Normally I wouldn't reply to a Reply from a previous Volume of Giant-Slayer on this volume, but that I'm still receiving Reviews on a story that's already Completed makes me pretty happy, so I'll give a little recognition to people who put in a real effort with their commentary.

Twisted Stigma: A very good way of showing how the winner of wars gets to pen the history books. I love just how f$?king far you've stretched areas of RWBY. The small part of Dr. Oobleck's class, you've not only added to what he'd said, but you've given so much more to World of Remnant. Adding the continent of Skyrim, creating the equivalent of the White Fang, and adding a few techniques of anime (pretty cool that you didn't add lore with them, just the moves themselves.) You've made one helluva story, dawg. Congratu-f$?king-lations! I hope to see more when I start Volume 2 of this. (Chapter 47)

NeoNazo356: Thank you. I'm glad that even now, readers still appreciate how far I was willing to push the status quo of RWBY FanFic. There's so much potential in it, but so many of the tired old troupes are used because, ironically, people don't want to challenge the Canon with a Fanon all their own. What Jack brought up with history being written by the winners was largely inspired by "Game Theory: Call of Duty, Modern War Crimes" by The Game Theorists on YouTube; also the fact that no-one in the world of RWBY really tried expanding upon the "why" of the Faunus Rights Revolution/Race War, only that it happened and hand-waved most of it away. The fact that there wasn't a Pro-Human equivalent to the White Fang seemed like so much wasted potential, because it just made it seem like it was only Faunus who reacted violently to racial injustice, when in actuality it should've been both sides reacting to one another; IRL, the KKK are juxtapositioned by The Black Panthers. Turning the 5th continent from the Canon into Skyrim was something I did to add another world power to the playing board, and it only works out that smoothly because I plan to do much more to expand the World of Remnant in Volume 2; both literally and metaphorically. The techniques from Anime and Games, as well as the Crossovers, are largely so I don't oversaturate the story with OCs, something that ruins them because it becomes hard to keep track of them; at the very least with my cameos, people just have to look them up by name and/or IP and have some idea of their role in Giant-Slayer.

Twisted Stigma: Good God, this has been quite the read. On the last chapter, I really wasn't expecting Jack to be slaved under Jacques, but at the same time, I feel like I should've expected that. The hinted past between Jack and Sebastian. (Chapter 56)

NeoNazo356: Jack being a Slave Gladiator owned by Jacques was always going to be the plan, even before we knew what he looked like. I hinted at it with Sebastian's facial scars and Jack thinking he recognized him before waving it off as unimportant. Plus, Jacques would've had to have a collaborator since caring for a slave would've been "beneath him".
Suffice it to say, it was worth it leaving all those teeny tiny breadcrumbs to lead to that big reveal, because what it spells for the future will keep readers guessing.

Twisted Stigma: I see that Vincent has turned into MegaMan. With Borderlands firmly implanted into the story now, I'm not sure what to expect of the remainder of GS. When Eldcraft is mentioned, I for some reason get the thought of Wolfenstein and that "technology so advanced, it's magic" type of thing. (Chapter 10)

NeoNazo356: Well, that is the gist of what "Eldcraft" is meant to be; science so-advanced it may as well be magic. And you know the old saying by Arthur C. Clarke-
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Twisted Stigma: Heheh. References and crossover galore. If it had been any other author, it'd be bad, but you've built this so perfectly, I actually really do expect to stumble upon this or that reference. (I personally love the one of Spy's head in Medic's fridge.) (Chapter 18)

NeoNazo356: Oh, so you actually caught that. Since that came from around 2011, that makes me feel really nostalgic, since I did not see that coming at the time I saw that video
On another note, I'm happy the various crossovers aren't repulsed by everyone. Since an over-saturation of OCs makes stories a slog to read, I decided to make a multi-crossover. Not only would it create all sorts of interesting possibilities for future story arcs, but it also stops the story from becoming too predictable since Giant-Slayer isn't a straight-RWBY story.

*NEW WORLD*

Waking up the following morning, his limbs stretched out in all directions, it took Jack's half-awake mind a moment to realize he wasn't in his Beacon dormitory, but was instead nestled soundly within the guest room of the Xiao Long/Rose family abode.

"Huh… Who knew I'd miss a queen-size so much," Jack hummed as he rolled back over, deciding to get a little more sleep-

*Clang-Clang-Clang-Clang-Clang-Clang-Clang!*

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauties!" Taiyang's voice boomed out from the hallway, a wooden spoon being banged against an iron pan for all to hear.

" . . . Sorry about this, Ruby, but it looks like you're going to become an orphan today," Jack said cracking his knuckles.

"Not if I make her one first," Yang said through the wall, her own knuckles cracking.

"If you did that, wouldn't you be an orphan too?"

"Shut up, Blake. It's too early for this shit."

*NEW WORLD*

"Wow, dad! You managed not to burn down the house this time!" Yang gawped as she beheld a breakfast placed before them.

"Yes, well, ever since you and Ruby left, I kinda had to fend for myself," Taiyang admitted as he scratched the back of his head as he served himself some breakfast.

Though the man had only made scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, the proportions alone were adequate for the gathering of four.

"I take it he was the stereotypical 'bad-at-cooking' male head of the household growing up?" Jack asked between strips of bacon.

"Yeah, pretty much," Yang replied shamelessly, Taiyang's shoulders slumping at the dismissal.

"You didn't have to be so blunt about it…"

"So, I've been meaning to ask. How's Ruby's boyfriend doing in school lately?" Yang asked with an upward lilt.

After all, who better to tell about how he's been doing than the boy's own teacher, now that she and Ruby were no longer attending Signal?

"Arthur's actually doing quite well for himself," Taiyang hummed. "I don't know if it's a new diet, a new training regimen, or if he just wants to be a good boyfriend to Ruby now that that's finally happened," he chuckled, "but he's really come into his own. Instead of tiring his opponents out in spars like he used to, he's actually begun to take the initiative, and won quite a few matches even against those that have beaten him in the past."

"Oh really? How so?" Blake asked with a tilt of her head.

If there was one thing Rabbit Faunus were known for, insulting stereotypes aside of which she'd heard plenty, it was their stamina. As such, it wasn't unheard of that a Rabbit Faunus would simply keep their distance in a fight and wait for their enemy to expend their strength; if not run away outright without getting caught.

"Well… I don't want to sound sexist or anything-"

"And yet, that's exactly what it's going to sound like with that kind of lead-in."

"But…" Taiyang said taking a moment to ignore Jack's barb. "Arthur's 'manned up' quite a bit. He's actually going on the offensive quite ferociously, that anyone with preconceptions about him gets the rug pulled out from right under them. His sword strikes are much faster than before, so its almost impossible to dodge all of them, and even if his opponent has a large-enough shield to block a frontal assault, he's nimble-enough that he can just sidestep that barrier and solo-flank."

"Oh, so Ruby's Playgirl Bunny is kicking ass and taking names~" Yang hummed, whereas Taiyang spit-took.

"Agh! Gross!" Blake cried out.

Despite her best efforts to dodge, she'd still gotten struck by spittle.

*NEW WORLD*

"Well, breakfast was certainly… entertaining," Taiyang said in a strained tone, "but I think maybe the three of you should mosey on back to Beacon."

"Mosey?"

"Who talks like that anymore?" Blake asked Jack.

"Hey, plenty of people talk like that!" Taiyang and his daughter argued back.

"Sure you do."

"Hey, don't look at us with those flat expressions!" the two cried back at the brother/sister duo. "And in stereo!"

"Sure. Sure. We'll leave you to your horse-doodling."

"I am not going into that right now!" Yang yelped.

"Sooo… Is it always like this?" Taiyang asked over his shoulder.

"No. Normally it's much worse," Blake whispered in turn. "Most of the time they're like this, they argue like an old married couple."

"God I hope not. If she's anything like her mother…"

Taiyang trailed off abruptly.

"I think it's for that very reason that Yang's showing so much restraint."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, Yang obviously likes him. Sexually at least," Blake explained causing Taiyang to blanch. "But I think because she thinks she's like her mom, she's abstaining from forming that kind of relationship until she can make peace with it. Or at least that's the vibe I got out of it."

Even if Yang didn't realize it, she'd let enough slip over the past several weeks that Blake had been able to figure most of it out.

There were only so many "answers" to what could "be wrong with" a person.

"Wow… I… I didn't know she thought that way about herself," Taiyang thought somberly.

If Yang really thought she was so much like her mother that she'd abandon Jack like he'd been abandoned… Maybe he hadn't given Yang the guidance she'd needed at that tumultuous time in her life after Raven had walked out on them.

"I… I should go talk to her."

"That is your job," Blake nodded.

"Yang, sweetie, can I have a word with you?"

"Sure thing, dad," she said breaking away from Jack. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"Your friend told me you're still having certain… issues. With your mom."

"Crap, did I really let that much slip?" Yang asked.

"You kind of did," Blake hummed.

"Go wait in the car," Yang said with a flat expression, the girl raising her hands in mock surrender and hopping into the hovercar. "Dad. Where are you going with this?"

"Yang… How much like your mother do you think you are?"

"I don't know, daaad. You never tell me anything about her. Had to figure out she ditched us all on my own, thankyouverymuch," the younger blond bit out.

This retort caused Taiyang to wince.

"Anyway, why does what I think about that matter?"

"Because you're making yourself miserable over it and I don't want that for you," Taiyang said firmly. "Look… Your mom leaving… It was hard. On both of us. But that isn't any reason to think that it's your fault, or that you aren't stronger than the arc of your bloodline."

"Geez, where'd you pull that fruity line out of?"

"A fortune cookie; don't interrupt," Taiyang bit back sternly. "What I'm trying to say is… Don't let who your mother is dictate your life. You are you, and she is she. You may've been borne from her womb, but from whom you were birthed does not define you."

"Dad, there's a reason you aren't a philosophy teacher. OW!" Yang cried as the man pinched her cheek.

And rather painfully at that.

"Look, I'm just going to get straight to the point 'cause I really suck at the whole 'wise guru' thing," Taiyang sighed, allthewhile holding his daughter's cheek between his fingers. "Don't think you're like a woman you barely even know. You aren't your mother, even if you do look like her at your age. You're Yang Xiao Long, and you're a better person than her. If you really like someone, you should pursue them."

"Dad… Are you telling me to pursue a sexual relationship with that boy?" Yang asked with a tilt of her head, the cheer coming back into her tone as she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at Jack, his right ear twitching atop his head.

"That is not what I said!" Taiyang yelped.

"I think it iiiiiis~"

"And I think it's not!"

"Is~"

"Not!"

"Is~"

"Not!"

"Not~"

"Is!"

"Not~"

"Is! That's what I'm saying, and that's final!" Taiyang said with finality. " . . . What the crap did I just say!?" he squealed as his brain caught up with his mouth.

"Thanks for the words of wisdom, dad!" Yang said as she slid her butt across the hood of the Appleseed and slinked into shotgun. "See you later, alligator!"

"Yang! Wait! Just because I don't want you making yourself miserable DOESN'T MEAN I WANT YOU DATING BOYS!" Taiyang cried out as the Appleseed whooshed away.

*NEW WORLD*

"Well…" Blake hummed as Taiyang vanished from the rear view mirror, despite his best efforts to chase after them and rectify the blunder he'd made. "That was certainly eventful."

"It suuuuure was, Blake. It suuuuure was~"

"Your dad's going to give you hell for that," Jack hummed from behind the wheel. "You know that, right?"

"Maybe, but that's a problem for 'tomorrow me'~" Yang hummed.

"That seems like a very dangerous way of thinking," Jack hummed aloud.

"Oh like you're one to talk, Mr. I-Casually-Sleep-With-Women-I-Barely-Even-Know."

"First off, the women I've slept with I do know, and second-"

'So this is my life now…' Blake thought to herself as Jack and Yang started going back-and-forth at one another.

*NEW WORLD*

"Jack Braxton! Yang Xiao Long! Blake Belladonna! Just where have you three been all night?!" Weiss demanded the moment the three of them made their return. Despite the heiress' shouting, Ruby was still sleeping soundly in her bed, snoring away while muttering- "Boom… headshot~" -to herself.

Whether that was cute or disturbing was a debate for another day.

"Weiss. I left a note for you to find. Did you miss it?" the Faunus being bitched at asked.

" . . . "

The heiress glancing furtively around the room, eventually found a hand-written note sitting upon Jack's desk.

The heiress didn't need to read it to know that the act of leaving a note pardoned Jack from any further tongue-lashing.

" . . . Alright. I'll admit, I may've been a bit inattentive on my part," the heiress admitted after a moment. That she could admit fault with herself was also proof of her personal growth, since the Weiss of the not-too-ancient past would've denied it vehemently. "I take it you left Beacon so you could address Yang's mental health?"

"Am I really that transparent?" Yang asked.

"You wear your heart next to your gauntlets. You tell me," Weiss sighed. "Still, I'm glad you sought help instead of letting these issues fester. A soldier that neglects their mental health is nothing more than a liability in the field."

"Spoken like a true Atlas patriot," Blake huffed.

"It's called being practical. It's a healthy ailment that'll help you live longer," Weiss argued in turn, hands on her hips.

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty~" Yang swooned.

"I'm surprised that girl's still asleep through all this," Jack hummed looking to Ruby's bunk, the girl gently snoring away.

"Yes…" Weiss said as she drew her Myrtenaster. "Perhaps we should fix that~" she said ominously. "Water Arte: Water Gun!" she intoned as her Myrtenaster glowed blue, a stream of water spilling from the tip and aiming right towards the sleeping red-head.

*NEW WORLD*

Elsewhere…

"EYAAAAAAUGH!"

"Some girl's in trouble!"

*NEW WORLD*

"Not cool, Weiss. Not cool," Ruby pouted, soaked through to the bone. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO MY BED!"

"THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE UPSET ABOUT?!" Yang gawped.

"AND THIS TOO!" Ruby pointed at herself.

"OKAY THAT'S BETTER!"

"WHY ARE WE YELLING!"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"CAN I JOIN IN!?" Nora shouted through the door.

"NO! I mean… No. Please, just, go back to your room," Weiss stated.

"Awww…"

"There, there," Jack said patting the door consolingly. "Anyway… What's on the agenda for today?"

"First! We dry out my bed," Ruby huffed.

Weiss' response was to twirl her Myrtenaster, the blade glowing blue as she pulled the moisture out of the sheets and mattress before whipping it across the room and into the bathroom sink. A swish of her blade glowing red and all that was wet became dry.

" . . . Good job, team!" Ruby nodded after a pause. "Next item on the list… Oh I'm sorry, am I boring you?" the little red-head huffed as she leered at Jack like an angry teacher whose lessons were ignored, his eyes turned too his Scroll.

"Sorry kiddo, you're going to have to do missions today without me," Jack said snapping the message shut.

"WHAT?! But I was looking forward to it…" Ruby whined.

"There, there," Jack said patting her head consolingly.

*NEW WORLD*

"Jack. Be honest with me. What're you going off to do?" Blake asked, the rest of Team RWBBY going off to get breakfast after a late start. "Is it something dubious?"

"Do you really wanna know?"

"I'm… not sure I do," Blake said unsuredly.

"Then don't ask, and just make sure that Ruby stays out of trouble today. Girl's been chomping at the bit to hit the mission boards and since I'm going to be otherwise indisposed today, I'm counting on you to keep her safe after Yang does something stupid."

"Hey, we were a team for a whole week before you came around and-that sounded way better in my head."

"Look, I get that you girls' first personal mission was the whole 'Ruby of Grief' thing, but that was a complete disaster so for the first mission on-the-record… maybe get something easy that you can't fuck up."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Blake sighed. "What about you? You sure you can handle a day without us?"

"Believe me, kitty cat, I did have a life before joining this band of eccentric weirdos."

" . . . It's very telling that I can't even refute that statement," Blake sighed after a moment.

"There, there," Jack said patting her head consolingly.

"Don't patronize me."

*NEW WORLD*

Jack, having sequestered himself into Beacon's central spire, made his way to the express elevator that would've taken him to the highest point of Beacon Academy.

Normally the only ones who could get up there were those with special authorization codes, or those that'd been waved in by the presiding secretary. That Jack was in possession of his own administrative codes rendered him practically invisible among the masses scurrying to complete their own work.

The door closing behind him, a mere moment before Jack pressed the button for the top floor, a shudder ran up his spine. Head whipping around in search of the vibe that made his hairs stand on end, he could feel… something… Something familiar, but he had no clue what it was.

Jack thought it was the rustling of leaves, but that was absurd, he was in an elevator…!

The Faunus wanted to do more to investigate, but at the moment he was on camera, and just-as-importantly he was on a time crunch, so whatever was raising his hackles, he'd just have to look into it another day.

Biting the bullet and shoving aside what he could only guess was one of the skeletons in Ozpin's closet breathing down his neck, Jack pressed the button for his destination, and began his ascent.

*NEW WORLD*

"Jack. Excellent work on making it up here on such short notice," Ozpin greeted as he set the paperwork he was working on aside. "Though I'm curious… How'd you manage to get away from your team?"

"Told them some 'urgent business' came up and they'd just have to make due without me," Jack answered. "Way I see it, I'm like medicine to those girls. I'm good in a select dosage, but too much of me, and this nectar turns into poison."

"That's a rather interesting way of putting it," Ozpin hummed. "Mind if I borrow that quote? It'd give people critical of my noninvolvement in the field a run for their money."

"People actually bitch at you about that?" Jack asked with a raised brow.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Ozpin sighed. "Sure, it's been a few years since I've shaken the rust loose, but I'm still the leader of this Kingdom's Hunters for a reason."

"Which has me wondering what it'd look like when someone poked at your 'Rage Button'."

Jack still remembered how it'd felt when Ozpin had loosed an iota of his true power , back during orientation.

"I pray you never have to find out."

"What is it you're even staying in Beacon to protect, if not Beacon itself?"

"Does there really need to be anything else to it? Isn't it enough that the strongest Huntsman in the Kingdom chooses to stay here to defend an incredibly valuable tactical position?"

" . . . I'm a first-year student," Jack admitted with a shrug. "It really isn't any of my business what you do in your off hours," he said with a shake of his head. "Sooo…" he said drumming his fingers together. "How can I help you?"

"I have a mission for you. Sensitive in nature, so it's urgent you get on this right away," Ozpin answered, all traces of his playful tone gone.

"I'm listening," Jack said straightening in his chair.

"A while back, certain… assets, were smuggled out of Atlas custody and have fallen into the hands of… less-than-reputable individuals and are being used for less-than-reputable purposes," Ozpin began. "Those assets have proceeded to attack a lumberyard owned by the Jakobs corporation."

"When you say assets, do you mean those colorful, thematic robots ripping Vale a superfluous new asshole?" the Faunus asked with a raised brow.

"More or less…" Ozpin replied. "Obviously, an attack perpetrated by Atlesian assets makes this a sensitive matter. What has happened in town is being regarded as 'an isolated incident', and with the Vytal Festival on the horizon, the Council would like to keep it that way for as long as possible. And not only because this could damage the kingdom financially, but because wars have literally been started over lesser provocation."

"Hence why you aren't mobilizing an army, then," he hummed.

The "Robot Masters" may've been old tech, but the ones that had made them had been such geniuses, so-far ahead of their time that their creations being so out-of-date didn't even matter.

"Exactly right," Ozpin nodded, passing forward a hand-drawn map. "These are the directions to the mission site. At the halfway point of your drive, you'll be meeting with a military correspondent who has also been assigned to help seize these stolen 'assets'. You'll have a few hours to gather any necessary equipment or personnel you might require, and you're largely free to conduct this mission however you see fit. All that I and Atlas Command ask is that you exercise a bit of discretion, and-"

"Don't completely destroy their stolen assets?" Jack asked, guessing where this conversation was going.

Just because Atlas wanted some of their stolen hardware stopped didn't mean they wanted it to look like it'd been through the business end of a trash compactor.

"It would be greatly appreciated, yes," Ozpin nodded. "Although since Atlas recognizes that no plan remains unchanged after first contact with the enemy, they will give you a little leeway."

"Well that settles it, I'm going travelling."

*NEW WORLD*

"I still can't believe you won a legit air-car, and in a school raffle, of all things," Arthur said after being picked up from the edge of Patch.

Despite it still being a school day, Jack was able to get Arthur pulled out of classes by claiming it was for a "work training" exercise, and the Faunus' academic grades were so good that one day of missed practical wouldn't hurt him.

While obviously he couldn't drop Ozpin's name without drawing unneeded attention to the younger Faunus, in the end, it helped having one of Signal's strongest teachers in your back pocket.

Or maybe side pocket.

Long story short, Arthur wasn't going to be hurt by being absent today.

"So… Why call me out like this?" the younger Faunus asked.

"Taiyang talked you up quite a bit this morning, and since I have a mission away from the rest of my team, I figured today would be as good a time as any to see if you lived up to the hype."

"B-But…! Other than giving us those training menus, you've barely trained me!" Arthur yelped.

"Once my schedule opens up a bit more, I'll drop by and raise you guys' levels a bit more. In the meantime, just keep your nose to the grindstone. A castle can't be built on sandy ground; only upon firm bedrock can a castle rise."

"Of course…" Arthur replied, having addressed his friends' concerns. "Ruby… hasn't found out about you-know-what, has she?"

"As long as you guys don't say anything about 'that', all it'll look like is me training the friends of my surrogate kid sister. Sure, you'll draw a few eyes because of my bloodline if it ever gets around, but other than that there isn't anything outright suspicious about what we're doing. Not in our line of work at least. Us Hunters and HITs are an eccentric bunch."

"I suppose that's true…" Arthur said adjusting his grip on the sword hilts resting across his legs; the cross guards now appeared to be equipped with modular slots, possibly for Dust Cartridges.

"So, next topic…" Jack hummed, taking note of the younger Faunus' weapon for later usage. "Have any of the Humans been giving you problems for getting stronger?" he asked with a raised brow.

"Not yet… I honestly hope they'll just leave me alone-"

"Kid, let me give you some free advice. When Humans see a Faunus getting stronger than them, they'll never, leave you alone. They see you as a threat, either to their lives or because of some macho bullshit, they'll throw everything they have at you until you're either dead, or they can't afford to throw any more bodies at you."

"Well that's a pretty grim outlook."

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. If any of your peers get jealous of you, they will try kiting Grimm your way, so you should be ready for that eventuality as well."

"Wait, they can really do that?" Arthur asked with wide eyes.

"Ehhh… It's more of a fifty/fifty kinda deal," Jack said waggling a leveled hand. "They either can get a Grimm to chase after them and then 'pass the ball' so the Grimm will attack you. Ooooor, they can run past you with the Grimm on their tail only for the Grimm to ignore you and keep chasing them," Jack clarified. "It's happened to me a couple times because people 'are just the worst', so eventually I figured out that if you just stop thinking altogether, you're more-likely to get a free show than you are to be the show."

" . . . What… What happened to you?" Arthur said glancing between the visible scars on the Faunus' face, neck, and hands.

"When you get stronger, maybe I'll tell you," Jack answered with a noncommittal shrug.

"Okay… So… Why just me then?" he asked glancing back at the very-empty seats behind them. "You could've easily fit Alana, Andy, and all our gear back there too, yet you only called me up. Why is that?"

"Well… Let's just say I've taken a particular interest in your development."

" . . . It's because I'm-"

"It's because you're Ruby's boyfriend, yes," Jack cut in.

"Oh…" Arthur nodded. "Well… You have any advice?"

"On a healthy relationship? Ha! Not in this lifetime," Jack chuckled with a shake of his head. "Although that might've been more-because I never had a fixed address. Any relationship before coming to Beacon was either one-night-stands or friends-with-benefits arrangements for lonely and/or eccentric women out in the world."

"So… you can't help me then?"

"I can give you advice on the sex stuff if that's what you're looking for~"

"I'm afraid to ask… yet I can't resist asking…" Arthur said before sighing deeply. "Haaaaaaaah… Okay. I've tempered my sense of decency in expectation. LAY IT ON ME!"

"Heh. You might just regret those words," Jack chuckled darkly.

'I regret those words already.'

*NEW WORLD*

"And that's the story of how I learned that lube, is-in-fact, extremely flammable. Just not under normal circumstances."

"I… uh… I don't know what to say to that," Arthur said a half-hour of very questionable advice later. "I don't know what to say to that at all."

"Oh, and the glowing blue mushrooms? They're basically crystal meth, on crystal meth."

"Are we even on the same page anymore, or did you skip volumes while I wasn't looking?"

"More on that later," Jack said pulling off the main road.

"So… You going to tell me where we're actually going?" he asked, noticing that Patch as well as Vale had been left well behind.

"Long story short, I got us a gig," Jack said with a smile as he made his way to the rendezvous point. "Remember that colorful robot you and Ruby fought with the scissors on its head? Turns out, Atlas misplaced a bunch of tech like that, so we're going to get it back; relatively intact at least."

"You say 'we're' like it's going to be more than you and I."

"Hn, very astute," Jack nodded.

"Yes, it will in fact be more than just the two of us. Since this is Atlesian tech that's running rampant, obviously they're sending someone along to oversee proceedings."

"So… some sort of specialist?"

"I assume as much," Jack shrugged. "Now remember, regardless of whatever feelings you might have towards Atlas and its borderline fascism military dogma assholery, I want you to be on your very best behavior no matter what racist bullshit comes out of their mouth. No matter how badly they insult your heritage, and especially your mother, I want you to keep your cool. Just because we don't live in Atlas doesn't mean they can make our lives a living hell."

"Are Atlesians really that bad?" Arthur asked worriedly.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Jack sighed thinking back to his stint in the icebox.

Which, ironically, was what Solitary more or less was; but that's a story for another day.

*NEW WORLD*

"Sal-u-tations!"

Suffice it to say, this was not what Jack was expecting when he pulled the car over at their wave-down on the way to the lumber yard.

'Really? This is the 'military correspondent' I'm being made to work with?' Jack asked with a twitching brow as he beheld who he was being made to work with.

Aforementioned "military correspondent", who looked anything but, took the form of a slender light-skinned girl around Blake's height, her chin-length curly orange hair tied at the back of her head with a pink bow and an ahoge on top. Her eyes a bright green, almost neon, a streak of freckles running across her nose gave her an innocent girl-next-door vibe. Instead of military fatigues or even dress uniform, her attire consisted of a whitish-gray old-fashioned blouse over which she wore gray feminine overalls, her legs clad in black stockings rimmed with lace and neon green stripes running up the sides, a collar-style choker around her throat to match, her shoes a pair of round-toed flats. In terms of equipment, all she carried was a rather small metallic backpack that didn't look like it could fit much; it barely looked large-enough to hold an ordinary sidearm and spare magazines.

"My name is Penny. Penny Polendina. It is very nice to meet you," the ginger greeted chipperly, albeit with very rigid, robotic movements as she saluted.

"Hey, Jack. Is it just me, or-"

"Don't worry, I see it too," Jack whispered on a tone so-low that only another Faunus could conveniently hear.

"I am the military correspondent who will be joining you on today's mission," she continued, seemingly unaware of their hushed banter.

"The last time Atlas premiered their domestic steward robots, they still looked like plastic. How can this one be so lifelike?" Arthur asked as he and Jack completely dismissed the fact that she was a "meat person".

"Do you really expect Atlast to show all the best toys off?"

"Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon speaks very highly of your abilities, Mr. Braxton, and I fully trust the personnel choices you have made for this venture."

"Okay, when you put it that way I sound really fucking stupid," Arthur huffed with narrowed eyes.

"That's the ticket," Jack hummed proudly, happy he was rubbing off on the younger Faunus.

"Before we begin the mission, I thought it would be prudent to share what Atlas Command knows about the Robot Masters we will be subduing this day."

"So, do you think she knows?" Arthur asked.

"That she's a robot or that we know she's a robot?"

"Actually, the politically-correct term is 'gynoid'," Arthur corrected. "Since she appears to self-identify as a female, she's a 'gynoid'. A robot that self-identifies as male is 'android', while any mono-gendered machine that doesn't self-identify as either is 'just a robot'."

"Okay smart-alec, dial it back a bit."

"I'm just saying-"

"What are you boys talking about?" Penny asked with a tilt of her head. "Were you already briefed about our opposition and thus do not require a formal briefing?"

"Nothing. / Guy stuff." –the two answered.

"Well, which is it? 'Nothing', or 'guy stuff'?" Penny inquired, her shutter-like irises dilating and contracting with barely-audible whirring sounds.

"Oh my god, she's learning," Jack muttered.

"Wait, do you think Atlas knows that we know she's a gynoid, or do they really think she's fooling anyone?" Arthur whispered.

"Don't know. I'll try probing her for info," Jack returned. "Sooo… Penny, was it? Why were you assigned to this mission?"

"I was tasked with gaining experience in the field while representing Atlas' interests abroad," Penny responded automatically, as though reading from a script. "While the rest of my team trains in Atlas, I will be here, helping establish the Anti Robot Master Taskforce that is being established at our F.O.B., the Atlesian Embassy, in response to the unlawful seizure of outdated, yet dangerous, mechanized prototypes," she continued, once-again sounding as though she were reading from a script.

"I see… And… do your handlers have any idea what kind of opposition we're looking at?" Jack asked, deciding to shelve the whole robot/gynoid thing away for later.

Only an idiot would accept an excuse like Penny being the recipient of a double retinal prosthesis for the camera shutter eyeballs.

"According to preliminary reports, there are only three Robot Masters in place at the now-abandoned lumber yard; DWN. 009: Metal Man, DWN. 016: Wood Man, and DWN. 046: Tomahawk Man," Penny explained as she held out a Holopad, all pertinent info about the three Robot Masters available for their perusal. "All of the Jakobs employees on-site have either left the premises or are confirmed dead; there are no hostages," she added way-too-chipperly. "In addition, the Jakobs Corporation's adherence to a strong 'family-centric' work ethic means there is a minimal supplementary robot presence to be slaved to the Robot Masters' programming."

"Okay, good. Because if this had happened at a Hyperion construction site, we'd be pretty screwed with just the three of us," Jack hummed.

"Indeed," Penny commented with an enthusiastic bob of her head as Jack and Arthur proceeded to study the three Robot Masters in question.

All three in question were combat-oriented, though first and foremost Jack wondered how-crazy Dr. Wily had to be to make a Robot Master almost completely out of wood. Sure, Jakobs firearms were the same way, but that was for craftmanship. For a robot to be made heavily out of wood seemed like an enormous fire hazard. Metal Man was a definitive step-up from DLN-003. Cut Man, his Ceratanium-based projectiles taking the form of circular saw blades instead of boomerang-like scissors. As for Tomahawk Man… Let's just say that certain cultures would find his design racially insensitive, and leave it at that.

"While Atlas Command would appreciate the three Robot Masters being left as-intact as-is-practical without compromising your own wellbeing, the same is not an issue for the worker robots owned by the Jakobs corporation, as they have been sufficiently insured in the event of their complete and total destruction," Penny added with a smile on her face.

"Is it weird that she's consigning her fellow robots to almost-certain destruction?" Arthur asked as he cast a worried eye at the chipper robot girl.

"Roll with it," Jack muttered. "So… I know what Arthur and I are using," he hummed as he appraised the state of his shotgun/axe, Arthur giving his dual swords a final once-over. "What're you equipped with, little lady?"

"I am not little. I stand at approximately one-point-six-five meters," Penny countered more as a fact, rather than taken as an insult. "As for my armaments, I control fourteen Gun/Blades which I call, 'The Floating Array'," she went on to say as she displayed a plethora of gray-colored blades with round bronze-colored hilts, neon green power symbols, and neon green blades running up the side in a halo behind her back; all of which seemed to float under their own power. "Suffice it to say, I am combat ready!" she said proudly with an exuberant showing of her right bicep in a way that just screamed 'We Can Do It!'.

"Good to know," Jack repeated, taking note of the near-invisible wires that trailed off of each blade.

He could sense an Aura off this girl, so she definitely had the "overshield" covered that other combat robots lacked, and if Atlas was trying to make super-powered robot girls, who was he to judge?

Hell, for all he knew this was one of those "Full-Body Prostheses" things from science fiction that was actually science fact, making the girl closer to a cyborg than a full on "fem-bot".

Still, a part of him idly wondered the kind of backlash Atlas would experience if word got out that they were making robot infiltrators in the form of adorable freckle-faced girls.

Of course, since he certainly wasn't going to put his neck on the line by trying to blow the whistle, it was not his problem.

"So what do you say we split into three, one Robot Master apiece, and whoever gets done first can help whoever is having the hardest time of it?"

"That strategy sounds quite sound," Penny answered with an enthusiastic nod. "Well then, shall we be off?" she asked politely as she gestured toward their ride.

"That depends, is Atlas paying us by the hour?" Jack questioned.

"No they are not," Penny replied, absolutely oozing with positivity.

"Then we're leaving right now," Jack said ushering his entourage into the car, the Jackwagon dipping noticeably at the rear as Penny put her full weight into the passenger seat before the vehicle equalized.

"So… What do you think Ruby and the others are doing right now?" Arthur asked as the hover-car peeled away.

"Who knows," Jack shrugged.

*NEW WORLD*

Elsewhile…

"Oh my god there's so many of them!"

"I'm running out of bullets, here!"

"Everybody's dying!"

"Someone call a really big exterminator!"

*NEW WORLD*

"Probably something easy," the Faunus shrugged, completely unaware of his comrade's plight elsewhen.

"You really think so?" Arthur asked hopefully.

"Well, yeah. I mean, what're they gonna do? Fight a giant monster in the middle of town and get half the police force killed?"

"That does not sound like a desirable outcome," Penny hummed aloud, sitting stock-still in the rearview mirror.

*NEW WORLD*

After taking the Jackwagon off the main road, the party of three drove deep into the forests outside of Vale. Normally the raging river would've slowed land-goers down, but the hovercar traversed the raging waters as easily as land, the group making record time as they approached the lumberyard, a large sign reading Property of Jakobs illustrating who had the lay of the land.

When they happened upon an overturned vehicle riddled with serrated buzzsaw blades, a monument of contention to that very point… Jack knew it was time to hoof it.

"Alright… Let's give his Aurora Nano-Material Coating a field run," Jack purred as he started cycling through options on the touch screen, giving the showroom add-on a spin.

The air around the three occupants drying out as arcs of electricity danced through the hover car's frame, like the skin of an octopus, the exterior coating of the Atlas Vehicles Hover Model: Appleseed began to shift from the apple-color red, to a verdant camouflage smattering of green and browns, the vehicle blending seamlessly into the surrounding foliage. A feat that Penny was quite clearly amazed by as soon as the trio stepped out.

"Oooooooh~!" Penny awed with wide eyes.

"Yes, yes, very nice," Jack said grabbing the girl by the back of her overalls and dragging her away, a slight grunt leaving his lips at the effort. "Urgh! What'd you have for breakfast this morning?"

"Nothing. I do not require calorie-based sustenance-I mean…" she stopped short. "I have a very healthy appetite for a teen aged girl of my size and age," she immediately corrected as though the previous slip-up had never occurred.

A moment later and she hiccupped; quite endearingly at that.

And utterly impossible to miss for all but the completely deaf.

'At least we know what the girl's 'tell' is…' Jack thought. 'Unless… her having a 'tell' is actually a diabolical ruse…!' he re-evaluated, the three of them making their way through the underbrush.

*NEW WORLD*

The three of them assuming a Delta formation with Jack at the front, Arthur on the left, and Penny on the right, they made their way through the underbrush toward the lumberyard, foregoing the actual road since they had zero cover to hide their approach. Jack loaded his shotgun/axe with slugs since buckshot wouldn't do much against robots, Arthur had both swords out, the cutting edge of each blade a different color than the base metal, while Penny happily toted one of her Floating Array blades in its gun configuration, a beaming smile on her face and a spring in her step.

At least someone was having a good time.

The treeline eventually opening up before them, Arthur dropping down to his belly and folding back his ears while Jack dragged Penny and her traffic cone-orange hair into the underbrush. The area the lumberyard had dominated, scouted out for its top-quality trees of appreciable age and breed, consisted of prefab buildings serving as trailers, workshops, and dormitories. Woodcutting equipment was scattered about, the freshly-dead bodies telling the tale. From the smell of gunpowder in the air, Jack could tell that the Jakobs employees had put up one hell of a fight, if the battle-damaged state of each Robot Master was anything to attest to. What made Arthur's stomach sink was that the bodies had been left where they'd been felled, the only thing stopping them from getting a sky burial being that the Robot Masters' and their thralls' patrolling of the area shooed them away.

"How awful…" Arthur whimpered, feeling his stomach sink.

"Yes. Awful indeed," Penny commented, placing her hand consolingly atop his own.

"So… How do you wanna do this?" Jack asked as he looked around, eyes aflame with Aura. "There's no real rush… except for the fact that whoever's pulling the strings could arrive at any moment to cart off everything not bolted to the ground. The lumber I doubt there's much of a black market for, but the guns…" he said as his eyes turned to a building proudly labeled Gunsmith's; the building itself the rogue robots had taken great care not to damage in any way. "There would definitely be a criminal interest in those. Jakob's 'if it took more than one shot' slogan isn't just for show. Trust me…" he said as his hand went to his abdomen, the phantom pain of an old gunshot wound prickling his flesh, "I know what I'm talking about when I say we can't let those guns fall into evil hands."

"This coming from the guy who torments that Arc boy like some kind of antagonist," Arthur huffed.

His cousin had just as much an ear for gossip as her friend Coco, even if she didn't seem the type.

"I'm more of a 'nemesis' to that boy than an outright 'antagonist'," Jack huffed in turn.

"So what's the game plan, combat comrades?" Penny asked in a hushed, but still-excited whisper. "Do we strike now, or wait for a proper tactical assessment of the battlefield?"

At this, Arthur and Jack looked to one another before the prior drew out a red-and-silver can from his coat pocket.

"I… might have something that can give us our cake and let us eat it too," Arthur admitted as he popped the tab, Penny's eyes going wide as it transformed into a hawk-like shape.

"UWAAAAAAAH…! So cooooooool…!" Penny awed as the mechanical bird took flight.

"Thank you. I worked very hard on it," Arthur nodded, a slight flush on his cheeks as Penny looked on with the same awed admiration as Ruby when he'd shown off his creations to her. "I was able to find a small-enough Gravity Node in a model airship and adapted it for this recon drone. Once I get it into position at the start of the path, I'll pre-program a flight plan and have it send me an alert if anything vehicle-shaped happens to pass underneath it."

"Oooooooh!" Penny awed once again. "And you're saying you made this yourself?"

"Y-Yes. A friend of mine asked if I could whip up something like this."

"You can say she's your 'girlfriend' you know," Jack quipped with a smug grin.

"Jacknotnow!" Arthur hissed the Faunus' way before turning his attention back to the mesmerized robot girl, her eyes now fixated on the Scroll he was manipulating, a literal bird's eye view of the forest scrolling across the monitor.

"The craftsmanship is utterly amazing!" Penny awed quite openly. "I can imagine numerous companies would be quite interested in buying this design off of you."

"I-I don't know about that…" Arthur stammered. "A-Anyway..." he said turning his attention back to his Scroll. "If they want to actually haul anything of value away, they'll have to take the road they've made. If they're going to just hoof it, then keeping an eye on the road won't do us much good."

"Hey, a lookout somewhere is better than a lookout nowhere," Jack shrugged, eyes panning the lumberyard while his two tagalongs drifted away from the clearing. "How long until your little eye in the sky's in position?"

"Another few minutes. I managed to catch a good tailwind just now," Arthur answered.

"Alright. Then we'll attack then."

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Penny piped up, the others shushing her before dragging her away from the clearing. "I have something for you guys," she said holding up her hands, a two pieces of plastic the size of thumbdrives being gleefully presented, "new Scrolls, courtesy of the Anti Robot Master Task Force," she said as Jack and Arthur took up the white bits of plastic in their hands, their fingers ghosting across the activation key causing a holographic screen to form out of one side; as opposed to the transparent plastic screen that folded from between the two ends of a normal Scroll. The three's Aura Levels presented, when the Scrolls were held sideways, a tiny blue screen showed a miniature of their Aura Levels, marked by the leading letter of each name and a tiny bar as opposed to a circular gauge around their mugshots. "And the best part..." Penny said taking out rubberized ear-clips, affixing one end to the back of her Scroll before sticking it over her left ear. "Tadaaaaa!" she announced gleefully as a holographic screen curved around her eye, giving it the look of an ultra-futuristic monocle. "Your own wearable all-purpose computer! It's hands-free, so we like to call it a 'Scouter'."

"Oh! Neat!" Arthur awed as Penny held out another pair of rubberized ear clips, the Rabbit Faunus affixing it to his own ear while Jack waved it off.

"Don't you want to know what our Aura Levels are at?" Penny asked confusedly, Arthur off to the side tweaking with his Scouter.

"No need. I can sense what your Aura Levels are at all on my own," Jack waved off as he slipped the new hardware into a side-pocket..

"Oh! You can do that?!" Penny asked in awe, her eyes wide and glistening at the thought.

"Yup."

"Really?"

"Really, really."

"Oooohhhh..." Penny awed, Arthur unaware of the byplay as he synced his new Scouter to his Scroll so he could see what his Candroid was seeing.

To Be Continued…

*NEW WORLD*

AN:
Thought I'd introduce Penny a little early, minus the caveat of "friend" being thrown around; Ruby being Penny's "first friend" is too-precious to mess with. Plus, given Penny is still in the Prototype stage, and there are Mega Man Robot Masters running around, it would make sense that in a RWBY/Mega Man-type setting, she would be used for that kind of purpose.

The fact that she can't be hacked is also a good reason for her to be used against the Robot Masters.

Next-chapter we'll be stepping back in time to see what Team RWBY does now that Jack's out of the picture.

Like Jack himself said, too much of him could stunt their growth like poison, and this is to show that the others can develop without him around. Too many OC-centric stories make the mistake of having the OC be pivotal for any sort of story development, so I'm going to work on making Jack less-important for plot progression.

Tell me what you think of this lead-in in the Reviews column!