss curtseyed. "I bid you good fortune in the battle to come, and…I love you too, Winnie."
For the first time since Adam betrayed her, Winter smiled, then turned and put on her helmet as she strode towards her Moonlight.
Elsewhere in the hangar, Taiyang and Summer held one another as they watched their children say their own goodbyes.
"You know, we're probably looking at our future son-in-law," Summer mused, as they watched their daughter with her boyfriend. Beside her, Taiyang grumbled.
She grinned. "Admit it, you like him."
"I just don't want to have to train a new looey if he karks it."
"Yuh-huh."
The Lance-Captain relented with a great sigh. "All right, fine. You know that saying about 'you're not losing a daughter but gaining a son?' That always sounded like bullshit to me, but now here we are, somehow having picked up a son and a third daughter along the way. And they're nuts, the both of 'em."
Summer laughed. "You're such a softie."
"How even dare you?"
"Softie!"
He snorted. "Yeah, just you wait until we're back from this mission. Then I'll show you just how hard I can get."
"Ooh-la-la!" She giggled and booped his nose with her finger. Sixteen years later and she was still just as much in love with him as the day they'd wed.
Jaune held onto Ruby, and didn't want to ever let her go. She was light and life and magic, and hot chocolate on a cold fall evening and all of the everything that he'd come to love in this world. But he had a job to do, so despite everything, he had to let her go.
"One day, I'm going to be able to come home, and never have to let you go," he said, his tone wistful.
"Imagine a world with no Grimm," mused Ruby. "Do you think we can pull it off?"
"I think when you put your mind to something, Ruby Rose, there's nothing you can't do." He took her hand in his and raised it to his lips, kissing it softly. "No matter what happens out there, I wouldn't change a thing. Because it led me to here and now, with you, and I would never give this up for anything. I love you, Ruby Rose."
"Oh, Jaune…how could I do anything but fall in love with you?"
They stood there, quietly basking in each other's presence, before a thought occurred to Ruby. "Hey, there's one last thing I need to do before you go."
"Oh?"
"Yep." With a wicked grin, Ruby reached around him and grabbed a handful of his perky, muscular butt.
"R-Ruby!" Jaune blushed like a Maiden, while she just cackled evilly.
"Dude, you have no idea how long I've wanted to do that!"
He rubbed his butt, mock-glaring at her playfully. "Well, was it at least worth the wait?"
"Oh my gods, it really was! Like, your butt is amazing."
He shook his head. "All this time, and you were a nefarious butt-toucher in hiding."
"My evil plan has reached its fruition!"
Yang and Pyrrha wandered by, having heard Ruby's victorious cackling. "What did you dorks do now?" asked Yang.
"At long last, I have finally touched the butt," Ruby proclaimed proudly.
"You know, with all the talks of gods and magic and destiny and whatnot, I was kind of expecting you two to be far more…epic, with your farewell," Taiyang added, having walked over with Summer in tow, presumably in an effort to prevent any further incidents of butt-touching.
"Oh, it was epic all right," grinned Ruby.
"You're just like your mother," Taiyang shook his head, winning two exclamations from his daughters that they didn't need to hear that.
"Be safe, and look out for each other," Summer told her daughters. "No matter what happens out there, we're so very proud of you. All of you," she added, looking to Pyrrha and even Jaune.
"It's time to go," announced Taiyang. With one last exchange of hugs, the pilots who were leaving stepped back, leaving Ruby in Yang's arms.
Yang held her sister close as their family left them to go to war.
[/]
Cinder Fall smirked in satisfaction as she guided Midnight into the Titan's skull, fusing the two Grimm and assuming control.
Mercury Black had stumbled in, the fool half-dead from having gotten sloppy and being chased by Qrow Branwen all the way from Beacon. The spy had chased him all the way into the clearing, where he'd stopped dead in his tracks, visibly paled, and immediately turned to flee the way he came.
If Branwen maintained his pace, he'd return to Vale in just enough time to let them know the doom that was approaching them. According to Mercury, Beacon's forces were exhausted, their forest burnt to ashes in their war against the White Fang, and the city and Kingdom of Vale would be easy pickings for the Midnight Titan.
They would know terror. They would know despair. They would know death. Cinder cackled in sadistic glee. At long last, the time to attack had come.
Slowly, ponderously, the Midnight Titan began its march towards Vale.
[/]
Dozens of carrier choppers rose into the air, the Armored Cores they carried suspended on powerful cables beneath them. A hundred Armored Cores were to be airlifted to the Bulwark, but there was one that needed no carrier to traverse the distance.
"What the hell is that?"
"Is it going to fly all the way to the Bulwark?"
"Holy hot damn, I thought they were just talkin' shit about that thing!"
The White Glint soared through the air on wings of silver flame, taking its place at the head of the aircraft formation. Jaune let the chatter continue for a while before opening the general comms channel.
"This is White Glint. It is a weapon unlike any other, forged to battle an enemy unlike any other. This enemy seeks to use the Grimm as a weapon of war, to subjugate the world into a twisted mockery of life. I can't promise you that we will all be coming home. But I can promise you this; we will take the fight to the enemy, and we will win! Not only for Vale, or Vacuo, not only for Menagerie or Mistral, but for all of Remnant, for every last man, woman, and child who walks our world! No longer will we be subjected to the tyranny of the Grimm! Together, we will establish a reign of steel, where our industry and our ingenuity will let us not only survive but thrive! Ladies and gentlemen, humans and Faunus, pilots from all nations; follow me."
Onwards they flew, to strike the Dark at its strongest.
[/]
Chapter Endnotes: Holy hot damn, did that take a long-ass time.
So, what happened this time?
Well, part of it, I will shamelessly admit, was that a lot of my free time for the back half of 2023 was eaten up by a slew of video game releases, including Armored Core VI. Baldur's Gate 3 alone probably added two or three months to the timescale here.
Secondly, I've been struggling with hypertonia and strained wrist muscles and ligaments, which makes typing onerous, especially since my jobs both require me to type a lot. I was prescribed muscle relaxers, but I had to calibrate the dosage, which led to fun times; there was one memorable incident where I went to work on this chapter, only to wake up the next morning having written out part of the Siege of Merlot Island for The White Knight instead. It was a thing.
But, I'm more or less all right, ish, for now, and I'm off hiatus. The next chapter, Verdict Day, will be out much quicker than this took.
The sharp-eyed amongst you will notice that Marrow was absent from the ranks of the Ace Ops. This was intentional, as I have plans for him for the very end of this story and part of the sequel.
Incidentally, translating the Ace Ops into Armored Cores is bullshit. Clover uses a damn fishing rod! How the hell…the closest thing I got for that one is a missile on a wire. EDIT: I mean, the closest thing I have without using a weapon from AC VI, as I just said that I wouldn't.
Right, well, hope you all liked it, see you next time.
Love,
Mahina