Ch. 63 My flesh and blood
"Hello, Doctor. It's been a few days…"
Pietro Polendina looked up from his work covered screens as the door opened.
"Jaune! Come in, come in. I heard what happened during the court, awful business. Ruby isn't with you today?"
Jaune smiled politely as the doctor moved his mobility chair to welcome him into his office.
"Afraid not, she made arrangements to meet Jeremiah after what happened. Of course that was before we got the news."
"Ah, I heard he's still held in custody…"
It was a statement more than a question, Pietro knew how these things worked, more than one of his ex-coworkers faced the same fate, and only some were eventually acquitted.
"Yeah, apparently with his fathers actions and then death, the councillors are pushing to make him a scapegoat."
The Doctor sighed. "That's unfortunately not unheard off. I trust the General is doing what he can to prevent that?"
"So I've heard… but enough of that, is it true? Is Penny awake?"
Both of their faces lit up as the conversation turned away from the topic of courts and politics.
"Not right now, no. I'm trying not to stress her too much, seeing as most of her body has been disassembled for now so she's… asleep wouldn't be a bad way to put it. But I've made all the repairs her neural cortex needed. She should be able to stay awake from now on without adverse effects." the Doctor spoke with a smile.
"Hmm, do you think she would like to help with a project of mine? I assume she'd be bored not being able to move around."
"Hmmm, so long as it's not viruses again…"
Jaune cringed a little even though Pietro spoke jovially.
"Uggh, how…?"
"Oh, Penny told me. I wanted to know what she was up to while in Vale and seeing as the need for secrecy was gone and her work saved people's lives… Don't misunderstand, I am immensely proud of her, but she might as well be my flesh and blood… I have half a mind to ground her… that is if her current state didn't require it anyway."
Jaune chuckled lightly before relieving Doctor Polendina's worries.
"No viruses this time, it's a hardware problem mostly. I'm thinking of using hard-light projectors for the tires of my bike."
"...not something that's been experimented with much… quite outside of my expertise too, but I'm sure Penny will enjoy the challenge. Come, let's wake her up."
As Jaune walked into the workshop that housed Penny, he was met with many workstations, each housing a part of Penny's body in a transparent box with gloved sleeves attached to allow manipulation without taking the parts outside the medical grade Aura stabilisation fields.
Most prominent was the cylindrical tank clearly made to hold a full sized human body, currently only occupied with a partially disassembled torso with a part of an arm attached and most importantly Penny's head. A lot of the synthetic skin that normally covered her body was missing.
Jaune felt a little bad admitting to himself that he was glad Penny didn't have all of her skin right now, it would have made conversation awkward. Plus he was a happily married man.
As the doctor entered behind him, he tapped a few keys on his computerised chair, prompting the lights in the tank to illuminate Penny.
When Penny opened her eyes, it was obvious she had to adjust to looking through the liquid before she recognised him.
"Friend Jaune!" her voice was obviously synthesised and coming from the speakers connected to her tank. The fluid likely made it difficult or impossible for her to speak normally for now.
"Penny, It's good to see you awake."
"I am led to believe my recovery is in no small part thanks to you and friend Ruby. Therefore I would like to thank you… where is Ruby?"
"On an errand right now, dealing with the aftermath of yesterday… I'm sure she'll join us as soon as she's able."
Jaune went out on a limb that Penny knew about current events, perhaps more so than he did, seeing as she was connected to the net.
"I understand. Is there anything you'd like to talk about in the meantime? I think I would prefer to continue the conversation concerning my recovery when you're both present."
Jaune smiled, it was nice to know he wouldn't have to fill Ruby in on too much of what happened before she would arrive.
"Actually there is something. I'm working on a project right now and thought you could help me hash out some details. Oh and I want it to be a surprise for Ruby when it's done so if you could keep it a secret from her until we finish making it…"
"That would be a wonderful idea."
=O=O=O=
"Qrow! We're back! Are you awake yet?" Yang yelled from the entrance to the rented apartment they managed to get while Qrow was out cold.
"Yang you shouldn't make a ruckus. What if he's still resting." admonished Pyrrha.
"I'm awake Firecracker!" Qrow got up and sauntered through the small apartment towards the dining table where he sat with more heft than he was used to. "Are all four of you back?"
"Just the two of us for now. Ren and Nora said they needed to look into something after we were done at the CCT."
"What were you… oh right, forgot you kids are running civilian access codes."
"Well we sure aren't civilian in capability. We managed to kill the Nuckelavee!" exclaimed Yang pivoting away from one of the problems that arose during their short stay so far.
"Right, how the hell did we even get here, I doubt you dragged my sorry ass all the way here."
"That was Nora's doing… kinda. The lightning was powerful enough to rally a response from Mistral. Apparently they were worried about a potential Alfa Thunderbird." said Yang with a wry smile.
"As rare as those are, they can be quite destructive. I remember seeing a photo of one on the news when I was little." provided Pyrrha.
"Either way they were happy to give us a ride when we revealed that there was no Thunderbird and the Nuckelavee was dead." Yang pumped her fist in the air.
"So… any news from the CCT?"
"A bunch. Dad sent a letter, and so did Sky and Cardin surprisingly. Ruby sent a video message but I haven't seen it yet and it's been weeks since she sent it. I thought we may as well watch it together when we get back. Oh Ren and Nora got one from Ruby too. And Pyrrha called her family in Argus now that we're in reach of it again."
Qrow was glad to hear some news from Vale made their way out of the kingdom, though just how frequently a data exchange could be done now that they had to rely on physically sending a vehicle with data storage on board was in the air. He made a mental note to check on the state of that and moved on.
"Hmm, well I think I got some news for you. And as a huntsman I didn't have to leave my bed to get them." Qrow waved his scroll in Yang's face only to receive a slap on the shoulder from her, which hurt more than it should have.
"Ass! So what are the news?" Yang asked as nonchalantly as possible, cracking open a soda can and leaning back with her chair.
Qrow, feeling particularly vindictive towards his niece, waited for her to take a drink before speaking "Ruby's in Atlas."
PFFFT Yang spat out her drink and tumbled back together with the chair, hitting her head in the fall.
Pyrrha was stunned into silence, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.
As Yang climbed back into her chair and went to take another sip, trying to play off the fact that she spilled most of it on herself, Qrow continued. "And she knows about the Maidens."
Yang slammed the can on the table, swallowed with some difficulty, nearly had a coughing fit and then yelled out "STOP DOING THAT!"
Qrow had a shiteating grin on his face. "I'm not making it up though, here look." he showed her the scroll.
"Ironwood knows?"
"Of course he does, he was in Ozpin's inner circle, all the headmasters are. Speaking of, does Lionheart know about us yet?"
"Uh, maybe. You needed hospital care but we've been trying to get a transfer into Haven… it's just…" Yang was a little lost for words.
So Pyrrha picked up the slack instead "Haven is closed. There are no classes right now."
"Does he know you're a maiden?"
"No, you said to keep it a secret and we didn't know that we could trust the headmasters."
"Well, maybe keep it that way for now. Something's fishy… I'll need to check it out first and then we can decide if we tell him about your power. Somebody I trust to be a pain in my ass tipped me off that Oz wasn't as honest as I'd like him to be and now this… We better thread careful."
Qrow stood up intending to walk over to where his weapon was leaned against the wall, but instead winced and his knees nearly buckled. He grabbed onto the table and chair for support and stood still for a moment.
"Oh right!" piped up Yang "The doctor said it may take a while for the poison to fully flush out of your body. It's not dangerous anymore, but your aura was disrupted by it. He said you'd be lucky to walk around when you first woke up, but you seemed fine so I forgot to tell you."
Qrow sat down this time even heavier than the first. He looked at the still gunked up gears of Harbinger and thought about his options then palmed his face.
"Gods don't make me rely on Her." he whispered in defeat.
=O=O=O=
When Ruby entered the holding room Jeremiah was in, she felt it was a rather excessive arrangement. The room was large, but the cell itself was a box of transparent blue hard-light in the middle of the room.
"Jeremy…"
"Ah… Miss Arc-Rose, I didn't expec…"
"Stop with the formalities. Aren't we friends?"
"Ugh… look at what he reduced me to. Receiving pity from a coworker almost a decade younger than me… And married!"
The meaning behind the last part wasn't entirely lost on Ruby but she put it to the side.
"I did think we're friends though, you helped me a lot to adjust to the lab and the people in the department… And I'm sure the General didn't intentionally…"
"Not the General."interrupted Jeremiah. "I meant my father. His stupid ideology, his shitty upbringing, even the fact he pinned the fake orders on me… I feel like a fucking tool."
"Well… do you want to talk about it?"
"And tell you what? That I didn't do it?"
"How about what your father's ideology was, and what yours is?"
Jeremiah deflated in his cell and sat on the floor, head leaned back to rest on his cot.
"...you know I kinda hate you two. Not for who you are, but what you managed to achieve… and what my father did with it. He's… was… a transhumanist. He believed that mankind could transcend what we are today. When I was little, it used to be stories about amazing feats the faunus could do in the right circumstances… but as I grew up it changed. He started talking about amazing semblances like the main family has and about technology improving on the human body.
You guys have made something amazing with your work on integrating Aura into mechanised prostheses. And to the people that lost a part of themselves this makes them whole again… But not to my father. My father saw the potential as a means to get rid of his flesh and blood. And he would throw it away just as easily as he did me.
The moment I stood up to him, told him I didn't think that was the right way to go… he became cold… No, maybe distant is a better way to put it…
But the worst part is that he was right! It did work! He used to be barely able to use his semblance for anything useful and look at what he achieved! A honest to gods warmachine all thanks to replacing a single arm… I hate it. I hate the thought of getting one myself, to replace myself with cold steel. And yet… he voice in the back of my head, his fucking voice, keeps telling me that he was right and that it would make me better…"
Tears rolled down his cheeks, his obsidian eyes staring at the ceiling of his cell, barely blinking. And at that moment Ruby had to admit he was right… She did pity him. Not for what the council was trying to do to him, but for what Charles Holzkohle took from him. Then it clicked…
"...you know what I think you should do?"
"What… are you going to tell me to go to a therapist? Well too late I already got assigned one."
"You should contact Weiss and Winter Schnee."
"And grovel and beg for help from the main family?"
"No… talk to them. Jackque Schnee took a lot from them… they will understand better than I do…" then a thought occurred to Ruby, one stemming from him commenting about her married status "...and you know what? Both of them are single."
Jeremy raised his head and blinked at her, stumped. Then he started laughing and kept laughing until his voice grew hoarse.
"...Ruby…" he gasped out between laboured breaths "...That's fucking disgusting…ha… We're basically cousins, no matter how distant…"
Ruby froze and went pale, despite him referring to the Schnees as the main family it didn't actually click that they were related by blood until he said it. She opened her mouth to apologise several times but her voice wouldn't come out
Jeremy looked at the frozen Ruby and started laughing again at the absurdity of it. When his laughter finally died down he smiled and looked at Ruby.
"I'll try giving them a call when I can. Thanks."
=O=O=O=
Ruby barely remembered making her way back from the holding room. She didn't remember if she said goodbye to Jeremiah or if she got stopped at any checkpoint along the way.
When she entered Doctor Polendina's office, which led directly to Penny's room, she barely registered the Doctor welcoming her in.
"Ruby! You're back!" exclaimed Jaune and the moment he saw how pale she was he wrapped her in a warm and gentle hug.
For just a moment Ruby was back in the courtroom, when the gravity dust went through the R&D's former Chief's skull. But as the hug in her memories overlapped with the sensation of being held by Jaune at present, Ruby just felt safe. Maybe not happy, and definitely not calm, but as safe as she ever felt.
She inhaled deeply before mumbling thank you into Jaune's chest. Then she let go and greeted Penny with a smile.
She would be alright, they would get through this together.
=O=O=O=
Qrow was standing on top of an apartment building. To say that getting up there was a hassle would be an understatement.
First he had to convince Yang and the others that he was fine going out and now that he was up here he had to conclude that they may have been right. Flapping his wings fucking hurt, alright. Unfortunately for him, drinking the pain away wasn't an option right now, not that the painkillers did much of anything.
The message he sent off before coming up here remained unanswered but that was to be expected. Raven was never one to reply to his messages.
When a black bird with red eyes landed before him and tilted its head in a nonverbal question, Qrow stayed silent for a few seconds, hoping for her to turn back into a human. When that didn't happen, he sighed and started speaking.
"Not even going to grace me with seeing your face today? …whatever, I have a favour to ask of you. Lionheart is doing weird shit with Haven. I read some of the public announcements he made and looked at some news articles and holy shit. School? - closed. Huntsmen? - 33% dead and more go missing each day. Grimm presence? - supposedly minimal, despite the losses. Shit don't add up."
Raven did a few bird hops to get slightly higher on the slanted roof and turned into a masked woman.
"And what do you want me to do about it?"
"Look I don't care if you don't want to go against Her anymore, but if a Mistral fucking falls, say goodbye to the Branwen gang. Vale is fucked right now, but they'll get back on their feet. Mistral will fucking die if this continues. A third of their hutsmen are dead and no new ones are being trained right now. Just, could you help me stake out Lionheart, see what's up, you know like the old days?"
"Any reason you can't do that yourself?"
"Har-di-har, I have no doubts that you saw me getting up here. Everything fucking hurts after Tyrian poisoned me and my Aura is all sorts of screwed up right now."
"And in exchange?"
"...what do you want Rai?"
"That."
Qrow looked down at where Raven was pointing silently horrified before realising she meant the collapsible cane still hanging from his belt.
"Ozpin's cane?"
"I bet he would find it most unpleasant to find out you traded it for a favour…"
Qrow was silent for a second, then two, then ten…
Oz had confided in him that the cane was a personal article he had for centuries, one that he grew personally attached to. On the other hand, Ozpin had nearly got both of his nieces killed so call it a fair trade.
Raven caught the thrown cane with ease, hanging it from one of her own belts.
"Pleasure doing business with you, oh and you may want to look for a farmhand named Oscar. I'm sure he'll be most displeased with what you did."
And with that Raven turned and a raven flew away from the rooftop, aiming for Haven.
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
That's right, Oscar enters the scene! I'm sure Raven will hold onto Long Memory for a while, if only because it will bother Ozpin.
Qrow is still suffering from Tyrian's poison and semblance, not to worry he'll recover soon-ish.
I'm currently trying to write more, but I'll likely be busy soon so expect more rushed chapters during the next month or so, the likelihood of running out of chapters and posting a oneshot from the stack will increase as exams dominate my life.
But hey if you want to support me you can do so on P a treon . com (slash) OlympianScribe
Anyway I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch. 64 Oscar